4.5 miles to Madawaska

Last week is what I would consider a light mileage week.  I ran the Boilermaker, in Utica, New York and had a recovery week.  The Boilermaker was one of the coolest races I have run.  People lining the streets, countless bands, tough course, and a massive post race party.  There must have been 40,000 people there.  F.X. Matt's provides free beer to all from 9am-12pm.  It was a very good time.

So, this week I logged 14.55 miles which pulls me to within 4.5 miles of Madawaska.  I completed this in three workouts.  Two 5.25 milers around a very familiar route in my neighborhood.  I usually run this route, or a variant of it, three or four times a week.  The last workout I did was an interval workout at the local track.  I am gearing up for a few short races in the late summer and fall.  I am starting to get less focused on covering distance with speed, and more focused on just being speedy.  I did 3x800 with a 400 recovery.  I expect this to increase to 5x800 by August 21st or so.  I am also going to change one of my former long runs to a temp run; this means I will get speed work twice a week.  Combine this with the fast abs workout from Runner's World and you get an ambitious schedule.  At the very least I will be very sore.  Hopefully faster.