Richmond Marathon Training - Week 4

Week 4 in the bag.

4 runs for 23 miles, 1 yoga class, 2 rest days.

Can I ask what the heck I have to do to get that stupid smiley face to actually smile? Geesh.

This week's highlights:

• Getting discharged from physical therapy on Thursday.
• Running a 7 minute mile during a speed training session on Friday.
• Meeting fellow blogger Katie (aka Marathon Winer) in Richmond today for the 11 miler. I don't know how I would've done it without her. It ranged from 75 to 85 degrees with 70-80% humidity for our run, even though we started at 7 am. If I had been on my own I know I wouldn't have fared as well. And I got to meet a pretty cool chick and make a new running buddy. Always a good thing.

This week's lowlights:

• Serious abdominal cramping during the last mile of Wednesday's 6 mile treadmill run that had me doubled up for the rest of the night. Not cool. Also not sure what the culprit was.
• My ankle hurt yesterday after the long run, though not nearly as bad as it has prevoiusly. I'm thinking that this whole "discharged" thing might have been a  bit premature... and I'm afraid that it's going to completely crap out of me midway through training.

On Saturday I also had kind of a freak out when it comes to this whole marathon thing. Husband and I were talking about the fall and looking at our calendar and it just dawned on me that I am going to have some serious high mileage long runs on weekends when we have a lot going on. The 11 miles I put in today completely wiped me out. I don't know how I'm going to do it... the thought of running more than 10 miles by myself is incredibly daunting, let alone figuring out how to do it in cities that I am unfamilar with or when I have a weekend of entertaining guests or attending a wedding to get through after said run.

The 11 miler yesterday was pretty difficult, which didn't boost my confidence either. I keep trying to tell myself that it was extremely warm and super super  humid and that it would have been hard for anyone. Basically, this weekend I have second guessed my ability to run a whole marathon for the first time. It's got me rattled.

Thankfully, Katie is going to be in Richmond through next Sunday so we are hopefully going to be able to do 12 together on Saturday morning. And (as of now anyway) the weather is supposed to improve by Saturday. If it was just less humid I think I would fare better... and get some confidence back. I hope.