This was such an exciting week of training. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but it has been the best week of training yet. I was really looking forward to doing my weekend run, so I tried to keep the week short. I would be running my longest distance yet, and completely hoping I’d be able to make it. I was also finally getting back into a regular schedule without traveling or having busy weeknights. This has been a bonus to keep my stress level down and my energy up. My weekday runs were relatively easy and short, nothing too difficult. I noticed my pace is getting quicker and I’m able to handle the hills down here finally.

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: 4 Miles

Wednesday: Rest Day

Thursday: 3 Miles

Friday: Rest Day

Saturday: 16 Miles

Sunday: Rest Day

Total Miles: 22 Miles

Saturday was unbelievable. I let myself sleep in until 7, tried a new pre long run breakfast and was out the door before 8. I mapped out a route before I left and kept track of the streets I’d need to turn on with little mini post its. I wanted to use this run as a way to see Medina, this way I could find some could places to run, and have my own tour of this new place I call home. I started out pretty well and was actually going quicker than I anticipated. Around mile 4-5 I started on an incline, but thanks to my hill training I have on every single run, it wasn’t that bad. The run was going by pretty quickly and by mile 10 I was feeling really good. My goal was to do 14-16, so I figured I could handle 6 more miles. I was still a few miles out but as I got closer to home I started to feel myself wear down. I had cramps from dehydration and my knee was a bit achy. Mile 12-13 were rough. My pace was slowing down a lot at this point. Strangley, my time at 13.1 was 2:08 just like last weekend’s half. I made it home and chugged a glass a water, something I figured I’d regret once I got back out on the pavement. Miraculously, mile 15-16 felt great. It felt like I had only done a few miles and my body wanted more. I kept it at 16 to play it safe, I didn’t want to try for 18 and end up hurting myself or regretting it when I couldn’t move the next day. I finished up with a nice ice bath and a trip to my new local Second Sole. I was so glad that I pushed myself to finish 16, I certainly feel that I can truly run the marathon in just over a month. What could have been better than my longest run yet? Waking up Sunday with absolutely no pain at all. No knee pain, no hamstring pain, not even a feeling that I had run at all the day before.

Next week will be challenging. A busier schedule and an all day party over the weekend will make it hard to get some miles in, and to stay hydrated for the long run. This time I’ll be hoping for 16-18.

What I learned this week:

• Stay hydrated at all times. I need to drink more water before and during my long runs. I didn’t want to get the “sloshy in my belly” feeling by drinking a lot of water, but I was able to go through my handheld. I’ll need to make sure that I fill it up at least once during my long runs to avoid getting the dehydration cramps.
• Ice baths are amazing. We used to do these in college after almost every run. I love/hate them with a passion, but they are so good for you. I would still be sore if it wasn’t for the ice bath on Saturday.