Weeks 5 and 6, or Small Victories

The past two weeks haven't been stellar--at least not so far as running goes. We left for a vacation in Michigan (which was awesome, but more on that as soon as I get photos uploaded!) on the Saturday of Week 5, and though I did my level best to try to arrange my training schedule so that training on vacation would seem doable, the realities of running in an unfamiliar place while insanely sleep deprived interfered nonetheless.

Week 5 was supposed to be: 3, 10, 5, 3 for a total of 21 miles. I ended up doing 2 miles (this because I was testing a sub par bra for Runner's World and had to cut my run short), 3 miles, and 9 miles for a total of 15 miles. The 9-miler, done at noon (i.e., the heat of the day) on a day that was 90+ and sunny probably went against all reasonable judgment. It was the kind of day where instincts tell you it's too hot to be outside--let alone running outside. The run itself got off to a pretty ridiculous start, as I could not find my way to the trail (yes, the one I have been running on for a *year*) because I was coming to it from a different direction and felt some mysterious stubborn refusal to call the husband for help. Two miles later, I was finally on track (I asked a biker for help), but the run was mostly downhill (uphill?) from there. I walked more than I should have and ended up finishing the last two miles on the treadmill at the Y. There was literally no way I could eek out the tenth mile. At the end of the ninth, I was soaked, exhausted, and completely dehydrated.

Week 6 was supposed to be a cutback week, which made it 3 miles, 3 miles, 5 miles, and 7 miles for a total of 18 miles. I ended up doing 3.5 miles, 3.5 miles, 4.5 miles, and 5.5 miles for a total of 17 miles. I really had no good excuse for not getting in the 7 miler (apart from being on four hours of sleep) or the 5 miler either for that matter (apart from having just gotten back from vacation and needing to do about a thousand other things).

I've had more bad runs than good lately. I'd like to blame that on the heat and humidity, but maybe I'm just not training hard enough. Or maybe I'm getting lazy--walking when I'm perfectly capable of running and cutting runs by a mile or two for no good reason. Who knows? Halfway through a vacation three-miler that went fairly well compared to the week's other slogs, I had some insight. Maybe marathon training is like parenting in that the victories are sometimes small and imperceptible. You don't feel like you're making a dent until one day, you're running up the hill you walked up yesterday. Maybe making it through that super sucky nine-miler is like putting a deposit in the bank. It doesn't feel like much, but it will add up in the end. Here's hoping. Nine weeks to  go.

Up this week: 3, 5, 3, and 12. And yes, considering my experience with yesterday's 5-miler, I *am* very much wondering how 12 is going to go. On the other hand, I've run 13.1 three times, so...