Hope To Run Again Before End Of The Year

2 days off = fresh legs

I had to be careful. In the past I have felt so good after a rest I pushed it hard enough on my first run of the week my legs would be trashed for a few days later. So I was careful to monitor the pace and keep it in check. Gave in some on the last 2 miles. Felt good and all the little irritating aches and pains were not there. Not a bad run for only 5 hours of sleep today. But Midnight Shift is over for a few weeks. I just need to learn to sleep during the night now.

am -

My legs stiffened up some last night after my run. But this morning they were ok. They are stiffening again now as I type this about 1.5 hours after my run. Hopefully they will be fine on my run later today.

Cool morning temps. helped make this a nice run.

pm -

Would have liked to have had more time in between my runs, but stuff to do later tonight. It was 84f with some wind. No shirt. Went ahead and ran faster than normal. I have a 10k next weekend and have not been running any faster miles in training for a while now. Also the race is at 5:30PM. So it will probably be mid to high 80's. I was a discouraged some how hard I had to work to hit my splits today. But on race day I will not have had a morning run on my legs like I did today.

Humble - to lower in condition, importance, or dignity. (from Dictionary.com)

Well that was me today. Even though the thermometer only showed 78f with about 80% humidity, it was enough to do me in. I set out for 10. Survived 6. Stopped at 4.25 to grab a drink of water from a business along my route. It helped get me home. When I was done I had never seen so much sweat beading on my arms and legs. I am going to really prepare in advance my runs and what time I do them this Summer. Looks like the heat Miser won one today.

Today's 6 was much easier than yesterday's 6. But it was still too hot. Checked the weather when I was done and it showed 86f with a heat index of 90F. All by 9:45 am. Ughh.

Went to the gym and used the treadmill today. Like many bloggers I do not like the treadmill. But when it is 102f outside there is not a lot of alternatives. Always feel aches in pains in places that I usually do not...like my calves and achilles.

6 miles - 46:53 - 7:48 avg

The Greatest Ever ?

Whenever someone is anointed this title, or even mentioned as a possible, I always tend to cheer for them. Not just to jump on the bandwagon though. I want to see the best ever be the best ever. I want the great to be great. That is why I tried so hard today to watch as much of the U.S. Open as I could. I was able to catch the first couple of holes during a later than usual lunch. Saved all my paperwork until the afternoon so I could do it with the match on. Listened to several holes on my XM radio in the car. And caught the final holes at home after work. I do not know whether Tiger Woods is the best ever or not. He is at least the best who has played since I can remember watching golf as a kid. So that is why I wanted him to win today. Not that I was rooting against Rocco. I would have been happy to see him win too. But today Tiger was, in the end, the best !

It was 97F when the match was over. No way I was going to torture myself. So I went to the gym and ran 4 on the treadmill. Since it is easy to set a pace I ended up running faster than normal. It felt good, but lots of sweat. I cleaned the machine before I left. The lady who works there mentioned that someone had said some guy in there was spraying sweat all over her. Hey what do you expect, it is a workout facility after all.

Treadmill - 4 miles - 28:45 - 7:11

Ran 4 more miles after dark. Only 79f. There was lightning in the air and some distant thunder. So I stepped up the pace. This was the fastest I have run in a long time.

After work it was 87f. 1st afternoon under 90f in a couple of weeks. So I decided to try for 10 at an easy pace. At 5 I was starting to feel it a little. At 7 I decided to make the turn home a little early. Between 8 and 9 my mouth was dry and the spit was gone. When I stopped at 9 and walked inside except for my wet clothes there was no new sweat dripping off of me. Started rehydration right away and took a cool shower. But I would have to say the hardest part of the run was my sore quads. Though I have not blogged about it for awhile, my quads hurt on almost every run. Well not yesterday, but most of the others. My left one hurts so often it feels like the stress fracture in my femur did in the early stages before I knew what it was. But since it never gets worse and the other leg hurts too I ruled out another one. I sure wish these quads were not so sore all the time. It really affects the enjoyment and efficiency of my runs. I end up altering my
forms going downhills to diminish the discomfort. And that could lead to an injury I guess.

Oh well, enough of the complaining blog....again !

84f after work today.  I was feeling good.  Leg pains were not as bad as yesterday.  At 5 miles I started to feel tired and a little blah.  So I picked up the pace.  Then I felt better.  Got into a good rhythm over the last 3 miles.  Cardio felt very at the faster pace.  But the left leg thigh area began to hurt more.  I found myself leaning to the right some on downhills.  This leg thing is bothering more mentally now than physically.  All I can think about is another stress fracture.  Can lightning strike twice in the same spot ?  The worst thing is the only way to know for sure is a bone scan.  Not only is the test expensive but so are the bills for the doctors who order it and the ones who read the scan results.  I could take time off for a couple of weeks.  But it would not heal that quickly.  It would feel better for a short time then get worse again.  Last year I had to take off 4 months for it to heal all the way.  But it is too soon to make that decision.  Just take it day by day and hope it is something else going on in there.

Ran the previous 8 days without a rest.  Planned rest day today.

Traveled to Wilmington, North Carolina for a long weekend mini - vacation with the family.  Drove 200 miles in the morning.  Planned on running in the afternoon at the beach.  But heavy afternoon and evening thunderstorms prevented it.

Woke up and went for a run to the riverwalk area of Wilmington, NC.  Dang, if it didn't start to storm again as soon as I was done.  Luckily we did get to the beach for a few hours in the afternoon.

Finally a pretty morning.  To be fair I knew I would not get a run in today.  At least not in the morning.  We went to the beach right away to enjoy it.  Very bad storms hit in the afternoon and evening.  

Drove home today.  No storms in sight the day we leave for home...figures !

Ran 10.  Felt good.   Midnight Shift tonight, and no sleepsince waking up in the morning.  Going to be about 25 hours of awake time before sleeping again. Ugh !

Felt bad after waking up this afternoon.  Body still in shock over the change of sleep schedule.  Did not do a run when I awoke.  When it was evening I felt guilty about not running earlier.  So set out for another 10.  Kept feeling the need to hurry so I could have a few minutes of recovery before getting ready for work.  Got home with 15 minutes to spare.  Legs really tightened up from sitting in the car so long so soon after a run.  Felt good running at the faster pace.  Only began to feel some fatigue in the last 1.5 miles.

Woke up and went to the gym.  6 on the treadmill at 8:00 pace. (48:00)

4 in the evening before work on the road.  Kept this slow and easy.  Felt good.

Woke up this afternoon to another hot day.  My thermometer in the Sun showed 102f, and it the one in the shade showed 97.7f.  So it was off to the gym again for another run on the treadmill.   6 miles at 8:00 pace (48:00).  So far the best thing about my treadmill runs this week has been  being able to watch Star Trek Voyager while running.

A thunderstorm rolled through about 30 minutes before my evening run.  The temps cooled down to 76f, but the humidity went up to 1.2 billion percent..give or take a few mil.  I wore my headlamp because its been pretty dark in a few places this week.  When I turned it on it really highlighted the steam rising from the road.  And it got downright spooky watching the "fog" roll past my face.  I turned the light off.

Today was a GOOSE EGG.

No excuses..but here are the reasons:

Monday / Tuesday - awake for 25 hours, then slept only 6.5

Wednesday - 6.5 hours sleep

Thursday - 6 hours sleep

Friday - 5 hours of sleep

I was in no mood to run.  Or do anything else.  Mentally drained.  But my legs have felt good all week.  They were more ready to run than the rest of me .

Woo Hoo !

Got 7 hours of sleep today.  I certainly felt better after waking up than I had any other day this week.  95f out, so went to the gym for 6 on the treadmill at 8:00 pace (48:00).

Evening.  Had to get moving.  Not much time to fit the run in.  I do not think I have averaged under 7:00 pace for a run since my race in March.  I could feel it, but overall I was pleased with it.  85f in the dark on this run.

Nothing special.  Slower pace, warm temps.

Had expected to run again at night, but no go.  But legs felt good.  Warm out.