Less Than 100 Days Left

The countdown to race day is officially into the double digits.

The past week of training was a bit rough having just gotten back from vacation.

After my Monday workout, my Tuesday run increased in mileage from 5 miles to 6. Not that big a deal, but it was a noticeable difference. With the increase I decided to run it outside rather than around the short track at the gym. It was a good move as it just felt good to run outside early morning midweek. I love running into the few souls on the trail at the lake who are just out for a coffee and morning walk with nature before heading to work for the rat race, not to mention the fellow hardcore runners and bikers who are there virtually every morning.

Wednesday rolled around, though, and I felt every bit of that extra mile. I was pretty sore, and just plain old tired - the lack of sleep from vacation and the long car ride home finally was catching up with me. I barely got my tail out of bed and got to the gym waaay late. I got my easy 3-miler in, but I felt super sluggish. My legs were plenty sore from the Wednesday run, where I had decided to pick it up a notch the final mile and a half. I finished my run and was just going to hit the showers and be on my way to work, but somehow I talked myself into getting my strength training in. I figured I had to with a day off on Thursday (back to the "Thou shall not train on Thursdays routine").

On Thursday I took my day off. It felt flippin' great to have nothing to do.

Friday rolled around. It was July 3rd, so I had a day off from work in observance of Independence Day, which was Saturday. I met my buddy Mike at the lake for my 6-mile pace run. Mike is much faster than me. Though he slows his pace down for me, he also tends to push me. That being said, we got a great run in: 6 miles at an 8:45 pace. If I go all 26.2 at that, I'll be astonished.

Then the Fourth of July came. I was supposed to run 11 miles. And I woke up at 6am to a torrential downpour. I looked at the radar and saw no hope in sight. I called off the run with hopes of catching a window later in the day. No luck. Though in hindsight a window existed, the radar kept showing storms heading our way, and I just wasn't in the mood to get caught out in one. Needless to say, I was miserable all day. Yeah, I was downright depressed about not getting the run in, and I kept following the weather all day long. For a second I thought about running 11 miles at the gym, but 165 laps just didn't entice me for some reason. So Saturday passed, and I didn't get my long run in.

That meant I needed to do it Sunday. Again I woke up to rain at 6:00am, but it was clearing, and the window opened up... ta-dah! Mike joined me for 11 miles - 2 long laps around the lake. And our buddy Chris joined us for the second lap. We came in under a 9-minute pace, which again is way faster than what I should be doing, but oh well. I guess I'll learn my lesson later. The cool thing was that I was really dreading the 11-miler, and it wasn't all that bad. Good sign, I guess. Maybe the unintended day off had something to do with feeling fresher during the run. Maybe it was the cooler weather. Either way, I've got a psychological boost going from the run, and I'm going to ride it as long as I can.

Doing my long run Sunday, means no cross-training day this week. I'm skipping it and heading right for my Monday 3-miler and strength program. I know I'm gonna be sore as hell in the morning, but that just means more stretching.

So before I crash tonight, it's time to get some very belated thank you's out to the folks who have so generously sponsored me through a donation to St. Jude. If I don't get you your thank you, tonight, it's coming. I'm well over my $1,000 goal, and though I'm not setting a new goal on the St. Jude Heroes page, I think it would be awesome to break $2,500. Thank you all for your support!