Training Summary: 7/2 - 7/8

Mon: 7.5 miles
Tue: 8.5 miles including drills and strides
Wed: 11.5 miles – Progression Run
Thu: 7.5 miles
Fri: 7 miles
Sat: 10 miles – Moderate Run
Sun: 17.5 miles
Total: 69.5 miles

This was a pretty tough week, but when all was said and done, it was also a pretty solid one, especially from a strength training perspective. I came into the week on the tired side thanks to a weekend that not only consisted of a couple tough runs but also included a ton of brush clean-up and fence mending thanks to the “Derecho” storm that devastated the region the previous Friday. When you start a week out tired, then have to deal with triple digit heat indices for the majority of it, that can be a bad combination, but I actually feel like I came through it pretty well. Make no mistake about it, I’m not fast right now. I haven’t done anything to find out and therefore can’t say for sure, but I have a feeling any running much below 5:30 pace would probably do me in fairly quickly. However, I’m strong, and I’m definitely noticing an improvement in my fitness level. The primary place I’m seeing this is in my recovery. I can put in a solid effort one day and not feel bad at all the next, and even the days where I feel worn down are better than those types of days a few weeks ago. For now, that means things are going exactly as I need them to be, even if I do wish I had a little more speed to go to for racing purposes.

In the way of specifics for the week, I did my normal drills followed by a mile of ins-and-outs on Tuesday. It was hot, hot, hot, but I managed to run my fastest time so far this year for the mile that included the strides. The next morning, I embarked on what was to be an 11 mile progression run. When I left the house, it was already 75 degrees, and even worse, the dew point was 71. When I got back 80 minutes later, the heat index was 89. Based on those conditions, I determined fairly quickly that about the best I could do was to try to maintain a solid, but under control effort throughout the run and not worry too much about the pace. I was able to accomplish that, and even somehow managed to cut the pace down the last several miles, hitting 6:03 for mile 11. It definitely wasn’t easy though and took a lot more effort than it should have.

Thursday and Friday were planned easy days as I was hoping to run the race in WV that had been postponed from the previous weekend, again thanks to the “Derecho” storm. However, Friday afternoon I found out they postponed it again, so that was that. As an alternative, I joined the Saturday Morning Group at the Ramada for the standard Grandin Loop. After the first couple miles, Dan Seymour and I started rolling and hit mostly 6:20’s and :30’s the rest of the way. We actually got as fast as 6:11 for mile 7 but backed out a touch after that, mainly due to the oppressive heat/humidity. We didn’t start the run until 8:15AM, and by the time we finished, it was practically suffocating. Based on that, I decided to start my long run the next morning at 7:15AM. Doing so definitely helped, and I actually felt good for the first hour. Around 11 or 12 miles though, the heat started to become more and more of a factor, and from there on it was a bit of a grind, but I finished out 17.5 miles at a 6:47 overall average and was pleased with the effort.

This week will be a down week for me. I’ve hit three very solid weeks in a row and feel now is a good time to back off a touch. I’ll probably cut my volume from upper 60’s down to mid-50’s, so somewhere around a 20% drop. The idea is to let my body catch up and absorb the training I’ve done over the past few weeks, which will hopefully not only help with my fitness but also keep me healthy. To be honest, things are going well enough right now that I almost want to stay on it for another week or two, especially since the weather is finally supposed to cool down a little this week, but that’s exactly what’s gotten me in trouble in the past, going too hard for too long. Patience breeds consistency; consistency breeds success. Controlled aggression!