Training Summary: Sep 12-18

Sep 12-18
Mon: 6 miles easy
Tue: Off
Wed: Off
Thu: 7 miles
Fri: 5 miles
Sat: 15 miles, including Mikro Marathon
Sun: 5 miles
Total: 38 miles

As the warden said in Cool Hand Luke, “some men you just can’t reach.” That pretty much fits my running perfectly because I never seem to learn my lesson when it comes to crossing the line. To borrow Charlie Murphy’s description of Rick James, I’m a “habitual line stepper.”

After running 71 miles last week and feeling pretty good while doing so, it all came crashing down this week, just like it has every other time I've run that sort of volume here lately. I struggled mightily on my run on Mon, and by Tue, I could tell that I’d dug myself into another hole. The only good thing is, I did recognize it quickly this time and immediately took a day off. I planned on running easy on Wed, but I could tell I was still run down and beat up, so I took that one off too.

Two days off seemed to do the trick for the most part, as I felt pretty good while running 7 on Thu. However, the next day I felt pretty rough again, which basically left me feeling very nervous about using the Mikro Marathon (which was actually a half marathon) as my long run the next morning. Thankfully, I didn’t feel too bad Sat and got in a very solid effort (recap to come in the next day or so). I finished the week off with a 5 mile shakeout on Sun, which felt surprisingly good.

Going forward, don’t look for any more 70+ mile weeks out of me for a while. I had actually hoped to build my way back to 80, and maybe at some point I will, but it’s gonna be a while. For the foreseeable future, I’m going to be in the 60 miles per week range and see how well I can progress at that level. Once I hit a plateau, maybe I’ll try an uptick in volume, at which point hopefully I’ll have enough 60 mile weeks in me that 70 won’t wreck me like it has here lately. I do think the heat/humidity this summer has had something to do with it, but I’m not willing to risk it and continue to try to run 70+ this fall. I need to train to race not train to fill up my log, so I’d rather err on the side of caution for the time being.

Until next time, Happy Fall, and Happy Running!