June Recap - Adaptation

So today is the last day in June. Sunday marked the last full training week in June, and I ended the week with an afternoon 14 miler in the staggering humidity of Pocahontas State Park, a place I've discovered will be a decent spot to do some longs run while I reside in the city (thanks to all of my Richmond friends!). The first 5.5 miles of the run was spent on some mountain bike trails. This ended up being a less than desirable decision on my part, due the amount of turns and the amount of roots to watch for on the ground. Not a very nice environment for just zoning out and rolling off the miles of a long run. After exiting the mountain bike trail, I spent the rest of the run on some more "runner-friendly" trails; one in particular was quite nice, called Beaver Lake Trail, which looped around a beautiful, hidden lake back in the woods off of the main trail. The only negatives of Pocahontas park were the humidity and the absurd amount of bugs that encircled me, intent on dive-bombing my head with every step I took.

So with that 14 miler, I was done with my last full week in June. The week came to a total of 66 miles, the highest of the summer so far. Seeing as how I didn't even hit 60 miles until the first week in July last summer, I decided to go back into the trusty log and do a little month of June comparison:

June 2008
Week 1: 40 miles, 10 mile long run
Week 2: 45 miles, 11 mile long run
Week 3: 51 miles, 13 mile long run
Week 4: 47 miles (on 5 days), 13 mile long run
Total: 183 miles, 46 mpw average

June 2009
Week 1:60 miles, 14 mile long run
Week 2: 65 miles, 14 mile long run
Week 3: 57 miles (6 days), 16 mile long run
Week 4: 66 miles, 14 mile long run
Total: 248, 62 mpw average

Averaging nearly 20 (18) mpw more this summer for June vs. June 2008. So theoretically, I am way ahead of where I was last summer. The question is: Am I? Here are my thoughts:

Currently, I am feeling like doo-doo while I'm running. A very strong possibility I am feeling this way is the heat and humidity. Not to say that it wasn't humid last June, but I am in a different place (Richmond vs. NOVA), and I am smack in the city, by the river. Also, I am running on more concrete than I'm used to. The last reason could be that I have only taken one day off since I've gotten home from my road trip, May 27th. Only one day off in over a month is probably not enough for me. So the question is, how to proceed.

At this point, I am not really sure. I feel like I am at a point where I am feeling fatigued due to the higher volume, but that it is a period that the body adapts to. I don't want to back off right now if I am going to adapt to this training, which will ultimately be beneficial. I also feel like becoming heat trained will be another benefit (I am currently doing all of my runs at around 4:30 every day, one of the hottest times of day, more or less because that is the only time I have available to do them). So for now, the plan is to stay the course and aim for consistant weeks of 65-70 miles for the rest of the summer. Hopefully, by that time, I will be fully adapted to the volume, humidity, and rigors of training with a full academic load. If I can manage that adaptation, I will be in great shape to prepare for my duel (Round 3) with the Richmond Marathon and 2:50 come November 14th.