Easy Day

This morning I ran an easy 11 miles, 10 out and back along the parkway and then I added a mile on, mainly because I felt like it and the run was going pretty well. I felt better today than I have the past two days, I'm sure at least partially because I slept better last night. Tomorrow's a very easy day, and then I've got the race Sunday. I'm a little nervous because I've never actually run 20 miles in training, but I figure as long as I don't go out too hard, I should be fine.

How It's Been Going

It been a few days since I updated this thing.

The weekend running went well. Saturday was just an easy four miles, nothing special. Sunday I ran a 17 mile long run. I felt pretty tired at the beginning and I was a little worried about how it was going to go. I told myself that short of me collapsing, I was going to be out for at least two hours. As the run progressed, I felt better and better, and even felt good enough to cap off the run with a 7:06 last mile, the fastest of the run.

Monday and Tuesday were recovery days. Normally I'd have a workout scheduled for Tuesday, but this week is set up a little differently because I'm running a 20 mile race on Sunday. Monday I ran eight miles and Tuesday I ran 10.

The workout that I would normally run Tuesday I wanted to move to Wednesday. That didn't work out because J had a Pampered Chef party Tuesday night and I was up late. I slept in Wednesday morning and ran an easy seven miles. Then I was going to run the workout this morning, but I didn't feel too good. My stomach was bothering me, and I bagged the workout and ran eight miles.

I don't plan on racing the 20 miles all out this Sunday. I want to run the first 10 steady and controlled, and try to work down to marathon pace or even a little below over the last 10. We'll see how it goes.

Hill Work

This morning I headed out for another Friday morning hill workout. This morning I ran out along the parkway. I warmed up for three miles, ending up just about at the base of the hill. The path along the parkway is marked every kilometer, and the 10k mark is just before the hill and the 11k mark is at the top of the hill. I ran four 1k repeats up the hill. The first two took 4:41 and 4:45. I was a little disappointed the second repeat was slower than the first, so I was cooling back down the hill I got on myslef to really concentrate and work hard on the last two. I wanted to run 4:40 and then 4:30, but ended up running 4:32 and 4:31. I cooled down back to the house, giving me 11 miles for the day.

My reaction after this workout is that this would have been a better workout with less recovery. But to get back to the starting line, of course, I had to run all the way back down the hill. It felt like too much recovery. The recovery is probably one of the reasons hill work is usually included a little earlier in training, but I still feel like I benefit. Plus the longer recoveries make for a less taxing second work out for the week.

Thursday was an easy 10 miles.

Nothing Special

Today's run was just an easy 10 miles. I was going to just run out and back along the parkway, but I was a little concerned that if I did I might convince myself to cut the run short, so I went with the 10 mile loop instead.

I've been hungry lately while running. Usually I'd just be a little hungry when I started, but the feeling would go away. Now it hits me toward the middle of the run and I feel hungry the rest of the way. I have increased my mileage the last 10 days, but I've run this mileage before and don't remember being quite so hungry.

Disappointing

This morning's workout certainly did not go as planned. The plan was to warm up, run five miles at marathon pace, and cool down. I warmed up with three miles, and when I got to the three mile mark and checked my watch and saw how slow I had been running, I had a bad feeling about the workout. However, I decided to give it a try, figuring I could always cut it short if I needed to. I never got within a minute of marathon pace and ran the five miles in over 40 minutes. If I had checked my watch at anytime other than three-quarters of a mile into the workout, I might have cut it off, but probably not. Oh well, I can't expect every day to go perfectly. With the warm up and cool down, I had ten miles for the day.

Weekend Update

Saturday I managed three miles on the treadmill. Once again I wondered how I can feel like I'm running so much faster than the treadmill says.

Sunday I had a good 16 mile long run. I was feeling a little tired after the first ten miles, but then I stopped at the house to pick up my Gu and within a few minutes I felt much better. The last six miles were much more pleasant than the first ten, and over those six miles I picked up the pace slightly and finished strong.

This morning I ran a very easy eight miles. My legs felt ok, but I was pretty tired and hungry. I really don't think that I ate enough yesterday to recover as well as I could have.

Tired

Even though I had a late night, I still got up and out the door for my run this morning. I figured if it got really bad, I could always just come back home. It turned out that I didn't have to worry.

I had a hill workout on the schedule for today. I warmed up a little less than four miles, and then ran seven hill repeats. I think my tiredness contributed to not running as hard as I could have, but I never wanted to quit the workout. The hill was a little longer than a quarter mile, twisting up and then flattening out at the top. After the last repeat I continued, striding out on the flat part at the top. Then I cooled down for two miles, ending the day with ten miles.

Go Back to Sleep

When I get up to run in the morning, before I go downstairs I check on the kids to make sure they're still covered up and not cold and just because they're cute. Mostly they sleep right through it. This morning I checked on b and covered him up, and then I went into j's room. The door squeaked when I opened it, and j sat up and said, "No, daddy, no." I walked over and asked him if he had to go to the bathroom, he said no, and I started to rub his back. He closed his eyes and then whispered, "Daddy, I have to go to the potty." I took him to the bathroom, put him back in bed, and told him I'd see him when I got back from running. He looked at his window, and told me "Daddy, you run in the morning. It's still nighttime." It was only about 4:40 in the morning and still dark. I gave him a stuffed dog named Wiffles to cuddle up with and then he told me, "Daddy, Wiffles loves me." I told him I loved him too and to go back to sleep, which he did.

Today's run was better than yesterday's. I ran a loop that I haven't run for a while, and I still took it fairly easy but faster than yesterday, finishing today's 10 miles about eight minutes faster than yesterday. The weather here the past two days has been great. The cool morning temperatures make it feel like fall is on the way.

Slow Slow Slow

I ran a ridiculously slow 10 miles this morning. I knew I was taking it easy, but I was still surprised when I reached seven miles and saw my pace was over nine minutes a mile.

Today is j's first day of school for the year. He has a year's experience under his belt and he's excited to be back in school. b was upset that he couldn't stay at school too, but he has his own class starting Friday.

A Good Workout

This morning I headed over to the track to run 3x2 miles at marathon pace. It had rained overnight and was still all wet, but at least it didn't rain this morning while I ran. The rain did make it really humid, though.

I decided that I was going to run the workout by feel rather than checking my watch every lap or so. If that meant that I ran too slow or too fast so be it; I need to know what marathon pace feels like without having to constantly check my watch. The first two miles went by in 14:03. This was a little slow, but at least it was in the ballpark. Goal marathon pace is 6:45-6:50. I jogged a lap to recover and then ran two miles in 13:55. I jogged another lap and ran the last two miles in 13:52.

I'm pleased with the way the workout went. I was able to basically hit marathon pace without checking the watch, and I thought I recovered quickly during the lap between repeats. The warmup and cooldown gave me 10.5 miles for the day.

I'm Back

Hilton Head was a lot of fun. The beach, the pool, some golf and running, and some time with the family provided a nice relaxing two weeks. And J and I also got back to Clemson to see them beat Florida St.! But now it's back to the grind.

I ran most days while on vacation. Out of thirteen days, I ran on ten of them. I could have done a little more mileage, but at least I was out there. Hilton Head had bike paths that go all over the island that are good for running. I had one semi-long run, one good out and back workout when I ran out in 25:45 and back in about three minutes less, and one 3x10 minutes at around marathon pace. The rest was just easy miles.

Today I ran eight miles easily along the Parkway. I was able to keep my heart rate in the right zone for the most part, but ended up running fairly slowly. The HRM bugged me a little this morning since it was sliding around and at one point the strap came out and I had to stop and fix it.

New Toy

One of the gifts I received yesterday was a heart rate monitor. I think it will definitely aid me in my training. This evening when I got home from work I gave it a try. It took me a few minutes and a little frustration to get everything set up, but I finally got out the door. I ran pretty easily for a half hour, but my heart rate ended up higher than I thought it would. Overall it averaged 163, with a high of 182. Also, it seemed to spike near the end of the run. It was in the upper 80s, so that had something to do with the higher heart rate, but did that account for the spike at the end too? I'm anxious to see what the heart rate is tomorrow morning, when it's a little cooler.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning for Hilton Head and I'll be there for two weeks, and I don't know if I'll have a chance to update the blog. In case I don't, best of luck to Beth, who is competing in the ITU World Championships in Germany in just a few days.

Quick Update/Happy Birthday

I don't have time to write much, but here's a quick update.

First, happy birthday to me. Today I turn 27. It turns out that Jenny Barringer and I share the same birthday. Tonight I get to celebrate by packing to get ready to go on vacation--J and the boys leave tomorrow and I'm leaving Saturday.

Now for a brief training recap:
Sat.-30 minutes on the treadmill, about 2.5 miles
Sun.-5 miles easy
Mon.-8 miles
Tue.-10 miles
Wed.-11 miles
Thu.-5 miles

The Marathon is not Getting Any Further Away

I did make it to the running store last night to see Alan Webb. Samia Akbar, who is running the marathon at Worlds, was also there. It was quite crowded, as I expected, and I stood in line for a while to see Alan and Samia. Stupid me, I didn't take any pictures last night, so you'll just have to take my word for the prior summary. There are some photos of the event, here.

I didn't run this morning. My alarm went off, I reset it, and then forgot to turn it on, so I actually woke up late. Richmond will be here before I know it. If I don't get in gear, it's not going to go well.

Marathon Pace Workout and Alan Webb

Typically I run a workout on Tuesday, but since I didn't feel well Monday night I pushed it back to Wednesday this week. I just wanted to warm up, run about five miles around marathon pace, and cool down. I decided to run the five miles on the track. When I got to the track, there were two people walking. I wasn't feeling too great, but I figured I give the workout a try and see what happened. What happened was that I didn't even get down to marathon pace. I did run a little faster than normal, but I didn't get to the pace I wanted. In an effort to go a little faster and make the workout more interesting, for the last four laps I surged and picked up the pace for the first 200 meters. It did help, as the last mile was the fastest.

I don't want to make too big a deal about this, but if you're walking around the track and someone else is running, wouldn't you think it makes sense to move from the inside lane? Especially if that person who's running keeps going and goes around you multiple times?

This morning I ran an easy five miles. As usual on Wednesdays I went to bed late, so I slept in a little and ran less. Tonight I have the chance to meet Alan Webb. He's from Northern Virginia and still lives and trains around here, and one of the local running stores is having a meet-and-greet/world-champs-send-off-party for him. It should be fun.

Maybe I'm Not Over It

Sunday morning I ran 15 miles at Burke Lake. Things did not go as smoothly as they did last time I ran there. I followed the same routine--wake up, eat a bowl of cereal, drive to the park--but did not have the same run. I felt tired during most of the run, and my stomach was acting up, to the point that I had to stop twice for bathroom breaks. But I persevered, and finished the run. The rest of Sunday I spent painting and doing some other things around the house. By late afternoon, I was pretty tired.

Monday I didn't run. J and the boys got back late Sunday night from Long Island, and after being tired from running and painting Sunday I wasn't getting up after only five hours of sleep. Then Monday afternoon, my stomach started acting up again. I don't think I was as over it as I though I was a day or two ago.

This morning I ran six miles. I ran two loops so I wouldn't be too far away from the house in case my stomach bothered me, but it felt fine. Hopefully I'll really be over this bug soon.

Nice Day

I ran another easy six miles this morning, the same loop as yesterday, although today I ran a few minutes faster. Tomorrow morning I'm heading to Burke Lake for my long run. I'm going 15-16 miles.

The weather's finally gotten a little better here, with noticeably less humidity. It should actually be in the 60s tomorrow morning while I'm running.

Feeling Better

It seems my stomach bug was only the 24-hour variety. I've been feeling better since yesterday. I took the day off yesterday. I slept in instead hoping the extra rest would help me get better faster. This morning I ran an easy six miles. I was still a little cautious about the stomach and didn't want to overdo anything.

J and the boys are on Long Island this weekend. I've got a nice weekend of grass cutting, painting, and running planned.

And I Would Feel Better If It Weren't For Those Darn Kids...

The kids had some sort of stomach bug last week, and now it appears I've caught it too. I don't feel too bad, but something is definitely wrong with my stomach. At some points at work today I considered leaving early. And if not for the fact that I have to stand at a table during an open house at my workplace tomorrow, I'd at least think about taking the day off.

I did get out and run this morning, but the stomach issues limited me to four miles.

Come On!

Today was another day off. I didn't even try getting out of bed when my alarm went off. I went out with some friends last night and got back a little late, but then I stayed up a little while longer. By the time I fell asleep it was after midnight.

I know I want to do this. Why is it so hard?