Sorry for the random Simpson's reference. I used to be a big fan, and now I can still pull an obscure reference for just about any situation. I have a feeling that this is gonna be a long post, so put on a pot of coffee and join me for the adventure that was my week.

Last week I mentioned that this week was going to be a busy one, and was it ever. The nice thing is that it is almost over with. I say almost because I have a final tomorrow that I still have to prepare for, but I don't really care for the class and I am not worried about the final too much. Also, I technically have a paper to write for a deadline tomorrow. As far as I am concerned the paper is dead in the water, but my advisor doesn't seem to see it the same way. So it is more like I have an advisor to convince that we should give up Enough of the boring stuff, lets get to what everyone wants to hear about...running!!

I actually had two first this week and one last. This week was the first time that I ran more than 70 miles in a week!! Also, on Friday I had my first double day. I must say that I really enjoy running twice in the same day. I was surprised at how loose and energetic I felt for the

second run. I would NOT recommend running the same route for both runs however...makes the second run doubly boring. As for the last, this was my last week of long mileage before I start to taper for San Diego. And what a week it was!!

Last weekend I mentioned that I thought I felt a cold coming on, but to that point it hadn't materialized. Well it did so on Tuesday morning in a big way. I woke up ready for my 15 miler with tempo intervals and was terribly congested. I did the typical routine to clear out the pipes and thought that I was good to go. In the middle of my first interval I found out that I was far from good. The cold had drained my energy and the congestion had returned. I cut my first interval from 20 to 15 minutes and took a little break after the first interval. I wasn't feeling so great, but I was determined to finish. So I shot some rockets into the bushes and began my second interval. The second went much better and I mangaged to make it the full 20 minutes. My pace was a bit off on both, but considering I think it was a decent workout. The rest of the week wasn't much better. My cold got worse on Wednesday, but after Thursday I started feeling better.

I realize that my week doesn't sound to awesome, but it is funny how one day can shape your whole week. Sunday morning I decided to head out to the beach and get in my last long run before tapering. I started very early and the weather was perfect, cloudy and temps in the low 60's the whole time. My scheduled workout was a 22 miler with 14 at MGP. This was the workout that killed me before Pasadena, and I was determined to have a good one. I mentioned last week (I think) that I was going to try both a 3:10 and 3:05 pace during this workout, so that was the plan. My first 7 miles were a decent warm up, didn't feel great but didn't feel bad either. But as soon as I started running a MGP everything just seemed to fit. I kept my stride long (something I have been working on), and maintained an even stride rate and the pace came easy. With a little help from my new racing shoes (Mizuno Wave Ronin, very nice) I was quickly settling into a

7:10/mile pace (better than 3:10) and before I knew it I was hovering around 7:04. I was fighting myself to keep the pace down, which was impossible. I finished the first 7 mile section at 7:06/mile pace, which is just off 3:05 marathon pace. I was fighting myself because I

didn't think there was any way I could keep it up for another 7 miles. Well, I was partially right. The second 7 miles I was again fighting

myself the whole way, but the thing was that I found it harder to run at a slower pace (by limiting my stride length) than to just let my

stride go all out. I don't know how I finished it, and I definitely can't run like that for a full 26.2 but I finished my second 7 miles averaging 6:48!!! That my friends is sub 3hr pace!!

I now feel very confident about getting my BQ at San Diego. Unless something goes terribly wrong it should be quite doable. I have now run 20 at BQ pace, while only running 8 miles hard. And today I ran 22 at BQ pace with only running 14 miles hard. Maybe I will take the first 10 miles easy at SD and then run the last 16 hard...seems to be working on my other runs.

Couple of other notes from today. My new adidas sleeveless shirt was chaffing a bit, so I apologize to everyone one the Hermosa Beach strand today who had to witness my pasty whiteness, especially any mothers (hope I didn't ruin your Mother's day brunch :). Second thing is that my glucose monitoring sensor came off again during my run today. The first time was during the Pasadena Marathon and I lost the stupid thing. $600 later I have a new one, and it came off today. Luckily the adhesive was still partially attached and I managed to grab it before I lost another one. A complaint is certainly coming for the company that manufactures the thing...

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