Gettin caught up

We're coming up on the end of the year and I've been reminiscing quite a bit about my year in running. In 30 years of running - no question my best year yet. The problem is how am I gonna get better next year? It's human nature to up the ante soooo (wait for it........) I've decided to hire a coach for 2009. I've been training by myself with my own methods for 20 years so it's time to try something new. I've hired the best in the business - former Pearl Izumi-Smith teammate Paul DeWitt. Paul has decided to focus his efforts on coaching rather than racing for (at least) 2009. Paul is the former record holder at Leadville 100 and current record holder at Heartlands 100. In the past I've done decent at 50 miles and below but the 100 mile race has always stymied me and so I think Paul will be perfect for the job. Not to mention he lives relatively close so training runs with him will be easy to come by.

I am 100% committed to the workouts Paul will send me on a weekly basis. Not only will you get to see what kind of training Paul creates for me but you'll get to see the results too. But don't copy them because he has a very extensive questionnaire that is required before hand so the training is tailored to each individuals strengths and weaknesses.

So here are two of my workouts this week so far:

Tues - In the SLC at Liberty Park: 15 minute warm-up, 20 minutes at 5:45 pace, 15 minute warm down. Total around 7 myles 51:06. The 20 minutes at 5:45 pace was just like a 5 K run - not hard enough to go beyond LT but breathing pretty hard and happy to stop.

Thurs - Back in Colorado: 10 myles in 1.13:27 with 8 x 1:30 at 5:15 pace. Whew this was tough! I was into LT - don't know if I was at 5:15 pace but I tried to think about running the mile back in high school. This was pretty much as hard as I could go without actually sprinting. Last 20 seconds of each one hurt me.

So there you have it - pretty much caught up except for one item - Nutritional Facts. I still have one post I want to put out on the Nutritional Facts label. I will have this out no later than Sunday. You'll want to read it because it deals with serving sizes and ties in the two previous posts.