Su: 11 at long run pace (8:00) with last mile at 5:40.
M: 8 easy
Tu: 4 easy on treadmill
W: 8 steady, about 7:40 pace
Th: 9, with 4x200 at :43 each. Tried to run at goal 10k pace.
Fr: 3 easy on treadmill, with last mile each 1/4 run at 7:30 pace, 7, 6:30 and 6:00 pace.
Sa: 8 total, 10k race in 40:00. Too hot for a long warmup or cooldown.

Total: 51

The 10k was the hottest race I have ever run, and one of the most hilly. Temp was over 80 with high humidity. Luckily most of it was in shade. I went out in 6:12 for the first mile and decided to try and run by half marathon effort. I finished 3rd overall (obviously a very small race) but felt controlled the whole way. It was too hot and hilly to think about running a fast time, or even a tempo run for that matter. It turned out to be a smart decision, because the next morning I ran 14, the first 12 easy long run pace and the last 2 at 5:45 pace and felt strong. The last 2 miles were a major effort, since that pace is about 4-5 mile race pace for me.

Mainers,
Very sorry about your continuing heel problems. Was the calf issue from compensation for the heel? Hopefully rest and treatment will have you good as new soon. 16:18 isn't bad considering how brutally hot it was Saturday.
Dan, That was another good week.65 miles with a day off on singles is stout.
Tusca,
Are you feeling better?

My week:
M-6
Tu-9
W-8 including 5 progression tempo, finished strong.
Th- 8
F-8
Sa-8
Su-13
Total-60

Boring week for me:

S: 19.5 @ 7:17 pace - nice and easy - comfy weather
M: 9M progression run - 3M splits: 19:30,18:26,17:55 (6:12 p)
T: 9M progression (easier) - Splits were 19:44,18:48,19:17 (6:25p)
W: 9M run - tried to keep it easy - Splits 19:25,18:30,18:23 (6:15p)
R: 9M run - 3m splits 19:52,19:12,18:42 (6:25p)
F: 5M in some good heat and humidity 3@18:46, 2@11:40 (6:05)
S: 2.5wu @ 8:00, 8.5 @ 7:17 in some nice heat

71.5 miles for the week at a pretty good intensity. Now this week a slight taper (60-65miles) for a labor day race (10k). This gives me ~70mpw average over last 5 weeks - however, I am fearing that I won't do well since I haven't been running track recently but we'll see.

M 6 trails, felt ok
T 5 easy
W 7 trails, really good
R 4, w/ 4x1/4...solid effort
F 3
S 1m road race, 2nd, 20sec quicker than mile race end of July, thats all i was going for
S 0

On a down note, on todays (Mon) run, pulled left hamstring. this is the third time in about 6 yr i have done this...so don't know how much time this will cost me

aharmer --- I get right-hip piriformis syndrome every time I up my mileage again after any sort of decent time off. EVERY TIME. When I first started consistently upping mileage from the 50 mpw range to 80-100 mpw, I had all sorts of things pop up, then go away. Sometimes I adjusted my training, sometimes I trained through, depending upon how serious I thought it was. It's normal.

Tuscaloosa -- In 2002 I had a very mediocre summer, averaging only about 50-60mpw after having done 70-80mpw a lot previously. I had a decent 10-mile the first week of August, so decided to jump into Chicago. Basically I trained as hard as I could tolerate and limited myself to 80 mpw instead of topping at 100 in order to enable more quality. I did some sort of fast work every day, even if only 10X1min surges at the end of a 10-miler. It resulted in 2:29, a 7min PR at the time.

In 2005 I had a really bad training summer, looking back it was probably a combination of anemia and heat intolerance, just like I have this year. I gutted through every workout and 70-80 mile weeks until late July, when I couldn't break 16:30 in a 5k despite all the running so I just quit and ran 15-20mpw up until 2 weeks before Chicago. Then I got a couple weeks of solid work in. I still ran 2:36, which was I felt was amazing considering what happened.

Bottom line, if you do SOMETHING to maintain your fitness, a lot of the base you have built will not go away.

Multiple types of changes occur from training. Some are more long-term-- cardiac stroke volume, capillary density. Some are more moderate, like mitochondrial number. Some are relatively short-term, like blood volume, enzyme levels, and hemoglobin levels, which greatly affect VO2max.

IMHO, this makes (perversely) the well-trained runner who experiences a setback in the months leading into a marathon in a much better position than the 5K runner in the same position. The marathon is much more dependent upon the longer-term improvements; you don't run at VO2max in a marathon. For the 5K runner, if they have a significant drop in VO2max they are screwed.

The way I'd handle it is to maximize development of short-term, VO2max affecting variables....ie, focus on intervals and fast tempo runs rather than volume as you normally might for a marathon.

At the time, I was not displeased with my Hood-to-Coast results. But now that I see it on paper it does not look as good as I had hoped. All in all, a great experience. Dealing with all-night running on no sleep and little warmup and cooldown - tough. We had a good time, though!

(legs 9, 21, 33) 38:04 over 6.89 miles, (5:31) on gravel, gentle downslope in the dark; 27:39 over 5.0 (5:32) on gravel, gentle downslope early in the morning; and then 45:27 over 7.79 (5:50) on pavement, rolling hills, in misty blowing rain. I was very happy to have survived. The first two miles of the last leg were fairly painful. My "strategy" was to simply run as hard as I could on every leg, and the slowdown probably shows that. I'm not sure what the best plan is...

the week?

M: 9 and 11(hills)
Tu: 10
W: 5 in MN, 10 in OR, including 4x1mi off-road, 5:07 avg.
Th: 8 and 5 easy.
F: 5.
Sa: (see above)
Su: ~2:20 ...

Somewhere between 110 and 100 miles - much unmeasured, but I have a good idea of it, based on time.