Sleep, eat, run

I got a scary email from the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Team earlier this week. It said: 10+ weeks to Marathon Day. Um, that's pretty damn soon. Luckily, it was a good week, but it didn't start this way. I struggled through 8 miles on a Sunday run that should have been a 14 or 16 miler, had a six miler on Tuesday that felt like I was running in sand. But then kicked it the second half of the week as my body got used to running again, with a fast 7 miler and a good speed work. Now I'm ready to tackle the big run on Super Bowl Sunday. 15 or 16's on the docket and I'm up for it.

Some quick thoughts from the week.

5. Food matters. Part of the problem with the run on Tuesday was a poor breakfast (without a particularly big dinner the night before). I was light headed when I started and that went away around mile 2 but I never felt a great groove.

4. Sleep matters. Part of the problem with the run on Sunday (and on Tuesday) was not enough sleep. Less than 7 hours makes for a tired run the next morning.

3. Food + Sleep = good run. Lots of carbs on Wednesday night, nearly 8 hours of sleep, and good breakfast (protein and carbs, and of course, COFFEE) on Thursday am made for a 7 mile run at 8:30/mile. Sure beats my 8:59 pace on Tuesday.

2. Did my first speed run. 8 440s between 1:36 and 1:39 per, with one at 1:35 and one at 1:40. I was really looking forward to the run and it was good to mix it up. I'm going to try to work that in weekly now, instead of my easy 4-miler.

1. Just when I thought my left foot had seen everything, a nice new blister appears out of the blue. This is manageable. Nothing a band-aid can't fix. And the rest of the foot feels fine. I'll take that.

That's it. Only top five this week. Let's hope for a good 16 this Sunday somewhere around the 2:20 mark.
Happy running.