How is it the middle of August already? (Or at least it was when week 9 of training took place) I honestly have no idea how the weeks go by so fast! Oh right, maybe because all I do run might have something to do with it? That’s just a guess. But all I do know is each day has it’s set schedule and each day goes by faster than the one before. Make it stop!! I don’t want summer to be over. That means fall will be here. And that means it’s closer to my marathon! Yikes! This week we had a mega run in store, with 29k to look forward to on Sunday, I did not want this week to fly by like each one before it. But of course it did. And before I knew it we’re on to the next one. The next week of training that is.

Monday was a bit of a fun day as I started a new job and taught my second last Free Yoga with Jill! class. It was a private class (with only one person attending) and made the class more of a yang/yin class – by request of course by me and by Emma! Emma is MYD energy exchange trainer (hi, Emma!) and boy do her and I love our yin yoga. I instructed a pretty mellow floor series, but stretched and held poses for quite sometime. It was a lovely experience. Tuesday I got up early (well somewhat early!) and ran in the morning. It was another tough and not fun run. But I got up and ran that’s what matters!

Some jumping action on the spit! I’m not that excited to be running.

On Wednesday Julie and I stuck to our game plan of running Poplar plains together (before the clinic). This week was 7 repeats. Even though one of my favourite things to do is complain about how much I hate hill training I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but I think it’s actually working. And actually getting easier (or better, I’m not sure). During my solo 19k in week #8 I powered up the Pottery Road hill to Broadview and Mortimer and couldn’t believe how good it felt. This week of hills kind of felt like that, but only after the 3rd or 4th climb. After a good day of hills you’d think I’d want to hit the pavement to run some more. But you’d be wrong. I took Thursday and Friday off. Getting back into the working life needs its transitioning time, I forgot how easy it is to get caught up in work and not do anything else. But I have to say I’m loving my new job so much! So not running with the clinic (again) was not the end of the world to me. Friday I had lots of running around to do, taught the 6pm class at MYD, then meet some old colleagues for drinks. I had no time to think about running when I had a class to prepare for. So sadly that 6-10k I should have done on Thursday didn’t happen at all. I had 29k coming up I needed the break to preserve all the energy I have in store for this long run.

Recovery Pudding from the Thrive Diet. After 29k eating solid foods could be challenging.

So Saturday I took the day to do nothing but yoga. I honestly was at the studio the entire day. I working the morning desk shift, practiced at 4pm, when home briefly to eat, then ran back to the studio to take the 8pm Kriya with Julia. I promised Julia I would take this class. And I really wanted to considering it was a class inspired by breath work and fundamental yogic energy. It was beautiful and perfect. I went straight to bed after that and work up early for Sunday’s 29-er of a run. After learning my lesson (again from week #7) I wanted to be awake and digested well before I had to run. All according to plan, Julie and I ran with the 4:30 pace group, then at the 19k mark those who ran the Midsummer Night’s Run the weekend before got to scale back this week. The others, myself included, had to go the full 29k. We’ve come to realize the 4:30ers are a fun group of ladies to run with. Julie ran Midsummer’s so we parted ways at Carlaw and Lakeshore, where she ran back to the store and I ran to the Beaches. I must say this route was great – we ran the spit and to the beach. Having a great route also makes long runs way more fun.

Your long runs need to be enjoyable, this I’ve figured out very quickly, otherwise thinking about the distance will only make the run seem that much worse. And once the run is over and your not dying doing it all over again also feels less daunting. Which is exactly what I have to do this week coming. Oh boy… when does the scaling back begin?! Not soon enough.