mixture

Tonight was futile at the start. Got home and couldn't find the connector to my ipod. I hate losing things like that because they are small and I don't like to do anything else until I find it. I looked for over a half hour, wasting a lot of time and getting pretty angry in the process. Finally I ended up finding it where it had dropped somehow under something there's really no physical way it should have. It was rainy today, so I started off on the treadmill. By one mile my legs were already tired. I wanted to run outside.

So I did, it wasn't raining much right then anyway, just a few sprinkles. The bad part was I had to get ready to go eat dinner with April's family as soon as I got back. That left little time for dilly-dallying. The run was nice. Fast-paced and kind of cool since it was later. Also the air was moist and it was dark and now and then I'd run through the larger puddles and feel a few drops fly up off the back of my shoe onto my calves. Everything went well at first. I avoided the HH first time around, but was back at mile 4.

In the cul-de-sac people were walking their dogs. I couldn't see them because it was dark. So about 20 yards out I saw them and turned around. Whoever the people were couldn't have been strong. Their poodleish dog got loose and started to chase me I guess. The funny part is I had no idea because it was dark, and I had turned around. I was already a good 200 yards from them when I heard a little pitter patter that wasn't my own. The dog had finally caught up with me (we were on a relative uphill before the HH). The funny part was he couldn't slow down because it was wet. He was running 10 yards away parallel to me, and then I slowed down, he flew past me. I decided to stop. He had to do a big old loop, the kind you do when you drive a boat-car, and came back towards me. I told it to get out of here and may have taunted it with a few You couldn't catch me anyways. Finally after a few loopty loops he ran back toward his owners into the blackness.

I had just arrived at the base of the HH. I saw two cars coming up towards me. I'm not sure if it was instinct or just feeling good from the day off yesterday, but I decided to make this a full blown hill workout. So up I go, probably faster than what I was running on the flats. The cars lights got closer and halfway up they passed me. I kept on going and sprinted the rest of the way up to the top. I was there before whoever it was got out of their car. That was fun, and the best part is after 4 miles, it felt easy and good. I ran about another mile and had to get back and get ready to leave.

Pretty stressful week due to parties and gifts and dinners. I'm hoping for an easy weekend to recover from it all before christmas break hits.

5(5.5)miles. tread/63 wet with sprinkles. GM 34, SM 346

party

Tonight was the party at school. No running. I spent all last night working on portraits for the kids. Needless to say the house is a wreck. I spent Sunday putting together the treadmill. I also didn't mention that night I had another meeting with the porcelain sink. I decided to have a smoothie after my insane treadmill run. Needless to say I didn't enjoy it as much on the way out. I started feeling sick about a half hour after I drank 2 or 3 small smoothies, then I layed down. The worst part was I had 8 portraits that I had planned to work on at that time. It didn't happen I still felt bad afterward and ended up going to sleep 2 hours early.

I'm not sure, but the last time I ran a long run like that (15.56 this summer) the exact same thing happened. It could be from strawberries, but I think it was a combo of things. 1. an unplanned run later, since I had wanted to get it in the morning. 2. Stress from drawing portraits over my head. 3. Too little time between dinner and running- I usually give three hours at least, this was less than two. 4. Much more sweating than usual since it has been colder. 5. Kept a faster pace than I should have, but really it didn't feel too fast, more just antsy to get off.

All told 5 pretty major things that all attributed to a bad experience. I feel like I'm training my body to do this after a longer run and I don't like that. I will have to make sure the next one is planned better to avoid this at all cost. I really don't want to make my body think it's a routine thing for long runs.

The portraits went over really well. A few parents got really emotional. Everyone was thankful, but also wondering why I was a TA. Not sure how to answer that, but I am here and that's all that really matters. The party was great. It made the day incredibly stressful though and I am so looking forward to a break. Legs were sore today from the long run, but the recovery run from yesterday wasn't slow enough to really be considered a recovery. Plus since I was sick I didn't stretch, and last night was portraits. I'll make sure to get that done tonight.

5 miles

Today was just a good old recovery run around the hood. Nothing special of note. Weather was extremely warm though. 70 degrees and it's December 9th!! I grew up in Ohio and this is just ludicrous. It is supposed to cool down, but not after a record breaking 70+ degrees tomorrow. I am still feeling good about the treadmill decision. I like knowing I don't have to trudge through the rain. I suppose I still could, but I can get just as good of a workout on the tread without the craziness.

Felt nice to have shorts and a t-shirt again, albeit a bit weird sweating so much. The run felt faster than it actually was for once, probably due to the heat. Felt very smooth and consistent strides, but the right toe connection at the ball of my foot is still sore or bruised. I don't think I had enough cushion for my long run. Normally I'd wear different shoes, but it just didn't seem right on the treadmill. I'll remember that for my medium distance runs. I've already made the vow not to ever do a long run, at least no more than 9 miles at the pace I was going. 8 is doable, but any more than that is beyond boring. It truly was a fight to finish that long run yesterday.

5(6.15)miles. 71 degrees. GM 33

tough long run

What a day. It was totally raining this morning with huge thunderstorms and rain. I was very disappointed. Weather guy once again I spite you. It did end up being 65 and sunny, but not till 5 pm, the exact opposite of what it was supposed to be today. At noon the rain was still going. I went online to check treadmills. They lowered the price another 50 dollars. Sold! Here is my reasoning. I hate being a slave to the weather. I don't mind cold, wind, or heat, those things are all well and good. But when it comes to rain it just isn't a possibility and I have heard of plenty of runners cracking their heads on ice or obstacles they couldn't see.

Unfortunately today was a long run and the weather said rain tomorrow, but honestly that could mean bright clear awesome weather. Now I'm not a slave to schedules, but i like to be able to do what I have planned to do. Having a treadmill will allow that to happen despite the conditions. So I now have one. It isn't the nicest one and still wasn't cheap (well maybe some parts) but it will work on those days when I don't have a choice. The worst part was hauling it because the backseat is designed bad so the thing was hanging out. The second worst is putting the thing together. Fortunately the directions were accurate all except for one screw that didn't fit where they had drilled, I had to find my own screw to use instead.

Now for the other half of the day. While building I got incredibly hungry, so we ate lunch at like 2 something which nullified any later long run chances. So I was left with the treadmill. Oh how I did not want to run 14 miles on it. So begins the saga of the 14 mile sweat till you die episode. The treadmill is quite loud. So loud in fact I had to turn my computer all the way to max just to hear the movie I planned to watch. So tv blaring and footsteps trodding I started the run. At 5 miles the sweat started to pour and I honestly wanted to get off that thing ASAP. But I pressed on. Stopped once for a towel/water while jogging, then back on again. The miles crawled by .1..2 .3,.4,.5,.6,.7,.8,.9, whooo 6 miles. Oh crap 10 more. Keep the pace. Still sweating buckets and the towel is already soaked. Window is open, towel falls. Another quick stop and back on, all the while stopping the ipod too.

Towel fell at least 4 or 5 more times. I was getting exhausted. I was drinking water every mile and still thirsty. It was probably 65 degrees or so in the room. This is another factor, I'm used to breathing in cold air. This air was just hot and stuffy. The miles dragged on, I kept pace. The movie went off, I still have 4 miles left. Another stop another movie started and back on. Still sweating, still breathing, still alive. My right toe starts hurting, the bone where the big toe connects to the foot is causing shooting pains. I have noticed this before, but it is usually during the daytime. I keep going. finally hope 2 miles left. I want to quit. It feels like I've been on here forever, and it feels like the half I ran less than a year ago.

So finally I was done. Outside to get fresh cool air. I will never do a long run on the treadmill again.

14(16)miles. treadmill. BF 94

where to go?

Long run coming up tomorrow, today was a rest day. I'm not sure where I'm running at, but it's not going to be at the complex. I'll pass on watching the same things for 2 hours. I'm thinking it's time to check out the Greenways that are on the way to school. The Turkey Trot was partially on one, but there are a few entrances to the loop. I think I'll just drive over and see what I see. There appears to be a 7 mile out and back over there, so running the same roads 4x is better than 14x for sure.

It will be nice to get to a new place though. My next long run will be in Ohio on break. I'm really looking forward to those long mile roads. I ran some by my house quite often in HS. I may even be able to find the notebook I tracked it in if I look through my old stuff there. I've been wondering about things like that for about a month now. When I'm back from break I might visit Oak Ridge for a good long trail run.

I'm wanting to get up early and go in the morning (that whole preparation thing) but if I don't a mid-morning seems like it will work since it is supposed to rain in the afternoon. Looks to be really warm, about 65 degrees warming up all night and well into the morning. Shorts and t-shirt should accomodate. I also need to bring along some kind of snack and some water since it will probably be around a 2 hour run. Have had some stomach problems today so not real sure how good I'll feel. Legs have been worked pretty hard the past few weeks so today's rest should help a lot. I think I'll be ready to go once I get there.

sort of easy

Good day today. Not to stressful at work helped a lot. Got home a little later. We are planning a Christmas party next week, so we stayed after a while and talked. I don't mind that, but in my head I'm just thinking about the daylight we're burning and how long traffic is going to take before I get home. I tried to stay patient though.

Run started off as normal. I always have a little pain at the very base of my heel like the achilles isn't warmed up. I should probably start a little jog routine, but I just run the first mile slower. Right ankle is still a little sore, but definitely doesn't hurt a lot or as often as it was. I'll just keep taking it easy on the sharp turns. I made sure to run them very carefully lately and can definitely tell a difference.

Saw the local kids out playing tonight. They tossed me the football a few times, and tried to race me. It was kind of bad setup. I "raced" one kid, then as soon as that 100 meters was over another one was ready for me and so on. That was like a 400m acceleration. Felt pretty good though, and I made sure to not go very fast and just tire them out. They kept up with me pretty good. After that though the legs were pretty burned out. That was at 1 mile. It took till mile 4 before they got the fresh feeling back, but obviously still not 100%. It was kind of nice to run with tired legs, but also probably not the smartest training move. It's hard to resist a race, even if it is for fun against kids.

Rest of the run went well. At one point a neighbor who was out smoking on his porch saw me and asked "how many miles you run a week?" Without missing a beat I said "About forty" and kept my stride. He nearly swallowed his cigarette and said "no way" and I was already in the other direction.

4(5.25). 48 degrees. GM 28

later

A pretty good day at work. It's nice to see everyone getting in the holiday spirit. This week we have made christmas ornaments and today made snowflakes. Pretty fun just to do holiday stuff. Talked to the other track coach and she said we were going to have a meeting soon. I'm looking forward to that.

The usual Thursday for me, get home, run around, run back out the door. Cold today, should have probably worn my headband went with the usual shorts, longsleeve/undershirt, gloves. It got colder after the sun went down. I ran an extra mile yesterday just so I could run one less today. That sort of worked, but it was still almost completely dark by the time the run was over. Kept good track of miles and did 6.5 laps. There is a kid who normally runs. He is a little bit slower than me but always runs the track clockwise, which is funny because I never do, so I pass him every half mile. Legs didn't ever feel good tonight. Just tired and didn't turn over like I wanted them to. Struggled on the hills.

I'm not sure how I'm going to get 10 miles in on some days in January. I guess I will have to do split runs, but I hate that. I feel like I get more out of going the distance all at once. I guess there's always night running, but that isn't safe, nor very fun in the winter cold. Looked into buying a treadmill, there are some that would work, but I don't really have the money to spend on one right now anyway. If I start missing a lot of runs or something out of my control I may have to end up with one, for now I'm going to stick it out.

7(8)miles. 40-38 degrees. GM 24

easy run, good pace

A nice 5 miles around the neighborhood. Tonight I took it easy. It was surprising to see my time after the run because it felt a lot slower. I kept a pretty easy pace the entire time. I actually was hoping for a slower time, it felt like maybe close to 8 minute miles. The wind didn't help matters a good 15-20 mph coming from the southwest. That made for a little bit more effort on some stretches, but the worst part was it was sprinkling right into my face. I felt a few drops when I went out the door, waited a few minutes and nothing, so then I just went for it. It sprinkled very light off and on, so no problem.

It was around 44 degrees when I got out, and that felt about right. The wind made it a little colder but I felt warm. I've been wearing gloves the past few runs and that has helped. My ankle didn't hurt today, except for the turnarounds. I think that is where I pulled it, on one of my many turns in the cul de sac. I take it really easy now, but before I just had to turn around fairly quickly, which is hard to do at even a medium pace. I hate that we have no sidewalks. In my 3 mile loop I turn around 11 times, with all but one of those being sharp turns. Needless to say that is ample opportunity to overstress something.

I never had that problem before because of all the long sidewalks, and actually no sharp turns that I can ever remember. That is what I miss the most, a place to run that has lots of options and sidewalks that go through endless neighborhoods. I'm pretty much confined here, since the main road out of our subdivision is always busy and barely has ditches on either side. Plus it's curvy and who knows what could happen. When I get up around 16-18 mile runs (very soon) I will have to drive to roads that have sidewalks and run from there. I also have some trips to local areas with trails to check out as well. I will be fine, and am really looking forward to those runs.

The run felt easy today, despite the 7:38 pace. Ankle seems to be on the mend too.

5(6.25)miles. 44-42 degrees windy. GM 17

out of one hole, into another

Good news. The blister toes are still around, but have caliced over. That means no more toe pain (other than the messed up toe). That is so awesome. Unfortunately the climb out of that hole lead me to fall straight into another. The right ankle is still sore. It's like I can't ever have everything working at the same time. It isn't all that bad, but I'm hesitant about even the smallest things that could make a big problem later.

Got out fairly early to the complex tonight. I needed to pick up some stuff from the store so I had to get the run over before it was completely dark. Barely made that happen. Tonight's run felt like I was dragging. My legs are pretty worn out. The first mile was like running through foot deep mud. The second and third pretty much the same, just tired legs. Finally by the fifth mile I got into some kind of groove. The ankle started hurting periodically. I think it may have been me thinking about it instead of focusing on being relaxed--is that even possible? Anyway once that happened the run felt a lot better, still not running on all cylinders, but definitely better than those first miles.

Toward the end there was a string of 3 runners. I was gaining on them pretty good. The faster who happened to be in the back tried to pass the first 2. He got way in the middle of the path going at what I guess he thought was a good pace. I saw him in the distance and gained on him in less than a minute. I figured he would pass them but he never did, so I was stuck being polite and running behind for a good stretch, hence the slower mile toward the end. I also was almost hit by a red truck. The guy driving saw me and purposefully pulled in front of me as I was the crossing the pedestrian lane. I kept running straight at him and nearly clipped his truck bed. Granted not the safest thing I could have done, but the guy came from BEhind me, and I wasn't about to stop. I should have ran him down, but I let it go quickly.

Someone had graffitied the course sometime in the past few days. The worst part wasn't that it happened, the worst part was that it was really bad graffiti. I mean the letters were all jacked up, no style whatsoever, and absolutely no regard for aesthetics. It looked to me like some third graders did it - other than the high school-esque profanity. I hope when they report or publish it they say they suspect primary school kids did it so the "artists" know how terrible they are. Leave it to the real artists guys.

So after running by that 8 times I was finished. Not really a consistent run, but still felt okay. I would like to run above a 7:30 pace tomorrow!! I tried not to run too fast today, but it looks like it didn't happen. It was even faster than the last medium run. I'll have to work on relaxing, because I may be overcompensating for the tiredness in the legs with speed.

7:33, :41, :25, :22, :27, :22, :29, :43, :25, :16

8(9.7)miles. 40-38 degrees. SM 342

monday seemed like tuesday

I'm not sure if it was wishful thinking or what, but for some reason today just felt a lot like Tuesday. I even turned on the tv at 8 to watch the biggest loser. Ha. I guess it was a long day to seem like two had passed already. It was colder today than it has been. The high was in the forties somewhere. When I went out it was 4:30 and not too bad outside. The good part was no clouds. There were already shadows forming. It was cool to run up a hill into the sunset and see really long shadows coming from tiny little pebbles scattered across the road. It was cold running into the wind, which was coming straight from canada. My face about froze off on those stretches. I probably should have wore a headband, but didn't want overkill sweatage going on. Shorts, an undershirt, longsleeve were pretty comfortable other than the frozen face.

I was sniffling a lot on the run. That was kind of a good thing, because I had to keep my head perfectly straight if I didn't want my nose to run. I felt like I went medium pace tonight. Not the 7:50 i was looking for, but my ankle had absolutely no pain at all so it was all good. It is still bruised/tender, but it doesn't hurt to run on, which is kind of nice. I did take it pretty easy though. I didn't bust out any 7:00 miles like yesterday as far as I know. I'm not real sure since my internet is being a pain. It will connect some sites and not others. I have been trying off and on for about an two hours to connect here and finally it went through. (i'll have to save this in case the publish button doesn't work)

I do know the overall pace was 7:30. That seems about right. I was going pretty good, but not too fast. I did get an acceleration in when I raced a kid down the street. I started off slow and gradual increased to about 75% speed. It was good and carried me through the rest of the run. Well not much else to say.

4(5.36)miles. 38 degrees chilly. SM 334

new track

Looked like rain all day today. The weather channel even showed showers for the whole day. I wrote down a zero for the day. This sucks. Went to visit April's grandpa and have lunch. We talked for a while and got back a little after 3. It still hadn't rained. It was cloudy and not too cold, so I started getting ready to go out. As soon as I looked out the door I saw the drops start to appear on my car and the pavement. Grrreat, couldn't have waited a few hours could you. Nope. So I once again wrote it off. I checked some stuff and was totally bored. I kept walking to the door and looking out and pacing around randomly. The rain only had sprinkled. After checking 5 or 6 times I decided forget this junk, I'm running.

So I got changed said bye to April and out the door. I thought I'd try a new track today. It is the opposite direction from the complex, but about the same distance. I saw a soccer game going on there when were coming home. It was still going when I arrived. The course is basically like a track. Two soccer fields are in the middle of the track, and then the course kind of goes all over with crazy tiny little loops up and down and around. It is a thin little paved course, that looks a lot like the kind people use in their driveways. Yes, all cracked and falling apart from not using enough base of small stone underneath. It was scary at times because the cracks were so high I had to be careful not to trip on them. The second bad thing is that the track isn't level. The right side is about a foot lower than the left, causing my ankle to be at an angle the entire time. This especially wasn't good because that just happens to be the ankle that hurts, and it just happens that turning it toward the inside causes the pain.

I started off pretty fast. At least it felt fast cuz my legs were burning a little. I had on my newer moire's and that could have had something to do with it. I had to stop at 1 mile and tighten the laces. After that it was an uphill battle the entire time. I ran a lap around the course, and then started off into the figure 8 madness. There were 3 switchbacks about 20 yards, up the side of hill, with about a 70% incline. NOT fun. I just kept thinking ankle, ankle, ankle. I didn't go up that little trail of love again. I sticked to the open stretches. The course said 1.5 miles, but I think it was possibly a mile even with all the tiny little maze of switchbacks. Legs turned over well, but there were a lot of turns even on the regular part course. I'm used to flat pavement, with some relatively straight stretches, with at least 5 or 6 feet wide pavement. This was totally different and much harder to run on.

I think the course is why I ran so fast. I wanted to get out of there the day before yesterday. That and at one point it started misting. I just said, Lord please let me get this run over and I'll be happy, and he did. I stayed on and got in the next 3.5 miles. Those first miles really pushed the pace, and I kept it. I was actually breathing a little hard today, which was nice. Just trudging along that course with my ankle was horrid. Probably the worst run I've experienced so far, much worse than the dehydration incident, at least that was deserved.

I hate having the ankle hurting, but it's only when I push off at certain angles. If I am running straight, it doesn't hurt at all. The twisting motion hurts it (like a sprained ankle) so it must be some tendon in there. At least it's not some ghost pain that I have no idea where it's coming from. I know exactly where this is- just below the outside of the ankle- and I'll be able to ice it and feel it out for the next few days. Since today was faster, I'm going to try and see if I can keep my pace at 7:40 or above for the next few runs. If the ankle feels better these times should be fine though.

7:24, :06, :12, :23, :27, :25, :27, :23, :24, :07

8(9.5)miles. 54 cloudy with slight winds. GM 12

a little treat

Now I don't support budlight, in fact I don't drink any alcohol, but these commercials are hilarious.

#1 (i watched it without the sound the first time and thought it was funnier)
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=JPVWMZX9

#2
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=YLMCO455

tight right

Today hasn't been very productive. Got up late, which means breakfast is later, and therefore lunch, and therefore everything else. Not very productive day other than cleaning the kitchen. It looks a million times better now. Cleaned the microwave and moved it to a new location, which opened up all this room somehow.

Today was a comfortable 3 miles around the block. I skipped the HH. There is no need to run up hills and tire out the muscles on an easy day. My right calf has been tight for the past few days. I thought it would go away, but it hasn't. It isn't hurt, it just feels like a muscle that has been worked out. That is a good thing though. It means I am using my calves for push off and not just coasting along.

I did get the crap scared out of me by a dog though. It is this white poodle who sports a pink collar and isn't even as big as my small cat. It "barks" at me everyday when I run by. It's kind of between a wimper and a yip. So how did this furry ball scare me you ask? Well I was running by a mini-van who had their door open. As I was about to run past it, out jumps a flying fluffball yipping like a banchee. Because things normally don't just pop out from behind and screech at me during my run, this caused me to jolt and double step. That thing always goes after me, I wish I could stand there one day and let it bark in my face. Maybe then it would realize it's not scaring me off and that I'm running by it whether it barks or not.

A tiny bit warmer today, but a quick glance at the weather for this week makes me angry. Rain starting wednesday and going through Monday. I may have to invest in some rain gear. Treadmill is out of the question since we have such a small house, and I'm not paying 500 dollars a year to drive out of my way to use a gyms. I suppose we could fit it, but those things are just so ugly and it would be right in the middle of our house since the living room is the only place it would "fit". The good ones weigh like 300 pounds too, so I have no idea how it would fit in our car, and no idea how we would get it into the house if we got it here. I would love to have one, but between all those things I guess I'd rather take my chances with the rain. No worries though, some opportunity may show itself soon.

3(3.5)miles. 54 degrees. GM

last run for november

Well tomorrow is December, my sister's birthday. This week flew by, and the month did too. It will be Christmas before I know it. Went to the mall shopping with the students today. It wasn't all fun since we were basically just trying to keep everything under control and prevent anything crazy from going down. I guess it was a good break from the routine of class.

An easy run today. I just decided to go for 40 minutes toward the end since a mileage goal wasn't really what I was going for. I've put in over 40 miles this week. That's an increase of about 6-10 miles over the highest out of previous weeks. It's not always a good idea to increase mileage quickly. It stresses the system. But I have put in easy days and plan on taking a very easy day Saturday as well as a medium distance run Sunday. Next week I'll move up to 14 miles, which by ipod calculations will about tie the longest distance I've run ever. I'm looking forward to it. 7 more weeks of base and I think my endurance will be off the charts. Runs are getting easier because my body is becoming more efficient. My strides also are improving and tonight's easy run was a 7:28 pace! Add some strength to that and I'm not sure what I'll be capable of.

I've been eating healthier. I already ate normal or small portions, but now I'm having April help buy things that are fresh or just loaded with good proteins and stuff. It is helping. i have more energy and am less hungry than I used to be. I can remember days last year when I just felt like my stomach was empty all day. (of course I did have to each LUNCH at 9:30 in the morning!) A lot of stress was built up from my job and that whole deal which probably compounded matters. Things seem to be going great. I even thought about continuing to be a TA again next year. I like the job and it's nice to be a part of team instead of having all the lessons and everything to do on your own. But that is a while away.

4(5.35)miles. 50 degrees. silver

more blisters, better running

Another good run today. Went home about 5 minutes early which wasn't necessarily a good thing since all the school traffic. Normally waiting extra allows for you to actually pull out of your parking spot instead of waiting for someone to let you in the line. At least traffic was only half bad and I was able to get back to the complex by 4:30. Now my blisters have certainly not subsided. In fact many more of various sizes on many different toes have popped up. Fortunately they haven't hurt bad enough to keep me from running at at a good pace. I'm seriously considering some kind of toe-socks or some serious bandage work for this problem. Longsleeve and shorts felt fine in the weather.

At first today the legs weren't working all that well. I seemed out of whack and out of breath. Yesterday and the day before I had a pain in my shoulder. It's the sort of like heart burn pain, but in the shoulder, kinda weird. I didn't have that today, but I did feel short of breath the first mile. I know it is from not warming up properly, but I don't have time to warm up(it's already pitch black at the end of my run), so the first mile is my warm up and things like that are to be expected. The run felt slower today, especially before I hit 4-5 miles. I kept awesome track of laps today though, so I knew for sure how far I was going. That's probably why it seemed slower.

At 9.5 I had reached 8 laps and felt fine so I ran a few extra stretches. That is the story lately. I feel absolutely zero breathing, running lately has about the equivalent out of breath feeling as a walk to the fridge. I run faster, and still hardly feel like I'm breathing hard at all. Hills have become easier too, but are still a comfortable challenge. The legs on the other hand still aren't close to feeling "fine". They are way better than normal, but feel tight more often than not. Muscles are still being formed in there, and until I get to my hill phase (mid-Jan) I'll just have to keep slowly increasing the miles. My main goal is to build an awesome base during the winter months. Sounds easy enough, but consider this: Christmas Holidays/New Years/Vacation, and I start getting nervous.

I feel like I'll be okay. I already let it happen this summer, some of which was out of my control, but I could have done more. I regret it, and I think I learned my lesson there. Okay here's tonights run. Check out the gradual increase in pace over the run tonight, as opposed to the decrease Tuesday. I even ran a little farther too.

9(10)miles. 50 degrees. silver

the norm

Not a whole lot to blog today. Had a decent day at work. It doesn't seem like it is already Wednesday. Got home at a decent time and out the door pretty fast too. My ankles haven't been hurting lately at the beginning of my runs like they were so that is nice. There was a little bit of residual tiredness in the legs today. Some of that may have been from a lot of pushing one of the students up and down the hilly sidewalks (about 200-250 lbs) which isn't exactly easy. Either way the run went pretty good. Got to race some new buddies. I gave them a nice long head start. I've been careful about these and make sure now that I am plenty warmed up, not going above 5k race pace, and basically just use it as an acceleration.

The leaves were crunchy today, which was a little different since it has been wet the last few days. It also was pretty warm and I was very comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt. Legs turned over well, but not as good as yesterday or the day before. I kept a pretty fast pace today it seemed, but I also have the weekend to recover so it shouldn't add up. At 2 miles I still hadn't slowed down naturally, so I made a conscious effort to take it easy from there.

4(5.25)miles.54 degrees. light grey

that old feeling

I am so thrilled right now. Tonight reminded me of the glory days where I could just take off and run wherever as fast as whoever without thinking twice. Yes it was an awesome run tonight. I started off by getting home after 4 and getting all my stuff together. After all that I was out the door at 4:30 and on my way to the complex. It was kind of a weird day weather wise. The sun was out and made it warm, but the breeze was cold and chilly, making it confusing. Basically I "felt" like it was warm so i went with shorts and cutoff. Being as smart as I have gotten, I also packed a t-shirt. Wise decision. As soon as I stepped out the car and saw the shadows already getting long and that cold air, I switched shirts.

The run started off good. I was trying to simulate yesterday's start because that felt so great (taking a short break just before 1 mile, then starting again) I didn't stop this time, but I definitely started off at an easy pace. The air was cold, but I felt pretty good. It is funny that I didn't work on form too much tonight, even though I'm supposed to. I always do that, run form on easy days not planned, and forget too when I write them in. I compensated by doing them after the run when I remembered :) Anyway, the legs felt good again. No pain anywhere and they were just churning out a cadence I could hardly believe. I was running tall and feeling fine. Mile 1, kept going, 2, 3, 4, 5, when am I going to get tired? Up the large incline at each mile, no tiredness still! I keep the pace going, 6, 7. At this point I start wondering when my ipod will say I've reached my goal. I look down and it is just at 8 (meaning I've ran around 7 laps or 7.7 miles. I figure I'll do one more lap. Up the giant incline again, STILL not breathing or feeling like I'm working hard.

About the only thing I felt was at mile 7 or so my right leg started to ache a little bit. My arms were also cold, but I felt fine. As I made it around lap 8, I still wasn't breathing hard and my legs had plenty left. I could have ran at least another 4 miles, and who knows maybe more after that. It was just one of those feelings of superior energy. I also had a pacer, a younger guy who ran around 6 miles. I gained on him each lap around, and that helped me keep stride, but it still felt like a low effort run. Its funny thinking about the course. I'd say it has a good 200-250 feet of elevation over the whole course. That adds up over 8 laps (1600-2000) which is quite a bit for a normal run.

The blisters on the messed up toe are now bigger, and now I have another one under the first one....yeah. It hasn't bothered me though, I don't mind it anymore. It's kind of like an friend that has annoying habits, they grow on you. (no pun intended)

I still can't believe how great that run felt. I hope for a lot more of those. My compliments to Galloway.

9(9.8)miles. 52-45 degrees. silver

Squishy

Today started off lazily and pretty much the whole day was spent trying to get back into the mix of things. Everything just seemed to go by so slowly. The dragged on and on. Things happened, but time seemed to be going at half-pace. Finally the day wound down. Sun starting to break through the dark clouds. Hope for a nice run was showing it's face. I got home and took my time about things, while other forces of nature were working unbeknownst to me. As I stepped out the door it was cloudy. I had on less gear this time going with a longsleeve and no undershirt. By half a mile I was sweating and realized it may actually be 55 degrees (didn't feel like it with the rain today). I also had forgot to use the restroom when I got home and that compounded matters. I headed back to the house and made it at .8 miles.

After changing my shirt and getting ready, which was only a matter of a few minutes I was out the door. As I walked onto the porch a strange tingling sensation ran across my shoulders and cheeks. A soft mist of rain was falling. I figured if it stayed this way that I'd be fine. Sure enough I'm back on the road again. I'm feeling great. The legs haven't turned over like this in who knows how long. I think to myself that the run yesterday must be paying off. I keep going along effortlessly, but keeping in mind this is a rest day. At 2 miles sprinkles are getting a little more prevalent. I'm already moist, so I figure a little more ain't gonna make a difference. Mile 3 the clouds got bigger, darkness loomed, and I am there smack in the middle of Mordor running into a headwind that is spewing tiny pellets of rain at me. I truck right into it. I fear nothing. My worthy ipod doesn't make a sound and holds on for the ride into the abyss. I am getting blasted in the face by rain and my shoes are splashing water everywhere. I think about the front porch for a split second, but then I wipe my eyes and just like a soldier trained to ignore pain, put my chest out and run tall like nothing in the world could stop me.

And then, in the blink of an eye, the rain lets up, the winds die down, and light begins to return. I'm almost home, but only at 4 miles. I continue, I haven't come this far just to give up now. Just an out and back left now. The rain doesn't really come back again (at least not like the shadow of death stretch) but it isn't completely stopped either.Still feeling great and I start to feel a great sense of accomplishment. I can only remember a few times in my life that I've run in the rain. I'm even prouder that this one happened to be on an easy day. In your face laziness!

do you see what I see?

no, not the cat hairs.

I thought a lot while I was running about what people were thinking. Is that guy in the rain? What kind of person? He is going to get struck by lighting! Who knows, all I know is it was a lot of fun and felt great.

4(5.05)miles. 55 degrees off and on rain. light grey

Fakeout

I got up early for a Sunday. I went to sleep at a normal time, so I figured 7-8, but it was closer to 9 when I finally rolled out. It was okay though because I still had plenty of time to get ready. I am starting to think about planning for the race. That means going through all the motions I would normally go through on race day. Not only will that help prepare me mentally, but physically my body will be used to the routine by the time the race is here. I'm working into it slowly though.

So I got up later than I wanted, no breakfast today. I had to get out pretty quickly as the weather channel and weather people said 9-11 no rain. I figured two hours would be plenty of time for my planned long run as well as a little cool down. It was in the lower 40's this morning. I wore my normal gear (shorts, longsleeve with undershirt, headband) which felt quite comfortable, but ditched gloves. I also opted for a single of pair of socks. I got some better ones with more cushion and better fabric. I had tried doubling it, but my feet felt cramped and I didn't want to develop further blisters from having my shoes too tight. Grabbed a banana, waterbottle, and out the door.

It was cloudy today, but not very windy. I started the run slowly feeling my way as I went. No pains were noticeable enough to mention. I counted laps today. I normally loose track, but I stayed on task and made sure. That is quite hard to do over many miles on a course that repeats itself at 1.1 miles. There were plenty of people to pass. They all seemed to hear what the weather said too. The miles went by quick enough. I just tried to be relaxed and that helped. I've done a better job of going slower lately. At 3 miles my headband was sweaty, so I took it off and held it, switching hands every so often. Round and round, and round and round, still more laps to go. Counting and trying to run "smoothly". The winds starting to pick up at 8, so I put my headband back on. It felt a lot colder for some reason. Finally lap 11 came around. A final lap would put me well over 12 miles (11.11, plus a few hundred meters to the start) So I decided to go around it again.

The major difference in today's run was the incline. Normally because I am running faster that thing slows me way down. Today I kept the same pace on the hills as regular, but my legs felt fine running up them. There is usual a gradual tiredness that builds from running up that thing so many times, but it was a non-factor today. So I finished the run at a nice n' easy pace. The only major thing was my bandaid came off my toe around 7 miles, and for the next 1-1.5 that blister wasn't feeling good at all. Also at the end of my run my knees were a tiny bit achy. But really what else can you expect from running 12 miles? I ate my banana and drank my water and walked a good 1.5-2 miles cooldown. I had to stop by the car to get my gloves. I think a cold-wind was sweeping through and my hands felt like they were freezing off. It could have just been from starting walk, but it just felt colder. Oh yeah, the weather guys were off, it hasn't rained and it's almost 3 in the afternoon. Silly meteorologists. It does look like rain, I'll give them that much.

Right on track. I am doing some math on differences between my training last year and this year. I will try and include that somewhere when I work it out.

12(13.5)miles. 42 degrees. silver

relaxed run

Man those two days off felt like 2 years. I was so happy to be out today after the recovery time. I started off skeptical and kept waiting for the pain to arrive, but nothing in the ankles AT ALL. That is great. The legs were still a little tight from not running, and from the quad workout last night. The only real thing I noticed during the run was the blister that formed by my messed up toenail. It really isn't as messed up as it used to be. The crater that is now in the front used to be in the back, with no toenail at all except a little sliver. Over the past months it has pushed itself forward and the pic shows that it is nearly grown out to the "edge" where it is supposed to be. Maybe a few more months and that thing will look normal again.

The run went by without any problems. Even the blister only hurt every so often, I can deal with that. I also had another blister on one of my left toes, but it healed up pretty good already. I kept a steady pace and tried to bounce along. I have a long run tomorrow. It is going to be tricky because now the weatherguys are saying it will rain all day (yesterday they said lower chance). But I also watched another channel that said no rain till later. It looks like the best shot is a morning run around 9 a.m. The chances of rain seem to be lowest then, so I should be able to get a good hour and a half in before the chances increase. I kind of have to get it in because Monday looks like rain. As usual, we will see.

An odd thing I noticed today was there was absolutely no wind. Normally it is whipping around. Even on the HH there was none. It was like running through a space station. Everything was completely still and quiet. I could hear cars way off in the distance. There also was a blue tint to the sky and made everything seem dull. Combine all those things together and by that aspect it was an eerie run.

Read up on a pretty awesome blog. He is a runner named Duncan. I would also dare to say he is a writer as well. He did a 100 mile race over a matter of days in India. His writing is just as awesome as his running. You should check it out if you have a few hours to spare. I tried reading it again and it was "locked" or something. You may have to click on >Pandeyland Diaries to read them all.

4(5.1)miles relaxed. 47 degrees. silver