14.7 Wife run

Today I ran 14.7 miles. It was 88, sunny and humid at the end. I ran out of water (after 3.0 liters) around mile 9.5. I ran the first 3 miles with my wife! We dropped the kid off at school and went for a run.

It was a good pace run for the summer.

7.9 miles

I ran 7.9 miles today. I did laps around the local park (above). It was in the lower 80's and sunny at the end of the run.

I think my mind has been stuck on training for the Strolling Jim, my first ultra. The goal in that training was to finish the 41.2 miles. So my training was lots of very long runs without regard to pace. I basically ran over 10 miles every day of training except for Sunday (5 miles) but those runs were slow (greater than 10 min pace)

However, the marathon is 15 miles shorter and I know I can run that far. I need to switch to marathon training since I have two this fall. The new general training plan will be to run more than 10 miles twice a week at most and do a few shorter runs at a pushed pace (10 or less).

5 mile free fun: Best of summer

Today I did the normal Sunday five mile free run (no water, no calories) since it fit better into the family schedule. I'll do a longer (around 10) run tomorrow. It was sunny and 75 degrees with 70% humidity at the end of the run.

This was by far the best run of the summer. I can determine a few possible reasons: 1) this was likely the lowest temperature run of the summer and it was early enough in the day to get more shade. 2) I slept ok (not great). 3) Yesterday after my run I had a serving of Hammer's Recoverite. 4) It wasn't a long run.

I think it was mainly the lower temperature and the extra morning shade. I have not been taking Recoverite this summer; if it did help - the help was real (not just in my head) as I didn't remember I took it until around mile 4 when I was thinking about why the run was going so well.

I'm encouraged that maybe I'm in better running shape than the summer runs would suggest.

10 Average summer miles

I ran 10 miles (2.4 liters, 200 calories). It was 88 and sunny at the end of the run. This run was average. I felt decent until the heat/sun caught up to me. I did get a bit overheated because I was trying to pick up the pace. The pace on these summer runs has been less than ideal.

14.2 miles: Yoda run

I try to avoid hate. As Yoda said: "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

I fear the heat. It makes me angry. It makes me hate the heat and it makes me suffer.

Today I went 14.2 miles. I'm not sure I drank enough water to deal with the Sun and heat (93 at the end). Please go away sun. It was a bad run.

15.5 mile swim?

Today I ran 15.5 miles rather slowly (2.5 liters of water). I must have hit the wrong button on my running app because it logged this as a swim. It was overcast and 85 degrees with 60% humidity. I've been trying to do these runs without taking in any calories. I don't think I am going to keep this up. I think I run better when taking in a few hundred calories. It doesn't matter to me if the effect from the calories is real or in my head.

6.8 (wednesday)

Wednesday I ran 6.8 miles; I forgot to update the blog. It was in the mid 80's and I was tired. I ran more miles than hours than I slept.

5 mile free run

Standard 5 mile run this morning. It was sunny, 80 and humid. It was an average run with a kick in speed at the end.

7 head cold but not cold outside run

I've been battling a low level cold that last few days. Today's run was a bit rough again. I'm really not liking the summer (mid 80's, sunny and humid). The fall can not get here soon enough.

5.5 mile caterpillar run

Today I did the exact same hour run I did yesterday (0.6 liters of water). Today, no snakes. This caterpillar was the most dangerous thing on the road.

About 5.5 miles: Snake run (copperhead)

I ran today for an hour rather than trying to run a set distance (0.6 liters of water). I plan to do the same thing tomorrow. This stick in the road turned out to be a snake on the road.

I forgot to record the temperature but it seemed to be in the 80's and overcast.

**Post note: it looks like this snake is a Copperhead (venomous)

5 mile free run

I did the 5 mile run to Starbucks and back. I was a good run pace wise mainly because I wanted to be done with it. It was sunnier than I thought it would be (I didn't take my sun hat). I didn't record the temperature but I'm guessing it was mid 80's and 90% humidity.

7.3 miles: High Humidity

Today I ran 7.3 miles. It was a run that would rank in the lower 1/4 of my runs. The temperature was fine, about 80, but the humidity was 95% (2 liters of water). I was also tired from not sleeping well.

Up next: 5 mile Starbuck run.

13.8: the rain saves the day

Today I ran 13.8 miles. It was a good run (100 calories and about 2 liters of water). The temperature at the end was 74, humidity was 98%, and it was overcast. It rained hard from about mile 8 to 11. The rain was great. It cooled me off and put a spring in my step. I may have gone further but I saw a few lighting strikes so headed home, plus my socks and shoes were soaked and I wanted to avoid a blister. The high humidity wasn't easy before the rain but it was not hot. I'll take more of these days over 90-100 degree days.

10.2 miles: Highway to hell

Today I went 10.2 miles without dying (about 2.4 liters of water). It was 97 degrees and sunny at the end of the run. The road I have to take to go on any run has been repaved. So now it smells like fresh asphalt, the side of the road is worse and the darker asphalt soaks up more of the heat. It's the least fun part of each run.