Longest distance yet

So I had a hard week this week and it ended up being a rest week where I didn't do anything. That is until today. Today I had a 7 mile workout planned. I got up at 7:20am and was determined to do it. So I got ready and was out of the house by 8:30am. The plan was to walk 4 miles and then run the last 3 miles. However, my body was not having that. It was hotter than it was supposed to be. I just checked the temp and it is 86 degrees. Too HOT! That and both my hips decided they wanted to be tight. So I had some time to think while walking most of it.

I think I will be changing my expectations. Each week I hope to do a 3 mile speed run, half of my long distance tempo run and then my long distance walk. At least until it is time to start the Jeff Galloway plan. So I will still be up to 5 miles of running by then. At least I hope so. Then I will loosely follow the Jeff Galloway plan until after the race. That should get me in the right kind of shape by the race. And I should be starting my longer running distances at the beginning of Sept. So the temps will hopefully be generally lower. Now to just get out and run earlier to keep it as cool as possible.

So, I did 7.15 miles today with a total time of 1:50:37.06 and an average pace of 15:29/mi. At least I was still under the slowest average pace allowed for the half marathon. Looks like I got a few more blisters than usual but all of them seem to be small. Only one blister bothered me during the workout and once it got filled enough it stopped being a sharp pain. I tried some new taping for one of my toes. Now my middle toe is completely taped as well. I may end up doing that on all of my toes. At least until I get a pair of double layer socks. That just might happen next week. Less tape will be better if the socks help. The problem I have is adding an extra layer might make me sweat more and the wetter my feet are the worse my blisters get. But it will be worth a try.

Not a great workout but I did the whole thing with a decent average pace and it was the longest distance I have done yet. So that felt good. My poor joints just don't like super long distances. Of course, they have been abused this week by crazy thunder storms rolling through too. But all is good. The tightness seems to have mostly eased already in my joints. So slowly upping my mileage while walking will be more low impact on them. At least I learned something.