6 six miles of sleep running

Ran 6 miles this morning around town. It was 75 degrees, 78% humidity and sunny. I drank 1.2 liters of water, ate 100 calories (a gel) and had 1 Endurolyte during the run. I had coffee and a banana before the run.

My son woke up a lot more than normal last night because he is not feeling well. I felt like I was sleep running. Plus my legs were a bit sore from the hills yesterday.

Up tomorrow: zero miles.

8.5 miles trail and road

Today I ran about 8.5 miles via a combination of trails and roads. It was 78 degrees and 65% humidity at the end of the run. The trail was completely shaded and the road was shaded in spots and sunny elsewhere. The weather was a non-issue, and that was great. I took in 2 Endurolytes and 300 calories during the run via GU gels, one Lemon sublime and two Tri-berry. I was trying these as the Philly marathon has GU gels. They were fine. I had about 2 liters of water but was carrying 4.2 with me. Coffee and cereal with rice milk as a pre-run meal since I woke up early.

The trail was along the Natchez Trace Parkway and the road running was on the parkway. I set out to run on the trail the whole time but the trail got worse and worse and at times was barely passable as it was overgrown with thorny vines and poison ivy (which I get just by looking at the vine). The trail at times was great with a flat soft under foot and other times impossible to run as it was very steep and covered with loose cobbles and exposed roots. I gave up on the trail after a third stream crossing that I didn't feel like doing (below).

I probably "ran" about 3.5 miles on the trail and ran 5 miles on the road. The road running felt great and I likely would have kept running but my shoes and socks were soaked from the stream crossings and laying in the last stream trying to wash off what poison ivy I could. I was worried about getting blisters on my feet from the wet socks but seemed to have escaped that fate. I guess I was just schedule for 8 miles anyway so stopping was ok. I felt great and felt like I could have run a marathon today if I had to. The road was very hilly (well, compared to town) but that is why I picked it. I want to get in more hill workouts.

It was probably not the best pure marathon workout day but rather a good cross training day for my legs and feet by running on different surfaces and at different angles and stride lengths.

I am going to head back to the road part of the Trace for some Saturday or Sunday long runs but will likely avoid the trail until after the marathon. I'll give it another try this winter when the plants die back and I am not directly training for a specific event.

Up for tomorrow: seeing if I can limit myself to the planned 6 miles.

Three treadmill miles

I ran 3 miles this morning on the treadmill. No calories or water during the run but coffee and a banana beforehand. Weather: still a bit humid inside but low 70's with two fans.

When looking for excuses to avoid running outside in the heat today I came up with the following: 1) My foot was very slightly sore this morning. 2) A wanted to run a bit faster 3) I'll need to run more midweek runs on the treadmill starting in two weeks when my wife starts her PhD program so I wanted to get warmed up on it.

It worked. It was nice to run without the heat and I easily went about 1:30-2 minutes faster per mile inside. My foot did not hurt at all running on the treadmill and does not hurt now. The makers of the treadmill claim it reduces the impact by up to 40% as compared to road running. I can believe it. We have the Sole F80. I can recommend it highly as a heavy runner and my light wife loves it too. It's rather quiet for a treadmill and well designed.

On tap: Zero miles tomorrow, 8 for Saturday and 6 for Sunday during this lower mileage week.

A hard six miles

Ran 6 miles this morning. It was 83 degrees, 81% humidity and sunny. I drank 2.4 liters of water, ate 0 calories and had 3 Endurolytes during the run. I had coffee and a bagel before the run.

I ran six miles by running six loops of a one mile loop at a local park. It was already sunny before I got up and didn't feel like dealing with the cars today so I drove over to the park to run. In general, I try to avoid driving to a place to run.

This run was harder than it should have been. It should have been hard given the weather but I felt out of energy at mile three. I didn't take a gel today since I had more calories in my pre-run snack via a bagel instead of the normal banana. I don't think a lack of morning calories was the problem as I was already out of energy at mile 3. It's possible the cause was a lower calorie intake yesterday or overall during the past few weeks. I'm trying to move out of the Cyldesdale running group. I am making progress there.

I did feel a bit better in mile 4 and 5 as I got into some sort of slow running rhythm. However, overall this run was harder than my last Saturday long run of 11.5 miles. Today was one of those days being signed up already for a marathon helps keep you going in training. If I was just going for basic fitness I could have stopped after 3.

3 miles around complex with some hill repeats

Ran 3 miles this morning. It was 80 degrees, 78% humidity and sunny. I drank 0 liters of water, ate 0 calories and had 0 Endurolytes during the run. I had coffee and a banana before the run. This week is the first step back week on the schedule. A week with less miles than the previous week and a shorter long run. My midweek schedule is T-3, W-6, Th-3 with a weekend of Sat- 8 and Sun 6 miles. I was ok with a short run today anyway since I did not sleep well.

There is a water tower near our complex with a very steep hill leading up to it (around mile 1 on the map). So since I was only running three miles I figured it was a good day for some hills repeats up to the water tower. Our complex is built on to the side of a hill. All of the loops in my route are up and down the side of the hill. These are not major inclines (the water tower road is) but rather just small upslopes. It was a good workout overall, my eyes were stinging with salt by the end. I need a 70's style headband.

Monthly review for July. Zero miles today

In July I ran about 114 miles*, an increase from the 75 miles in June. My weekly milage totals for each week ending in July were: 25.5, 19.8, 27.3, and 23. The number I like to follow the most is a moving thirty day total (see graph). Most running programs have you tapper for three weeks for a marathon, following a week or so at your maximum mileage - that's about 30 days in total (ok, I'm adding 2 days to the 28). Thus, I figure the total milage over the previous thirty days is a good measure of how much running your body has in it.

As of July 1st my previous thirty total was 76 miles and was 109 miles on the 31st of July. The program I am following for the Nov 21st marathon builds to a maximum 30 day total of 200 miles for one day on Oct 17.

I also want to track my resting heart rate as this is something I have never done and is said to be measure of fitness and a way to track overtraining (if it goes up). I can't take it first thing in the morning, so instead this is going to be a measurement taken after sitting for a few minutes and while feeling relaxed. I'm not going to measure it everyday but maybe once a month. Today is was 62 (measured for 30 seconds x 2).

Review: It was good month as I had fun, did not get hurt, increased my fitness and was only sick for about two days. I did have some pain here and there but it was here and there and thus moving around. Moving around pain is fine, it's the pain that stays in one place that is a problem.

*My mileage total, of course, has some amount error as it is measured on my iphone 3gs using Runmeter or comes from running a route of known distance. Since I don't know what error range is I am not going to report it. I'll round to whole miles for monthly totals and tenths of a mile for weekly or smaller totals.

6.7 miles: WWRD

Ran 6.7 miles this morning. It was 80 degrees, 95% humidity and overcast (to foggy). I drank 1.2 liters of water, ate 120 calories (1 Stinger Honey gel) and had 2 Hammer Endurolytes during the run. I had two small bananas and a full cup of coffee before the run. The stinger honey gel was not something I would buy again to use during the run but I could see using it in the morning before a run. It was basically just honey (big shock I know). A bit too sweet for a mid-run gel for me..

I was schedule for 5 but since I felt good, had time and heard a song from Rocky in my playlist around mile 4.5, I decided to go for a bit more (WWRD).

I checked out a nature path in a development behind us I had never run in before. It was great. This development, in which I would never live, has an amazing trail system largely hidden from view from the roads in it (miles 1-3.5 on the map). If I had to run in full Sun and just go for 6 or so miles I could run in almost complete shade in this development without getting bored.

On tap for tomorrow: zero miles.