The Next Step

I had to go on a business trip to Fort Knox for the day and didn't get much sleep last night so skipped the morning run and ran in the evening after I got back. It was warm (79) but not too humid. I didn't feel very good. My legs still felt very sluggish and tired so I took it real easy. Probably just left over from the race on Saturday. Hoping for better results in the morning.

51:02

After looking back over the last couple of I noticed that I had a lot of nights with less sleep than normal and wondered if that is contributing to the tiredness I have during my last few runs.  I decided to sleep in today and see if that helped.  I got a good nights sleep but was out later than normal so had to deal with hotter weather (75, humid).  I felt better starting out today but then got a side stitch that stayed with me pretty during the whole run.  It was just enough to be annoying.  I added in 8 x 100m strides at the end and then ran 1 mile with my daughter after I got back.  She is starting to get ready for CC this fall.  She will be in 6th grade and this is the first chance to run for her school.  So far she is doing pretty good but will have to see if she will stick with it.  She is very involved in soccer so have to see if she can handle both time wise.

8 mile: 65:52

1 mile with daughter: 10:45

Still warm and humid but at least it was cloudy today.  I did a med - long run today and wanted to do the last few miles at MP.  I felt pretty good but then got the side stitch again like yesterday after a mile or so.  It wasn't as bad as yesterday and went away around 6 miles.  After 8 miles I started picking up the pace and ended up running a progression run for the next four miles in: 7:41, 7:35, 7:23, 7:23.  These miles were all into a pretty good wind.  This is the first time that I have done this type of run at the end of a longer run on tired legs.  I still feel like something is not quite right because the legs still don't have it like they did a few weeks ago.  I just feel like this pace should be a lot easier than it currently is. 

1:55:50 (8:16 avg)

Pretty nice morning today (cloudy, 70) for running. Just did an easy recovery run today after going longer yesterday. I felt much better today. Hopefully, I am getting out of whatever has been dragging me down. I have been getting more sleep and doing a better job watching my diet/fluid intake. So maybe that is starting to pay off. Anyway I hope this is an indication that I am getting back on track.

49:19

Warm and humid this morning (74, 85%).  Or should I say very sticky?  I planned a tempo run today to get more focus on running faster.  I felt ok starting out today.  At least I didn't have that crazy side stitch I had the last few days.  After a couple of miles I started feeling much better.  I wanted to run my tempo miles in 7:00.  After last week's race and with the heat/humidity I didn't want to set my goals to high. 

I felt good starting the tempo and the first mile went pretty easy in 6:51.  The second mile I didn't feel quite as good and I let the pace slip a little to 7:00 but that was still ok.  The 3rd mile was probably my roughest and I consider shutting it down after the this mile in 7:05 but kept going and I'm glad that I did because I was able to pick up the pace on the last mile and finish in 6:52. 

I did feel better today running the tempo than I did in the race on Sat and the pace was about the same so hope that is a good sign.  Also, after looking back over my log I found out that July was my highest mileage month ever at 237 miles.  If all stays on schedule should go higher in Aug.

61:30

No break in the weather today.  Not sure what the temp was when I started but it was 75, 83% humidity when I finished.  It was pretty sticky from the start but I felt pretty good.  Knowing it was going to be a warm morning, I started off pretty slow and just took it easy for the first half.  At the turn around I was feeling ok so gradually picked up the pace on the way back.  Nothing drastic but it was nice to be able to run the second half faster than the first.  Around 15 miles I felt like I was running out of fuel.  I didn't really have enough to drink with me and I probably could have used a Gu at this point.  I was still able to maintain my pace and actually picked it up a little more the last 3 miles.  All in all a pretty good run in this weather.  Looking forward to doing a long run when it is about 50.

2:47:22 (8:22 avg)