Hurdles...

No, I'm not thinking about the event.  I'm thinking about mental and/or physical hurdles that often get in the way of what we want to accomplish. I suppose those individuals who accomplish many things are either faced with very few hurdles, or become very adept at 'leaping' these hurdles. 

Although my marathon hurdle is undoubtedly a physical hurdle first and foremost, I think anyone who has every run can appreciate the mental hurdle that looms with a greater tenacity than the former.  I am very aware of the mental handicap I'm creating and my efforts in the coming weeks will be focused significantly on the mental aspect of running  rather than the physical components.  My base is strong, recovery is great, and I'm ready to plow through my brain's barrier without looking back.

Ok, now that I've finished my positive self talk.

Solid week this last week with only three run days.  Knocked out a total of 32 miles and got a wonderful sunny day near 60 degrees on Wednesday for my 15 miler.  Cross trained a bit in the gym with the stationary bike and elliptical on my off days and I'm ready to kick my long runs in the arse!

I'd still kill for a dependable long distance running partner but until then...

Train on,
Luke

Solid Week! Half #2

Solid week of training this week with a really nice 15 miler to start the week.  Went out to Burbank which is just a few miles outside Tri-Cities and ran around with much less traffic.  It was pretty windy but since I really wasn't worried about time, I didn't let it bother me too much.  Came in at 2:02 for the whole run and if I'd have had someone else chugging with me I could have easily continued....

Got some nice complimentary runs in the rest of the week with a couple interval runs including some near sprint work.  It was nice to mix it up a bit. 

Signed up for my second half of the year (finally).  Gonna do a fundraiser run for a girl with cancer where her insurance has claimed it was a pre-existing condition and won't cover her costs.  The run is a bit Southwest of Portland, OR and I'm gonna try to make a trip out of it and perhaps head back down and visit Linfield to reminisce a little....

Anyhow, the race is about a month away and I'm just looking to speed up a little before that time.  Feels go to be well prepared.  Gotta start looking for a full now...

Train on,
The LUKE

AZ3

3 months. 3 trips to AZ.

This trip saw temps in the 80's pretty much every day and it was just beautiful!  Got some golfing in with dad, sat by the pool, ate some good food and hit up a Sun's game.

I sort of took this week as an active rest week just to let the legs relax a little.  I ran 5 miles Wednesday on an out and back from my parents house and sandwiched that between two hikes of Squaw Peak in Scottsdale.  It had been about 17 years since the last time I had hiked that peak and it was very nice.  Not too many people, nice weather, and a nice little change of pace for my quads.  I believe it's about 2.5 miles to go up and back.

Came back to Tri-Cities Friday and got 5 more treadmill miles in to finish out the down week and I'm looking forward to ramping back up this next week (weather permitting).  The only race that I think I can safely sign up for right now is the Wenatchee Half Marathon in mid April because I'm not sure if I'll be moving for work.  Don't wanna waste money on registration fees if I can't do the race.

The pic attached is looking up the Squaw Peak trail... (pic from internet)

Luke

Nothing exciting...

I have no races to blog about... Just a couple nice weeks of training runs.  I logged a new PR for 13.1 miles a couple weeks ago rolling in at 1:35:50.  It wasn't my intent as I was setting out for a 15 mile run but my pace was holding at a little over 7min/mile so I decided to give it a go. 

Both of the last two weeks have been 30+ mile weeks so things are progressing nicely.

Out of time at work now, busy freaking day so at least I posted a little....

Train on,
Luke