8 days in a row....

I ran 8 days in a row while on vacation. I had a long run of 9 and short run of 3.8 miles. In general, I felt pretty good but I did have some tired legs on the last couple of runs. I also had a couple of bike rides mixed in, so it was a pretty active vacation. I took Sunday off and then did the elliptical today. One thing I noticed in my biking and on the elliptical is that my quads are not as strong as they were last fall. I was doing some weight training then and I also was doing a little bike training while preparing for a sprint triathlon. I was much more regular on my yoga back then too. All of those work the quads pretty well, so I shouldn't be surprised they are weaker now.

I know I need to work on those quads. The hills around here eat them up and I also think my form suffers when they get weak. I am still looking around at marathon training plans and one of the keys factors I am looking for is solid cross training. I have come to the point that my goal for the marathon really is to just finish it. I am doing my best to avoid setting a goal time and just letting it play out. Fortunately, they don't inscribe your medal with your finishing time!

An ideal week for me would be:

Sun - Run (Long - 10 or more)

Mon - Run (Easy - 6 or 7)

Tue - X-Train

Wed - Run (Tempo/Speed - 5)

Thu - X-Train

Fri - Run (normal, whatever that means - 6-8)

Sat - X-Train/Yoga

Unfortunately, I don't think I would get the needed mileage on that plan. I am toying with the idea of doing an early morning X-Train session and lunchtime run on Thursdays. That would get my mileage up to 35+ per week based on my long run. If I do a 16 week marathon plan, I will start at the end of June. If I could go into that averaging 35 miles a week, I would feel pretty good about my chances of completing the program.