Double digits and tweaks in (marathon) training

((oh look! Another uber-sweaty post-run picture to entertain you with!))

That would be our sweaty, hot, but still smiling, faces after hitting our 10-mile run on Friday, firmly planting ourselves back in the double digit club. And I’m proud to say that this run was far, far less mental than our last long run was. I think my brain was too consumed by the fact that it was suuuuper muggy and warm on Friday and it chose to keep the mind games at bay for the most part. Thankfully, my body firmly remembered how to run in the heat — and we got through the miles fairly uneventfully. I will say that the last mile, mile-and-a-half were built on sheer willpower. My body was just done by that point, I even got that goose bumpy feeling I sometimes get when my body is being pushed to the limits and that’s how it likes to tell me it’s got (almost) nothing left. I’ve only experienced that sensation a few times but it’s always been during a long run, and that’s how I’m interpreting the random goosebump thing (even though I could be totally wrong, haha). I mean, I definitely wasn’t cold in the muggy heat!

But anyway, I’m really happy with how this run went. Scott and I didn’t really talk all that much this time, but we did work our asses off to get through it. And yes, we brought water and fuel (honey stingers rule!) so we wound up feeling pretty good when all was said and done. Y’know, after we finally stopped sweating. 😉

In other news — I’m already looking at tweaks to my training for the marathon. 
…but it’s for good reason(s).

Reason #1 — I’m going to start teaching another barre n9ne class which I am PSYCHED about. That’ll make four classes on the schedule on a regular basis which makes me suuuuch a happy little instructor. I just love to teach and the more I get to do it, the more and more I love it. The only slight “downfall” is that this means that I’ll no longer be running my long runs this summer on Friday mornings (as I’ll be teaching at 6am and I don’t want to hold off on a long run until after 7am, no way man!). Which means a change in the handy-dandy little schedule of mine. I won’t lie — I did OATT over it a little bit while editing it, but I figured out a good alternative. My long run will now happen on Wednesday mornings each week. Kind of a nice way to break up the week and the training now that I’ve let the change settle in a little bit. But it IS a change, and that always takes me a little bit of time to process. Which brings me to reason #2 for the tweaks in training.

Reason #2 — I need to keep my eye on the prize: the marathon. Which means giving up some of the beloved fitdates I have been hanging onto like hell over here since starting training (a mere two weeks ago, lol). Since I’ll now be running my long run on Wednesdays, it’s no longer a very smart move for me to keep up the run-barre-rundates on Tuesday mornings. At least not regularly, and definitely not as the miles creep up for those long runs. The run-barre-rundates are a KILLER on the legs and the last thing I want is to run 16 miles on dead legs. No bueno. So I’m loosening my grip on these fitdates a bit (insert sad face). At least for now. I’m also going to have to give up my love of the Wednesday morning fitdate with my sis ala barre n9ne fusion class followed by a rundate. A killer fun workout, but one that no longer ‘fits’ with training. Again…at least for now.

Eye on the prize. The marathon. On running smarter, not harder. On making every single run count. Avoiding burnout. And not allowing marathon training to overtake my life entirely.

I can do this.
…right?