Marathon Training Weeks 4 and 5 - Back To Actually Feeling Like A Runner
It's alarming how derailing it can be when something gets in your head. When the weather started warming up, I didn't have any targeted running goals, my schedule was a bit off, and I straight up was not ready for the effect that heat can have on running.
I peaked with a 14 mile run that felt great back in March or April and then had a decent 15 mile run the next week, but since then it's felt like a steady decline in my ability and/or confidence to get both the distances and the paces I was after. Even though I was still getting out on the road 2-3 times a week and logging a decent amount of miles, I could tell there was something different in my mindset that was almost holding me back at times. It wasn't until this past week when I had a solid 11 mile run that felt pretty good and a 6 miler that was only a little off of my target race pace that I realized I felt like a runner again.
As I write this, I'm starting to realize I hit the same doldrums last summer before I set my sights on the Thanksgiving half marathon in Atlanta. If nothing else, hopefully by writing this out a couple times over the course of a couple years, I'll figure out how to avoid these sinkholes.
The fifth week of my training coincided with a trip to Wrightsville Beach, so I knew there was a strong possibility my schedule would be a little off kilter. I managed to only miss one run that week and moved things around so I only ran once at the beach. That trip is also why this post is combination of two weeks - woops.
I'm not sure how, since the humidity has been over 90% here a lot, but it felt so much worse at the beach despite it being almost totally flat.
The scenery was nice though.
I was maybe going the wrong way on this bridge, but the people whose way I was in didn't seem too peeved.
I was going to get a shot of the marsh that I ran by, but by that point I was more concerned with not falling into it.
By the end of 6 miles in the afternoon beach heat and humidity, there wasn't a dry spot on me and I felt like hell for a few minutes, but I probably would have felt worse for longer if I hadn't run.
Fortunately, the heat seems to be slowly backing off. I hope I didn't just jinx that though. Either way, I'm slogging through my training miles while the heat lasts by listening to some advice for hot weather running from Hal Higdon's Twitter account: go slow.