Hard one

Wednesday's goal was 16 x 400 at 2 minute pace with 2 minutes rest. Yuck. It started as a dark, scary morning at the track. I really don't like running around the track in the dark. I don't know what I think is going to jump out and get me, but I just don't like it. I didn't really enjoy the run either. It was humid and rainy. I could hear the rain hitting the track more than I could feel it. This week I had to run 2 more 400s than last week. I had to play a lot of mind games with myself to keep myself positive and complete the run. The whole workout was intense and left me pretty exhausted. I went to bed really early last night and was asleep in less than 5 minutes. I didn't set the alarm, but somehow I woke up at 6:30 and got us out the door for a 30 minute run this morning.

Hot week

Monday's run got moved to today because I thought my legs needed an extra day to recover from the 15 mile run on Saturday. About 24 hours after the long run my right ankle got really sore and felt like it should have been swollen. I took some ibuprofen and it was better by Monday afternoon. My quads are still sore, so I'm not sure if I am doing something wrong with my training. Saturday's run was 2 miles and 20 minutes longer than I had ever run before. Maybe I didn't eat enough carbs post-run to help me adequately recover. I really didn't have much of an appetite Saturday. My average time per mile was a little faster than the goal of 10:45-11:10, so maybe that contributed as well.

This morning was very humid and foggy. It was very hard to breath during my run. Usually I can carry-on somewhat of a conversation with Craig, but this morning was difficult. The heat index is supposed to be pretty high this week, so I will definitely have to run early to survive this week.

15 miles

Before 15 miles kicked my butt!

Heritage Trail

This is the pavement where I stretched after my run. I was soaked! I left my mark on the pavement. Yes...that is my butt and back sweat print! GROSS!

We ran at the Heritage Trail again this week. We started before 7:30 this morning, but it still wasn't early enough. The run took 2:39, so around the end it was getting pretty warm. I used an energy gel diluted in my water. It was strawberry-banana flavored - it tasted pretty good and I think it worked pretty well.

The Heritage Trail runs behind Rose Hulman and next to their football field. The Colts are there practicing right now. There were a lot of people on the trail walking to the field. We saw the team on the field and I saw one player walk out of the port-a-potty!! There were two players riding their bikes on the trail before practice started. One of them was Jeff Saturday and the other was "a very big man" according to Craig!

Level up

Wow, Wednesday's run was not easy. I did 14 x 400 at 2 minute pace with 2 minutes rest in between. It was an early morning to get all this accomplished, but it was beautiful out. The storm we had really broke the heat and humidity. It has been a long time since my legs have felt that hollow and exhausted. It brought back memories of cross country practice where we had to do laps around the outside of the track and bleachers. Part of the lap included running through thick gravel, where you feel like you are working twice as hard and still not making any forward progress. That is what my legs felt like on the 13th lap.

I am starting to think that my training has been taken up a level. Wednesday was tough and all the long endurance runs from this point on will be distances that I have never ran before. I ordered my fuel belt on Tuesday, but I doubt it arrives before Saturday.

Tonight was a nice night for a short 30 minute run. I wish this weather could last the rest of the summer.

Storm

I didn't realize how bad the storm was that we had last night until I went out for my run this morning. I was woken up last night when hail was hitting our bedroom window, but I just went back to sleep. I told Craig to stay in bed this morning because I could see that there were some trees down behind us and lots of debris scattered everywhere. I knew that it probably wouldn't be much fun to ride his bike around all the sticks and debris.

I started running my usual route, but had to change direction about a block from our house. There was a tree down in the road, which I thought would be fun to climb through, but I decided that probably wasn't the safest idea.

The run went well. This was my 40 minute run that got pushed back a day. It ended up being much nicer this morning compared to yesterday. The temperature was much lower, but there was still some humidity in the air. Plus I probably got a little extra work-out jumping over sticks and dodging puddles.

Thursday through Saturday

Looks like I need to do some updating! This has been a busy week!
Thursday: Morning's 30 minute run went well. Craig rode with me and we have a pretty good route that works well with little traffic and nice shady roads. My bites around my ankle were still itchy and painful. I ALMOST used it as an excuse to stay in bed, but Craig helped push me out of bed.

Friday: I changed my hour long massage to a half hour appointment because my bites prevented me from getting my legs massaged. That meant Craig got the other half hour and experienced his first massage! Also, I have managed to get poison ivy on my right hand and forearm. She did an awesome job concentrating on my back and shoulders. She also took some time to stretch my legs.
We took a trip to Indy in search of a belt that holds water for my runs. However, we were disappointed to find that Dick's Sporting Goods only had one brand and I thought it was too bulky and the bottles were too big. I will have to keep looking around. I did find a cute visor, Under Armour, of course.

Saturday: We were up late last night visiting with family so this morning didn't start as early as it should have. This turned out to be a very bad thing because by the end of my run around 11:30 it was 85 degrees, with the sun out, and high humidity. We drove to Terre Haute and ran on the Heritage Trail. It is a wide, paved trail that runs behind Rose Hulman and next to Hawthorne Park. According to the information we found, the trail length is 5.8 miles. However, the part of the trail that doesn't cross major roads is slightly more than 3 miles. So we ran down and then did a little excursion through Hawthorne park and ran back. The trail was pretty heavily traveled by bikers, runners, and even a few rollerblading! The goal for today was 8 miles at 10:45 to 11:10 pace, but by the time we made it back to the car we were about 0.3 miles short. I decided that ok due to the heat and humidity! I'm still disappointed because this is the first time I haven't met my goal. My average pace was 10:43. I know for next time; get my lazy butt out of bed earlier!

Itchy running

I rearranged my running schedule a little this week. I moved my run at the track to Tuesday morning instead of Wednesday. Each day is getting warmer and warmer this week! I had the pleasure of running with the JV cheerleaders! The goal was 6x400 at 2 minute pace with 2 minutes rest. This is a slightly faster pace than the past 4 weeks. The run went well exept that I was itching! I worked in the yard on Sunday and apparently got some chigger bites on my ankles and knees. As I started running, they started itching and then by the third lap, they were hurting. I really irritated them and now they are huge and disgusting. My biggest concern is hoping they heal enough so that I can still get my massage scheduled for Friday!