Week 6: 33 Miles. Done.

I had intended to blog more in the past week or two, but really, nothing spectacular has been going on in my training! I've been chugging away, logging the miles, getting it done. I've been more than lucky to be doing my long runs with friends lately. It has made the task of running 16-18 miles very enjoyable.

There have been a few things that have been bothering me in the past week or so, though.

Cold Legs
I've noticed it's been taking my legs forever to warm up on these long runs. I mean, 4-5 miles of feeling stiff. I guess the upside is that the first 7-8 miles of my run have been going by easily and I haven't really been "thinking" on my runs till mile 10 or so.

Sore Legs
I think this one deserves to be said twice. I did a killer running workout on Thursday that left me so sore, my long run on Saturday was the most painful run I've ever had. I'm hoping that by Monday I'll be able to walk down a flight of stairs/stand up from the subway seats without making a face. Note to self: Do more squats and lunges!!

Slow Legs
Understandably, these 16-20 mile runs are supposed to be slow. I get it. That's the whole point of a long SLOW distance run. What's frustrating for me is that even when I have a 4 mile tempo run on the schedule, I can't seem to get my legs to move much faster. Granted, I think this has a lot to do with the previous two things mentioned. None the less, it's frustrating when I'm doing long runs with a group and I am always the last person to finish. I was really thinking a 4:30 marathon would be a realistic goal, but with the past few runs I've been hitting just under 17 miles in 3 hours, so I'm not really sure now. But I know, I know, I'm getting a head of myself. I had planned on actually racing the Newport Half Marathon on Sept 26th, assuming that because of the cooler weather and the amount of mileage I've been running, it would be an easy PR. Right now, I'm not really sure about that. On all my long runs mile 12-14 have been pretty tough for me, and I'm just not sure. Maybe I need this race to push myself a little bit. For my last half marathon, I lost a bit of time the last 3 miles or so because I was walking through the water stations. That was the difference between a 9:40-9:50 half and a 10:00 half. I know now I would probably stop around mile 8 for a Gel, but other than that I haven't needed walk breaks until mile 15 or so.

But when I step back and take a look at it, I am really lucky. Feeling really good besides some minor aches, and I am lucky enough to be surrounded by supportive and knowledgeable people. I just have to accept the fact that I just might be built for distance, and not speed.