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.