The Next Step

Smoky Mountains:  Another day of hiking.  Did about 7 miles today and then had to drive home.  The weather was better today and got some nice sunrise pictures from Mount LeConte. 

It was a great morning for running about 58 and low humidity.  I felt stiff this morning from the hiking.  Probably from using muscles that I normally don't use.  After running a couple of miles I loosened up and actually felt really good.  I thought about doing some faster running today but thought I would let me body get adjusted and try to run some fast stuff tomorrow.  It was really good to get back out and run plus a great day helped.

1:18:05 (7:50 avg)

Awesome morning for running (56).  I had some trouble getting started this morning.  Just tired and took longer than normal to get going.  My legs also didn't have much energy.  I guess just the trip over the weekend and some bad sleep catching up with me.  Anyway, got better as I went along and then added in 6 x 100m strides towards the end. 

7m in 54:10 (7:45 avg)

PM:  Felt sick to my stomach all day but had planned to go the track this afternoon so thought I would stick to it.  It was warm (81) and pretty humid.  The plan for today was 6 x 800 in 3:00 with 400 recovery.  I did a 1 mile warmup and felt pretty good.  I started the first 800 and felt good.  Came through a little fast in 2:55.  I felt good on the 2nd and 3rd as well but on the 4th I started to get cramps in my stomach so it was a little tough.  I started the 5th 800 but was feeling rough so cut it short to a 400.  Felt better on the recovery so thought I would try a 6th and same thing as soon as I started running faster the cramps came on so cut that one to a 400 as well.  Ran my warmdown and didn't feel much better.  Not sure if it was something I ate or a bug.  Hopefully better tomorrow.  Here are my splits:

1st - 2:55

2nd - 2:57

3rd - 2:58

4th - 3:02

5th (400) - 93

6th (400) - 93

It was a nice morning (58) but very foggy.  My stomach felt better this morning so wanted to get in a few extra miles.  Because of the fog I had to run some laps in my neighborhood before going out on the roads.  After about 30 minutes the fog started to lift so ran the loop through Fox Cove.  I felt pretty good for the most part but struggled some the last 3 miles.  I was running out of energy.  I didn't eat much yesterday because of the stomach issues so I think I just ran out of fuel.  I was glad to get in the extra miles and hope the stomach problems are finished.

1:37:53 (8:06 avg)

Nice morning (63) and a little humid.  I had planned on running a tempo run this morning but after starting out my legs were just lifeless.  I thought maybe after a couple of miles to warmup they would get better but they still felt shot and I decided I would try to get in another run this afternoon to do the tempo or do it tomorrow morning.  The last couple of weeks have been a step up for me in mileage after a couple of off months this summer so I feel like I am still trying to get adjusted.

7m in 56:07 (8:01 avg)

Good morning (63) and a little humid.  I wanted to run last night to get in a tempo run but one daughter had a soccer game and the other had open house at her school so ran the tempo run this morning.  The plan for today was to ease into the tempo by running a couple of miles at MP then picking up to tempo effort.  I felt better today but I wouldn't call it great.  Still feeling tired.  Today was a day where I could have put off the tempo and just ran easy but I need to push myself more and get in these types of efforts even when I don't feel the best.  I ran 4 miles easy to start with then picked up the pace to MP for 2 miles then the last 3 at tempo.  Here are my splits: 7:06, 7:01, 6:49, 6:47, 6:34.  Turned out to be a pretty good run for not feeling the best.  Need to do more runs like this.

9m in 66:30 (7:23 avg)

It was a little warmer this morning (67) and humid because I was out later than normal.  I ran out and back on 300 S and didn't realize going out but the wind was blowing pretty good when I turned around to come back.  I felt good this morning and ran easy.  I was really concerntrating on keeping it easy the first part and then wanted to pick it up the last 4 miles.  I ran mostly in the 8:00 to 8:15 range but picked up the last 4 miles and ran the last two at MP.  This was the best I felt finishing a long run in awhile.  Plus this is my highest mileage week in a long time especially on 6 days of running.  Starting to feel like I am getting back on track and making some progress.

2:07:05 (7:57 avg)