Heat Wave

Training has been going quite well. I've averaged ~53 mpw over the past 8 weeks and I've been getting in some pretty good quality workouts. This past week I had a great interval workout, running 8x800m @ 3:17 w/2 min rest (200m jog). However, we have been hit by a little heat wave the past several days. I would be lying if I told you that it hasn't effected my training.

I was hoping to get a good 12.5-mile run this morning with an hour of it at 82-86% of my max heart rate. This is just a bit slower than my half-marathon race effort. The first half of the workout went well and I was running along at a nice clip. However, at about the half-way point I noticed that my heart rate kept hoovering around 87-88% of my max. I slowed down some, but with the heat, humidity and the hills it was almost impossible to get my heart rate to drop. I even slowed to a walk on 2 occasions just to get my heart rate back to 85%, but it was a mute point because as soon as I started running again it would shoot back to 87-88%, even at a slow jog. Once I got to the 92-minute mark in the run, I gave up and walked the remaining way back. I feel my fitness is good, but the heat/humidity the past couple of days has been ridiculous. I'm ready for cooler temps.

The Grind

I haven't updated the blog in a while, as their hasn't been many details to report. I've just been grinding out the work. I'm pleased with the consistency I've shown the past several weeks. I've average about 45 mpw the last 12 weeks and a little over 50 mpw over the last 8 weeks. I've also been able to get in two strength training workouts a week, which I plan to continue through October.

I've been feeling good (relatively) and I've been slowly increasing my mileage to about 60 mpw over the past 3-4 weeks. I'm trying to increase the distance of my long run every other week and I hope to hit my first 20-mile run sometime around the end of October or early November.

I've been getting in 1 or 2 quality workouts each week, but yesterday I did my first "long" quality workout. After my standard 2-mile warm up, I did 2 x 3.25-miles w/5 min rest. My goal was to run each rep between 86-88% of my max heart rate. Thanks to the wonderful weather, I was able to run my first rep in 22:46 at an average HR% of 87% and my second rep in 22:41 at an average HR% of 86%. I was pleased that I was able to average 7 min/mile for both reps. I finished with a 4-mile cool down, to give me 12.5-miles for the workout.