The last two weeks definitely show why keeping up the mileage and traveling away from home can be a major pain. Especially on the days when I had to drive more than 5 hours. That's what happened at the end of week 11. After being away from my family for two weeks (which takes enough of a toll on me emotionally), I got home that Saturday. Of course, after driving for almost 6 hours (part of it through some Wyoming mountains during a snow storm), my wife and kids were excited to see me so I wasn't able to do that run until much later in the evening. I was tired, it was dark outside, and I tried to get a 60 minute run in on the dreadmill. It certainly didn't happen. I was too exhausted after that 46 minutes.
With my first week home (and no work from all the extra time while out of town doing field work), I decided to kick up my times by 10%. I can honestly say it was challenging. Especially my 40 minute run on Thursday. It was a long day of fun with my family that included going to the local indoor kiddie pool and swimming all over with the kids for over an hour. We were all exhausted after that. Even with an afternoon nap, I didn't get the energy to run until almost 11:00pm. Since I only got the 40 minutes Thursday night, I added an extra 4 minutes on my Friday morning run. And despite all that running longer (and during a very tiring part of the week), I was able to achieve a new personal record for distance and time on Saturday! For the first time, I broke the 7 mile mark.
I'm thinking I will hold the same times for this week. I'm not exactly sure how my body will react to "real" life again (both jobs, Church calling, family, etc.). Plus, last week did leave me a bit more tired than I have been used to over the last twelve weeks. I'm sure as I head into these longer (for me) distances that I will have to give my body two or more weeks to adjust to the increased time/mileage.
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