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).