My name is Marty. I am a competitive runner and a cross-country/track & field coach at a local university. I also coach several post-collegiate runners. I am gearing for a comeback in 2009. I have battled a few injuries from 2006-08. I seem to be healthy and have spent the past 4-6 weeks getting a solid base to start workouts shortly. Prior to injuries, I had PR's of 15:18 for 5K and 2:27:32 for the marathon. I am gearing for some solid 5 & 10K's during the spring with an eye on a fast hal-marathon in the fall. I am not sure on exact time for venture into marathons again.

Joining here to get motivated

First workout is done. I was little nervous given that I have not been on a track for 6 weeks and have only been doing easy running at about 7:00-7:15 per mile. I have been averaging around 65 miles per week during this stretch. Today called for 7 x 1000 at tempo pace with 45-60 second recovery (based on heart rate). I use a heart rate monitor on easy days. The 1000's went extremely well. Using some charts and reading some, I set a goal of 3:36 per 1000. I ran - 3:34;3:36;3:33;3:34;3:36;3:35;3:34 with an average of 51 second rest. With warm-up and cool-down, I totaled 9 miles for the workout. Yesterday was an easy split of 4.3 miles in the morning and 6.5 in the afternoon. I had to split the workout due to appointments. Tomorrow is back to some easy mileage with still one more track workout for the week.

1st update done - to all reading - KEEP TRAINING HARD AND SMART!!