This has been quite the eventful week.

Let’s go through the day-by-day, and then I’ll just write a bunch about it:

Monday: 4 miles, 11:22/mi

Tuesday: Nothing, traveling

Wednesday: 8.5 miles, 1:33:08 - Intervals - 6 Yassos (half-mile intervals) with 1/4 mile recoveries, with 2 miles warm up and cool-down

Thursday: 4 miles (with hills), 10:47/mi

Friday: 30 minute Strength for Runners workout on Peloton

Saturday: 8 miles with 2 at Tempo, 11:01/mi

I think it’s implied on these weekly recaps, but Sunday is not listed because it’s always a rest day, unless I end up shaking things up and move a long run.

Otherwise, if you see me out doing something on a Sunday, you should really question what I’m doing.

That’s where we’ll start this week, because I will say Saturday was my toughest day yet this training period. The long run turned out OK, but the time I woke up to the time I got out the door was by far the hardest its been to get myself in the running mindset. I knew once I got going I’d be OK…but I just could not get going.

And I think that dates back to last Sunday.

On Sunday my middle daughter was going to the Red Sox game with a friend, and Kathy and I decided mid-week last week maybe we’d drop her off and just hang out in Boston for the afternoon.

We did. We dropped her at Fenway, parked the car, and then she and my youngest daughter went to a store while I walked at a pretty good clip to the Prudential building to use the bathroom.

As I was walking there I was like, oh, this was a mistake. This is not the rest my legs need.

Remember, last Saturday I ran 12 miles.

I do a pretty good job of resting the rest of Saturday after these long runs…but I am now realizing Sunday is a pretty important day to do nothing too. Well, I knew that. But I was reminded of just how important, I guess.

Listen. It was a nice day. Newbury Street was closed to traffic so that’s a fun place to be on a summer Sunday - we had a nice lunch on Newbury (after I made that very important bathroom stop) - but it was a lot of walking.

The other theme is too much sitting in a car time. I need to figure this one out - remember last year when I was going back and forth to Mets games and I theorized all that driving was affecting my legs? (Sure you do. I’m sure you read everything I wrote about it in my Mets recaps and running posts on Instagram. [You can follow at the link at the end of this post!])

Anyway, between the back and forth to Boston on Sunday, and the back and forth to New York on Tuesday, and the Charlotte-to-Columbia-and-back a week before that…well, that’s a lot of car sitting time.

I think I felt that in my legs all week.

So as you read this hopefully I’m sitting with my feet up and just resting my legs, because they’ve earned it.

Otherwise, the runs this week, once I got going, were pretty good. On Wednesday morning I went in to work later than usual - things are a little flexible these next few weeks now before school trips get going again - and did my intervals run in the morning, which is definitely my preference.

I didn’t even realize it was going to rain all day Wednesday, so although I got rained on pretty good during my 2 mile cooldown, it definitely beats the alternative which would have been waiting out rain that never really let up.

And the funny thing about this is I do have the treadmill as an option but even with all of the heat all summer I never really considered using it. It would be good for the intervals, I know that - but I guess maybe I’ll save that for the winter. I think to me the biggest thing about this summer is I have mostly been able to run in the daylight, either early morning or in the evening. In the winter those times are limited. (It is funny - and I’m sure I’m not alone in this - in the summer my goal is to get out as early as possible to beat the heat, while in the winter I always hope to run closer to mid-day to capture the sun/heat. Very different dynamics.)

Anyway, it’s also interesting that Wednesday was really the first time rain impacted my running at all this training season.

My plan occasionally calls for hills and Thursday was one such run. My regular route is pretty hilly anyway, but I threw in a couple of steep side streets to meet my quota.

Then on Saturday the aforementioned long run called for 4 miles warming up, 2 miles at tempo, and then 2 cooling down for a solid 8 to wrap up week 8. I programmed the workout into my watch to keep myself honest and I think I did OK. In a few weeks I think the program calls for another 8 but this time with 4 at tempo.

I was going to run this one on the Esplanade but I decided the less driving I do the better, so I stuck to my neighborhood. Maybe I’ll drive to the Esplanade for the next 8-miler.

So that’s that. Far from the worst week of training I’ve ever had, but not exactly the best.

Which is good. I always equate it to when my class was rehearsing for their play - if they didn’t have one clunker of a rehearsal, the play wasn’t going to be as good.

This wasn’t a clunker of a week, but it was the first hint of adversity, which is never a bad thing.

I’d rather go through it now than on race day.

Total Miles for Week 8: 24.5

Total Miles Overall: 181.5