Day 48

Well, I got home late because our city puts on a fireworks show every year on the 3rd of July, so I got out later than I wanted to (about 7:30). Because of missing 2 long runs while I was hurt, then coming back during a step back week, today's run was 5 miles longer than my previous longest run during this training, so I once again ignored my pace and went purely by my heart rate because I didn't want to hurt myself. I knew that my little 20 oz water bottle wasn't going to be enough, so I strapped my 2 liter camelback full of powerbar endurance drink on and ran 12.0 miles in 2:21:33 for an average pace of 11:47. My average heart rate was 165. I was a little slower than I wanted, but I felt great at the end and made sure to do just about every stretch I could think of.

Day 41

We went fishing this morning and then again this evening, so the only time I had to run was in the afternoon. Wow, that sucked. I made it through the 7 miles, but at a lot slower pace than I would have liked. I ended up running 7.00 miles in 1:24:27 for a pace of 12:04/mile. My avg heart rate was 168 bpm.

Day 20

This week is a step back week, so the long run was only 5 miles, but it goes up to 9 next week. I was up too late again last night after making the bad decision to get our grocery shopping done last night. I also have to work today still, so I got up at out the door by about 5:45 this morning, hoping to be done and to work by 7:30. My run was 5.00 miles in 53:13 for a pace of 10:38/mile. My avg. heart rate was 158 bpm.

Day 13

I was really kicking myself this morning when I woke up for working for 12 hours in the yard yesterday. I was sore all over and could barely move getting out of bed, but after some stretching, and energy bar and a few cups of water, I got myself out on the road, though at a much slower pace. It was my "long run" day today and it called for 7 miles at an easy pace. My numbers were 7.00 miles in 1:20:57 for an average pace of 11:33/mile. My average heart rate was 164 bpm, which was right in the area it needed to be for this workout.

A funny thing happened to me during my run though. Since I was going so far, I brought a water bottle with my full of Gatorade. About 1.5 miles into my run, a little sparrow up ahead comes flying directly at my at about chest level. When he got about 5 feet from me, I jumped out of the way and he swerved the other way. Over the next 300 feet or so, he swooped down at me 4 more times trying to grab at the water bottle in my hand. I don't know if it was the color the bottle (neon green) or what, but he finally flew back to the flock of other birds on the power lines and left me alone.

Day 6

I actually surprised myself by waking up at about 6:15 and getting out by 6:45 instead of resetting the alarm a few dozen times and rolling out of bed around 8. I'm glad I did though because it is so much nicer to run early in the morning when it is still cool and somewhat quiet. I was very happy with my run today, I felt good and I was able to keep a somewhat steady pace. My cardio is still a bit ahead of my legs, I doubt I am getting my heart rate up all that high at this pace, but I want to wait a little while to get my pace faster until my legs feel a bit better so that I don't hurt myself. Today's run was 6.03 miles in 1:06:03 for a pace of 10:56/mile.