Month 3

I just started my third month of running since my surgery in January, and I'm beginning to feel the effects of increased mileage. Or perhaps it's my pace. My surgically repaired foot is fine. It's my right side that's beginning to bother me. I ran 40 miles in July and 60 in August. My average pace in June: 9:44; July: 9:38. That's almost 30 seconds faster than my average pace in the same month (first month of marathon training) last year. I need to slow down, which I've done over my last two runs.

July 2007: 94 miles; 10:06/mile
August 2007: 142 miles; 9:37/mile
September 2007: 169 miles; 9:01/mile

What I need to do is repeat the approach I took last summer building up for the marathon. As you can see, I ran a lot of slow, aerobic miles initially, and my pace fell naturally, despite the increased mileage. It's all about base-building--bulking up on fitness. Base-building is not easy, but “Training a little bit beyond your capabilities is the only way to get better," says Dr. William Krauss, a runner and cardiologist at Duke Univeristy. I can attest to that, as I remember last July as a real struggle, but once I got over that initial hurdle, my body could handle more, volume- and intensity-wise.

I look forward to this new challenge and hope that I can regain my fitness of a year ago.