Half marathon training – Week 2 – Heat wave

09/07	-	Rest day, IM softball game
10/07	3.0 miles	Easy run: avg 10:03 min/mile
11/07	6.1 miles	Speedwork: 2x1600m (w 800m jogs) in 7:59/8:05
12/07	XT	45 min on the elliptical, light weights
13/07	-	Rest day
14/07	7.3 miles	Long run: avg 10:18 min/mile
15/07	3.1 miles	Recovery run: avg 10:26 min/mile
Total	19.5 miles	YTD: 598.5 miles

It’s been a hot hot week in Seattle. It reached over 30C on both Tuesday and Wednesday. I was out running by 6:15am on both days but even at that time it was about 20C. So far I’ve been able to handle the higher temperatures but I can definitely tell that running in the heat takes a little more out of me than usual. Needless to say I’ve been drinking about 4L of water a day and going through sunscreen at an alarming rate!

Now that I’m through week 2 I’m starting to get back into the training groove. That means consistently going to bed early (which is hard when it’s still quite warm in my room at 10pm and I want to keep reading one of the Harry Potters in preparation for the release of Book 7) and waking up early, even on the weekends. It also means brining enough healthy food with me to work/school that I don’t make a bad decision at the vending machine at around 3pm!

I spoke to my cousin Nic on Friday before he left Sunday for the RCMP Training Academy (aka Depot). That’s right, my cousin is going to be a mountie! Anyway, Nic and I got to talking about the fitness benchmarks he’s going to have to achieve during the 6 months at Depot including a 22 minute 5K! That’s pretty speedy but I have no doubt that with proper training he’ll be able to do it. I was pleased to see that my 5K PB is 4 seconds under the female standard of 24:00. I’m pretty sure the pull-ups and bench press would do me in though!