Weeks 3 and 4 in review

So the blog-slacking has already begun.  I'd like to say it was because I was out enjoying my training runs so much that I just haven't had time to sit down and write about them.  Sadly, that's the farthest thing from the truth.  The past few weeks have been hard.  The heat and humidity are slowly but surely killing me.  My weekday runs have been okay, but then I haven't had to run over 5 miles for any of them! 

Week 3 started out with a rainy/stormy Monday.  I ran at the indoor track that day, and while I didn't feel bad, I didn't feel great.  I did however find sub 9:30 splits!  This is big for me.  The rest of the week was uneventful (well, minus my in-laws' business being flooded, my husband finishing writing his master's thesis, and working 5 days - usually only do 3).  The long run on Saturday was suppose to be 13 miles that week.  None of us at the running group were feeling it that day, so we cut it short at 12 miles.  It was slow and miserably hot and humid.  I hadn't prepared well for it nutritionally, so I was hurting.  I stretched frequently throughout the run, but my calves were still tight by the end of the run.  I wore my compression sleeves the rest of the day and felt great for my first run of week 4. 

Week 4 found me up at Lake Erie for a short visit.  I always like running in new places.  I only had 3 miles on the schedule while I was there, so it was short and sweet.  The rest of the week was manageable, but still not really enjoyable.  The long run of week 4 was a step-down week, thank goodness!  It was hotter and even more  humid that day and I was absolutely and completely miserable.  Of course my watch strap broke earlier in the week (and I tried to repair it with super glue, to which the glue ran into the start/stop button...grrr) so while I don't have exact splits, I'm pretty sure it was somewhere between 10:30-11:00.  Horribly slow and painful!  My exercise-induced asthma became more apparent and so did my calf injury.  I bought The Stick, as a way to help roll out the knots and kinks in my calf muscles.  I used it on my legs Saturday before bed and was more sore after using it.  I hope that's a sign of progress!  Not suprisingly, I've also been feeling twinges of shin pain, which was my downfall right before my marathon last year.  I just don't get what I'm doing wrong.  I'm taking it as easy as possible.  I'm stretching, I'm cross-training, I even started doing Yoga For Runners the day before my long runs.  I just have so much negativity attached to running right now.  I'm hoping that actually registering for the marathon will help to neutralize that negativity!  No backing out now!  My list of things to do this week is get my inhaler prescription refilled and make an appointment with the podiatrist....and oh yeah....try to find a way to enjoy running in this heat and humidity!  Until next week... embrace your pace and run happy!