21.5 Miler Ahead of Trip

With interest in doing one half or full marathon before the year ends, I've stepped up my training. In the past month or two, I've managed a couple of 16's and, last week, ran an 18 miler. Though I usually ramp up using a very specific schedule, I attempted a 22-23 miler this morning, but fell slightly short with a still respectable 21.5 miler (at an average pace of 8:43/mile).

There are two reasons I wanted to run more than 21 miles this week. For starters, I really wanted to see how feasible running to work would be. If we had showers at the office, I would definitely consider doing so at least once a week...an excuse to add a mid-week 10+ miler would probably do wonders for my training. I long said I wanted to try running to Naughty Dog (basically a marathon from my house). This run took me around an hour-and-half, less time than it took me to drive to Santa Monica on some mornings...and today's run proves I could actually consider commuting to and from Big Red Button! But my primary reason for today's effort was to squeeze in one last long run before my upcoming trip.

For the rest of the month, I will be touring Vietnam and Cambodia. The weather forecast suggests temperatures that will feel like they are well over 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, but never cooler than the 80's overnight. Frequent visitors to this my blog know I do not run well when temperatures inch over 80. I also have no idea how much time I should devote to running given that this is a tour. Chances are I will not attempt a long run while I am there because I do want to have energy for hiking...and taking a lot of photographs (I will be carrying 15lbs of gear on my back most of the time). When possible I will wake up before sunrise and run outside, but suspect I will spend more time on treadmills in the hotel fitness centers. To balance the loss of long runs, I will probably run daily at far shorter distances (i.e. 3 miles) than usual. I'm not sure what I'm going to do while I'm on a junk sailing around Ha Long Bay though...