hot spots, heat and horse flies - 11 weeks til tupelo

my build for tupelo continues. i've long been a fan of the high miles, and this week we started inching up there. since the snickers marathon in albany, i've done no more than 10-12 for my long runs, mostly 10's, with anything up to 8 during the week, even with speed work. i have 11 weeks until tupelo, plenty of time to ramp it up. along with the miles, this week was complete with heat, hot spots and horse flies.

this week started with 8 on tuesday at marathon pace plus 30 seconds. if you aren't up at 5 a.m., then you probably don't know that it's hot at that time of the morning. one trade off with running so early is you trade in the temps from the sun for thicker humidity. there is absolutely no movement in the air that time of the day, but you don't have the sun beating down on you. it's really a no win situation because whenever you run this time of the year, it's hot. the first 5 mile loop was ok tuesday. i held the pace i needed to, but after the short water stop, the run went south. holding the pace was a major effort.

thursday was a 10 miler. we would do two 5 mile loops. same story, different day, however, i think we felt worse on thursday. we were close to the pace on the first 5, but on the second, we were beyond ready for it to be over. i haven't done this in a long time, but there were 3 short walk breaks. there you go, that's how difficult it became.

so i was a bit nervous heading into today's 14. the last two haven't been successful, and i really needed today to go well. it was 79 degrees at 5 a.m. that's amazing. i decided i would take the run slow at the start, ease into my pace. i did just that. after about 2 miles, i was on the target pace so all i needed to do was hang on for 12 more miles. after the third mile, my legs finally started to open up, and i began to gain a bit more confidence about the run, although keeping in mind the heat and rest of the run to come. we picked up a few friends for parts of the run, and some horse flies. it was that time of the morning when they were looking for someone or someones to pester. luckily they either found someone else to hang out with or gave up on us after a while. i felt strong and solid for most of the run, but in the last 2 miles i began to fade. i still held on to my pace and finished the run right on pace. it worked out that there was about .6 to walk to get back to the car. it was a great way to get a bit of recovery and rest before i piled up in the car to go home.

this week i battled heat, today the horse flies and all three days, hot spots. i need to buy stock in body glide. no matter how much or where all you put it, it's never enough. i have spots on my rib cage, my waist, my arm and my legs. i love the summer for all the fun things like tans, swimming, snow cones, but i despise it for chaffing, dehydrating, and my runs suffering. i'm longing for winter...