Commencing 1st week of Boston training with a bang.

Yesterday kicked off my first week of Boston training. My friend Sarahsent me the first cycle of my Boston plan. We're going to work in 4 week cycles, building for 3 weeks, then cutting down, then repeat, building with each cycle. This is how she trains, and she seems to be doing pretty well, so we'll see!
Here is week 1:

Monday, December 21: OFF

Tuesday, December 22: 2.5 mile warm-up; 2 mile on track; start first mile at 8:10 pace, cut-down second mile to 7:55 pace. 2 lap jog. 4x800, 1 lap jog between each repeat. Start first 800 at 3:50, try to cut-down by 5 seconds or so for each 800. 2.5 mile cool-down: Total mileage—10.25 miles

Wednesday, December 23: 6 miles easy.

Thursday, December 24: 8 miles easy.

Friday, December 25: OFF

Saturday, December 26: 12 miles easy

Sunday, December 27: 5 miles easy

Total Mileage: 41.25 miles

Yesterday, there were a few inches of snow on the track, which slowed me down. Never again! I'll do the rest of my Rochester speed workouts on the treadmill. Not a wasted workout, because I was working harder going through the snow. It's cold here! My gatorade bottle kept freezing - it was like drinking a Slurpee. Now, if they made Gatorade slurpees, that would be sweet.

Today was six, normally easy, miles. But kicked today off with a bang. I asked my triathlete bud Mark if he wanted to join me, and he said only if I swam. So, he picked me up at 6 this morning, and we swam (1000 yards for me, 1200 for him - he is much better at this than I am). Wow, the pool really is an eye opener - I was wide awake at that point. Then we lifted weights for about an hour. Now, I really love weight lifting - I don't know quite why. But I like the idea of getting stronger, so we'll see what happens during this training cycle. Then Mark and I went out in the snow and ran for 6 miles. Normally, that would be easy as pie, but so soon after the swim, I was wiped; definitely harder than normal. I have a new-found respect for all triathletes, because I cannot imagine biking in between those too. That is insane! But, things are always easier with a friend, and we had a lot of fun trudging through the wind and snow. We were feeling quite triumphant afterward, yet more proof that running in hard conditions (whether they be weather or after other workouts) is an invigorating feeling. We went out for coffee and bagels after, and the waitress was wondering why we had so much snow on our faces and in our hair and why our faces looked like they did. So, we told her of our adventures, and she thought we were crazy. Which she's right, we are crazy, but we had a blast. Mark and I spent the next hour talking about different running adventures, races, and thoughts about health and fitness in general. What fun, and how good company makes a big difference.