Training, Jan. 16 through Jan. 22

80.5 miles in eleven runs, including a couple of nice bookends -- 16.5 on Monday and 12 today. (That 16.5-miler might be the longest single run I have ever done on a Monday; I kind of doubt it, but what I don't doubt at all is that if I were Dave Dunham, I would know the answer immediately. DD, who has now won at least one race in each of the past 39 years, can tell you stuff like his six longest runs on any given date. Accountants doubling as runners are very dangerous.) One thing I can state with assurance is that I have not run more than 80 miles in a single Earth week in years, a lot of years, good years. Great years! I think the most recent time was in 1923. I can't remember for sure, but at the time I owned a Dodge Dart that could go up to 145 miles an hour but had a real problem with oversteering. My grandmother was also a general in the Confederate Army. Sad! #FactsAreNowRelative

I've decided that the minds behind FloTrack, which has been subject to a number of public-opinion trials lately with less-than-favorable outcomes, may also be responsible for the wreck that is Garmin Connect. That, or the brain trust of both sites, along with whoever maintains Athlinks, all went to the same "Intro to Server Administration" seminar together and sniffed airplane glue the entire time. I use Garmin Connect as a running log now, which is kind of funny since I don't use a Garmin to measure my runs, which is also funny since I have one at my disposal.

Again, I am holding off on formal fast running for another few weeks. I think I will try a 4M time trial or tempo run or tempo trial sometimes around Valentine's Day. I am happy with how things are going, but after three weeks totaling about 217 miles (65, 71, 81), I should probably roll it back to 70 this week. I'm at a point a lot of longtime runners are familiar with: I have a lot of days on which about the only time my legs don't feel tired is after I've been running for about 20 minutes.

Today I cemented some of my plans for spring travel, and I'm happy about this. This will be the fourth straight year I've made it back to New England for the Boston Marathon, and I'm hoping that the weather treats the runners better than it has the past couple of runnings.