10 miles around the complex

I did the one mile loop 10 times around the complex tonight. I took 1 Endurolyte and about 1 liter of water. The weather was 66 degrees with 67% humidity at the end of the run. It didn't really feel cool but it did not feel hot at all.

It was a good run. I like to do these midweek runs with the knowing the pace. Each mile felt good and I felt like I could have run a few more miles without a problem. It's probably good I felt like that since I'll be running 20 on Saturday.

Up next: 5 treadmill miles.

Five treadmill miles

This morning I ran 5 miles on the treadmill. I ran the first two at a 10:30 pace and did intervals for the next 3 miles at a 10:00 minutes per mile pace. I had to get off the treadmill a few times to help the boy during those intervals but that's why I was doing the intervals so it worked out. I felt like going faster during the last two miles but held back since this is a high mileage week for me (50 miles). I took in 1.2 liters of water but no calories.

Up next: 10 miles around the complex tomorrow night.

12 miles (Sunday night) with the wildlife

Yesterday, I ran 12 miles around the town (above). It was 66 degrees and 63% humidity at the end of the run. I took in 1.8 liters of water and 190 calories via 2 gels (1 GU and 1 Hammer gel).

It was a decent run and I felt better as I went along. My speed was good in the lower temps but I had a low level side stitch for the first 8-9 miles that didn't help. I don't think I'm at my best running later in the day. It's much easier to run after a night to process dinner. Later in the day I'm dealing with breakfast, lunch and any snacks. For morning runs, a cup of coffee and toast seems to do the trick. If my kid ever starts sleeping all night long, I'll run early in the morning all the time.

There was much more wildlife on this evening run. I almost stepped on a well camouflage stick that turned out to be a 2-3 foot snake (around mile 6 next to the river). I saw a fox in the park and many more birds hunting bugs. I also got cat calls from three different fools in cars. I scared the daylights out of two 13 (?) year old girls trying to secretly smoke behind the clubhouse at the park when I came around the corner in the dark. They quickly tried to hide the smokes and said hello.

Up next: This week starts the max pattern of my training program. T: 5 miles, W:10 miles, Th: 5 miles, Sat: 20, Sun: 10, followed by a week of T: 5, Wed: 6, Th: 5, Sat: 12 and Sun: 6. This schedule repeats a few times before heading into a taper for the marathon.

4 treadmill miles (Saturday night)

I ran 4 miles on the treadmill yesterday once I got the boy to bed. I did a simple run of 10:30 for the first mile, 10:00 for the next two and 9:30 for the last mile. I took in 0.6 liters of water. I'll run my 12 miles outside later today or tonight after my wife gets home.

Weather update: I think we are finally headed towards fall running weather here. There are no more high's in the 90's in the 10 day forecast and in fact there is only one day forecast to be in the 80's. I am very excited. I don't mind the heat for runs shorter than a hour but the heat really affects me on longer runs. I have no idea what the cooler weather will do for my speed in longer runs. It should help but I don't know how much. One big effect should come from having to drink less water. I can't run and drink water and so I always need to walk briefly to drink. If I need to walk less, than I should see an increase in overall speed for long runs. Note: I can drink and run with my Camelbak system but I don't plan on wearing that for the marathon and so don't use it on long runs.

Cold weather does not seem to negatively affect me at all. I was in a running group in Missoula, Montana and we would run in single digit temperatures all the time and my speed was normal. As long as I don't have to cover my mouth and nose to stay warm, I love cold weather running. It's not going to get anywhere near that cold here so I have no worries about the cold weather.

9 miles around the complex (again)

Tonight I ran another 9 miles around the complex. It was 78 degrees and 67% humidity at the end of the run. I took in one Endurolyte and 1.2 liters of water. It wasn't the best run in terms of speed because I ate dinner less than an hour before heading out. This run was a bit more typical because it got easier as I went along. This may have just been because I got further away from dinner. I switched this nine mile run from the weekend to today since I will not be able to run outside on Saturday since I have the boy all day Saturday and most of Sunday.

The weekend running is a bit up in the air. I need to do a 4 mile run and a 12 mile run. I'm thinking of doing the 4 mile run on Saturday on the treadmill and then the 12 mile run Sunday night once my wife gets back from her trip. However, I don't rule out doing something tomorrow and maybe more than 4 on Saturday or just some combination of at least 16 miles over the next three days.

9 miles around the complex (yesterday)

Last night I ran the one mile loop around the complex 9 times. It was 79 degrees when I finished the the humidity was in the mid 70s. I took in 100 calories (1 GU gel) and 1.2 liters of water.

It was an odd run in that each mile felt the same. Generally I feel better after a few miles but it never got to that point. I wouldn't say it was hard but it never got easier.

Tonight I hope to run around 9 miles tonight if I can work it into the family schedule.

Odd schedule this week

I didn't run Monday as planned but also did not run yesterday. I had planned to do a 4 mile treadmill run but my three year old lost his head yesterday afternoon and the run did not happen. I am running 9 miles tonight and hopefully 9 tomorrow night. I'm not sure what will happen Friday or Saturday (likely a 4 mile treadmill run one of those days) but I'll run 12 miles when my wife gets back from her trip on Sunday night.

9.7 miles, are you crazy?

Today I ran 9.7 miles (9 scheduled). It was 82 degrees and 70% humidity at the end of the run. I took in 1.2 liters of water, 2 Endurolytes, and 190 calories in gels (1 GU and 1 Hammer). Photo: from mile 3 above.

It was a good run. It was easier at the end of the run than it was during the first few miles when I had stiff legs from yesterday. I think I could have run a few more miles today but now that I'm sitting here I can feel the miles in my legs and I'm glad I didn't.

I have to pass the county soccer fields on the way out and back in. Yesterday I saw some lady sitting in a chair on the way out and then the way back in a few hours later. She was there again today directing traffic. She asked me if I'm crazy. I just replied I'm training for a marathon. She just shook her head.

20.3 miles and live long and prosper

I was scheduled for 12 miles today and 19 miles next Saturday. However, my wife has a field trip next weekend so I reversed the order of the long runs. I woke up knowing I was going to go for 20 and not 19. This will allow me do four 20 milers before the marathon instead of three. So I'm now on a schedule of 20 miles for a long runs followed by 12 mile long runs the following weekend. After the last of the four 20 milers I start the taper towards the marathon.

It was cool at the start but ended in the low 80's and sunny. This is a vast improvement over the summer runs but still warmer than I want it for a run. I took 4 Hammer's Montana Huckleberry gels (360 calories), 5 Endurolytes, 1.9 liters of Gatorade (400 calories), and 3.0 liters of water.

I measure my runs with Runmeter an App for the Iphone. The problem today was the app shut off without me knowing it just before mile 19 because my phone battery was low. The music was still playing so I thought the app was still running. Runmeter announces every mile so I added extra distance because I thought I wasn't at 19. I needed to be at 19 before heading straight home to be sure I got to 20. After enough distance I knew something had to be wrong and found out the App shut off at mile 18.9; my phone shut off before I got home.

I passed a group of high school boys around mile 18 in the park. I figured they would yell something since I hear "run, Forest run" at least twice a month. I planned to flash them the peace sign if they did. It happened, and I heard the "run, Forest run" shout. However, after 18 miles my brain and hand came out with the "Live long and prosper" hand sign instead.

Overall: It was a good run. From the waist up I felt fine and in good shape at the end, however my legs were dead and got a good workout.

4 treadmill miles (thursday)

Ran these at a 10:30 pace as I was tired from the Wednesday run. Took in 0 calories and 0.6 liters of water.

13 total miles

I was scheduled for 9 miles today. I planned to run all 9 on the treadmill to spend the evening with wife and kid but the boy had other plans around mile 4. I ran those four between a 10:15 - 10:30 minutes per mile pace (190 calories via gels and 0.6 liters of water).

When my wife got home about an hour later, I headed outside to do next five miles around the complex. Once I got to 7 miles outside I figured it was to close to 9 miles to stop. So since I felt good and had the time, I just kept going. I didn't take my GPS iPhone but the pace was good the entire time (100 calories via a gel, 1.2 liters of water and 2 endurolytes.)

4 Treadmill miles

This morning I ran 2 miles at warmup pace starting at 10:30 per mile and working up to 10:00 per mile. I then ran a mile at 10, a half mile at 9:30 and a half at 9:00 per mile for a total of 4 miles. I did have to briefly help the boy at mile 3 but that was a quick stop to get more apple juice. I took in 0 calories and 0.6 liters of water.

A good simple treadmill run.

Up next: 9 mile tomorrow night around the complex.

8.2 miles

I ran 8.2 miles this morning. It was sunny but 78 degrees and 64% humidity at the end of the run; A big improvement from yesterday. This was a decent run. My legs were tired from yesterday but I was able to go a decent pace. I took in 1.8 liters of water and 90 calories via 1 Hammer's Montana Huckleberry gel. I also gave up on my experiment to do without Endurolytes. I had 3 during this run. I don't know the relationship between the actual physical effect of the Endurolytes and the positive mental effect but I'll take the total effect which is positive.

Blister update: This was my first run without covering the blister and it didn't get worse and is on its way out of my life.

17 miles (yesterday)

Yesterday I ran 17 miles. I got fooled by a weather report and the radar and paid for it. I thought it would be overcast and raining and maybe the upper 70's. It turned out it was sunny and I finished the run with the temperature at 91 and the humidity at 51.

I took in 300 calories via 3 Gu gels and 600 calories via 3 Gatorades. I also took in 1.2 liters of water to go with the 2.85 liters of Gatorade. I picked a bad day to see what would happen without Endurolytes as those replace what you lose in sweat. I had a low level headache the rest of the day. I did get some replacement via Gatorade and the gels but I don't think they work as well for me as Endurolytes do.

Overall: It was a hard run. The best training was just mental in the fact that I kept going and finished the miles.

4 mile Treadmill run

Just about a repeat of yesterday. The only difference was the last mile; I just stayed at 10:00 per mile and this time had to help the boy twice.

Up friday: 0 miles.

4 Mile Treadmill run

Ran 4 miles on the treadmill today. I ran the first 1.5 miles at a 10:30 pace and then the next 1.5 miles at a 10:00 pace. The last mile, with one quick stop to help the boy, was done at a 9:00 pace.

My legs were a bit tired and heavy since I ran 8 miles last night and did this run in the morning. I took 0 calories but 0.6 liters of water during the run.

8 Mile complex night run

Typically my long midweek run is on Wednesday. However, it worked out better to run that run tonight after my wife came home (we picked her up today). This run was almost a repeat of the last 8 miler around the complex. I took in 1.2 liters of water and 1 GU gel (100 calories). It was 79 degrees and 71% humidity at the end of the run. Each mile felt easier as I got warmed up and I tried to push the last 3. Clearly if I want to run my best 5k time I should run a few miles to get to the starting line. It takes me a bit to get going.

Injury update: The great news is there is no foot injury, just a blister. I did manage to get a small new blister on top the bigger one from the 17 mile run on Sunday but both are healing at a decent rate. The running isn't helping them heal but they are healing faster than the running is making them worse.

Up Wed and Thurs: 4 mile each day on the treadmill.

17 miles

Ran 17 miles (16 scheduled). My right foot held up fine during the run. I did have to change the dressing on my blister once but it didn't look much worse than when I had started. It hurt a bit for the first few miles but as expected stopped as it either went numb or just stopped hurting.

It was a sunny but cool day for a run, 73 degrees and 38% humidity at the end of the run. I had 0.95 liters of gatorade and about 2 liters of water. I took in 200 calories in the Gatorade and 270 with 3 Hammer's Montana Huckleberry gels and 100 calories with 1 GU gel (570 total calories, this is probably about a 1/3 rd of the calories I burned while running.) I forgot to eat before the run and just had coffee. I was hungry and there has clear evidence I should have had more water to drink during the run. The lower temperature threw me off my normal downing of water.

My pace was good for a long run especially coming off a rough patch with my foot. I did slow down on purpose as my legs felt a bit fresh from two days off from running and one light day; I ran the last 3 miles at the same pace as the first 3. Hopefully I'm back on track and will just jump right by into my schedule. I didn't plan to run an extra mile but misjudged the distance to home from last loop I did at a park (mile 13 on the map).

3.5 short miles and injury update

I just ran 3.5 miles. The good news is I don't think I have a structural problem with my right foot. It had been hurting but I think that was because I had been walking weird to avoid putting pressure on my blister. The bad news is the blister started bleeding during the run so I stopped because..

I'm running my 16 miles tomorrow; I don't care if my blister bleeds a bit as long as I don't have a structural problem. I need to do the run longs. If I need to take off Monday as planned and Tuesday (4 miles), I'd rather do that to heal the blister.

0 miles and a bunch of dead skin

A large patch of dead skin came off my right foot where I got the blister from the run the other day. It's raw fresh skin underneath. I'm taking off today and maybe tomorrow. I feel like taking off will help it heal faster and get me ready for the long runs this weekend. Hopefully I right.

8 miles around the complex

I ran this run at night after my wife got home. It was about 80 F with 70% humidity at the end of the run. I took a Gu-gel with caffeine before the run (100 calories) and one endurolyte and 1.2 liters of water during the run but no calories.

I have a one mile loop measured in the complex so I just ran that eight times (no gps and no timing of the run). I just wanted to run free (didn't carry anything) for eight miles, so I left the water on our doorstep and the iphone at home.

It was a good run as each mile felt easier and I ran each slightly faster (it felt like anyway), each mile probably felt easier as I got warmed up and as the temperature dropped from the mid 80's at the start of the run.

Up next: 4 treadmill miles tomorrow.