This morning I ran 10 miles. The plan a few days ago was to go 6 but after doing three 5's in a row, 6 didn't seem like a long enough long run.
I left a bit before 6 a.m. It was great as it was almost cool. The run went very well. My average pace was just 2 seconds slower per mile than the decent 5 miler I did on Friday.
I see more early morning weekend runs coming.
The fall marathon plan has come together. I will be doing the same three I did last year (7 Bridges, 2 Bear, and Philly). The 7 Bridges was not in question as that might be my favorite marathon and is the cheapest to get to by far (Chattanooga - a little over 2 hours).
The Montana marathon and Philly marathon were in question but in the end I could not help myself and signed up for both.
My goals as of now are:
1) Finish with +/- 20 minutes of my 5:36 time last year in the Montana Marathon. This marathon is a hilly trail marathon, not a rather flat road marathon. I don't know if I can beat my time from last year, that was a good run day for me.
2) Beat my time last year in the 7 Bridges Marathon of 4:31:28 which is my "fastest" marathon time. I think I can do this but will need a good running day.
3) Beat my Philly time from two years ago by finishing under 4:40 but the real goal is to finish in 4:30 +/- 5 mins.
4) The overall plan is to have fun running in the mountains of Montana and then set a marathon PR in one of the two road marathons.
Today I ran to Starbucks and back via a loop rather than an out and back. It's the way I prefer to go but part of the loop is a poor running route during morning rush hour. The first few miles were pretty good but the last mile was rough as the mid 80's temps, the Sun and my legs conspired to slow me down.
This morning I ran 5 miles to Starbucks and back. Overall it was a good run. Toe still hurts but not enough to stop me. It was not as sunny but it was rather humid.
Today I ran to Starbucks and back. The first 3 or so went fairly well, the last two were rough as it was hot, humid, and I was tired.
Yesterday I ran 1.4 miles home after a getting dropped off for a dental appointment. Since I am going to take off one day a week, this short run served as a day off.
Decent 4 miles this morning. I'm in a rebuilding mode right now. My lungs are way ahead of my legs. I prefer this state to the reverse because the legs can be made to suffer but it's hard to keep going without enough oxygen.
Toe update: it feels like an average sized crayfish is stuck on my toe during the run. It's annoying but not enough to stop me.
The training plan for this summer is to average about 20 miles (Tuesday-Friday) by running around 5 miles each morning, followed by long runs of increasing distance on the weekends. The rough idea is to do a 6 mile long run this weekend and extend that by 2 miles each weekend. This would allow me to get in three 20 mile runs before the marathon (which is my normal goal for marathon training). The other run on the weekend would be between 5-10 miles depending on how much time I have and other life factors.
I liked the general idea of the run streak. However, Monday is crazy busy work wise most of the time. So I plan on a six-day a week run streak, thus I will be taking off every Monday after today.
This is the plan anyway. Life will likely cause bends in that plan.
Today was an important run because my toe was not worse this morning then it was yesterday. This was the real test. If my toe was worse, I would not have run. The long-term goal is to be a runner again, if running causes the pain to increase per day, that is not sustainable result.
So I can still "feel" my toe when running but I think I am able to use a normal stride (important so I don't injury myself by running with "bad" form).
I ran around the local soccer fields because it is a flat course. I avoided the minor slope I ran down yesterday that caused more pain. Sitting here typing this I can say that my toe does not hurt more than it did before I ran this morning. So .... it seems I am back.
Last night I ran for the first time since "breaking" (no x-rays) my toe. After looking at the calendar and working out a rough training plan for my fall marathons - I realized time was short. I needed to know now how my toe was going to respond to a run.
Miles 0-0.75: Pain (2/10) but not bad. I was thinking I made a mistake by not running in the half-marathon.
Miles 0.75-1: Pain (7/10) went way up when I went down a slight slope and my toes went forward in my shoe. I had to stop, make faces and walk for a bit and I thought I might have to walk home.
Miles 1-2: Pain (3/10) the pain went back down. I was able to run the rest of the way home.
Overall: It was a decent test of the toe. The run could have been better but I wasn't stopped by the run test.
Given that I am still having trouble walking completely without pain I decided against doing the Franklin Half Marathon, instead I volunteered to help with the race. Seems fair since I have run many marathons and have been helped by volunteers but have never volunteered myself.
I ended up being assigned to watch a cross road to make sure cars entering the race course knew to stay on one side of the road and otherwise help how I could from that location.
It was a fairly uneventful day for me. I helped a few runners and talked to some divers about what was going on. Overall, I'm glad I helped. It wasn't the most fun I ever had but it was a decent way to spend a Saturday morning.
(the car is mine at the intersection I was watching. The runners ran towards where I standing here.)
Wednesday night a corner of two walls in our house attacked my little toe on my left foot. I was just walking by when - out it reached. I ended up smashing my toe hard against the corner. It hurt a lot and still does when I put pressure on it.
The run streak ended the next day. Thursday and so far Friday it has hurt just to walk normally; running is out for now. As soon as I can walk without a problem I will try to run again but until then, I am on a non-running streak.
Wednesday night I ran 3.8 miles. It was a good run around the local area. Of note, I saw a good sized copperhead dead on the road near where I run on trails. Interesting.
Monday was a planned short run and Tuesday ended up being one. The Tuesday one mile run was rather good.
Today I ran 11.3 miles. There was a time I considered 11 miles an intermediate distance. These days its a long run. Ok run. Warm and humid, of course, but not awful compared to what is coming.
Saturday night I ran two miles around the complex. A good part of this run streak (running every day) is that some short runs are a must and that allows me to focus on them doing them at a decent and pushed pace. This is good since I don't like doing specific speed work.
I did two miles on Saturday because I have a long run planned for later today after the wife gets back from her workout.
