Weekly Mileage Upkeep Revised

I've been trying to keep my weekly mileage steady until I feel ready for some hills and or speed workouts. When I feel good, I throw in some fartleks on Saturdays and if I'm feeling really good, I'll do a tempo run.

Mon: Rest/ XT
Tue: 8 miles @ 10:00mm
Wed: Rest/ XT
Thu: 3 miles @ 8:30mm & Strength
Fri: Rest/ XT
Sat: 5 miles TEMPO @ 8:55mm & Strength
Sun: 4 miles @ 10:00mm

So, as I sit here and type out my paces for my runs, I have to admit that I do so with a touch of disdain. Wow. Am I really that slow or is everybody else (at least those who blog) really that fast? Ah well. I always just chalk it up to a consistent (if not altogether debilitating) sense of unfulfilled ambition. I keep telling myself that I need to get my aerobic fitness up to par before I can start getting greedy with speed. Thank god for the Running Blog Family, at minimum, it keeps you humble!

How I Got Here

It's likely that I would decide to run a fall marathon and forget that this would mean training in the HEAT and HUMIDITY of summer. This fact couldn't become any clearer today when I strutted out of the office at lunch time for my weekly long run in The Arb (see pic) and found that it was 85 degrees! I was prepared though having downed three lemon flavored (my favorite) Propels the hour before my planned run -- bring on the heat!

Crap. It's hot. Don't bring on the heat, please. But MY GOD! I'M FILIPINO! ISN'T IT IN MY BLOOD TO BE TOLERANT OF HEAT?! Bring on the cool breeze only to be found in early morning runs. It wasn't the most graceful of all runs but I completed my 8-miler without succumbing to a heat stroke. I read once that when training in the summer, one ought to slowly acclimate oneself to the heat...Of course. That just sounds too sensible.

I need to admit that as a former soccer-playing-jock, I despised running. I was mystified by the mental game of the cross country runners and often thought of them as masochists to some significant degree. Despite running around 6 miles in a ninety minute soccer game as a midfielder, I rarely ran more than three miles on my own and when I did, I certainly didn't look forward to it. Looking back, I realize how different my mental toughness was in my adolescence. The team dynamic largely carried my inspiration on the field - this and the fact that I loved to play.

My how things have changed.

Beyond high school and college I discovered that staying fit can be a bit trickier; training solo can be depressing. But one day, I woke up feeling overwhelmed as a new parent, juggling a new town, adjusting to a whole new University. Worse, I was struggling with losing the last few pounds I gained from my pregnancy and for the first time in my life, I was bummed by the way I looked. Fed up, I went out for a run one day and it felt great; SO great in fact that I continued to run for months! With big plans of marathons and sub-4:00 miles (not really) -- Of course we know what this means: I over-trained and got ahead of myself! THEN more big life changes came my way and I fell out of step. But this time, I knew exactly what I needed to do to find my balance again: running and more generally, staying active.

So, here I am with a solid three months of 15-20 miles per week, an awesome bike to get me from home to campus (on most days) and to get me around some of the great bike routes around the area and a two-year-old that I can actually keep up with (again, on most days). Now that I can be proud of some consistency, I need to step up the level of my training. Now. Now that it's really hot out. Now that I have one of many races planned coming up this weekend. Now that I have a 10K and a half-marathon to look forward to on my road to the big bad Chicago Marathon (on my birthday) or Detroit (because it's close by).

My Next Run

These days, I've been investing quite a bit of time finding the best route for My Next Run. Thanks to mapmyrun.com, I've put aside much needed time on my research (and other people's research) in an overzealous attempt to be well prepared for My Next Run. YES, I think to myself, this'll be great! I've never run by the river in this area before and OOH, I definitely need to run in this neighborhood more often to incorporate more hills! Armed with my new iPod, I'm sure that my next run will be AWESOME despite running sans JZA.

The truth is, I sometimes forget that I need to actually bring a map with me or memorize the route before I head out for the run. Last week, JZA and I ran in circles through trails because of my blunder, though we did manage to create a route that was the 10-miler than we had wanted. (If you read my last post however, *we* didn't manage to actually complete the run strong.) And the other day, I found an amazing route around a park and had planned to bike over after work and then head home to prepare for the BBQ that was also part of my evening plans.

Instead, I ran what looked like--at least on the map--a boring route around the house. It WAS a boring route, that is, relatively un-scenic and along side big roads. On the upside, running by UofM's athletic compound and then The Big House was definitely inspiring. But more inspiring than the scenery was how strong I felt as I powered up the rolling hills, how much I love the sensation of hard work and sweat and how I feel as though I'm developing an intimate relationship with Ann Arbor as I run through an increasing multitude of her streets. With It's My Life blaring through my headset (nevermind that Gwen Stefani has built her career on misappropriating culture, I convince myself), I make a mental note not to worry about planning My Next Run.

I felt a little tight after my run the following day (yesterday) so in keeping with the philosophy of better-to-run-less-than-run-injured, I took a day off. Indeed, it was time well spent as Anna and I played all day in our back yard. Up and down the slide we went, push push push on the swing and then of course, after the 'Hum-on Mama, let's go eat' we had to go for a long walk to the local Vietnamese restaurant for lunch. After her afternoon nap, we hung out with our overachieving UofM friends over a bbq and realized how lucky I am to be in Ann Arbor (at least for now).

Now, it's time to prepare for My Next Run Later today...