Daily details:
Mo: 6
Tu: 3 mi. tempo @ 6:31/mi. (8 total) - humid!
We: 14
Th: 6
Fr: 12 (miles 10&11 @ 6:54, 6:55)
Sa: 6
Su: 18
Week total: 70
Mo: 6
Tu: 10.5 (with 8 strides)
We: 14
Th: 6.5
Fr: 12 (miles 10-11 @ 6:52/mi.)
Sa: 6
Su: 15 (am), 5 (pm)
Week total: 75
Mo: 7
Tu: 14
We: 4 mi. tempo @ 6:18/mi. (11 total) - on treadmill, progressing from 6:30 to 6:00 pace.
Th: 7
Fr: 14
Sa: 7
Su: 20
Week total: 80
My weekly mileage for the seven weeks since the beginning of June has been 54, 60, 65, 63, 70, 75, and 80. I now have more or less the base that I'd like to maintain into the Fall. Surprisingly, I haven't had any significant aches and pains during this period. My muscles and joints have held up fine. The only minor issue occurred during the 75 mile week, when my weight slipped a little and I was low on energy for a few days. For me the key to maintaining an acceptable energy level during mileage build-ups is to make sure that my weight stays at or above wherever it was when the build-up started, even if it seems like I need to eat practically all the time to maintain my weight (which is typically in the mid/upper-140's these days - I'm 5'10"). So when it slipped a little that week and I started feeling more tired, I responded by gorging myself until my weight ticked up a bit and my energy returned. Then all was well again. Of course I've slowed down considerably during this period, in part because of the increasing mileage and in part because dew points have been consistently at or above 70 the entire time, with a particularly oppressive heat wave this past week. Last Sunday was the only day that the weather caused me to cut a run short, though. I tried to run 20 miles when the dew point was 74 and the temperature 88, but I overheated in spite of running almost 8:00/mile. So I went back out in the evening to finish the miles I wanted for the day. By contrast, today the temperature was about the same but finally the dew point was below 70 (it was 68), and I had no trouble running 20 miles at that slow pace. According to All-Knowing Garmin, my average pace for each of the past two weeks has been 7:49/mi., which is at least 30 seconds per mile slower than it was in the Spring. I haven't completely lost touch with marathon pace and a slowish tempo pace, but it's now time to shift my attention toward running gradually more at those paces (and bringing them down some) while maintaining the mileage I've built up to. I'm not ready to introduce anything faster than tempo pace yet. But, after a down week next week, the following three weeks - while I'm in Greece - will be a sort of transitional period during which I'll try to prepare myself to start running faster in late August. Greece is less humid and hillier than DC, so I'll push myself a bit harder in the hills and try to do some better tempo runs when I can find a flat course. I've run this mileage before but never so early in the year, so we'll see what I manage to do with it from here.
