Week in Review: 17-23 March

The running:

17 March - 10 miles (75 minutes) around Baltimore, on a subdued Sunday afternoon (apparently everybody was too tired from all of the "practice" Saint Patrick's Day celebrations for the past two weeks to celebrate the "real" one)

18 March - 9 miles (65 minutes) at APG

19 March - 2 miles warmup, 2 miles @13:21, 400m jog rest, 1 mile @6:20, 3x(200m @34, 400m recovery jog), 800m @3:11, 2 miles warmdown (9 total miles, 70 minutes)

20 March - 11 miles (81 minutes) at APG

21 March - 0.5 mile warmup, 35 minutes on the treadmill, level 15 hill program, 4 miles/1321 feet gain, 0.5 mile warmdown (5 miles, 45 minutes)

22 March - 10 miles (75 minutes) around Baltimore, cold and windy

23 March - 7 miles (52 minutes) in the morning, 8 miles (56 minutes) in the evening, in Baltimore

Total Time: 519 minutes

Total Distance: 69 miles

After not quite reaching my marathon goal this past Saturday, I'm pretty pleased with my rebound week.  Highest weekly mileage in 2013, some decent tempo/speed stuff on Tuesday, a strong return to treadmill hill running on Thursday, and at no point did I feel totally beaten down and exhausted from this effort.  Ultimately, I think my marathon failure was for the best, as it was still a solid training run, and gives me motivation to take another shot at a Boston qualifying time in early May, and to hopefully give a better than just "sneak in under 3:05" effort.

In other news related to the big dance that is Badwater, I've selected my crew, and hopefully all of my initial selections will make it to the starting line (and finish line) with me.  If you weren't selected, and you're still interested, let me know, because if something bad happens between now and then, and somebody can't make it, it would be nice not to have to scramble too much.

Also, my G-PACT fundraising link is up.  To make a donation, go here: http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/DavidPloskonka/david-ploskonka-badwater And, just like last year, with your donation, I'll write a thing of your choice in a marker color of your choice on some article of clothing of my choice that I will wear during the race.  As I mentioned previously, this cause is personal for me, as my sister struggles with gastroparesis, so your support means a lot to me.  Donations of any amount are appreciated!

And that about wraps it up for this week.  If you were looking for something more insightful here, well, so was I, for the past few days . . . And then I decided to let the hard work and progress speak for itself.  (But stay tuned for the weeks - and adventures - ahead, as I'm sure that I'll have plenty more to say.)