Madness

Upon completion of my run today, I am at 77 miles for the week, with a staggering 70 of those coming since Wednesday. I figure by Tuesday of this week I may be near 88, which would probably be the most I've ever put in over any 7 day period. Of course, it's all cumulative so week-over-week and best-in-7 don't mean a whole lot.

As a result of the increased mileage, I didn't do a whole lot of anything else this week. I also really abused my body during the week, with way too many late nights and a St. Patrick's Day celebration that would have rivaled any of my alcoholic relatives' best efforts.

My legs did not feel good at all this week following last Sunday's 5k. I was considering running Ben's workout on Tuesday but knew it would have done me absolutely no good. Instead, I waited until Thursday to run with Justin. We were going to run at 11am so I could get back for the first tip-off, and while the morning was nice, right around 10:15 the weather took a turn for the worse. It was cold, windy and rainy, and I was not happy running the workout of 3x2 miles with 2:00 rest. My times were lackluster and I was disappointed, but very happily watched the 16 Tournament games on Thursday, including the Terps dismantling of Cal, and then went over to Ben's to watch Michigan take out Clemson.

I felt less-than-stellar on Friday, but muddled through a 10 miler before heading to DC with Arjun and Melissa. I was concerned with how bad my body felt, but figured I was just tired. We met up with Brennan and his family for a pre-race meal in DuPont Circle, and then me/Arj/Mel met up with my friends Kootman and Lauren to eat again and watch some of the Friday night Madness (and boy was I mad). A late night and an early wakeup made for a quiet Metro ride from Silver Spring to Chingachong-Chinatown, but once we got off the train we were made alert by the cold air (32ish degrees).

As much as I don't care for a lot of things about DC, I love running there. It stems from all the adventures we had in college, and I wouldn't mind running there every weekend. Riding, well, that's better up here, but I do love me some Beach Drive and Mormon/Ross repeats.

Arjun and I ran down to mile 3, met up with some friends and prepared to cheer for Ben and Brennan, who were running the National Half and Full, respectively. Ben came through and looked unreal (26:50 through 5) and Brennan didn't even seem to be running but rather floating along the course. We were able to see them pass at 3, 6, 10 and 12, and then at 14 the three of us (Arjun, Zero and me) jumped in with Brennan for a minute. His pace was absurd, and I could only handle a little over 4 miles of it before slowing.

The nice first half of the course is replaced with the utterly silent and boring 2nd half on the other side of the Anacostia. He was still killing it, and I had to put in another big effort to get to the finish line in time to see him after the 23rd mile. The result was Brennan negative splitting his first marathon (1:21:52-1:20:09) and finishing 17th in 2:42:01. That is unbelievable.

Meanwhile Ben had picked up 6th with a 1:10:36, another unbelievable race. Really good day down in DC.

Arjun and I then had to run back to Chinatown, so it was a 21 mile run for me, with about 6 miles of pretty decent tempo running. When we got back, and after I ate a ton of food, a few of us gathered to watch the miserable Terps game and then the Michigan game. Then we went out to celebrate Brennan (and his sister's) great days. Another 2am arrival at home meant I needed to sleep in, so I woke up at 8 today.

Met Kris, Justin and Kip at Patapsco to run, but didn't run with them. Instead I just did the most chill 15 miles of my life. It was really nice in the Park, so I didn't mind running slow, and really needed to do that.

I've got another week of volume lined up for this week, except I actually plan on riding and swimming (I only got in the pool once this week and didn't ride at all, boo). I will probably be around 80 miles running for the week, and then it will be time to start chilling out with the volume for a little bit.

The good news is that as of today I'm at about 650 miles of running for the year. My three months leading up to NYC Marathon last fall were 340 miles. By the time Boston comes around, I'll have close to twice as much under my legs, which I believe will help me during the race, and after as I try to recover and get my triathlon legs back. Last four weeks of running have been 44, 51, 60 and 77. One more high week and back down to 40s.