Week 2 of 16, Day 3: Vermont City Marathon Training.

Thursdays will eventually be marathon pace sessions, so along with Tuesday Speed work, and Sat long runs, Thursdays will be one of the harder days of the week.

Started at 5.0 w/ a 1.5 incline.  I increased by .1 speed for every .1 mile; topping out at 6.0 after one mile.  I maintained 6.0 until the 20 minute mark, and because I had noticed that my HR was staying at the very low end of DF's HR Zone 2, I decided I would increase by .1 @ 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and 40 minutes (6.1, 6.2, 6.3).

Last Run on Tuesday felt like more work than it should have, tight, sluggish, breathing heavier than I should have per paces, no pep.  Due to that run, I decided to ease into tonight's run by going back to the increasing by .1 x .1 instead of trying the .1 x .05 increase like on Tuesday.

I felt pretty good tonight - HR was easily in check, every time I increased the speed after 20 minutes, I didn't feel like it was any harder.  I probably could have increased to at least 6.5 before I would have pegged my HR @ 166.  Part of me feels like I should have pushed harder, the other part of me thinks that it was good that I didn't go all out just yet - it's still early in my 16 week program, and I have already increased the easy paces significantly from what I was doing in base building.  It'll be interesting to see how things progress.  I know it's early, but today I really felt some reassurance in Don Fink and his plan.  I felt good and strong on a day of the week I know I will need to in the upcoming 3 months.  On a side note, I had a weird issue with the top of my foot early in this run.  It felt as though perhaps I had tied the very last part of my shoelaces too tight - right at the top of the shoe, a burning discomfort - almost like there was a tag under the tongue scratching my skin.  It bothered me enough that I stopped my run twice within the first mile - something I normally wouldn't do (maybe I'm getting wiser with old miles?).  The first time I loosened the laces and straighted the tongue, but it didn't seem to help, so about 30-60 secs later, I pulled the top of the sock taught - which seemed to have resolved the issue.  I also had a brief moment of the mid-foot crunch issue - that Morton's Neuroma or Metatarsalgia symptom like sensation - not sure what I'm really dealing with here - but at least at this point in my training, it left as soon as it came (and no, it wasn't the same foot that I had to mess with my shoe and sock).