9-7-07

It was a pretty uneventful run tonight. I ran 5 miles - figuring I should run less than 6 tonight, so I can run longer on Sat evening. I stayed off of the trails tonight to give my ankles some relief - I think I need to leave the trails to only once a week since the distance is the same either way. I did feel a little worn around mile 3.5, but I think that may have been due to not having enough to eat (or maybe not the right things) earlier in the day. I should probably start tracking the quality of my runs against my diet and see if there are any noticeable patterns. Also my MP3 player died over a mile from the end of the run, so I had to listen to my footsteps and breathing for a little over a mile. I don't see how people run without tunes and not go out of their heads.

9-6-07 Finally cooling off

It's finally getting cool enough that running is not a invitation to a heat stroke. When I got home last night, it was cool enough that I could have left right then to go run. However, I had to attend to some home duties first, and I finally left about 7pm. The sun was lower ( I didn't even need sunglasses), and there was a very slight breeze. I ran with Steph for the first 1.25 miles, then I peeled off into the woods to run the trails for the first half. The trails are fun and very challenging. I'm going to have to be conservative with running the trails because it's hard on my ankles, and my shoes are road shoes, not trail runners - they are a little short on ankle support for the extremely uneven terrain. From the start line to the end of the trails is 4 miles, and from there up to the West Point entrance and back via the boat ramp is another 4 miles. When I took off, I'd planned on doing at least 6 and hopefully stretching to 8.

The run felt good, especially starting directly to the trails after the start-off with Steph. The hills on the trails are a real challenge (both the ups and downs), and by the time I got to the end of the trails (the softball field) I was tired, but wanted to keep going. I took the blacktop all the way back, but I missed my 1st turn to the boat ramp. I took the second turn, but this led me away from the end of the course, and added another .7 miles to the route. I felt myself speed up considerably during the last mile.

Total distance was 8.7 miles - a good longer run. I'll only do 5 miles on Friday, and try to go longer on Sat morning.

I'm working on a schedule that will allow me to incorporate weight training - I still need to loose a little fat around the middle, and I also need to work on stabilizing my knees a little to prevent injuries as my distances increase. So far I've come up with this:

Monday - 6 miles
Tuesday - 1 - 1.5 mile warmup, then weights (lower body workout)
Wed - 3 miles before work (UGGHHH)
Thursday - 1 mile warmup, then weights (upper body workout)
Friday - 6 miles
Saturday - 10 miles
Sunday - 5 miles

This increases my work(out) week, but it still allows me to run for 4 days (actual runs, not just warmups). It also gets me to my goal of 30 mpw (not counting the warmup runs), and starts me running in the morning a little bit. I figure I'll work in about 2 or 3 speed workouts/hills per month - maybe on my Sunday runs. It's still a work in progress - I've got to get my gym membership first, and then work in some swimming, too (Triathalon - here I come).

9-4-07

Shorter run than I expected to do last night. I was planning on 6 miles, but we got out later than I wanted because we had a contractor at the house. When we finally got out to the dam, the sun was going down and it set pretty quickly. I decided to run back with Steph, so she wasn't running alone in the dark, and I was going to double back for an additional 2 miles. However, at about mile 3, I got kind of queasy, I got the shakes a little and everything felt like noodles - so I just stopped at 4 miles with Steph. I think it was due to the having eaten fish just a couple of hours beforehand.

Rest on Wednesday, and if the temp permits, I want to run long on Thursday