Day 50

Today was my rest day, which was well needed. My hip/upper leg still has a small pain in it, so I may take 1 more day off to try and get it to heal a little more.

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 47

Today was a rest day and I worked a bit later than I normally do, so I woke up and made everyone breakfast. After work, we were invited by my friend Ryan to go over to his Mom's house by Granite High to hang out and watch fireworks. We had a great time, although I shouldn't have eaten 3 hot dogs. Now it's late at night the night before I am supposed to run 12 miles and I am still awake. I just loaded up my camelback with some powerbar sports drink and put it in the fridge so that I can just grab it and go in the morning. This will be my first time running with it, but I won't be able to carry enough to take me through the run otherwise.

Day 46

I slept in today so I was already in a hurry, so of course I start running and my right hip flexor started hurting which forced me to slow my pace a mile into the run. I ended up stopping around halfway and doing some lunges to stretch out my hip. That lessened the pain and I was able to speed up again. I think it was hurting because I was running a little late yesterday and didn't stretch after my run as much as I normally do. My mile splits were 9:33, 11:39, 10:36. My full numbers for the run were 3.01 miles in 31:51 for an avg pace of 10:36. My avg heart rate was 152 bpm.

Day 45

I woke up early and got in 6 miles before work, it felt great, though I was sure to keep my pace down a little over the first half. My mile splits were 11:16, 11:41, 11:41, 11:16, 10:52 and 10:00. The totals ended up being 6.01 miles in 1:06:53 for a pace of 11:08/mile. My avg heart rate was 159.

Day 44

I was really tired this morning and kept resetting my alarm, so I ran faster more out of necessity than planning. I ran 3.00 miles in 29:36 for an avg pace of 9:53/mile. My avg heart rate was 167. Hopefully I get more sleep tonight since I will be waking up extra early in order to run 6 miles tomorrow.

Day 43

Today was a rest day, after work I did a little bit of yard work, we took the kids to a park with their scooters and let them ride around for a while, then we came home and made banana smoothies. Not too bad of a day. I also weighed in at 178.8, which is down from my high of 204 at the start of the year.