New week new goals

 So my fall marathon has officially canceled.  That has left me with a bit of a gap in motivation.  My 'plan B' was to run a marathon on my own along the Charles - but I don't think that is worth the injury risk - so I think I'm just going to do something like a 15-18 mile run that day.  Something a little challenging - harder than a half, but easier than a full - and hope to god we get another online backyard ultra to save the fall.  

Last week was pretty much in the normal patter: easy 3s Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday - a decent 4M tempo last Thursday.  I didn't do Watertown - just down to Davis and back - thus a little shorter - still a good workout.  

I did my planned 10 miler yesterday.  It felt hard - but way easier than the previous 3 weeks.  I'll be messing a bit with the schedule - definitely taking out anything over 2 hours.  Give my body a rest - but try and keep up some good training.  

Week 8

 Last week went ok.  I had a nice beach day in Maine on Monday.  super relaxing.  And the mid-week runs of the Higdon plan are pretty easy.  I did 4 in a row - since i had to truncate last week a bit: 3, 4, 7.5 and 3.  The 7.5 was fun - ran up to Arlington from Watertown - a nice cool morning after weeks of humid heat.  

Sunday I again headed to Watertown and did my 6.8 mile - 5 mile at 'race pace'.  This felt hard but doable.  It does make the long runs feel really hard though.  Yesterday I did the 17 miler - and the suffering really does start early - soon after the 1/2-way turnaround.  In particular - my upper back/should-blade had a stabbing pain probably from mile 10 in.  Really hard to run through it.  Pace has slowed on every long run:  9:20, 9:20 and 9:27 for my last 3.  Lots of walking.  I may try and swap the 'tempos' on Sunday with the equidistant runs on Thursday - just to see if that makes the long runs any more bearable.  I don't think i can stick with this plan otherwise.  

Summer Suffer

 2020 is not going to be known as the best year on record.  The summer is going to be remembered by lots of sweat.  After an awful 14 last Monday, I did 3 Wednesday, and 6 Thursday.  The Thursday run was really nice and cool - and we did it down in Watertown - so flat as well.  Felt pretty good.  I actually did the last two miles at a 7:30ish pace.  

Saturday I hit the track for a 4x1200 workout.  It was my first AHS track workout in - since I can't remember - definitely ;pre-covid.  I tried to pace it: 7:10, 6:50, 6:30ish - but usually took the first one out too fast - but it was still a fun workout.  Weather wasn't too bad to start - but started to feel hotter by the end.  

Sunday was another sufferfest long run.  I went 8 miles up the bike path into Bedford.  The first 10 weren't so bad.  But as I neared downtown Lexington and the traffic on the bikeway started to pickup - I needed to have my mask up a lot more.  That, the heat, the lack of water (i had a bottle - but nowhere to fill up) started to take it's toll.  Then that last uphill mile to get home - always sucks.  Anyway - done and in the books - but that one hurt.  Hard to imagine tacking on more mileage over the next month.  Hopefully we get a few cooler days ahead.

Canoe trip and longer runs

I had alot going on the last few weeks.  Going back to the end of week 3 - I did my MP 'tempo' - really hard to keep a 7:30 pace - but managed to do it down to Alewife and back up.  The next day I did my 13 miler - which felt really hard - down to Cambridge and back up through Belmont.  I then interrupted training to do a 4 day canoe trip up the Allagash.  It was a lot of work - but mostly arms/shoulders/back.  We did 6-8 hours of paddling each day - and covered 68 miles.  Good news: feet got a nice break from running.  

Running has been difficult since I got back.  I did 3,6,3 last wedn, thru, fri - and then the 4 mile MP Sunday - which felt real hard again.  I dreaded Monday's 14 miler - and suffered a lot.  I walked a ton the last half - and basically run/walked the last mile.  Just really hard.  I don't remember having this much trouble with the summer long runs during my previous marathon experiences.  Hopefully I come around.