Gut Check

This past week was a gut check for me. The previous week I had quit on a couple of runs so I wanted to make a better effort to finish what I start.

Tuesday - I ran some 400s. I really enjoy the track work. The last 2 reps were really tough but I was really glad I continued.

Wednesday - After an email discussion with Eric he advised that I need to add a tempo run 1 day a week. Starting out I need to sustain the tempo for 20 minutes. I didn't get that accomplished. I wasn't even really close and on top of that I had to end my run prematurely. Didn't do so well on my gut check that day.

Thursday - I met me distance and felt really good. I was worried about the heat because it was supposed to be the hottest day of the week. I caught a break. I got started about 2:50pm. It was cloudy and felt pretty good. I tried to stay in the shade as much as I could. There were 5 or 6 places along the greenway that I actually felt a cool breeze. That really helped.

Friday - 6 miles and I have to say one of the hardest runs I've ever had. It was 10am but the heat index was already 105. Once I got started I had no doubt it was that hot. The last 2 miles, 9:30 and 9:35, were some real work to get through. I had a water bottle. I was drinking and showering my head but it wasn't giving me much relief from the humidity and heat. I just slowed down and kept saying in my head "don't quit." I made it to my distance and I was so glad I didn't quit. I wanted to several times. I really have no motivation for doing this running except that I really enjoy it and I want to improve.

Saturday - Easy 3 miles. Just a day to try to recover and get ready for Sunday morning. Easy running around my neighborhood.

Sunday - I met the 10-milers at the Rec Ctr. I knew I wasn't going to be able to run 10 but I did want to do one thing, make it past my house. I made that goal easy on myself, I didn't go past my house on this day. Instead of turning left we went straight. That was a good decision because if I had went in front of my house I probably would have stopped. As it was, hot and humid, I struggled. Eric and I were having good conversation and he was encouraging me. That helped out A LOT. I was able to make it 7.44. I cut off and headed back towards AHS. Eric continued the normal route. I walked down Hobbs Street until Eric came back on "the route" and then I started back running. So in all I ran 8.41 with about 1/2 mile walk in there. I was soaked and a whipped puppy. After looking at my run data I was surprised to find that I stayed under 9:00 on every mile.


In trying to determine some running goals for myself for the rest of the year I think I'm going to work toward the following:

• Get closer to a 20:00 5k (right now my PR is 21:58 so I've got some work to do, that may be a longer goal).
• Not 100% decided but I would like to train for a 1/2 marathon. I found one local 1/2 that is Oct 30th: Life Without Limits Race - in Florence and is for a good cause, United Cerebral Palsy of Northwest Alabama. There's also one in Huntsville Nov 13th but currently has no race director.

So I've been hard on myself the last couple of weeks about my fitness level. I looked back at my training records from last year (I started running in May 2009) and have determined that time wise my runs are about the same. The only difference this year is that I'm running more miles per week. Comparing the same week of the year: last year was a total of 21 miles, this year was a total of 30 miles.

Mental Toughness (weakness)

I was hoping to go 8 this morning but I didn't get there.

There was a crowd of 8 at the Rec ctr this morning. There were 4 of us in the lead group. As I found out I'm not ready for the lead group and sub 8:00 miles.

I've got to work on the mental part of my running. At about 5 miles and getting closer to passing my house I just mentally gave in. I quickly decided that I couldn't go any further and planned to stop. Once you give in you're done for and that's what happened to me. I decided to stop and I couldn't get past that idea. I've got to work on my thought processes and do better. We were running faster than I can actually do but I could have kept going.

Another part of this is the fact that I'm not at a fitness level that I think I am. Patience is my enemy.

The summer heat is on

So yes, I've whined about the heat here before. No whining today.

I was setup for 6 miles today. It was hot so I decided to run as slow as I could take it without getting bored. That turns out to be about 9:30. Any slower and I just can't take it.

Every shady spot I slowed down to almost a crawl.

Arrggh, I forgot my water bottle. I really needed it. I stopped at the soccer field house, at the SportsPlex, but the water fountain was turned off. I didn't think about the whether or not the kids park bathroom has a water fountain.

The Heat Tunnel - The service road that runs from the new green-way to the previously new green-way (portion that runs over the SportsPlex) I use quite often. I have run it enough in the summer months to make this observation: the temperature feels 5 to 10 degrees hotter in that short stretch. The wind always seems to be shielded by the trees. Even when the wind comes from the North or South it always feels HOT. Thus I'm calling it the Heat Tunnel And yet I still go through there, I'm not sure why. I have had to stop running several times in that short stretch for fear of overheating.


I ended up with 5.3 miles. I had to stop because I felt that it just may be too hot. I didn't want to be the person laying unconscious at the side of the track.

Cooler morning, great time to go running

I left the house for my run about 5:20.

I was about to the place in which I hear the chime from my Garmin 305 indicating mile 1. Actually I was past the point and I looked at my watch. None of the timers were increasing. At about 25 seconds I must have accidentally hit the stop button. No problem, I just reset it and started it back. I figure the first part was maybe 1.1 miles.

I had a really good run for me. I ended up running 7.1 total. I was really glad to see my 5th mile was 8:13, the best for the run. I'm not going to break any speed records but I was running faster than normal. Over the past week, in the heat of the day, I've been running closer to 9:00s.

I found out that dogs don't like to be sprayed with water. There are two dogs, close to my house, that are always out. They have chased me on my bike. They come out but don't chase when I walk by that house. So this morning as they chased and barked down the street behind me I decided they needed to be cooled off. I turned and showered the one pretty good. He stopped dead in his tracks and immediately stopped barking.

I'm really getting aggravated at all the loose dogs around town. There is one on Lucas Ferry that has come out after me the last two weeks. This morning he nipped my heals with the owner sitting on his car port yelling the dogs name. In light of the Dr getting attacked on June 29 I was paying extra attention this morning. That's why I carried my water bottle, to have something to distract a charging dog. I can think of at least 4 houses in which the dogs are never put up. I'm not sure calling animal control does any good. I've did that once last year and I have seen the dog in question a couple of times since then.