Good run today - tough, but good. I've got several cruise interval runs inside a medium/long run on my schedule. They've gotten more doable, but I still am going to need to shave a few out of my schedule.

The kids turned out great.... wink.

Yes, for the most part, they have. Good job, hon. Paul, I usually cutback 15-20% in plan, actuality is sometimes different. We had a beautiful day here, with nice temps (14 when I started, 9 when I was done) and bright sunshine. A little breeze made for some uncomfortable wind chill, especially on my face, but didn't really slow me down. I did find myself wishing I'd had a second layer on my top... another long sleeved tee would've been nice. Oh well. Bike paths were plowed, some better than others but overall pretty nice considering all the snow we got this past week. Goal today was an overall marathon pace run, and since I'm not sure what to plan for MP I was hoping to keep it between 8:20 and 8:30. Started out sorta easy with some road crossings and hilly parts, then settled into some nice paces for the later miles. 10.5 miles, 8:15 avg pace. Mile splits: 8:28, 8:23, 8:28, 8:20, 8:27, 8:17, 8:12, 8:01, 7:50, 8:01, and 7:58 for the last half mile. I'm really pleased with mile 7 (8:12) because that had an icy road crossing and a pretty good sized hill on the overpass over the train tracks. Sure hope I saved some of that sproink for tomorrow's long run...

A cut back week, is when you reduce your regular weekly mileage to allow for some recovery. Mosts plans have 3 weeks of hard work that gradually build, then the 4th week is a cut back week. You don't get faster by running more, otherwise you would be faster at mile 20 than you are at mile one. Running tears down the muscles. Rest repairs the muscles and lets them be stronger and faster than before you stressed them. Cut back weeks let you rest and repair. Same concept with tapering just before a goal race. Taper is allowing you to repair the damage done during the heavy training weeks, so on race day you are faster than if you had continued to train heavily and not allow the muscles to repair themselves.

I was being sarcastic, but thank you for the answer.

No cool points in blister I hate that game. That was a great run, Erika. Its got me thinking about how to spend my last 4 weeks before my marathon. Next weekend is sort of my last big weekend to stress the system I think. I think I'm going to do 10 easy/10 MP long run. You've inspired me I'm nearly over my cold so I'll be running today (did 3 yesterday but felt pretty weak). Another unintended cutback week. Based on my mileage, this has turned into a cutback training cycle.

Nice run Erika! Hope everyone has GREAT runs today. I'm doing my long run today as well though not sure how long it will be.

Yeah, I have had some bad whimsical runs, too, Shan. My wife laughs at me because I always run the same route -- never coming out of my "comfort zone". I like my comfort zone. It's, well, comfortable. 20.2 miles, 2:56:43, 8:46/mi, AHR 147 (73% mhr) miles@actual pace(HR) 5@9:17(142), 10@8:48(145), 5@8:10(157) A little snow but it didn't stick. The wind was more of a factor. MTA: Almost forgot to mention, this was a PR week for me, 61.8 miles, first time above 60.

Nice run Lou and WTG on the weekly milage PR!! Nice weely milage Shan! Well I had an AWESOME long run this morning. I had a plan of doing around 14 however I was too into my run to stop. I averaged an 8:52 pace for the 18.1 mile run. Weather was crappy but I didn't care cause I was really enjoying running. It was nice seing my pace get faster without putting any more effort into running other than being warmed up. Weird how todays run felt WAY better &easier than last weeks 15 miler that was over 30 seconds a mile slower.