July 26, 2012; 4

i ran 4 miles tonight, once again on the treadmill. work has been wearing me out this week. the last 2 days i thought i was going to fall asleep before i left work. when i get home i don't feel like running, then i sit around until i make myself get on the treadmill. the heat is also making me happy i got the treadmill for emily (even though she hasn't used it). i know i need to be running on the road, but it is hard to get out there. my maarathon is about 9 weeks away, but 2 of those weeks i will be in montana. the 4 tonight felt pretty good. there was a little pain under the heel of my right foot, which felt like it was due to the new shoes, it started around 2.5 miles and went away around mile 3. otherwise, the shoes feel good, but i haven't worn them on the road yet. i now have 225 miles for the year. that is 70 miles more than the same day last year and 20 miles more than the year before. i haven't calculated how many miles i've done on the treadmill this year, but at least my heart is getting in better shape and i know my legs are getting a little stronger too. right now i am about 8-10 pounds lighter than i was at this time last year. i just hope i can start getting more road miles in and can keep losing weight. thought of the day: i hope it doesn't bother any of my many blog readers that i don't capitalize and sometimes i don't proofread, i am usually just blogging late and in a rush, i have been trying to proofread more lately. but i am not very educated because i can't remember if proofread is one word or two. i think it is 2 because it sure looks funny as one. i always thought capital letters were a waste of time for the most part. i mean, if there is a period, that means one sentence has ended. and if one sentence just ended doesn't that mean another one is now starting? i guess i get capitalization for proper nouns because some of those words are the same as some unproper nouns. and blogger did have spellcheck but i can't find it any more.

July 25, 5 miles

pretty uneventful run tonight. i had a dinner meeting after work tonight and got home around 8:30pm so i was on the treadmill again. i set the pace to 6mph and stayed there the entire time. the run felt pretty easy except towards the end i could tell my legs want to slow down a little, but overall a nice enjoyable run, watching an elk hunting dvd. thought of the day: i think i really need to start stretching and doing some core work outside of running. i usually run and then come inside to the cool house and sit down and tighten up. i think i would run better and keep from getting hurt if i stretched more and i think the core work would help my running as well. this weekend i am going to miss my long run to do some backpacking to try out some new gear and try to get some big hills in with a heavy pack to get ready for montana. we should cover about 27 miles over 3 days with a 40-50 pound pack on my back. i am cutting back on mileage for my long runs since my 15 mile run was a slight failure. so next saturday i plan to do 13 (i was gonna do 12 this weekend). that should still give me two 18 mile runs and a 20 mile run before the marathon and then another 20 mile run before the ultra.

July 23, 5

i have a lot to blog about tonight and it is late and i am very tired. first off, 2 weeks ago i had been doing pretty good getting my scheduled runs in but had missed 1 run each of the previous 3 weeks. this was the week i had to settle for a very slow 12 miles instead of my planned 15 miles on saturday. monday i had too much stuff going and didn't get my run in. tuesday at work my right hip started hurting whenever i put weight on my right leg. tuesday night i thought i would not try to make up monday's run since my legs had been so tired the week before. wednesday the hip was worse. thursday it hurt more. so i did not run wednesday or thursday and by thursday i had decided to just skip the week and give my legs and hip a rest. so no running the entire week. oh, and i had a very bad sunburn on my back all week too. today i got up and weighed myself. i have lost about 11 pounds in the last month or so. then i started work around the house and sweated completely through my shirt and pants. i came back to the house and did a little easier work in the shade, got plenty to drink, and cooled off a little. then went back to work. i decided to go cut some trees down that were over the road. doing that i once again sweated completely through my shirt and pants. i got overheated and on the 4-wheeler ride back to the house i could tell i was way too hot. i came in and drank about 12 oz of water and then a coke and then got into a cool shower. before the shower i weighed myself and despite trying to drink constantly and the food i ate during the day, i had lost 5 pounds, and when i figured that i had drank around 5 pounds of fluid for the day and had eaten one meal. finally, when i cooled off i went outside and did a few more small chores,came back inside and jumped on the treadmill at 9:30 for a 5 mile run. i did this run a little slower than usual just to see how my legs were going to respond and because i had nearly overheated earlier. i did this run in 51:14, a 10:15 pace, in my new brooks trance 10s, the shoes and my legs felt pretty good. ok, im finishing up and going to bed.

July 14, a little late

it had been raining all day but no thunder or lightning. i was trynig to look for a break in the rain, but of course when that happened it got hot. i had planned a route for my 15 mile run that i thought wouldn't be too bad. on the map it looked pretty level. as i began running i realized it looked level because it was a very gradual incline from mile 1.5 to mile 6. in that time i gained nearly 1000 feet in elevation running uphill just about the entire time. when i got to mile 6 i decided to turn around and hit mile 12 at my driveway and then run my usual, flat, 3 mile out and back from the driveway to finish on some flat ground. at mile 8 i had to start walking a lot. this run was either in sunshine and humidity or rainfall. at mile 10.5 i decided i would have to pretty much walk to 12 and quit. i finished the first 5 miles in 52:41. the last 7 miles (which was 1 mile uphill, then 3.5 miles downhill and 1.5 miles pretty level) took me 1:39.07. i think it was a combination of heavy, wet shoes and running so constantly uphill. my legs just felt so tired. i also lost a waterbottle off my belt. i went back to look for it but couldn't find it (of course i went back in the truck). final pace was 12:36. tired tonight and still have to blog one more run.

July 12, 2012 5miles

missed my run yesterday, had too much stuff to do when i got home and it was late when i got done. tonight i had a meeting at work that ran a little late, then went to eat with one of my partners, then got home late. i was trying to do a little research on the computer, which was extremely slow, then i finally got to run around 11:15pm. my legs felt tired. since the run was so late, i had to run on the treadmill. i was going to try and do a tempo run, my plan was to run the first and last miles at an easy pace of 10 minute miles then run the next 3 miles at 8 minute miles (remember i was on the treadmill). the first mile i felt a little tired, but figured i just needed to stretch my legs a little. at the end of the first mile i was feeling pretty good so i bumped up the speed. at mile 2 i had to slow down to 9:15 minute miles. a half a mile of that and i had to go back down to 10 minute miles. that is where i finished. being on the treadmill this run seemed a little hard. even after i slowed down i was still breathing pretty hard, which is good because i need to increase my O2 capacity. it is late and i have to work and run 4 miles tomorrow. goodnight.

July 9, 2012; 5 HOT

this run was really hot. when i started the temperature was 96 degrees and the heat index was 101. every bit of shade on this run and every slight breeze was extremely appreciated. every little hill however, felt like i had never ran uphill before. but i got it done at a pace of 10:01. that's really all i have to say today.

July 7, 2012, 9 Hot Ones

i tried putting this run off as long as i could today because it was so hot. when i left the house at 7pm it was 93 degrees with a heat index of 102. by mile 2.5 i could tell it was really hot. an area around mile 1.5 and 2.5 miles that is usually pretty cool on my afternoon runs was extremely warm, it felt like heat was coming up out of the creek. my legs felt really tired and i was already wanting to walk by mile 3. at mile 4 i decided i would walk at each mile to cool a little and get a little gatorade. that kept my pace at about the same per mile for the last 5 miles as for mile 4. it also felt a lot easier. i finished the 9 miles in 1:40.56, a pace of 11:13. that is quite a bit faster than my pace on the 13.1 miles last saturday. on this run i lost 4 pounds during the run. i felt pretty good after this run, not like last week. it was 83 degrees when i finished with a heat index of 92. thought of the day: while running this run i started looking ahead to next week's scheduled run of 15 miles. i started dreading it thinking of having to run in this heat and having to start the run much earlier to try to finish close to dark, knowing i have 6 more miles to run than i ran today. i hope it cools down a little.

July 6, 2012, 4

i got a late start tonight, i began my 4 mile run at 10:40pm. got home late from work, did some work around the house, ate supper, did some research and finally got on the treadmill. my legs have felt tired all week. don't know if they are supposed to (this is a reduced mileage week for me) or if it is the lack of sleep, standing too much and walking too much at work, not really sure. the bad thing is that i have pushed my runs back to where i will be doing my long run the day after running for 2 days straight. i guess the good thing is that i only have to do 9 miles tomorrow. i did 4 miles tonight in 39:08, a 9:47 pace. thought of the day: this really isn't a thought but a story. i had to go check a bull this afternoon that hasn't been able to walk well for about a week. he is very weak in his rear legs. since he isn't able to walk, he isn't able to get to the chute to work on him. i was trying to give him a shot in the butt and he was trying to walk away and we couldn't get him to stop. so i thought if i tried to give him a shot in the neck from the front he might stop. when the needle hit his skin he looked at me and flicked his nose into my chest. i compare it to me brushing off a fly on my arm. yes, i went flying about 6 feet back and landed on my back then rolled right up on my feet. i saw it coming but it looked like he did it with such ease that it wouldn't even move me. i have been butted by many cows and calves before and i can usually stand my ground with them. however, he is a big bull and there was a big difference.

July 5 2012, 4 Hard Hot Miles

i had done 19 of my last 20 scheduled runs as of saturday. however, monday i was very busy and the way things went i did not get to run monday. tuesday and wednesday because of various things i was too tired to run. today i took off owrk a little early and got some rest then went out for a run. when i left the house it was 88 degrees with 98 percent humidity. the heat index wass 97. i could tell. the run was my toughest 4 miler of the year. i finished in 41:24, a pace of 10:21. it felt like it took every ounce of energy i had. i don't feel very good right now either. going to bed.

June 30, 13.1 miles

with this run i have 97.3 miles for the month of june, i am pretty sure that is one of my highest months ever. this run was hot, i felt like i was on the border of too hot a couple of times. it has been 5 days since the run and i am just now getting to blog it so this will be a short blog. it was 13.1 miles in 2:36.27. that is a pace of 11:57. i was hoping for a little better pace but when i finished i was just happy to have completed the run. i ran with Todd and we started about 7:10am. by 9 o'clock it was right at 90 degrees and we had very little shade for most of the run. my longest run since january.