I’d been warned that the Milford Labor Day 30K tends to be hot and very hilly, but I’m not sure any warning could have prepared me for how tough the hills were on this course. Bottom line – this race was TOUGH.

When I realized I had 20 miles coming up the weekend of this race, I began to debate if I should sign up for it to get me through the training run. I kept going back and forth, monitoring the weather constantly. With an 8am start, I was concerned that I might want to start running earlier for a 20-mile run. The race was to take place on Saturday (August 31), and I finally decided on Thursday night to go for it.

I left the house after 6am on Saturday to make the trek to Milford and got there just before 7am. The timing worked out just fine, and volunteers directed the parking. There was plenty of parking in the lots surrounding Baker’s, and large fields provided overflow parking for those who arrived later. Baker’s is a banquet hall that acted as the central gathering place for the events. It was possible to pick up packets the evening before the race, but it wasn’t worth the extra trip for me. It was quick and easy to get my packet the morning of the race. There were a few tables with flyers and things available, and people could register the morning of the race as well.

Baker’s of Milford

Here’s a picture of the shirt. It’s a technical shirt that’s pretty thin – you can see the print from the back right through it. It probably won’t be one of my favorite shirts, but it will be a good one when I want to be visible!

Race shirt

It almost felt like a triathlon kind of atmosphere because of all of the bikes. In addition to the 30K run, there was a 30K bike, a 10K run, a half-mile kids run, and a 30/30 challenge – 30K of biking followed by 30K of running. The events were all staggered, with the bikers for the 30/30 challenge starting at 7:15. The people only biking the 30K started at 7:45, and the 30K run started at 8:00.

I went back to the car and got my hydration belt ready. I kept my bottles in an insulated bag with ice to try to keep them cold as long as possible. I went back to Baker’s to wait in the restroom line for about 10 minutes. It was nice to have the option of indoor restrooms, and Porta-Potties were available outside as well. After that, I took off for a warm up run. Since I had 20 miles on the schedule, I chose to run 1.4 miles to warm up before the race. I never like to do a cool down afterwards – I just want to be done and eat, haha. I knew the race would probably be longer than 18.6 miles since it was a certified course, but went for 1.4 nonetheless. Baker’s is right by an entrance to Kensington Metropark, so I crossed the street and ran on a paved path through the park. At my turnaround point, I stopped for photos.

Kensington

Since it’s a bit of a hike from where we live, I’ve never run around Kensington. From what I saw, it would be a great place to run.

I finished my warm up with a little over 10 minutes to spare before the start of the race. Runners gathered on the road, and I positioned myself somewhere in the middle. I had no intention of racing this one. I wanted to keep my pace under control and use it as a slow long run. I figured if I had it in me, I could pick up the pace a bit later in the run. I really wanted to concentrate on making it through my first 20-mile run successfully, and without pushing so hard that it would set back any of my upcoming training.

The race started up Milford Road and took us into the downtown village area. The roads were partially closed for us pretty much up until we hit the dirt road portions. The downtown was fun to run through, and I enjoyed looking at all of the shops and restaurants. We ran through some neighborhoods as well, which is where the real hills began. I suppose it’s probably no coincidence that hills can be found on Summit Street. That stretch came between 3 and 4 miles, where we climbed nearly 100 feet in about .3 miles. There was a brief reprieve before hitting another short but steep incline. We got a break from the hills for a couple miles as we made our way out to the dirt roads around the Highland State Recreation Area. There were houses in spots, but eventually we got to some backroads that were out in the middle of nowhere. It was really pretty and peaceful running through the woods. It was also nice and shady.

An idea of what the course looked like, thanks to Google Maps

At some point, bikers came up the road in the opposite direction. It was when we had a nice downhill break for running, but they had to bike uphill. I’m not sure how much of their course was the same as ours since I only saw them a couple times. I knew I sure wouldn’t want to climb the hills on my bike though, and I can’t even imagine biking a course like that, only to follow it up with the run. I give major props to the people who did the 30/30 challenge.

People were spread out pretty good where I was running. I always had people not too far ahead and not too far behind, but not many actually near me. The people at the aid stations were wonderful, and they were about the only people we saw along much of the course because it was in such an isolated area. Even though I had a couple of 21 oz. bottles in my belt, I chose to stop at a bunch of the aid stations because I’m not sure my drinks alone will get me through a full marathon. I wanted to practice stopping, and I clearly needed the practice. After a couple of attempts where I just spilled water all over myself, I decided it’s best if I just walk through as I take a couple sips. Eventually I knew I’d have plenty to drink in my bottles to get through this race, so I quit making the stops.

The hills started again after 5.5 miles. At that point, we had another 100-foot climb over about .3 miles. We climbed a little from 8-10 miles, and the next super steep hill came before 11 miles. After that one, we had a nice downhill portion. I was shocked when I finished the 12th mile and saw an 8:17 split, but it makes sense when I see that the mile was all downhill. Just after the 13-mile mark, we climbed about 130 feet for a little over a mile. The hard part about this course was the steepness of the hills. 5 or 6 of the hills just felt brutal. I’m not sure any elevation chart can fully explain how hard it truly felt. It was like doing steep hill repeats throughout 18+ miles. In races, it always seems like the smallest hills feel tough. In this race, the large hills felt extremely tough!

My Garmin elevation chart (click to see more detail)

I had been warned that the placement of the hills also made things tough near the end. As I hit the super steep hill around 16 miles, I understood. I’d been told that a running buddy who is really speedy and typically places pretty high in races even had to stop to walk up one of the hills near the end. That helped me feel no shame about deciding to walk up that hill. I tried to run, but realized that I was going so slow I may as well walk anyway. I also walked half of another hill that came around 17.5 miles. At that point, I had just turned a corner and saw it up ahead. I couldn’t help but think, “Are you kidding me? Another? Now?” That was the last one, so at least I had the last mile to redeem myself. I had the boost of a downhill portion, then as I ran up Milford Road, I could see the finish up ahead. I had enough in me to surge for the final mile or so. It was a nice feeling to know that as much as I’d felt beat up during the hills, I still had more left in me.

I ended up finishing in 2:41:47. My Garmin said I ran 18.74 (rather than 18.6), which was good for an 8:38 average pace. The fluctuations in my pace can be explained by the hilly portions!

My splits

I was definitely happy with that. The previous week I ran what I thought was a hilly route with a pace of 8:43. I’m glad I’ve been working some hills into my training or this could have been really ugly. My definition of hilly may change after having run this race. The Brooksie Way half marathon is known for its tough hills. After this race, Brooksie’s hills practically seem like a breeze!

After pacing around a bit to cool down, I went to check out the food. I downed a couple cups of Gatorade and got a bottle of water. I tried a banana, but it wasn’t too appealing to me. They also had some oranges. They were grilling a bunch of things, so I got a burger and some chips.

Yum!

The post-race area

Beer was available as well. However, I was distracted by the Dairy Queen across the street. I just had to go over to get a nice big Blizzard. That was a great treat to have following my burger. I ran into a runner I know, chatted for a bit, then checked results. I was 5th in my age group (and 96th out of 332), so no award…not that I was expecting one. I also watched a couple minutes of the little kids doing their half-mile fun run. They were pretty cute. There was one boy who couldn’t have been more than 4 or 5 years old, and he was running so hard and looked so determined. It was adorable. After that, I figured I’d better hit the road for the hour drive back.

I felt very accomplished after finishing this difficult race and also successfully getting through my first 20-miler of marathon training. Although it was nice to feel accomplished, I’m not sure if I’d want to go through it again. This is a race I would never sign up for in advance. Being in the middle of the summer, you never know how hot it might be on race day. I do not do well with the heat. The 90% humidity was not super enjoyable for running, but at least it was around 70 degrees and mostly overcast. The hills are enough of a challenge. Adding heat to the mix could have made it pretty miserable for me. I think if I were to sign up for this again, I’d probably have to somehow forget how brutally tough it was. I’d have to do a whole lot of hill repeats and somehow decide that steep hills aren’t so bad. Either that, or I’d have to decide that I really wanted to torture myself! It was a really nice and pretty run and I’m glad that I did it. I’m just not sure I want to subject myself to it again.

Possibly the hardest I’ve worked for a medal?

Milford medal

Who knows…I’ve done a lot of ridiculously hard things during marathon training so far, so I guess I wouldn’t be surprised if I came back to this race again some day in the future. I just know that it could never be an “A” race for me, because it would be very difficult for me to race this all out.

In the meantime, I’m feeling really good about the marathon. I went into this race with no taper – just my typical Friday rest day following 10 miles the day before that. It was humid and hilly and I ended up running 25 seconds over my goal marathon pace, with gas left in the tank for a strong finish. I’m hoping with potentially cooler temperatures at the end of October, a nice flat course, and rested legs, I can actually run close to my marathon pace. I’m hoping the marathon will feel like a breeze after this!

– Janet

Week 10 is done! Now it’s just 2 months until the Grand Rapids Marathon. So far, so good. I’m still getting my runs in and feeling pretty good about how things are going. Here’s what training involved this week:

Monday: 40 minutes of strength at the gym followed by a 9-mile run. After I got home from the gym, Matt and I headed out for 9 miles. His birthday was on Tuesday, when I had 9 miles on the schedule. I didn’t want to be off running half that night. Instead, I swapped the days of some of my runs. I’d usually do 3 on Monday following my weekend long run. I ran a hard 13 miles last Saturday and took Sunday off. One day was not enough time off for me to turn around and run 9 miles after that kind of effort. This was the ugliest run I’ve had in a long time. I thought I was actually feeling pretty good after the 13 miles, and my legs were fine during the day. Once I started to run, it was a different story. A recovery run of 3 miles would have been ideal, but I was determined to get in 9. By the end, it felt like I was crawling and nearly every muscle in my legs hurt. Somehow I survived, and it definitely helped that Matt was there.

Tuesday: Ran 4 miles. I’d normally run 4 miles on Wednesday, but chose to do it today. I was able to get these miles in pretty quickly so we could have fun for Matt’s birthday afterwards. After the previous day’s brutal run, I didn’t know what to expect. I started really slow, but must have loosened up, gotten faster throughout and finished strong.

Wednesday: Rest. I did not plan on taking this day off. I was going to get up and run 3 miles (Monday’s usual amount) in the morning. I decided it would be better for me to get more sleep since we’d be out late at a Tigers game that night. However, I couldn’t fall back asleep anyway. It figures. That meant I’d not only be tired from getting up way too early, but I didn’t get the run in either. There was no time before the game, so this run would just have to be skipped. I decided missing 3 miles would not really be a big deal and that I should quit worrying about it.

Thursday: Ran 8 miles with hills. I had 6 hill repeats on the schedule. The idea of running hill repeats was not appealing to me at all, especially since it was pretty warm outside. I opted to come up with a hilly route and consider that good enough. I ended up climbing about 200 feet over 3-4 miles, so it was a good challenge. Part of my route took me on some dirt roads in Oakland Township that I don’t usually hit. It made for some good scenery because there are some really amazing houses out there. I didn’t stop to take pictures of the houses, so I grabbed these from Google Maps (which explains the nice fall colors, haha.)

This picture does not do the house any justice. It is HUGE.

Another sweet house that is bigger than it looks here. Pretty nice neighborhood!

I also found a really nice boardwalk in that area. I had no idea any of this stuff was there! I’ll have to run out there more often.

This boardwalk was really pretty.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Ran 9 miles at marathon pace. To make sure I could maintain the pace, I wanted to stick to a flat route. I opted to run on the Paint Creek and Clinton River Trails, and was lucky that Matt was willing to go along. He told me to follow him and not worry about the pace – he’d handle it. I’m pretty lucky! The goal was an 8:13 pace, and we finished with an average just under that. It was challenging at times, and not so bad at other times.

Sunday: Ran 19 miles. This training is getting really serious now. Yesterday’s run left my shins feeling a bit sore, but I was pretty much okay otherwise. I ran all over Rochester Hills for this long run, with about 7+ miles on trails and a dirt road, and the rest on sidewalks. Aside from running the trails around here, it’s pretty much guaranteed that I’ll hit hills somewhere. I sure didn’t make this route an easy one – it climbed from about the 3-mile mark to 14.

A pretty good climb for this run.

I took it easy and ended up averaging about 30 seconds over marathon pace. Matt found me when I had about 5 miles to go and finished the run with me. It was really nice to have his company, especially at the end. I held up pretty good until around 17 miles. At that point, I started to feel a bit of a stomach cramp. A half mile after that, it turned into a cramp in my upper left side. I slowed down a little and luckily I was able to run through it.

In 2012, I had a bad side stitch during the Bayshore half marathon. That hit about halfway through the race, and it got so bad that I had to walk the last 3 miles. Since then, I always worry about a repeat of that experience when I develop a side cramp. I’m glad I was able to finish today, but sure hope it doesn’t happen on marathon day.

Totals for the week: Ran 49 miles, did strength training once.

For my really long runs, I’ve been using a Camelbak hydration belt that holds two 21 oz. bottles. I have water in one and GU Brew in the other. I’ve also been using Honey Stinger chews. I’d never eaten anything during races before, but figured I’d better change that for the marathon. I’ve been taking 3-4 chews every 6 or 7 miles during my long Sunday runs and it seems to be going okay. By the end of today’s run, I was nearly out of stuff to drink. I think I might end up racing with the hydration belt, as annoying as it may be to have the extra weight at the start. I’ve gotten used to it and like knowing that I can drink whenever I want to. I really like having my specific kind of GU Brew as well, and I know the race won’t have that. I got a shipment of stuff from Running Warehouse this week, including more GU Brew and Honey Stinger chews. Before most of my runs, I usually have a Honey Stinger waffle, meaning I eat at least 6 a week. I am obsessed with these waffles and like to have plenty of them in stock.

Stocking up thanks to Running Warehouse.

I figured when I bought a new pair of Brooks Launch shoes 3 weeks ago they’d be the pair I’d use for the marathon. I didn’t realize how quickly the miles would rack up. I already have 93 miles on them! I rotate through several different kinds of shoes for various runs, but tend to go back to the Launch most of the time when I have 8+ miles to run. That means I’ve been using them for probably 3 runs per week. At this rate I might need another new pair before the race! I got around 350 miles out of my last pair before I realized the wear was pretty significant.

Looking at next week, I’m supposed to run back-to-back runs of 10 and 20 miles. This will be the first of 3 20-mile runs in my plan. I’m feeling pretty good about it after running 19 successfully, aside from the darn side stitch. I have been debating if I want to sign up for the Milford 30K next Saturday to help me get through my first 20-miler. With the race on Saturday, that means I’d run 20 first, followed by 10 on Sunday – the opposite of what I’ve gotten used to with my plan. Hopefully that would work out okay. I think the race environment and course support would be good, and it would be nice to have a course already mapped out for me. I’m not sure about it yet because I know it may be pretty warm that day, and I’ve heard it’s a hilly and challenging course. I know that could make it tough, but based on the hilly course I ran today, I’m pretty sure I could manage. It’s the heat I’m most worried about because the race doesn’t start until 8am. I may wait a couple days and finally decide.

Onto the next week of training, with a 50+ mile week!

– Janet

I’m halfway there! I’m now through 9 weeks of my 18-week training plan. I’m happy to say I’ve had another really solid week of training. Here’s how things went:

Monday: Ran 3 miles in the morning, then did 40 minutes of strength and 9 miles on the bike in the afternoon. I had a nice early morning run with Matt. When I’ve looked at information about training paces, I’ve always thought recovery runs were supposed to be run much slower than I feel comfortable running. I ran 17 miles the day before, so I took this one really easy and ran by feel. Finally, my body must have slowed me down enough that I hit that suggested recovery pace. As my mileage increases, I’m getting more comfortable with the slower paces for some of these easy runs.

Tuesday: Ran 9 miles. My schedule was busy on Tuesday, so the treadmill was the only way for me to squeeze this run in. Listening to a morning show podcast kept me entertained and distracted, and the 9 miles were a breeze. I started slow and gradually sped up, to the point that this ended up being a little faster than a marathon pace run.

Wednesday: Ran 4 miles. It was a beautiful day for a run on the trail. My legs had felt pretty fresh during the day, but they stiffened up when I started this run in the afternoon. It made me realize I had better slow down so that my “easy” run actually felt easy. I needed to save my speed for the next day, so I’m glad I felt too tired to push it.

Thursday: Ran 7 miles. Today was a 6 x 800 workout, so I headed out to the track. We’re lucky enough to be close to two schools that are right across from each other, giving us options in case one track is being used. I parked by one track and ran around a neighborhood to warm up. By the time I got back, a bunch of young football players had gathered, so I opted to go to the other track. I always get myself worked up about speed days because I feel pressure to hit a speedy pace. It’s definitely a challenge, and sometimes I both love and dread speed work. It can be fun to go so fast (or what seems fast for me at least), but it can be brutal trying to maintain it. Matt had paced my last couple speed workouts, but I was on my own this time. I thought I ought to aim for a 6:50-7:00 pace, but I ended up hitting between 6:35-6:43 for the repeats, with my final one being the fastest. I couldn’t believe I pulled that off. I ran a lap of recovery between each repeat, but after my third one, I started to incorporate some walking. I’d walk for a minute or so, and jog at least half of the lap. I was so out of breath by going so fast that it’s the only way I managed to recover in between. I really ought to slow down a little bit for these so I don’t end up getting injured.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Ran 13.1 miles for a race simulation. Hal Higdon’s Advanced 1 plan calls for a half marathon race at the end of the 9th week. He says that it is not necessary, but it can be a helpful way to access your current fitness level. I was a bit wary of actually racing a half marathon all-out because I typically take a week off to recover from an effort that hard. I’m trying to be cautious during training. I really hope to avoid injuries so I can make it to the day of the marathon fit and ready to go. My schedule said to rest on Friday and Saturday and run a half marathon on Sunday. With a bunch of family activities going on over the weekend, it wasn’t ideal for me to race, and it worked best to run long on Saturday. I worried a little about only having one day off before running a hard half, especially since I had just run the 800 repeats so hard on Thursday. I figured I could at least aim to complete the run at marathon pace.

Saturday morning was beautiful, and I was actually a little cool at the beginning of the run. The Paint Creek Trail was ideal for this run because I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about stopping much for traffic. I actually lucked out and didn’t hit any traffic at the crossroads. Matt ran with me for the first 5 miles, and my goal was to run no faster than an 8:13 pace for the first half of the run. Matt helped keep me under control whenever I started to go a little too fast. I managed to keep a very consistent pace, hitting somewhere around 8:16-8:18 for much of the first half of the run. My legs felt tired around 4 or 5 miles and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep it up, but luckily the tired feeling faded. I figured that I would conserve my energy for the first half, and give it whatever I had left for the second half. If that was still marathon pace, I’d be happy. If I could actually get going faster, that would be great too since the schedule called for a race. I took a few Honey Stinger chews after the halfway point and sped up with the added benefit of the slight decline heading south on the trail. My 7th mile was just under an 8-minute pace, and I gradually sped up as I went. It was a hard effort, but I just ran based on feel. I was surprised to see that I ended the last full mile in 7:33 – just above my 10K pace. This run was a great success and I ended up finishing a bit faster than my current half PR! The Fifth Third River Bank Run 25K in May was the first time I successfully executed a race using this method. Running conservatively early and kicking in later seems to lead to great results for me. Based on this run, the McMillan calculator estimates a 3:41 marathon time for me. Considering how this was run in the middle of marathon training with no taper, I’m really happy with that estimate.

Sunday: 9 miles on the bike. Since my schedule allowed for two rest days this week, I chose to take today off of running. After yesterday’s effort, I wanted to be careful. I actually ended up feeling pretty good and it doesn’t feel like I just put in a race effort. What a relief. I kept my legs moving a little bit at least by riding 9 easy miles on the bike.

Totals for the week: 36 miles of running, strength once, and 18 miles on the bike.

This was another great week for me, and I’m hoping it keeps up for the second half of training. This is probably the last time I will run less than 40 miles in a week until I hit the taper period. It’s going to be challenging, but I’m feeling good about the challenge after this week.

Another cool thing from this week is that I got a medal in the mail from 3 Disciplines. I was not listed in the top three in my age group when awards were given out for the Village Triathlon in Clarkston last month, but the online results said that I placed third. After contacting them, I got this in the mail.

Very cool medal from The Village Triathlon!

Pretty cool. Well, onto the second half of marathon training and another challenging week of squeezing everything in!

– Janet

I’m another week closer to the Grand Rapids Marathon! Here’s how my 8th week of training went:

Monday: Swam 2,000 meters, followed by 3 easy miles on the treadmill. I’m not real consistent with swimming lately, so it was nice to get this in. The treadmill run was my first with my latest pair of shoes – Brooks Launch. It’s my second pair of the Launch and I’m extremely thankful Brooks decided not to retire this model like they had planned. This is probably the pair I will use for my marathon.

Tuesday: 35 minutes of strength training, followed by a 7-mile tempo run. I added a mile for warm up and a mile for cool down, so the tempo part of my run was really the 5 miles in between. I’ve done my last few tempo runs on the treadmill, which makes it easy to lock in and stick with a pace. I did this tempo run on the trail, and it was a bit tough. I cut my pace by about 10 seconds each mile for a few miles, then gradually slowed down. I’m not good at keeping a consistent pace, so I tend to start too fast, have to slow down, then speed back up. I always struggle more on the way up the trail, which has just the slightest incline, and I speed up on the way back down. I probably ran a bit harder than I should have, and my right ankle/shin felt messed up at the end. I iced it right away and luckily I was fine the next day.

Wednesday: Ran 4 easy miles. Nothing exciting about this easy trail run.

Thursday: Ran 8 miles. Now that I’m running so much, I feel the need to mix things up now and then and run some different routes. I didn’t map anything out ahead of time, but decided to just wander some neighborhood roads that I don’t usually hit. It was nice to change things up and see some different scenery.

Friday: Rest.

Saturday: Ran 8 miles. Looking for more new scenery, Matt and I went to Riverbends Park in Shelby Township for a run. I’ve done a couple 5Ks there, but hadn’t really explored the park. I didn’t know the bike trails went for such a long stretch. We pretty much stuck to the paved trails and it was a peaceful and pretty run.

Riverbends Park

Riverbends Park

Riverbends Park

Sunday: Ran 17 miles. I ran up the Paint Creek Trail to Lake Orion, added a couple miles around town, then headed back down the trail. I’ve ridden my bike up to Lake Orion a ton of times, but have never done a run that long. This run went really well, and I even had enough left in the tank at the end to pick up my pace a little for the last few miles. It definitely boosts my confidence when these long runs go well.

Totals for the week: 47 miles of running, strength once, and 2,000 meters of swimming.

This marathon training business is tiring! My habit of not getting enough sleep on a regular basis isn’t going so well with all of these miles. I really need to work on that. Aside from being really tired and a bit sore, things are going well so far. On to week 9!

– Janet

It was another busy week of training as I prepare for the Grand Rapids marathon. Here’s what the week looked like:

Monday: 45 minutes of strength training followed by an easy 3-mile run. I had done the Clarkston triathlon the day before, and during the day on Monday, my left shin began to throb. I’ve struggled with shin pain for about 2 years now and have finally gotten the pain under control thanks to the help of a chiropractor. My shin pain has dropped off a great deal, but it hasn’t completely gone away. The throbbing I felt as I walked around work on Monday was the worst I’ve had for quite a while. I was practically limping at times. I figured I’d skip my run to let it rest. By the time I got to the gym after work, the pain had gone away. I chose to give it a shot on the treadmill to see how it went, and I had no problems. I kept my pace slow and got through 3 miles without any pain during or after.

Tuesday: 5 hill repeats – 6.5 miles total. I ran about 2 miles to warm up and 2 to cool down, with 5 hill repeats in between. I ran my usual hill in our neighborhood and wasn’t too excited that a family was out on their porch at the top of the hill, probably wondering why I was torturing myself. They had a small dog who barked during a couple of my repeats, and it took off after me as I headed down the hill following my final repeat. Luckily it never actually got close to me, but it did follow me down the street for a bit. As if that wasn’t bad enough, a car came along. It really pissed me off to think that the dog could have been hit. I can only hope that it was enough to teach the people to keep the dog on a leash.

I used my ankle resistance bands for about 10 minutes of exercises after this run. I’ve been feeling my hips a bit lately and need to keep doing some exercises to work them.

Wednesday: 4 easy miles. This is when the ridiculous part of my week began. Thursday was going to be really busy for me after work, so I’d have to run in the morning that day. I didn’t feel like running 4 miles Wednesday night followed by 8 early the next morning, so I ran the 4 easy miles early on Wednesday morning. Tuesday night’s hill workout didn’t wipe me out too much, so it wasn’t a problem. I headed out with my headlamp, and it was actually pretty nice and peaceful, aside from my encounter with a skunk. Luckily it didn’t spray!

Thursday: 7.5 miles on the treadmill. I had 8 miles on the schedule and didn’t want to attempt to run that much in the dark so crazy early in the morning. Since our gym is open 24/7, I thought I’d finally take advantage of that perk. Less than 10 other people were crazy enough to get there even earlier than me. I’ve never seen the gym so quiet! I listened to a podcast to keep distracted, and made it through 7.5 miles on the treadmill before I thought I’d better stop to get ready for work. This worked out pretty well, aside from the sleep deprivation factor. We went to a concert Thursday night and I didn’t get to bed until just before midnight, so it made for a really long day, and a very tiring Friday.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 8 miles. This was the day of the AdvoKate 10K, and I ran 1.8 miles prior to the race. My schedule called for 8 miles at marathon pace, and I kept below the pace for the warm up, and way below the pace for the 10K. My pace is supposed to be 8:13 and I ended up running around a 7:45 pace. My recap of the race is posted here.

At the AdvoKate race

Sunday: 16 miles. I had 16 on the schedule, which was the most I’d ever run. I was pretty worried after running a bit too hard the day before. I took it nice and easy and actually felt pretty good. I ran from our place to Oakland University, where I ran a loop around the campus. I ran through Rochester Hills and hit a portion of the Clinton River Trail, followed by a small stretch of downtown Rochester. As I waited at a crosswalk, I saw Matt across the street! He was not running 16 miles, so we did different runs. I hadn’t mapped out anything specific, so he didn’t really know where I’d be. We just happened to luck out and hit the same spot at the same time! At that point, I had 2 miles to go and it was great to have his company. By the end of the run, I still felt fine. The nice and easy pace certainly helped, as well as the beautiful and cool weather.

I did about 20 minutes of exercises with my ankle resistance bands right after the run. After cleaning up, we went to the Rochester Diner & Grill to reload some carbs. They have great breakfast food at a really reasonable price. The soreness began to hit eventually and got worse as the day progressed, but otherwise, I’m really happy with how this run went.

Totals for the week: 45 miles of running, and strength once. No swimming or biking this week. The lack of sleep and craziness of my schedule this week made it difficult to squeeze in much else.

I will probably cut back on the biking and swimming quite a bit from here on out. I don’t think I’ll do any more triathlons this summer, and it’s hard to fit everything into the schedule. I’ll do some when I can, but won’t worry about it if I don’t have time. Marathon training alone is quite a handful.

– Janet

Like most of my recent races, I chose to run the AdvoKate 10K at the last minute. Earlier in the week, I thought about how I had 8 miles to run at marathon pace and I would probably run those miles on the Paint Creek Trail. I realized the AdvoKate race would use the trail for part of the course, so why not just run the race? The race environment would certainly help me hit the pace. It’s a race that Matt and I have considered running for several years now, but it never worked out. We either had something else going on, or we opted not to do it based on hot/humid weather. The weather was due to be perfect this year, so Matt and I decided to sign up.

This was the 7th year for the AdvoKate run, which raises money for St. Jude’s in honor of Kate Hrischuk, a 6-year-old who lost her battle against a tumor in her brain stem. We were happy to support this great cause. Packet pickup and new registrations took place the day before the race at Runnin’ Gear, so I went there to sign up. The packet included a cotton t-shirt, as well as a thin Gatorade towel. I’ve never received a towel in my packet, so that was something new and cool.

The race t-shirt

The weather was perfect the morning of the race – in the low 60s and clear. The race began in Rochester Municipal Park, which is an easy jog from where we live. With 8 miles on my schedule, Matt and I chose to run down to the park, allowing me to get 1.8 miles in before the race. We got there with about 15 minutes to spare and found a pretty large crowd scattered throughout the park. Around 600 people took part in the race.

People gathered near the start

The 5K and 10K started at the same time. We lined up at the front, just behind a big group of kids. As I’ve learned from past races, the younger kids tend to have a major burst of energy at the start that fades pretty quickly. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before I was trying to navigate around a group that was probably 8-wide across the street. It was awesome to see so many kids taking part in the race, and hopefully they saved some of their energy for later in the race! As the course took us out of the park, the hilly climb began.

The elevation according to my Garmin

There are some pretty good hills on this route for a couple miles, followed by a large downhill drop on the way to the Paint Creek Trail. At that point, the 5K runners headed back towards the park while the 10K runners ran up the trail in the opposite direction.  My goal was to use this race to hit my marathon pace and not race it all out. I knew I’d probably go faster than marathon pace (8:13), so I figured I should aim for an 8-minute pace. No such luck – I definitely went faster than I should have.

My splits – so much for that 8-minute pace

I was pretty consistent, but unfortunately that meant I was consistently too fast! I knew I’d struggle to keep myself disciplined.

I enjoyed the trail portion of the race because as the leaders hit the turnaround point, we got to see them coming back down the trail. It was fun to root for people, and Matt and I exchanged a high-five as he came by. I liked watching out for the people I knew, and it made for a good distraction.

As my splits show above, I ended up with 6.16 for my total distance. I ran about 20 seconds slower than my 10K PR pace, and I’m not sure I could have gone a whole lot faster if I had tried. My time was good enough to earn me a second place finish in my age group! Matt did great and won his age group.

Matt got a picture as I finished

By the finish line

There was a great variety of food in the pavilion area after the race. Bananas, donut holes, mini cookies, bags of mini muffins, bagels, and Clif granola bars. I think I definitely made up for all of the calories I’d just burned! Matt and I met our Twitter friend Laura (see her blog The Rum Runner), and caught up with some old friends as well.

People hanging out in the park after the race

Everyone gathered around the pavilion for the announcement of the overall race winners. Prizes were not awarded in age groups, but they had a TON of raffle prizes. I’d been hoping we’d win a prize from Rockin’ Cupcakes or Cookies By Design, but no such luck.

Gathering around the pavilion

After catching up with friends, we took a nice walk through the park and back up the trail towards home.

Rochester Park

We had a great experience with this race and would definitely run it again. My only concern is that pushing my pace may make my 16-mile run tomorrow pretty rough!

– Janet

Due to a triathlon at the end of this week, I shifted my training around a bit. I’ve been good about following the marathon plan for a few weeks now, and now I see how difficult it can be to make adjustments but still fit everything in. Unfortunately, the next month is going to require me to shift things around almost every week due to things like concerts, a baseball game, etc. Things might start to get ugly!

Here’s how week 6 went:

Monday: A bike/run brick of 12.3 miles on the bike followed a 3-mile run. I went out to Stony Creek to try a harder workout on the new bike for the first time. I did two loops around the main road and it went pretty well. I still feel like I have quite a bit of room for improvement in the speed department though. I did an easy run right after the bike ride. This was supposed to be my recovery day after running long over the weekend, and my pace was probably faster than it should have been at the start. I always feel like I’m dragging along after I get off the bike, when I’m actually going much faster than it feels. I gradually slowed myself down during the run.

Tuesday: 35 minutes of strength training followed by a 7-mile run. I hit the gym first, then went home to meet up with Matt and head to the track. I had a 5 x 800 workout on the schedule. We ran around a mile and a half to warm up, and I was really dragging. My pace usually picks up as the warm up progresses, but it wasn’t happening this time. I really questioned my ability to pull off the 800s based on how I felt. I decided I’d aim for around a 7-minute pace and see how it went. I’m really lucky that Matt has offered to pace me for my last couple track workouts. When I run on my own, I tend to start out way too fast and don’t maintain a consistent pace. When he leads, I’m able to just follow along and not worry about it. Somehow once we got going, the speed came. It can be amazing how that works. I averaged around a 6:55 pace for the first 3 repeats, which was followed by a 4th at a 7:07 pace. We were running 400s for recovery, and I knew I was running those faster than I should have been and it caught up with me. I slowed way down for the next recovery and it made a difference – I dropped my final 800 to a 6:50 pace. A successful workout! When it was time to cool down, I was dragging again. I’m not sure how we pulled it off, but somehow we did.

Wednesday: Ran 7 easy miles. I had 3 miles on the schedule, but dropped that run in favor of doing my typical Saturday run this day, followed by my Sunday run on Thursday. Rather than make this a tempo run like it should have been, I took it easy. I figured the race pace of my triathlon run should make up for it.

Thursday: Ran 10 miles. I wondered how tough this run would be following two days in a row of 7-mile runs. I stuck to the Paint Creek Trail to keep things as flat and easy as possible. I was pretty tired by the end, but I did it!

Friday & Saturday: Rest days to prep for the triathlon.

Sunday: Swam 800 meters, biked 15.5 miles, ran 4.5 miles. The Village Triathlon in Clarkston – recap here.

Totals for the week: 31.5 miles of running, 27.8 miles on the bike, 800 meters of swimming, and strength once.

This week was definitely a challenge. I cut my miles down a little in order to squeeze in the triathlon, but it sure didn’t feel like much got cut. It was tough to do 7 (including speedwork), 7, and 10 on consecutive days. From this point forward, I will definitely have to debate if squeezing a race in is a smart choice. Marathon training is hard enough when I follow the schedule as it is. Shuffling things around is not ideal!

– Janet

This morning I did my third sprint triathlon, about a month after my second one. The Village Triathlon (and Duathlon) was held in Clarkston, Michigan, and put on by 3 Disciplines. Every third week of my marathon training plan cuts down the long run, and this was one of those weeks. Since I “only” had 10 miles for my long run this week, I figured I could run that mid-week and fit the triathlon into my schedule.

Aside from fitting into my marathon plan, this race appealed to me because it was fairly close to home. In addition, this was my first triathlon that didn’t specifically say that it was non-competitive or geared towards beginners. With two beginner-friendly races under my belt, I was curious to try an even bigger challenge and a slightly longer distance. This race had an 800-meter swim, a 16-mile bike, and 4.4-mile run. The farthest open water swim I’d done up to this point was 300 yards. The bike ride was a few miles longer than I’d done in a race, and the run was a tad bit longer as well.

The night before the race, I decided to ride my bike up a hill behind us to get into a comfortable gear. A pre-race email said the bike portion would start up a hill, so I figured I’d get the bike ready for that. Aside from my chain popping off when I shifted to one gear, I also had an issue with the front brakes. I noticed squealing when I stopped. I didn’t worry too much about that, figuring I’d get it taken care of after the race. Later in the night when I went to put my bike on the rack on my car, I spun the front wheel and realized it seemed to hang up in certain spots. It wouldn’t rotate more than a couple revolutions without coming to a stop. It seemed like the brakes were too tight and causing resistance when I wasn’t even braking. Of course I came to this realization around 9pm, when I should have been heading to bed. Matt and I don’t know much about fixing bikes, so we pulled up some You Tube videos to try to figure out what to do. Matt tinkered with it a bit and made it a little better at least. After screwing around with that, I was only able to get about 6 hours of sleep. Unfortunately, I regularly get only 6-7 hours of sleep, so I figured I was no worse off than usual.

These race mornings roll around awfully early, and I was out the door around 5:45. The transition area was due to close by 7:20, so I got there about an hour before that. The transition area was in Depot Park in downtown Clarkston, and I had no problem finding parking in the lot right by the park. I checked in then took my gear to the transition area. Along the way, I stopped at a tent where there was a guy from Fraser Bicycle. He was helping people with their bikes, so I had him look at my brakes. He tweaked a thing or two and said I should be fine. It’s so cool of them to help people like that.

When I got to the transition area, a few racks were completely empty, so I was happy that I could set up with room to spare. As the transition area closed, everyone started the trek to the beach at Deer Lake. The race people had warned us ahead of time that it was a good 600 meters to the beach and we might want to bring shoes. I opted to wear some cheap water shoes, which I was able to leave in an area where we entered and exited the beach. Then, it was time to stand around and wait. It was cloudy and in the 50s, so it wasn’t long before I started to shiver. As I waited, I was pleasantly surprised that Matt showed up! He didn’t come with me to this race, but he did surprise me by coming a little bit later. I’m extremely lucky that he’s so supportive, and equally lucky that he takes some great photos! He gets credit for all of the nice race photos here.

Shivering before the swim

The race meeting happened about 10 minutes before the start of the race, and all of the women went in the first wave at 7:45. Although it was a bit on the cold side standing around in my tri suit, it really was good weather for the race. The water was 76 degrees, which meant people could wear wet suits. However, after standing around in the cold air, the water felt pretty warm when I got in.

Deer Lake

We swam in a rectangular pattern with the orange buoys on our right side on the way out, around the yellow buoys at the end, then back around the second set of orange buoys. The surface was kind of rocky as I got farther out in the water before the start, which slowed me down as I hopped amongst the rocks to get to the starting point in the water. I was a little ways back at the start, and out to the left side. There was a moment or two when a couple of us were pretty close, but I didn’t have any problems with that for the rest of the race. The water was a greenish-brown and I couldn’t see much of anything. I didn’t feel like I had to lift my head to sight too often during this swim. However, I realized after a while that I was probably a bit too far to the left of the buoys. I tried to work my way back in, and got right by the buoys at the turn around point. Yet after that, somehow I strayed again.

I suspect this is me all the way at the right edge of the photo…off in my own world

I kept my Garmin on my wrist, so the map of the swim is a little funky. I’m guessing that I probably added quite a bit of distance to my swim due to swimming so far out of the way. I may not have run into anyone, but that’s because everyone else was smart enough to stay by the buoys! Oh well. It was only the second time I’d done an open water swim, and I clearly have room for improvement. My time was decent enough considering my extra distance. They had a timing mat not far from the edge of the water, and my split was 18:24 for the 800 meters, or whatever I actually did.

Running to get my water shoes after the swim

I got my water shoes on and did a jog back to the transition area. I think it took me a little over 3 minutes, then I spent a couple minutes actually in transition as I got my shoes, socks, helmet, and sunglasses on. Then I was off to bike 16 miles! This was my first race with my new bike. I definitely think it’s an improvement over my mountain bike, but biking is certainly still my weakness. As I biked up a few of the hills very slowly, I kept telling myself how much I suck on the bike. There were a few gradual climbs that kind of got me. This course was out and back, two loops. It went through some nice neighborhood areas and on a busier road.

A pretty neighborhood portion of the bike course

It was an open course, meaning we still had to watch out for cars. Police and volunteers were out though, and they were great. At the turnaround point, I couldn’t believe what I witnessed. A woman waiting in her car rolled her window down, cigarette dangling out of her hand. She said to the volunteer, who was a kid from an area cross-country team, “Hey dude, I’ve gotta get to work!” Poor kid. He was good about it, but it was so obnoxious.

My confidence was not boosted any during my bike ride as person after person flew past me. I felt like I had somehow snuck onto the course of a REAL bike race. I know there were all different kinds of skill levels out there, but man did I feel slow. I know I have a lot of work to do if I want to change that though. I’ve only been biking a couple times a week lately, and it’s just not enough to improve. It’s enough to get by, but I shouldn’t expect more than a subpar performance if I don’t devote more time to it. I saw one guy in the parking lot before the race who had set up a trainer and was actually riding right there behind his car. That kind of devotion seems to be a bit extreme, but there’s no way I’m competing with that!

I was no speed demon, but I tried to enjoy the bike portion!

My Garmin said I actually rode around 15.5 miles and put me just under 17mph. I ran my bike in through the transition, excited that I’d finally gotten to the run portion of the race. I spent a minute in the transition as I racked my bike and swapped my helmet for my hat and took off.

Finally – the run!

I had my usual funky feeling in my legs following the bike, but my starting pace was better than usual. The run took us around a paved path and through the park for two loops. It was a little bit rolling, but nothing too dramatic.

Depot Park

The run definitely boosted my confidence as I finally started to catch the people who had passed me on the bike. I felt like I had a really solid run, and my pace was just a bit above my 10k pace. According to my Garmin, I ran 4.5 miles in 34 minutes, for a pace of 7:33. I was really happy with that, and it’s an improvement over my run pace at my other triathlons.

The path to the finish through the park

Pushing myself at the end of the run

I finished the race in 1:54:33. I felt pretty wiped out at the end, and the soreness kicked in pretty quickly.

A nice collage Matt made

The race shirt and medal

The post-race food was great. They had a grill set up and had hotdogs, hamburgers, and chips available. Awesome! I found Matt, who stuck around for a little bit. However, the awards ceremony was over an hour away, so he headed out before that. Especially because it began to rain for a little bit. I got pretty cold hanging out in my wet tri suit, and was anxious for the transition area to open so I could get to some warmer clothes.

My first glance at the results made me think that I wasn’t going to get an award, but I hung out anyway. They had a raffle, and I actually won a $15 gift card from RoadID! I already have a RoadID bracelet that I wear all the time, and I highly recommend that anyone who runs, bikes, swims, works out at the gym, etc. should wear one too. Matt might look into a second bracelet with the gift card money.

As they announced the winners of the race, I was shocked by some of the times. I could have sworn they gave a few times that were under one hour, and some that were just over. It made me feel really slow with my 1:54! Later on, I thought that it was not humanly possible to complete the race that fast, even if the people were really good. I was tired at the end of the race and may not remember the times clearly, but it seemed like some of them were crazy fast. When I got home later and checked the results online, I was surprised to find that I was supposedly 3rd in my age group. The awards went three deep, and they didn’t announce my name for an award. The times that I found online were all 1:20 or slower. I’m not really sure what happened. Maybe they had a list of times that only had the swim and bike factored in? I may have to try emailing them just to ask. I don’t really care if I get an award or not, but I’m still curious.

Overall, this was a great experience. I felt better about the open water swim, even though I clearly need to work on staying on course. I’m still slow on the bike, but I did like riding my new bike a lot more than the mountain bike. The run was a solid one for me and remains my strength by far. 3 Disciplines does a really nice job with their races. One thing I have noticed with them is that I haven’t had to pay the USAT membership fee. When I did my first triathlon, I opted to pay a one-day required fee of $12 rather than the $85 yearly membership fee. I didn’t know if I’d do enough races to justify that. Good thing I didn’t pay since it wasn’t required for my last two races!

Marathon training is going to get pretty challenging coming up, so this may be my last triathlon this summer. I could still change my mind and attempt another one, but it probably isn’t a great idea. I’ve definitely had fun venturing into triathlons, and I plan on NOT training for a fall marathon next year so I can devote more time to doing triathlons next summer.

– Janet

Another successful week of training done. Here’s what last week looked like:

Monday: Ran 3 easy miles in the morning, biked 7.36 in the afternoon.

I enjoy running in the morning on the weekends, but when I have to work, it’s usually not much of an option. I get up ridiculously early as it is, so throwing a run into the mix is usually not an option. The weather has been so hot lately that I decided to give it a try one morning. Since it wouldn’t really be safe to go out on my own in the dark, I was lucky that Matt was willing to go with me. It was still super humid and warm even that early, but not as bad as it would have been in the afternoon. It was nice and peaceful, and basically the only other people out at that time were newspaper delivery people. I probably won’t be doing this often, but it was a nice change to the routine.

In the afternoon, I really wanted to get out on my bike. Conveniently, a storm rolled in right as we were ready to go. It started to rain steadily and there was thunder, but no lightning. We figured we’d at least try a mile or two and see how it went. We headed out to the trail with our old mountain bikes. That was a good decision considering how the rain pooled up along the sides and it was pretty messy out there. At least the rain cooled us down. It was actually kind of fun splashing around in the rain, and there were a few other crazy people out besides us. It was all fun until we got home and had to clean the splattered mud off of everything!

Tuesday: 40 minutes of strength training followed by 6.5 miles on the treadmill. It was another hot day and I had a tempo run on the schedule. I knew I would not successfully pull off a tempo pace when the heat index was 100 degrees, so I opted to run on the treadmill. For the middle 4.5 miles, I sped up my pace each half mile from 8:20 down to 7:30. This was actually a really good treadmill run because I felt stronger and more comfortable as I sped up.

Wednesday: Swam 2,000 meters followed by 3 miles on the treadmill. It had been over 2 weeks since my last swim and I was happy to finally get this in. It was still ridiculously hot outside and it was so refreshing to get into the pool. I swam 1,600 meters of free, then 400 meters of breast. I headed to the treadmill afterwards to get 3 easy miles in.

Thursday: 25 minutes of strength training followed by 7 easy miles on the treadmill. Yet another treadmill run. I can handle a few miles outside when it’s really hot, but 7 miles would have been ugly. My car said it was 100 degrees, so the treadmill seemed less torturous than running outside. I survived, but 3 days in a row was pushing my treadmill threshold.

Friday: Rest

Saturday: Ran 7 easy miles on the trails with Matt, followed by a little over 12 miles on the bike. We ran down the Paint Creek Trail to the Clinton River Trail, and it was finally a little bit cooler.

A pretty day on the Clinton River Trail

The river was muddy and overflowing after storms the night before

After our run, we drove our bikes to the Macomb Orchard Trail, which is flat and paved. It made for a good, fast ride, but we kept it easy since I had 14 miles to run the next day. Matt had a few close calls with a couple rabbits and a raccoon that ran out in front of him! Since we were parked right by a Dairy Queen, of course we had to get treats afterwards.

Sunday: Ran 14 miles. The weather finally cooled down to the 60’s for this run – what a relief! It went much, much better than my hot 13 miles last weekend. The heat really gets to me. I decided to run much of the Brooksie Way course for this run. I started on the Paint Creek Trail for a mile, then jumped right into the hilliest portion of the route. It helped keep my pace in check early on, and getting the hills out of the way early made the rest of the run seem easier. I was about 20 seconds slower than marathon pace, and still felt strong at the end. I didn’t crash or hurt later in the day either, so I was really happy with this run.

Totals for the week: 40.5 miles of running, 19.8 miles on the bike, 2,000 meters of swimming, and strength twice.

Aside from potential storms a day or two, the weather looks much more promising this coming week. Hopefully I won’t be on the treadmill so much. I did decide to sign up for another triathlon next weekend in Clarkston. Every third week of my training plan backs off on the mileage, and next week is one of those weeks. 10 miles is my long run, so I’m hoping I can shuffle things around enough to fit that in mid-week and race on the weekend. As marathon training gets tougher, I may not be looking to do many (or any?) more triathlons this season. I’m looking forward to trying another with a longer open water swim and my new bike.

– Janet

Once again, I actually managed to stick to the plan as scheduled last week. It was my second week of running 6 days in a row and I held up pretty good. I was extremely thankful for the one day off when Friday rolled around though!

Here’s what my training looked like this past week:

Monday: A bike/run brick at the gym. It was pouring outside, so the stationary bike and treadmill would have to do. I biked 15 miles and hopped on the treadmill right after for a slow and easy 3 miles.

Tuesday: 45 minutes of strength training followed by 6 miles on the treadmill. When I left work, the heat index was 93 degrees. There was no way I would have pulled off a decent run outside, so I opted to stay inside. I did 1 mile to warm up and 1 to cool down, and did a cutdown run for the middle 4 miles. I started at an 8:27 pace and sped up each half mile down to a 7:41 pace for the last half mile. Intervals keep me interested enough to survive the treadmill for longer runs.

Wednesday: An easy run of 3 miles on the trail. It was hot and humid, so I’m glad I only had a few easy miles to get through. After my run I did some exercises with resistance bands on my ankles for 15 minutes or so. I don’t use these often enough, but it helps to exercise my hips, IT band, hamstrings, etc.

Thursday: 4 hill repeats. It finally cooled down enough to make the hill repeats tolerable. I ran 6 miles total, with about 2 for a warm up and a little over 2 for a cool down. These repeats are supposed to be sprints, but I simply try to survive! There’s a hill right outside our door that climbs about 100 feet in about a quarter mile, and it’s steep enough that there’s no way I can handle sprinting up it.

The elevation for my hill repeats

A picture of the hill

It’s definitely a good workout and I’m always extremely winded by the time I get to the top.

Friday: Rest (phew!)

Saturday: 6 miles at marathon pace. Matt and I headed out to the trail for this one, where he helped keep my pace under control. McMillan has my pace estimated at 8:13, and I averaged 8:10 – success!

Following our run, we were anxious to finally try our new bikes. Matt got one similar to mine, and neither of us had really tried them out for a real ride yet. We went to Stony Creek and did one loop around the park – 6.3 miles total. It was a beautiful day with lots of people out on the water in boats and kayaks, and I especially loved watching a very happy golden retriever swimming around.

My new bike at Stony

Me with my new bike

We took it pretty easy, especially since I was going to run 13 miles the next day. The bike felt good and I’m looking forward to pushing it more on a ride to see what I can do with it.

Sunday: 13 miles (I actually ended up at 13.33). The long runs are finally getting real at this point. I knew it was going to be a hot day, so I got going as early as I could. I went to Stony Creek for this one. It was probably around 70 degrees at 7:30 when I started my run, and easily around 80 by the time I finished just before 9:30. I started out faster than I should have for the first couple miles, slowed down a little for the third, then finally reeled myself in and hovered around an 8:40 pace for the rest of the run. I was plenty hot after the first loop and not too excited to do a second. I made it through without really crashing, but I did feel pretty rough when I finished. I need to get going even earlier for some of these summer runs!

Totals for the week: 37.3 miles of running, 21.3 miles of biking, and strength training once.

I’ve really slacked off on swimming – no swimming at all the last couple weeks. It gets tricky trying to make time for everything when the running miles start to add up. I considered a swim on Sunday, but the 13 miles of running wiped me out enough that I knew it wasn’t a great idea. The heat has been no fun, and it’s looking like another rough week ahead. I may finally attempt to get up at a ridiculous hour so I can squeeze in some miles before work rather than wait until it’s 90 degrees after work. I will likely end up on the treadmill a time or two as well.

– Janet