Cool Runnings!

AM - 4 miles by myself, average pace of 8:05/mile, then another 2 miles with Sparky, average pace of around 8:20/mile.  It felt good to get out after Saturday's long run, but my calves were pretty tight.  I will need them to be worked on tonight by my personal massage therapist . . . :)  Planning on putting in 7 miles a couple days during the week, and hoping to do 18 miles this weekend - we will see.  Either way I am hoping to get in 50 miles total for the week.  Next week will be a taper week for the ADT 1/2 marathon, no tempo miles, just easy runs each day.

PM - 7 lovely miles on the treadmill while watching Star Wars Episode IV.  It actually made the time go by extremely quickly.  I have always loved the Star Wars movies.  Average pace slightly slower than 8:00/mile.  First mile was 8:35, then sped up to 8:00/mile for the next 6 miles.  Legs felt good - I ended up having to scrape my calves last night on my own, as Lybi needed to get in her run.  We will not be going up to Payson this weekend, so I will be planning on doing an 18-miler early Saturday morning.  Yeehaw.  This will be my longest run this year, and absolutely necessary in preparing for St. George.  Things may not end up working out in Colorado Springs due to unforseen circumstances - if they don't I will end up replacing that with a 20-miler.

AM - slept in a bit, woke up at 5:30 and took Sparky for 2 miles. Average pace of around 8:20/mile. Will have to do the rest of my run this evening due to lack of time this morning.

PM - 6 easy miles on the treadmill, average pace of 8:06/mile.  First mile warmup in 8:36, last 5 miles at 8:00 pace.  Felt good, although I could still feel my dinner.  Funny - Hebrew National all-beef hot dogs on whole wheat buns, and home made fruit salad with cantaloupe, watermelon, pineapple and grapes.  Although the hot dogs weren't the absolute healthiest thing, I wouldn't consider them to be terrible.  Legs felt fine, no soreness, no twinges in the calves.  Finished watching Episode IV on the portable DVD player.  I always find it interesting how easily you can tie the Force in with the Spirit of Christ.  And trusting our feelings - being in tune with the Spirit.  All in all, a good flick.  Looking forward to my long run this weekend already.  I will just plan on 6 miles the next two days with no fast miles so that I am fresh for my long run.  I think that I will plan on only trying to do the last 6-8 miles of the long run at MP to see how my body handles it.  Gotta remember to get 3 gels and an odwalla bar to mimic what I will do at St. George.  The plan for me is to take a gel right before the start, and then every 6 miles. 

AM - woke up at about 5:00, planned on doing 3 miles on my own, then 2 miles with Sparky.  Got going and felt good, nice easy pace.  However, just before I hit my turnaround point slightly after 1.5 miles, I had major scary experience where I saw (again) what looked very much like a mountain lion.  It was crossing through an open lot at the NE corner of Sossaman and Guadalupe.  I turned around and hightailed it out of there.  Probably the fastest mile I have run in a while.  At one point I was hitting about 5:30 pace, totally pumped full of adrenaline, and then the fatigue started to set in.  Although the Garmin is currently set to autolap only at mile intervals, I had about a mile or so where I was right around 6:00 pace.  Finally got myself calmed down, slowed down and cooled down the last 1/4 mile.  Then I took Sparky out for what was supposed to be 2 miles, but I was still feeling so paranoid that after 1 mile I called it quits.  Makes me want to go out and buy something to be able to protect myself with.  I dunno - I'm not thinking too rationally right now, but I am also not feeling particularly inclined to run in that direction for a while.  Will plan on a couple more miles this evening if possible.

PM - 4 easy miles on the treadmill.  I was unable to get in any more miles yesterday as I came down with the same thing Lybi did, and felt pretty rotten for about 24 hours.  No nausea, just head feeling really weird, feeling kind of weak, a bit of a fever, but not much else.  Just like her, after a good night's sleep, I already felt much better.  Not sure what it was, but it seems to be gone.  Not sure how I am going to do my long run tomorrow - I am still a bit leery of running outside, but also don't want to wake Lybi up with my pounding on the treadmill.  I might just sleep in a bit until about 6:30, then run on the treadmill.

AM - 2 easy miles with Sparky at 6:00 AM, then I came inside and ran on the treadmill.  12 miles total (so far), 7 miles at 8:00 pace, and 5 miles at MP (6:49/mile).  After the last MP mile, I came to the conclusion that a) I am still a bit worn out from being sick and b) it was much  more humid inside from running on the treadmill, which wore me out quicker.  I know I could have kept going, but I would have been useless for today, and probably would have stressed my body too much to prepare adequately for the 1/2 marathon on Labor Day.  I plan to still get in  4 miles this evening sometime to bring my total for the day up to 18 miles, total for the week of 47.2 miles.  Next week will be all easy miles, probably 6 miles each day.