Give and Take

I'm pretty happy the humidity has dropped and temps are lower this week as my continued battle with the heat during training is really getting exhausting. 

Last weekend I did 11 miles on Saturday and while it was not nearly as hot as the Saturday prior, it was still pretty darn hot for being outside and walking for hours. 

I stayed local for that walk, going from my neighborhood into Old Town where I met a friend for breakfast. After catching up with her I headed down King Street to the waterfront and then turned north, on the Mount Vernon trail. I walked along the trail, up to the airport before shifting into Crystal City at Four Mile Run. My initial plan was going to keep me on the trail longer, but I needed to be in a location with more opportunities for shade, water fill ups and A/C breaks. I made my way up Crystal Drive to Long Bridge Park which I had driven by countless times but never walked through before. Then I came back the same route, through Crystal City. That hadn't been my plan either, but I decided I needed to follow the metro way bus route back to give myself an out if needed. I was quite tempted to take the bus home on several occasions, but I kept walking and eventually made it back. 

During the walk I was being pretty hard on myself for the slower than normal pace and my need to take frequent breaks, the weather wasn't nearly as bad as the week before. Then I finally woke up to the fact that while no, it didn't feel like it was 102 degrees, it was still over 90 degrees and my body is not at all acclimated to physical exertion in that kind of weather. 

And that's where the give and take comes in. I've been pushing myself to follow the training plan, even when common sense says otherwise. So I'm going to stop that now. 

This weekend I'm traveling to the beach and don't particularly want to spend my Saturday there walking 12 miles. I was going to get it in Friday night before getting on the road, but again, that's pushing the boundaries of common sense a bit too far. 

Instead I'm going to take advantage of the great weather this week and get longer than normal walks in on Tuesday and Thursday nights, aiming for five miles instead of the three mile walks the training plan calls for. I'm still aiming to do the suggested seven miles I am supposed to on Sunday, but if I decided being a beach bum takes precedence that's ok too. 

I'm adding distance each week and will be ready for the Avon Walk come mid-October. But I don't want to be so focused on sticking to the plan I'm sacrificing either my safety in the heat, or my last beach weekend of the summer. 

Common sense and give and take or compromise aren't usually traits I have a problem with. But straying from the plan, well, that's not my strong suit so this whole endeavor is definitely impacting me beyond just miles walked.