Winning Back What I Lost

645AM:  4.78M this morning; sun is coming up later every day which means that temps are really comfortable for running; 1M warm-up then 3M @ current MP and last .78 @ sub 8:00/mi pace.

I got a hotel room for Logan last night and from what I could tell it was one of the last ones left for the weekend of 9/18.  I checked w/ every site out there and the only room was one w/ only 1 King Bed at the Best Western.   It's gonna be crowded w/ the six of us.

935PM: 6.25M; 2M at current MP, 3M at goal MP and 1.25 at current MP.  Ran through an enormous mud puddle that had gathered on the sidewalk.  I can't wait until the irrigation season is over and these @#$% sprinklers go away.   

645AM: 4.53M. 2M at current MP and the rest nice and easy.  I've been noticing that my relaxed "jog" speed has improved- even when my legs are tired.  When I started running a couple of years ago it was above10:00/mi and now its somewhere in the 8:30-40/mi range. 

Temp in the mid 60's.  It doesn't look like we'll get any cool mornings this week.  Just as well, as ideal as 50 degrees is for running I don't look putting on layers; and it will make the temp at the start of TOU feel that much cooler.  My new trainers should arrive today via UPS!  I've been looking into buying a pair of Pearl Izumi Streak's just for racing.  Their extremely lightweight and they seem to offer decent support.  We'll see if there's $ in the budget next week.

8PM: 6.26M easy w/ .5 mile @ 6:06/mi pace; very warm w/ temp near 90 and no breeze; Took the family over to the MVHS Track; let the little ones run around and play in the long jump pit; warmed up w/ a slow mile then raced my 14 yo son in the half mile; he was talking some trash after football practice today and I had to let him know that I'm still the alpha dog; I let him hang for the first 600M or so and then picked up the pace; to his credit he continued running hard and actually pushed me to the end; I think I probably have another 1 or 2 years tops before he starts beating me like a rug. :-)  My new Wave Rider 12's came today and they fit and feel nice.

650AM: A little bit tired legs syndrome this morning; slogged through 4.48M w/ very little effort; I've run some harder/faster miles the past two days so I think I'll make a conscious effort to go slow and easy leading up to my 20 miler this week; passed the 1,500 mile mark for the year! 

655AM: 4.7 easy, slow miles; fought stomach cramps during most of the run; the plan was to get up at 5AM and get my long run in for the week due to some plans I have for this weekend; didn't sleep very well last night so I had to postpone it til tomorrow morning.

530AM: Long, easy run w/o incident; no serious GI issues to speak of, just some mild nausea/hunger pains toward the last half of the run; I wanted to stretch it out another mile or two but I was already running late for work; that makes back to back weeks w/ 19 milers; I'm probably gonna do one more long run toward the end of next week and then start tapering for TOU.

Last night I did the old "wet test" on my feet; I've been meaning to do this to confirm that I'm wearing the right type of shoes b/c I'd always suspected that I was an overpronator; sure enough, I put my wet foot on an old paper sack and the imprint was almost completely flat w/ only a slight arch; I've been wearing neutral/cushioned shoes since I took up running based on an electronic printout of my foot imprint at one of the local running stores; I think I'll try a support shoe for mild overpronation and see if makes a difference.

915PM: 5.94 really slow miles; wanted to go 10M but stomach problems forced me to head home early; almost didn't go at all due to a severe thunderstorm warning; the western horizon was lit up the entire time but nary a drop.