8 weeks to the Boston Marathon: Last week's training

Another solid training week in the books. Monday was a scheduled off day, dropping my volume to 120 miles but still averaging 20 miles per day for the other 6. Tuesday's workout was a little different than we've done in the past, and I enjoyed it. I have done many tempo workouts following easy miles (1 hour plus), but coming in off of 5 miles at marathon effort, I was surprised by how challenging the threshold track tempos were. 5 miles at marathon pace is not in itself a hard workout, but it brought just enough fatigue to really make the next 7 miles a struggle. It felt like a true marathon workout: a constant grind, never really feeling particularly smooth. The rest of the week was fairly mundane, but the daily volume certainly has me feeling worn down.

Portland received another round of snow starting on Sunday of this week, so I am now in Santa Cruz so I can continue my training without a treadmill. A day or two is manageable, but it looked as though it would stick around for a while, and so far it has. Flying to Santa Cruz when is snows sounds pretty exotic, but I used airlines miles and am staying with a friend, so I managed to escape at no cost. It's a beautiful place to run, but it is always slightly unnerving to be in an unfamiliar place when you are in the middle of peak training and each workout is important. Fortunately I've had the help of other runners to guide me the best they can. In fact, I'll be getting the expert bike pacing of fellow 2:10 marathoner, Brett Gotcher this coming weekend. The running community is tight, and it seems you can manage to find someone in every region willing to lend a hand. Building that network has been one of the greatest joys during my running career.

Thanks again for reading, and feel free to check out last week's training below. Follow me here on Twitter for more updates.

Weekly Total

9	120	Sunday	2/11/2018	Long run 22 miles easy
		Monday	2/12/2018	off
		Tuesday	2/13/2018	Tempo 5 miles by effort on roads then 5 min rest, 4 mile, 3 mile on track @ 70-71, 4 min rest
		Wednesday	2/14/2018	AM: 14 PM: 6 + strength
		Thursday	2/15/2018	12 x 200m or hills
		Friday	2/16/2018	AM: 12 PM: 6
		Saturday	2/17/2018	AM: 14: PM: 6