Great job!!! Keep up the good work!

Week 2 of the 24 week cycle is done. 36.2 miles (up from 21.7 the previous week -- I'm a big fan of the 67% Rule). More of the same coming for this week -- nothin' but easy miles. Would like to be above 40 for this coming week, but it will be a busy one, so we'll see. Strides start in week 4. Phase II (Early quality) begins in Week 7, with the first quality workouts of any kind. At the end of that week, I may run a "Rudolph Run" 5k on 12/20. This will be a good benchmark for setting my paces for subsequent training. My old nemesis, the right hamstring, has been acting up a bit. Hopefully, the strides will help work out some kinks, but I should probably do some strength and flexibility. But I've been saying that for years -- it probably won't happen.

you are doing so well! Be careful with your hamstring... don't let your arch nemisis foil your plans!

More of the same coming for this week -- nothin' but easy miles. Would like to be above 40 for this coming week, but it will be a busy one, so we'll see.

Actually, I'm really more thinking in terms of time. 5h30m running last week, would like to get above 6h this week (though it's already looking a little tight -- couldn't run Mon, gonna have to try to squeeze one in tonight, and a work luncheon tomorrow guarantees no lunch run tomorrow). Time to HTFU and get it done.

You probably already know this but given your hammy situation I feel compelled to write. If your hammy is only a little sore, I think the strides are ok. You may want to try running them after completing your run. Do them in 50-60 meter bursts. Only run as fast as you can before you start to feel your hammy pull. Also make sure you are focusing on running with your best form and not on effort. Between them use a brisk walk or a very slow jog to recover and let yourself recover completely. I've recently come to realize just how important these things are when doing base training.

Well, I did 6x100m strides after my run today, Wannabefast. Apparently, 100m is the shortest interval you set on the Garmin. And I am too much of a freak to not Garminize it. Right hamstring was a little tight, but not enough to affect my form. Nevertheless, I'm gonna need to do some more hills and do some careful post-run stretching.

Ok, minor setback. I had planned to run a 5k on 12/20. So last Friday, 12/12, I figured I'd do a tempo run, since I'd been doing nothing but easy miles. Having not run any quality in a long time, I didn't have a good idea of how to pace my run (and I'm kind of a dork about running my 20 minutes tempos at LT), so I aimed for a HR of 88-92%of max, and didn't pay any attention to pace. I settled in to a nice rhythm, and was feeling pretty good, but I could feel my left calf starting to tighten. I'm usually good at sensing when something is gonna be bad, so I shut it down after about 8 minutes up-tempo, so a little less than half-way through the planned 20min. After a little super-easy jogging, I settled back in to a standard easy pace. Saw a car stranded in the center lane of the road I was on. Along with one of the passengers, I helped push the car to a side street. During this act, my calf cramped hard. I don't know whether to call it a cramp or a strain, but it's still a little sore now, three days later. So, time to ease up on the pace, and focus on getting healthy. The prescription -- more miles. I need to be at a higher mileage level before doing any quality. I'd still like to race a 2-miler on Feb 15, and in order to do that, I'll need much more than 20mpw under my belt. One good thing about the little tempo segment was that it suggests that I'm faster than I was earlier this year. The 8 minutes were at about 6:23/mi pace, which is about 20sec/mile faster than my threshold pace in the early part of 2008. So I've made progress. Disappointed to not be racing this weekend, because I really have the itch, and I'm pretty sure I could get under 19:00 for 5k. But there are times to HTFU, and there are times to be smart. This is one of those "smart" times.