The big week...

This was my biggest week yet, and probably the most mileage I'll do in a single week during my run up to Chicago. After last week, the fatigue was starting to really set into my legs. Looking back at my training log, I see that my mileage over the last eight weeks was:

27, 20, 33, 37, 31, 27, 33 and 34

That's pretty substantial for a guy like me. No wonder I feel so tired. But last Saturday's long run went really well, so I'm hoping that this week won't be as hard.

The week started out with a non-run on Tuesday. The alarm went of at 6:15 and I started to rouse myself. But a few minutes later I heard the rain start coming down hard. It does that around here. From nothing to flat-out pouring in a matter of seconds. As I lay in bed listening to the rain, I thought, "if I were already out and it started to rain like that I would keep going. But I'm not going to head out the door into that..." So I rolled over and went back to sleep. Never mind that 25 minutes later it wasn't raining any more, my decision was made. Besides I was very comfortable.

So the whole week started by slipping back a day. I got up on Wednesday for my aerobic 10 miler, trying out a new route that took me up Shoal Creek, across at Far West and then back down Balcones. Lots of hills, but as a relatively easy run, it was different and interesting. I finished up a little after eight and got into my day. My legs definitely felt tired, but not especially worn out the rest of the day.

I followed up Wednesday's run with an easy four miler on Thursday. Friday was anything but easy.

Friday's schedule called for 70 minutes of tempo. I had never done anything quite like that (other than last week's 60 minute tempo I suppose) and I wasn't looking forward to it. Still, I told myself that being out and running in the morning would be great, and I believed it enough to get out there. Things started easy enough. But at about 14 minutes, I started into the tempo part. 70 minutes is a really long time when you can't wait for the end, and so I tried to not think to much about anything except keeping my turnover going. The route was the 9.5 mile Shoal Creek / Foster / Great Northern loop. Early into the tempo, just as I started to feel good I heard steps behind me. Some guy with a fuel belt cruised past me. So much for feeling strong...

In the end, I managed to do it. I can't really do fast tempo the whole time, so I have to concentrate on staying strong and picking things up as I move along, finally running down around 7:40 - 7:20 during the last 15 minutes or so. (I hope anyway; though maybe I'm just so tired it only feels like that.)

I think that this was perhaps the most grueling run workout that I've ever done. I know that the rest of the day Friday and onto Saturday, my legs were more tired than they've almost ever been. And boy am I dreading my three hour run on Sunday.