Cool Runnings!

Back in the saddle again . . .

AM - ran 5 easy miles.  My left calf was a bit tight - I had woken up in the morning on Saturday with a pretty big cramp in my calf, and I am still trying to work it out.  Since this was my first day back after about a week off, I took it easy.  Total time for this morning's run was 43:34, average pace of 8:43/mile.  This is close enough to my goal pace of 8:45/mile today that I am totally satisfied with my run this morning.  I plan on doing another easy 2-3 miles this evening.  High for today is only supposed to be 96 - yay!  It is finally cooling down (maybe for good?), but the humidity is still way up - 65% humidity this morning.  Looking forward to resuming my training.  I need to get in at least one 20 miler within the next month, and I am debating whether or not to run the White Mountain 1/2 marathon or not (it is on September 15).  The good thing is that it is mostly downhill, so I can work on my downhill form and pace, and it also has a monster of a hill (2 miles long) that puts Veyo to shame.  The bad thing is that it is only 3 weeks before the marathon.  I would appreciate any feedback on this.

PM - ran another 5 easy miles (not continuous), no time, but the pace felt nice and easy.  I put some Absorbine, Jr. on my left calf before my run, and that seems to have helped to loosen up the knot I had.  Leg feels better this evening.  Stretched it out nice and good, ran a little more than I had anticipated, but don't think there will be any ill effects from the extra miles.  Another nice easy day tomorrow as well.

AM - ran with music this morning, and I think it affected my pace.  I was planning on doing a nice easy run this morning, same pace as yesterday, but it didn't work out that way.  Several songs in a row that were very motivating - the theme from Gladiator, then Apollo 13, and Crimson Tide.  Those songs really got me going, and as a result, my run was quite a bit faster than I had planned on.  Total time for the run was 40:19, average pace of 8:04/mile.  The good news is that my calf feels almost completely back to normal again.  I would still like to get in a couple more easy miles this evening.  After talking with Lybi last night, I think I have decided I would like to help pace her in her next 5k - there is one on August 18 that should be good.  Her fitness is good for the amount of mileage she is running, but she needs a little help maintaining a consistent pace, which is where I come in.  I am actually pretty excited about doing this, and hope it works out well.

PM - ran 2 miles, again with music.  This may have been a mistake.  I ended up turning my easy 2 mile run into a 2 mile MP run, and couldn't seem to find the willpower to slow down :(  Towards the end of the run, my left calf started to cramp up, so that gave me motivation to slow down (I was probably running around 6:45 pace at the time - oops!).  I don't think it is anything to worry about right now, but I really need to slow down and take it easy to avoid injury.  You would think that my repeating this enough would drill it into my head, but NO!  Maybe I need to give myself some incentive to not run fast . . . I'm sure Lybi and I can think up something to help me.  Okay, tomorrow, I WILL run slow and easy to make sure I don't overdo it and get myself injured before St. George again.

AM - didn't run - slept poorly, and decided I needed to sleep in.

PM - ran 6.2 easy miles.  I was able to keep my promise to myself to keep them easy miles.  My calf felt better - at least it didn't cramp up, although I could tell it still felt a little tender.  I will continue to take it easy the rest of this week, and will see how far I feel up to going on Saturday.  Total time for the run was 52:15, average pace of 8:26/mile.  I'll take that.  I found myself impatient during the run, wanting to do more.  Even so, I still found myself slowly increasing the pace during the run.  I started out at 8:37 for the first mile, and by the end, I was actually running slighly slower than 8:00/mile.  I was a bit worried when I first started running - I didn't want my calf to get strained AGAIN - not after all I have been through.  Slowing down is definitely the right answer for now.  I felt relieved at the end, as my muscles slowly loosened up over the course of the run.  Feeling pretty good right now - but now it is off to bed so I can get enough sleep and get out again in the morning.  I will also take the multivitamin I forgot to take this morning.

AM - Didn't run again.

PM - Ran 6.5 easy miles - total time was 54:42, average pace of 8:25/mile.  Was planning on 7, but my legs were tired.  I also rode my bike this evening - 2 miles fast (I am counting that as 1 mile running), and then 4 super easy miles with my webelos scouts for the cycling activity belt loop.  I won't even count those miles because they were so easy, half the time I wasn't even pedaling.  All in all, a good run.  I am tired, and need to go to bed.  Legs feel good, just tired.

AM - did not want to get out of bed, but pulled myself out anyways.  I did not want to get in a 7 mile run this evening when I have a long run to do in the morning.  Ran 5 miles.  I could not find a comfortable stride the entire run.  Total time was 41:48, average pace of 8:22/mile.  Calf did not hurt, but my legs still felt kind of beat up.  I will probably do a couple short miles this evening to shake things out, and then prepare for my long run tomorrow.  Planning on 16-17 miles.

PM - nice easy 2.3 mile run.  Legs (specifically my quads) felt kind of stiff when I started out, but felt better after the run.  That was the point of this run - take it easy, loosen up the muscles for tomorrow.  Total time was 19:48, average pace was 8:37/mile.  This is probably around the pace I want to do my long run tomorrow - nice and easy.  I am going to go take a nice warm bath and then go to bed.

AM - I DID IT!  16 mile long run!  Woohoo!  This is my longest run of the year so far.  Still need to get up to 20, but that doesn't seem so daunting now.  Total time for the run was 2:14:28, average pace of 8:24/mile.  Slowest mile was somewhere around 8:32, fastest mile was the last one, 7:58 (I picked it up on the last lap 'cuz I was excited to finish).  I will admit that there were times when I wasn't sure if I could do it, but this was purely mental.  Physically, my legs felt fine.  They started getting a little heavy towards the end, but not too bad.

This also marks my highest mileage week to date, at 54.  That is also exciting to me.