30+ Miles

The book I am reading discusses how this phase of the training is a time to re-dedicate to one's purpose. When you are running over 30 miles a week, the emotional drain starts to take over a little. Of course this week also occurred at the same time as I contracted a nasty cold. So...getting past both the cold and the drain...I'm feeling good again about my training.

So-in case people are curious, I thought I'd let you in on my training schedule. The schedule is divided into a 4-day running plan. On day 1 and day 3 I do short runs. On day 2 I had a medium distance run and on day 4 I hit the road for my long distance run of the week. On my second week of training, 7 miles seemed to take forever. Now 7 miles is considered my middle middle run and it does not even cover half of my long 3 hour, 16 mile run. Suddenly 7 miles doesn't seem so bad.

I sometimes think about what I should write in my blogs while I run. But the thoughts fly in and out of my mind as quickly as the breath going in and out of my lungs. I love the constant flow of thoughts during my runs. In sport psychology, there is a discussion of associating (thinking about the running) and disassociating (thinking about anything but the running). My mind quickly leaps from thoughts about my rhythmic breathing to the leaves changing color, to my thesis, to my sisters, to my muscles...and so on. It is a powerful combination of association and disassociation that makes the three hours of running pass quickly and feel so productive. I have to admit--I never thought I would become so strongly attached to running through this process. I am dedicated to my purpose of raising awareness of Cystic Fibrosis. But simultaneously, I have surprisingly come to love running as a byproduct of my training.