One week in the books!

The first week of training has already come and gone, and better than I had expected. After taking a month off I really didn't expect much at all these first few runs back but it seems as though my body really has responded well to the rest and was ready to get back into some easy jogging. I was running right around 3 to 4 miles each day, I even managed to get up to the trails these past few days and get in some easy hill work. The good: One week of pain free running, this probably hasn't happened in a couple of years. The bad: It was only one week, and the week only added up to about 25 miles. The ugly: Me trying to stretch after a month of sitting on the couch eating potato chips and watching It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. After this first week back I have but one reflection, running is hard, sweaty, dirty work, and I love every second of it! Ok, so now for what you all really want to read about, my new training location! Starting November first I will be heading out to Mammoth Lakes, CA for a six week stint of altitude training. Does this sound like an extremely short period of time? Well thats because it is! I don't feel like I will really be in any kind of shape to train at altitude until late October/early November and my graduation ceremony is December 17th, so I have to be back for that. Training in Mammoth will probably become more and more common for me in the future as I move up in distance, but for now it is an ideal place to do my base training this fall/winter. I will be running with the Mammoth track club guys and gals who are all trained by Terrence Mahon. There will be a slew of other elite distance athletes in town as Mammoth is probably one of the best altitude training locations in the world, consisting of great trails, beautiful scenery, and plenty of great training partners on tap. This is one place that I will definitely be taking my camera so I can upload some pictures onto the blog! Well everybody, thats all i've got for you for now... I'll keep you posted on the training every couple of days but in the meantime get out and enjoy the weekend!!!