7-21-07 - Road to Recovery

I decided to start to back down my miles for the coming week to recover a little. I had been looking forward to an 8 mile run today, but I didn't think that I realistically had 8 miles in me - given the feel of the last few runs. Instead, I opted to just run 3 miles back at my original location (at the dam, starting from the 'Start' line). The run was pretty good. I didn't push myself harder just because it was a shorter run, I tried to relax, and just enjoy the music and the scenery - get back into the recreational aspect. The hill between 1.25 miles and 1.5 miles (at the turnaround) is still pretty brutal, but at the top of it, I get to turn around and roll right back down it. My thighs have been feeling horrible during the last few runs, and the hurt a little today as well, but the shorter run didn't make them feel abused like the have been feeling. We didn't get out to run as early as we would have liked (stayed up to late Friday night), so when we got out, it was pretty hot and humid - not murderous, but still tough.

I told Steph that I may just run with her next week. She is on her final week of C25K, and next week is 30 minute runs for her. Shorter runs will be a good recovery week, then I can get back into the swing of things - hopefully with renewed legs!!!

BTW: I'm actually posting this on Sunday night - haven't had time to complete the post since Saturday. Given the choice between running or blogging - I chose to run!

I appreciate the comments some of you left on my 7-20-07 post. To be honest, I didn't think ANYONE was reading this blog, except for my wife, and family in Columbus, GA. The thoughts of support are greatly appreciated. I'm assuming that I was found on the Running Family Blog Directory.

Also, I am now registered for the Midnight Express. They finally opened up registration, and I took care of it Sat afternoon after my run. This will be a chip race (my first), so I get to do something new during this race. Me and Steph drove around the route (entire race is run through some neighborhoods) after I registered and got a map. I had forgotten that the race route takes me past my old Jr. High School (Richard's Warriors) - it has fallen into severe disrepair, but time marches on, I guess.

7-20-07 Another Hard run

It was another hard run today - my legs (thighs) just felt like someone had been kicking them all day. I think it's time to re-evaluate my training regimen. I've been working towards getting up to 30 miles a week, and my progression has been pretty steady. I've been following a 5%-10% increase trend, as this seems to be the accepted rate to avoid injury and burnout. However, I've not really taken any 'rest' weeks. I've read that during base building, that a runner should back down the miles and take a lite/easy week every 3-4 weeks. Looking back at my mileage sheet, I can see that I've had some weeks that I didn't complete the mileage (usually due to conflicts in schedule), but I usually worked harder/went longer on the days I didn't miss, trying to make up for lost training days. I think next week I'll back down to no more than 4 miles a day, probably a good bit less. I may run with Steph again - she should be up to 30 minute runs next week, I think.

I think I'll go put some SportsCream on my thighs since their still a little sore.

I've also decided to abort my 8 mile run tomorrow. Given the difficulty I've had over the past few days, I don't think I'd enjoy it, and if I was able to complete it, I'm not convinced it wouldn't be at a greater long term price. I'm on nobody's schedule but my own, so I'll just wait a little longer to get to 10 mile Saturday runs.

7-19-07 Lead legs

Late post:

We ran about 7pm last night after it had cooled down. I think my lunch did me no good this afternoon. A lady from church sent home homemade enchiladas from a meeting on Tuesday night - I had it for lunch, and it was NOT a good decision. I was scheduled to run 6 miles, but they drug on for a while. It wasn't overly hot, but it was humid, but my legs felt like they were made of lead - no snap at all.

I tried to make an effort to slow down a lot, so that I could make the distance - after the hard run last night, I'm a little concerned about the 8 miler on Saturday. Hopefully Friday night will be better.

7-17-07 Hot, Hot, Hot and rushed

This qualifies as a bad run night for me. I was scheduled to run 4 miles (which was supposed to be good, since we had plans at the church @ 7pm). I knew I'd have to rush home, change, and head to the dam with Steph. But Murphy intervened - I got called into a conference call @ 5 (which, luckily went quickly), and got home about 30 minutes late. Trying to run and shower and be someplace before 7 was going to be tough (especially since we don't usually run until after 7). We got to the park about 5:40, and it was still blazing...very little shade, almost no breeze, and the dam was not generating (e.g. - no mist in the air).

Steph said she had to run 28 minutes (+ 1o minutes for warm up and cool down) for 38 minutes of total time. I reasoned that I could do 4 miles @ 10 minute/mile pace, and we'd be finished at the same time, then we'd stretch and go home. The heat was BRUTAL!!! I did the first mile @ 9:50, the second @ 9:55, the third @ 9:50, and I used up all I had - I couldn't finish the 4th mile in the heat - it was killing me. I elected to walk the last half mile, and not die of a heat stroke. This, of course, threw the schedule more out of whack.


In short, I had to cut short (WHICH I HATE WITH A PASSION). I console myself with the fact that I've gone a little longer than planned on several of my recent runs. I get to go for 8 miles on Saturday - looking forward to that, but still trying to decide where to run it.

7-16-07 LATE RUN!

We just got in and got cleaned up from the run tonight (@ 10pm). We got a late start, and I decided to run long tonight because tomorrow night, I'll have to run short. I ended up running 7.1 miles, and it felt pretty good. I need to ice my thighs and my left foot ( I had a little pain in it about half way through the).

Strange meetings on the road, tho. I think I saw the CEO of my company out running on the dam road before I got started tonight, and I also saw a couple of deer staring at me on my return trip - good nightly run, even if it was a little late and long.

The route is posted below.



http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1144476

7-14-07

Interesting, but late run tonight. We went to dinner and a movie, so we got back late, and ran late. We decided to run in the downtown area tonight because of the street lights(there is not lighting at the dam park). We didn't start running until 8:30 pm, so it started to get dark almost immediately after we started.

I was supposed to go six miles today, but due to starting late, I decided to only run four. It was very humid, and by the end of 4 miles, my shirt weighed as much as a dumbbell. I kind of anticipated some problems tonight because me left foot has been bothering me a little. I cramped last night ( a little), and my left calf has been a little tight all day. But once I started running tonight, all of the little aches evaporated. I also thought since I'd run 6 miles for the last two night, that my legs might rebel, so the 4 mile short run was probably a good break. I'm icing my foot right now (rolling it on a frozen water bottle on the floor), to try and ease the discomfort in it.

7-13-07 (Friday the 13th)

Tonight was kind of hard. I was scheduled for 6 miles - which I completed, and a little more, but it was still pretty hard. We waited until later in the evening again so it would be cooler, and we ran the dam route backwards again, starting at the West Point entrance. I'm liking the reverse route just because it gives a nice flat area to coast on for about 2 1/2 miles in the middle of the route, and the beginning and end are the hills. I was determined to finish 6 tonight, but at about mile 3, my legs felt like lead - there was just no snap in them at all. I pushed on through and by about mile 4 or 5 things had gotten better. I even wound up doing about a 1/4 mile more to meet up with Steph.

She was doing a 25 minute nonstop run ( with 5 minute warm-up and cool-down walks), and instead of turning around at th 13 minute mark, she just ran on to see how far she would get in 25 minutes, then she'd walk back while I was returning. We crossed paths on my return trip, at about my 3.25 marker. When I got to the end, I knew she was still a good bit behind me, so I ran by the Jeep, picked up our Gatorade bottles, and started running back again - figuring that I'd meet her, let her have her Gatorade, and we'd walk back together. Great plan, but she walks faster than me - so I met her, gave her drink to her, and started walking back, but she was pacing much faster than me, so I let her go and took a nice slow cool-down walk.


All total - I ran about 6 1/4 miles. I don't have exact times (still not wearing my watch), but I saw Steph stop running when I was at about the 3.25 mark - this equals 35 minutes (her 5 minute warm up walk, and 25 minutes of walking). So I ran my first 3 miles about about 10:30 per mile (very rough estimate) - and it FELT like the last 3 miles went faster.

Another 6 mile run scheduled for Sat Night.