With another week under my belt, and only eight (8!) weeks to go until Marine Corps Marathon, I’m trying to stay true to a fairly challenging running regime. Sadly, I think the heat of the summer has finally gotten to me, and I find myself with very little energy in general, let alone enough to keep running the increasing mileage that I know I need to do.

With that said, I had some successes and some failures. But still moving forward with my eye on the prize.

Sunday: Rest day, spent mostly at the pool with my husband. I definitely needed a day like this, especially after the previous night’s 17 mi.

Monday: 4 easy miles, .5% incline & 6.1-6.3 mph speed. Man, my legs were tight and this was a great way to work some of that out. I enjoyed these miles on the treadmill.

Tuesday: 3 miles, 4.0-7.5 speed. I intended to do 8 miles, including Yasso 800’s, but I felt so constricted in my breathing that I had to slow it down. So I ended up with a cycle of Yasso 800’s, followed by a short walk, then another cycle of Yasso 800’s, followed by easy running around 6.3 mph.

Wednesday: 8 miles, some speed intervals. I tried again, but had to stop my Yasso 800’s after just three. Then I slowed it to 6.3 mph until I reached 7.5 mi, at which point I cranked it back up to 7.5 mph pace for my final 1/2 mile (4 min) to finish strong. Breathing was again a problem.

Thursday: Rest day. I needed to see if a day off would help my body get sorted for a tempo run the next day and then the long run on Saturday.

Friday: 8 miles, attempted race pace. Attempted. Ha! Once again, breathing was a problem. I have felt like every sports bra has been tight around my chest and made it difficult to get into a breathing rhythm this whole week. I joked with my husband that maybe it was because I put on a few pounds, so now things felt tighter. Who knows? These are the same sports bras I have been running with for a while, so I haven’t changed that aspect of training. I almost threw in the towel at four miles, but I slowed it down to 6.3 mph for a few minutes and decided to continue, notching it back to 6.6 mph for another 2 miles before bringing it back to the easier 6.3 mph. In all, not my best run, but mentally, I cannot stress how important it was that I just made myself push through a tough moment. I wasn’t injured; it was just ‘one of those days’ where I didn’t get into my groove. So I did my miles in spite of myself.

An ice bath and an ice-cold beverage after a long run is a good idea!

Saturday: 18 miles long run. Always doubting whether I will have success or not on long run day, this was another test for me, especially with the heat index at 108 degrees! Oh my goodness! So I started with my 7.5 miles at 6.3 mph pace at the gym, then headed home to quickly change, drink pickle juice and head out for the final 10.5 miles. It was hard, I will not lie. My total run time today was 3 hrs 17 min, which was sooooo slow. But allowing for the heat, I guess it wasn’t too bad. But it’s in the books and I’m stronger for it! Enjoyed an ice bath and an ice-cold beer after the run!

Total mileage for the week: 41 miles.