I "ALWAYS" welcome heat and humidity...

Until this friday came along...

  I have always (for what ever reason) have been able to handle the heat and more importantly humidity quite well.  I don't know what the reasoning behind that is but it seems that the faster (or harder) I run in it, the better I seem to feel.   This was until the tail end of this week.  I was surprised how good i felt through much of the week (especially with the raise in miles off a 3 week hiatus-rest and light running).  The week went as follows (all easy effort runs-base phase for the next 3-4 weeks):
   
      Mon: 11.5 miles
     Tues: 11.5 miles
     Wed:  10 miles (am) / 5 miles (pm)
    Thurs: 10 miles
     Friday: 10 miles
     Sat:  9.0 miles
    Sunday: 13.5 miles
 
   I ended up with an 80 miles week and overall I feel very good.  I struggled a lot on saturday's 9 mile run at Cabin John due to not being hydrated enough and waking up just prior to the run with Ryan and Sam.  However, after hydrating all day saturday, I was able to rebound a finish week 1 feeling very good.  I will stay at the 75-80 range for week 2 and then will uptick to around about 85 for week 3 and continue this progression.  I am not placing a ceiling I must hit in miles because for me the mileage is not the key ingredient for the recipe for my success this fall.  It is the quality.  Coach and I have discussed and have come to the common conclusion that I must raise the volume to have the gas tank I need for the 26.2 distance.  Overall, it is not going to be the "End all, Say all" for my training.  I will not be a mileage hound and get myself caught up in it. 
   I am excited to run again, which is exciting.  It is not a chore like it has been in the past.  If it gets that way again, I will not hesitate to take a step back as this is a key indicator of burn out.  I am adding in 2 days/week of 1 hour + of cycling on the trainer that will take place of an hour morning run.  This will eliminate the excessive pounding on the legs that have hurt me.  I also feel i get more out of cycling on the trainer than I do in the pool aqua jogging.