The good news – I had a fantastic track workout on Thursday and the bad news, I was unable to do my long run this weekend.  Marathon training is all about balancing three key components, speed, long runs and tempo (steady state or threshold) running.  In the past I’ve been fastidious about injecting speed into my training routine in small increments because “speed kills”.  However with over two years of  easy running and no speedwork, I seem to have a lot to prove to myself.  Foolishly I completed a massive 36 X 150 meter workout at a pace suitable for an 800 metre race.  Three days later, I am still in recovery mode.  I went out this morning intending to run at least two hours but managed only an hour due to the residual stiffness and soreness in my legs accompanied by greatly reduced stride length.

My target last week was 57 miles and I did 55 miles.

This week the target was 61 and I did 44.

One of the pitfalls of doing track work with a group is the risk of doing other people’s workouts to your detriment.  |The desire to do what your peers are doing is strong.   And, was I influenced by the appearance of the U of T Varsity Cross-Country teams, football team and women’s hockey team in the vicinity?  You betcha . . . never too old to exhibit foolhardy bravado.

Limp, hobble, sigh . . .