Up until last year, I really despised running in the summer and refused to train for a marathon during these months. It was bad enough trying to train for January and February races since training would typically start in August when we would still have one or two months of heat. But last year I changed my attitude, changed my training, and sucked it up because I had a big goal and I didn't want anything to screw with that.
It worked! I actually had a great training cycle and the heat didn't screw with me nearly as bad as it has in previous years. I slowed it down, wore my heart rate monitor, mostly ran early in the morning before the sun would get too high in the sky, and added so much volume that my body had no choice but to get used to it.
My marathon training doesn't officially start until the middle of July, but I've been trying to maintain 4-5 days and 30 miles per week of running since May began. The temps before sunrise rarely dip below 75 and the humidity hovers over 80%. It's not exactly conducive to fast times and endurance training.
But I'm doing great! I can safely say that I haven't been horribly affected by the weather. Sure, it hurts more to hit my fast intervals and I haven't even tried to do a longer tempo run, and I slow it down during long runs, but I'm actually really enjoying running right now. Even after an hour or two out on my Sunday long runs, I'm finding myself still with energy and my breathing is totally under control. A couple weeks ago I planned to run 12 miles, but at my turnaround point I was feeling so good and was having a great run, so I decided to keep going and knocked out 14 miles instead. I'm pretty sure that's the longest June run I've ever had in my life and I finished it feeling accomplished and happy. I've also run a few 12 mile runs and am feeling great about those as well. Now, mind you, my pace is WAY over marathon pace, but I'm keeping my heart rate in the high 120s or low 130s, which is actually better than last year at this time. Solid Zone 1 and Zone 2 training, with Zone 3 typically only coming on uphill stretches. Not bad for 80 degrees and relentless sweating.
A part of me is definitely being inspired by my husband right now. He's smack in the middle of the hardest part of marathon training. It's his first marathon and he chose a July 29 race (don't worry, it's in Washington, NOT Texas!). He has two more 20+ mile training runs to complete and he's hanging in there, hitting paces on his hard effort days that I could only dream about. His strength and determination is definitely fueling my love of running and helping me to keep my volume base on a much higher summer level than normal. I'm enjoying sharing this time with him, that's for sure. I'm very thankful for this inspiration.
July 9 officially marks the start of my 21 week California International Marathon training plan. It's really not going to feel any different than how I'm running right now, at least in the first few weeks. I should be able to ease into the higher volume weeks without difficulty as long as I stay healthy. I'm on target to run 130 miles this month and I'm quite pleased with that number.
When you've found the winning formula, you've gotta stick with it!
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