11 Weeks and Counting

With 11 weeks to go before my 25k planned for May my training is about to become a bit more specific.  For the last few weeks I have been trying to acclimate my body to the stress and strains of training by focusing on slow and steady mileage with the occasional tempo workout thrown in for good measure.  I have a long way to go before returning to any sort of good racing shape, but have confidence in my training schedule and am not putting too much weight on my performance in the Spring.  I would rather go into the spring healthy and at 80 percent fit, than to go into the spring injured.  Being fit in May will make transitioning into marathon training a breeze. 
Yesterday I started my weekly outdoor sessions with an easy 10 miler with 2 of the miles at tempo pace and the rest at or below my steady state training pace.  I ran into another runner who when I passed him @ 7:30 pace he wanted to press on with me through the hills for a couple of miles.  I used this experience to  run below 7:30 pace for a couple miles, use the hills to my advantage and remember how to press on when someone in right on your shoulder.  I normally don't do this when out on a training run, but I am a competitor at heart and do not get enough chances to shift into a higher gear too often.  Tempos also remind me of just how far from being in shape I am.  In two weeks I run 4 miles at tempo pace and am sure I will reaffirm that I am not in that great of shape.  I look forward to the challenge that the 4 mile tempo will bring.  This week I am running 3 x 1.5 miles at tempo pace and a 9.5 mile steady state run.  Pretty simple week with 2 longer runs, a tempo and 2 or 3 easy runs thrown in to round out the mileage.  At this early in my training cycle I am still a little timid, but I have to remind myself that with 11 weeks to go your body can make profound changes and become stronger and sharper than you would believe possible.