tupelo build

my new blog background makes me think of my childhood and my grandmothers. they were very traditional and quilted and sewed and stuff like southern grandmothers do. that talent didn't make it passed my mom to me, but i am happy to enjoy the things they made. i have one of my grandmother's quilts and an afghan that my mom made me, and i plan to continue to pass those down in my family.

this has been a good week of training. i am starting my build for tupelo, and the summer is continuing its build too. i'm beginning to become a bit more acclimated to the temps, but it's a slow process. i ran 8 on tuesday and was supposed to do 10 on thursday, but the humidity and warmth got to me a little so i stopped at 8. i would rather do 8 and maintain my pace than push for that extra 2 miles and struggle. saturday was a 12 miler and again, i chose to stick with my run plan for that day, much to the delight of coach james. i maintained the scheduled pace throughout the run. as coach says, and i'm learning to say, today is not race day. i'm learning a lot about being smart with my training and what to do as well as what not to do.

i'm also learning that running alone is perfectly ok. just like anything else, habits develop, and this is something i'm developing again. there are times when my training schedule will be different than what my friends want to do, and i have to make sure i get my runs in. so when those moment arise, i go alone. mostly this is on sunday when i do my recovery runs, like this morning. recovery works work fyi, in case you aren't doing them. i usually start these runs feeling stiff and tired, but end them feeling a little more energetic and loose. they definitely have a purpose in a training week.

i finished this week with 34 miles and 2 spin classes. i'm really focusing on my running for the first time in years, meaning, i'm mostly just running and limiting other cardio or intense exercise. hopefully it will serve me well come september and january. this week will be a slight ramp in mileage, and i'm looking forward to it! i have a strange love affair with high miles.