Inspiration

I worked as a volunteer for a race for the first time today. I volunteered for the Burning River 100 mile endurance run. I was at mile 39.6 handing out food and fluids... wow, it was amazing to see all of the runners. It was really inspiring to see people who had run 40 miles (close enough!) and still had 60 to go smile and joke as they refueled and went on their way.

Running 100 miles is not something I ever aspire to do and I have enormous respect for those athletes out there who do these races.

I myself have been nervous all week for my measly (in comparison!) 15 mile run scheduled for tomorrow. The longest I have ever run up to this point in my life is 13.1 miles. I'm still nervous, but watching the runners today has definitely inspired me!

Finally. A good long run!

It was not 90 degrees this past sunday! It was in the upper 70's and it was a stepback week! For the first time during marathon training my long run felt good!

Weekly Recap:

Sunday - 9.01 miles. An excellent long run.

Saturday - 4.01 miles. It was 90 and humid.... at least it was only 4 miles.

Friday - Weights

Thursday - 4.08 mile tempo run

Wednesday - Weights

Tuesday - 4.06 miles. I skipped my weekly speed workout in favor of an easy 4 miles, which seemed to help my sore legs.

Monday - rest

Weekly Milage:

21.16 Miles

Sweat vs Rain

I've determined that no matter what time of day I run, the humidity results in me arriving home soaking wet with sweat. Last night I went for a short tempo run in the rain... well at least it was raining when I left. The rain felt soooo good! Half way through my run it stopped raining, and the sun came out, and I started to sweat. That felt bad. I definitely prefer being soaked by rain to being soaked in my own sweat. The rainy part of my run was the best i've felt on a run all month. I'm hoping for some showers on my run tonight!

I miss Colorado weather!

Ugh. This humidity stuff sucks! I managed to wake up early sunday to get my 12 miles in before the 90 degree heat set in. Despite the fact that it was somewhat cooler than 90, i'm guessing in the upper 70's, it was so FREAKING HUMID that i'm not even sure it was better than running in heat. I miss those crisp Colorado mornings, when no matter what the high for the day is going to be a morning run feels cool and refreshing. I guess I might have to wait until winter to get that refreshing cool feeling here.

Workouts this week went fairly well. I was feeling sore and burned out, so I took the week off from speedwork and skipped my saturday run in favor of a day of canoeing, which actually felt good. Next week is a stepback week, which i'm excited about. I'm feeling a little burned out.

Here's the weekly breakdown:

Sunday: 12.05 miles. It felt tough! See my above rant about the overall awfulness of humidity.

Saturday: skipped all planned workouts and went canoeing. Does that count as cross training? Who cares, it was fun!

Friday: off

Thursday: 5.01 miles

Wednesday: Weights

Tuesday: Skipped the usual speedwork in favor of an easy 4.01 miles

Monday: off

Weekly Milage: 21.03 Miles

Blog Neglect

Yes, i've been neglecting my blog these past few weeks. Truth be told i'm feeling a little burned out (already!?) with marathon training and just haven't felt like blogging. I'm not sure what exactly it is, maybe it's the combination of trying to adjust to a new city and stick to a rigid training schedule. It feels kind of pathetic because right now i'm not really doing any more running than I was for my half-training. Maybe it's because it's been so hot? (90+ degrees and muggy all last week). As much as I bitch about having to run in sleet/snow during the winter, I really like running in cold sooooo much better than running in heat. Ugh. Maybe I should have picked a spring marathon? Ah well, I need to catch up on some weekly updates for the past few weeks

7/5 - 7/11

Sunday - 10.02 miles. It wasn't as hot as last week... that's about all I can say.

Saturday - 4 miles

Friday - off

Thursday - 5 miles

Wednesday - off

Tuesday - 4.38. A tough speed workout (made tougher by 93 degree temps). 400, 1600, 800, 800, 1600 with 400 jogs in between.

Monday - off

Weekly Total: 23.4 Miles

6/28-7/4

Sunday - 8.04

Saturday - 4.01

Friday - off

Thursday - 5.01

Wednesday - Weights.

Tuesday - 5.78. Speed workout. I'm still the slowest one, but I ran a mile in 7:30, which is awesome for me, so i'm trying to feel good about that! 400, 800, 400, 1200, 400, 1600 (400 rest intervals in between)

Monday - off

Weekly Total: 22.84