This morning I had the first of a few weekly speed workouts leading up to the marathon. It was a challenging one too. After a warmup of a mile I went into a long speed run – 13 minutes at 8:15/mile pace. My goal was to get to 18 minutes – and it is still the goal. I have been experiencing a few issues that may be related to my asthma so I am pushing it, but not to the point of an attack. More on this in the future. After a 4 minute recovery I did another speed interval, this time for 16 minutes at 8:35 pace. A little slower, but I was able to sustain it longer. Both times I went into my zone 4 – a rather stressful place to be for so long. Through out the day, I felt the stress in my chest from the run. Hopefully a sign that I am strengthening my aerobic zone and pushing my anaerobic threshold out further. I finished the workout with a few short sprints and cool down run.

This afternoon I upped the intensity in Pilates and moved to the intermediate DVD. It is built on the principals of the introduction DVD so I was familiar with the plan. However it was more intense. By the end my core was feeling the workout. Another good, yet challenging workout.

Tomorrow I am sure I will be feeling the effects of today’s workouts. Challenging workouts like today are part of the program because progress comes more from stress than smooth sailing. Not every workout should be hard, but the hard ones are needed to get to the next level. So much in life is the same way. If there is such a thing as life periodization like training periodization, there are days I feel I am living through the stressful strength building period. Again, I remind myself it is also part of the strengthening process as I grow. Just as I kept encouraging myself to run one more minute at the faster pace, I also encourage myself through stressful parts of life. Because when I get through it, just like running a hard workout, it is worth the challenge and I know I am stronger because I made it through.