Back in the saddle?

The weather was so much nicer this morning: about 70 degrees with a very light rain for about the first mile.  I ran 7 miles in 1:08:23, a 9:46 average.  Nothing exciting, really, but it was nice to be back outside after being inside most of last week.  I'm shooting for 47 miles this week, which will probably be my highest mileage week ever!

My husband is still injured.  He is pretty discouraged.  :-(  I really want us to be able to do St. George together, so I hope he gets better soon.

Today was a tough workout.  I drove to my old neighborhood and ran hills.  Mile 3.1 to 3.9 was a long, steep uphill.  Then I turned around and ran downhill almost a mile to my car.  I got down to sub-8:00 for a while at the beginning, but then I got so tired I could barely maintain a 9:05, even on the steep downhill toward the end.  I wouldnt' call these easy miles, but there isn't another category.  Average pace was 9:40.

I had planned on 6 miles today.  Depending on how the day goes, I might be able to squeeze in a little more tonight.

Weight: back up to 143.  :-(  I ate a lot of junk food yesterday.

Great run today.  I ran 7.57 miles in 1:13:17, a 9:41 average.  My pace stayed pretty steady for the whole run.  It is HUMID outside.  This is the first summer that I have spent any time outside, because I used to run on the treadmill during the summer.  It's amazing how you pick up on the variations of the weather when you actually spend time outside.

Weight: 144.  I ate pretty well yesterday, so I'm not sure what's going on.  I'm hopeful that it's just bloating that will go away in a few days.

Hubby is going to a podiatrist this week, so hopefully he'll get hit foot issues sorted out soon.

Today I did my first tempo run in a long time.  I was supposed to do 4 miles but decided to just do three.  I ran 1.5 miles to warm up and then started the tempo run.  It was pretty hard to get going, even with the warmup.  My splits were 8:38, 8:27, and 8:18, which averaged out to 8:27.  My goal had been 8:24, so I was pretty close, but I would have preferred to have kept a steady pace throughout.  I finished with a little over 3 miles of cooldown.

I feel like I should be able to run these tempo runs faster.  I've gotten pretty used to the heat, though, and don't think about it as much as I used to.  But I'm sure it still affects my performance.  It never gets below 80 degrees, and now it's really humid too.  I'm going to find that heat performance calculator (I know it's somewhere on the blog) and adjust accordingly.  Overall, though, it was a good workout.

Weight: 143.

I felt VERY sluggish this morning.  Part of it was the fact that I ran a tempo run yesterday, and when I was thinking about what I ate yesterday, I realized that I hardly ate any carbs.  So there you have it.  My average pace was 10:17.

I have the BIGGEST blister on my little toe that I have ever seen.  I need to take care of it today somehow or I will have problems tomorrow.

The low tonight is supposed to be in the mid to high 80s.  Tomorrow might be rough!

Weight: 142 or 143 (I forget)

Happy Friday!

What a run!  By the end of the run, it was 91 degrees, 38% humidity, and I could feel the heat radiating off my skin!  I am a big baby.  :-)  For that reason, I didn't make it to 15.  I mostly walked the last mile home, so I didn't count it as part of my mileage.

For some reason, I always run MUCH slower than normal for the first half of my long runs.  My first eight miles were: 10:21, 10:12, 10:11, 10:11, 10:16, 10:12, 10:04, and 10:09.  It was still fairly early at that time, so it's not the heat.  Normally, I can pick it up in the second half and average under 10:00 per mile for my long runs.  Maybe the fatigue of the week just builds up.  If anyone has any explanations for the slower miles, and/or suggestions for improving this, let me know!  I always prefer to run more even splits.

Today was supposed to be  a progression run, with the last mile at half marathon pace.  Miles 9-11 were 9:49, 9:51, and 9:48.  But by then it was so hot I just switched to survival mode to make it home.  I took several breaks, stopping for quite a while at the places with water!  Miles 12-14 were PAINFUL, at 10:06, 10:25, and 10:49-yikes!

My average overall pace was 10:11, which I think is actually OK, given the heat.  I don't think it ever got under 85 or so. 

These long runs are really presenting a challenge, now that it's so hot.  I might have to drive up to Prescott for a few of these workouts in the next few weeks.  That, or get up at 3:30-whoa!

GUESS WHAT: this was my highest mileage week EVER!  Since I began keeping track, anyway.  I didn't even run this much when I was doing 20-milers!  I can't believe that I will probably hit 50 miles next week. Yippee!