19-Miler!

Daily Quote: “Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot by pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you live to see in the long run—in the long run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.” --Viktor Frankl

The above quote has hit a chord! Last year I strived hard to reach the goal of a 3:30 in the 2007 Las Vegas Marathon, but only managed to achieve a 3:44:58, which was still a personal record and wasn't too disappointed. This year I'll just strive to train hard and carry on to the best of my knowledge and let the (poker!?) chips fall where they may.

My Recovery Week is now over and time to return to hard, base training, I have only two weeks before I start my Las Vegas Marathon training.

Long Run, 19 miles. Time, 2:53. 9:06 minute miles. Life Fitness Treadmill set at a 1% Grade, 6.6 mph. Average heart rate: 151 bpm. Cardiac drift: 162 bpm. I was considering on doing this run with progressively faster speed, but decided against it as raising speed and distance at the same time right after a Recovery Week might not be wise. I was surprised how comfortable I was throughout the run and without the usual inner negative chatter, my Recovery Week has done wonders with both my body and mind. No aches nor pain, not even a small blister; I'm looking forward to raising my long run distance to 20 miles next week!!

Not enough time to take a short nap before work, will grab a Four Cheese Lean Pocket and eat it in transit to the Company Yard.