The trivial month

August, for a cross country runner, would appear to be one of the most important months of the year other than November. This is the month where the training may seem the most important because it is the training that occurs in the month of August that seems to determine how good a runner feels in October and November during the Championship-Race part of the season.

Running too hard in August can lead to a feeling of tiredness later in the season. If you push it this month, you may feel like you're burning out in the later part of the season.

Very similar to what happened to me last summer.. Coming into sophomore year I had only run twice a day, twice before in my lifetime. Since I was working 9Am-4pm at a summer day camp (which was a great experience), I didn't have time to train the way I would have liked to. I would have ideally got up to 70 miles per week during the middle of summer with doubles which would have made 70 miles easier to run in one week.
Instead, I would run every day after work. So I was forced to run about 10 miles every day except for two days, my long run on Sunday (12 miles), and usually thursdays (8 miles).
I had come from a base of about 60 miles from my freshman year, with running 8 miles a day still not being easy for me. So this adjustment was tough. I found myself feeling tired all the time. By the time August came, I actually got sick for a week and my training during the month was severely altered.
Instead of being at 70 mpw for most of August, I had weeks of 40,50, then 60.

One more thing, ideally it's nice to take the mileage down when September comes around because when we're at school we start incorporating Key Workouts. Not just running every day, but having fast or long workouts twice a week, sometimes 3 times.
Running interval workouts like 8x1000, 12x600, or 5x mile or even a 25 minute tempo requires a lot more rest when you're just starting the season.

So to get back to my progression of last summer -- I ran too fast on my single runs during the summer, I didn't run enough in August, made up for it by increasing my mileage to 75 then 80 mpw in September while adding in workouts.
So by October, I was done. Legs were done. Felt pretty bad.
I came out of it okay, I ran 47 minutes for 8 miles in my training shoes in late November when I was kinda bummed about not being on the regional team. I just wanted to prove to myself that I was in good shape. I had been doing solid workouts all the way through the season, so when we started peaking and lowering our mileage in November I started to feel a bit better.

I'm determined to make this year different. See, it's a delicate balance -- summer training. You don't want to push it, but you have to be consistent.

My knee started bothering me 2 weeks ago, so I took 2 days off last week and now I feel pretty strong again. I'm wearing this knee pad underneath my left knee which has worked wonders. 15$ payed off.
I ran 80 miles 2 weeks back, then last week was mid 40s-- a down week.
The next few weeks I'd like to keep around 80-85.
80 is the most I've ever done, and it feels surprisingly great. I've never felt so good running doubles every day. I make sure my first run of the day is really easy.

Well!!!
I hope this continues to be a month of good training. I ran 14 miles on Sunday with a few Brandeis guys. I never felt so smooth on a long run like I did last Sunday. ran 14 in about 1 hour and 36 minutes and I felt like I could run 10 more miles. Legs never felt like they were burning, like they have in past year's long runs.

It's an unbelievable feeling.

I wish I could always feel that way. Not knowing how fast you are running, but just gliding along, every step transition of the foot and leg feeling like nothing, Lungs breathing, heart pumping at a relaxed but consistent beat. It's one of those feelings you live for. It's what makes us (runners) a different breed. We live for the ecstasy that is running. Sometimes it can't be explained. Sure, we all go through our ups and downs. But, nothing beats the satisfaction of pure running, and even the sense of accomplishment. I've seen guys that can't stop smiling after the end of a race, after running a personal best, even after pushing well past the point of exhaustion. The sport rewards hard work. Sometimes, it just takes while to get the rewards.

To summarize--
August is going to be an important month for me. I want to be consistent without pushing it too much. Just get myself geared up for the Fall.
If you ever see a bunch of shirtless hoodlums running by Walden Pond on Sunday mornings (around 9:30AM) then it's likely us (the Brandeis summer crew)
We run by here --


Good health.