Week Twelve Training Wrap-Up

After a rest day on Monday to recover from the Rochester Half, it was back to business. And business was good! The gorgeous weather inspired me to some strong midweek runs, while a nine-mile run on the Durand Eastman trial on Saturday and a twelve-mile run around the Canastota onion fields, filled with hundreds of pallets of harvested onions, were the icing on top of the cake.

If only everything could stay like this for another month …

The Week Ahead

This is it–the hardest week of the whole program. The Hanson’s program calls for

• Monday: 7 miles gentle
• Tuesday: 3 x 2 mile intervals with 1/2 mile recoveries (12 miles total mileage)
• Wednesday: 6 miles gentle
• Thursday: 10 miles tempo
• Friday: Off
• Saturday: 16-mile long run
• Sunday: 6 miles gentle

Total mileage for the week is 57, but in honor of this week’s guest blogger, who just recently completed his first ever 60-mile week and who is dealing with a tweaked calf muscle, I am going for my first ever 60 miler. I’m not sure how I will slice it up (I am thinking that a 20-mile long run is in order, as I haven’t gone that long in the program so far) but Andy–this one’s for you, brother!

Feature o’ the Week: Andy Wheatcroft on minimalist running

Two weeks ago, I wrote about running with my much-maligned fanny pack. The piece elicited this response from Andy Wheatcroft, a fellow Brit, Team Fox Marine Corps Marathon runner and self-confessed minimalist. After totally dissing my fanny pack–as he put it, my “nice bum bag!”, Andy went on to describe a very different way of running that is something we can all learn from.

I hide a bottle every five-seven miles on my long run route, behind hedges and lampposts. I have a thing about running being my “unplugged from life” time, so no phone and, recently, no iPod. But always my Garmin 220. If it don’t fit in my shorts zipper pocket, it ain’t coming !

On the day of the marathon I do strap on a gel belt though.

And finally, 101 uses of corn. No tissues needed in the Midwest. The leaf has a smooth side that is like Mother Nature’s wet wipe. Seriously refreshing the parts that tissue paper can’t!

Team Fox Update

Well, I didn’t do as well as I’d hoped in the Team Fox challenge, but I did bring in several very nice donations. But if my fundraising was a marathon, we’d only be six-and-a-half mile in! So, please go to my fundraising page and make a donation to the Michael J. Fox Foundation and help eliminate Parkinson’s!

Are you a minimalist runner? Or do you bring it all with you? Leave a comment here, or send me a photo, and I’ll feature it in the next Semper Currens.