Easy tredy run this morning at the hotel (in Philadelphia).  I am starting to feel good about Sunday as I had fresh legs this morning.  I really wanted to run fast, which never happens on the tredy.  As you can see, I was well behaved.  With good legs and what looks like perfect marathon conditions for Sunday (temps in high 40's), things should fall into place for a good race.  I haven't run a race since November or a marathon since October, so I am looking forward to it. 

Back home tonight, Shannon arrives tonight, 3 days off in a row, Old Dominion University in the NCAA tournament today, a marathon on Sunday with perfect running weather - life is good!   

I am sorry for not keeping up with the inspires this week. I've had very little BT time and promise to catch up with everyone over the weekend.  Thanks to all for keeping up with me.  I hope everyone is doing well.  :)

Slow, 'recovery' paced run.  4 loops around outside of St. Louis Arch park.  However, they have these weird things here - I think they are called 'hills' or something like that.  ;) 

I decided that I am indeed going to allow myself to recover between now and Sunday.  This works for how my body feels right now and fits perfectly with my travel schedule this week.  My idea is to go out at a 'fair' pace on Sunday.  I will start with the 3:40 pace group and assess how I feel at the half, 18 mile, and 20 mile point.  That is exactly what I did last year and left the pace group behind around mile 18.  Given decent weather, I should be able to run 3:35ish without putting too much long-term strain on my body.  I bounce back pretty quickly from this running stuff and should be able to resume full IM training by Wednesday next week. What I won't allow myself to do is get greedy and go for sub 3:30 from the start.  

Where's Waldo?

Travel to St. Louis this afternoon with a planned hotel workout tonight. 
St. Louis tomorrow.
Trenton, New Jersey Wednesday.
Philadelphia Thursday. 

ZERO motivation to train tonight. Tredy run at the hotel - whatever.............

I need to decide if I am 'racing' the marathon this week or just running it as part of IM training.  If I want to run the marathon at a good (PR?) pace, a 40 minute run today is appropriate.  If I am exclusively training for an IM this week, 40 minutes is almost worthless. 

Mental toughness trainer ride tonight.  I SO wanted to quit 30 minutes into the ride. 

Easy/light upcoming training week due to BUSY travel schedule and a 26.2 run planned for Sunday. :)

Dismal Swamp brick. BEAUTIFUL day to be outside. 70 degrees, sunny, with some wind.  Overall the bike was good with head wind going out and tail wind coming back.  I probably pushed a bit faster than I should have as my legs were tired at the end.  I practiced taking in various nutrition for most of the ride.  Typical brick run.  It took me 3 miles before my legs had a clue. 

Oh, last night's swim was a combination of drills, drills, drills, and laps focusing on weak side breathing.  See Shannon, I really did swim!  ;)

Between tonight and tomorrow I owe myself 3 more hours on the trainer. Then it is time to recover for Shamrock next weekend.  :)

Ride #1: Morning at Dismal - 2:35:08; 50.5 miles

Ride #2: Trainer in Evening - 1 hour

Another missed training day yesterday after a tough travel day on Wednesday.  Work and people important to me took precedent.  This week isn't shaping up great on the training front.  Oh well, my training is all about BALANCE in ALL areas of my life.  Double sessions planned today. 

Nice nooner run.  I can tell I had fresh legs.  After the first couple of miles, I continued to get stronger without increasing my RPE.  RPE = 4.  Swim on tap tonight (yippee)........