Long Run Sunday 05/17/2009

Just 4 miles Sunday. I'm enjoying the tapering phase.

I made it a "family run" kinda day. I did 1 mile with Daisy Dog then 3 miles with Liam.

My legs feel great. My sinuses feel terrible. My allergies chose this week to reappear. The post-nasal drip is just awful. Ugh.

The Sunday forecast for Buffalo is 76 and partly cloudy. That'll work just fine. Assuming my head is clear by then.

My running gear is already packed. "Nervous excitement" is probably the best way to describe what I feel right now.

39 miles for the month. 233 for the year.

6 days until race day.

Long Run Sunday 5/10/2009

I left the house planning on doing 14. I ended up doing 13.5 (bad mental math on the fly by me).

But I did great.

I was actually faster doing 13.5 than I was doing 12 in the heat 2 weeks ago.

The weather was GREAT. 61 degrees is infinitely better for running than 83 degrees.

It's also a good thing I've got 6 years of allergy shots in me, too. The pollen count was off the charts. I would have been dying. I was covered in a yellow crust by the end of my run. Not good.

29.7 miles for the month. 203 for the year.

12 (!) days until race day.

Long Run Sunday 5/3/2009

Had a pretty good run yesterday. OK, but not great. Lightened the load a little bit (8 miles) and tried to go a little faster.

Weather was great. 62 degrees and cloudy. My legs felt fine. I was just tired.

And it has finally occurred to me that maybe I'm just not that fast.

As a side note, Daisy Dog has been given clearance by her vet to start running again. I shut her down back in October after she was getting gimpy. But an X-ray showed no signs of hip problems. I'm building her back up slowly. It's fun to have my running buddy back again.

9 miles for the month. 203 for the year.

20 days until race day.

Long Run Sunday 4/26/2009

I did 12 miles Sunday. Longest run yet.

It was hot. 30 degrees hotter than my long run last Sunday. After running in the mid-50s, 83 feels super hot.

Needless to say, my times were not good.

I made two "rookie mistakes" yesterday. I didn't sunscreen under my shirt (the lightweight running shirts don't offer much sun protection). And I left the house with room temperature water. It was practically boiling by the end of the run. Next time I'll do a partial freeze.

I'm going to start adding a little more protein in my diet. I'm still somewhat surprised by how "squishy" I am while running more than 20 miles a week.

I'm a little sore today, but it's certainly manageable. I think I've done a good job of building up to this point.

60 miles for the month. 187 for the year.

27 days until race day.

Long Run Sunday 4/19/2009

Ten miles on the bikepath. Fifty two degrees and sunny. Light wind.

Legs are a little sore today but OK. My knees feel great.

I had the miles in me yesterday. I just didn't have any "fast" in me. I had a terrible week for sleep and diet. I'm guessing that didn't help. I'll try to improve that for next week.

Twenty mile week (yay!). 38.7 for the month. 166 for the year.

Speed Work Tuesday - 4/14/2009

Just did 4 miles of speed work. Beautiful day out. I feel pretty good.

The weekend was a complete wash-out. Zero miles. I had the bad barfies Saturday. I spent Sunday relearning how to eat solid food.

I'm down to 40 days until race day. I'm feeling confident about finishing. At this point, I just want to get faster.

10

I got my first 10 mile run in yesterday (two weeks ahead of schedule). It felt great.

Sunny. 52 degrees. 20 MPH wind gusts. 3 minutes faster on the second half.

It's funny... I'm relatively new to running longer distances. But lately I don't even feel loose until mile 5.

Gel shot packs at 3.5 miles and 7.5 miles (I'm stretching those out as my runs get longer).

My legs feel good today. My knees feel much better since giving up the treadmill two weeks ago.

14.7 miles for the month. 141.7 for the year.

48 days until race day.