Sometimes I have to think less about running and just do the damn thing. So I haven’t been great about logging or reflecting or any of that. I did read Ronda Rousey’s “My Fight/Our Fight,” which was a good motivational read that was also quick and easy.

Quick and dirty weekly recaps for now. My intention both weeks … train. Don’t overthink it. JFR.

July 17-23

Monday: 8.57 miles easy. My Garmin Forerunner 35 went kaput so I had to use my phone and the Strava (barf) app to record. 1.5 miles for Morgan.

Tuesday: 10 miles total, speedwork day. Warm up, 4×30/60s, 1 mile at 90%, 8×400 at 90%, die, cool down. Felt really good about this workout. The heat index 98 and I ran on the roads because the track was closed. Resorted to my old FR15, which doesn’t show lap distance, so had to keep adding the 400s/200s up in tenths. Went a little hard on the sixth 400, paid for it on 7th. Times: 6:15, 92, 92, 92, 89, 87, 85, 96 (recorded a smidge long), 90. The c/d miles were ugly. Jasyoga calf reset during the day and legs up after. One of my favorite notes from coach on this one: “Your business is kicking ass and business is good. This is strong stuff!”

Wednesday: 6.33 miles very, very slowly. First 1.5 with Morgan. Coach: “If people only knew what a sub 3 marathoner runs on the recovery days.” Taught Pilates that evening.

Thursday: 8.6 mile “light” progression run, .65 with Morgan at the beginning. 4 miles cut down from 8:06 to 7:20. Humid.

Friday: 6.25 easy with a friend. 80º at 7 a.m., neat.

Saturday: 16 miles total, long run of doom. SO HOT AND HUMID. I didn’t even put notes into my log, it was so bad. 87º, feels like 97, dewpoint 76. I had to change clothes and shoes. Forgot to weigh before I went but I was 109.2 Friday morning and 105.7 after the run … with lots of stops. That was rough.

Sunday: 6.25 treadmill miles while it was storming.

Totals: 62 miles run (100k!), 70 minutes Pilates/Jasyoga (yikes, not enough), 3.65 miles for Morgan.

July 24-30

Monday: 8 miles, first .65 with Morgan. Nothing notable. Jasyoga 5 minute reset while at work, subbed a Pilates class after.

I am a sucker. But damn I was coordinated that day.

Tuesday: New watch day! 10 miles with 4x2k hill circuits, which involves 2k worth of up and down ran at tempo effort. Hot but less humid. Ran the first part of the warmup with the hubs, but he had less total mileage on the day so he started the hills first. I caught him on my second/his third. First two reps were great, last two were not as fun. Jasyoga after.

Wednesday: Dropped Morgan off to get spayed, then subbed a morning Pilates class. Worked all day, then taught Pilates after work and then ran 6 or maybe 6.32 on the treadmill. Not sure which is more accurate — watch accelerometer or uncalibrated gym treadmill.

Thursday: Humid 6 moderate-ish with some strides. This was not as fun as I anticipated.

Friday: 4 mile easy shakeout run with a friend.

Saturday: Grand Slam 4 Miler. Great weather, 61º but the cold front brought with it a decent breeze especially along the river. 2.5 mile warmup plus strides, didn’t feel great. 4 mile race, lead from the beginning. A lot of us got sent the wrong way because they had three lead bikes but all at the very front instead of spread out. I crossed the finish line about 400m short, so I just lap split for interest and pushed hard until my watch hit 4. Not super accurate because the course has A LOT of zig-zag turns, but at least gave me an idea. I closed that last 400m at 5:30 pace, too. BOOM.

The next couple of girls also got turned around at various points, and if you take my watch time with the extra 400m, I was still 2+ minutes ahead of second. We basically all agreed it was fine how it was, that the order would’ve been the same had we all gone the same right way. That means I defended my title from last year (when we also got misdirected) and got another Louisville Slugger bat, though! And I get to throw the first pitch at an upcoming minor league game. Hard to compare the races since I had them both short for different reasons, but Garmin says I averaged 5 seconds per mile faster this year, so that’s good. 3.5 mile cool down, mostly with a group of other racers.

Sunday: 6 miles slow. It was 57º out, I couldn’t not run. Felt the race in my hamstrings and glutes. Jasyoga hamstring reset after.

Totals: 50.4 miles, 189 minutes Pilates/Jasyoga. Just .65 miles for Morgan since she’s now in recovery mode for a couple of weeks.