Finished week 19...

Just finished up week 19, which for me, was my first week of training for Augusta. So far so good. I'm following a similar plan as for last years Ironman, but I'm pushing mysself a bit harder this time. I really want to improve in speed, and running easy, 12 minute miles, is not going to help me. It'll get me to the finish line, but that's not my goal anymore. I need to get faster. So far so good though. Since my last post I've had several runs and swims and I think only one bike ride. The runs have gone well, my HR is down a little, despite feeling that it's really high. But on flat ground, my easy pace is lower than 10 min miles, so that's a great start for being so early. I can only assume, hope, that that will improve especially when I get into speed training and track/hill workouts. This morning was muggy as hell and I ran around my neighborhood, which is a very tough combination. But the run went pretty well. I tried to keep a constant pace the whole time without ever killing myself. I maintained about an 11 min mile, while trying to focus on recovery. I'm feeling pretty sore this morning, but my lower back is not hurting. I noticed it starting to hurt just a bit last night after my run and figured I'd know if something were wrong this morning. The next couple weeks of training are going to be fairly boring I'm afraid. It's the same workouts for the first 4 weeks just getting you into the swing of things. So it'll be pretty easy going. I'm actually looking forward to the more grueling training later on.