Training Summary: 6/25 - 7/1

Mon: 7.5 miles
Tue: 8.5 miles, including drills and strides
Wed: 10.5 miles, including fartlek
Thu: 7.5 miles
Fri: 6.5 miles
Sat: 11 miles – Progression Run
Sun: 16.5 miles
Total: 68 miles

This week certainly had its share of challenges, but in the end, it turned out to be another pretty solid week of training, and overall I’m fairly pleased with the way things are going right now. The combination of the heat/humidity and a slight uptick in mileage is leaving me a little more on the tired side than I would like, but hopefully my body will make the necessary adjustments in both areas soon. Aside from being a little fatigued, I actually feel quite good. I’m noticing some positive signs from the past several weeks of good training and all systems are go as of the time being.

As is typical, my first quality day of the week consisted of drills and strides on Tuesday. I followed that up with a fartlek workout on Wednesday that consisted of 3X3 min, 3X2 min, and 3X1 min, all with 2 min recovery. It was HOT for this one, and between that and heavy legs, I wasn’t sure how it would go. It was a bit up and down, with some intervals feeling good and others not so much, but when all was said and done I was fairly consistent across the board and finished strong, so no complaints. Thursday and Friday were easier days in preparation for a planned race on Saturday.

Turning to Saturday, I headed over to WV to do a 5k, only to find out it was canceled thanks to the storm that rolled through Friday evening. I had a feeling that might be the case, but there was no way to know short of driving over there. The place looked like a war zone, with trees and power lines down everywhere (including on the race course) and all sorts of other debris all over the ground. With the race out, I decided to backtrack a little to the Lewisburg area and run on the Greenbrier River Trail, something I’d always wanted to do. All I can say is this place is AWESOME! I definitely want to make it back there occasionally for long runs. It was incredible in terms of running, as it was mostly flat, nice and smooth, shaded, and scenic. Since I had planned on racing, I wanted to get in a harder effort, and considered doing some sort of tempo run. However, by the time I got started, it was beginning to heat up, and between that and the fact that there was a little debris on the trail in spots, I decided to just do a progression run of sorts. I picked up the effort basically every 2-3 miles, working down to 5:54 for the tenth mile before easing out with one more mile to get 11 total. It was a solid run, but honestly it didn’t feel all that good and I was almost glad I didn’t wind up racing, as I’m not sure how well it would have gone.

Sunday was the usual long run in Fincastle. We started a little earlier than usual and also did a three-loop course so we could grab fluids twice, and man did that help. Even at that it was still really warm and humid and therefore a bit of a struggle, especially considering the day I was coming off of. Not only had I done the progression run, but then I spent the afternoon clearing brush and digging post holes in 100 degree temps. As a result, my legs didn’t feel too bad, but I was just plain tired. I still managed to cover the last 5 miles at a 6:37 average, including 6:24 for mile 16, so the run definitely wasn’t a waste.

This coming week will probably look pretty similar to the past one. Like I said, I like the direction things are going right now, and while I might not be prepping myself to run a fast 5k, in terms of getting ready for the Charleston Distance run, which is my primary goal for the time being, I think everything is spot on.