July 25-31
Mon: AM - 4 miles; PM - 6 miles easy
Tue: 5 miles
Wed: 7 miles easy
Thu: 6 miles
Fri: 6.5 miles w/ drills after
Sat: 6 miles, incl 6 X 20/40 sec strides
Sun: 14.5 miles
Total: 55 miles
Well, thanks to one of the nastiest weeks of heat and humidity I can recall, this week was basically a bust. In the grand scheme of things, after building up pretty steadily and running some of the most consistent mileage I have in a long time over the past three weeks, it was probably a good time for a cutback week anyway, but I would have rather had that on my own terms than as a result of the weather. However, in the end, I did what I needed to do and that was the right move, as forcing things likely would have led to big problems.
I probably made my first mistake of the week on Monday when I tried to double the day after a long run where I’d really wilted the last 5k. I was likely in somewhat of a hole from that and dug myself in a little deeper with two hot, humid runs. Furthermore, I rode my motorcycle to work that day and got caught in a storm heading home that forced me to seek shelter and delayed me by almost an hour. Not good when you’ve had nothing to eat and a limited amount to drink, and once again a compromise to recovery, especially since it also cut into my nightly stretching/massage routine. It might sound silly, but the little things are extremely important, especially as you get older, and if you fail to do them you notice it.
I had intended to double again on Tuesday, but I was at least smart enough to sleep in that morning in the hopes I’d feel better that afternoon. Wrong! Tuesday afternoon saw the heat index hit triple digits and I struggled from the get-go, calling it a day after just 5 miles. From that point forward, I spent the rest of the week playing catch-up. Friday was the first day after 12 straight that the temp didn’t hit at least 90, and in spite of the fact it was still 89’ when we ran, the humidity was down a little as well and I actually felt good. That told me the weather was a big factor, although certainly not the only one, in how poor I’d felt all week.
I closed the week out with a normal weekend. I did an easy run with some strides on Saturday then the longest run I’ve done in quite a while on Sunday. While the last few miles of that run weren’t what I would call easy, I felt the most solid I have in quite a while for a long run, and it showed with the last 3 miles of the run being the fastest, including a final mile of 6:43.
This week I hope to get back on track and log around 70 miles along with a couple workouts. The workouts will likely be pretty light and on the slow side thanks to lack of fitness as well as the heat/humidity, but I need to start incorporating some faster efforts if I’m going to race anytime soon, which I actually hope to do as early as the latter part of this month. Anyway, July is in the books and it’s on to bigger, better, and as hard as it is to imagine, possibly hotter, things in August.
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