THAT'S 8 miles!

One quick break at 4 miles to reset the machine, grab some more water, and change towels. I'm very happy with this run as I was able to manage the heat a little better than I have been lately on the treadmill. I think starting out at 12 min miles really helped.

That's not 8 miles...

This run doesn't fit any of my schedule. The summer heat is really playing havoc with my average laid plans; I might have to step up my planning to better than average. Not best, let's not get crazy here.

Day 2 & 4: Not

I strained my groin again on Wed with that sub-9 minute mile; I think. Anyways, it was really sore Fri and Sat, so I decided to skip the rest of the running last week and pick it up again today.

I think my problem last Wed was that I was really tired at the start of my last mile and didn't keep my feet pointed straight. With my toes pointed slightly outward, I use more inside leg muscles than the proper ones, aaaaand, groin strain.

I may have to decide here soon between speed and distance. I'd like to do both, but I'm afraid that this latest setback will force the choice. I'm leaning toward distance as I'd really like to run a marathon in Oct or Nov, and I'm not concerned with how fast I am for it. Sub 8 hour marathon is fine with me...8~P

I think my coach is out on some island camping, so I'll talk with him when he gets back. In the mean time, I'm planning on 8-10 tonight.

Day 3: Out of order

I stopped at mile 3 for about 20 minutes to cool off inside and chug some Gatorade. Supposedly, it's 91 outside right now and "feels like" 101. Yes, Fahrenheit. Although, I thought it "felt like" Celsius.

The average laid plans...

Hey, we're always talking about the "best laid plans," I just figured the average ones needed some lovin'. So, my average laid plans didn't work out. I didn't get up at 5 AM and run. Big surprise after Legs!

I did have the day off so while my youngest son was getting his braces taken off (Yay T!!), I went to the gym and attempted to put in 8 miles. As you can see I only made six, and that with stops at 1 mile, 4 miles, and 5.5 miles.

I knew that I was going to run with Nick this evening, so that was another mile (the slow one), and as soon as we got back to his house, I turned around and ran one more.

Whew. Day 1 is done...finally. Tomorrow may be Day 3 as I'm not sure if the heat and my tired legs will allow me to do the fartleks.

Switcharoo!

We switched things up this week; I will run Day 1 tomorrow morning. Tonight, we did our workout: Legs! and abs. But we always do abs, so, Legs!

Tomorrow's run should be really fun with two concrete Legs! Thud, thud, thud. I'll do eight or nine depending on my...Legs!

In other news, I am lining up my next couple of races:
Aug 6th: 15K trail run
Sep 3rd: 1/2 Marathon
Oct 1st: Greenwood 5K
Oct 15th: Either the 1/2 Marathon or the full Marathon
Nov 5th: If I did the half on Oct 15th, then the full Marathon

As always, things are subject to change, and the reason for the ambiguity on the last two races is that my coach will be in town for the Oct 15th race. He is not sure if his calf muscle will allow him to train for the full marathon, so if he doesn't run the full that day, he will run the half. And I'll run it with him.

Well, I'll run the race and be with him in spirit. He'll be long gone before I even cross the Start line. BUT, he'll be waiting for me at the end!

That's all for now. I'll hopefully get my run in early tomorrow morning, 5 AM or so, and beat the heat. It's supposed to get up into the 90's...again. Ick.

The Meltdown!

First 5K at 8 AM. Second 5K at 9 AM. Third 5K at 10 AM. Collapse at 10:29.19 AM. Ok, no collapsing.

I can't be bothered to look at my last couple of posts to see what kind of goals I told you all about, so I'll just put them down here.
1. Finish the first race under 27:09, which would be a PR.
CHECK!
2. Finish all three races under 30 minutes.
CHECK!
3. Manage my body temp so as to not get heat exhaustion.
CHECK! I thank the Lord for a somewhat cooler day than we've been having lately + cloud cover.

So, I got a good 30 minutes of rest between each race, which I used to hydrate, GU, towel off, and change socks, shirt, and hat. Yes, I brought three sets of running gear so that I wouldn't have to deal with the heavy, sweaty gear from the previous race.

There was a nice, gentle breeze, so I didn't have to climb in my Murano and blast myself with the A/C. I was just fine sitting in the back area with the hatch open. (and my shirt off. shhhhh, don't tell anyone!)

I was kind of surprised that I felt the worst on my first race. Of course, I was pushing the pace, but I did do about a mile or so warmup. It might have been nerves or something.

The next two races were much better, as far as how I felt. I just kind of ran; no lollygagging! I pushed it as much as I felt I could and ended each race with a nice fartlek.

Overall, I must say I am extremely pleased with my results. I bettered my last 5K time by 1:20 and my PR by :26.

Next up: A 15K trail run in three weeks.

Day 2: Changed due to race!

So, no fartleks. And no run on Friday. And three 5K's on Saturday: one at 8 AM, one at 9 AM, and one at 10 AM.

The first 5K will show me what kind of speed I've been able to train; I'm hoping to break 27 minutes. The last 5K will show me what kind of condition I'm in; I'm hoping to keep it (and the 2nd one) under 30 minutes.

I'll be drinking plenty of fluids. I'll GU between races. And I think I'll sit in my car with the A/C on between races - depends on how hot it is. In any event, I'll probably bring a cooler full of ice with water and Gatorade.

A little note on Monday's run: it appears that I may have over done it in regards to the heat and humidity and suffered a mild form of heat exhaustion. I had to take yesterday off due to being wiped out.

I made sure to take it really easy today with that in mind; I think being outside also helped in that I had a constant breeze to cool me off. That little fan on the treadmill just can't do the job...I'll probably have to bring in my own 50' swamp cooler and figure out some way to hook it into the treadmill electronics.

Oh, yeah, and do that without raising the suspicion of any of the staff....<.<....>.>....

Day 1: failure

Even though this was inside, it was still too warm...and I started too fast. It is way too hot here for anything. Ok, way too hot for this boy to do anything.

I was hoping it would cool off this evening and my friend Nick and I could squeeze in the last two miles, but he begged off with a back ache. And to tell the truth I just wasn't feelin' it either. I think I'm going to bed early.

Day 4: 9-11 miles easy to moderate pace

*I stopped at 5 miles to switch machines as there is a 1 hour limit hard coded into the machine. I took the opportunity to fill up my water bottle, switch sweat towels, and stretch a bit.

**I quit at 9.25 miles; made it half way down stairs before remembering to wipe down my machine. I went back up stairs, grabbed the paper towels and cleaner, and walked back to my machine. I then psyched myself up to run .75 miles at the previous pace. Yay, 10 miles...

Ok, so, it's hot here in Indiana...again. And, I have a commitment tonight. And the NASCAR race is on tonight. So, run in the morning or run at the gym...hmmmm. Well, I decided to treadmill it as you can see.

Looking back at my long runs, as of late, this qualifies as my fastest. I'd feel a lot better about it if I hadn't quit early and then gotten back on the horse. Of course, the schedule calls for 9-11, so I could have justified 9.25, but being me, I just couldn't leave well enough alone...

29 miles for the week! Next week will be a short week; I'll do 9 on Monday, an easy 5 on Wednesday, and then three 5K's on Saturday. I'm hoping to break 27 minutes for my first one and keep the rest of them under 30 minutes.

Day 3: 5 miles moderate to fast (last mile sub 9 min)

I decided to do this run as I was supposed to do it. Moderate to fast. I'm not saying that my previous Day 3's were lollygag affairs, because I have lots of excuses as to why I ran so slow. The dog ate my speed, I forgot, I really wanted to but something came up. Hey, take your pick!

Anyways, here is a nice moderate to fast 5 miler with a sub 9 min last mile. And looky there, only 2 seconds off my race time of a month ago. Now, this was a very flat course, so it's not all that of a big deal.

Thoughts on Stuff

I haven't mentioned World of Warcrack lately; I'm still playing, but I've found that it takes a back seat to pretty much everything nowadays. That's a great thing.

That said, the time I have found to spend in Azeroth has been used to do fishing and cooking dailies...on 2 to 7 toons. It really depends on how much time I have. I try to get Daxynn's (76 Pally) and Daxea's (70 Priest) city dailies done and as of late, the BC dailies. I also try to get my Inscriptionist's Minor research done every day.

Other than that, my two Hunters, Rysteranch 75 and Daxen 71, usually get the call to do their city fishing/cooking dailies, and after that, Daxenos (54 Druid), Daxeo (21 Mage), and Daxone (15 Warrior) all have the same chance to do their dailies.

So, dailies and Auction House scanning make up the lion's share of my play time; I have found time to level my warrior a bit with Jay (Hackadax 15 Warror), run a random or two on Daxea and Daxen, and tank The Old Kingdom on Daxynn (last night!)

I'm not sure what I'll be doing next. I'd like to level each of my toon's professions to at least 425, which should be the Cata starting level. I'll probably start with Blacksmithing, which can provide materials for (dis)Enchanting and a couple of items for Daxynn. I need to get my Jewelcrafter, Daxen, going so I can put gems in the new gear sockets. I also need to get Frostweave cloth so I can level Daxea's tailoring to where she can at least make Frostweave bags; I'm starting to feel the pinch of not enough space on some of my toons.

Then there's my poor little Druid, my Alchemist/Herbalist. I am severely disappointed with the Druid healing changes, and I'm not even thinking about the Tree of Life issue (my feelings on this are that Druids, as shapeshifters, should be able to do their primary job in their shapeshifted form. Cats DPS, Bears Tank, Moonkin DPS, Trees Heal. 'Nuff said.)

Anyways, when I pick a Regrowth over a Nourish for emergency big healing, something is wrong. In my defense, Nourish is slooooooow and only give a small increase over Regrowth, so I hit the Regrowth and even will overwrite an existing Regrowth if Swiftmend is on c/d. I find I'm really missing a fast, medium Heal, and I don't have the HoTs to cover the gap in an emergency.

Of course, I try my best to avoid getting into an emergency in the first place, but I have gotten an undergeared/underleveled tank before, and it can be quite a challenge keeping him/her alive. Oh Lifebloom, level 64 cannot get here fast enough!

And, speaking of Lifebloom, what's all the nonsense about it only affecting ONE target now??? Really? REALLY???? /sigh. I loved that part of Druid healing - keeping the Lifebloom going on all the party when they're taking damage. I liked the proactive component to it rather than the priest/pally reactive response. Oh well, at least I have Wild Growth to deal with it...

Yeah, so I'm not really feelin' the Druid healing, so poor Daxenos just sits or does dailies. The same can be said for my Hunters. I just don't like the playstyle any more for Hunters. There used to be a rhythm to it; now it seems to be just clickyclickyclicky. I suppose I could do some research on how I'm supposed to be playing...sigh.

Now before you think that I'm all negative, I do really like the Pally tank changes! I love soloing as a Pally tank, and while I still find tanking stressful, I can do a decent job at it. Of course, I know all the instances that I've tanked; once I get to the Cata dungeons, I probably get my Priest or Hunter to them so I can learn them as a healer or DPS.

As slow as I'm leveling, though, I wonder if I'll even get to level cap (85) before the next XPac; it's no biggie if I don't; it's just kinda weird.

Day 2: 5 miles with 10 X 1 minute hard

Well, I messed up the 2 mile warm up, but it all worked out in the end. For posterity's sake, I stopped after #4 fartlek which was the 2 mile mark (and my house) to cool off and get a drink.

I asked my coach for clarification on the 1 minute hard part as I knew I couldn't go all out for one minute without bursting something. Bursting....is....baaaaad.

Anyways, he said that he gets up to race (5K I assume) pace for the first 40 seconds and then goes all out for the last 20 seconds. At least that's what I heard, so that's what I did. Once again, it felt pretty good to cruise along at race pace (about 8:30 for me), the last 20 seconds, not so good...8-P

That's my hardest workout of the week! Day 3 and 4 are cake, right? Yeah, sure...

Celebrating the 4th of July

This is the usual method of celebrating the 4th of July, but not everyone celebrates this way. Take for example, my puppy, Denali. Here is her way of celebrating.
Awwwwww....isn't she cute!! Poor puppy...