What week am I on... oh yeah, Week 4

This week was really a challenge for me. 

The biggest challenge was the fact that it's been 85-90+ degrees for most of the days I was planning on running last week.  Dew points 65+ and low temperatures not really below 65 most of the week.  Welcome to July in Ohio.

Let's look at Garmin Connect here to give me a good idea of pacing... I actually did make some improvements on consistency so that was a good accomplishment this week.

Mon July 4th I got a nice and consistent 4 miles at around 9:49 pace... felt good and I didn't take any walk breaks...

Wed July 6th met a friend at the park and ran 6 with her.  Managed a 10:03 pace for 6 miles but had to take some breaks and the humidity was unbearable.  Thankfully, a friend makes it go faster. 

Thurs July 7 did a quick 3 in the neighborhood with my new shoes (Mizuno Wave Creation 17) .  I liked them and didn't notice anything too extreme with muscle weirdness afterwards so I will give them another try on my short run the following week to break them in.10:01 average pace, but managed a negative split run this time...

Sat July 9 was the day I had my 11 mile run scheduled.  I decided to meet up with a group of my eastside Columbus friends and try a new location.  It was going to be a hot day and I planned traveling to see family/friends 3 hours away in my hometown (and had to be there by 1pm) so this meant meeting up at 6am with the group.  I usually do well with getting up at 6 or even 5:30 but that meant getting up at 5 because I like to fuel properly and do my "business" before I go out on a long run like that.  Especially when I don't know the restroom situation...

Had a great time with everyone and managed about 10:24 pace.  This was perfect because I am making an effort to slow down the long run.  There were definitely some slow down/speed up times but I did manage to run the entire 11 without too much of a decrease in effort.

Actually, now that I've described the week, it really doesn't seem like I struggled as much as I thought I did.  The humidity and heat has been bad and maybe I'm not giving myself enough credit.

This week is a pretty similar week.  I'm actually writing this Monday and I've completed my 4 miler already for today.  It was a cooler morning today and felt a lot better.

After today's 4 miles, I have a 6 miler Weds, a 3 miler Thurs and a 12 miler on Saturday for Week 5.  This will give me approximately 25 miles... I have been almost losing track of what week of training I am on... Trying to follow my plan as much as possible.