I’m declaring a do-over for this second week of training. It’s not that I didn’t accomplish anything useful— on the contrary, once again I hit my week’s running goal on the second day. It’s just that things kind of fell apart physically and mentally due to the heat wave, and now that the weather’s starting to recover I’m starting to recover as well and would like the chance to prove that I can do my second week of training the right way. I’m starting to get used to the pressure of training in the summer, and after taking today (my day off) to re-focus I think I can put in a really solid week over the next seven days, regardless of whatever punishment the sun dishes out.
Of the entire week, Monday was the real eye-opener. When it came time to do my half-hour run I happened to be near a sandy beach, so I decided to run along the beach barefoot. Wow, what a difference. Running in sand is a completely different game to running on a road. And a half-hour run is a lot longer than a 15-minute run. “Twice as long” doesn’t even begin to cover it. It’s hard to explain, but the difference was exponential. The next day my calves ached (sand works different muscles than pavement) and I ended up having to take my mid-week day off a day early. Having said that, I’m proud of my Monday beach run, and I’m seriously considering doing it again this coming week. Also, it was tremendously exhilarating to run with the Mediterranean washing over your toes, looking out onto the horizon of the water and thinking, Africa is over there if I just swam far enough. Great stuff to keep your mind off the running.
No weight loss this week, partially due to the fact that I backed off cross-training (the heat turned me into a sissy-girl), and partially because we have house guests who have stuffed us with food to the point that we’re bursting at the seams. Seriously, I’ve never eaten so much in my life.
The Chemical Brothers are still doing it for me with their new disc, so I’m not going to make any changes at all to my running music this week.
Other than that, I’ve got nothing to report. I wouldn’t say I’m thrilled with my progress this week, but on the other hand I learned a lot about where my self-pity line is (heat over 115°F makes me a big red sweaty crybaby), and I’ve had a stern talk with myself about what is acceptable and what is not as regards cutting myself slack. I’m not going to beat myself up for not cross-training in hell-like temperatures, but what I am suggesting is that rather than backing off completely perhaps I should choose something like swimming that would kill two birds with one stone— fighting heat whilst fighting inertia. I’m also going to find out what people who train in really hot climates (e.g. central Africa) do when the summer gets unbearable. I know they don’t just stop training.
And neither will I. 35 weeks to go.
July 2nd, 2007 at 04:21 am
35 weeks?! Lord almighty. Wow, running along the coast line of the Mediterranean Sea. How enchanting!
July 2nd, 2007 at 08:02 am
Congratulations for your decision to run Marathon of Antalya. If on the way during training you encounter problems with the distance (physical or emotional - like me- marathon is way too long, I can not mentally endure.HM is just fine), you can always run half marathon or even 10K, which will be included in the race programme. I am living in Antalya and ran HM this year in 2h07m. (I am 45!) I am planning to do the same next year with a much better PR (About 01h40m) but it is soo hard to train during summer and as I have to work, I just cant get up by 5 AM. (By the way, I also bought my new ipod and my new Nike running shoes. Great inspiration. The difference is, I have to have a playlist which is 2h long. Good luck.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:41 am
@Vivian: yeah, I know it doesn’t seem like a long time, but really it is enough to train if I buckle down.
Running on the coast *is* enchanting, you’re right. I should do it more often. Strengthens the calves, too.
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:43 am
@Cahit: it’s nice to meet another Antalya runner… this’ll be my first marathon, but training is going well so far and like you said, it’s motivating to have news shoes and a new iPod! Hope to see you out on the road.
July 7th, 2007 at 09:28 am
Nice post Melissa!
I did a lot of running back in the day, including the very first London Marathon. I lived in the suburbs of London at the time and I think the only reason I could stick with all my training was variety. So runs on the country - across farmer’s fields, through parks over hill were much more enjoyable and better for me physically than runs on the roads. Barefoot is really very good - in fact there have been a few athletes who have run on the track barefoot (probably not the best idea long-term) but barefoot on a golf-course - yes and definitely on the sand.
We used to do weekend running camps at the beach and run up and down the sand dunes (great fun) and along the beach in a few centimeters of surf - very good for feet and mind!
Have fun!
July 8th, 2007 at 14:10 pm
@Alexnisbett: can I ask what year that first London Marathon was, or would that be to personal a question?
I, too, love variety, which is exactly why I can’t train on a treadmill.
I’m doing the beach again tomorrow morning, which is fast becoming my favourite run.
Thanks for stopping by - I’ll be doing training reports about once a week.