Week of 06-18-07:

I felt pretty good on Monday considering I just ran the most miles I have run in quote some time. I was a little tired but as the day went on I started getting that "strong" feeling in my legs. I have to say I haven't felt like that in quite a while and it feels good! Tues- Thurs runs were at lunch time where the temps were in the mid 80's but the humidity was low which made it perfect for running. I have a new friend that I see about 2 times a week at the greenway as well. There is a beautiful hawk that has taken up close to the main trail I run out and as I am coming up thte trail he (or she) will take flight and swoop through the trail until it shoots up through an opening and in to the sky. Pretty cool!



Tuesday I went to the greenway at lunch and ran my 6 mile course. I am getting to where I can just tune out and run. I haven't been able to do that in a while. I am always concerned with what pace I am running or trying to get somewhere. Starting about a week ago I hit a zone where I just run, and am enjoying it. Even though I am not really concerned with overall pace right now, I am doing some fast finish runs where I speed up the last mile or so. I did this on Tuesday's run and it felt pretty good. For a minute I thought maybe I started the fast pace a little too early but as I got in to the last .25 mile I was able to hold it pretty good.



Wed- just went out for a nice 6 mile run at general pace. Felt really good.



Thurs- Ran my 6 mile course again. When I started out my hamstrings and "rear end" muscles were very tight. I guess I haven't really been stretching like I need to and I was feeling it. Finally after about 3 miles I started to loosen up pretty good and get my stride stretched out a little.


Fri- rest day

Sat- Got up early and headed out to Stone Mountain for my 12 miles run. It was 67 degrees when I started and I was actually a little chilly- funny how fast I got used to the heat. Of course it take me long to not be chilly- like 30 steps or so. The run went very well. There was a group pf 3 runners in front of me on the second loop that I kind of followed and it really helped pull me up some of the hills. Then for my last mile I kicked it in and hit pretty close to marathon pace. It was just one mile but it actually felt good.
That afternoon I sanded my deck with a hand sander getting to ready to refinish then cut the grass. Even after the running and working in the hot sun all day I felt pretty good. The heat isn't affecting me this year like it did the last couple of years.

Sun- woke up with very sore hamstrings- I guess from the stooping and squating down while sanding the deck. I didn't know how the run would got today due to the soreness. After church and lunch I laid down for a quick nap, then it was out in the 95 degree sun to run 6 miles. The run was pretty slow starting off while my legs loosened up whcih was ate about 1.5 miles. The rest of the run felt good and I finished with no problems.

Summary:
Mon- No miles
Tues- 6 miles
Wed- 6 miles
Thurs- 6 miles
Fri- rest day
Sat- 12 miles
Sun- 6 miles

Total- 36

Week of 06-11-2007:
I was hoping to go in to this week feeling better than I felt ending last week. Even though my miles were lower last week and the temptation was there to run on Monday I stuck with the plan to have Monday and Friday as rest days. I may loosen up on the Monday rest day if I know there is something that I am doing later in the week and need to change days or if I decide to add another run in the week.
I ran my 6 mile trail run at lunch Tues - Thurs and each day it got better and better. Tuesday was pretty good but I still hit some patches where I felt really tired and had little energy. Then came the Wed. and Thurs runs. One word can some these runs up- Awesome!! Everything clicked, everything felt good!
Friday was a rest day, then went in to the weekend. I slept in Saturday and then went to Stone Mountain for a 12 mile run. The temp rose 13 degrees during my run and I felt it. I have a set of hills that used to get the better of me that I tried not to (and didn't) walk on one time while training for ING Georgia. I really wanted to keep that streak alive but with the heat and the hills that hit during mile 11 I walked up the last hill. I think physically I could have run it, it would have been slow but I think I could have, but I lost it mentally and that is when I walked. Oh well, time to start another streak of runs where I don't walk up that last hill.
I went home and worked in the yard for about 3 hours. I think I over did in the sun today. I had zero energy the rest of the day and evening.
Sunday was a great day. Glenn brought my Father's Day present into the room and gave it to me. I think it is one of, if not my favorite gifts ever. He and Kathy had gone to a pottery shop and written on and painted a coffee cup for me. I love it!
After church I went out in the 90* temp for a 6 mile run. I treated it as a recovery run and tried to run very slowly to make sure I got the full run in. It turned out to be very slow but a good run.

Summary:
Mon- No run
Tues- 6 miles
Wed- 6 miles
Thurs- 6 miles
Fri- Rest day
Sat- 12 miles
Sun- 6 miles

Total- 36 miles

Week of 06-04-07:
Glenn came home from school on Monday evening not feeling well and was running a temp of 102, which went up to 103 by Mon night. Kathy stayed home with him on Tuesday and by mid day his temp was gone and he was full blast- must have been some kind of 24 hr virus.

This week started off great and the good runs continued.... for Tuesday at least. Had a nice 6 mile run at lunch in 86* temps. It felt good to get out and push it for a bit in the middle of the day.
On Wed., I started out for another 6 mile run at lunch but just didn't feel right. I didn't have the normal energy that I had been having in my runs and just figured I was tired. I finished the run but had stopped 3 different times during my to rest for a second. That afternoon at the office my head started hurting badly, my ankles and knees ached, and I felt like I had a fever. I thought I had really pushed it too hard in the 88* degree heat I ran in at lunch. Got home from work and took my temp and it was 101.5. Two hrs later took it again and it was 103.5. I guess I caught whatever Glenn had. Thurs my temp fluctuated between 100 and 103. I had no energy at all and just felt wierd. My fever was gone by Thurs night so it was back to work on Friday even though I still didn't feel exactly right.
I was hoping to get back out on Saturday for at least a 10 miler. I woke up early but really didn't think I could do 10 miles and figured the extra sleep would do me good. I ended up going out at 12 noon for a run. Was going to do 6 or so but when I got to 3 my body told me it was done. Glenn wanted to go running with me but I told him that it was too hot. There was a local 5K that evening that I told him I would take him to if he would just wait. Of course he didn't want to wait but he had too. I decided that after running only 3 miles that day that it probably wouldn't hurt to jog the race with Glenn in his running stroller, so I told him we would run the race instead of watching it. It was 90* but I figured a jog/walk would be ok.
We lined up in the very back so I could walk if I needed to and not be in any one's way with the running stroller. We took off and he was having a ball with the runners around us. I ended up passing alot of people on the outside of the course until we settled in to a comfortable pace. Glenn and I ended up running and chatting with a guy and his wife until his wife dropped back a bit and just the boys ran together for the rest of the race. Glenn was waving and talking to the people along the course and having fun. At about the 2.8 mile mark Patrick (the guy running with us) took off and sprinted in to the finish. As he did, Glenn said "go daddy, we can catch him." I just laughed and said "maybe later in another race." I had run comfortably til this point and didn't want to over do it in the 90* temp and still not feeling exactly right.
We did pass a few people in the final .3 miles but it was because they were slowing or walking, not because we sped up.
We finished our 5K in 81st place-
Splits were:
mile 1- 9.31
mile 2- 8.55
mile 3- 8.59
.1 - .53
Total -28:20

Unfortunately Kathy started feeling bad during the day and had caught what Glenn and I had so she wasn't able to go to the race with us.

Sunday- went out after church and wanted to run 6-8 miles but again cut it short due to the heat and not feeling like my legs were quite under me yet. I ended up running 3.1 and calling it quits and looking forward to a better upcoming week!!

Weekly recap-
Mon- No run
Tues- 6 miles
Wed- 6 miles
Thurs- No run
Fri- No run
Sat- total of 6.1 miles
Sun- 3.1 miles

Total- 21.2 miles

Week of 05-28-07

Another good week. I bumped up a mile here and there to try to get to 35 miles for the week and came up 1 short. I was on schedule until my last run of the week when I cut it the run 1 mile short. The temp gauge read 86 degrees and I felt it! I did good until about 4.5 miles and then just bonked. That's fine for now- I feel great about the progess I am making in base building and hope it continues.
For 3-4 weeks now I have been having trouble with my lower right leg on the inside of shin just above my ankle. I am hoping I strained it some how and it will heal soon. It only hurts every once in a while when I step just right and the weight in on the inside of leg. I have started taking Calcium again which I had stopped about 3-4 months ago when I ran out. A side effect of this is I have started trying to make sure the weight is on the outside of my foot when I run and I am having problems with me soleus muscle and/or achilles.

Monday, Memorial Day, was a rest day. We stayed at the lake until that evening- nice relaxing day.

Tuesday- 5 miles at lunch at the greenway. I was pretty sore from skiing on Sat. It had to be comical to watch me for the first 100 yards or so of my run.

Wed- I wore my gps today as I wanted to add a little more to my run and see what I needed to do to get 6 miles in on the trails at the greenway. It worked out perfectly to add 1 of the other trails and put me right at 6 miles at the parking lot. I now have a 4 mile, 5 mile, and 6 mile route on the trails.

Thurs- I did the 6 mile course again.

Fri- rest day

Sat- 12 miles at Stone Mtn. Overall a very good run. One funny thing about this run. I saw a couple of people going out on their run that I knew was fast. I had seen 1 of them in a half marathon that I ran a little over a year ago. I was at the 1.5 mile mark of my run, they were headed in the opposite direction at about the .5 mark of their run. Fast forward to a set of hills. I was at about the 5.5 mile mark and I hear steps behind me... fast steps. The 2 guys blew past me. I guess they did the big loop which is 8+ miles the way they were going, so they were probably at the 6.5 mile mark of their run. I watched them fly up the hill in front of me- perfect form, looking like they were just gliding up the hill. It was really fun to watch.

Sun- ran 5 miles after church. Was suppoed to be 6 miles but bonked at 4.5 miles and cruised in to make it 5. May have been the 86 degree temp or may have been the increase in miles the last 2 weeks- not sure. If I would have had time I might have grabbed a bottle fo water and got a drink and gone back out for 1 more but we were going to one of our friends 50th birthday party and I needed to get home to clean up anyway. I am glad I didn't run another one though because I pretty much didn't have any energy for the rest of the day. Mentally I felt ok but physically I was drained.

Summary:
Mon- rest day
Tues- 5 miles
Wed- 6 miles
Thurs- 6 miles
Fri- rest day
Sat- 12 miles
Sun- 5 miles

Total- 34 miles