Perhaps "hardest" is the wrong word to use there. They're mentally difficult. At this point in these training cycles, an interesting thing begins to happen. It's all in my head. I get less and less excited about going on the runs that are marked on the schedule as "easy" days. Yet I get more and more excited about doing the runs that are considered "hard". I look forward to the quality workouts as they get increasingly difficult, and the long uns as they get increasingly longer.
Steady state? Tempo? Hills? Cool! 1.5 hours of running before dawn on a Saturday, with another 1.5 after the sun comes up? Let's go! Forty-five minutes "easy"? Ugh.
I'm not sure why this happens. There's always a threshold where the harder workouts just get really rewarding and the others turn into something very chore-like.
Thankfully, I've had a fair amount of company on many of those runs this time, including "runnin' the dog" with Adam an Moses on Sunday mornings, "lunchtime buddy" Brent on the T-days, and even "surprise guest" Gundy on a couple of random occasions. The company makes those runs much more palatable.
Now with all that company, the only run that's a (mental) challenge is the Monday "medium long run". It's hard to fit that one into the schedule. Lately, it has been 10 miles which have to be completed before ~6:15 AM. That means the alarm has to be set for roughly waytoofreakin'earlytobewakinguponaMondaymorningo'clock.
It's shorter tomorrow, so I am going to accept a couple additional hours of precious sleep and run at lunch. If that doesn't work out for whatever reason, I will go tomorrow evening. However, it goes back to normal next week.
So I'm looking for volunteers! Anyone want to wake up well before the buttcrack of dawn to keep me feeling accountable and motivated? You don't really have to run - you can ride a bike if you want. Or a Razor scooter. Anything without a motor. But you have to show up, or give at least 24 hours notice. It doesn't work if you flake at the last minute. Think about it. Yes, you. Did the crickets outside just get louder? Well anyway, time for bed.