The Climb: Wisconsin Marathon Training Week 7

It's the middle of week seven and holy hell am I tiiiired. I'm not super sore or hurting or anything like that- just SLEEPY. I remember after the first month of training last summer when I got to this point. I had ton of energy at first (most likely due to adrenaline and the excitement from starting something new.) But about 6 weeks in or so my body realized what I was trying to sustain and I just shut down for about a week or so. Eventually I got accustomed to the mileage and I was able to press on but whoa, the sleeps were sleepy. And they are again now. Just typing this now, it's about 7pm and I'm already in bed and looking forward to lights out. Mmmmmm.

Am I stronger yet? Am I faster? I'm not really sure. It's so hard to gauge progress when you're in the thick of things. I've been bringing back hill workouts in to the mix because it helped me so much before Madison Marathon this year. I try to incorporate hills into almost every route I run now and earlier this week Sara and I tried out a completely bananas hill repeat workout that left me gutted. Even so, I feel mentally energized like every step I take is another in the right direction.

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Funny story: I actually drifted off and fell asleep in the middle of this blog post. Not LOL funny but... mildly amusing I guess? It's now Sunday afternoon and I'm encased in my Rest Day Blanket on the couch. I'm feeling less tired than I did in the middle of the week so that's nice. I also had a really strong long run yesterday at the Pettit with a nice stretch at goal marathon pace. I love Sundays because in addition to reflecting on all the hard work of the previous six days I get hyped looking at my schedule for the upcoming week. 60 miles on deck! Monster speed workout! Let's go! I swear if I don't see big improvements after this cycle I'm out of ideas.