The miles are really piling up now – and as is the rest of my life. In fact, I have a race this week, and a million billion things to do, so let’s make this short and sweet!

Last week called for a LOT of shuffling. Here was the original schedule:

Monday: cross-train

Tuesday: 7 miles easy

Wednesday: cross-train

Thursday: 9 miles speedwork

Friday: 4 miles easy

Saturday: rest

Sunday: 20 miles

But there was one MAJOR kink – Yom Kippur, a Jewish fast holiday, began Friday evening and lasted through Saturday night. So here’s how it all went down.

Monday

The boy and I went on a really beautiful, super-early 7-miler since he had an early morning commitment. We could definitely feel Saturday’s 18-miler in our legs, but it was a pretty great run: uphill first half, cruising downhill second half. I brought music along, but never turned it on, just enjoying early morning quiet and the great company.

Tuesday

We hit the track for a grueling mile repeat workout – 5×1600. And of course these were the days summer decided to rear its ugly head. It was in the low 70s and brutally humid, to the point that when I stopped after the third repeat to down a gel and get a few sips of water, I did want I detest (because it makes me self-conscious, I know people have strong feelings about this) – I stripped off my singlet and ran just in a sports bra. So worth it – cooled me a good couple degrees. I completely nailed this workout though, despite the conditions. My first for repeats all hovered around 7:13, and just a shade under 7 minutes for the fifth one. It felt really hard, but also manageable. The planned gel/water break after the third repeat helped me mentally break it up so I never quit.

After work I had my 5:30 Pilates class – with only three of us regulars there, so she took us through an advanced class. Obliques: shredded.

Wednesday

NF and I both headed to my gym – he lifted while I was at spin, and I later joined him and did a squat series and a few more leg exercises. We wrapped it up with a core workout and a quick coffee date before we started our work days.

And then I got to work and realized I had forgot my packed lunch and breakfast at home (but remembered to make sure the boy had his lunch). So I ran to the Starbucks at Target next door to the office and got a pumpkin cream cheese muffin. NECESSARY.

Thursday

Two days in a row of cross-training? Okay! I got a late start but got in almost an hour of lifting – all arms, and a little core, and ended on some stretching and foam rolling to try to loosen up my sore legs.

Friday

I had taken the day off of work for the long run. We woke up at 5, ate our oatmeal, and I ran around the apartment like a chicken with my had cut off, not sure where my armband was (found it hours later), or my handheld (found it), or my brain/sanity (still at-large).

We got started a little late, but drove out to Montour and were running by about 6:40 or so. It was cool but humid, and we were guzzling water pretty quickly. We did a 10 mile out-and-back that was about 8 miles of a long, slow climb, a little dip, and then turn around and do all that in reverse. We refilled our bottles twice, and NF went dry the last couple miles. He was struggling a bit – we think he may have something metabolic going on, possibly an iron deficiency – but we got through, and even made it the full 20 miles in under 3 hours! Not that you need time goals on long runs, but very encouraging for my sub-4 marathon goal.

We hurried home and got cleaned up, and then it was Mission: Eat All The Food, especially since I was staring down the barrel of a full day fast. I wasn’t dumb enough to think I could really manage it (a Jewish fast is hardcore – no eating or drinking, not even water, but I planned on drinking water and not being a moron about the fact that I just ran 20). Lucky for me, my appetite showed up right away! This NEVER HAPPENS with these high double-digit runs. Like a good Jew, I gobbled up a lox-and-bagel sandwich. And sweet potato fries, because reasons.

NF went off to start his day while I did laundry and packed and then made the drive to Cleveland to spend the holiday with my dad. I stopped at a service plaza and tried out a Panera “supersmoothie” (not bad) and for our last meal, we had steak, baked potatoes, grilled veggies, and salad. And a glass of wine (probably not the wisest).

Now, I do NOT recommend running 20 miles and trying to fast the next day. That being said, I was VERY hydrated – I drank a ton of fluids on Friday before, during, and after the run, and had no hydration issues early in the day. I downed 16 oz of water when I woke up Saturday morning. By 3 pm when we got home from 6 hours in services, I had a protein bar to try to relieve my splitting headache, and some more water. Then I napped for 2 hours. By 5:30 lights hurt my eyes and I just wanted food NOW. I probably should have eaten more, but it was manageable. We had classic breakfast foods (bagels and lox again!) for the break fast meal at a relative’s house, and I made sure to have a clif bar as well as a gel before I ran on Sunday – for easy miles that felt fine but I really just wanted to be done with.

Oh, um, and you know how I said I did laundry Friday before I left? I hang dry my running gear, so none of it was ready. So I was left with this outfit:

Week 10 complete.

Now – cutback! It’s also a mini-taper, since the USAF Half is on Saturday! I have lots of plans for this week, but mostly it’s about 1.) eating clean, 2.) carbo-loading, 3.) sleeping a LOT, and 4.) stretching and foam rolling every night before bed.

And I have a buddy helping me out with the last one. 🙂