Today is four weeks since I completed my first week of 8 mile runs. 8 hilly miles every day for seven days. That first week, I averaged about 1:21:20 (fastest, on last day, of 1:15:56) for each effort. After one day of rest, I repeated the seven day effort and averaged 1:19:20 (fastest, on last day, of 1:11:19). My third week, I lowered my average time to 1:17:30 (fastest, on last day 1:12:24), and ended up taking a few days of rest after putting in a 1:19:00 effort that left me exhausted) and so for my fourth week, I've tried for some degree of consistency. My fastest effort of the week was my second one of 1:12:12, and today in 80+ heat, I ran hard for the first five miles and then went easy for the last three, ending up with a time of 1:16:07, leaving me with an average time for the week of 1:15:50. I'm definitely getting faster, and I'm certainly getting stronger. I don't know yet if I'm getting more fatigued. I'll have a much better idea after a day of rest.
This journey is already becoming a good one. Looking back over my training logs for the past couple of months, I find that I restarted running in early June and built up for about 5-6 weeks until my latest endeavor. Running seven straight days is something that I really haven't done in many years and I seem to be holding up reasonably well. I've now completed a month's worth of these efforts and I don't seem any worse for the wear, and, in fact, seem to be getting faster and stronger. I've had heat to contend with over the past few days, which will definitely slow me down a bit. It's ok, though, so long as I make sure that I hydrate afterwards. I've also managed to slog through my back going out on me over a week ago. It's been sore all week, but not so sore as to limit my running (neither my pace or my effort). That's remarkable and not completely understandable.
As I write this, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm recovering from today's effort and already getting my mindset ready for another week of 8 mile runs. That's actually been another interesting facet of this journey. Some days I look forward to seeing how fast I can go, other days I look forward to seeing how fast I can run while running easily. Today was one of my hardest efforts, and I've kept those at a minimum to reduce the development of too much fatigue. Nevertheless, I have a day off tomorrow, so I always allow myself to push a little hard on the last day of the seven. With that said, there are limits, and my body sent me that message after the fifth mile today, whereupon I just took it easy to the finish. Let's see what the next week brings!
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