Ah, the power of a stickerchart.  Ask any mom who’s ever tried to teach her kid to pee in the potty, and you’ll hear across the board that the inexplicable lure of putting a sticker on a piece of paper on the fridge will completely reprogram human nature.  I am pleased to report that my Marathon Training Plan Sticker Chart  (pictured here at left) has a full set of seven stickers! Monday: Power 90 Upper Body circuit and McMillan’s Core for Runners program.  This DVD was OK- I did the “Phase 1″ and definitely need to start at Phase 2 or 3, as it was much easier than the core work I’m used to doing.

Tuesday: 7 miles @ about 8:55 (General Aerobic pace) with 10 x 100M strides.  It turns out I was doing the strides wrong.  Instead of doing them all at the end with ample recovery, I ran 1 mile warm-up then did strides every half-mile, so I turned a nice GA run with a few strides at the end into lung-searing interval run.  Ugh.  Needless to say, there was some nausea involved.

Wednesday: P90X Core Synergystics

Thursday: After Rob and I found out we got SMOKED on the a bid for a house we wanted on Wednesday night, we did a little drowning of our sorrows at CAV.  I was feeling a little worse for the wear on Thursday, but managed to get through 9 miles @ a bit slower than 8:55- another “general aerobic” run.

Friday: REST- yes, rest is important, or so I am told.

Saturday: 4 “Recovery Miles.”  These were long and slow and generally uninspired, despite the awesome weather!  Let me just tell you, “Th’aint so such thing as recovery miles!”  At least it didn’t feel like it for me on this day.

Sunday: 12 mile “medium long run.”  I was supposed to do these at about 9:38/mile, but JEEZ OH MAN, these hurt.  My right hip flexor and left shin were barking, so I was essentially limping along.  I didn’t hit my time goal, but I hit my mileage, which is the most important thing at this point.  I gave myself one of the rare Sparkly Macaroni in an Uncle Sam tophat stickers for this run- I deserved it!  And then sat my aching legs in a tub full of ice for 12 minutes.

Total Miles: 32

Next Week I Will: Not go to CAV, not put offers in on any homes, and generally try to rest up between training runs.  I’m also in the market for a metatarsal pad for my shoes, as recommended by the folks at the UCSF RunSafe  clinic, because the balls of my feet have been seriously getting a pounding.