Cool Runnings!

PM - 5.5 miles total.  2 miles with Sparky, average pace of 7:56/mile.  These miles felt harder than usual, perhaps because have been used to running on the treadmill recently, perhaps for another reason.  I dropped Sparky off, and then did another 3.5 miles on my own, average pace of 7:31/mile.  These felt easier than the first two, probably because my legs were nicely warmed up.  However, I did notice that from a pulmonary perspective, it was more difficult than normal.  That being said, I am glad to have started off the new year on the right track with a run.  I am hoping that I can be much more consistent this entire year at running.

Noon - 4 miles on the treadmill, sort of a progressive run.  Started at 8:00 pace, slowly worked my way up to 6:40 pace and held that for a mile, then slowly went back down to 8:00 pace again.  Felt good, looking forward to increasing my mileage next week.

1.5 easy miles with Samuel - that's all I ended up doing today.  Something better than nothing, right?  Average pace of 10:40/mile.

Noon - 5 miles on the treadmill at the fitness center, then weights.  Warmed up first 1/4 mile at 8:00 pace, then settled into 7:30 pace for the rest of the run.  Felt good, in control, worked on maintaining good form.  I think that working with the weights may be helping with this as well - my core had a pretty strong need of being strengthened.

PM - ran 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:43/mile.  We need to get him back into the swing of running so that he can get used to it again.

Lunch - hard workout.  1/2 mile warmup at 8:00 pace, then 3 straight miles at 6:18 pace, then 1/2 mile cool-down at 8:30 pace.  This was a fairly difficult workout for me, but I was pleased that I was able to finish the tempo run without stopping (unlike last week).  I am feeling it in my hamstrings right now - they are fairly sore.  After the run, I worked out my back and shoulders with lat pulldowns and seated rows, then did abs with the crunch machine and knee raises, then did my lower back with the back extension machine.  All in all, a good workout day.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel.  We started out nice and easy, he was doing better today than the past few days, and I suggested to him that he try to get a smoothie today.  At the turnaround point, we were a bit slow, so I let him know he would have to speed up, and he made the decision to go for the smoothie.  He was doing a fantastic job until the very end when he started to falter, and I just encouraged him to keep up, as he was so close that he didn't want to quit at the very end.  He ended up winning his smoothie, and in the end, his last 1/2 mile was actually at about 9:00 pace.  I believe that if he really tried, he could run a mile in under 9:00 right now.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill, average pace about 7:40/mile.  Warmed up the first 1/2 mile at 8:00 pace, then did the rest at 7:30 pace.  It was actually very interesting to feel the difference between 8:00/mile and 7:30/mile today.  Then hit the weights for a bit.

Lunch - 4 easy miles on the treadmill, average just over 8:00/mile.  I have had some soreness in my right hip flexor this week, possibly due to my haste to start putting in tempo miles after having a couple months of very poor training.  The rest of this week and all next week will be easy runs, about 8:00 pace, to see if I can get my hip flexor feeling better.  It did feel a bit better today than yesterday after my run, so hopefully I am on the right track.  After the run, did bench press, arm extensions, biceps curls, then abs and lower back.

PM - ran 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:19/mile.  He did a great job today of running at a steady pace.  The average pace was steadily dropping the entire time until, with about 1/2 mile to go, he asked if we could slow down a little.  Since he has already gotten his smoothie for this week, we slowed down just a little.  I hope that running with him helps him to concentrate more on his schoolwork.

Lunch - 4 easy miles on the treadmill, average pace about 8:05/mile, including 1/4 mile warmup at 8:30 pace.  Hip flexor felt better.  After the run, did my back (lat pulldowns, seated rows), abs (crunch machine) and lower back extensions, then decided to do some planks.  Overall, good workout.

PM - 8 miles outside.  It was nice to be able to run outside instead of on the treadmill.  Average pace 7:30/mile.  Started off nice and easy, first mile in 7:54.  Once my lungs and legs were warmed up, the pace picked up naturally.  This pretty much ended up being a progression run without my intending it to be, with the exception of a couple miles in the middle which were all about the same.  Last mile was in 6:57, felt good to open it up a little bit.  Weather was nice - about 50 degrees or so.  This run felt really good to me.  My hip flexor feels pretty good.  On a side note, Lybi and I also had the opportunity to go to the temple today, and that was a very enjoyable experience.  We did sealings, since Lybi didn't think she would be able to handle a full session today.  Every time we do sealings, I am reminded of how happy and excited I was to get married to Lybi, and of the big cheesy grin I had on my face as we were kneeling across the altar (I literally could not stop smiling).

Lunch - 4.5 miles on the treadmill, slightly under 8:00/mile.  Warmed up the first 1/4 mile at 8:30 pace, then increased to 8:00 mile.  Also increased the incline to 1.0.  Stayed there until I hit the 2 mile mark, then dropped the incline back to 0.5 and increased the speed to 7:30 pace for the next mile.  Slowed down again the last mile at 8:00 pace.  Cooled down and did my lats, abs, and lower back.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:30/mile.  He had some bursts where he really put on the afterburners.  He has a good amount of speed in those little legs of his.

Lunch - 6 miles on the treadmill.  I had my wellness check at work, and they drew blood, so I didn't want to lift any weights, even though my check was in the morning.  Warmed up at 8:30 pace, then increased to 8:00 pace for the rest of the first mile.  Then I bumped the speed up to 7:30 pace, which I maintained for the rest of the run.  When I cooled down, I checked my HR, and it was only at 140.  Something of note: either 1) my body was running more efficiently at 7:30 pace than it does at 8:00 pace, causing the lower HR (it has been averaging about 147 at 8:00 pace), 2) I am already recovering the cardiovascular fitness I had lost or 3) this was a complete anomaly.  I will check my HR tomorrow after running to see what it is right when I start cooling down.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel.  His left leg was bothering him a bit, so he ran slower than usual - 10:53 average pace.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill.  Warmed up for 1/2 mile at 8:30 pace, then did the rest of the run at MP.  Felt very controlled for most of the MP run, breathing very much under control, legs felt fine.  Checked my HR right when I started to cool down; it had spiked up to around 175, but came down to 130 or so rather quickly (in less than a minute).  After the run, did bench press, tricips extensions, biceps curls, ab crunch machine, and then finished with planks.  Did not get a chance to run with Sam as I got home a little late and had to start on dinner immediately, then had to finish preparing for Webelos Scouts, but I did get to work with him on his pinewood derby car.  He chose the design and helped me draw it on the block, and although he did not want to do any of the cutting because he was too afraid, he has been helping with the sanding, and I will make sure that he does most of the painting.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill, ran at 8:00 pace.  Felt very good, very easy.  For the last 1/4 mile, I did a pickup at 6:00 pace.  Got my HR up to about 172, but it dropped very quickly and was down to the 120's by the end of my 2 minute cooldown.  Then did my lat pulldowns, seated rows, ab crunch machine, lower back extensions and planks.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace 9:49/mile.  He earned his smoothie today.  Then another 0.5 miles with Joey at 10:50 pace.  He also earned a smoothie.  I have decided to not run a mile with Joey until he turns 7.  I will probably keep doing 1.5 miles with Samuel until he turns 9, unless he starts getting under 10:00/mile every day.

Lunch - 4 miles on the treadmill.  Started out at 8:00 pace for 0.25 to warm up, then 0.5 at 7:30 pace, 0.5 at 7:00 pace, 0.5 at 6:40 pace, 0.5 at 6:20 pace, then back down again: 0.5 at 6:40 pace, 0.5 at 7:00 pace, 0.5 at 7:30 pace and 0.25 at 8:00 pace to cool down.  2:00 cooldown, checked the HR, went from 140 down to below 100 in less than 2:00.  The run felt good, form felt good, I think I am reaping the benefits of the weight training in the form of better running posture.  After running, did bench press, triceps extensions, biceps curls, crunch machine, lower back extensions and then planks.

AM - met up with Burt, Jared and Camille from the Del Sol team I will be running with for a run.  Ran the entire time with Burt, with Jared and Camille just behind.  We started off nice and easy and slowly worked our way up until we were doing about 7:40 pace for the last 1.5 miles.  The entire run was very enjoyable - I wish I could run with someone else more often - but such is life.  I really pushed it the last 1/4 mile just to see what I could do - I managed to get up to 5:00 pace for a short time.  Don't have the numbers in front of me, but it was a good run.

Lunch - 4 miles on the treadmill.  I did a pyramid of sorts - starting out with 1/4 mile at 8:00 pace, then 1/2 mile at 7:30 pace, 1/2 mile at 7:00 pace, 1/2 mile at 6:40 pace, then 1/2 mile at 6:20 pace and then back down.  Felt good, but I have noticed a slight amount of tenderness in my shins that I will have to keep an eye on.

PM - 6 miles outside, average pace 8:00/mile.  Ugh.  I don't remember the last time I felt so awful on a run.  My parents flew in this afternoon, and after having picked them up at the airport and brought them home, we went out to eat at Carrabba's.  I had the shrimp and scallops in a lemon butter sauce.  It was heavenly, but probably a bit too fatty, and I probably at a bit too much.  Not enough to feel uncomfortable in a normal setting, but enough to be a very unhappy camper during my run.  Even though it was almost 3 hours after we ate, my stomach was still having problems.  I amost puked a couple of times, but managed to keep it together and just slowed down a bit the second half of the run.  Maybe one of these days I will learn my lesson - you think?

Lunch - medium workout.  1/2 mile warmup at 8:00 pace, then 5 miles at MP and 1/2 mile cooldown at 8:30 pace.  Was able to maintain the pace, but it wasn't as easy as last time - perhaps because I didn't get enough sleep last night.  Lungs were more taxed than normal, although the legs were fine.  At the end of the run, I did a 2 minute cooldown (walking), and my HR went from 168 to 94 by the end of the 2 minutes.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:15/mile.  This in spite of him deciding he didn't want to run for his "smoothie", even though he was pretty close the entire time.  Then just before dinner, I ran another 0.5 miles with Joseph because he was acting a little too hyper.  We averaged about 11:00 pace or so.

Lunch - ran outside today (with the Garmin, which I finally remembered to bring!), the weather was beautiful.  It was probably in the upper 60's, but it was cloudy, so it didn't feel as warm as if the sun were out.  Ran a different loop today just to see how far it was.  4.5 miles, average pace about 7:25/mile.  It felt pretty good to run outside instead of on the treadmill.  I will be the first to admit that sometimes it is a bit boring running on the treadmill.  I was hoping to run 5 miles, and was also hoping to run with Sam in the afternoon, but neither were to be.  It had started to rain when I got home, so I didn't run with Sam, as Adam has been sick, and I didn't want another one of the boys to get sick due to exposure.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill today.  Started out nice and easy at 8:00 pace for the first 1/2 mile to warm up, then sped up to 7:30 pace for the rest of the run.  Felt good, in control, lungs and legs felt good.  After the run, I did my lat pulldowns and seated rows, followed by the ab crunch machine and then planks.  I swear the planks hurt more than 3 sets of the ab crunch machine - especially on my side.  After about 20 seconds, my obliques are killing me when doing side planks.  Planning on running with Samuel this afternoon.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel.  About 1/3 of the way into the run, he fell and banged his knee, but continued with a minimal amount of whining.  Average pace was about 10:30/mile.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill.  Started off at 8:00 pace with the intention of doing the whole run at that pace, but after a mile, I just couldn't do it.  Bumped up the speed to 7:30 pace - that felt much better.  Concentrated on my form, especially my legs.  Also did some bounding to work on form.  I'm sure that looked particularly good to everyone else working out at the fitness center . . . "look at that guy leaping on the treadmill . . ..", oh well, I wasn't particularly concerned about that.  The run felt good, and afterwords, did my 2:00 cooldown again (walking) and watched my HR drop from 148 to 98 before the cooldown was over.  Then afterwards did bench press, triceps press, ab crunch machine, lower back extensions and planks.  The planks seemed to be a little easier today - not sure why.  I have been thinking about doing London's run this Saturday (the 10K, not the 1/2 marathon), but I am just not sure if I am up to it or not.  I don't want to injure myself when I am really not quite ready to race, and I really want to have a good run.  I will have to think about it a little more before deciding.  There will probably be other races I can run later on, I just like the cause that London's Run supports.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:38/mile.  We started out kind of faster, and slowed down towards the end.  It was a little nippy out - enough for me to want to wear a long-sleeved shirt with my shorts.  I'm such a baby now that I am used to Arizona . . .

Lunch - moderate intensity workout today.  1/2 mile warmup at 8:00 pace, the into the meat of the workout.  Planned on 5 miles at 6:40 pace, then 1/2 mile cooldown, but it wasn't to be today.  Ended up cutting it short with a mile to go and cooling down for a 1/2 mile at 8:30 pace.  I have had a couple days this week where I haven't gotten enough sleep, and I think it showed today - I just didn't have the endurance I expected.  Still 4 miles at 6:40 pace was pretty good, and I definitely could have kept it up, I just didn't want to overexert myself and get injured.  After the run, I did planks.  No weights today, I have decided that Wednesday will be my day of skipping the weights.

Lunch - it was gorgeous outside, and I was running low on running gear so I had to bring some shorty shorts with me today, and didn't want to run on the treadmill in them, so I hit the road today.  No Garmin, but I ran my Lunch Run which was quite nice.  I wasn't too sure of my pace, so I was just running what felt comfortable, and figured I would calculate my pace afterwards.  Felt good the entire run, nice and relaxed and in control.  It wasn't until I got back that I realized how fast I had been running - average of 7:24/mile.  I felt much better today, and I think it showed.  I was a bit surprised that this pace felt so good to me, especially since I did my tempo run yesterday.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:33/mile. 

Lunch - a very pleasant 5 miles on the treadmill today.  For the first time since I joined the fitness club there, I actually programmed the treadmill before I started.  LOL - I am always in too much of a rush to start my workout to worry about it normally.  Anyways, it was nice, the run felt really good.  I experimented a little bit with my stride today, we'll see how that goes.  1/2 mile warmup at 8:00 pace, then 4 miles at 7:30 pace (felt very comfortable), then 1/2 mile cooldown at 8:00 pace.

AM - 6.2 miles (in lieu of running London's Run) this morning.  It was still kind of nippy out - about 43 degrees, so tights and long sleeve shirt.  It felt quite nice to run outside, even if I didn't get to run as much as I wanted to due to time constraints.  Started off around 7:30 pace, and very slowly picked up the pace after I turned around.  mile 6 was at 7:00 pace, and the last 0.2 miles was at just about 5K pace.

Lunch - 5 miles on the trusty treadmill, programmed for 1/4 mile warmup at 8:30 pace, then 4.75 miles at 7:30 pace.  Felt pretty good, pretty controlled, but like I normally do on Mondays, not 100% normal after the weekend.  However, the breathing was good, and the legs were fine.  I had felt a little bit of soreness early last week in my shins, but that seems to have gone away.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill again.  1/2 mile warmup at 8:00 pace, then 4 miles at 7:30 pace, then 1/2 mile cooldown at 8:00 pace.  Nothing much else to report.  Everything feels pretty good.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:30/mile.  Made posole for dinner tonight - it turned out quite good.  A very healthy meal as well - crushed tomatoes, onions, oregano, diced pork (we used leftovers from a pork roast) and white hominy.  Not a whole lot to it, but it was the first time I had made it.  The real trick is to get our oldest two to try anything new.  Adam totally snarfed it down.

Lunch - hard workout today on the treadmill.  1/2 mile workout to shake the legs loose at 8:30 pace, the on to the meat of the workout:  Tempo run of 5 miles at 6:40 pace.  I ended up adding to the difficulty of the workout by making the last 1/2 mile of the tempo run at 6:00 pace.  1/2 mile cooldown at 8:30 pace, and I was pretty tired (not to mention absolutely soaked) after that.  Got myself some gatorade to replentish my glycogen stores, which helped.

Lunch - recovery run - 4.5 easy miles on the treadmill at 8:00 pace.  Felt very easy, especially after the tempo run yesterday.  I am hoping I will be able to slowly extend that 6:40 pace out as I continue to train.  After the run, did lat pulldowns, seated rows, ab crunch machine and planks.  Planning on running with Samuel this afternoon.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, he earned his smoothie today by averaging under 10:00 pace for the entire run.  Average pace of 9:59/mile.

AM - 4 miles.  I took the morning off, since Lybi had her ultrasound, and after dropping Joey off at school, I ran 4 miles outside.  Don't recall my average pace, but it felt good.  Found out great news at the ultrasound - we're having a girl!  Of course, I would have still been very happy if we were having another boy, but having a girl is something we have wished for for a long time.  Not to mention in Samuel's baby blessing, I had told him he would be a good example to his brothers and sisters, so I was pretty sure one was bound to come eventually.

PM - ran 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:11/mile.  He did pretty good - started out pretty fast, slowed down in the middle, and then sped up at the end to bring his average pace down.

AM - got up early this morning and ran with my Del Sol teammates.  We started at the corner of Ellsworth and Bush Highway and ran up the back side of Usury Pass before heading down the other side and eventually making our way to Camille's, who graciously offered her home as both a staging area as well as for a post-run breakfast.  Took it real easy up the back side of Usury Pass - Adam will remember what this was like from last year's Del Sol - averaged about 10:00/mile and chatted with Burt - then once we hit the peak, I took off and hammered some downhill miles.  7:15, 6:41 and 6:25.  Then I slowed down again with about a 7:30 mile, followed by another 7:15 mile (didn't even realize I had sped up again), and then a final mile in 6:45.  Then I ran back a little bit and found a couple of other runners from the team and ran back in with them to make it an even 11 miles.  Average pace of 8:01/mile.

Lunch - 5 easy miles on the treadmill.  My calves were a little sore yesterday after the long run on Saturday combined with some of the miles being fairly fast, so the plan today was just to run easy and give my legs a break while still getting in the miles.  Felt good, legs feel better and looser.  As long as it isn't raining when I get home, I will plan on taking Sam out for a run.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill again.  It would have been a nice day to run outside, but it was a bit chilly, and I didn't bring the right clothes for the weather.  Warmed up 1/4 mile at 8:00 pace, then settled into a nice comfortable 4.5 miles at 7:30 pace.  Worked real hard on making sure I had good form while running.  Cooled down 1/4 mile at 8:00 pace to finish the run.  Did not check my HR today.  It rained yesterday afternoon, so I wasn't able to run with Sam, but I am hoping today will work.

PM - 1.5 miles with Sam, average pace of 10:43/mile.  It was a little chilly out for him, so I ws hesitant to push the pace.  When he exerts himself in cold weather, he ends up having a coughing spell for several minutes.

Lunch - 6.25 miles on the treadmill.  I originally wasn't planning on doing anything other than easy miles this entire week, but that ended up not going according to plan . . . Warmed up 0.5 miles at 8:00 pace, then 4 miles at 7:30 pace.  I was originally trying to do 6 miles in 46 minutes, but realized fairly early on that I was going to do a little bit more, and at 4.5 miles, decided to increase the speed to MP to shoot for 6.2 miles.  Then at 5.5 miles, I upped the pace again to 6:40 to finish out the run with 6.25 miles.  Cooled down, then did some planks to finish the workout.  I haven't been lifting weights because my left shoulder has been bothering me a bit and I don't want to make it any worse.

Lunch - hard workout - 4 miles on the treadmill.  Our fitness center got two brand new treadmills, and I was anxious to see what they were capable of.  This was a progressive run that started off at 7.5 mph (8:00 pace), with the speed increasing 0.5 mph every 1/2 mile until I couldn't keep the pace for 1/2 mile any more.  1/2 mile at 8:00 pace, 1/2 mile at 7:30 pace, 1/2 mile at 7:00 pace 1/2 mile at 6:40 pace, 1/2 mile at 6:20 pace (was still doing very good here with my breathing and my stride), 1/2 mile at 6:00 pace (started to labor a bit here), 1/2 mile at 5:40 pace, then 1/4 mile at 5:20 pace - this was where I finally couldn't hold the pace for the full 1/2 mile.  I know I could have, but I didn't want to be completely wasted after the workout.  For the last 1/4 mile I cooled down walking, then walked for another few minutes.  I counted the first 1/4 mile of walking as part of my run.  My impressions of this workout:

1.  I was a bit surprised at how long into the workiout I was able to maintain good breathing - all the way to 6:00 pace.

2.  I was excited about how long I was able to go at sub-6:00 pace.  I feel confident that if I tried, I could run a sub-5:30 mile right now, and I also feel pretty confident that this year I might finally be able to break 18:00 in the 5K.

My workout today leads me to believe that the new treadmills go all the way up to 12 mph (5:00 pace).  At some point, as my training continues to progress, I may try to get in some V02 workouts at that pace to see how I do.  But that won't be for some time yet.

Lunch - 6 recovery miles on the treadmill at 8:00 pace.  Legs were a little bit out of what from yesterday's workout, and I felt like I could never quite hit my natural stride.  However, I am glad I ran.  I noticed today that not only was I breathing extremely easy throughout the entire run, but I cooled down very quickly after I was done.  A month ago, that was not the case.

AM - 6 miles outside. I was originally planning on a long run of 12 miles, but my legs were totally dead, my shins were a little sore, and I decided it wasn't worth it to try and get in more miles when I wasn't feeling good, so I cut it real short. Average pace of 7:52/mile.

Lunch - 6 miles on the treadmill, nice steady pace.  After a rough run on Saturday, I was hoping that today was going to be easier.  The muscles in my left hip were kind of sore (maybe bad sleeping position?) but otherwise I felt pretty refreshed.  Warmed up for1/2 mile at 8:00 pace, then bumped up the pace to 7:30 pace for 5 miles.  Cooled down at 8:30 pace for the last 1/2 mile.  Everything felt good - I felt like I was back in my stride today.  I guess that hard workout last week must have taken something out of me.  Planning on 1.5 with Samuel this afternoon (need to be more consistent about that).

PM - ran 1.2 miles with Samuel to the store and back to pick up a FHE treat.  Averaged 10:35/mile.

Lunch - ran outside today, no GPS, just a watch.  I felt so good today that this ended up being a not-so-good thing, as I ran faster than I realized.  5.1 miles on Lunch Run 2, beautiful day, probably low-60's and sunny, slightly windy but not bad at all.  Felt good throughout the entire run, very relaxed, very controlled.  Average pace was about 7:15/mile.  Oops - I was shooting more for 7:30-7:40.  I felt a little bit of general soreness in my shins today, but nothing localized - probably about time to get a new pair of shoes.  My Tangent 3's have around 300 miles on them, and I was told they wouldn't last as long as a regular stability shoe.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:35/mile.  He took off in the beginning and was running around 9:00 pace, then when I told him how fast he was running (bad move maybe?) he immediately slowed down.  Next time I won't tell him if he is running too fast . . . :) 

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill, followed by ab work.  A variation of planks where I did plank lifts, then side planks, then leg lifts.  Run felt good, shins are still a little bit sore, but no more than before.  Easy runs the rest of this week (I promise!).

Lunch - 6 miles on the treadmill.  I started out nice and easy for the first two miles - 8:00 pace, then sped up to 7:30 pace for 3.65 miles, and for the last bit, decided to see how I handled running at 5:00 pace, and how long I could last.  I was kind of hoping I might be able to do a 1/2 mile at that speed, but decided to put the brakes on at 0.35 miles.  It felt extremely fast - I haven't run at that speed for a long time.

After running and before I could shower and get dressed, the fire alarm in the building went off, and everyone was evacuated.  No fire, but apparently someone in that building had received a piece of mail with a white powder in it, so the fire department and hazmat crew came in to check it out.  After an hour of waiting in my shorts and singlet (thankfully it was nice out) I finally got to go back in and grab my stuff from the locker room, but no shower :(  Since I actually work in the building next door, I just got dressed and headed over there, but everyone who worked in that building had to collect their stuff and leave.  Craziness.  About 15-20 minutes before we started going back in, a FOX news chopper was hovering over the area, and I heard that they had reporters there as well.

Lunch - 5 easy miles on the treadmill, 8:00 average pace.  Wore my HR chest strap today and used the integrated Polar HRM function of the treadmill to monitor my HR during the run.  Average HR of 150, max HR of 158 (I am not counting a 1-second blip where my HR jumped to 161 once).  Run felt very good.  Over the course of the 5 miles, my HR slowly crept up from the 140's to the low-mid 150's by the end.  Very interesting.  Since I went back on my declaration yesterday from the previous day that I would not do any speedwork, I am going to pledge to myself to NOT do any more speedword before Del Sol.  Getting injured a week prior to the relay would be a very bad thing.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:38/mile.  He has been complaining of late of a pain in his left knee - when he points to it, the pain is just below his kneecap, towards the inside.  Couldn't find anything wrong - we will see what happens over the next few days.  After running with Sam, ran 1.1 miles with Joseph at 11:20 pace to Fry's and back so that we could pick up some alfredo sauce for the younger boys for spaghetti tonight - they really love it, and goodness knows Joey needs to get some meat on his bones . . . he did very well, in spite of worrying that he would get tired.

AM - ran 4.1 miles to a member's house to help him move a few blocks away.  I woke up with a sore back, so I started off slow and used the run to just warm up for the move.  Average pace of 7:52/mile.  Felt very good.

AM2 - ran 3.9 miles back from helping out with the move - with being nice and warmed up (and also wanting to get back home a bit quicker), I found myself naturally running faster on the way home.  Average pace of 7:17/mile, was slowly increasing the pace the entire run.  I am putting down 1 mile at MP.  This run also felt very good - felt good to stretch the legs out a little bit without going too fast.

Lunch - 5.5 easy miles on the treadmill at 8:00 pace. Wore my HR monitor strap again to synch with the HR monitor on the treadmill. Average HR was a bit higher today than last Friday - probably because I didn't get enough sleep, despite getting to bed at a reasonable hour. I woke up at 4:30 with a very sore back, and couldn't get back to sleep. Average HR for the run was about 153, max HR was 160. It also did something really weird that I am sure was not right - when I first started out, it showed my HR up at about 178 for about the first 1/2 mile, then it dropped down to the upper 140's. I will attribute this to the HR strap not having any sweat or other conductivity gel to conduct the electrical impulse from the heart to the transmitter in the strap. That's about the only thing I can think of . . .

PM - untimed run with Adam, may have been as much as 0.25, but I didn't want to pressure him.  0.65 with Joey at 11:30 pace, then 1.5 with Samuel at 10:40 pace.  I made sure today that Samuel was the one leading, and I was just giving him feedback about his pace so that he knew whether to speed up or not.  For the first 1/2 mile, he was having a real hard time figuring out what the right pace was, but towards the end, he found a good pace and was able to do a good job of maintaining it.  One item of concern - just before I started to run with Samuel, my left hamstring kind of cramped up on me a little bit, although it felt fine during the run.  After we were done running, it felt a bit sore again.  I am going to have Lybi apply the hamstring torture treatment tonight.

Lunch - 4.5 easy miles on the treadmill.  0.5 at 8:00 pace, then 4 miles at 7:30 pace.  Average HR for the run was 154, max HR 163.  HR seemed to pretty much stabilize right around 160 after a couple miles at 7:30 pace.  Hamstring still felt a little bit tight, but better after getting the heck scraped out of it last night.  No cramping, stretched it out nicely after the run. 

No running today or tomorrow - I am dealing with a couple very small niggles that I don't want to aggravate before Del Sol.  My left hammy, although feeling much better than the other day, is still a little tender, and my right foot is a little sore.  Better to give them some rest before running what will be, including warming up and cooling down, well over 20 miles.

Leg 7

Our 7th runner was not going to be able to run his first leg due to work (he was a last-minute replacement), so I volunteered to run his first leg for him.  I was hoping to just make this a nice warmup - that didn't happen.  When I got the armband, I took off like a rocket, and didn't look at my Garmin until about 1/4 mile later, when my breathing had started to get kind of labored.  I realized I was actually running 5:10 pace up to that point!  Needless to say, I was full of adrenaline.  I managed to slow down a bit, but completed leg 7 in 29:13, average pace of 6:37/mile.  This was definitely not a warmup for me, and unfortunately  probably set the tone for all of my legs.

Leg 12

This was my actual leg I was scheduled to run, and it was already dark and we were running on dirt roads.  This slowed me down due to the decreased traction on dirt, as well as the inability to see very well, plus there were some very inconsiderate vehicles blazing down the road, throwing up huge clouds of dust.  Not very good for the lungs . . . I actually started off on this leg at about 6:20 pace, but was unable to maintain it - and then the thing that really kept me from meeting my goal was a big superman-style wipeout as I veered off towards the left side of the road and tripped on the soft shoulder.  Thankfully, there were no injuries, and I was able to get back up and start running again, but I was kind of in shock.  It took me a while to recover.  Then, with about 0.5 miles to go, I ended up walking for about 30 seconds, then started up again.  Time for this run was 48:12, average pace of 6:53/mile.  Still below 7:00/mile, but slower than I had wanted.  More details to come later - right now I need to lay down and get some sleep.

Leg 24 - 7.9 miles

I was already feeling sore from my first two legs, so I didn't know what I was going to be able to do on this one.  I started off well, hitting about 6:50 pace for the first couple of miles, but my legs didn't last very long, especially since this was mostly gradual uphill.  I ended up wimping out and walking occasionally about every mile, which was about when our van stopped to offer me gatorade.  When we made the turn, I managed to put together a pretty good couple miles, but then we hit more uphill and my legs abandoned me.  Out of all my legs, this was the one I was most disappointed with.  Average pace: 7:38/mile.  I was absolutely exhausted after this leg.  I had also gotten a blister on my right big toe during the previous leg, and got a matching one on my left big toe to match.

Thankfully, we drove down to Camille's house after this leg, and her husband made waffles for us with orange juice.  We also had a nice place to take a hot shower, which I did.  I downed a couple waffles and had some orange juice, then laid down on the couch and managed to get maybe an hour of sleep.  Then off to our final set of legs.  Everyone was tired and sore and ran slower than we had planned.

Leg 36 - 3.8 miles

I got the baton and surpised myself with how well I was doing - I was running about 6:30 pace and felt like I could sustain it, then got hit with the dreaded stoplight.  I lost at least 30 seconds at the stoplight and had I been a cursing man, would have been cursing the light for taking so long to change.  Another speedy runner had caught up to me at the light, and we took off together.  I tried to stay with him, but he was running a little too fast for me.  I made the turn on to Alma School road, and had to wait for ANOTHER light!  Another 30 seconds (minimum) lost.  Grrrr!  From Alma School, I went on to the canal for about a mile, and the dirt took a lot out of me.  Once I got onto the road again, I was really struggling.  I ended up walking for about 0.1 miles again until I got to Dobson, then ran the rest of the way in.  Oh, and I had two more lights that I had to wait at!  Finally finished, and I was absolutely beat.  Average pace was 7:13/mile, but I feel confident that had it not been for the stoplights, I would have been able to hit my predicted pace of 6:48/mile.

PM - ran 0.65 miles with Joseph at 10:49 pace - he earned a smoothie.  He did a great job, too.  Then ran another 1.5 miles with Samuel at 10:25 pace.  I made him set the pace again, but kept up a constant string of letting him know whether he was running too slow or not, and mentioned to him that Joseph earned his smoothie.  I told him that if he wanted his too, he would have to speed up, but he was more interested in calculating exactly how much he would have to speed up to get the smoothie than to actually do the work . . . with about 0.1 to go, he picked up the pace considerably, to about 8:30 pace, and when we finished, expected to have done enough to get a smoothie.  When I informed him that he had, unfortunately, done too little too late, he was pretty upset.  We will see how things go tomorrow and whether he decides to make more of an effort to get his smoothie earlier in the run.

Lunch - easy 4 mile recovery run on the treamill at 8:00 pace.  Legs were still kind of sore, but I was able to get into a good rhythm.  Afterwords did planks and other ab exercises.

PM - ran 1.5 miles with Samuel, he earned his smoothie today.  I talked to him throughout about running a bit faster so that he didn't have to try and book it at the very end and run the risk of not making it.  He did a better job.  His running form also looked better - we got him some new shoes the other day because the heels (the heels!) of his old shoes were worn down all the way through the outer rubber and into the white eva (or whatever material it was).  When I mentioned this to him and asked him if it felt easier, he said "yes", and also said the shoes felt lighter.  Well, good.  I was a bit worried about the way he was running before - it was very much a shuffle with a lot of scuffing his feet.  Anyways, he kept the pace around 10:10 for the first 1.25 miles or so, then picked up the pace, and for the last bit turned on the burners again, this time hitting about 8:15 pace or so for the last 0.1 miles.  He did a great job, and I am proud of him.  Even more, he sounded relaxed and was conversational throughout, even at the very end.

Lunch - 5 easy miles on the treadmill.  Legs felt better today than yesterday, had more bounce in them.  Wore my HRM strap today to see what my HR would be like.  First 2 miles at 8:00 pace, Average HR about 150, max HR 154.  Next 2 miles at 7:30 pace, average HR about 160, max HR 164.  Last mile at 8:00 pace, HR dropped down a little bit, average HR about 158, max HR 160.  All in all a pretty good run today.  Looking forward to running with Joey and Sam this afternoon.

PM - 0.65 miles with Joey at 11:15 pace, then 1.5 miles with Samuel at 10:25 pace.  Finished with 0.25 miles with Adam at 14:30 pace.  I need to start running with him more.  I ran all of the miles with the boys in my aquasocks.  It felt very good - no heavy, clunky shoes (I have been doing most of my runs with the boys in my Grid Trigon Guides, which have definitely seen their better days).  In fact, it felt good enough that I decided I would bring them with me tomorrow (planning on running outside) for my lunch run to give my Tangents a break.

Lunch - 5.1 miles outside at 7:20 pace in my aquasocks.  It felt pretty good; the only thing was that I was wearing a pair of socks that were kind of worn out a bit, and I wore a few holes in them and subsequently developed a bit of a blister on my feet, just before the pinky toe.  Otherwise it was good, I felt good, and enjoyed the run.

PM - 0.65 miles with Joey in 6:58, average pace of 10:43/mile.  Wore my shoes, since I didn't want to aggravate the blister any more.  Did not get a chance to run with Sam due to getting home late and needing to get dinner ready because we were also taking some dinner over to the next door neighbor of one of the members of our ward whose husband had suffered a heart attack.

Lunch - 5 easy miles on the treadmill at 8:00 pace.  Wore my HRM chest strap again.

Mile 1 - Average HR 148, peak HR 150

Mile 2 - Average HR 152, peak HR 154

Mile 3 - Average HR 154, peak HR 157

Mile 4 - Average HR 157, peak HR 160

Mile 6 - Average HR 161, peak HR 164

Felt good throughout, lower leg muscles are a little bit sore from yesterday's aquasock run, I think, although I noticed it more when I stretched out.  After the run, did planks.

AM - no running today, my hip flexor has been hurting me a bit, and both of my feet were kind of sore (this may also be from wearing my shoes too tight - I am going to experiment with this next week), so I decided to bag the run.  Lybi has been wanting me to go with her to her yoga class for quite some time - partly so I could see how good of a workout it is, and partly because we just like doing things together.  Since our regular babysitters were both sick, this ended up being our date.  I enjoyed the class - it was refreshing and was definitely a good workout.

Lunch - 5.35 miles on the treadmill.  Felt energized after an extra day off from running on Saturday.  Started off at 8:00 pace for the first 1/2 mile to warm up, then moved into 7:30 pace for 1.5 miles.  Decided to throw in a couple MP miles.  2 miles at 7:00 pace.  Felt very good.  Then cooled down with the last 1.35 miles at about 7:50 pace.  Finished up my workout with planks.  I am up to a minute facing forward and about 45 seconds on each side right now.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at average pace of 9:58/mile.  He earned his smoothie.  I finally convinced him that it is better to run a consistent pace throughout to get his smoothie, rather than rely on a burst of speed at the end after running the entire rest of the run too slowly.   Then 0.65 with Joey in average pace of 10:19/mile.  He also earned his smoothie.  He did a great job, even though we ran faster than he is used to.

Lunch - progressive tempo run on the treadmill.  Started off nice and easy at 8:30 pace for the first 1/2 mile to warm up, then increased the speed 0.5 mph after each mile.  Finished at 6:20 pace for the last mile, was working pretty hard but was able to maintain.  Afterwards did 1 minute front planks, 45 seconds on each side.  My hip flexor was kind of sore after this workout - I am going to ice it when I get home and see if I can get it to calm down.  No more fast running until I can get this under control (now if I can just listen to my own advice . . .)

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of about 10:25/mile.  Then 0.65 miles with Joey in average pace of 11:06/mile.  Afterwards, I took them to get their smoothies that they had earned yesterday.

Lunch - 4 easy recovery miles on the treadmill at 8:30 pace.  Tried to be nice to my hip flexor today to allow it to heal.  Afterwards did 1:30 on front planks and 1:00 each on side planks.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 10:35 pace, then 0.65 miles with Joey at 11:30 pace.

Lunch - 5 easy miles on the treadmill again at 8:30 pace.  Felt very easy, both on the muscles as well as aerobically.  Felt like I was loafing, although I am sure I still got an aerobic benefit from the run.  Afterwards did 1:30 forward planks and 1:00 each side.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 10:25 pace, then 0.65 miles with Joey in 11:20 pace.

Lunch - 5.1 miles outside today.  The weather was really too nice to waste by running on the treadmill.  I really should have run outside every day this week - it has been so nice out - but most days I forget both my Garmin and my sunglasses, of which the sunglasses are paramount to my running outside due to sensitive eyes.  Average pace of 7:25 today, but was averaging more like 7:30 for the first 4 miles, then cranked it up just a little bit at the end.  Felt very good, very smooth.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at average pace of 10:35/mile, then 0.65 miles with Joseph at average pace of 11:15/mile.

PM - 8 miles outside.  It was a bit warm - around 80 degrees.  Started off nice and easy, and very slowly picked up the pace.  Turned around at the 4 mile mark, and unconsciously picked up the pace again.  Last 4 miles were 7:31, 7:30, 7:34 and 6:56.  It felt good to run outside - I need to do it more often during my lunch break - I am certain it is better for my legs and feet than always going on the treadmill.

Lunch - 5.4 miles on the treadmill.  Warmed up first 1/2 mile at 8:30 pace, then sped up to 8:00 pace for the next 2 miles.  At the 2.5 mile mark, I sped up to 7:30 pace for the rest of the run.  Average pace of 7:47/mile.  Felt very good, nice and smooth.  Afterwards did planks - 1:30 facing forward, then 1:00 on each side.  I think next week I will add another rep facing forward to my planks.

Lunch - 5.8 miles outside.  It was a little warm, but otherwise absolutely wonderful.  Took a different route today - ran up Priest Dr. until it turned into Galvin Pkwy and ran past both the Phoenix Zoo and the Desert Botanical Gardens, then Galvin Pkwy turned into 64th.St.  Galvn Pkwy is all uphill going north and downhill going south.  Turned around at the 2.9 mile mark - 7:30 average pace on the dot for the first half.  It felt very good, and I wanted to push it a little bit coming back.  First mile coming back was pretty flat, not really any downhill at all - 7:09.  Second mile I hit quite a bit of downhill, and at one steep downhill got down to about 5:10 pace.  Second mile was 6:30.  Last 0.9 was at 6:19 pace.  Total time for the run was 40:57, average pace of 7:05/mile.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel in average pace of 10:30/mile - he was suffering from allergies and, despite his desire to earn his smoothie, was unable to do so. I made him slow down because he didn't sound so good. Afterwards, 0.65 miles with Joey in average pace of 11:25/mile.

Lunch - 5 recovery miles on the treadmill.  After my run yesterday, I realized when I got home that I had managed to get myself sunburned, so I decided it would be best to stay inside today.  Legs felt a little dead from the downhill running yesterday.  Warmed up with the first mile at 8:30 pace, then settled into the run at 8:00 pace for the rest of the run.  After running did planks (2:30 on front in two reps, 1:00 on each side).

Lunch - 6.25 miles on the treadmill.  Warmed up the first mile at about 8:00 pace, then got into a tempo run at 6:40 pace for 5.25 miles.  I was pretty tired by the end of the tempo run but was determined to finish it out.  Good workout, not much else to say.  Calves (especially my right calf) are a bit sore after the tempo run, but that is somewhat to be expected.  Will take it easy today and have a nice easy recovery run tomorrow.

Lunch - 5 easy recovery miles on the treadmill at 8:30 pace. Aerobically, this was a very easy workout - I hardly broke a sweat - but the legs definitely felt dead. Afterwards did 2:30 of forward planks (1:30, 1:00) and 1:00 on each side.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 10:20 pace - he had a difficult time today with allergies and a side stitch - then 0.65 with Joey in at 10:50 pace.  Joey did not have any issues with allergies.

Lunch - it was so beautiful outside today that I had to run outside.  Weather was absolutely perfect - upper 60's and sunny, little breezy.  I ran my lunch run loop in the opposite direction because I was too impatient to wait for the traffic signal going the other direction.  Was able to maintain a nice easy pace throughout.  Average pace of 7:48/mile for the run.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 10:25 pace.  He was originally trying to get a smoothie, but it was fairly windy out, and that slowed him down quite a bit.  After that, another 0.65 miles wth Joey at 11:20 pace.

Lunch - 5.1 easy miles on the treadmill.  Started at 8:30 pace, changed the incline to 1.0 after 0.5 miles.  Increased the speed to 8:00 pace.  At 2 miles, dropped the incline back down to 0 for 1 mile, then back up to 1.0 for the next 2 miles.  Slowed back down to 8:30 pace at the end of 4 miles.  At 5 miles, dropped the incline back to 0 again.  Total time of 42:00, average pace of 8:14/mile. After the run, did 1:30 front planks and 1:00 on each side.

PM - ran 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 9:57/mile.  He earned his smoothie tomorrow.  Then 0.65 miles with Joseph, average pace of 10:35/mile.  He earned his smoothie too.  Then 0.25 miles with Adam, average pace of 14:15/mile.

Lunch - 5.5 miles outside.  Since I am considering doing Pat's run in about 3 weeks, I took a look at the course and decided I could run most of it during lunch.  Made the mistake of hitting the start button on my Garmin before it had acquired a lock on a satellite - as a result, the first .25 miles of the run were not logged on the Garmin, and it messed up the first mile split (since the timer was still running) and caused all the rest of the mile splits to be off by .25 miles.  Had one mile split that was 6:55 due to a large downhill portion that I got down to 5:55 pace on without feeling uncomfortable or out of control at all.  Average pace for the run was about 7:25/mile.

Lunch - ran outside again.  It was very nice, but fairly windy (I didn't really notice this until the 2nd half of my run).  Ran part of the Pat's run course again with some tweaks.  The description of the course says it is flat, but that is patently false - there is a1/2 mile uphill where you gain almost 100 feet during the second mile, followed by a faily steep downhill where you gain almost all of the elevation back.  The rest of it is pretty much flat, though.  Anyways, as I was coming back and hit the wind head-on, I decided to kick things up a notch.  Mile 5 was  in 6:57, although the effort with the wind in my fact probably felt more like 6:40 or so, and then I kicked in the last .25 to finish in 38:21, average pace of 7:13/mile.  Felt very good, not too winded.  I think that my aerobic conditioning is definitely improving, although I really wish I could lose the weight I gained since St. George.  I'm afraid it's not going to come off until I get up to 50 mpw, and with my current schedule, that's fairly hard to do.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 9:47 average pace.  This is a new PR, and it was windy, too.  He did a great job, and I was very proud of him.  Afterwards, ran 0.65 with Joey in a huge PR for him of 9:42 average pace.  He was amazing - he just took off right when we started and was just pumping his little arms and legs so determinedly, and he was absolutely full of energy and spunk.  I think he's been holding back on me.  Afterwards, I took the boys out for smoothies that they had earned last Tuesday.

Lunch - hard workout.  Ran pretty much all of the Pat's run course (except for the part that goes into the stadium), plus the 2 miles to get there and back from my work.  Here is the course:  Lunch Run Pats Run.  I forgot to bring my Garmin today, so the only mile I know about for sure was the first one (just from experience).  First mile was about 7:10, I will count that as MP effort.  Hit the lap button on my watch at 24:38, and after mapping out the run, the average pace for that portion was 6:42/mile.  Last 2.33 miles was in 15:06, average pace of 6:28/mile.  Average pace for the entire 6 mile run was 6:37/mile.  I was pretty beat after this run, but this gives me a better idea of how fast I should be able to run for Pat's run.  The last 5 miles of the run were in an average of 6:30/mile, so I should definitely be able to do faster than that.

PM - 10 miles outside.  I really don't like running in the evening - I feel like I am already kind of worn down from the rest of the day, so my energy level is not as high, but I was determined to not miss running today.  I was originally planning on running this morning, but when I woke up, I was still pretty tired, so I decided to treat myself to an extra hour of sleep.  Then I took Sam to cub scout citizenship day, which lasted until almost 11:00, and after that took him to the Scout Shop to replace his neckerchief slide.  Our babysitter came and watched the boys (they actually got to go swimming) while Lybi and I went on a date - we went out to Applebee's and I had the fiesta lime chicken; then we went to Home Depot and looked at lighting fixtures, as she wants a new one for the boys' bathroom for her birthday.  The day went by extremely fast; I had to get in my shopping earlier today so that I could run after the boys were down, and next thing I knew it was 8:15 and time for me to head out the door.

Sorry for the long-winded explanation about why I don't like running in the evening . . . on to the run.  I had a feeling that my legs were going to be dead from my hard workout yesterday.  I was still feeling kind of full from the late lunch (we ate at 2:00), so my plan was to just take it easy.  After the first mile, I felt like 8:00 miles would be pretty good tonight, so I worked on keeping that pace.  For some reason I was fluctuating up and down by about 10 seconds/mile today.  At the 5-mile turnaround, my legs were already feeling kind of dead, and the muscles on the outside of both my hips were feeling tight.  At about 7 miles my legs and feet started to ache from the pounding, since my muscles were kind of worn out and not doing as good of a job as normal of absorbing the shock.  Finished the run right at 1:20:00, 8:00/mile pace.  Aerobically, I felt totally fine, not even out of breath in the least.  However, my legs were dog tired.  Looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow.

Lunch - 5.1 easy miles outside, average pace of 7:45/mile.  Legs felt fresher than on Saturday, but didn't have all of their "pop" back.  Aerobically was an easy run.  Went into the fitness center afterwards and did 2 X 1:30 forward planks, and 1:00 on each side.  Abs and arms were both quivering at the end.  Nothing else to report - looking forward to running with the boys this afternoon.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, he set another personal record - average pace of 9:43/mile for the entire run.  I think he is gaining confidence, and I have noticed that his breathing has also improved, although his form still leaves somewhat to be desired.  Afterwards, ran 0.65 with Joey, average pace of 10:20/mile - still well under his smoothie pace.  He also did most of the run without holding my hand.  In fact, if I hadn't stupidly mentioned how well he was doing on his own, he may well have forgotten about it . . . afterwards did 0.25 with Adam at about 14:30 pace.

Lunch - 6.0 miles outside. I did Lunch Run Pats Run backwards today to change things up a bit, plus due to timing of stoplights.  Felt very good during the entire run, legs had their "pop" back, and as a result, I ran faster than I realized (I forgot my Garmin at home today).  Average pace today was 7:26/mile, but it felt much easier.  I hope that means I am seeing gains in fitness.  On a side note, I started taking fish oil pills last Friday, and without making any other changes in my exercise routine, my right hip has calmed down significantly.  My wife had told me that omega-3's were a natural anti-inflammatory, which seems to be true based on my own experience.  I will have to do some more research on this, although due to the other benefits of getting enough omega-3 fatty acids, I don't think I will be stopping this anytime soon.

PM - ran with the boys.  1.5 miles with Samuel - he set another personal record today - 9:24/mile for the run!  That is 3 consecutive personal records, I believe.  I told him today that I think he is beginning to understand what his body is capable of.  I also told him that when he breaks 9:00/mile for the entire run, Lybi and I will take him out to dinner.  Ran 0.65 with Joey in 10:20 average pace, then 0.15 with Adam in 12:00 pace.  Afterwards, took the boys out to get the smoothies they earned yesterday.

Lunch - 5.25 miles on the treadmill at 8:00 pace.  Warmed up for the first 1/2 mile, then set the incline at 1.0 for the rest of the run.  I ran inside today because my neck and shoulders got a bit too sun-kissed yesterday, and I need to let my skin heal.  After running, I came to the conclusion that perhaps the treadmill was contributing to my hip flexor problem, as my hip was a little sore after the run today, which it hasn't been for several days.  Will bring sunblock tomorrow so I can run outside.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel.  He was determined to achieve the goal of breaking 9:00 pace for the entire run today, in spite of it being kind of windy, and boy did he ever come close.  He averaged 9:06 for the entire run today.  That's 4 consecutive personal records!  He is so close to earning his dinner at a restaurant with Lybi and I!  Afterwards, 0.65 miles with Joey at 10:59 pace.

Lunch - 5.1 miles outside on my Lunch Run course.  I started out at what I thought was an easy pace, but it ended up being about 7:20 for the first mile (the only one I know the approximate time for, because I forgot my Garmin today at home).  At about 1.5 miles, I got passed by a guy who was moving at a pretty good clip.  I let him go at first, but then after about 1/4 mile or so, I ended up speeding up out of sheer competitiveness, and reeled him in, resulting in a 1/2 mile at threshold pace - probably around 6:20 pace is my guess.  Then our paths diverged, and I tried to slow down, but was unable to really slow down to around 8:00 pace, as my legs were now tuned for running faster.  With about 1.5 miles to go, I picked up the pace again to what felt like faster than MP, so I am counting it as threshold miles.  Average pace of 7:04/mile for the entire run.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at average pace of 9:51/mile.  After four consecutive personal records, he finally ran a little slower today, although still under his old smoothie pace.  I think I am going to have to modify his smoothie goal to 9:30 - 10:00 is just too easy for him now.  Afterwards, 0.65 miles with Joey in average pace of 10:40/mile.  Likewise, I think I need to modify Joey's smoothie goal time to either 10:30 or a little faster.

AM - I had a dentist appointment this morning, so I got to run in the morning.  It was extremely nice being able to run in what felt likt about 60 degree weather instead of 80 degrees.  Got in just a tick under 5 miles at 7:30 pace, where I was gradually increasing the pace the entire time.

Lunch - 5.1 easy miles outside today.  Beautiful weather, a little breezy.  Forgot my Garmin today, so I didn't know exactly what pace I was running, but it felt pretty good and easy.  Total time for the run was 38:10, average pace (calculated afterwards) was 7:29/mile.  Legs felt nice and peppy, lungs felt good.

Lunch - 5.35 miles on the treadmill.  Warmed up for 1/2 mile at 8:30 pace, then did the rest at 8:00 pace.  Felt very easy aerobically and on the legs.  Afterwards, did planks - 1:30 facing down and 1:00 on each side.

PM - ran with the boys outside today, although it was kind of hot out.  Samuel was first, average pace of 9:41/mile for 1.5 miles.  He has a more difficult time with the heat.  Next was Joey, average pace of 10:17/mile for the 0.65 miles.  Third was Adam, not sure of the pace, but he ran about 0.15 miles.

Enjoyed celebrating Lybi's birthday (very low-key) with artichokes and chips and salsa (her two favorite foods), then she opened her presents.  She got a new set of scriptures and a set of animated Book of Mormon stories that are out of print, thus used, but in excellent condition.  We broke in the first book today with the boys for scripture reading - with all the amazing pictures in the books, they were just eating it up.

Lunch - 4.15 miles outside. I took a slightly different route today, because I was short on time, thus the shorter mileage. It was nice out, a bit blustery though. Average pace for the run was 7:16/mile, aided and abetted by my powering through the last 0.15 miles at about 6:00 pace.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 9:28 pace, just under his new smoothie pace.  Then 0.65 miles with Joseph at 10:18 pace, and 0.15 miles with Adam at 12:20 pace.

Lunch - 5.1 easy miles outside at 7:30 pace.  I wore the Garmin and was trying real hard to make sure that my pace didn't get out of control, so I was glancing at it pretty regularly.  Sometimes it is easy for me to run faster than I should, because I get excited about an upcoming race or how well an elite runner just did (did anyone else catch the Rotterdam marathon?  Two guys at 2:04:27!).  I also made the mistake last night at Webelos of running a 50-yd dash (approximately) with the boys as we were working on theirAthlete activity pin, and that kind of set my hip flexor back a little bit, although not as bad as it was before.  Not sure if I am going to be able to do Pat's Run, as we are considering driving up to Payson that weekend.

Lunch - progressive run on the treadmill, increasing my speed by 0.5 mph every 1/2 mile until I felt I could no longer maintain.  Started at 8:30 pace to warm up for the first 1/2 mile, then increased to 8:00 for the next 1/2 mile, 7:30 for the next 1/2 mile, 7:00 for the 4th 1/2 mile, then 6:40 for the 5th 1/2 mile, 6:20 for the 6th 1/2 mile, 6:00 for the 7th 1/2 mile and 5:42 for the last 1/2 mile, then finished with a cool down of 0.15 miles.  Then 1:30 of down facing planks and 1:00 on each side.

PM - 10 miles outside.  Weather was nice and cool, high today was about 68.  A little windy, and had some scattered showers while I was running.  I was originally planning on running this morning, but woke up to rain and wimped out.  Average pace of 7:35/mile, mainly due to the last mile.  Miles were as follows:

 Mile 1 - 7:46.   Felt good, got into a nice rhythm really quickly and felt like I could maintain it the entire time.

Mile 2 - 7:45.  Still feeling good.  Have a favorable crosswind.

Mile 3 - 7:49.  Forced myself to try and slow down a little bit.

Mile 4 - 7:42.  On this mile, I turned down the road to the Highland High School track and ended at the track.

Mile 5 - 7:50.  Legs were starting to feel a little tired from the workout I put them through yesterday.

Mile 6 - 7:51.  Same.

Mile 7 - 7:27.  This was my last mile on the track, and I started to increase the pace at the 1/2 mile mark, and pushed the last lap at about 1/2 marathon pace.

Mile 8 - 7:41.  Really starting to feel tiredness in my legs here, but was determined to push through it.  I wanted to work on developing the toughness I need to push through the end of St. George.

Mile 9 - 7:26.  Started to push the pace here again at about the 1/2 mile mark, where I decided I wanted to see what I would be able to do at the end of a long run where I was tired.

Mile 10 - 6:36.  On this lap, I really pushed the pace, again to see what I could do when I was tired.  Did pretty good, accelerated throughout and hit 5:42 pace towards the end.

Overall, I am happy with this run.  I didn't get in as many miles this week as I had planned, due to Lybi's sister's family being here, but that was a welcome interruption.

Lunch - 5.1 easy miles outside, no Garmin.  Run felt pretty easy, but I was having to constantly tell myself to slow down.  I felt good after I finished, and didn't check my average until I started writing this entry - 7:19/mile.  Wow, that felt a lot easier than I had anticipated.  Am I just getting faster from being more fit?  Time will tell.  Unfortutely I will not have the chance to test my fitness this weekend at Pat's Run, but I will plan on signing up for at least the first summer race series 5K.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 9:29/mile.  He earned his smoothie this week.  Joseph decided to throw a fit when I told him I wasn't going to hold his hand any more, and as a result did not run and did not get a smoothie.

Lunch - 5.5 miles outside in beautiful weather.  Wore my Garmin today so that I could keep better tabs on my pace.  Average pace for the run was 7:31/mile - I'm happy with that.  It felt pretty easy - definitely sustainable.  Since the weather is getting warmer, I am going to start running with the boys after dinner - we will have to see how that works, since we usually start getting them ready for bed at around 7:15-7:30.  I really need to get our treadmill fixed so that it stops making this nasty screeching sound when we run on it - even if I never use it again, and we just use it for the boys.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 9:58 pace.  It was quite windy out, and he had drunk 2 whole cups of lemonade just before running, so he had a hard time of it.  But he wanted to run that extra 1/2 mile even less, so he toughed it out and made it.  Afterwards, we talked about not drinking a lot of fluids right before running.  0.65 miles with Joseph at 10:50 pace.  He realized I was not going to give in and hold his hand, and was able to do a good job.

Lunch - tempo run today.  It was quite windy, which made things pretty interesting.  First mile was probably around MP or a little slower, then the rest of the miles were more like 1/2 MP, but I am counting them as threshold miles.  Average pace for the run was 6:45/mile.  The last mile of the run was most interesting - I had a strong wind of about 20-30 mph blowing in my face the entire time.

On a side note, the geeky side of me is happy about having gotten a new touchscreen cell phone - it is awesome.

Lunch - 5.9 miles outside.  Very nice outside, about 65 degrees, a little breezy.  Average pace for the run was 7:28/mile.  Felt very good, easy for both the lungs and legs.  I am confident that if I can stick with no pop at all, I am going to drop down to where I was prior to SGM last year.

PM - 0.15 miles with Adam, then 0.65 miles with Joey at 10:20 pace, then 1.5 miles with Samuel at 9:44 pace.

Lunch - 6 miles on the treadmill today - wanted to make sure I had some time to get in some core work.  First 3 miles easy, then got a little bored and shifted into MP for the last 3 miles.  Everything felt good, breathing was good, legs were good (although I can tell that it is really time to get new shoes, and am glad I had ordered new ones from Steve).  Finished the run in 43:55, average pace of 7:19/mile.  Afterwards, did 1:30 downward facing plank and 1:00 on each side.

Good luck to those running the SLC marathon tomorrow as well as those running Pat's Run here in AZ (I know at least Burt is doing it).

Lunch - 5.1 miles outside.  It was quite a bit warmer out today than what I was used to. I intended for this to be a nice, easy run, but I was all pumped up from having watched the Boston marathon this morning, and so I ended up running faster than planned.  This was also in part due to my not having my Garmin with me.  The temperature was about 90 degrees at the start, and was about 93 when I finished.  Not super uncomfortable, but I could tell it was hotter than I was used to.  Average pace for the run was 7:03/mile.  I am counting this as 1 easy mile and 4.1 MP miles

Had to drop my car off at the shop today to get it fixed, so instead of running over lunch, I made plans to run from work to the shop to pick up the car.  When I went to get going, it was already 97 degrees out, so I took a bottle of water with me to stay hydrated and avoid getting overheated.  Had the garmin, but I forgot to start it again at a stoplight, so I don't know what my average pace was.  I am going to guess about 7:35/mile.  I had grossly overestimated the total distance from work to the car shop - I thought it was about 7 miles, but it ended up actually being just under 4.  Picked up the car - had to get 2 radiator hoses replaced, the coolant flushed, and also had to get the axle and CV joint replaced - all just after my warranty expired (of course).  Will plan on hopefully doing some more miles this evening, although my stomach is acting up - I hope I don't have what Adam had last Thursday.

Lunch - 5.5 miles outside. It was 88 degrees when I started, and about 90 degrees at the end. Average pace of 7:26/mile. Felt pretty good, not too bad in spite of the warmer weather. I am hoping that my body will be able to adapt to the warmer weather and allow me to still run outside as the temperatures continue to increase.

Lunch - 6.1 miles outside. It was about 84 degrees when I started, and about 86 when I finished. Not as bad as the other day. Average pace for the run was 7:25/mile. When I started, my legs felt kind of bleh, but after about a mile, the feeling went away, and I got into a good rhythm. Today was another day where I had to struggle to not run too fast, and I was wearing my Garmin as well, so I knew what pace I was running.

Lunch - 6.25 miles on the treadmill today (I forgot my sunblock and didn't want to get sunburned).  After having had a goose egg on Friday and Saturday due to fathers and sons campout on Friday night, and Saturday being a nightmarishly crazy day, it felt good to get back into the swing of things.  Warmed up first 1/2 mile at 8:00 pace, then bumped up the speed to 7:30 pace until I hit 4 miles.  Then bumped up the speed to 6:58 pace for the rest of the run.  It felt very good to get in the run.  Average pace of 7:20 for the entire run.

Lunch - 6.5 miles on the treadmill (I forgot my sunblock again).  Decided to break up the monotony by turning today's run into a medium-hard workout.  Warmed up nice and easy for 1 mile, then into the workout.  2 miles at 5K pace (5:42/mile), then 1 mile easy to recover, then another mile at 5K pace, followed by 1.5 easy mile.  Hard stuff.  This is my goal 5K pace to get me under 18:00 for the 5K this year.  I will have to see if I can do it or not.  In any case, I was pretty spent after this workout.  Nice and easy tomorrow and then next day to let my legs recover from today.  I need to find another time when I can run, as it is mostly too hot now to run with the boys, so they have been running on our treadmill (which sadly I cannot use because it makes a horrible screeching noise when I try to run on it - but they don't have any problems).  I may start waking up earlier so that I can get in a few miles in the morning.  Otherwise there is no way I will be able to get in much more than what I am doing right now.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 9:20 pace. He did a really good job. When he first started out, he was running at 8:15 pace. Afterwards I ran 0.65 miles with Joey at 9:57 pace. I told Joey that my legs were a little sore from running hard at lunch and to not run too hard, and what does he do? He took off! Finally, 0.15 miles with Adam at 12:15 pace. All of the runs with the boys were done in my aqua socks.

Lunch - 6 miles outside.  I forgot my Garmin, but finally brought my sunblock today, and it was an absolutely gorgeous day.  Calves and hamstrings felt a little sore from my speed workout yesterday, but gradually loosened up as the run progressed.  Average pace of 7:25/mile.

AM - woke up at 5:30 so that I could run a little bit, did 1.5 easy miles in my aquasocks to simulate barefoot running.  Legs were pretty stiff at first, but loosened up after the first 1/2 mile, and I enjoyed the rest of the run.  I also got my new shoes from Steve yesterday, so I will be running in them today - looking forward to it.

Lunch - 6.1 miles outside.  My legs were absolutely trashed today - no snap to them, just felt like rubber the entire time.  I did get to break in my new shoes, which felt nice - I could definitely tell the difference between the new ones and the ones that have almost 600 miles on them.  Just pushed through today.  Average pace of 7:28/mile.  For some reason, it also felt hotter today, although it really wasn't that bad.  It was probably about 86 when I finished - not horrible, and certainly much cooler than the other week when it was over 100 when I ran to pick up my car.

Lunch - 6.2 miles outside.  Legs felt better than yesterday, but still a little rubbery.  That could have been from playing volleyball last night for an hour.  I was struggling a little bit today with my breathing, in spite of what felt like an easy pace.  Average pace of 7:26/mile for the run.  Did not get up early this morning because I didn't get enough sleep the night before, and if I am going to get up early and run, I need to be in bed by 10:00.

AM - 10 miles this morning without eating breakfast, which pretty much ensured I would be burning mostly fat on this run.  Ran 4 miles to the HS track, average pace of 7:53/mile, then did total of 3 miles on the track.  First two were average of about 7:30/mile, and the last one was about 7:15.  Then ran back via a different route.  By this time I was really feeling the effects of not having eaten anything, and felt like I was just plodding along.  I decided that it would be a good idea for me to push the last mile to work on improving my fat-burning capability at faster speeds.  Slowly increased speed from 7:55/mile or so to about MP effort with a mile to go.  Last mile in 6:47.  It was pretty difficult, both to maintain turnover as well as from a cardiovascular perspective.  We'll see if I get in any more miles today.  I am still kind of sore from volleyball - mostly either my piriformis or my gluteus medius on my right side.  Stretched it out last night, will stretch some more today.

Lunch - 6 miles on the treadmill.  It is starting to get too hot out for me to run outside.  I wore my mp3 player today to make the run less boring on the treadmill - it worked.  I may keep doing that.  This week I am planning on adding mileage by getting in a few miles every morning - 2-3 - and then dropping down to 5 miles at lunch so that I can spend a little more time working on my core.  Eventually, I will probably ramp up to 3 miles in the morning and 6 miles at lunch.  That might just allow me to break 60 mpw later in the summer.

AM - did not run this morning, as I didn't get enough sleep.  I had a hard time getting to sleep last night, in spite of getting to bed at a fairly decent hour.

Lunch - 6.25 miles on the treadmill.  Started off easy warming up at 8:30 pace, then bumped it up to 7:30 pace after 1/2 mile.  At the 1 mile mark, started a MP tempo run (6:53/mile) forthe next 5 miles.  At the 6 mile mark, I bumped it up to 6:00/mile pace to finish the last 0.25 miles.  All in all, a pretty good run, although it felt a little bit harder than it should have.  I hope that I will be able to get to bed early tonight so that I can start running in the morning as well, but we have decided that if I don't get to bed by 10:00, then I can't wake up early to run in the morning, so I have to put forth the effort to get to bed early enough.

AM - did not run again - I had a hard time falling asleep again, and as a result, did not get enough sleep to justify getting up early.

Lunch - 6 easy miles on the treadmill.  First 3 miles at 8:00 pace, last 3 miles at 7:30 pace.  Legs felt a little sluggish after yesterday's MP tempo run.

AM - did not run again.  Maybe tomorrow, maybe next week.  More important to get enough sleep.

Lunch - 6 miles on the treadmill at 7:30 pace.  Decided to mix things up a bit, and played with the incline settings.  Starting at mile 1.5

0.5 miles at 1.0 incline

0.5 miles at 1.5 incline

0.5 miles at 2.0 incline

0.5 miles at 2.5 incline

0.5 miles at 3.0 incline

0.5 miles at 2.0 incline

0.5 miles at 1.0 incline

Finished up with 1 mile at 0 incline, could feel that my legs were tired.

Lunch - 6.5 mile progressive run on the treadmill.  First 1/2 mile warmup at 8:00 pace, then the next 1.5 miles at 7:30 pace.  Then began the progressive tempo run.  1 mile at 7:00 pace, 1 mile at 6:40 pace, 1 mile at 6:20 pace and 1 mile at 6:00 pace, then the last 1/2 mile at 5:40 pace.  Cooled down to finish.  It felt good to stretch my legs again, and I feel that as the weight is slowly coming off (and also being redistributed) it is becoming easier to run faster (very good thing).  Unless the weather is extremely bad for the 5K in two weeks, I am feeling very hopeful for not only a PR, but to break 18:00.

AM - 13 miles outside, before it got hot.  I got up at 5 am so that I could get in a longer run.  The plan was to take it nice and easy the entire run, since I had kind of a hard workout yesteday.  First I ran to the store to pick up a gatorade and some powergels.  Took the gatorade home and drank a little, then had my first gel and took the other one with me to take later.  Stopped at just after 5 miles to take some water.  Just after 9 miles, I took the second gel, was starting to feel a little sluggish.  The first 7 miles were right around 8:00 pace, then I started to pick things up a little bit.  Mile 8 was in 7:47, mile 9 in 7:46, mile 10 in 7:35, mile 11 in 7:17, and mile 12 in 7:06 (I counted this as a MP mile), then slowed down and ran the last mile in 7:47.  Total time for the run was 1:41:13, average pace of 7:47/mile.

Lunch - 6 easy miles on the treadmill at 8:00 pace.  Feeling a little under the weather - scratchy throat, little stuffed up, so I wanted to make sure I took it easy.  Felt very easy today, although it took a minute or two for my legs to warm up.

Update:  I got an email from the St. George marathon and I am IN!  I am excited and hoping that this will be the year that I will be able to break 3 hours.

Lunch - finally got out for a run again, after having been laid up basically all last week being sick and completely exhausted.  4 easy miles on the treadmill at 8:00 pace.  I will take it as a very good sign that this run felt very easy in every aspect.  I was originally planning on putting in a few miles this morning as well, but I didn't get to bed in time.  I'll try again tonight to get to bed by 10:00 so that I can get up early enough to run about 3 miles tomorrow morning.

Lunch - 4 miles on the treadmill again.  I did not get to bed early enough to run this morning.  Started off at 8:00 pace, then progressed to 7:30 pace after 1 mile and stayed there for the rest of the run.  I have been feeling a bit congested today; hoping that doesn't lead to anything else.  If I start to feel any worse, I will shut it down and drop out of the 5K this weekend.  However, today may just be due to allergies - we had a storm last night with rain and high winds that blew a lot of dust around, and I didn't take my claritin last night like I normally do.

Lunch - 4 miles on the treadmill.  First mile at 8:00 pace to warm up, second mile at 7:30 pace, 3rd mile at 7:00 pace (I am considering this marathon pace), then picked up the pace on the last mile to 5K pace - 5:42, to get myself ready for my 5K on Saturday.  It felt good, no issues, I feel good to go for this weekend.  I am looking forward to seeing what I can do, depending on what the weather throws at me.  I am trying to decide if I am also going to do the Moon Valley 5K this year as well, since it is only a few weeks before St. George - I guess I will have to see.

Afterwards, did 1 minute of planks facing downward and 1 minute on each side, then did some knee raises.  Last week when I was sick, I gained back all the weight I had lost so far, and I am hoping some of it is just due to perhaps water retention or something like that.

Lunch - 5.1 easy miles outside today.  It was too gorgeous to pass up today - about 80 degrees, cloudy with some occasional spitting rain.  Beautiful!  The run felt very good - no soreness at all, except in my arms and pecs.  I made the mistake of doing pushups with my webelos scouts last night as they were finishing up with their athlete activity badge.  I managed to do 35 (not too bad), but now I am paying for it.  It looks like the weather is going to be beautiful this weekend - I am looking forward to the race.

Lunch - nice easy run outside again.  I couldn't pass up running in this weather again - it was so beautiful!  5.71 miles at average pace of 7:30/mile.  Felt nice and easy.  I ended up running up to where the 5K is tomorrow and running the 5K course, then coming back.  It was quite nice, and I'm glad I had the chance to refresh my memory on what the course is like.

AM - Burt met me at 6:15, and we headed off to Papago Park to the first of the Arizona Road Racers summer race series. We got there with plenty of time, and I picked up my bib and timing chip. This race is the only one of the series that employs a age and gender handicap, where you start a certain number minutes after the gun to avoid congestion, and the entire race is timed by chip time instead of clock time. My age group handicap was 13:52. After running nice easy 1.5 mile warmup, I got in line and waited to get going. There were a lot more people there this year as opposed to last year, so it was more crowded than before. Time for the race was 19:00 flat, with splits below.

Mile 1 - 5:53 - I hit 5:10 pace during this first mile at some point, which probably did me in. This mile was also the craziest, with my having to slow down and speed up multiple times due to the sheer number of slower runners in front of me.

Mile 2 - 6:15 - on this mile, which included the turnaround, I realized that I was not going to reach my goal of sub-18:00, because I was already struggling, and I decided to slow it down a bit.

Mile 3 - 6:13 - This mile included a nice downhill where I actually hit 4:50 pace, otherwise it would have been a bit slower.

Final 0.11 - :38 - 5:28 average pace, and I hit 4:40 pace during my kick.

I ended up 36th overall and 6th in my age division. In retrospect, I am pretty happy with this result given that last week I missed the entire week except Monday due to sickness, and it was also very humid today, even though the weather was pretty nice. Burt did a great job getting a new PR in the 5K, so congratulations to him.

On a side note, Olympic hopeful Sara Slattery was in the race. The announcer said she still held the all-time HS state record in the mile at 4:48. I saw her coming back while I was heading out and didn't recognize her at the time, but heard her yell at the runners crowding the other lane to move. She was booking it, and ended up being the first overall finisher in spite of the handicap.

Lunch - 4.75 miles on the treadmill.  Started off easy, but got bored quickly and since I wasn't completely satisfied with my race, wanted to see what I could manage on the treadmill.  Started off at 8:00 pace, then increased to 7:30 pace after a mile.  At 2 miles, increased the pace to 7:00 pace, then increased the speed every 1/2 mile after that.  At 2.5 miles, increased to 6:40 pace, at 3 miles, increased to 6:20 pace, at 3.5 miles, increased to 6:00 pace (still doing good), at 4 miles, increased to 5:42 pace, at 4.5, increased to 5:30 pace, then called it good after 1/4 mile at that pace.  Good workout, but the downside was that afterwards the top of my foot hurt.  I am a bit concerned, as it was sore after my race as well.  I iced it later in the evening, and decided to not do any more running this week, but will instead get on the bike to keep up the cardio and still work the legs.

11.25 miles on the bike at the fitness center.  Got in a pretty good workout, although for the most part, my HR was down in the 110-120 range.  Towards the end, I got it up to 140 really pushing it on a simulated hill - RPM's were around 105.  Had that weird feeling after the ride I will call "biker's legs" where everything still felt kind of rolling for a couple minutes.

Lunch - 14.4 miles on the bike in 40 minutes.  Today was more of a cardio workout than yesterday - more of a constant resistance aimed at reaching a certain HR as opposed to doing hills yesterday.  Got my HR up to 150 by the end.  Average speed would have been 21.6 mph based on the distance.  Got a real good workout for my legs, then did core till my abs were burning.  Foot still hurts :(

Lunch - another 14.4 miles on the bike in the fitness center.  Got my HR up to 163 today at the end, but I was also going at about 110 rpm . . . legs were burning good at the end.  Then I did core again until my abs were burning big time.  I hope that I can still maintain some semblance of fitness this next week while I wait to see what is going on with my foot.  Been icing it, and started rubbing hydrocortisone cream on it at night to help with any inflammation, since I can't handle motrin.  This injury is really baffling me.  I don't wear my running shoes tight, but at the same time, there doesn't appear to be major tenderness to the touch at the location that is painful.

Lunch - approx. 9 miles on the stationary bike.  Started off with a 5 minute fitness test, in which I did 1.9 miles, then did another 7 miles or so of hills.

Lunch - 14.4 miles on the stationary bike again in 40 minutes, average speed of 21.6 mph.  Got a good cardio workout, but my foot is still hurting pretty bad.  I also noticed during the day that I was walking on the outside of my right foot, whether to compensate for the pain in the foot or because something about the structure of my foot has changed, I don't know.  I am beginning to think that SGM is not going to happen this year, and that I am going to have to go see a doctor.

Lunch - 4 miles on the elliptical trainer, which is a progression from the stationary bike last week.  Felt pretty good, just had the bottoms of my toes go numb, but that happens every time I use an elliptical, so I wasn't worried about that.  I'm going to stick with the elliptical the rest of this week and see how my foot feels, and potentially start running again next Monday.

Lunch - 35 minutes on the elliptical.  It was a different make/model than the one I used yesterday, and wouldn't you know it - it showed I only did about 3.4 miles in 35 minutes as opposed to 4 miles in 29 minutes yesterday.  Funky.  In any case, I got in a good workout, although this one didn't work with my HRM chest strap.  It also didn't cause my toes and the balls of my feet to go tingly like they did yesterday.  The foot also felt pretty good - a few small twinges.  I had to fight the urge to get on the treadmill.  But the elliptical kicked my trash today - my quads, glutes and hammies were burning afterwards, since about halfway through I cranked up the resistance quite a bit.

Lunch - 4 miles on the elliptical again.  Afterwards, I decided to do an easy mile on the treadmill to see how it felt and how my foot would hold up.  That was a mistake.  Although my foot felt fine afterwards, the next day my foot was pretty sore, and I have pretty much determined that I don't think I am going to have enough time to regain my fitness to run SGM.  I am going to shut things down for a while and not do anything that would affect my foot until I feel it is 100% healed.  I will probably try to see a sports podiatrist as well to see if we can figure out what is going on.  I may shoot for a winter marathon or something.  This news is disappointing, but I have to be realistic.

Lunch - still not running, I am going to stay off my foot until it gets better.  However, the inactivity has really made me stir-crazy, so I went down to the fitness center today to work with the weights.  Did the following:

2 x 12 reps lat pulldowns at 70 lbs

2 x 12 reps seated cable rows at 70 lbs

2 x 15 reps ab crunch machine at 90 lbs

1 x 10 reps ab crunch machine at 95 lbs

2 x 10 reps leg extensions at 90 lbs

1 x 10 reps leg curls at 70 lbs

2 x 10 reps dips, 70 lb assist

1 x 10 reps leg press at 250 lbs

1 minute planks facing down, alternate leg left every 10 seconds

1 minute planks on each side

Finished with 1/2 mile walk on the treadmill starting at 3.5 mph and working my way up to 4 mph.

Lunch - worked out with the weights again:

Bench press - 1 x 10 reps at 70 lbs, 1 x 10 reps at 90 lbs

Ab crunch machine - 2 x 15 reps at 90 lbs, 1 x 10 reps at 100 lbs

Bicep curls - 2 x 10 reps at 70 lbs

Triceps extension - 1 x 10 reps at 70 lbs

Leg press - 1 x 10 reps at 250 lbs, 1 x 10 reps at 290 lbs, 1 x 6 reps at 350 lbs

planks - 1:30 facing down, including 1:00 of leg raises every 10 seconds, 1:00 on each side

20 minutes on the treadmill walking between 3 and 4 mph, depending on the incline, which went between 1 and 7

Foot is still sore sometimes, not sure what to do, but I am not going to start running again until it is 100%.

Lunch - hit the weights again:

Lat pulldowns - 2 x 12 reps at 70 lbs

Seated rows - 2 x 10 reps at 90 lbs

Ab crunch machine - 2 x 15 reps at 90 lbs

Leg extensions - 2 x 10 reps at 90 lbs

Leg curls - 2 x 10 reps at 70 lbs

Leg press - 1 x 10 reps at 290 lbs, 1 x 10 reps at 350 lbs

Dips - 2 x 10 reps with 70 lbs assist

Planks - 1:30 facing down, 1:00 on each side

Supermans - 6-8 x 10 seconds

Lunch - weights again.

Lat pulldowns: 2 x 15 reps at 70 lbs

Seated rows: 2 x 12 reps at 70 lbs

Ab crunch machine: 15 reps at 90 lbs, 15 reps at 95 lbs and 10 reps at 100 lbs

Leg extensions: 2 x 12 reps at 90 lbs

Hamstring curls: 2 x 10 reps at 70 lbs

Dips: 2 x 15 reps, 60 lbs assist

Planks: 1:30 facing down, including alternating leg raises every 10 seconds for the first minute.  1:00 on each side

Supermans: 6 x 10 seconds each, 5-10 seconds rest.

Lunch - lifted weights again.

bench press: 2 x 12 reps at 90 lbs

triceps extension: 2 x 12 reps at 50 lbs

curls: 1 x 10 reps at 90 lbs (estimated - too much), 1 x 10 reps on each arm at 40 lbs (est.)

lat pullups - 2 x 10 reps, 70 lbs assist

ab crunch machine - 3 x 15 reps at 90 lbs

shoulder press - 2 x 10 reps at 70 lbs? - this one killed my triceps

Planks - 1 x 1:30 facing down, 1 x 1:00 on each side

Lunch - weights again.  See a pattern?

Lat pulldowns - 3 x 12 reps at 90 lbs

Seated rows - 3 x 12 reps at 70 lbs

ab crunch machine - 3 x 15 reps at 90 lbs

leg extensions - 3 x 15 reps at 90 lbs

knee-ups - 2 x 15 reps

leg curls - 1 x 10 reps at 70 lbs, 1 x 10 reps at 60 lbs (hammies were burning after 2nd set)

Planks - 1 x 1:40 facing down, including 3 x 10 seconds leg raises each leg, then 1:00 on each side.

Supermans - 10 x 10 sec with 5 second rest between reps.

Yay!  I finally got to get out and run a little bit again.  I never did go see a doctor about my foot, just rested it for quite a bit, and will see how things go, but I am going to start running again, nice and easy.  Did 2 easy miles in the evening (monsoon weather) that let me know my fitness has really taken a nosedive since I stopped running due to the foot injury.  Felt pretty good, put some ice on the foot afterwards as a precaution, and will see how things feel tomorrow to see if I do another couple miles in the evening.  Average pace of 7:45/mile.

PM - 3 easy miles outside.  Weather was still warm and fairly humid due to a storm that rolled through last night, as well as another storm that was brewing on the horizon.  Good ol' monsoon season!  Foot felt okay today.  Took it a little easier today, average pace of 8:02/mile.  I think that 3 miles/day will be tops for at least a couple weeks, and I will re-evaluate at that time to see how the foot is doing.  If at any point in time the foot flares up again, I will shut things down again and finally break down and go see a doctor.

PM - ran 2 miles outside in the evening. I was originally planning on either 2 or 3 miles, depending on how I felt. the foot felt fine, but my calves started to tighten up, so I decided to call it quits at 2 miles. average pace of 8:08 per mile.

PM - ran 2 miles outside. I was thinking about running 3 miles, but my calves got fairly tight, so I called it quits at 2 miles. better to take it easy than to overdo it and get injured again.

AM - 2 miles outside. average pace of 7:52/mile. I felt pretty good today, no tightness in my calves, but I still want to take it easy and build up very gradually. I think once I lose some of the weight I gained over the last month I will start to feel better.