Today is Barry’s birthday, so everyone wish him a happy birthday! He doesn’t like a lot of fanfare, so I’ll just leave it at that.
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Another week of training in the books and another week of new mileage for me. I hit a new weekly high mileage of 34 miles this week, which included a new personal distance record of 14 miles for my long run yesterday. This week I took a break from the track and took two complete rest days, in an effort to let my body recover a bit. I had been feeling sluggish for several runs in a row and the rest was definitely the right choice.

Monday- 5 mile run with Barry in Bisset Park in Radford. It was fun to mix things up and run on a different trail. I was feeling really tired during this run, but Barry helped me run a strong last mile.

Tuesday- Complete rest day, and boy did I need it.

Wednesday- 5 mile run on the treadmill. I wanted to watch TV, so I decided to run on the treadmill. It definitely makes hitting marathon pace for the middle 3 miles a lot easier. Although keeping track of my splits (without falling off of the treadmill) is harder. My body did feel a lot better after Tuesday’s rest day.

Thursday- Compete rest day. Even though I am in training, I just felt like I needed a bit more rest this week. Plus I wanted to go into Sunday’s Hokie Half feeling rested and strong, as much as is possible in the midst of training.

Friday- 5 mile run, unexpectedly in the morning. That is what happens when you go to bed at a decent time and wake up an hour before your alarm. It was dark when I started running, so I did the first 3 miles with ‘Sven’. The sun came up and I did my last 2 miles outside, where it was nice and cool. I got to see a pretty sunrise, as well.

Saturday- 5 mile run in the morning with Kim at the Dora Trail. Once again it was nice and cool outside (a good omen for the next day’s race) and my legs were feeling pretty good. We are finally getting some relief from the summer heat/humidity and seeing some signs of fall.

Sunday- 14 mile long run (a personal distance record) in the form of Hokie Half Marathon with a little bit tacked on before and after the race. I got to run with Barry, Deb, Bill, and Julie.

I felt pretty good on this run, overall. I hit a bit of a rough patch during the race but I persevered. I think my legs realized I wasn’t going to give in, so by mile 10 they quit complaining and just did what I was asking them to do.

Total miles: 34 (another new weekly mileage PR)

This week’s schedule (cutback week):
Monday: 6 miles
Tuesday: rest/XT
Wednesday: 7 miles w/ 3 @ MP
Thursday: rest/XT
Friday: 6 miles
Saturday: 11 miles
Sunday: rest