200 mile month

I haven't run a 200 mile month since I was in marathon training 3 years ago. These are generally accompanied by one or more 50 mile weeks. These were hard to hit on single daily runs, but I find them a cinch to hit when doing doubles.

I've tacked on a number of double run days, given that I can now shower here in the office (um, not literally the cubicle I'm in, but you know what I mean). I haven't made any changes to the morning routines, still sticking with a quicker Tuesday run, hills or track on Wednesday and a Thursday midlong. The second runs are at noon and I'm doing them whenever time permits. The usual run so far is about 4 miles but I've got a fairly nice hill climb if I go north instead of south and that might add a little extra sumthin to them.

The extra runs actually make the harder days easier. I get to work out the stiffies with a nice slow recovery run, and doing this closer to the next workout is better than leaving a big 24 hour or more gap. Not many holes in the log either. I've only got 3 blank spots in the last 4 weeks.

Sporting Life 10k went this weekend. Usually I high-tail it to a spot well down Yonge Street and try to time it to arrive just as the leaders hit the turn. Forgot all about it this year. Kenyan's filled in 5 of the top 7 spots, but what really caught my eye in the results list was 17th place finisher Jerry Kooymans taking second masters runner in a blistering 32:53, with only Montreal's Louis-Philippe Garnier sliding in for 13th overall. The difference, Garnier is 44 while Kooymans is 8 years his senior at 52. It's impressive to see him running this kind of speed these days. For comparison, he ran this race in 34 and change 3 years ago...not exactly slowing down any.

I've signed up for a trail race on June 14th. A 12 1/2 k run over some bike paths in Durham Regional Forest. Gotta get my new trail shoes all dirtied up for practice. Should be fun!