Week 8

Week 8 started out great but came crashing down on my long run on Saturday. I am sitting here on Sunday night with a runny nose and sore throat which I atttribute to a weakened immune system after a terrible run yesterday. It did not take long to feel aweful yesterday. We started earlier which made for a very dark start. Our first water stop was after 4.2 miles which was good, but I never really could get into a groove after that break. I had bouts of dehydration, dizziness,  naesua, and mental and physical fatigue. Towards the end I ran into Nancy and after getting some advice decided that I need to change the plan a little bit. I still have 19 weeks to go and may be pushing too far right now. I did over 30 miles this week (that is so crazy to me and even though it was a bad long run, that number is so exciting) with my highest being 13. Monday was 6 great miles without any stopping on the treadmill. Finishing that was a great feeling. Wednesday was about 3.5 including 400 and 800 repeats. Thursday was 8 miles and Saturday was 13. I think the combo of doing speed work on Wednesday and then 8 on Thursday left my body tired. I also think that I need to drink tons more water on Fridays to hydrate for the next day.

So, I think I will be switching to Hal Higdon's plan which actually will not start til next week and will give me 18 weeks to train. The difference in the plan is that it gives you a mileage to run instead of minutes. While on the other plan I was having a hard time knowing how fast or far I should run with each day of training which I think pushed me too hard this past week and lead to exhaustion.