Boston training, week 1-2

I know all the cool kids are writing recaps of 2011 around this time of year (or maybe I'm a little late on that, considering it's January 9...) but in terms of running, 2011 was forgettable at best. Hopefully in 2012, tendonitis/ankle sprains/thyroid cancer will leave me the hell alone and let me do my thing.  And currently, that thing is....Boston Training!

So, I really don't even know what I'm doing right now. I kept telling myself all semester "you really should make a plan for Boston training because it's coming up sooner than you think!"...and now all of a sudden it's here, and I don't know what's going on. To be fair I'm not usually a person who follows a specific plan and tend to wing it on everything besides the long run, but I've gotten wayyyy too used to just going out every day and running whatever I feel like. I need to actually think about the purpose behind the runs I'm doing and not just aimlessly run around.  That being said, I actually did do a couple of things that could be construed as "workouts" this week and I think that's a step in the right direction.

One exciting thing that DID happen to me in 2011...I finally bit the bullet and jumped on the Garmin train with the shiny new 405 that I got for Christmas. I'm still deciding on a name, lol. Originally I said I was ONLY going to wear it for speed workouts, blah blah blah, but I quickly realized how amazing and fun it was to see exactly how far I had run at any point in time and now wear it every day. The only downside of this has been the discovery that EVERY route I've ever mapped out online is ~0.2 miles short. Wah wahhh. I know Garmins have some error too, but that it's probably closer to accurate than an online map.  It has seemed pretty accurate as far as pacing in the couple of "speed" workouts I've done though, so I think for tempo runs and intervals it's going to be an absolutely invaluable tool. Plus I love being able to log my runs to the 100th of a mile. :)

Anyway...here's what's been going on in training land the past couple of weeks. Only 5 days of running each week, probably could have done better there, but I was home for part of the time and I had one of my best friends in town for a few days and we just didn't have the time to run every single day she was here. I got the long runs in though, which I think is what really matters at this point.

Week of 12/26-1/1
Mon - OFF
Tues - 7.02 E/8:02 pace, ran on some new trails around some retention ponds at home in Wisco which I was pretty excited about, since I get really bored of the same old parkway when I'm home (not that I'm there too often, but still)
Wed - 7.90 hills/7:44 pace, downhills workout on Heartbreak that I completely forgot about.
Thurs - 5.15 E/8:10 pace
Fri - Nicole arrived, we drank a lot, didn't run
Sat - 12.83 L/8:23 pace, ran the first 5 solo and then picked up Nicole for the rest...long runs with a friend make long runs SO much better...man oh man.  It's been a couple years since we did a long run together so this was fantastic. And the perfect prelude to NYE festivities!
Sun - 5.0 E/8:21 pace, I mean, couldn't start 2012 with a zero now, could we? Hungover.
Total: 37.9

Week of 1/2-1/8
Mon - OFF. Rose Bowl day...had my heart crushed by the Badger loss.
Tues - OFF...hungover, miserably stuffed up, and it was my friend Nicole's last day in town and her knee was bugging her, so we wanted to spend the day doing touristy things rather than running.
Wed - 6.30 E/7:52 pace, the run where I realized my "6.55" mile route that I've been running a TON this fall was not, in fact, 6.55 miles. Core workout.
Thurs - 7.46 w/3.9 mile fartlek/7:55 pace, ran to Brookline res, 6 x 2min @5K pace/3min easy, ran home. Felt really hard but the paces were OK so I'll take it.
Fri - 6.33 E/8:07 pace, felt like crap but saw an INCREDIBLE sunset. LE strength workout.
Sat - 7.12 T/7:27 pace, felt good for the first time in forever, and was running in shorts + t-shirt in January.
Sun - 15.01 L/8:09 pace, first real long run of the training cycle, definitely tough but made it through surprisingly well with the pace probably unnecessarily fast. Made me wonder why I'm doing this marathon training business again but definitely was happy to get through it successfully.
Total: 42.2 miles, 2 strength/core workouts

And that is what's new on the training front.  I'm enjoying my last week off before the semester starts again and looking forward to Thursday night when, after taking some radioactive iodine to kill off any rogue thyroid cells still lurking in my body, I can eat CHEESE again! Seriously...low iodine diet =/= fun.  I haven't been able to eat any dairy or anything with salt added (because I don't know if it's iodized salt or not)...I have been trying to pretend I'm a healthy living blogger or something and "cleansing" myself of processed food but really...I am just hungry and looking forward to eating a pizza.  Come on...I am a runner...I need my processed carbs!

Oh, and I've decided 2012 is going to be a kickass year. The end.