A clydesdale no more!

Woke up, got some work done and headed out for a good 20 mile run.  I thought I was supposed to be on vacation.  We are staying right by where the Lake to Lake exchange was for the 5th leg so I thought I would start there and run legs 3 and 4 which would be close to 10 miles.  I thought the trail would take me most of the way but it ended after 1/4 mile.  I meandered through the neighborhoods and saw a bike route sign and followed it.  I thought it would lead to the trail but never did.  I ended up climbing the side of a mountain.  I really was not planning on running any hills today because they seem to aggravate the achilles.  Eventually saw the trail and remembered that was exactly where we stopped and took Jeremy's picture.  Jumped on the trail and followed it but took a wrong turn at a fork and ended up on the marathon course.  Decided to run up that until I hit 10 miles then turn and head back.  The course certainly is not as fun going uphill and having cars flying by you.  Felt pretty good going up.  I was running 8:20-8:30 and didn't feeling like I was pushing.  About the right LSD effort.  On the way back down I was running 7:20/mile.  I wasn't really pushing the pace at all and was running comfortably. Everything felt really good except for the achilles.  It either hurt really bad or I couldn't feel it at all.  I guess that is better than hurting all of the time.  Averaged 7:40/mile for the entire run and am happy with how I felt physically.  I haven't run many hills during this training cycle so I was concerned about my hill running ability.  This was a very hilly run (up and down) and I did fairly well.

 I promised the kids we would play racquetball after my run so of course they were ready as soon as I got back.  Played for 30 minutes then played in the pool for a couple of hours.  The diving pool is ice cold so I soaked my achilles for awhile. 

Total Time: 2:33:26 (7:40/mile)

Thought I would start at the same trailhead as Monday, only go the opposite direction.  I wanted try to follow the same route as when I ran L2L (leg 5).  Unfortunately, I am incredibly directionally challenged.  I felt like I was in the right place after a few miles but then realized that the road seemed to be going in a circle.  Sure enough, I passed a street that I had noticed earlier.  Since I had no idea where I was I decided to run the loop again (which was the loop that goes around the Bloomington Country Club) and head back to where I started.  I couldn't figure out which road to take to get out of the loop.  Saw a road that seemed to head out so I followed it but it didn't seem right.  Saw what appeared to be a map at the Bloomington baseball fields.  Luckily it was a map and I was able to figure out where I was and where I needed to go.  Passed the park where leg 5 hands off to leg 6 and started to feel more comfortable since everything looked familiar again.  Physically felt good for the first 8-10 miles but then the achilles started to get sore.  It is not bad but makes me feel weak which is mentally difficult to overcome.  If I put it out of my mind I can push a little harder.  The downhills definitely aggravate it and I ran more hills this week than I have in quite awhile.

My girls turn 8 today so what better way to celebrate than run two 8 milers.  I ate way too much junk yesterday during the drive home and I could feel it this morning.  I was really tired while driving so drank a lot of caffeine to keep myself awake.  I wanted a good run to burn off all of the junk that I ate and drank.  When I started the run I was only planning on running 8 miles.  I felt really good and averaged 7:00/mile during the first 6 miles.  I felt so good I decided to stretch the run out to 16 so I backed off the pace and ran around 7:20-7:30 for the next 6.  Since I wasn't planning on going long, I didn't take any fluids with me and I really paid for it the last 4 miles.  I was sooooo thirsty. The pace dropped and I shuffled along to complete the run.  Despite the crash at the end, it was a good run with virtually no achilles pain.

Total Time: 1:59:03 (7:23/mile)

After 2 MLR's in a row I thought it would be a good idea to rest the achilles.  I feel fine and am just being overly cautious.

Drove to the Farmington station of the LPT.  Warmed up with 3 miles at 7:55/mile then ran 12 miles at MP.  It was supposed to be 14 miles at MP but I hit the wall and cut it short.  The LPT is mostly flat with only minor elevation changes.  Running on flat terrain is definitely the best thing for my achilles.  The splits for the 12 MP miles were: 6:50, 6:49, 6:49, 6:50, 6:53, 6:49, 6:49, 6:56, 6:57, 6:58, 6:56, 6:55.  You can see from the splits where I started to struggle.  My form really fell apart and I was really forcing the pace.  I felt like my fitness level had dropped and this run confirmed that.it has.  On the bright side, I had absolutely zero achilles pain during the run and it feels alright now.  Cooled down with 2 miles at 7:30/mile and I really felt the effects of hitting the wall during the MP miles.  It was a good hard run and I love the light headed feeling you get after finishing a run like that.

Total Time: 2:01:30 (7:09/mile)