Week Four of 2017, and My Comeback from this Whatever... It Was

So this week was a little tougher, I ended up running 5 days instead of 4 and 3 of them were consecutively in a row. This morning's run was my long run and was the longest I've ran since.......... the Run with the Yeti 15k trail race back in late November.

I rested on Monday and ran 5.1 miles on Tuesday with both dogs... wasn't nearly as chaotic as I expected although Jetta did try to dictate the pace and kept dictating Rocky's position. It was 41 degrees, with a breeze. We ran it in 50:52 with an average pace of 9:53 min/mile.

Laps/splits:

Mile 1 - 10:13 min/mile

Mile 2 - 10:11 min/mile

Mile 3 - 9:52 min/mile

Mile 4 - 9:51 min/mile

Mile 5 - 9:42 min/mile

Wednesday afternoon it 61 degrees... that's Southern Indiana for you... I took the dogs and Dorian (in the stroller) to the Newburgh river front and we ran 4 miles. It was busy out there, so I was a little irritated. We ran the 4 miles in 39:11 with an average pace of 9:47 min/mile.

Laps/splits were:

Mile 1 - 10:13 min/mile

Mile 2 - 9:40 min/mile

Mile 3 - 9:35 min/mile

Mile 4 - 9:41 min/mile

I rested on Thursday, then took the dogs out on the roads Friday morning. Jetta was being a bit more difficult this time, nearly dragging Rocky who was having a tough time (his short legs compared to her long legs.... he has to literally gallop while she just leisurely trots). To say I was irritated with her would be an understatement. It was 31 degrees with a feels like 25, winds at 8 mph WSW.... it was kind of cold. We ran 6.3 miles, the last..... .75 miles I let Rocky run loose so he didn't have to deal with Jetta's bossy behavior, she wasn't happy about it but I could tell Rocky was very happy. We ran it in 1:03:12 with an average pace of 10:02 min/mile.

Laps/splits were:

Mile 1 - 10:19 min/mile

Mile 2 - 10:08 min/mile

Mile 3 - 10:05 min/mile

Mile 4 - 10:11 min/mile

Mile 5 - 9:45 min/mile

Mile 6 - 9:51 min/mile

Mile 6.3 - 9:35 min/mile

Saturday morning it was 25 degrees with a feels like 19 and a breeze.... I miss summer dang it. I took the dogs again, we ran a different route - an out and back. Jetta wasn't nearly as bad as Friday morning. We ran 5.4 miles in 53:27 with an average pace 9:54 min/mile. 

Laps/splits:

Mile 1 - 10:38 min/mile

Mile 2 - 9:58 min/mile

Mile 3 - 9:44 min/mile

Mile 4 - 9:47 min/mile

Mile 5 - 9:32 min/mile

Mile 5.4 - 9:29 min/mile

This morning I got up at 7:30 AM, the plan was to run 10 miles with Jetta. I was not going to take Rocky because I just didn't want to deal with the insanity between the two of them. Starting off, I realized just how sore my legs were feeling, especially the left so I just told myself to try and get more than 7 miles done.

Just after mile 2, I finally experienced an aggressive dog (and I didn't have my pepper spray). This mutated Mastiff/Lab/Pit mix looking thing wasn't on a leash, no the stupid old man had his freaking Min-Pin or whatever on a leash but was letting this monster go loose. He charged us, and I pulled Jetta behind me and yelled at this dog. It stopped just 3 feet away and had it's eyes on Jetta, baring his teeth and barking in an aggressive way. I knew not to move, I wasn't about to turn our backs on it as it wasn't backing off. The old man was weakly yelling at him but to no avail. Finally after what felt like forever, I guess the old man's son came out yelling at the beast who finally turned around. The old man motioned us to go so we did, from now on I'll be carrying my pepper spray.

Other than that, everything went well. The real soreness started to ease up after mile 6 or so, but I was definitely feeling what I used to feel during my long runs. We ran 10 miles in 1:34:12 with an average pace of 9:25 min/mile, oh and it was 34 degrees.

Laps/splits were:

Mile 1 - 9:53 min/mile

Mile 2 - 9:42 min/mile

Mile 3 - 9:13 min/mile

Mile 4 - 9:34 min/mile

Mile 5 - 9:39 min/mile

Mile 6 - 9:47 min/mile

Mile 7 - 9:08 min/mile

Mile 8 - 9:17 min/mile

Mile 9 - 9:07 min/mile

Mile 1-  8:49 min/mile

I toughed it out, and although I am feeling a little sore, it's a soreness I remember and missed. I got in 30.8 miles this week, not bad. I've got a race on February 11, the Hearts on Fire 5k. Then I have a 10k on April 18, Spring into Fitness 10k. And I've signed up for the Harmonie Trail Marathon which is on May 18th. I've my training plan already made for that, starting this next week. Wish me luck.