Indy Monumental Marathon Training – Week 8 Recap

Week 8 threw a late-summer heat wave at us right as the days started getting shorter, which is its own special kind of frustrating — hotter than ever during the day, and darker than ever in the morning and evening. 35.5 miles across four runs, a second attempt at 16 miles that fought back hard, and a new gym habit I’m still figuring out how to make stick.

Indy Monumental Marathon Training Week 8: The Runs

Day	Type	Notes
Tuesday, September 1	7 Miles Easy	Real feel of 106° — stayed outside anyway, hydrated hard and used electrolytes every 30 minutes 🔥
Thursday, September 3	Marathon Pace Intervals (Treadmill)	Moved inside due to heat — 15 min warm-up, 2 x 25 min at marathon pace with 2 min recovery, 15 min cool-down
Saturday, September 5	6 Miles Easy	Legs still sore from the week — otherwise a smooth, quick run
Sunday, September 8	16 Miles	Much harder than last week’s 16 — wanted to quit at the halfway point, crawled to the car after 😮‍💨

Tuesday: 106 Degrees

I’m not a fast runner to begin with, and with the days getting shorter, more of my runs are happening in the dark, which isn’t fun. This week added a heat wave on top of that — today’s run had a real feel of 106. I probably should have moved it to the treadmill, but I could never quite talk myself into running 7 miles indoors when outside always seems to go so much faster. Outside of the heat being genuinely insane, the run itself was fine. I made sure to hydrate well and used my SaltStick electrolytes every 30 minutes to stay ahead of it.

Thursday: Speed Work Moves Inside

Same brutal heat on Thursday, but with a speed workout on the schedule, staying outside just wasn’t manageable. The workout was a 15-minute warm-up, two 25-minute intervals at marathon pace with 2 minutes of recovery between them, and a 15-minute cool-down. It was surprisingly hard — probably a mix of the treadmill itself plus a gym session earlier in the day.

I went to the gym on my lunch break and did 25 minutes on the stair master plus a leg workout. I can never seem to make gym time work after my runs since there’s just not enough time or energy left, so I wanted to try lunch instead, and I genuinely enjoyed it. I’m thinking Tuesday or Thursday for a few weeks to start, then maybe working up to twice a week — we’ll see how it goes. My legs were paying for it by the time tonight’s run rolled around though. Sore and heavy the whole way through.

Someone left this on a gym machine. Needed it more than they knew. 💪

Saturday: Just 6

An easy 6 miles, and outside of the lingering soreness, it went well. I still remember the first time I ever ran 6 miles — it felt like such a massive accomplishment, and at the time it absolutely was. Now it’s just a quick, regular run, which is a strange thing to sit with. Progress is sneaky like that.

Sunday: 16 Miles, the Hard Way

This 16-miler was nothing like last week’s. The weather was warmer, and my legs were in so much pain almost from the start. Halfway through I wanted to quit badly — everything ached, nothing felt good, and there wasn’t a version of that run that was going to feel easy. I finished it, but by the time I was done I had to crawl into the car. Not a fun one, but a finished one.

Pumpkin donuts from the orchard afterward. Fully earned after that one. 🎃

Honest Check-In

35.5 miles this week, and a good reminder that not every long run is going to feel like a triumph — last week’s 16 felt strong, this week’s 16 nearly broke me, and both are just part of the same training block. The heat wave made everything harder across the board, and I’m proud of getting through it rather than skipping outdoor miles altogether. The lunchtime gym experiment is a small bright spot worth continuing to test.

You can follow along with the full journey on my Training & Progress page.