This was the second week of my taper for the Frederick Marathon on May 4. Unlike last week, this one was a noticeable reduction in mileage. It was weird having to stop runs "early" and I am trying to watch my calorie intake since my needs are now reduced. I'm used to eating constantly (small and healthy snacks, I admit, but the calories add up) and I don't want to add too much weight but I also want my body to get the fuel it needs. Yesterday I received my first ever sponsorship/pro-deal from nuun. I'm psyched because I can honestly say they are a great company and I have used nuun during almost all of my training runs of 16 miles or more. If you don't already know about nuun, check out the link: http://www.nuun.com/nuunis/whatisnuun.html
Anyway, here's the week:

Monday - A 45 minute elliptical session. These are usually an hour, but I am cutting back for the taper. It felt good as I worked hard, but not too hard.
Tuesday - A 6.5 mile run. The mileage is down and I run controlled.
Wednesday - 4x mile repeats with a half mile recovery. After starting off last week's 5K with back-to-back 5:19s, I had high hopes. My goal was to average 5:30 or better and that seemed reasonable given that I'd have recovery between each mile. Unfortunately my times are 5:31, 5:28, 5:35, and 5:33. While that's a pretty good workout (especially considering I hadn't done any intervals since early January), it appears I'm getting greedy and expecting every day to bring a new record of sorts. I soak my legs in a cold water bath when I get home and after a quick lunch I go mow my lawn.
Thursday - 30 minutes on the elliptical in reverse (+ 15 minutes forward for a cool down). This is another tapered workout (I usually go 40 minutes) and I feel strong, especially considering yesterdays hard speed session.
Friday - A 5.5 mile run. The mileage cut down continues. I move through this run at a fairly brisk pace and feel great. Afterwards, I run a few strides on a soccer field.
Saturday - An 8 miler. My "long" run for the week is now down to the length of my usual weekday workouts. I get up early to make my wife a latte and am out the door my 7:15. The run goes very well and there are even pancakes waiting for me when I get home (after I shower at the request of my wife and daughters). Yum!
Sunday - An hour spinning on my bike trainer. I probably should have just taken the day off, but I've got a nice streak going. I put in an easy spin while flipping between a college lacrosse game and "True Lies" on the TV in my basement.

The week went well and by the end of this coming week I will (hopefully) have finished my marathon. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that something I have been focusing my training on for over a year will be over so soon. I seem to be in good health with most of my blisters, tendonitis, etc. pretty well healed up. I am just hoping to stay this way for at least one more week so that I can run my best next Sunday. Please wish me luck (and I love to get comments)!

Twelve months ago I wrote about how I had survived my first year of running in over a decade. That means it's now time for a report on year two. Like all years, the past one has had its ups and its downs. I had to take almost two months off during the summer to recover from a foot injury sustained during my first ever trail race in July (The Goshen Gallop - a 10.2 kilometer course mainly on cross-country ski trails in Vermont) and just when I was able to run again I had to take another two weeks off following a surgery. This past February I had to reduce my running again to rehab knee tendonitis that flared up a couple days after a long (20 mile) training run.
But overall, things have gone as well as I could have hoped for. I am still running and in 2 weeks I will be participating in my first marathon since 1987. I'm probably in the best overall shape I have ever been in. My times in 5K - 5-mile races are fairly close to what they were in my early twenties and I am able to handle much longer distances on training runs. I set a PR for 10 miles (breaking an hour for the first time with a 58:55 on a course that was designed to be extra-hilly) and for the first time in my life I won the same race twice (The New Market Elementary School On The Road For Reading 5K - which is really more like 3.25 miles). I'm also wearing smaller jeans than I was when I was running college cross-country!
For the rest of 2008, my focus will be on the Maryland Double: the Frederick Marathon on May 4 and the Baltimore Marathon on October 11. I would like to run in the 2:40s (2:49:59 counts!) in at least one of these events. After that, I am thinking about trying my feet in an ultra or two during 2009-2010. I may be getting ahead of myself, but you've got to have goals!

Ps - I am using my marathon run as an opportunity to raise money for a local organization that coordinates donations of time, talent, money, food, and other resources for the emergency needs of the people of Frederick County where I live, train, and race. If you would like to support my effort, please visit my spiffy website:
http://fundraising.marathonguide.com/jaysilvio

Thanks for reading!
Peace,
Jay

Pps - Here's a copy of my report on my first year from April 2, 2007:

Made it through a year of running:

The day after Haven turned eight, I decided that I'd run out of excuses and it was time for me to get back in shape (I hadn't been running for about ten years and I was a few pant sizes larger than my college days). That night I struggled through about two miles on my treadmill at ten-minute mile pace. It was miserable but I kept at it, doing it again the next day. One day at a time became a week, which became a month, and then Haven turned nine last week. I celebrated that day by heading over to the local community college to run a few mile repeats. 5:55, 5:55, and 5:52 marked my best speed work in over ten years!
 Each day still contains the struggle to lace 'em up, but I get it done more often than not. Sometimes it's 45 minutes on an elliptical trainer, sometimes it's six or seven miles through the neighborhood, and other times it's a distance swim in the lake on a cool summer morning. I've overcome a nasty ankle roll in October (yea, I still feel it on tight turns) and a wicked three-week chest cold in January. Overall, however, I feel great. I have more energy and fewer general aches and pains; I lost weight (clothes that fit me in college are now a little baggy) and lowered my cholesterol. The progress has been reinforcing and I hope I'll be writing a similar blog in another year to describe the next twelve months' accomplishments. Wish me luck!