Endurance?

Another week with indoor quarter mile intervals. It's so consistent that now it's comical ... mid-week, the sun comes out, it warms a bit, and the track at Wheaton College emerges from the snow. Early in the week, or over the weekend, snow and ice, and on Wednesday (my interval day) - no outdoor track! Oh well ... Now as I begin Week 8, the last week of Phase One/Endurance, I am again looking at my interval workout inside. This week, 16x400. Game face ... on.

Last week it was to be 16, but I shot for 14. And lost track in the shooting. I did 6x400 on the indoor track (a brutal 12/mile oval, flat, with carpet over concrete), then moved to a vacated treadmill. Where I think I did an additional 8x400. The time works out for that to be the case.

But my big change in Week 7 was to change over my long run expectations. Dave Kuehls's training program (4 Months to a 4 Hour Marathon) had me facing a 17-mile run this past Saturday. A goal I wasn't close to, especially since I failed to hit his proposed 13-mile run about a month ago. Well, since then I have reached 13, and lived to tell about it. But as I talked with others, and did some online research, I decided this past week that I will adopt Hal Higdon's long run goals. That meant a 12-mile run this past Saturday. To take the "sting" out of "wimping out" I did 12.2.

Also this week, I had my first complete physical in a couple of years. The surprise was when Dr. said they would do an EKG. I'm sure that was because of this whole training and press toward the Big Sur. That sort of thing is always interesting. But I was bowled over to learn that my resting heart rate is 47bpm. Wow! I've never thought of myself as athletic, but almost this persuades me I could be.