Hit the Dusty Trail

Well, I did it.  35 miles on the treadmill.  Total time 6:05.  Not as bad as I thought, but TV land is a wasteland on Sunday's.  I set up a little aid station next to the treadmill with my drinks and a few snacks.  My wife checked on me occasionally, would just shake her head and go back upstairs.  She just doesn't understand, but maybe neither do I.  Here's the numbers:  120 oz of fluid, 80 oz of it was Heed.  Calorie intake, around 600-700 total.  I watched some show on the Titanic on the History channel, a 2 hour Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (pretty good, I'm going to record it next time) concert, a Red Bull winter surfing contest in Nova Scotia, and part of Kill Bill, Part 1.  I actually don't feel too bad.  A little tired and chafed, but I imagine I'll sleep pretty well tonight.  This is my last really long run before my race on New Year's Eve.  Next week I go 25 miles for the long run.

Wimped out and ran on the treadmill again instead of going outside.  Man, I just really dislike cold weather running.  I think I'm going to retire to Hawaii.  I have no idea how I've been able to keep up the running to work thing twice a week when it's in the 20's outside.  I think the thing I hate most about running outside in the cold is being sweaty with clothes on, then getting chilled.  It's usually not too bad on a shorter run, but for long runs it really sucks.  The other thing about cold weather is that I'm chronicall cold in the winter, especially my hands and feet.  I was going to run into work this morning, but I could hear the wind just blowing outside and I didn't want to deal with it, so I'll do my miles this evening on the treadmill again.  My work schedule is a little weird this week.  As an Engineer, I occasionally have to oversee some aaspect of production and sometimes that's in the middle of the night, so for three nights this week, I'll work some during the day, but then come back to work from 8pm to midnight.  Kind of screws up the running schedule but I'll survive. 

Anyway, about my run, I was kind of wondering how well I would feel after my little run yesterday.  My legs were still tired, but not sore.  I ran the first couple of miles at a nice easy pace (10:00), then bumped the pace up to sub 8:30 just to see how it went.  I did just fine for the next couple of miles, then started to get a little tired.  I dropped the pace back down and took it easy for the rest of the run. 

Well, now I am certifiable.  I had to work an 8pm-12am shift tonight, so i decided to run into work at 6pm, then run home after midnight.  A lot quieter on the streets after midnight.  The run actually felt pretty good.  Time in was about normal at 1:28. The run home was nice and quiet.  Not too many cars out at that time.  No breeze, so I didn't get cold at all.  Time was a little slower than normal for a run home, 1:30.  I attribute that to just being tired adn having to watch my step a little in the dark.  I do carry a flashlight, but depth perception with it is somewhat lacking.

Planned on running 5-6 miles on the treadmill and quit after just 2.  I just didn't Have it in me to go the distance.  My legs weren't sore or dead,but i was just tired all over.  A little bit later I realized that I needed food.  I wasn't particularly hungry, but I've got to remember that when I pile on the miles I need to pile on the fuel as well.  Hopefully things will go better on Thursday.

Got off from work a little early and ran on the treadmill for a few.  Felt pretty good, pushed the pace some for the last mile or  so.

Ran into work this morning.  I felt really good adn the run felt like I was floating it was so easy.  I actually set a new PR for the run in at 1:21.  Now i wish i had pushed harder to try and get below 1:20, but I purposely chose not to watch my watch and just go with how I felt.  The run home was great.  I felt just as good adn pushed fairly hard.  Set a new PR for the run home and finally went below 1:20.  Now the goal becomes 1:15.

Ran part of the Mountain View trail with my friend Meghan.  We did plan on running the entire length of the trail, but the cold wind kind of got to us and we tanked the run half way thru.  Good thing we parked at the halfway point.  Our time shows that we actually ran fairly well although it sure didn't feel like it.  We were definitely glad to be done and out of the wind.

After I got home and logged the trail miles, I noticed that I was just shy of 100 miles for the week.  Since I've never done a 100 mile training week, I hit the treadmill for the remaining 3.8 miles.  Another milestone I've always wanted to reach.