Image from Chris Piascik
Yup. Halfway there. The next six weeks are insane, but then we have the three week taper, so I’m just counting the days (read: runs) ’til then.
This week was a ‘step back’ week again (wahoo!) so we got to take it easy.
- Monday: rest day
- Tuesday: 4 miles
- Wednesday: 7 miles
- Thursday: 4 miles
- Friday: rest day
- Saturday: 11 miles (or a half marathon)
- Sunday: cross training
Monday for us was a true rest day: we were anticipating the arrival of hurricane Isaac and schools were canceled. The wind and rain were mild, but not run-friendly at all.
Tuesday, I’d planned to meet a friend for our 4 miles but when I woke up at 4:45 am, the lightening was cracking and we were in the middle of another rain band from Isaac’s path. I had to hit the treadmill that afternoon instead. Ugh. Easy 4, but I am not liking the treadmill again.
Wednesday morning, I met Ginger at 5:15 am for our new 7 mile loop path around some local parks. I’m not sure we like this route very well – it’s not very well lit, so we stumble over cracks and puddles and generally feel unsafe. We’ve been trying to run in the street when possible, but I think now that our mid-week runs are up in the 8 mile range, we’ll be heading somewhere else.
I took my Nathan belt with me and was happy I did; we were able to stop halfway for some water and fuel. I love that thing!
I did my next 4 miler on Friday morning around the neighborhood. It was one of those easy, I could run forever types of runs. I love those. They’re too few and far between.
Saturday, our long run was a strange one. According to Hal’s plan online, we’re supposed to sign up for a half marathon this weekend. It’s September 1, in Florida, so finding a race simply wasn’t in the cards. I assumed we should be running 13 miles anyway.
When we were about to get started, I opened the Training Peaks app on my phone to verify our distance and saw that the app had us slated for just 11!
We all talked about it and decided that the heat and humidity were so rough this morning that we’d stick with the prescribed 11 and not try to push ourselves. Let’s enjoy the little reprieve when we’re allowed, right?
We ran our usual route, but the morning was much, much hotter than others. We were sweating far more than usual – to the point that sweat was streaming down our arms and legs. The humidity was just insane – the dew point was 1° under the air temp – and both were right around 80, which means nothing was evaporating off of us.
We did run a little faster than usual – mostly because we knew we could for 11 miles and wanted to get it over with. Adam and I had a pretty easy run; Ginger had one of those tough mornings we all hate but made it through.
Nine weeks done; nine to go.
Next week we start hitting the high teens – the scary numbers. I hope we’re ready because I’m not exactly excited. I’m going to get through this, and then I’m probably not ever going to do it again. I’ll stick to enjoying the 5ks, 10ks and maybe a half here and there – but I don’t think I ever want to put this much time and energy into running again.
