Marathon training week 4 and stuff!

This was a great week of running. I rationally know that the first few weeks of marathon training are hard, and soon enough I am going to feel stronger, but nonetheless, it is hard to "feel" like that will happen. This week I turned a corner, I think.

I played around with my week some. I mostly had easy runs on the plan, as I increased mileage (65 this week) and there was some recovery in there post my race. But since it was hot, I could not run hard at the race, so I did not feel sore or tired after. Monday I did 10 miles with some hill sprints. Those are hard for me, but I stick with them because I believe they help. Tuesday I ran very slow without a Garmin, after work, in 90+ degree and who knows how much humidity. I had a bunch of podcasts downloaded and slogged along. Wednesday I had 10 miles easy with 12X30 secs fast, which I turned into a moderate paced run with some fast intervals. I felt great. Thursday I had 12 easy, and ran them a bit faster than I wanted bc of lack of time, but nothing sub 8. Today I had 13 miles with 12X 60 sec @ MP. The temps were cool at 6am, and it started raining when I was 3 miles in. Loved it. I ran sub MP for 10 miles feeling great, and then did the 60 sec intervals; I tried to stay @ MP with them, but it was so hard bc they were so short and my legs wanted to move faster. I will have another shot at this in a couple of weeks. I understand the importance of keeping the pace MP not 5K (oops!) for these intervals, but it did not happen for me today. Ten miles easy tomorrow with some hill sprints and week 4 is done. I feel giddy. Arch pain is completely gone, along with all other weird pains I had for a while there. Hurray! Oh, and this was the first long run in this marathon cycle when I came home and was actually able to talk:)

I swam again every single day this week. I love my H2O audio interval 4G which allows me to listen to music while swimming (and block out the noise of all the kids at the town beach) - review coming soon (Thank You H2O audio). Swimming with music is so much fun. Just like with running, I swim faster and better with a good playlist. Only 1 hour biking, boo, but it has been so hot and swimming was much more appealing this week.
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In other news, we, like most of the country (except the lucky Portland folks) have been dealing with crazy heat. 101 degrees yesterday, WTF? We do not have AC for environmental reasons, and I was very close to giving in and getting a unit installed this past week. Petru hates the fan and ends up in our bed, on top of me while I am about to jump out of my skin. Chris has been smart and sleeping downstairs, though last night I sent Petru there for some daddy bonding and managed to get some glorious sleep. Looking forward to cooler temps tomorrow. I am in the "give me snow and cool temps" club, but am thinking all this training in high temps is going to make me feel like an animal come the cool October days! Lets hope so!

Good luck to everyone racing Lake Placid! Kill it Mary and Emily! So excited for some vicarious IMLP racing!