hello!

it's been a while, i realize! don't worry -- i didn't stop running these last several weeks -- i just took a break from writing about it! i've been slowly ramping up mileage to prepare for my next marathon training program, which begins next week (monday, july 18).

as i had mentioned before, i'm going to run the philadelphia marathon this year. i don't plan on qualifying for boston just yet, but that's an ultimate goal of mine (3 hrs, 40 minutes is the qualifying time for women in my age group), so i hope to get a little bit closer for this race. maybe a 3:50 -- possible? i'm not sure, but i go the 4:01 without even completing a real training program and just 3 long runs, so i'm hoping there's a lot of room to improve.

the program that i've decided to use for this marathon is the 18 week/up to 55 miles per week plan in pfitzinger's advanced marathoning. i've heard a lot of good things about this plan, and it appeals to me because it's very specific and the mileage is tough, but reasonable.

base-mileage-wise, i think i'm doing decently. this past week looked like this:

total: 36 miles

monday: 7 miles
tuesday: rest
wednesday: 8 miles
thursday: rest
friday: 6 miles
saturday: 3 miles
sunday: 12 miles (hills in duke forest)

i haven't really been tracking pace, but i've been doing my 8ish mile runs between 9:00/mile and 9:40/mile. i'm going to have to figure out what exact paces to do for the program - i'll save that for a later post!

this week, my goal is 40 mpw. i'm excited to be posting again . . . just 19 weeks to go until marathon #2!