running: the dawn

One more week until I start my 12 week program in preparation for the Grand Rapids Marathon.  I must say, I’m excited to sink my teeth into the meat of my training.  However I am NOT excited about the rising temperatures and humidity that I will have to deal with on my ensuing long runs…I guess it’s like dealing with the low temps of winter time, right?

Once again I forgot to update my training last week, so I’ll include the last two weeks.  Hopefully I’ll get better about doing this weekly so I don’t have to keep going back in time.

Week of July4-10
Sunday–8 general miles
Monday–Jazzercise
Tuesday–5 recovery miles & Jazzercise
Wednesday–5 general miles & Jazzercise
Thursday–7 general miles w/8×100 meter strides (sprints) & Jazzercise
Friday–5 recovery miles

Total Mileage: 30

Week of July11-17
Sunday–9 miles on vacation
Monday–2 sessions of Jazzercise, one regular format and one body-sculpting which is just strength training.  LOVED IT!
Tuesday–5 recovery miles & Jazzercise
Wednesday–7 general miles & Jazzercise
Thursday–8 general miles w/8×100 meter strides & 2 doses of Jazzercise
Friday–5 recovery miles & Jazzercise

Total Mileage: 34

I’m finally working my mileage back up to where it was pre-San Diego!  It feels awesome!  I feel super confident about the way that I’ve taken the necessary time to fully rest and recover from my last marathon and now I’m slowing building my base back up before I enter into full-blown marathon training.  Granted, this is my first year running more than one marathon and it’s the first time I’ve ever continued a structured running regimen after completing a marathon.  In the past, once my goal of finishing the marathon was complete, I would pretty much stop running all together.  Not this time!  I want to be fresh and ready to diving into some serious training.  That’s part of the reason why I have been running so many slower “recovery” miles lately.  I want to reintroduce the mileage before I add on the stress of speed and tempo workouts.  That way during my first two weeks of the training cycle I can back off slightly on the mileage and ramp up the intensity.

My goal in all of this (including the Jazzercise and weight training) is to be injury-free throughout this training.  I know that I need every workout in order to improve my speed and endurance.  Which means being diligent about everything that I do.  I’ve also started to learn more about the important role that nutrition plays in the life of an endurance athlete (I must admit it feel silly to refer to myself as an athlete…I just feel like I’m a crazy person who likes to run long distances).  I’m getting pretty excited to end my summer of traveling (I’ve only been home for 2 weeks since the end of May) so that I can really get intentional about fueling my body for optimal performance.  I have a couple books that I’ve been reading and I’m starting to formulate hypothesis that I want to test out.

At the same time that I’m feeling the desire to be home and return to a more structured life, I am horrified at how quickly the summer is slipping away.  It always seems that this time of the year (mid-July) I become terrified of the start of a new school year.  I don’t know why.  I just hate the beginning.  I hate meeting my new students, feeling awkward, getting everyone used to how things are done in my classroom.  I prefer to be a month or so into things so that everyone knows what to expect and what my expectations are.  Ugh.  So much work!  I always get through it though.  And it’s never as traumatic as my imagination would have be believe.  So there’s that.

How do you feel about the summer coming to an end?