Chicked, among other things...

Summer vacation is upon us, and with that, comes more training.  With that comes, easily, highest mileage week in 6 months.  Right on cue, we've topped the 21 miles in April, with a 23 mile week.  I mean, I've been really cranking out miles this week, and hope to continue with next.  Of course, yesterday, I was starting off my 2nd longer run for the week (5.6), and it happened again.

That's right, I got chicked again (if you couldn't tell by the title of the post).  This time, I wasn't even a mile into the run.  I was passing the local park, running up the hill on the state highway, past the correctional facility, and this woman (running on the wrong side of the street, mind you), goes by me on the opposite side of the street.  As always, my desire to keep up with a fast girl spurred up, and I raced up the hill in record time.

And, she kept pulling even further and further away from me.  THAT was one fast girl.

Now, I'm not so sure it makes me an asshole, because I'm not worried about getting chicked, it just works as some neanderthal-ish motivator.

That little up in my tempo carried me for the next 3 miles or so.  In fact, I was slightly ahead of the pace I ran earlier in the week, despite the fact that I was indeed more tired.  I'll attribute that to 1) the day off and 2) the trip to the chiropractor.  That usually helps my form and efficiency for a few days, at the very least.

Sadly, as I took the final hill, something got me.  Maybe it was the humidity (90% according to weather.com).  Maybe it was the lack of shade (I always hate that).  Maybe it was that the last mile or so is uphill.  Whatever it was, suddenly I was sapped.  My run suffered, as I bonked hard.

One thing I won't blame that on is the soundtrack*.  Sure, I was just coming off Fall Out Boy's rendition of Beat It (how good is the cameo by Donald Faison?) but the audio intensity was still there.  Still, for the last 10 minutes or so, I felt like I was slogging up the hill...which I was.

So, what am I training for?  To be honest, I'm not sure.  There are 18 weeks until the Hartford Marathon/Half-Marathon.  I've. gotten a little faster, and I'd like to continue that.  I also know that I'm upping my mileage.  I think I want to run the half, and see if I can lower my PR some more from last year.  However, I probably could be talked into the full, but would need to be by, say, mid-july, so that I can get the right training done.  Who knows what I'm doing?

Two hours of running sure seems a lot better right now than 5 hours of running.  Any suggestions?

*You can sample or download today's playlist by following the link below

Today's Playlist, available at iTunes: Jimmy Eat World - A Praise Chorus, All for you, Sophia - Franz Ferdinand, Sleepwalker - Wallflowers,Read my Mind - the Killers, El Scorcho - Weezer, Crushcrushcrush - ParamoreSing - My Chemical Romance, Shake It - Metro Station, Rock & Roll Band - Boston, Good Girls (Gone Bad) - Cobra Starship, I'm Not Over - Carolina Liar, Beat It (Featuring John Mayer) - Fall Out Boy, Do the Panic - Phantom Planet, I Just Wanna Run - the Downtown Fiction, Misery Business - Paramore