End of Layoff

i had not ran in over a week due to knee problems, calf soreness, and lack of time due to the holiday schedule. i really wanted to get one longer run in before my next marathon, and knew if i was going to get it in it had to be today. i had been feeling sick over the weekend, but was feeling much better today. i woke up a little later than i wanted to, but i really needed the rest anyway. and it took me so long to get everything together, i haven't ran a long run in some time so all of my stuff was scattered. i did get a new gps watch for Christmas so i was excited to try it out. i wanted to be running by 11 or 11:30am. unfortunately, it was just before 1pm before i got on the road. the only thing i had eaten all day was a butterfinger santa clause. i was hoping not having much on my stomach woeld help with the upset stomach i get from eating the energy chews i use. however, just before mile 10 (i ate some chews at mile 5 and was going to eat some more at mile 10) my stomach was telling me it was hungry. i wish i had eaten a little more. on the positive side, i took 5 chews at mile 5 and 5 more at mile 10 and never got an upset stomach, that is a huge plus. i took 20oz of gatorade and 10oz of water with me. i never got thirsty enough to drink the gatorade, and i only drank the water with the chews.i think not having the sugar from the gatorade on my stomach also helped me to not have any stomach aches after the chews. my left knee hurt for most of the run after mile 5, it was just a dull pain i was able to run through. my right calf really started hurting around mile 8 for the remainder of the run, i was able to run through that as well. overall, i felt pretty good for the run until 13.5 miles when i fizzled a little. my time for the run was 2:33.44, a pace of 10.59min/mile overall. that is pretty good, i was trying to run at an 11min/mile pace. when i stopped running, my left knee felt like it locked up. it is still sore about 5 hours after the run, my right calf is still a little tight as well. luckily, i am starting my taper for the next marathon so hopefully that will help with the knee and calf.

i really have no thoughts for today.

5 milers and knee pain

i was not able to run on monday, however, i was blessed to be able to leave work a little early on tuesday so that i could run before i had to be on call. about the last half mile of that run my left knee started having a little pain. i was able to run with it to finish the 5 miles but it did hurt for most of the night following. wednesday i never had a problem out of the knee. i was planning on doing 8 miles wednesday and 5 on thursday. because i had the knee pain, i decided to rest on wednesday (and besides i had a Christmas party with a bunch of wild people from my family). so no running on wednesday. thursday i was going to try another 5. i thought about doing 8 since i had missed my 8 miler. during the run i was feeling great at mile 3 i had decided to go ahead and run 8 since i was feeling so good. however, just after mile 3.5 i had a severe, sharp pain on the outside of my left knee, it was so bad i could not run through it and i had to walk nearly all of the remainding 1.5 miles. so i planned to rest on friday and maybe try some work on the elliptical saturday (today).

here are the times for the 2 runs:
12/13/11: 5 miles 47.30
12/15/11: 5 miles 52.21


thought of the day: pain pain go away, let me run another day.

First 5 miler After Race

i was not able to do any runs last week. i wanted to get a few in towards the end of the week to see how my legs would respond after the race. i made myself do it on saturday. i was planning on 5 real easy miles at a very comfortable pace. i texted jeff to see if he wanted to run and he decided to go with me. i figured i would be running around 10 min. miles. however, as usual, having jeff there pushed me a little, even though i tried my hardest not to let it. we did 5 miles in a 9.32 pace. i felt really good at the end, legs were a little sore at times, but not bad.

thought of the day: technology is supposed to make us faster and more efficient. it makes me mad pretty fast.

Marathon #2

it has been nearly a week since i ran my second marathon and i am just getting time to blog about it. it went a little better than i expected but not as well as i had hoped. i was hoping to finish it in 4:30 but would be extremely happy to finish in 4:43, 1 hour faster than last year. if i just beat my time from last year i would be happy but i was worried it might not happen.

i started out with the 4:40 pace group thinking if i finished a little behind them i would still finish an hour ahead of last year. i was really trying to stay with the pace team and keep it slow. i really enjoyed the first part of the race. by going slow i could look at the sites and really see what was going on around me. this was the first time i really enjoyed a run. at mile 13 i was feeling strong, my legs felt powerful, i want to start running harder, however i knew i had to stay at my pace or i would be worn out before the end. mile 14 and 15 were good, i was still right on pace to finish at 4:40. at mile 16 i started getting a pain in my side. i slowed down and ran with it as long as i could, but i eventually had to stop and walk a little. after a while the i was able to run again but not for long. this went on until mile 18. at that point i had to stop and walk and it was the first time my legs really felt tired. my entire body felt tired my legs were too heavy. i hit the wall. from mile 18 to the end it was a mixture of walking and running. towards the end i figured i could still keep my time under 5 hours. when i hit mile 25 i started running and felt pretty good. that didn't last long but i pushed until i just couldn't lift my legs anymore. about 1/2 mile to the end i could see the final uphill turn so i started running again. the uphill turn is at 25.9 miles. at that point i started walking to the top of the hill which was about 60 yards. from the point the rest of the race was downhill so i started running again. i finished in 5:02.24. it would have been great to finish under 5 hours but i really feel like i pushed myself every chance i could.

i finished 183 in my age group, 1018th male, and 1686 overall. overall, i beat 678 people.

thought of marathon day: you only regret the runs you don't do and you regret the runs not done most during the marathon, and mostly at the end of the marathon and the days following.

Windy and Rainy

5 miles in wind and a little rain in 48:50. Legs a little tired at first and then felt much better. I was trying to run at my desired marathon pace (11 min/mile). It seemed no matter how slow i was trying to go, i couldn't keep at a slow enough pace. Got the run done though.

Upset at the Turkey Trot

i had 4 miles scheduled yesterday. i went into our southside clinic to change clothes and there was a client waiting there for the on call vet. i told her to come inside and i would take care of her. i called the vet to tell him i was taking care of this emergency and he told me there was another, very critical emergency on the way and he was working on a horse out at a farm. the other emergency came in and i started working on them both when he got to the clinic. we worked on the cases until 10:45pm. i did not run. didn't bother me much because i did not have a run on the schedule for today, but emily had signed us up for a 5k.

we ran the 5k in mt. juliet. i was hoping to get a pr and finish under 27 minutes. i thought that was pretty reasonable with my recent times, but i did not know what the course was like. it was slightly hilly, not a great course for a pr for a 5k. it was timed on gun time and i started a little ways back in the pack. from the time i crossed the start line, mile 1 was 8.31 and i was feeling pretty good but figured i better slow down just a little. mile 2 was 8.53, that put me at 17.24. i knew i could finish the rest of the race in 9.30, no problem. i did not have my gps so i was gauging speed by the pack i was running with and by my exerted effort. i did not push really hard since i was passing people and i knew i could run 1.1 miles in the needed time. with about .2 miles to go i looked at my watch and saw i only had 1.30 to finish under 27 minutes. i was really mad at myself for not paying more attention, not that i really had much to go by, i guess my pack had slowed down as well. my self timed last 1.1 miles was 10.03 for a total of 27.27 (official gun time was 27.37). so i did finish at under a 9 min/mile pace and set a pr, but i know i could have finished under 27 min.

the email the race sent out said there were over 1000 runners. however, after adding up all the published times i only got 733 runners. i finished 13/35 in my male age group, 99/317 males and 137/733 total runners. not too bad. the overall winner was in my age group and finished in 16.45, ouch...one day...one day.

emily did well and finished in front of around 13 other runners in her age group. she said she finished this race 5 minutes faster than her last 5k, which was the houston county 5k, that is a pretty flat course. if she ever starts running with me regularly, i might really be the slowest person in our family of runners.

thought of the day: if you have a goal stay observant or you might screw yourself out of reaching your goal.

Oops Again

i was thinking all day that i was scheduled for a 5 mile run today. i got off a little earlier than usual, came home, changed clothes and drove to my starting point. it was pretty cold, about 33 degrees when i parked and 28 degrees when i finished. i started out and my legs felt so tired. i thought, probably because i had ran 8 miles pretty fast for me, last night. at about 1.5 miles i thought to myself, i am not supposed to run tonight, i am supposed to run friday and saturday. when i realized that, i was too far to turn around so i just kept on running. figured it would just give me an extra day of rest before my long run.

i finished the run in 50.23, not my best pace but pretty good for as tired as i felt.

thought of the day: don't just think you know your schedule, make sure before you just go out and run. however, this is one of few times i have ever gotten a run in before i was supposed to. and once again, i do not regret doing this run, even if it was tough and a day early, i am very glad it is finished.

8?

after an extensive talk with todd today i decided to run 8 miles tonight, 5 tomorrow, 5 on saturday and one more long run next monday. around mile 1 tonight i decided it might not have been a great idea to run 8 tonight since my legs were still a little sore from monday. however, tonight i decided i would do something i did a lot of last year but have done this year, run through my discomfort. so i kept on. then, at mile 2 my gps lost signal. i decided i would just run 5 since i knew where the 2.5 mile marker was, but nothing past that. just as i headed back to the truck my gps got signal again. as i got close to the truck, i decided to turn back around at the 5 mile mark and run 1.5 miles and then back to the truck. i am not sure of the exact distance since the gps lost signal but it was very close to 8 miles, +/-. i finished at a 9.10min/mile pace, didn't seem like i ran that fast but i guess i did. right around 5 my left calf was really tight, all of a sudden i decided i was tensing my legs too much and tried to run more relaxed and my calf never hurt again. there was a strong wind tonight, it was really bad at a couple of points but i managed. at the end of the run i felt really good. maybe i just need to run night long runs and marathons.

thought of the day: when i have time, i run, when i don't, i don't. maybe i will be ready for the marathon, maybe i won't.

At Least Some Things are Better

last week i went over 400 miles for the year. last year i ran 454.9 total. with mondays 16 mile run i am at about 35 miles less than my total last year, including the marathon. i should surpass that before the marathon. that is the good news. for this run i was determined to do 20 miles. i was going to do a 5 mile out and back 4 times. this is where i do my normal running, so it didn't seem that bad, in my head anyway. i started out and the weather was nice, 71 degrees and very cloudy. the bad thing was that the first 2.5 miles, which is slightly uphill, was also into a 20-30 mph wind. at times i felt like i wasn't even moving and the wind was so strong i couldn't even hear the songs on my ipod through the earphones. however, at mile 2.5 i turned around and headed back. sometimes it was like the wind was nearly picking me up and carrying me. that caused me to go a little faster than i wanted. however, my plan was to run this long run a little faster than the others because i felt like going so slow was actually hurting my feet and calves. i also planned to slow to a walk every 5 miles and take in some energy and water and when i got to an 11 min/mile pace i would start back up to a run. after the first 5 miles i felt really good and had a little extra time to walk since i had ran a few of the first 5 miles a little too fast. i also had to call emily back because i forgot to call her before i started the run. i did all that and started back to a run a little before i reached the 11min/mile pace. everything was going great. then at mile 8 i walked a little more, the wind and hills got to me a little. after that short walk i felt great again. then, just before mile 10 i needed to walk again. after that i could only muster out running another 1/2 mile and ended up walking the rest of the 16 miles. in my mind i had told myself nothing less than 18 on this run. but by mile 16 i felt really bad. i felt like i had overheated, like i couldn't get cooled of, even though i was only walking. i felt like i was breathing fire (it had warmed to 78 degrees by the end of the run and it was very sunny). after the run, i felt horrible all day. i got home, drank all the sweat tea in the house (something i had been craving since mile 11) then i drank a warm capri sun and put one in the freezer to cool off. when i woke up 2 hours later the caapri sun was frozen and i was still feeling horrible. i feel like a loser. it seems like only a short time ago i did much better in the clarksville 1/2 marathon than i thought i would and now i can't even finish 12 miles at a much slower pace. i finished the total 16 miles in 3:25.45. i think that is nearly 30 minutes slower than jeff ran 20 miles 2 days before. at this pace, last years marathon is going to continue to be my pr.

i don't understand how i can run 6 miles of hills or a 7 mile tempo run and still feel really good afterward. the only differences (excuses) i can come up with are these:
1) nearly all of my other runs lately have been at night, when it is much cooler.
2) i was wearing nearly 4 pounds of gatorade and water on my hip belt, along with ipod and snacks in both pockets.
3) i am psyching myself out so bad about this being so much longer in distance, even though i felt like this was going to be very doable.

if anyone has any extra motivational advice feel free to share. last year the 16 mile runs seemed pretty easy, this year they seem unreachable.

thought of the day: the only thing that keeps me from completing these runs is myself.

Better Than Imagined

i had a tempo run planned tonight- to run 1 mile easy, 5 miles at an 8.23 pace and 1 more mile at an easy pace. the first mile worked out, 10.09. the next few miles i really pushed and then my legs felt like rubber for a while and then like i had weights on my ankles for a while. the last mile was within range of easy too. i never looked at my watch i, during the tempo part i just kept trying to push as hard as my body would let me. i can usually tell i am pushing pretty hard by my breathing, especially on flatter areas. so the 5 miles of tempo were at just under a 9.06 pace, i was very surprised. i felt like i could have done better if i had ran easier last night. a few of the tempo miles were very surprising, and i am pretty sure the gps was fairly accurate too. here are the tempo splits:

mile 1= 8.26
mile 2= 9.30
mile 3= 9.41
mile 4= 8.40
mile 5= 9.04

any mile under 9 minutes is very fast for me and i had 2 of those on this run. unfortunately, i had 2 miles well over 9 minutes too. i can remember not long ago struggling to get a mile under 10 minutes. i guess i am getting a little faster, i am sure the cooler weather doesn't hurt either. i wish my distance training was going as good as my speed training (not that my speed is great or anything). i do think i might run a little faster during the day (especially if it was overcast). i don't like running at night, even with a light, i can't see the tops of the hills and i find myself looking around for deer, and the light shaking around as i run can be hypnotizing/nauseating. anyway, it is what it is.

thought of the day: marathon getting close, mileage building up, i have to dig in for the next 10 days and then what happens, happens, and i can't do much about it then. after 10 days, the rest of the training should be pretty easy, the race may be another story.

Tired Now

ran 5 miles tonight, it was cold and a little windy. i felt pretty good, pretty relaxed. i never looked at my watch until i finished. i felt like i was at an easy pace for most of the run, there were a few times i had to make myself slow down. i actually ran one 1/2 mile segment in 4.17, way too fast for me on an easy run. now i feel extremely tired. i finished the 5 miles at a 9.14 pace, .02 seconds per mile slower than my fastest 5 miles this year, hope that doesn't affect me on tomorrows run.

thought of the day: after the run i was driving to the store and the saying came to mind "you only regret the runs you don't do." i thought that even as cold as it was and dark and windy for the first half of the run, when it was over i was so glad i had made myself run. when i got to where i was going to start the run, i was on the phone and a big dog came up to the truck and started barking and growling. i thought maybe i should just go home and not deal with him in the dark. before that a car came into the gravel parking lot and spun out then went on and i thought maybe i should just go home so they can't come back while i am running and mess with my truck. despite those 2 objects i ran anyway. afterwards i was glad i did. now i'm tired, time for rest.

Whoa, not what i needed

to start, i never blogged about this past wednesday's run. nothing special. 6 miles of intense hills, 1 minute and 14 seconds faster than last week doing the same run. i had talked to the inspirationalizer on the phone and headed out for the run around 8pm. it was cold and dark. i don't like these cold night runs, it seems like i cough for 2 days after the run from breathing in the cold air. however, i felt pretty good about this run.

i had open house planned for saturday evening so i was planning my long run of the week for sunday. then my cousin said he could help on the house sunday afternoon, need to get a lot of work done, so there went the run. i was planning on doing the run monday afternoon, then my cousin said he could help work on the house monday afternoon and i had to be recovered by 5pm. i headed out for the run at 12pm. it was supposed to be cloudy and 71 degrees (another reason i pushed the run back since sunday was supposed to be sunny and i hate running in the sun). too bad. it was very sunny on monday too, very little clouds, and 73 degrees. i actually got more sun than i have in a long time, my arms show it. i was planning on running 18 miles. i finished a very disappointing 13.5 miles way off the pace of my last half marathon. i am not sure what caused this (probably lack of good conditioning) but i tried a few new things on this run. for one, i had talked to an ultra runner who recommended adding a little salt to my gatorade since i am a heavy sweater. i added just enough to be able to barely taste the salt, when the gatorade was cold. however, the warmer it got as i ran, the more noticeable the salt taste was. it almost started tasting bad. i also had 2 different types of gels i was trying for the first time. i tried the first one at mile 5 and it tasted bad but it was thin enough that i could gulp it down in 1 big gulp and wash it down with water and barely notice the taste. the second gel i tried at mile 10. i put a little in my mouth and nearly threw up. it was bad. my stomach was never the same after that. i kept feeling sick to my stomach and finally decided to keep running wasn't helping me in the least and bad as i was doing. i actually walked a lot of the run after mile 10. also, at mile 5 i had to stop at the truck to put a new battery in my gps.

my total time for the run was 2:36.30. that is an 11.35 min/mile pace. i was trying to finish at an 11min/mile pace (for 18 miles).

this run does not make me feel good about the marathon. i have 2 more long runs before i start tapering, i really want to get a 20 miler in. i also would like to get all my daily runs in as well. the marathon is just around the corner.

thought of the day: failure is the main thing i keep thinking about.

2 for 1

i never posted my last run, so tonight you get 2 for 1. this past wednesday i ran 6 miles of hills. it was really cold. i coughed for 2 days. i had planned on running saturday and scheduling long runs here on out to the marathon on mondays. however, saturday i was coughing and had wheezing in my chest so i decided to rest another day. sunday i had stuff to do all day so i couldn't run. i was going to do a long run today but still wasn't feeling that great. i think i will still be able to get a 16, 18, and 20 mile run in before the marathon. i will just taper 2 weeks, which i think is acceptable. it took me 64.47 to run the 6 miles of hills on wednesday. that was over 2 minutes faster than when i ran the same route 1 month ago.

so i decided to just get back on schedule today and run 5 miles. at about a quarter mile i just wanted to turn around. i was uninspired and unmotivated. somehow i still ran the first mile in 8.51. my mental status got a little better during the second mile, but i knew i was running too fast, i still have 3 more runs this week. mile 2 was 9.09. mile 3 was 9.48, i was trying to slow myself down a little and my back was hurting a little (had been cutting and moving wood for about 2-3 hours today). mile 4 was 9.09 and mile 5 was 8.58. my pace for this 5 miles was 9.12, my fastest 5 miles of the year, and definitely not what my schedule recommended.

thought of the day: i don't know why i have been so unmotivated lately. the marathon is just over a month away, i guess that should motivate me some. i think i just have too much stuff on my mind and too much other stuff i need to get done, so it is hard to feel good about a run right now. taking time off of my marathon PR is seeming a little bleak right now, even though my marathon PR is pretty bad.

Tight

i did not get the planned run done last thursday, i was trying to but just got tied up with stuff before i had to leave for a conference that evening. i was at the conference all weekend basically sitting in a chair all day long for 3 days in a row. i didn't think about it until 1/2 mile into my run today. i did wake up last night with a pain in my right knee and my feet hurt all day today before the run. then 1/2 mile into the run, my calves felt really tight. i thought they would loosen up, but they only got tighter. at mile 2 i had to stop and stretch and walk a little. they never got loose for the entire run and at one point i thought i might have to walk the last 1/2 mile. no matter how slow i tried running, the pain never went away. my feet and thighs also hurt a good part of the run. i finished the 5 miles at a 10:18 pace surprisingly. after the run i did try to stretch my calves good. i had planned on running 16 today, got all my stuff ready, just had to change clothes and leave. i decided to sit down for a few minutes since i was actually ahead of schedule. i ended up falling asleep for over an hour. that meant i would be running a large part of the 16 miles in the dark, so i decided to just do 5 and get back on my schedule, luckily.

thought of the day: rest is good, but not too much of it.

Wind and Rain

i was scheduled for 6 hill miles today. it was about 7pm when i got home and cold, windy, and raining off and on. i talked to jeff and he told me he ran 8 miles this evening, so that motivated me a little. i came in the house and started getting ready, i wasn't in any rush, since the conditions weren't going to get much worse. then my cousin called and we talked for about 20 minutes, but i had my clothes on so i decided to go run. it was cold to my lungs and made it a little harder than normal to breath and my legs were cold. i had to stop twice to let cars go by so that slowed me down a little. at the 1 mile mark it was raining so hard i could barely see in front of me. since i could barely see and because it was so cold, i decided to shorten the run by half. there is also a bug going around the clinic so i don't want to weaken my immune system any more than necessary. so i ended up running 3 miles in 29.12

here are the splits:

.5= 5.02
1.0= 4.45 9.48
1.5= 5.10 14.59
2.0= 4.56 19.55
2.5= 5.07 25.02
3.0= 4.09 29.12

thought of the day: i went from 80 degrees and extremely sunny on sunday to night, 45 degrees and rain tonight. if i could run in extremes every time i would be stronger. there has to be some weather condition where i preform my best, i hope i haven't been preforming in it yet, because i would hate to say i have had a great run so far this year since all of my runs are below average for my age (i think for my bmi i am doing pretty good though).

Been a While

it has been a while since i last blogged. i have ran some since the last blog, but not nearly as much as i needed to. jeff called me a weekend warrior the other week and i took offense, i had completed 14 of my last 16 scheduled runs at that time, i thought that was pretty good. so i got fired up and mad and in the two weeks following that ran one weekday and 2 weekend races. so i guess i have to allow myself to be made fun of, the truth hurts sometimes.

so i ran the clarksville 1/2 marathon, last october, after i finished i wanted to do it this year in under 2 hours. the night before the race i decided if i could finish at the same 10min/mile pace as last year i would be happy. i finished at a 9:39 pace, about 4 and a half minutes faster than last year, so i was pretty happy, but wish i could have done a little better.

no runs during the following week, everything went crazy. but i did schedule a race on sunday. a 10 mile run through knoxville. it was pretty warm and extremely sunny and slightly hilly. i was hoping on doing this one at 9:15min/mile. however, we didn't get in until 2am the morning of the race and i woke up and felt dehydrated. it didn't seem like i could drink enough. the race started at 2pm. it felt like 3/4 of the race i was running right into the sun. the water stops were only every 2 miles and that was with warm gatorade or water. towards the end there were a few small hills, nothing too bad, but i did have to walk two short periods. i think i really got overheated. i finished at a 10:14mile/min pace and felt really hot and had a headache the rest of the night.

tonight i got home late from working on the farm, it was dark before i left the farm and had been a long time since i had eaten. i didn't even have my running clothes with me. i had to drive to the house and was really tempted wash up and eat and not run. however, i knew what that meant, that i was letting my comfort get in the way of my devotion to beating todd and jeff (one day) and staying in shape to chase turkeys and elk. so i got ready, slowly, and headed out the door. i started the run around 7:45pm. i ran 5 miles, legs a little tired and sore from yesterday, in 46.28. that is 9:18min/mile. one of my fastest 5 mile runs in a long long time.

thought of the day: late tonight, work tomorrow, off to bed.

14, 4

I remembered i never blogged about my 14 mile run on sunday. I was going to run 16 but the weather got me. It was extremely sunny to begin with and as i hit mile 13 my sweat felt like it wad turning to icycles and i started to shiver from the cold. I finished the run, dried off and drove home. When i got home i was freezing. I took a very hot shower and put on fleece pants and one of emily's fleece jackets (all my winter clothes are packed somewhere). I finally got warmed up and then got too warm. My pace was 10:45min/mile for 14 miles.

Wednesday i ran 4 miles. The first 1.75 miles i ran with emily in the dark until she could finish her run. I then ran the other 2.25 miles in just over a 9:00min/mile pace.

Typing this on my iphone with one finger so sorry for any typos and no in depth info.

Bad Socks

after work today i was getting ready for my run (putting on my running clothes) and could not find the socks i knew i had packed. i went out to my truck, with my shoes on and no socks, and knew i couldn't run that way, i looked for my socks in the truck with no luck. i decided to wear my work socks, my long, thicker, work socks.

i had a tempo run scheduled, 1 mile slow, 5 miles at 8.28 pace, then another mile slow. since i was going to be going slow on the first mile, emily decided to do the first mile with me. i think this was the first time she has ever ran with me, even though i have been asking her for a long long time. she wasn't far behind when i finished my first mile, and she had even walked some of that mile. so my first mile was really slow, but not that i wanted to go any faster. i ran last night's run 1 min/mile faster than scheduled and i could tell my legs were a little tired. after the first mile i sped up and was actually on pace for the first 1/2 mile but then slowed down for the next couple of miles, then got a little faster, then a little slower. the time for my 5 miles of tempo running was 46.57, a pace of about 9.20min/mile. that was actually slower than my "slow" run from yesterday. i have been trying to stay on those paces, they are supposed to get me to finish the marathon in 4 hours. i was thinking i may have to decrease that goal a little since i haven't been able to keep the paces as low as recommended by my schedule. but i did finish and felt pretty good, i was definitely tired at the end. i think if i slow it down a little i should have no problem finishing these longer runs.

thought of the night: busy weekend ahead, gonna have to squeeze in my runs somewhere, have a race in just over a week.

Slacked a Little

i worked saturday and did not get to run, was planning on 14 miles sunday. on sunday they were predicting thunderstorms in the afternoon with hail, etc. i decided not to run due to weather, the last few runs i've had where there was a chance of rain/lightening, i ended up running in rain/lightening. on sunday, it rained for about 5 minutes. i was a little upset with myself that i didn't try the run. so i postponed the run until monday. monday i was not feeling well, i had a headache all day until about 5pm. i could have (should have) at least gotten my 4 miler in. i decided not to. tonight i was on call but was feeling really bad about not getting my long run in for the weekend and really bad for not getting my shorter run in on monday. i decided to give it a try and carry my cell phone with me. i figured, it was only 4 miles and i would be, at the furthest, 20 minutes from my truck and 10 more minutes to the clinic, which i figured was acceptable. at mile 1 i got the first call, i stopped and called the people back. they decided to wait until tomorrow. at mile 1.5, they called back and wanted me to see the dog, but they weren't exactly sure. at mile 2 they called back and wanted me to see the dog for sure. i stopped to talk to them at all of those points. they were a good ways away, so i headed back to the truck, then to the clinic where i dried off and changed back into work clothes.

i ran the 4 miles in 36.32, a little over 9 minute miles. i am not sure how stopping all of those times affected me. the breaks probably helped, but with every stop i had to build the pace back up. tomorrow i have a 7 mile tempo run scheduled. both thursday and friday i have meetings after work and saturday and sunday. to get this weeks runs in will be a little tough, after this week everything should slow down so i can concentrate on my runs for the marathon.

once again it is late and i am tired, going to bed.

Fast 4, 4 Me

i ran 4 miles this evening, didn't get to start until about 7pm. i'm telling you, that one extra day of rest really helped. this was my fastest 4 mile run in 2 years, and maybe longer. i started out pretty good (this was supposed to be an 10min/mile pace) and figured i would slow down but i might as well push for a little while. the first 1/2 mile was 4.33, i thought to myself i was not going to be able to hold that pace for the entire run. the next 1/2 mile was 4.27, i tried to slow myself down a little. the next 1/2 mile was 4.24. the hills seemed to be getting the best of me, for the next 1/2 mile, which was 4.34 i thought, here comes the slowdown. the next three 1/2 miles: 4.20. with each 1/2 mile i kept expecting to see 5.00. i felt like i was slowing down and a few times, actually tried to. i finished the last 1/2 mile at 4.35. i actually figured i would be much slower, i was doing all i could to keep my legs moving until i heard the beeper. my total time was 35.37. my shins were hurting just a little at the very end. i figure i will pay for running this run too fast, much faster than my schedule recommended. hope it doesn't effect my long run this weekend. my heart rate did not get within 5 bpm of my highest heart rate. the way i was pushing and breathing i figured it would be way up there. luckily i have a rest day tomorrow.

saw J is still kicking out the miles. i hope he takes a day off before the race, i he is our family's only hope to beat Todd at the houston county 5k this year.

thought of the day:"What we hope ever to do with ease we may learn first to do with diligence" Samuel Johnson. i was thinking about what i posted yesterday, "train hard, race easy." this reminded me of that quote a little. i realized that even if you train hard for a race, you will still work hard during the race, but the harder you train, the easier it will be finish in the same amount of time. i hope to one day run marathons with ease, like many of the runners in the magazines, i am trying to be dilligent in my training. one day Jeff and Todd, one day.

Hilly 6

i took a break from monday's 4 miler and didn't run on tuesday to help freshen up and rest my legs a little. today the schedule said 6 mile intervals. since i don't have a good place to do intervals i have decided to do all of my interval runs as hills, the biggest hills i can find, all in a row. i figure, this will at least work much different muscles than normal, both going up and down the hills. i got off work as early as i have in a long time, so hopefully i could do most of my run while the sun was up. however, i still didn't get out the door until 6:45pm, so i took my head light. the last time i ran this particular course i was happy i did not walk for the entire 3 mile run. now i was doubling mileage and doing bigger longer hills to extend the mileage. it was 1/2 mile uphill, down a small hill, up a small hill, down a medium hill, up a medium hill, down a big hill, up a big hill, .75 miles downhill, .5 mile uphill and then back. i didn't push really hard so i might have a little left for the last big hill. during the last 1/2 of the run, it was pitch black, had to get off the road for 2 cars, but not that close. then i made a push up the last hill. i made it about 1/2 way up before having to slow a little. but i did it, no walking. my legs really felt good, i think from the rest. very nearly got bit by a medium sized snipping dog. other than that it was pretty uneventful. during the run i decided i need to run year round if i really want to run marathons and i got really pumped for my 14 miler this weekend (while J will be running 3 :)).

on that note, J is trying to run 35 miles this week. what a nut. i hope he does it and doesn't get hurt, i'm telling you, he is a machine. i am just hooping to get 24 miles in this week. but i am pumped for the 14 miler. i think the break helped physically and mentally. i need a little break every now and then to keep me fresh and motivated. J needs to run as much as possible to stay fresh and motivated. no wonder he is so much faster than i am.

i knew my time would be slow on this run since i was trying to run the downhills very controlled and the uphills controlled enough to not run out of energy at the end. my time for the run was 66.57. i will take that for this run. i am not dreading big hills as bad any more. i finished the run about 4 hours ago and i still feel very pumped. i feel like i could go run some more tonight, but i will get my rest instead.

thought of the day: it is past my bedtime. have to save this energy for the 2 runs i have left this week. train hard, race easy. bow season opens on saturday and i don't have any plans of hunting at all this weekend, probably the coolest and best opening day of bow season we have had in 7 years.

12.5?

i got out of my event really early, with plenty of time to get my run in but i didn't feel very good all. i came home and took a nap and felt a little better. i was not motivated to run all day but i knew i really needed to. i headed out the door feeling good that i was making myself run, but not really wanting to. i thought i was giving myself plenty of time, even though i did have to finish watching the first half of an nfl game. so i started running a little after 5pm thinking the run would take about 2.5 hours. it started raining just before i took off for the run, i was hoping there wouldn't be any thunder and lightening. it never did storm but it rained off and on. my left calf was really tight until mile 4 when it stopped hurting. i slowed this run down and really felt like i was at a good pace. at mile 5 i took a short walk break to get some energy chews. at mile 9 i got a few more energy chews and i was feeling really good. then it all went sour. at mile 11 it was getting dark and started raining harder and i thought about stopping. i just didn't want to run any more. i finally stopped at 12.5 miles. it took me 2:22.44 to complete it.

there are a few things that i was doing last year that i haven't been doing this year that i think are making this year a little harder. 1. i'm not going elk hunting, so that motivation is down a little, even though i still have the marathon to prepare for. 2. i do not have a good energy supplement that to use. last year, i was taking gels about every 4.5 miles and really felt like they helped me. i now get sick when i even think about taking a gel, that happened about 4 weeks before the marathon last year. i have tried blocks and sports beans but they don't go down near as easily. i think i have to figure this out before too long. 3. i have not been stretching any after my runs. last year that was the first thing i did after every run. i don't have a really good place to lay out and stretch in the new living quarters. i haven't been doing any yoga either.

i do think i am a little ahead of my training last year, in my schedule i still have a 14 mile run, two 16 mile runs, an 18 miler and two 20 mile runs. there are also 2 rest weeks and 2 tapering weeks (i think that is right). as far as mileage goes, i still have plenty of time to get my longest runs in, i will just have to do many of the runs in the dark, at least parts of them.

since i was so sore for the last 2 runs, i decided to skip today's run and start back on wednesday.

thought of the day: 2 days of rest and then the old shane is back, finishing long runs and staying motivated. look out!

OK 4

i meant to say something about the pain i had wednesday before my run, but forgot to mention it in the last blog. tuesday night, just before going to bed, a sharp pain started from my left shoulder, down my left arm and up my neck. it hurt bad all night and i didn't get much sleep. i was wondering if it would be hurting for my run. the pain had died down a little but not completely. to turn my head to the left i had to turn my entire upper body. the pain was still there today (friday) but much less, i still can't fully turn my head to the left without pain. it really doesn't bother me during my runs though.

i didn't think i would get my run in today. i tried to get up early and run, i had to be out the door around 6:30. i set the alarm for 6, hit snooze, got up at 6:20 and it still seemed pretty dark, i went back to bed. i guess i have been running in the dark at night, just didn't seem right in the morning, one should be sleeping. maybe it was because the window looks to the west and the sun comes up in the east. anyway, i didn't run. i had thought about running at lunch, since i was taking off at 12 anyway to go work a mossy oak event. i knew it would be hard to run and get a shower and then get to the event in time, had to be there at 2. ended up working until 1:30. the event was supposed to end at 8. however, the event ended around 4 and i left about 5. i got home and sat down for a few minutes then got dressed and got my 4 scheduled miles in. when i run this route, i usually run 1/2 way (mostly uphill of course) and then turn around and head back. however, tonight i was going to run 4 miles away from the house and emily was going to pick me up on the way to the far. usually the second half of the run is faster because it is more downhill, not tonight with this plan. my left calf hurt most of the run, a few times i felt like it was going to give out. my right knee hurt just a little. overall i didn't feel too bad.

when we got to the farm i was pounding a big stake into the ground with a sledge hammer. once i missed the stake and the sledge hammer slipped out of one hand and hit me in my right shin. it is pretty bruised right now. hope it doesn't bother me on my long run this weekend. i am supposed to be at the mossy oak event from 8-8 tomorrow and until 4 on sunday. that doesn't leave me much time to run 14 miles in the light. have to get it in. have to get it in.

thought of the day: the things that you allow to control your life, will control your life. no matter how bad you want to do anything else.

Thunderstorms

tonight i had a 6 mile tempo run scheduled. 1 mile warm-up, 4 miles at 8.24 pace, 1 mile cool down. the first mile was a little slow, it was only a warm up and i knew i was going to be giving it all i had to try to make the 8.24 pace, so i took it pretty easy. my first mile was actually 40 seconds slower than my first mile yesterday. then the one mile beeper went off and i was off to the races. luckily i was only racing myself. the next mile was 9.02, 1/2 mile past that it was thundering and lightening, and i was 1.5 miles from the truck so i turned around and headed back. mile 3 was 9.32, i was supposed to be getting faster, but i was huffing and puffing, even with the motivation of lightening around me i couldn't pick up the pace. at mile 4 i had to run around a parking lot hoping i wouldn't get struck by the lightening to finish the last .2 of a mile. mile 4 came in at 9.24, but the last 1/2 mile was 4.52, so i think just trying to finish the run in the parking lot slowed me down a little. my calves started hurting about 1/2 way through the run. i have a 4 and 14 miler scheduled the rest of the week. if i get time i might try to make up the mileage from this run with an easy 6 instead of the scheduled easy 4, we'll see. i know this weekend will be very busy, but i really need to get my 14 miler done.

thought of the day: the other day when J and i were running the 12 miles together, i started off running at a 9.15 pace and it felt pretty comfortable. however, since then it has been hard to even get to that pace. crazy how running so much can slow you down.

Bump and Grind

it's funny, i have completed my last 5 of my last 6 scheduled runs, not on the exact dates, but close. i have actually ran every other day for the last 10 days. been a while since i have done that much running. today, 2 days after my last long run, my legs felt very tired. i felt like i was keeping a pretty good pace and then the half mile beeper would go off and the pace would be pretty slow. not to worry, this was supposed to be an easy run, at 9:55 pace, i was a little ahead of that but not by much. here are the splits:

.5= 4.53
1.0= 4.49
1.5= 4.56
2.0= 5.10
2.5= 4.56
3.0= 4.42
3.5= 4.45
4.0= 4.56

the last 1/2 mile i really thought was much faster than that. like i said before, i am not too worried, i have a 6 mile tempo run scheduled for tomorrow. i have a feeling much of that is going to be in the dark.

thought of the day: the other day, while running, the R. Kelly song "Bump 'N Grind" came on my ipod. i thought, what in the world is that song on here for? after listening to the lyrics, i know. the lyrics start out, "my mind's telling me know, but my body, my body's telling me ye e es." that is how i start most of my long runs. my mind is saying "are you sure" and my body, thinking it is a lot younger, says "no problem, get it done." the lyrics go on to say "I don't see nothun wrong with a little bump 'n grind.' well, that is exactly my running style, i realized tonight. when i run on the road it sounds like bump bump, bump bump. and my bones grind. just sayin.

Unlucky

i am not sure what happened on this run. i was planning on 14 but at 7pm still had 4 miles to go and without my headlamp i didn't want to be running in complete dark for the last mile. it was just starting to get dark as i finished. i did start this run out slower because of last week. i wanted to be around 10:30min/mile. however, i had a hard time running much faster than an 11min/mile pace. i wasn't too worried, i figured as long as i wasn't going too fast i would be ok. but, the run seemed to take forever. i did finish stronger and feeling much better than last week, although i wouldn't call it feeling good. i was able to come home get a shower and eat without falling asleep. here are the splits (at 1 mile instead of 1/2 mile):

1= 10.34
2= 21.06
3= 31.56
4= 42.49
5= 53.28
6= 65.03
7= 76.16
8= 86.58
9= 98.38
10= 109.27
11= 120.46
12= 132.04
13= 143.55

i did take walk/drink/refueling breaks at 5 miles, 10 miles and a short one at 12 miles. so, i ran just about all the way. i think J was right, not getting all of my mileage in has hurt me a little, even though, this run was about the same pace as my 13 mile runs last year, i just don't feel as strong and don't have quite the endurance.

too tired for any thoughts tonight.

3 Runs this Week Already?!?

yes, that is right. i have ran 3 times this week already. if i can get my run in this weekend i will have completed a full week! first time that will have happened in a while. today's (or mostly tonight's) run was weird. J tried to hurt me by telling me i needed to run at a 7:57 pace (what he ran yesterday). i knew that was out of the question. for one, that was not what was on my schedule and 2, that is not in my abilities right now (if i could even get close i might have tried). so, i decided to do my scheduled run, 5 miles, at the scheduled pace, 9:55. i started out a little fast and a little tight. i gradually slowed myself down. however, after it got dark i couldn't read my watch and somehow i sped up, but it didn't really feel like i sped up, i thought i was still getting slower. so my pace was actually 9:34. my last 3 half miles were 4:34, 4:38, 4:34. i didn't mean to run that fast since i was planning on a longer run tomorrow, but it happened.

my heart rate stayed pretty low, even though this was one of my fastest paces in a while. i don't think i will be able to run tomorrow like i wanted, it is Emily's birthday and when i told her i was planning on a long run tomorrow she said it would take me too long and then i would be laid out the rest of the day. so i may postpone it until sunday, which scares me a little.

thought of the day: "In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest," Henry Miller. i was thinking about running an alternate route this weekend for my long run, since the hills right around the half-way point seem to have really tired and slowed me down the last 2 long runs. then, during my run tonight, i was going up a hill when i thought "this hill always gives my problems. i actually told J that about this particular hill on monday. i thought to myself tonight, i should say this hill always makes me stronger, every time i run it. with that mindset, i would always want to run it and enjoy it, because i am getting a great benefit from the hill. so getting stronger on this hill now, will only help me when i have to run other hills. i wish i could go run it right now, how often do we get to do things that makes us stronger and better?

2 Days This Week Already

this is the second day this week i have ran! 2 more i will feel a little better about things. this was a scheduled easy run and was supposed to be at a 9.54 pace. i finished 6 miles in 59.54, just over my goal pace at 9.59min/mile. this run was pretty uneventful, other than the first tenth of a mile i thought my quads were going to explode going down the first hill, i thought that was a bad sign. i gradually loosened up and around 3 miles, i felt really good.

it is nearly midnight and i have to get to bed, that is all for now.

Not as Bad as I Thought

I ran 12 miles with J yesterday. There were many things not in my favor: 1. i haven't been getting many mid week runs in 2. I forgot my gatorade, not that is was hot, but i feel like the sugar gives me a boost, and without the drink i couldn't wash down my sports beans 3. it was cold (that is supposed to make it easier, maybe the cold winds hurt more than anything) 4. i started at a comfortable pace but it was way too fast. i did learn some valuable lessons today, more on that later.

so J and i met up and he let me lead for the first part. I was really comfortable with my pace at the beginning, but knew it was too fast to last, but i was hoping i would just slow down at the end, not give out. i was feeling pretty good at 6 miles, the halfway point. up until that point i was right at 50 seconds faster than last weeks 12 mile run. at 6 miles i had slowed to 30 seconds faster. at 9 miles i was 25 seconds slower than last week. at mile 10.5 i fizzled out and had to begin walking a good bit. i finished at 2:09.45. i didn't feel very good about this run because i had to walk some and actually finished 8 seconds slower than last week. i really ran out of energy. i was hoping, since this was my second run of 12 miles, i would finish stronger. other than one 1/2 mile split i would have beat last weeks time. however, i just looked over my times for last year (didn't run any 12 mile runs) and at the 10 mile mark this week i was anywhere from 2-15 minutes faster than my 10 milers last year. however, i never had a hard time finishing the longer runs last year, but hey, i still have 3 more months to go. and to cut 15 minutes off of 10 miles is pretty good. i will say having J behind me did push me a little.

i am 40 miles behind last year's mileage right now. if i could complete two good weeks i would be right at the same mileage. if i do a 6, 5 and 12 miler (what i have planned for this week) i will be 22 miles behind last year. so, i am not too worried just yet, just have to start making it a point to get the runs in, as it is getting dark much earlier and i won't have as much light to run in. so, here comes running in the dark again. i did it last year, guess i can do it again, it is just another obstacle i will have to get over. i have thought about running 3 easy miles on my off days, just to get some easy mileage in. easy to say, when i can't even get my regular mileage in :)

thoughts of the day: lessons learned (and one relearned) from a 12 mile run: 1)go back and get my drink no matter how cool it is outside and no matter how tough i think i am. 2) at least suck on some sports beans or blocks if i don't have a drink. even though i had eaten lots of good carbs the few days before the run, i still needed some in run energy. 2)start slower. i learned this last year. however, i think i took this to the extreme last year and never got much faster, i did finish all but my 20 mile run. while they weren't all easy to finish, i never had to walk much, even on the 18 miler. it is hard for me to tell where the meeting point is, but from this run i think that 1-2 mid week runs should be about gaining speed and longer runs for endurance (duh, just like my new training plans says). but i fight with the question, if i am doing speedwork during the week, how much can i speed up and still finish comfortably on the long run? i guess i have 3 months to figure that out. i think the clarksville 1/2 marathon will help me answer that a little better. J said he planned on tapering for the clarksville 1/2. i just looked at my plan and the saturday before the 1/2 is a 20 mile run that goes into a week with four 6 mile runs, a rest week. so maybe that won't be so bad. in my training plan, for the next 3 months, i have three 16 mile runs, one 18 mile run, and three 20 mile runs on the weekends, along with some shorter runs during rest weeks and tapering. i am not sure what i am doing this week, i am behind schedule, i guess we will see how the week goes.

p.s. i didn't hear either "Rocky" song during the run the other day. a little "Eye of the Tiger" might have given me the push i needed. and once again, J got so far ahead of me i quit trying. :)

Short, But Did Run

i had 5 miles on my schedule. it was supposed to be 1 easy mile, 3 tempo miles (at 8.24/mile) and another easy mile. i was at work late and really wanted to run so i was debating on swapping today's and tomorrow's runs. tomorrows is supposed to be 4 easy pace mile (about 10 min miles). however, i have a meeting tomorrow night and wasn't sure if i would get a run in and didn't want to be doing speedwork on friday, the day before my long run of the week, if everything goes as planned. so i decided i would cut the 2 easy miles off both ends of this run and just do the tempo part of the run. i started out ok but my legs were tired and i couldn't keep it up. here are the times:

.5= 4.06 158
1.0= 4.24 8.31 173
1.5= 4.42 13.13 174
2.0= 4.34 17.48 173
2.5= 4.31 22.19 173
3.0= 4.42 27.01 174

my pace was just a hair over 9min/mile, that is actually one of my fastest 3 miles in a long time, if not ever. i need to get it down to 18 min and i will be happy.

12

ran 12 miles yesterday, first 6 miles i felt great. last 3 miles were rough. need to eat better and be better fueled i think. very tough week at work last week. still trying to get on schedule and the next 2 months look even busier. i think if i can train this year, i can do it any year. late, tired, getting ready for bed.

Interesting Run

today was an interesting/eventful run. first of all, at about .1 miles i remembered i left my keys on the back bumper of my truck, that was parked at the co-op. so i had to run back, get them and put them in a safer place. that 1/2 mile was right at 1 minute slower than the next three half mile splits. then, around 4.5 miles i saw Jeff running up the hill towards me. we stopped and talked a little, it was a very nice surprise. i knew one day we would have to see each other while we were both running. then, at mile 8 my gps battery went dead. after that i just ran 21.36 minutes to come out pretty close to 10 miles, one way or the other. it was a pretty good run. I cut about 11 minutes off my last 10 mile time, so that is over 1 min per mile faster. i was feeling really strong until the last 1/2 mile. same thing happened last time.

once again i did not get this run in over the weekend, so i had to do it on monday. hopefully i can get on the schedule, it looks like i might just have to switch my long runs to monday, not doing it just yet though.

thought of the day: i was going to quote "Eye of the Tiger" by survivor tonight. i heard this song twice while i was running today, and both times it really gave me a boost. i think if i could hear to start and then about every other mile i could really improve my times. however, i am too tired to remember the exact lyrics i wanted to post and i am too tired to go get the phone to play them. next time you hear the song, think of my and that song exeplifying the attitude i have when i run (i picture elk, turkey, Todd, and Jeff) and i am hunting them :)

Easy Run?

on the smart coach schedule today i had a 5 mile easy run. the only thing was that this easy run was supposed to have a pace of 9:57min/mile. i thought that might be pushing it, especially calling it easy. however, i did it. here are the splits:

1= 9.38
2= 10.10
3= 10.16
4= 9.41
5= 9.51

the second and third miles were pretty tough. the last 2 weren't easy, but the did seem much easier than the 2nd and 3rd.

thought of the day: getting back on track, hopefully i can stay there for a while.

New Schedule?

i had been following my own schedule for a while. i think it was a good schedule, i think it would have been great if it had a little more detail. i had tempo and interval runs scheduled, but at no particular pace. however, i downloaded the running world smart coach app. which is oriented and has training to help me meet a certain pace for a certain distance. so, it tells me the exact pace i need to hit on tempo and interval runs. even though i knew i needed to do these, i wasn't. funny how when i had a goal pace to hit today, i ran much faster and better than i had been. today was a tempo run with a 1 mile warm-up, 3 miles at 8.24 pace and then 1 cool down mile. i do think that my gps went a little crazy on the first half mile. it said i did it in 3.27. i think it was more like 4.45, the same as the following half mile. so i think my overall time was about 1.25 minutes slower than actually reported. we will, however go with the recorded time on the watch, just to make me feel better and give me a goal to reach for.

my overall time (by my watch) was 48.30. the second mile (the first tempo mile) was 8.19, the second was 9.26, and the third was 10.13. for the cool down, i felt like i was running really slow, but had to give it all i had to keep moving. the last mile was over 12 minutes.

pretty good run, i felt like.

thought of the day: keep running, you'll eventually get somewhere.

oops

in my last blog i forgot to blog about today's run. i ran 3 miles of hills in 33.29. a little slower than the last time i ran the same hills. it seemed like i ran a little further going away from the house and then i had to run a little past the driveway as well. usually i finish just at the driveway. not sure if that added to my time or not, but it was pretty close. my chest felt really tight during the first half of the run, then felt a little better. once again, coming up the last really big hill, i had to really fight to keep moving my legs, but when i got to the top of the hill, it felt great. nothing else too significant about this run. planning on 10 tomorrow.

long time no blog

the last part of this week has been a little busy. i got my workouts crammed in on thursday and did friday's workout today, saturday. hopefully i will get todays run in tomorrow and get back on schedule on monday. i took thursday, friday and saturday off to go to a convention in nashville. however, someone else needed today off so i worked. thursday morning i ran 5 miles. my calves were really tight but loosened up. overall i felt pretty good. it was cooler, first run in a while i didn't have to walk for a little, didn't even get a drink during the run. my time wasn't that good, 52.17, the second half of the run was actually 1 minute and 21 seconds faster than the first half.

thursday afternoon i biked about 10 miles in 53.35. i can tell i am getting much stronger on the bike. i may not be getting a whole lot faster, but i can get up the hills without having to gear all the way down. i wish i felt like i was making that much progress in my running.

thought of the day: once again jeff is kicking my butt. i guess when i wrote about picturing todd and jeff running ahead of me to give me motivation, gave jeff some motivation too. i think he thought i wasn't visualizing him far enough ahead of me.

Not what I Expected

i headed out to run 12 miles yesterday (i was running my long run on monday, since once again, i was not able to get the long run done during the weekend). i thought this would be a tough run, but thought i would be able to get it done since i was able to get the 10 miles in last week, and it was much hotter then. it didn't happen. i finished 9, i think i really could have done more, but i just wasn't feeling good. i didn't really feel good all day, i felt dehydrated and just a little off all day. i was coming up to a spot at the 9 mile marker where emily could pick me up, so i just called her. i am going to go back a little on my mileage, just because i have been walking a little to get my mileage in and last year i never had to walk. i think i will still be in good shape for my marathon schedule.

i am not going to post splits, but will post a few splits so you can see how the run went

1 mile: 10.08
4.5 miles: 48.38
9 miles: 113.26

that was it. felt horrible when i got home. once again i was burning up and just wanted to sleep. time to step back and slow down so i can be better productive (yes, not more but better productive).

Another Hot 5

it was another hot day. when i got in the truck leaving work, my thermometer said 104, the hottest i have seen it this year that late in the day. by the time i got home it had come down to 96, i think by the time i started the run it was around 94, at the end of the run it was 92. i felt really good right up until 2.5 miles, then i had to walk and drink a little. i walked a little again at 3.5 miles. the funny thing is, i finished the first half and the last half in the same time to the second, even with walking twice after the half-way point. i did have to fight a dog off to start with and then finishing, probably added a few seconds to the run, pretty annoying.

i am again to tired to put my splits in, nothing special. hope to get in bed early tonight, i was up late last night revising my running schedule and being on call.

Rough 10

i wanted to run 12 miles yesterday, however, by the time i ran some errands and got home and dressed and drove to the starting spot, i was a little behind schedule. i did start off a little faster than i expected and felt really good. however, by the end i wasn't running so fresh. about 6 miles into the run i turned a curve and started running right into the direct sunlight. after that, i wasn't the same. i ran up the 7 mile ferry hill a little better than i expected, especially since it was around mile 7-7.5. i haven't blogged about this run yet since the internet here at the house is hit or miss. too late tonight to post splits, etc. just wanted to get this run on here, since jeff has already posted his 10 miler :). he did beat me by 4 minutes. i think he was running around the same time i was, i was running in his territory but i never saw him. the last mile of this run was all i could do to keep running. i did have some gatorade with me and drank most of it. when i got home i did not feel good, i was hot all night long.

got to hit it again tomorrow to stay on track.

Another Hill Run

i decided to do the hills on my schedule as runs for now. this 3 miles was the same 3 miles i ran last week. however, this time it seemed much easier. i did not have to walk or even get a drink. it was just a little cooler than the last hill run and a little less humid, that probably helped. this run was 1 minute faster than last week.

here are the wonderful splits:

.5= 5.38 155
1.0= 5.21 10.59 165
1.5= 5.35 16.35 169
2.0= 5.42 22.18 167
2.5= 5.53 28.11 169
3.0= 4.49 33.00 167

i felt a little better going up the hills, part of the way anyway. once i got near to the top of the big hills my legs still got really weak.

thought of the day:"Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more" Louis L'Amour. definitely the way i felt on the hills this afternoon.

Another Hot One

it was another hot one this evening. i walked outside and the face of my watch fogged up with condensation. i ran out here by the house and once again it seemed all uphill, 5 miles of it. the hills really get my heart rate up and my calves cramping. i did have to stop and walk and drink twice, once at 2.0 miles and then again at 3.0 miles, but i did finish more than a minute/mile faster than my last 5 miler. i talked to a close friend the other day whose wife runs. he told me that after they had their second child, she has slowed down. she has been running 9-10 miles, pushing a side by side stroller and doing 7.10 minute miles. anyway. here are the splits from today:

.5= 5.40 163
1.0= 5.17 10.57 174
1.5= 5.10 16.08 178
2.0= 5.17 21.26 177
2.5= 6.04 27.30 173
3.0= 5.35 33.06 175
3.5= 5.10 38.16 173
4.0= 5.53 44.10 172
4.5= 5.24 49.93 174
5.0= 4.49 54.24 175

the last half, even a very small uphill felt like a huge mountain and was very hard. at one point i was needing some inspiration so i pictured todd and jeff about 100 yards ahead of me, then i wanted to quit. so i readjusted and then pictured them about 10 yards ahead of me, struggling just as hard as i was, that helped.

thought of the day: push hard, but not too hard in the heat. take a few extra breaks to drink and lower your heart rate.

Got in a Run, I Guess that is a Plus

I wanted to do 12 miles today. after church we went out to eat with some friends, then i had to get the work truck back to the clinic. i got home with about and hour and a half before i had to be at the catfish house to eat for my great uncle's birthday. i knew i would be pushing it to have time to run 12, so i thought maybe 10. by the time i got to the house and dressed and out the door, i knew i would barely have time to do 8 miles before it was dark, and on these roads i decided i better not run in the dark. i also knew i was pushing the limit of running too close to eating. i like to give myself 2 hours minimum if i eat a heavy meal. however, with this run it was barely 1.5 hours. with the heat, i was expecting that to be a problem. i had bad indigestion throughout the entire run. i decided to run the route i usually bike since it was closer to the house and i would be able to do more miles by getting to the run sooner. however, i also knew this route was a lot hillier than the other route and it would be tougher. the first 3/4 of a mile was uphill and for a good bit of it i has to fight a dog off. starting out uphill in this heat takes a lot out of me. i finally got to a level spot and started feeling much better. i also knew i had to take plenty of water breaks since i was starting earlier than usual and it was still pretty hot. i took breaks at 2 miles, 3 miles, 3.5 miles, 4 miles. when i turned around at 4 miles i could see a big dark cloud that i was running into. i decided to run another .5 mile and call emily, then turn around and run in the direction she would be coming from. with all of the breaks, it took me over 1 hour to run the 5 miles. here are the splits:

.5= 6.19 157
1.0= 5.53 12.13 166
1.5= 5.42 17.56 167
2.0= 5.42 23.38 167
2.5= 6.14 29.53 164
3.0= 5.28 35.22 168
3.5= 5.53 41.15 163
4.0= 6.39 47.55 155
4.5= 6.11 54.06 167
5.0= 6.22 60.28 160

i'm feeling pretty tired now, thought of the day is heat and humidity suck. i got a run in but, not as much or as fast as i wanted, today i guess i have to settle.

Hills for Real

of course i got home late last night, i was planning on doing a 6 miler or some hill and then running this morning (i took off work to get some stuff done) and then bike tonight. however, i put off the workout last night and got to sleep late and didn't get up in time to run. i did run tonight. i got home a little later tonight than i wanted and decided to do a 3 mile, strenuous, hill run instead of a 6 miler. i started out going up a small hill, leveled out for a very short time, up another small hill, down a small hill, down a medium hill, up a medium hill, down a really big hill, then up a really big hill. then i turned around and came back. on my way up the really big hill on the way back my feet were barely moving. i had to be going so slow, but i was giving it all i could. it reminded me of lifting weights on the last set doing the last couple of reps when you have no more strength, only will to lift the weight, but i never stopped running, until i got to the top and walked about 30 seconds to get a drink. so, i walked to drink after the first really big hill at 1.5 miles and then after the second really big hill at 2.0 miles and that was it. about a minute or two total.

here are the splits and hr:

.5= 5.23 155
1.0= 5.21 10.44 164
1.5= 5.35 16.20 168
2.0= 6.25 22.45 163
2.5= 6.04 28.49 166
3.0= 5.10 34.00 168

i am on call tomorrow so i am gonna try to bike a little and run a little on sunday.

thought of the day:"Had there been no difficulties and no thorns in the way, then man would have been in his primitive state and no progress made in civilization and mental culture," Anandibai Joshee. good thought. goes with the saying, "necessity is the mother of invention." these thoughts also have lead to laziness, in my mind. through hard work and lots of inventions, we humans have made it too easy on ourselves. i guess that is good, if we hadn't made it easier i wouldn't have time to run and have hobbies. but then i would probably be in better shape if i had to walk everywhere and there was no tv or air conditioning.

Bike Ride

i got home a little later than i had hoped and when i pulled into the driveway i got a call from one of the "outside" companies i work for. he told me the regional manager-the person over me and my main contact was no longer with the company and we were getting a new regional manager. i hadn't done much with this company since this contact had not been in good contact for a long time. i actually got connected with another company so i could be more active in the hunting community. lately i have been trying to fill my yearly requirements for the new company. the man who is my short term contact for the old company told me things were about to change and it would require more effort, basically. that is the best news i have heard in a long time. that is the reason i joined both companies, to be active.

anyway, i got my bike in today. once again my gps didn't calculate the distance so i am not sure how far i went, but i biked for just over 47 minutes today and made it nearly as far as i did in an hour 2 weeks ago. i really like riding my bike, it is cooler than running and i can really feel my quads working. i get a great leg workout without stressing my entire body. i have a run scheduled for tomorrow, hope it cools down a little or rains or something.

first run in a week, that makes me optimistic. now, maybe i am on track for good. it was another hot one, but i felt much better than last monday, for some reason. around 1/2 a mile i could tell i was running much faster than usual. i knew i should slow down but i felt so good, breathing was o.k., legs felt good, i figured it would end, but i just pictured Todd and Jeff up ahead and kept trudging. after mile 1.5 i decided to walk every half mile to drink since it was so hot and i was sweating so much. i walked a total of 7 minutes, but was still able to finish 6.48 faster than last week, nearly cutting 1.30 off each mile. here are the splits, with walking time in parenthesis:

.5= 4.46 153
1.0= 4.20 9.06 172 (fastest half mile in a long time)
1.5= 4.31 13.38 177
2.0= 4.56 18.34 177 (30 seconds)
2.5= 5.07 23.41 177 (30 seconds)
3.0= 5.24 29.06 175 (30 seconds)
3.5= 5.32 34.38 177 (45 seconds)
4.0= 5.53 40.31 174 (1 minute 15 seconds)
4.5= 6.25 46.57 173 (1 minutes 15 seconds)
5.0= 6.14 53.12 170 (2 minutes 15 seconds)

overall i was pretty happy with the run. I will be happier if i get more runs and work-outs in this week.

thought of the day:"It's never too late to be who you might have been" George Eliot. i keep thinking i might have been a runner if i had never stopped running when i got to college, but it keeps getting later.

Another Bust

this week was another bust. i have been eating better, but running (actually time to run) has been very small. i ran monday (posted) and now i am thinking about changing my schedule around since i am on call tuesday (which is supposed to be upper body and bike ride) since i never seemed to get to do it and i hate to get away from the house very far when i am on call. wednesday morning i started working a herd of cattle at about 5am (after getting to bed around 11:30pm tuesday night. i worked until 7:30pm (not working cattle all day but being at work. so i got home pretty late wed night. wed is supposed to be hill work, didn't get it done. tried to get a few things done around the new house and didn't get to bed until midnight. thursday worked until 7:30pm again and was feeling worn out. thursday was supposed to be another run. worked on emily's computer until 1:30am this morning and worked until 7pm tonight. i was thinking i could get a run in tomorrow since i was supposed to be off. however, one of the vets needed off to go to chatanooga, so now i work tomorrow morning and need to go do a few things on the farm i am buying. hopefully i will be able to get a run in tomorrow evening. i have to get back on track. i feel so depressed that i can't make myself do these runs, it has not been this hard in the past. i am now setting my running as a higher priority. too upset with myself to give a thought of the day.

Ouch

i said today was going to be the day i started back in full force. i got up this morning and had to take my truck to the shop. their loaner truck was wrecked so they sent me to enterprise to get a rental (they were paying for). at enterprise they were very backed up and told me it would be about an hour wait. by the looks of things i figured it would be more like 2. i called the dealership to see if i could get a ride to the clinic so i could just pick up my work truck. they said they had another truck i could drive. while at enterprise waiting for them i started feeling queasy. i got the other truck and came home and was still feeling a little sick. (i only had a granola bar for breakfast with a diet coke). i tried taking a nap, i think the phone rang at least 6 times in the next hour, i did not feel like answering it. finally, the phone stopped ringing and i was able to nap for about 1 hour. then em got home and we had to go meet a contractor about building our new building, he was in tn ridge. then em wanted to stop by paul's pizza, her favorite. by the time we got back home it was 7:45pm. i got dressed and headed out to drive to the running location, knowing i HAD to run today and knowing a big part of it was going to be in the dark. the first 3/4 of a mile i couldn't breath well due to the humidity, it was 86 degrees too. the next 3/4 of a mile i felt really good. then everything started going downhill, but not literally. i could feel my heart beating in my throat and i looked at my watch and it said my heart rate was 182, one of the highest i have ever had. from that point i started walking a lot and trying to run at times. no matter how low i let my heart rate get, it was only a matter of a minute or two before it got back up in my throat. for the last half of the 5 miles i walked more than i ran. i figure i ran a little over half the entire 5 miles. my gps cleared the distance when i started but not the last time, so i am not sure exactly how long it took, but it was around an hour.

so today was a good day, i splurged 1 extra piece on the pizza but didn't really eat near as much as i normally do in a day. and i got a run (or run/walk) in. i am back on the wagon and will have to work hard this week to stay there, i know the work schedule is going to be tough this week, but i am trying to get through this first week hoping that the rest will be a little easier. i need a motivator to keep me in check (J).

thought of the day:"Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight" Helen Keller. running is one of my deficiencies, or maybe running fast or in hot, humid conditions. it has definitely taught me patience and given me insight. however, i am getting a life-sized poster of Todd to hang on my wall. since i will not be elk hunting this fall, i need a new picture in my head when i hit those hard walls. since beating Todd is my new goal it only seemed appropriate.

Off The Wagon

yea i am off the wagon. i ran last week, then got my bike in and i was thinking i was back. haven't done anything since then. i signed up for the clarksville half and the st judes full this past weekend. i was on call this weekend and that is what has gotten me behind. i worked all weekend and pretty late every day but sunday and had to work late (because i was on call monday). i got home a little late last night and was really tired. i am really tired tonight as well even though i just had enough time to run when i got home. i am setting this coming monday as the date when all training commences and i am going to hit it hard, no matter what. i may have to find a safe place i can run after dark if i need to. last week i was just getting back to where running on the road wasn't killing my feet as bad, especially the days after the run. if i get any running in this week it will be a bonus. i have a meeting tomorrow after work, maybe i can get a few runs in this week. work is killing me, have to do something about that.

thought of the day: from here on out, the eating, running, biking, and hills are mine, i own and control them (sometimes that is bad because i am so easy on them).

Need More Hours in the Day

i ran the wilma rudolph 5 and 10ks this past saturday. unfortunately i did not beat my brother in either. i think both times were slightly faster than last years times but barely. i felt pretty good in both. for some reason they did not post my 5k time, luckily i timed it myself. their time would not have been accurate anyway, since they started the race about 4 minutes early, while i was still in the bathroom. i got to the starting line about 2 minutes after the race started and had to fight a lot of traffic-both walkers and cars.

i ran yesterday-5 miles. it was a tough 5. i was running on a road my brother told me was level. he didn't even say pretty level, just level. after running on a treadmill all winter, it was not even pretty level. it seemed like all hill, mostly uphill. when i started, my calves were really tight. they loosened up about 1.5 miles in. about mile 3.5 i felt pretty good, then my feet started really hurting. i had to slow and walk for .2 of a mile then i picked it back up again and ran the last mile.

splits:
.5= 4.41
1= 9.23 4.42
1.5= 14.12 4.49
2= 19.15 5.03
2.5= 24.19 5.03
3= 29.44 5.24
3.5= 34.58 5.14
4= 41.13 6.14
4.5= 47.56 6.43
5= 54.04 6.07

this is a little rushed, trying to get it done over lunch, along with many other things, so i really don't have time to give a quote today.

Keep on Moving

i am almost finished moving. that is good and bad. that means i don't have to move more stuff, but now i have to find another route to run and find all my stuff that was moved. luckily i kept up with most of my running stuff. i was trying to run with J yesterday but i knew he was going to head out earlier than i could or wanted to. so at 7 i headed to the storage unit to put some things in there and then to the southside clinic to park. i start my run about 7:15pm, it was still sunny, 83 degrees and very muggy. all of my gatorade is at my brother in law's house so i filled up with water instead. i headed out onto the new course, which was a little hilly but not bad. i was sweating bullets so at mile 3 i took a walk break and drank what i could stomach of some warm water. towards the end i could tell the hills were really slowing me down. i ran 5 miles in 51:46 i think (my watch is at the new house). it was a little slower than i wanted but it will do.

i will try to keep all my info posted timely, but with only dial-up internet at the new house i am not sure how that is going to work. i may have to start bringing everything to work with me and posting over lunch time. i usually have it all with me anyway, but after the run last night i had to help Zeke do some work at the clinic, drop something off to J, go get another load from the old house then drive back to the new house. it was about 11:30pm when i got home so i didn't feel like loading all of my running stuff since i knew tonight i would be on call and have to take my 4-wheeler to dover for some repairs after work. not sure if i will be able to get my bike ride in tonight or not. i have 2 races this weekend against J, don't think this will be the race i finally beat him.

thought of the day: i will be happy when i finally get moved and back in a routine, by then it will be time to move again.

Can't get on Schedule

i hope when i finally get moved i can get back on schedule, but i just can't make it happen lately. monday i was way behind on sleep from a sunday night frog gigging adventure. i only got about 3 hours of sleep before emily woke me up to help pack, load stuff and take it to her parent's house. we finally got home and i took about a 2 hour nap and if i had gotten up and gotten dressed i could have ran outside on the road before dark. however, i decided i needed to catch up on email and other stuff and would just go to the gym. i spent too much time doing other things and just didn't feel like going, even though i really felt mentally motivated i felt physically blah. i really wanted to run on the road tuesday but i was on call and knew i had better hit the treadmill so i could stop and get to the clinic if i needed to see an emergency. i did 6 miles in 55.35, about a 9.16 pace. that doesn't sounds too bad for as little as i have been running, but being on the treadmill makes a big difference for me. today, in between thunderstorms and phone calls, i spent loading the truck, etc. i thought i would be able to get a load moved and get back in time to run this evening, didn't happen. i am going to try my best to get a road run in tomorrow, i plan on running a 5 and 10k next weekend, and i really need to know if i can complete that many miles on the road. last year i finished both races right at the 10min/mile mark. hopefully i can do at least that good this year. i did get to see a large part of "The Green Hornet" while running on the treadmill. one funny thing happened during the movie. i was running and watching the screen which showed people in a car chase. the people being chased were looking at the cars behind them. then they turned around to see a semi coming at them on their side of the road. when i saw this i flinched, like it was going to hit me. i can't get away from cars even at the gym!

thought of the day: i saw this quote on a facebook post the other day, it really put me in the mood to go for a run, however, i didn't get it done. the quote is "either you ran today or you didn't." it's really that simple. lots of things can get in the way of a run, or make you put it off, but it all boils down to that simple little sentence. usually we really choose to run or not run, but if you get dressed and get out the door, something every runner has done numerous times, you run that day. if you don't do those things, you don't run that day. from now on i am going to try to do those few simple things to get my simple little runs in. if i don't get them done (90% of the time) i am just being lazy and anyone is welcome to call me out on this.

Uneventful

another long, hard day at work. another late run, on a treadmill. i did 5 miles in 46.17. i pushed it a little more tonight than i had been on pace and incline on the treadmill. i did not last long on the incline, but i had not been doing any incline at all. some say no incline on a treadmill is like running downhill. the bottoms of my feet hurt really bad tues and wed, so i was not too unhappy to run this on the treadmill. i do need to run more on the road, but i didn't get to leave work until 7:30pm. i felt better than i thought i would at the faster paces, just hope that helps when i get back to the road. guess it can't hurt.

it's late, i'm going to bed.

Back Home

finally i got back on my old route. it had been a very long time since i have ran the route since last fall i was running after dark and switched to another route and then to the athletic club. i think it has been nearly 8 mos since i ran this route. anyway, it was not as easy as the last time i ran it. i ran 5 miles, and really the first time i have ran on a roan for more than 2 miles since 1/1/11 (i think). and of course the sun was out and burning. i waited as long as i could to run, i started at 7pm and luckily this route has a good bit of shade. i could definitely tell when i ran out of the shade. i took some gatorade with me and definitely needed it. i finished the run in 54.04. not great, but i'll take it. i only have about 3 more weeks at this house and then i have to find another route. i will be moving closer to J, so hopefully i will get to run with him some and he will give me a little motivation.

too tired and too late to think of a thought tonight.

Who Knows

i decided to run outside today. by the time i got ready it was noon. i didn't realize it was 94 degrees outside, with a heat index of 105. not good for my first outside run in a long time. a few minutes into the run i realized my gps was not working for some reason. i decided to run for 30 minutes, however, i was not sure what time i started running. i guessed and ran as long as i could. we drove the route later and i think i actually ran about 2 miles, i wasn't exactly sure of where i stopped. i really thought i ran for 26 minutes, but it could have been less than that. i remember looking at my watch at 11:55 waiting for the gps to start working and waiting for a little before it actually found my location. i hope it did not take 26 minutes to run 2 miles. i will say 23 minutes, to help my ego a little.

thought of the day: be prepared and know the weather before just heading out on a run!

Trying to make it at the beach

didn't run yesterdaygot to the hotel and called to front desk about 8pm to see when the fitness room closed and they said it was already closed. went to the beach this morning and sat in the sun for a while, ate lunch, did some work on the computer, went to pool and sat in the burning sun a little while, got in the pool a little while, then went to fitness center. ran 5 miles on the dreadmill. it wouldn't tell me the time but i guess around 48 or 49 minutes. it felt pretty tough, probably because i was out in the sun all day. don't know how i can get sunburned in 2-3 small spots when i try to be so thorough about applying sunscreen. not burned too bad today though.

thought of the day: going to the beach is not good for my diet, i love seafood. i am trying to eat good while here, but i love it, it is my favorite part of coming to the beach!

Forgot to blog last night so sorry if this is short and has any errors (more than normal) I am typing this on my phone on the way to mobile, al. Ran 3 miles last night in 28:47. Wish I could get faster, guess it will take a little time after starting back. Legs a little sore today. Going to learn some new vet stuff, race next week.

Finally Back

I had been planning on starting back this past monday. however, i had to finish putting in some laminate floors in my uncle's house that i had started on saturday. after 10 hours of being up and down and being on my knees and bending over all day, i did not feel like running. i planned on getting up early tuesday morning and running, it didn't happen. tuesday night i was on call and didn't run. tuesday night i was getting all of my running stuff ready to run wednesday morning and i got a call about 10pm. i didn't get to bed until 12:30am wednesday morning, so i didn't run and then i was at work until around 8:30pm. couldn't make myself get out of bed this morning but was actually looking forward to make myself run tonight. i had to get back, i am heavier now than i have ever been. i got off work pretty early and did 2 things i haven't done in a long time. i ran and i got through running while it was still light outside. however, i did go run at the gym on the treadmill, i thought it might rain so i decided to run there.

i ran 5 miles in 49:30. better than i thought it would be, but it was on a treadmill. i felt pretty good during the run. i was increasing my speed every half mile until i got to 9 min miles then i backed for a mile then sped up one or two more times and finished at a slower pace.

I actually have a race next weekend. i am going to alabama/florida for some continuing education and they are having a 5k at the convention so i signed up for it. i think i am going to concentrate on getting faster at shorter races for a while and then try to build my distance up after that. i have to get back on my strenuous workout again to get back into shape and lose some weight. i have to beat jeff at our next race!

thought of the day: sometimes the right things in life are tough, sometimes they are easy. knowing they are the right thing makes it easier, but still not always easy. know the right thing and just do it.

Whew, Finally

after over a month i finally got a run in tonight. i still had to work late, so late that i missed a meeting. i was on the way home and the meeting was over so i thought i would stop by the gym. luckily i keep my clothes in the truck no matter what. i have had to work every day this week, and either late or on call so i have not even been able to run in the nice weather the last couple of days. i ran 6 miles. it wasn't that hard, but i had originally planned on 8. i decided to cut it to 6 since it has been late every night when i have gotten home. i finished in 61:42, a pace of 10:17 min/mile, not too bad. i would really like to get back to running outside sometime soon. i noticed J has not been running very much lately, maybe i should go run the marathon with him as a rogue.

thought of the day: "I have learned, as a rule of thumb, never to ask whether you can do something. Say, instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow" Julia Cameron.

And I Thought I Was Busy Before

for all of those frequent readers (J) here are my excuses for not running in i think 3 weeks today. shortly after that run i had a horrible week at work, long hours, etc so i didn't run that week. that was expected, since mid feb is usually the beginning of our busiest time of year, which goes through mid may. however, we have hired a new vet recently and i thought that would give me a little hope. at the end of that week Emily said she was ready to move out of the city. wanting to get something done before she changed her mind, i have tirelessly been looking for a place to move. i do mean tirelessly, some night until 1 or 2 in the morning. and it had gone from looking to a big piece of land with a house to looking for a small piece of land to build on and buy a place to hunt as well to looking for a medium sized place to build and hunt to, finally, looking for a big piece of land to build something small on for now. not to mention lying in bed trying to figure out how everything was going to work from paying off bills, selling our house, and where we are going to live until we get our house built. all this time trying to get our house ready to be listed, which means packing everything up that i won't need for the next few months. for those who have been to my house, i have lots of stuff. for those who don't have full time jobs or run, or those who have nothing better to do, i will me moving soon (everything will have to be moved twice, once now and also when our new home is done) and i have a lot of 2 to 4 people objects to move. today we actually put a bid on a farm, it is a little futher than i really wanted (and needless to say much further than emily wanted), but it is about the size place we were looking for and i hope we can get it at a good price. I know, however, that J will never visit this place if we get it, since he has never been to the house i live in now :).

i did talk to a client the other day who i could tell was a runner and he has ran several marathons, i think we talked about an hour after we were through with his dog. when he left i was pumped. then i was on call that night and tired from the week (it was friday) and i just wanted to go home and rest. i have not slept well in the last 2-3 weeks because i have been so excited about getting some land and just thinking about all the possibilities. i have been on call all weekend. i was off today and finally feel like i am getting caught up on sleep. today i have been packing up everything i could until it was too late to run.

so there are my excuses, no doubt i will be back on the wagon soon, look out!

Short

5 miles, 46:14.

had to work today, my normal day off. i did get to go by the gym and run 5 miles on the treadmill tonight. i was a little slow, i tried to run the first mile at 10:30min/mile, then miles 2-4 at a 9 min/mile pace and the last mile at what ever recovery pace i needed. i was using a different style of treadmill than i normally use and i think it made a difference. last week i ran my monday run of 6 miles at a slow start, then 9:15min/mile for miles 2-5 and the last mile slow. i figured i was going to be running one less mile so i could speed it up a little. however, i was only able to run miles 2 and 3 at a 9:06 pace and had to slow mile 4 down to 9:30 and mile 5 to even slower. my total time was 49:24, a much slower pace than the last 4 runs. i really think this treadmill was a little harder to run on for some reason.


once again, no thought of the day, i'm tired.

A Great 6

i did a 6 mile tempo run last night. i ran the first mile at a 10min/mile pace. then i did pushed it to 7:30 min mile for 1/2 a mile, 8, 8:30, 9, and 9:30 paces for a tenth of a mile each. then another mile at 10 min mile pace. after that i pushed to 7 min mile and worked back for each tenth of a mile. i finished the 6 miles in 56:20, a 9:23 pace. this was my fastest pace for 6 miles i the last year, maybe ever. i got most of my workouts done this week, except for my yoga, core and lower body workout.

computer is acting crazy tonight, that is all for now.

Where Did J Go

not sure if j is sick or dead, haven't seen anything on his blog in over a week. i am worried he is getting off track of his marathon schedule.

i ran for the first time in over a week today, myself. last week was so busy and i was so tired. i had stuff every night. at least this week i am starting off on the right track.

i did 6 miles in 57:58 tonight. i wore my heart rate monitor for the first time on the treadmill. i think my max heart rate was 183. not sure about resting or average.

it is too late for a thought of the day, all of my good thoughts have escaped me and i have to get in the bed, after i take a shower, straighten up a bunch of stuff, get my work and running clothes ready for tomorrow, etc, you get the picture. happy valentine's to everyone.

Longest Treadmill Run and Longest Run in 2 Months

i was pretty sure i could get this run in, if i got off my tail this afternoon. i finally made it to the gym around 5:30pm. i knew it was going to be a long run on a treadmill, but the movie would help. still haven't had the strong desire to run in this cold weather in a while. when i started running the last 30-45 minutes of "The Last Samuri" was on. I had seen most of this part a couple of times, i had never seen the beginning, so i was glad i would be running for a while. i had a hard time drinking out of a bottle on the treadmill, i also could not get a package of chomps open. overall the run was pretty good, i got a hot spot on the inside of my right foot and the ball of my left foot hurt a little. i ran mile 1 in about 10:45, miles 2-10 were 10:30 each, and mile 11 and 12 were 9:15 each. i think all of those are right, if not, they are pretty close. i wore my heart rate monitor today for the first time on the treadmill, it didn't work, i think the battery is dead.

thought of the day: don't really have much to say today, keep on keepin' on.

Another Good Treadmill Run

i ran again on the treadmill tonight and did a little upper body weight lifting. i ran the first mile in 9:40, the second through third in 9:14 minutes per mile and the last mile in 10 minutes. this is the first exercise i have done all week. monday i felt bad all day, even after getting nearly 12 hours of sleep the night before. tuesday i felt a little better. i got to the gym and did not have a shirt and was really hungry. i headed to the drive through and then home. i am a little behind this week, but think i can get my runs and maybe a few other things in.

thought of the day: the cold is getting old. i am not sure how i am going to make the transition from treadmill to road. i like being able to watch a movie while i am running, even though it is dangerous. tonight i only stepped on the front of the machine and nearly fell once, it was during a funny part of the movie and i was anticipating it and then whoa, hands on the treadmill and trying not to fall. it is going to be hard to make the transition, but i think i can do it.