Week Eight: Heat and Pain

Inside…

and outside! 

Marathon Training Week Eight (Week of July 29, 2013):

Monday: Long walk/run: 73 minutes total.  Walked 51 minutes, {run 1 minute:walk 1 minute} x 10, plus ran 2 minutes just for fun at the end of the running segment. 

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: Morning work-outs!  Bike ride to HEB + 20-min. power walk around my neighborhood

Thursday: Treadmill work-out.  35 minutes total, running portion was {5 min. run, 2 min. walk} x 4

Friday: Off, with push-ups + crunches before bed

Saturday: Bike ride to Target and HEB

Sunday: Long walk/run.  88 minutes total, running portion included {1 min. run, 1 min. walk} x 10 + {2 min. run, 1 min. walk} x 7.

Total minutes walked/ran this week: 216 (estimated miles: 13-14?)

I just woke up from the best/worst nap.  The best: it was spontaneous and felt awesome.  The worst: I am groggy now, and I might not be able to sleep tonight.  Hurray for naps!

Today I had one of my hardest work-outs ever.  My initial plan was 2 hours total of walking/running, with 32 minutes of running in the mix.  I ended up getting 88 minutes done, with 24 minutes of running.  I just hit the heat wall out there and felt it best to not push harder—I was about as hot as I’ve ever been during a work-out, plus my left foot is still bothering me.  My suspicion is that my old pink sneakers are the problem, so I’m going to trash them and stick to using my newer purple sneakers.

My plan is to “finish” today’s work-out tomorrow on the treadmill.  That way, I’ll also be able to add more running into the mix, thanks to a well-cooled gym.  Honestly, training for a marathon in summertime Texas is going about as well as I expected, which is to say: it’s really hard, and I am making adjustments based on how I feel.  Let’s hope that all this hot work now will pay off big-time when it comes to running an October marathon in Michigan.

Stay cool out there, friends!