Quick update

So yeah I've already fallen behind recapping day by day. Oh well here's what has happened since the Thursday long run...

Friday was the usual second Miners Run of the week. I added on a couple of miles to make 9 and did my strides and drills that I have been religiously fitting in on a weekly basis. For these I basically do 8*strides/butt kicks/skipping/side steps/high knee raises, etc. up and down a stretch of Old Bell Road. I think it is so important to keep in touch with these each week. It helps keep the fast twitch fibers and other neglected muscles happy and firing and definitely has some 'pre hab' injury prevention benefits in my mind too. This is always one of the first workouts I put on the schedule each week.

So I was pretty tired heading into Saturday's highly anticipated workout with Jay. Fresh off his first ever sub 16 posting on a tough course and having the best training cycle of his life heading towards Boston I was excited to be training with my buddy again! I hadn't seen Jay in a while so it was good to catch up with him during the three miles warm up and it would have been nice for this to be longer but we had work to do!

The workout was 2 miles, 4 * 400, 2 miles and we did it at Mcalpine on what was a beautiful cold and sunny morning for training! Jay provides a more detailed review here but suffice it to say we nailed it and worked hard together as we had hoped we would be able to. My training would be 10% better than it is right now if we could run together more often.

After a quick recovery including a splendid visit to Yoforia with Lisa, the kids and Jay and his better half, we laced up our shoes again for some recovery miles through the Providence Road neighborhoods in the afternoon. Aaron also joined for this one, fresh off a 5k victory earlier in the day himself and it was a trip down memory lane for the three of us who had trained together for Richmond Marathon in 2010.

These easy and enjoyable miles closed my week out at over 70 miles and I celebrated that evening by meeting up with Jay (common theme here??) and a bunch of other friends at Selwyn Pub to share some beers and laughs. Michael Jordan just happened to be present at our choice of venue too, although I never actually got the chance to see past his entourage and check if Guinness was his beverage of choice also.

Sunday I was able to take off and spent a great day with Lisa and the kids. Man U rose to the top of the Premier League for the first time since October and after watching that I spent the afternoon at the Schiel Museum of Natural History in Gastonia which ended up being a great choice of venue by Emily who had been on a Field trip there two weeks previously! We ended with pizza at Brixx and any day that ends on this note is a good one!

After Sunday's 'rest day' it was time to get back at it on Monday morning as I intend to hit 70 plus miles again this week, including the Shamrock 4 Mile race on Saturday.

I ran an easy 8/6 mile am/pm double on Monday and another 12 plus miles this am with the other Miners crew to start the week off on a good note. Working out tomorrow (8*600 on the roads), then a mini taper into Saturday's race which should be able to provide a good indicator of what I might be capable of at Richmond, my goal race, in two weeks time.