ING Miami training: week one report

Two weeks ago, I was contemplating running in the ING Miami Half-Marathon, thinking I wouldn't be prepared for the marathon distance in twelve weeks due to all of the health issues I've had since May. After just one week of training, I'm pleased with how everything's going.

The total mileage I ran for the week (Monday to Sunday) was 67.5 miles. Key workouts for the week: 1) Tuesday intervals which consisted of 3 x 1.5 miles at tempo pace (6:20-6:40) with 1/2 mile jogs in between, and 2) Saturday steady long run of 13 miles at 7:20-7:40 pace. John Ellison ran with me on both these days. Week two's total mileage increases to 76 miles, so it might be a little harder to recover by the end of the week, even though I'm still feeling fresh.

In case you're wondering, this is the schedule I'm following. I'm doing a few things different from what's prescribed in the schedule. I decided to do a 3-week taper by moving week 10 distance to week 9 and swapping week 9 and week 11 distances. Also, I moved the half-marathon from week 6 to week 8, to accomodate a local race in Columbus. I used this schedule for the Carlsbad Marathon last year; my second fastest marathon (3:05), even though it was on the hardest course I have done to date. I believe that the numerous long intervals at tempo/marathon pace had a lot to do with it. I also like the fact that only two workouts per week are given, so that I can tailor my personal schedule around some of the group runs in the area I like to frequent without being paranoid that I'm supposed to run what a schedule dictates vs. what the group plans to run.

Update on my ultra search

I'm 99.9% certain of registering for the Fat Dog 70 on August 16, 2014. The ONLY issue is that there's a requirement to have completed a 50K race (or longer) within the past year. The last , and only, ultra I did was the Destin 50(K) in 2011. I understand the rationale, BUT, there should be some leniency given for those who have run a good marathon time. For example: Runner A walked the Auburn 50K in 7:59, while Runner B ran the Soldier Marathon in 3:01. Oh well...

Other stuff

I tried to convince my wife that she should let me go here. No luck.