A lot of heat training!

Monday: 6 mi, road
Tuesday: 5.1 mi, road
Wednesday: 7.7 mi, road
Thursday: rest
Friday: 6.2 mi, trail (Western Waterfront Trail)
Saturday: 10.1 mi, road
Sunday: 10.1 mi, paved trail (Munger and Alex Laveau trails)
Total: 45.2 mi

We had a bit of a heat wave last week, and I ended up doing Wednesday’s and Saturday’s runs in the mid to high 80s F. It really stunk, but at the same time, it will probably end up helpful. This weekend’s forecast is also looking hot (although now it is looking like it might storm during the race), so it was good practice to be toughing it out in the heat.

I’ve been struggling with my confidence a lot, as I’m running a lot of slower than normal times. I need to calm down about that, because of course when it is hot and I am increasing mileage, I’m going to see some fatigue. Nothing hurts, I’m just lacking energy, which is compounded by a lot of low quality sleep, thanks to the early sunrises. Blackout curtains might be tempting if I wasn’t worried they would further restrict the already pitiful airflow in the house.

I wanted to keep my mileage up this week, but I didn’t want to do a true long run, with the Eugene Curnow Trail Marathon coming up on the 15th. I did back to back medium-long runs instead, which I liked! I don’t plan on doing any super duper long runs (other than this weekend’s marathon) during this training cycle, due to time constraints, and instead plan to run a lot of back to backs. Is that a good strategy? I guess I’ll find out in 12 weeks. (Now I’m screaming internally in my cubicle because 12 weeks is not enough time.)

I gave West Skyline Drive another try on Saturday, since I’d run it as part of last week’s 16 miler. It was still pretty slow, thanks to the heat. Oh, and I had to ration water again, which was stupid. I wore a full backpack of water on Sunday (I guess I should do this on any medium-long run anyway, just for the extra practice, and because it’s kind of like running with a weighted vest) just to be absolutely certain I didn’t run out of water. It was cooler Sunday, as it rained in the morning and early afternoon (I didn’t start running til like 4:00 PM), but it was still humid. I started at Jay Cooke and took the Munger Trail into Carlton, then zagged over to the Alex Laveau trail instead of crossing the road to continue on the Munger Trail. It was a good choice: the Laveau trail is a lot more scenic than the section of Munger I’d have covered.

Tomorrow I’m running the Park Point 5 Miler. It seems stupid to run 2 races in one week, but eh. It’s not like I’m vying for the win in either and sabotaging my chances at greatness. I sort of regret signing up for the PP5M because I have no leg speed right now, but I think a rest day and a longer pre-race warm-up will take care of that. Or not. Since the PP5M is for fun rather than a goal race, I’m just going to throw my goals out here, rather than make a separate post.

A Standard: 49:59
B Standard: 55:00

I ran a 10 mile race faster than that B standard time, but I’m also accounting for these sluggish legs of mine. It’ll be fun and over with quickly, that’s all that matters.