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I feel the need… the need, for SPEED!

I feel the need… the need, for SPEED!

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Who doesn’t love Top Gun? 🙂

The quote seemed fitting to use since last night was my first night of speedwork with Fleet Feet’s Boston Bound program.  We got a temporary “heat wave” last night and had balmy temps in the 30s or so.  It was a nice change, though I was reluctant to shed any of my layers that I had become so accustomed to wearing over these past few weeks.  The workout was pretty straightforward: 2 mile warm up, 1 mile at marathon pace, 1 mile recovery, 1 mile marathon pace, 1 mile cool down, for a total of 6 miles.  Simple enough.

Admittedly, I was a bit geeked because my desired MP is 8:23 (for a 3:40 marathon), and I hadn’t really tried to run that anytime recently.  Adding further insult is that parts of the lakefront, where we run, are still snow- or ice-covered, so the footing is a bit precarious… making hitting a desired goal time a bit, well, lofty.

All turned out well, though, as my first timed MP was a 7:50 (WAY faster than I had wanted to shoot for!) and my second MP around 7:36.  Oops.  If nothing else, it was reassuring that I can still run relatively quickly after not doing hardly any speedwork since my Boston training last year or sometime this summer.  Rock on.

Saturday we’ll get back into double digits with a nice 10 miler along the lakefront.  Maybe the “heat wave” will hold out through Saturday.  We can only hope…

Getting back into it

Getting back into it

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Last week marked my first full week of work since sometime before Thanksgiving, thanks to being in Kenya for 3 weeks, being ill for about a week, and being in the DR for a week.  Last week also marked the last week of “playful” running before I kicked off my Boston Marathon training on Saturday with my local Fleet Feet’s Boston Bound program.

Saturday morning was just a nice little 45-minute-ish presentation from the FF folks about the program (it sounds awesome! I’m excited to join), and then the group trekked out of the store for a nice 6-miler up and down the lakefront.  Fortunately, most of the path was clear (except by the N. Ave bridge and up near the Diversey golf course), and while the temps were a bit cold (single digits, sub-zero with windchill), it was nice to be in the company of a large group of runners who are experiencing the whole lot of emotions — excited, nervous, scared, you name it — to be running and training for Boston.  Most of the folks I spoke with and ran with were running their first Boston, so it makes me all the more excited for them 🙂  Wednesday night we’ll commence speedwork sessions.  Bring it on!

Adjusting to the cold cold hasn’t been too bad or challenging.  Usually my body stays pretty warm, thanks to all the layers I’m sporting, but my face gets a bit chilly.  I may need to invest in a balaclava or some Yaktrax one of these days… (for whatever reason, I seem to be holding out!)

As of now, I’m signed up for the March Madness half marathon out in Cary, IL, in March; the Boston Marathon; and the Rockin’ Chicago 1/2 (formerly the CDC) in August.  I’d like to get in on at least one more full marathon, probably in the fall, and try a bunch more different races this year, focusing on doing more 5ks to help with speed.  I’m also flirting with that 50k idea, so I’ll need to figure out a way to appropriately space out everything… Suggestions welcomed.

Boston training is on, beeyotches!! 🙂