And the beat goes on

Well, here I am, smack in the middle of Week 8 of Fall 2010 marathon training for Ridge to Bridge in North Carolina on Oct 30. Time is zipping by, that's for sure. It's hard to believe that summer (calendar-wise) is nearly over, the boys are back in school now, and the cooler temps can't be far away. I'm cautious to wish for the cool days of Fall because I know that the colder days of Winter are not far behind that.

The weather here in Georgia has been nothing short of Sun-like for the past 3 months. The average daytime high is around 97 degrees, AND the relative humidity hangs at 85%. In spite of that stifling combination, my body has managed to acclimatize fairly well and pretty quickly. While most of my weekly runs are done in the 5:00 am time range, I have been running a few per week during lunchtime and on weekends during the hot hours of the day.

Remarkably, I now find them pretty much non-problematic to rattle off. The heat doesn't bother me at all, and the humidity doesn't pose much impediment to performance either. My body has adapted to both conditions incredibly well, and I can nail out a mid-day 8 miler at near-normal pace without much problem. 

Amazing how God made our bodies so adaptable...

Training continues to go very well, and I am now setting new monthly mileage records every month. I'm averaging between 43 and 55 miles per week now, and that will be increasing to around 70 miles per week in the coming 6 weeks. My body has been responding very well to the increased demands I've placed on it, and I've suffered no injuries or issues to slow down my training. I am eternally grateful for this blessing, believe me.

What are my goals for the remaining 2 months of training? I'm glad you asked ;) My #1 goal is incorporate at least four 20 mile long runs into my remaining schedule. That's ambitious for certain, but my race performance will benefit greatly by my ability to eat 20 mile runs like CANDY. The only way to get comfortably fast with them is to do them. ALOT.

My #2 goal is to show up to the starting line of Ridge to Bridge on Oct. 30 in peak physical and mental shape. This will involve ongoing self discipline with nutrition, stretching, self-talk and refining my race day strategy. (My next blog post will be dedicated to my race day strategy and how I fine tune it.)

That's it, guys. I hope your training is going well. If it's not, just focus on getting out the door TODAY. If you do that each day, training and performance will follow.

Oh, I almost forgot; I finally broke down and ordered a new Garmin... I didn't go with the 305 I had previously, but instead went with the 205. It was about $35 cheaper, and I don't use the HRM that much anyway. Waiting for it to get here.