A Slow 4 Miles

  I had a very crappy night, Dorian woke up around 10 with stomach issues and we ran to CVS to pick up some stuff for him. I guess I got back to bed around midnight, but still felt like no sleep. I got up around 5:40 and was out the door by 6:00 a.m, tired but feeling better than yesterday. At first I figured to just run 3 miles and do another 3 this afternoon, but then around mile 1 I thought about doing the 5 and getting it over with. I finally decided on running 4 miles and saving 1 mile for this evening with Rocky as his first run since Spring. It was 63 degrees and 100% humidity, I was tired but I took it slow and ran 4 miles in 43:12 with an average pace of 10:47 min/mile, but making the final mile a 9:47 minute pace just to get a few strides in. Elevation gain of 47 feet and a loss of 61 feet, not a bad run but I wish I had gotten more sleep last night. I almost stayed in bed with plans of running the 5 later today but I need to slowly get Rocky back into running with me. And I can't stand seeing my Cardio Trainer drop, it tells me daily how many calories I've burned in activities in the past 7 days and I was up to 4000 Saturday but now down to 2500 calories.... suffice to say I hate seeing it go down and I was enjoying keeping it up around 3500 dang it. Anyways........
Splits/laps were:
Mile 1 - 11:02
Mile 2 - 11:23
Mile 3 - 10:58
Mile 4 - 9:47

   Hopefully Rocky doesn't do bad this evening, I am not yet sure where we'll run but I am thinking of the riverfront and I am sure it will be busy tonight. I am keeping a close eye on the weather for Saturday, right now it is saying few showers with precipitation at 30% so I am hoping that it isn't raining during the race. I am nervous but excited and hoping for the best, hoping that my body is up to 100% by Friday evening and Saturday.

An Unscheduled Rest Day

   I didn't get my 9 miler in today, taking an unscheduled rest day due to issues I am hoping were caused by last night's consumption of beer, hot dogs and s'mores. I was up at 1:30 a.m, sick to my stomach and I had the shakes. Afterwards I told myself I would just see how the day goes and maybe run later and probably cut it to 5 or 7 miles. At 8 this morning I woke up feeling like crap, and waging a debate in my head, take the chance and go for a run or make this an unscheduled rest day and let my body recover. Maybe it wasn't just the beer, hot dogs and s'mores but my body warning me to slow down and take it easy. Suffice to say, I decided a run was out of the question as the half marathon is way too close to risk getting really sick and dropping out of it. I figure lots of water consumption and taking it easy should do the trick, hopefully tomorrow morning I will feel better for my 5 miler but we'll just have to see. I really don't want to take the whole week off from running, mainly because I still have an obsession with burning a certain amount of calories a day (I know, I know!). I've reached 106.3 miles for September, that is 3.3 miles more than August so if I don't run tomorrow I am fine with that. Had I ran the 9 miles today, that would have put me at 115.3 miles and then tomorrow would have set me to 120.3 so maybe my body was warning me that the jump was too much and I needed to slow it down a bit. Hopefully, just hopefully I will get to feeling better before Saturday's race as I would hate, really really hate to have to drop out of it.

A Nice Chilly 5 Miler

  Okay, it wasn't that chilly but 55 degrees feels great and it was nice and quiet. I went ahead and drank some coffee (don't ask why) before the run, then I was out the door. I think I succeeded in keeping it nice and easy, at least for the first 3 miles. It was 55 degrees with 100% humidity an elevation gain of 43 feet and a loss of 51 feet. I did 5 miles this morning, felt great except for just barely getting back to the house to use the restroom (please don't let that be the case next Saturday, though there will be plenty of port-a-potties). I ran the 5 miles in 51:23 with an average pace of 10:16 min/mile, I was feeling a little tight in my right hamstring and just a tiny little bit in my left calf but I will be sure to stretch those out and do lots of foam rolling.
Splits/laps:
Mile 1 - 10:49
Mile 2 - 10:49
Mile 3 - 10:14
Mile 4 - 9:57
Mile 5 - 9:31

   Overall not bad, mile 5 was sped up due to the urge to use the restroom. I will be sure to set my coffee maker to 3 a.m next Saturday and get up to drink a cup or two and eat something (a pumpkin spice english muffin with peanut butter and honey maybe), and then go for a 10 minute shakeout run. Depending on things, after that I might go back to sleep until 5:30 and then wake Cameron and Dorian up.
   I am definitely going to watch what I eat next week, and I'll take some pepto-bismol this Sunday before my 9 miler just to see if it helps any. Only 7 more days, 18 hours and 47 minutes until the Evansville Half Marathon!!!! Next Friday I'll be picking up my race packet!!!!

Please! No rain on October 5!! Please, Please, Please!!!

  Please don't let it rain on the morning of Saturday (October 5, 2013) between 5:00 A.M and 9:00 A.M!!! Please do not let it rain during the Evansville Half Marathon in Evansville, Indiana!!!! Running a 5k in rain, I can deal with but I don't think I can handle rain during 13.1 miles............ unless it's just sprinkles. Please oh please oh please oh please oh please don't let it rain during the Evansville Half Marathon this year!!!!
   Only 8 more days, 5 hours and 30 minutes until the Evansville Half Marathon!!!

A humid but great 6 mile Progression Run

  This morning was humid, even with 64 degrees I could feel the air trying to suffocate me. I was out the door just before 5:40 this morning, and started out at a steady pace with no real plans of trying to go fast. It was 64 degrees and 100% humidity, I think it had just finished raining but it was still muggy. Overall it was a good run, I felt that after mile 2 I was putting out a lot of effort, right around mile 4 I had to jump in a cornfield though..... this time I didn't use any cornstalk leaves. I ran 6.01 miles in 56:15  and an elevation gain of 101 feet and a loss of 99 feet, with 2 stops due to trying to catch my breath and wondering if I was going to get somewhere in time to use the bathroom. Average pace was 9:22 min/mile, the last mile was a 7:51 min/mile which is awesome though I am kind of wishing I had kept up for another .2 miles as it was showing me as fast as a 6:15 min/mile pace. I've got all winter to push myself and get faster though :)
Splits/laps were:
Mile 1 - 10:56
Mile 2 - 10:20
Mile 3 - 9:19
Mile 4 - 9:12
Mile 5 - 8:34
Mile 6 - 7:51

     This was definitely a great progression run, even with the pitstop just after mile 4.

A Decent Recovery Run after a Horrible Long Run

  This morning I got out the door around 5:30, almost didn't want to go just because I wanted to stay in bed, my left quadricep was sore and tight so I wondered if it would be best to wait until this evening. A crisp 54 degrees with clear skies met me at the door, even in shorts and a t-shirt it wasn't awful though...... cold at first. My sore legs didn't really bother me thankfully, though I wondered if I should cut the 5 miles to 4, I kept going though. I did my best to take it easy, as this is a recovery run..... but the crisp temperatures always seem to have me wanting to run faster. I ended up with 5.1 miles in 54:35 with an average pace of 10:42 min/mile, not bad and a good slowish run with an elevation gain of 105 feet and a loss of 102 feet, which is strange as I didn't feel like there were many hills. This run was a lot better than yesterday morning's run, I just wish I knew what caused yesterday's 12 miler to be so crappy.
Splits/laps were:
Mile 1 - 11:00
Mile 2 - 11:11
Mile 3 - 10:42
Mile 4 - 10:27
Mile 5 - 10:14
.1      - 10:14

My 12 Mile Long Run

  So I decided to go ahead and run 12 miles instead of 11 before I begin my taper, before I go further I will be honest and say I made 4 stops due to bowel issues and 3 other stops just to rest as my stomach was knotting up and just giving me hell. The first 6 miles was great, even with the road that I normally avoid because of all of it's hills, I felt great on it until just after mile 6........
  Back to the beginning, I got up at 5, didn't eat anything and was out the door by 5:20 this morning. It was around 50 degrees, 90% humidity but it felt great, the moon as shining bright and the sky was clear..... it was an amazing start for a run. I ran past the gas station expecting to go to the bathroom, but nothing was moving down there so I kept on. Even with the hills on Russell Road, the road that I used avoid due to fear of the hills, it was great and I felt strong. It wasn't until just after mile 6 that things began to go down hill, I had to stop and go into some woods, after that I seemed fine up until just after mile 8 when I had to literally race to a cornfield. I was mad, my stomach was beginning to tie itself up in knots and I was feeling sick but I kept going. I stopped a couple of times, hoping my stomach would settle but no such luck. I stopped two more times because of my bowels, I was angry to say the least. By mile 10, I was wore out from my body's activities but I pushed on telling myself I only had 2 more miles to go. I finished the 12 miles in 1:55:35 (I did stop my garmin each time I had to stop, otherwise it would probably have been 2:30:00 instead), with an average pace of 9:38 min/mile and an elevation gain of 370 feet, and 381 feet of loss which is weird as I added more hills than last weekend's 11 mile run that was like 400 something feet. Anyways, I am glad it is over, as I feel sick and stuff so hopefully some rest, stretching and foam rolling (and eating) will help me.
Laps/Splits were:
Mile 1 - 10:50
Mile 2 - 10:32
Mile 3 - 10:03
Mile 4 - 9:52
Mile 5 - 9:28
Mile 6 - 9:21
Mile 7 - 9:28
Mile 8 - 9:27
Mile 9 - 9:04
Mile 10 - 9:29
Mile 11 - 9:23
Mile 12 - 8:36

    This run would have been PERFECT if it wasn't for my stomach and bowels, heck even my legs were feeling pretty good. I am just hoping the race doesn't go like today did :(