I have reached the conclusion of my fourth week of training (of 24 weeks total) for the Portland Marathon, and to be honest, this week’s runs have been a bit interrupted by various circumstances. I will explain in line with each day’s workout.
- Monday – I was still feeling quite sore from the previous days 8–plus mile run. I went to the fitness center to do strength training and ended up stretching for about 30 minutes instead.
- Tuesday – Unfortunately here, I seem to have lost my actual numbers from this workout, although I do know I ran 4.0 miles on the treadmill with 4×30 second strides included.
- Wednesday – Off (spent the day travelling to Buffalo, NY for my sister-in-law’s college graduation).
- Thursday – 0:43:41, 5.39 miles (8:05/mile pace), including 4×30 second strides. Splits: 8:27, 8:03, 8:09, 8:09, 7:45, 3:06. This was run on the Amherst Bike Trail (aka Ellicott Creek trail) in Amherst, NY near the SUNY-Buffalo north campus – a gorgeous, scenic run on which I saw a goose with her goslings and several young rabbits.
- Friday – Off (flew from Buffalo to Houston for the college graduations of my two cousins, Nathan and Katherine). I probably should have run on this day, but the day in airports wiped me out. I committed to myself to stick to schedule over the weekend.
- Saturday – 0:30:00, 3.44 miles (8:43/mile pace). Splits: 9:03, 8:50, 8:33, 3:35. An easy, 30–minute foundation run.
- Sunday – Long Run – 0:52:36, 6.0 miles (8:46/mile pace). Splits: 9:05, 9:06, 8:54, 8:42, 8:41, 8:10.
Total Mileage: 18.83 miles
Yikes – this week felt more like a week off. I only ran four days, took two days entirely off instead of one, and spent a strength training day stretching instead. Furthermore, since this was a “rest” week, as every fourth week is in this particular training regimen, the mileage was scaled back anyway. So I’d better behave this week, although I admit that my muscles are feeling terrific right now!
Here is my Google Earth map, brought to you by my Garmin Forerunner and by Evan Dodds, for this past week’s run on the Amherst Bike Trail:
Foundation Run – Thursday, May 11, 2006
Evan and I are off tomorrow morning on a week-long camping trip through the Northwest. We are eager to see several national parks (Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier), as well as Lewis and Clark Caverns in Montana and Waterton Park in Alberta, Canada. I am also psyched about creating maps of my runs in the different areas from my Garmin Forerunner. By the way, I think I may have sold my uncle, Randy, on considering a purchase as he has gotten into running lately.
Here’s what is up for Week 5:
I am so eager to start my trip tomorrow morning – and to see Western Montana/Wyoming on foot. 
Have a great week everyone! “See” you when I return.