Absorbing the Training

I had a great discussion with my coach yesterday, and the plan became clear. Running 8 miles a day for a week was a great stimulus. Since I was pretty fatigued by Friday/Saturday night, there was no question as to the fact that this stimulus was effective.  The best part of the week long experience was the fact that I no soreness to speak of.  This has made my decision simpler.  Training is about the stimulus.  I will keep running 8 miles a day for a week at a time.  I'll take one day off at the end of each seven days.  Hence, this week began yesterday (Tuesday). When I get to the final 8 mile run, I'll have a choice, run a little longer or run a little harder.  Last week, I ran a little harder.  A little bit of choice is good during training.

I'm really curious to see where this goes.  As I laid things out with my coach, the plan right now is to repeat this weekly cycle for 8-10 weeks.  Then we can see where I am.  As he reminded me, when I was doing my "20 x 20s" (twenty weeks of twenty mile runs), I reached a point at about the fifteenth week where I began wondering what was next.  The twenty miles had become "old hat."  The question will be when 8 miles a day becomes routine.  That will essentially be when there is no longer the same stimulus.   When that happens, it will be time to make adjustments, and I can decide then what to do.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to having a daily routine.  That was also one of the things that I realized yesterday.  I wake up each morning and write my daily blog.  I then go out on my daily 8 mile run.  Afterwards, I check my email (need to develop the discipline not to do that beforehand).  Then, I'll have some tasks (my textbook is one important one) to perform.  Structure and routine are as important as purpose.  I'm ready to start absorbing.