on the 7th day, she wrote

today marked my 7th day in a row of running. yep, count it. it appears in the last 7 days, i have run just over 36 miles. again, this is on a ROLLING 7 days, not weekly. and to tell you the truth, i feel pretty good. i’m surprised, actually. i think i may be feeling the way i do because the routes and terrain have been mixed. some flat, some hills, some treadmill and of course, some HEAT/HUMIDITY & come cooler temps (thankfully) The variety helps by using different muscle groups and i could definitely feel the difference coming back home after running in Austin for 3 days in a row. I felt so much faster! it’s definitely nice to have run so many consecutive days in a row and feel good, mentally & physically.
Coach has put 14 miles (TRAIL) on my schedule for one of my runs this weekend. I have decided to go ahead and run a 15K trail race.
The race location is about 30-45 minutes south of atlanta. I emailed my coach to make sure this was a good idea to run the race and then continue on with another 5 miles. He agreed and said that since i would be probably be running the 15k faster than normal, i could consider the 5 miles a “cooldown”.
COOLDOWN? 5 miles?? Maybe for him and his 100 mile race self. Me..i will be slugging along, i’m sure.
Cracked me up!

Hope everyone is out there tearin’ it up!!

sweating and soaking

Spent the extended weekend in Austin, TX where temperatures were in the high 90’s with high humidity everyday. I was not quite ready for this kind of weather as I have yet to see this in Atlanta so far this year.

Um…it made for interesting runs through the capital city. INTERESTING & TOUGH. 

Friday-suffered thru 4 miles in the middle of the afternoon with 95 degree dry heat. The intermittent breeze just seemed to make it worse as it seemed as though the heat was shoved down my throat..leaving me gasping for sips of my water that had quickly gone from ice cubes to hot liquid. Maybe I should have taken a que as I saw NO other runners on my jaunt!

Saturday-left to go run at about 8am. Drank some very crappy hotel coffee and a Balance bare bar. Not very good planning for this run. Wanted to do 8-10. Legs/quads very tired. 78-80 degrees at start w/ high humidity. Ran thru Univ of Texas and beyond. Passed along side the huge UT stadium and wished I could have gone inside and ran some stadiums. Most of the route was in full sunshine as trees are not in abundance as they are in Atlanta.  6.25 Miles

Sunday – (pre-run) at 7amish. Sitting on the fold out bed in the hotel room. More CRAPPY coffee, water and Clif bar in hand. I looked out the window and thought: the road to the 50 is out there. (post-run) Managed only 8.25 miles. Wanted to go 12. Just not happening. I had no fuel. Bad planning on my part. I looked and looked for gels yesterday, but found none. While running, I remembered that we were right across the street from REI and it didn’t even dawn on me to go inside for gels. DUH! Man, i was not happy with myself for not being better prepared. On the positive side, I ran every day and got in as many miles as I could. I might have done more if I wimped out and went on gym treadmill, but I DIDN’T! Sunday’s run was more scenic as I ventured into west austin and into some neighborhoods. Also, there was a big Triathlon on Sunday and I got to see the start as swimmers packed into Town Lake and then when I finished my run, I saw the cyclists and then the front runners as they were right near my hotel. Pretty cool, especially seeing the front running men. Man, they are so freakin’ FIT. Amazing and strong.

Late sunday night, I soaked in the hot tub and wondered why the hell I hadn’t done it on Friday/Saturday too. oh well.

RECAP

May 25: 8.25 miles

May 24: 6.25 miles

May 23: 4 miles

May 21:  4 miles

May 20: 6.5 miles/treadmill

Week Total = 29

 

 

 

 

burning up…

headed to Austin in a couple of hours for long weekend. meeting friends from SF for fun, sun, and running. temps today & thru weekend are gonna be 95-100+. ouch. 

no excuses. remember.

cheers!

i’m tired. no doubt about it.

keep chugging..

over 30

I finally made a weekly totally over 30. 30.5 to be exact.

the last bit were:

May 17: 6 miles/1:00:32/10:05 pace

May 18: 10.5 miles/1:46:46/10:10 pace

Last time i was over 30 miles/week was October last year. 

I’m climbing…

 

saved by the rain

As you can see i’m still “toying” around with the site and trying to figure out what i like…i think this one just might stick for a while. the other one was cool, but i was not able to add links…

The training: AHHH…THE TRAINING…

Well, it’s been a mixed few days. On the positive side, I spoke to my coach for the first time by telephone on MONDAY and that was COOL. All of our communication thus far has been via email. He is amazing and damn inspiring! Tuesday was good, Wednesday not so much and today, Thursday, was back to good. I’m not sure what is all going on with me but I am definitely in some kind of a funk. Emotionally. Mentally. and Physically not feeling quite right. Not sickness as in illness…but something is up, i just don’t know what! I’m trying to be patient and try not to hammer away too hard at myself. It has rained all day today here in ATLANTA…not cold or heavy rain…but cool and steady. I ran in the rain. It was terrific. I made me happy. I ran through puddles and even got splashed from some passing cars. I only saw one other runner on my 5+ adventure. I guess everyone else just wimped out!  🙂

May 13: 6 miles/57:40/9:36 pace – treadmill

May 14: 2.6 miles– EEK

May 15: 5.4 miles/52:19/9:41 pace – outside/rain/hills

 

 

Og

Never neglect the little things. Never skimp on that extra effort, that additional few minutes, that soft word of praise or thanks, that delivery of the very best that you can do. It does not matter what others think, it is of prime importance, however, what you think about you. You can never do your best, which should always be your trademark, if you are cutting corners and shirking responsibilities. You are special. Act it. Never neglect the little things.”

-Og Mandino

Fri, Sat, Sun

May 9: 5 mile hike

May 10: 5 mile trail run w/ 5 lb (at least) backpack – hilly & slow! but beautiful, refreshing, and FREE-ING!

May 11: 7:58 miles/1:15:49/10:00 pace

WEEK TOTAL: 29 and change

The hike and trail run i did was up in the North GA mountains. I was there on a day which luckily was the one day in did not rain in that particular area. Was gorgeous. SOOOO nice to get out of the city and be immersed in nature. When I did my trail run, i had my pack on and truly felt so independent and self-sufficient. 

Hope all had some good training in this weekend. 

tues, wed, thurs

May 6: 6 miles/1:00:52/10:09 pace – all hills, outside

May 7: 6.50 miles/1:03:20/9:44 pace –  treadmill

May 8: 4.25 miles/40:36/9:33 pace – roads/mixed

 

Tonight’s run was followed by the 2nd massage in as many weeks. I’ve found a new massage therapist I really like. She has healed aches that have been around for at least a month! YEAH.

Earlier this week, coach wrote: “keep getting massage. sometimes all the muscles need is love”

Too TRUE!!!

 

Cheers!

hmmm baby

today was my longest run of the week and oddly enough, the run that felt the best. why is that? was it because i broke down and used extra gas to go to the SILVER COMET TRAIL. As i have mentioned many times before, going there is like visiting an old friend. i feel like we know each other and no matter what time has passed since we last saw one another, the door is always open and i feel comfortable. and today, in the late morning of a spectacular spring day, i was grateful for the shade provided by the lushness on the trail. this could be one of the reasons why today felt good.
or maybe i was just simply due for a good feeling kinda run. i don’t care for knowing the reason, i’m just glad it was there. the lesson keeps repeating itself…for as i have time when the run hurts and is sluggish/painful…there are those other days where it feels like i am in a strong goove and i’m just kinda humming along.

May 4: 9.2 miles/1:32:30/10:03 pace