Making Pfitzinger Pfitz My Schedule

Although I have not been pfaithfully pfollowing Pfitzinger, I have adapted the plan to pfitz my schedule. I am into the 7th week of the plan, and the mileage is ramping up. This week was the highest total so far, 77 miles, and I made it with a whopping 1/4 of a mile to spare. From here through mid-March, the plan averages 84 miles per week, with some 90+ mile weeks. Those weeks would be, of course, right through the heart of the winter here in the snow belt of northeast Ohio. Right through the shortest days of the year, meaning many long runs in the dark, in the snow, in the frigid cold. Yeah. That'll be nice. Maybe I can carry a backpack full of paving stones and wear my bedrom slippers, so that it will be more challenging.

The Training Week In Review
Monday and Wednesday were not noteworthy, just moderately paced, hilly, 8 mile runs. Tuesday was supposed to be track day, but my schedule would not allow it, so I did a lunch intervals session on the streets of Independence. The first two miles were hilly, mostly of the 'up' variety, and my 6:17 and 6:19 times reflect that. My last mile was over rolling hills, but with a nice flat to slight downhill over the last half, which allowed me a time of 5:59. With warm-up and recovery, and cool-down, the total was 7 miles.

I had planned to run at lunch on Thursday, but a meeting prevented that. I got home from work, changed and hit the road in Solon. I ran our usual Sunday long run route, but ran it in the opposite direction. I finished with 13.47 miles at a 7:53 pace. (I want to digress momentarily on the topic of safety when running at night on the street. I wear very bright LED headlamp, a very bright flashing LED red light on my back, a reflective vest, a neon green hat...oh, and a pair of neon pink gloves. Further, unlike the group runs where we literally are running on the streets, I try to use the sidewalks where ever they actually exist and are passable, that is, not covered with snow and/or ice. When running on the street, I stay as far to the edge as possible, and always watch oncoming traffic for inattentive or obnoxious drivers who run me off the road. There are a few on every run.)

Saturday was a fun romp through the woods, as usual, but with the bonus of trying out a new pair of shoes. I purchased a pair of Nike Air Pegasus +25 GTX trail shoes. They are based on the classic Pegasus model, with a couple of enhancements. They have GorTex uppers and sealed tongues to keep out some of the moisture. Also, the soles are slightly heavier and more rigid that the standard Pegasus, but not nearly as heavy and rigid as most other trail shoes. I've never owned true trail shoes, preferring to keep the light weight and flexibility of my road shoes and give up the extra protection trail shoes provide. My poor feet finally convinced my brain that they were getting too cold and wet and beat-up, so I compromised and bought trail shoes that were born as road shoes, and retain their road shoe soles [sic]. The shoes were everything I had hoped they would be...not too heavy or clunky, but still true trail shoes so my ten toes were safe and dry, and happy.

Sunday, I put in an early 6 miles before catching the group in Solon just as they were ready to start at 8:00 AM. I ran 12 miles with the group, spending varying amounts of time running with Dave, Paul, Jeff T., Steve Hawthorne (Doesn't Steve look remarkably like one of those toes?), Jeff U., Mark G., Tim H., and Steve G. I added another 1.5 miles running home, then showered, changed, and rejoined the group for breakfast at the bagel shop in Solon. A local chiropractor/orthopedic specialist arranged to meet with us there to give free massages. Of course, he was also pitching his services and a line of nutritional supplements, but he was mostly low-key about it all. I didn't bother with him, but it was funny to see the looks on the faces of runners who sat in the massage chair while he worked them over. Here is Mark, looking like he's enjoying this device in a way that should have been reserved for a very private session.