Weekly Recap (8 weeks from Phoenix)

Sunday
15 miler, solid run.

Saturday
Had 11 with 6 LT scheduled. At mile 8, with 5 LT done, I was feeling fine. Then out of nowhere, I got a lower stomach cramp. I tried to run through it, but it became acute at 8.5; I had to stop.

Initially, I was angry. But then I noticed how fast I recovered; 30 seconds later I was breathing normally with a standard heart beat; I just had cranked out 5 1/2 6:30 min/miles. Would have preferred to hit all 11, but still solid LT.

Friday
Standard 8 with 5 x 200 meter strides.

Thursday-Off

Wednesday
20 miler. Good run; added some hill work (slight long inclines) to break it up some.

Tuesday
7 miler with strides.

When doing my 200 meter strides, I was running sub 6 min/mile pace, moving pretty well. After my last stride, I just stopped the treadmill. A young girl (mid 20s) who was on the adjacent treadmill gave me a condescending look and said, "Don't you warm down?" I replied, almost confused, "No." She then gave me a contemptuous look as if I didn't know what I was doing.

Monday
A 15 miler that felt like 20. I did run the first four at a slight incline, but I don't think that was what made it so difficult. A strong cold front came through last week and I got use to a week of cool dry air. Running in the humidity again made the run feel much harder. Cool front coming in Tuesday, perhaps that will help with my true 20 miler Wednesday.

Weekly Recap (9 weeks from Phoenix)

Sunday
Had 13 scheduled, called it quites at 6.50. Humidity was terrible.

I hate to miss scheduled mileage. But I did set a training PR on both my LT run, and 18 miler this week. Besides burning some extra calories, not much benefit in suffering through.

Saturday
4 mile recover.

Friday
Cold front came through dropping temperature to low 50s. I really pushed the pace in my 18 miler, about 10 sec/ mile faster than usual. Felt great for a couple of hours. Past 14, felt fine aerobically, but the extra speed, combined with an extra 5 pounds of weight, put a lot stress on the body. Overall, solid 18 miler.

Thursday
Easy 5 mile recover.
18 scheduled for tomorrow. Looks good as cold front will come through.

Wednesday
10 miler with 6.5 at LT. Really pushed the LT running about 6:30 min/mile.

Tuesday
Weather was great. About 9:15 p.m., I threw on long sleeve, beanie, and gloves, and hit pavement for nine miler.

Monday
Easy 5 mile recovery.

Week Recap (10 weeks out from Phoenix)

Sunday
Had a nine miler with four LT scheduled. But I have busy week coming up. So I moved Monday's 15 miler to Sunday, and I will do the LT on Monday or Tuesday.

The cold dry air was nice. I also broke out a new pair of shoes, which is always good motivation for a week or so. I added some extra speed, no problem. Overall conditioning good, but I need to lose 5 pounds.

Saturday
General 8 miler

Friday
17 miler. Aerobically good. Endurance good. Need to lose weight. The first hour and a half I felt fine, just cruising along well. However, in last hour, ankles and hip started to feel the stress of the extra five pounds I've added.

Thursday
Easy 5 mile recovery

Wednesday
After two days off, I was ready to bust one out. However, it had been very humid and I was dreading the 12 mile run some. I decided to try something new. I started at my regular speed, but instead of increasing it every 20 minutes until I reached 7:30 min/miles, I increased my speed every ten minutes all the way through. Toward the end, I was running a comfortable 7:00 min / miles and finished the total run three minutes faster than planned.

Tuesday-Off

Monday-Off

Mardi Gras

I find this time of year to be the most frustrating. During the long summer (April-September), you just accept it's going to be hot as hell and suffer through your mileage.

Then in late September or early October, a mild cool front comes through and blows out the humidity and oppressive heat. You go out and pop a 10-15 miler like it's a 5k. You feel great and are ready to really train hard.

Two days later, it's hot and muggy again. A week later, two weeks later, early November, it's still hot and muggy. You keep waiting in frustration on that true cold front you thought would come through a month ago. That's were I was last night. The heat hasn't been that bad, but the humidity is terrible (93% this morning). I just haven't felt like running.

Last night I had 12 scheduled. Last week the forecast called for a cool front to come through early this week. Now it's Friday. I said, screw it. I postponed all my scheduled mileage (54) to late this week, ordered a pizza, bought some bear, and had a little mardi gras.

It's suppose to be 67 on Saturday, let's see if that improves my motivation.

The good, bad, and ugly

GOOD
Put in 46 last week (15, 9, 9, 6, 5). Aerobically I felt good. I also felt like I had good power. Overall, all my mileage was good.

BAD
Still lots of muscles and joint stress. My ankles have been bothering me. I have an inner upper thigh stress. My hamstrings are also tight. Most concerning, I have had a left lower ab stress that is really acute when starting out. Sometimes I grimace from the sharp pain. But after about 15-20 minutes, it loosens up and I feel OK.

UGLY
I can really feel the extra 4-5 pounds I've put on. Everyday I am downing handfuls of Halloween candy floating around the office and home. Also cheating on other stuff. I really need to get serious about dropping 5 pounds before I start high mileage in about two weeks. I'll add some late night walks to burn some extra weight.

Back on Horse

Back on the horse, well kind of.

Went to do eight today, I called it quits at five.

Tight in hamstrings, felt heavy in legs. I definitely could feel the extra 3-4 pounds I've put on.

I was hoping to start full 12 week cycle Monday, however I don't see that happening. Need more time to recover. I think I'll have to run the less intense 12 week multi-marathon cycle to prepare for Phoenix.

I really need to work on droping 5 lbs. over next two weeks.

A week off. Back to work.

Well, five days of beer, wine, chocolate, and no running, time to get back to work.

Will do 5 tonight and 8 tomorrow; on Monday I'll start on a new cycle.

Eleven weeks to Phoenix marathon.