THOU SHALT BE A COMEBACK

The last time I took a day off from running was July 12.  I had to work last night, and don't get to sleep today, so I am going to be gentle to my tired and sleep-deprived body, watch movies with my daughter, and go to bed early.

Wanted to get a long run in today, but knew I would be unable to start until after 9am when Vanessa was in school.  By then, the temps had climbed into the 80s, the sun was beating down, and there was a south wind.  I wanted to touch base with MP in the context of a long run, and know a tempo in the heat was setting myself up for failure, yet I didn't want to run indoors.  I finally settled on an oddball run where I ran every other mile at HMP to MP effort, trying to stay more along MP.  I did this for 16 miles, then cooled down slow the last two, as in the final tempo mile by body indicated that it had done enough in the heat.  Tempo miles were 6:50, 6:40, 6:39, 6:45, 6:41, 6:35, 6:34, 6:44.  My body seems to find a nice groove around 6:40ish pace, which I hope is where it decides to coast for the marathon in 8 weeks.  The last week or two I have really fallen off the bus with my eating habits, back at it today, must keep my weight down and clean it up for the final training push before the marathon.

6 recovery on the home treddy after work before rousting Mini-me up and ready for school, then parked at the school this afternoon and ran 8 recovery in the toaasty 95 degrees before picking up my sunshine.

Same doubler routine as yesterday. Need to decide on some kind of tempo/speedwork for the treadmill tomorrow. Any ideas??? If nothing else I will probably do Jakes 3hmp, 2 at 10k, 1 at 5k workout again with slightly faster paces than last time.

So now I'm sitting here having a quiet and contemplative evening, and sometimes this blog gets a little diary-ish, I must admit.  But...I'm glad I have it to look back through, 5 years worth now of a lifetime of ups and downs, both in life and running.  I have now hit the 5 year mark from the day where I ran a 12 minute mile, thought I was gonna die, and smoked a cigarette afterward.  Since then, a lot has changed.  The running has phased up and down along with my most painful life experiences EVER.  This last year has been the worse, the absolute worse, many personal losses, nasty divorce, grievous loss of the stepchildren I raised and loved and who called me Mom, scary hit-by-the-car-broken-leg-vacation,  the list goes on.  Within the last 12 months I have gave up and quit running and smoked a pack a day, gave up and quit eating for a while(December,that was rough), gave up.  I can never thank my Mom, my rock, enough, or my best friends in the world Kim and Jess who held my head above water when I was done living.  Most of all I have a beautfiul daughter who is my number one reason to get out of bed every day, and I have been spared by my Creator from death(not to be dramatic, but in 11 years as a paramedic I have only seen one pedestrian survive a hit like that....me)...and relatively minor injury to boot.  I run right now because I feel JOY.  Even when I am plodding slowly, the road beneath my feet, even the treadmill beneath  my feet, it feels so wonderful and the high mileage is easy right now because I am Born to Run( laugh all you want but i love that book) and as my feet pound away I become healthier and healthier, not only phsycially but mentally and spiritually as well.  Alright I'm done with my touchy-feely bloggy stuff!

6:56 AP.  I needed a good 'ol strong tempo run as a confidence boost for a sub-3 attempt in October.  I take this with a grain of salt because it was in air conditioning on a treadmill, but I wanted to get out of the heat and just throw down a solid tempo, getting my legs practice turning the way I'm gonna need them to.  I felt totally awesome and pretty comfortable throughout, so it was definitely a confidence booster.

1 mile warm-up

4 x 60 seconds on/off at 5:27 pace

3 minute jog

8 mile tempo 6:40,6:40,6:40,6:40,6:35,6:35,6:31,6:27

1.5 mile brisk cooldown

Felt like a million bucks and went and did some core and weights afterward

am:  10 ez, no watch, paused 3 miles in to cycle the laundry.

pm.  5 ez, no watch.  102 degrees

After work with the HS group, ran easy, no watch, floated around and socialized a little.