Passing the halfway point

This week in training.

It's kind of fun to look back at my posts from the same point of training in the spring. Today was the first 14-miler. Last session I replaced it with the CRRC Winter Run in Granville. That was a really good run for me. Today could not have been more different.

The weather was worse than last week. We met at 6:30 and the temperature was tolerable, but the humidity was worse than last week. I was completely soaked by the halfway point.

It took me awhile to get into the groove, miles 1-2 were really difficult but miles 3-10 were pleasant. I wore my compression socks so my shins didn't hurt. My heart rate was a bit higher than last week throughout.

After we turned around to come back I really started struggling. I got some awful side stitches the last two miles. I slowed it down on Mile 13 but picked it back up on Mile 14 because I really just wanted to be done.

I'm going to cross train Mondays and Fridays until I make it through this heat (and I'll be at your spin class Thursday Jamie, no worries!) This Monday was my first time on the bike and it was a lot of fun. I covered 15. Next week I'm going to shoot for 20.

Next week's long run is a fallback, so 10 miles. Monday I'll ride 20, Tuesday I have 6, Wednesday is 4 -- I'll shoot for hills, Thursday and Friday are both 3 but I may try to swim or ride Friday.

I want a running skirt...

Totally unrelated, I'm back on my Rilo Kiley kick. Here's my song of the day:

Reward for getting out of bed

I am so glad I got out there this morning, and I survived 14 miles to boot. My body was screaming at me when I got up, the same dehydration/achiness/headaches/sniffles that I've had all week. Normally I run with the 10:30s, today I started with the 11s and felt pretty horrid the first two miles. At the first water stop I dropped back to the 11:30s and then I started feeling better.

I noticed yesterday in spin class and the two miles I ran that my heart rate was way up, so I tried to pay attention to that today. My average was around 140 -- that's usually where I am at a 10:30 pace so I'm glad I dropped back. I missed the people I've gotten to know in the 10:30s, but the 11:30s were a very enjoyable group to run with.

The weather was nice, cold but not too cold. We were on the streets of Worthington, as opposed to the trail, so it was very hilly. My legs are rudely informing me that they did not appreciate the inclines.

The long run is 16 next week and 18 the week after. The next week is a taper week at 10, and I'm doing Conquer the Creek in Columbus.

I ended up with 24 miles this week, not bad -- all things considered. (continued)