Eight miles of boredom...

I can officially run eight miles....yippee.

I finished all of my runs last week except for Saturday's three miler. I know, I know, but I had company in town and a golf tournament on Saturday that basically drained any and all energy I would have had to complete that run. Playing golf during the hottest part of the day is really a dumb idea. Our team did not win, and I all I got to show for my efforts was a freaking sun burn.

I ended up running in the mornings on Thursday and Friday to get the runs completed in tolerable weather. I also did my workout at the Y on Friday morning to get all my weightlifting in for the week.

The long run of the week, eight miles, was pretty boring. Due to my company, and due to the fact that we had to go to Mobile that evening I decided to go ahead and complete my run at the Y. Eight miles on a treadmill is dreadful. The only good thing about the run was me watching the U.S. vs. Brazil soccer game.

According to the treadmill I completed the run in an hour and ten minutes, and I burned 1500 calories. I tried to hone in my Nike Plus but it did not correctly calibrate the distance I was running, again (unless of course I sprint at a 12:00 minute mile pace). I guess I need to map out an exact one mile course and try to calibrate it on land.

I do not know what the long run of the week is yet, but I will post it when I get my new calendar tonight.

BTW...tonight is the last night of trail running, hells yeah.

Failure, heat stroke and trail running blues...

Well,

For the first time I failed to completely finish a long run. I started running too late on Sunday morning and chose a horrible, unshaded area to run in. I slept in on Sunday and since we had to celebrate father's day at two locations in Mobile I figured I would not be able to run that night. I did not realize how dang hot it would be at 8:30 in the morning. The run even started out alright. I ran over by the YMCA and decided to try out a new long running path. The problem is the area I chose to run in had no shade at all. By the time I reached three miles my skin was burning, I was almost out of water, and my clothes and body were drenched in sweat. By mile five I saw my car in view and decided that I had to get out of the sun and not complete the final two miles in the heat. It sucks, but being alive is better than suffering from heat stroke due to my persistence in running an additional two miles.

The heat also screwed up my trail run on Tuesday. The whole time we were running it felt like I was in a sauna full of ticks. I ran my required six miles but it was completed in a longer time than I wanted. Some good news though, trail running will be coming to an end as coach has decided we need to do track work from now on...YAHOO!!!

The long run for the week is eight miles on Sunday. I will either get up at five and complete it, run it at the Y or run after 6:00pm in the evening.

I will not run during the hottest parts of the day, I will not run in the hottest parts of the day..........

Trails etc...

Well, I made it through another trail run this week. My assignment was five miles of trail running and I did much better than last week. I met my target goal and was not even close to being the last one back this time. I also managed to talk to some of the other runners in the group and found out some interesting things about the training.



First, all of them stated that trail running was better than track workouts...crap. They said running at the track was torture and they loved running in the woods. In my mind, these people have to be sadists because I cannot imagine anything worse than running in soft sand, all uphill, for over two miles with a timer ticking down in my head (the way I run 5 miles of trails is a 1.5 warm up lap, a 2.25 mile timed lap (my time is 20:00 minutes), and a 1.5 mile cool down lap).



Secondly, they all stated that they are running six times a week and that in the beginning, they were running five times a week like me. This is bad news for my knees and my sleep. Right now I have Mondays and Wednesdays off. Monday is an obvious rest day because of the long run on Sunday. I also told coach I needed Wednesdays off because I have night court on those days. If he takes away Wednesday, that means I will be getting up at 5:00a.m. to run on Wed, Thurs, Fri, and Sun. Piss. Anyone who knows ole Rob knows that I love sleep and that this scenario will suck.



Anyways, I finished the dastardly trail run and rested on Wednesday. As noted above, I woke up at 5:00 am on Thursday to complete my six mile run and I woke up at 6:00 am on Friday to complete my three mile run. Wow what a difference one hour makes as far as temperature goes. Thursday's run sucked because of the distance, and today's only sucked because of the temp. I wish Nike would make a knife-like device for a shirt to cut the air in front of me when I am running in that humid mess. It seemed like it was just as hot this morning as it was during this past Sunday's death march. By the time I finished the first mile of my run my clothes were sopping wet.



Oh well, I got the runs done and am dreading the seven miler I have planned for Sunday. I am going to try my best and get up at 5:00am to get the run over with during a cool part of the day...running in 90 plus degree weather is nuttier that squirrel .... it's just crazy. The four miler for Saturday should be no problem as I will more than likely complete it at the Y after I lift weights again. Hooray for spending two hours at the Y on a beautiful Saturday again. I will post results on Monday during lunch.

Weekend runs...

I completed all of my runs this weekend. I had to run on the treadmill, after lifting weights, again on Saturday because of my sister's wedding. Running on the treadmill sure is boring. I also hate being locked in the gym for two hours. When I finished I had to rush home and luckily for me my wife had cooked breakfast.

On Sunday I ran seven miles outside. This was the longest and toughest run I have ever completed. I started at 5:00pm and man was that a mistake. It was way to hot outside to be running that distance. I also still had five pounds of fried rice and wedding cake from the day's lunch in my stomach and the run was almost unbearable.

During the middle of it a tiny red car pulled up by me and started driving slowly. I looked over and realized it was my running coach. He asked me "MAN, do you always run in the hottest part of the day". I fessed up and responded, "only when I drink the night before and sleep in". I thought I would never finish the run. By the time I plodded out the seven miles an hour and five minutes had passed and my clothes looked like I had just jumped into a swimming pool.

Well, I got it done and today is a rest day, which means I will go to the YMCA and pump iron.

Peace

Thursday and Friday runs...

I woke up at 5:30 am to get both of the runs in because I was and am busy on both of those nights. I ran five miles on Thursday and three miles on Friday. With the exception of having to get up so damn early it sure is hard to beat running at 5:45 in the morning. The weather is cooler, there is hardly anyone out, and depending on where you are running at the time, you get to see a pretty decent sunrise.

I have to run four miles on Saturday and 7 on Sunday. I am probably going to run on a treadmill on Saturday, and do my normal, outside, early run on Sunday. I will also pump iron on Saturday.

Five miles of misery...

I had to run five miles of trails yesterday and boy did it suck. Some good news though, I was the first one out and second to last one back. I noticed that I picked up my pace a pretty good bit and was only passed at the very end of the run.

Running that far on those trails stinks though. Today is a rest day, which means I will hit the gym. The rest of the week after that is 5m, 3m, 4m, and a long run of 7m. My sister's wedding is on Saturday so I will probably forgo drinking on Friday and get my fat ass up early on Saturday to go to the Y and workout and run 4 miles on the dread mill....drum sound.

I have also started to notice how the increased mileage has taken a toll on my belly. I guess burning over 1000 calories a day is the true weight loss secret.

Runs last week...

Did all of them again. I did, however, only run 2 miles on Thursday instead of the 4 I was assigned. I had to work late every night last week and was at work until 7:30 on Thursday. By the time I started running it was getting dark, and I do not like running in the dark.

The long run of the week was 6 miles on Sunday. According to my Nike Plus I ended up actually running 6.7 miles. My pace was 9:30 a mile. I know, I know, that is pretty slow, but it used to be around 10:00. The long run this week is 7 and I have to run 5 miles of trails tonight. GD.

Trails...

Sucked again. I swear the whole thing is uphill. I once again finished last, even though I started before everyone else. Oh well, no more side stitches occurred and I finished the last part of the run faster than the front.

I have not been able to weight lift this week due to work, but hopefully I will get back on track tomorrow night.

Rest of the runs....

Got them all in again. Finished the week with a five miler in Daphne. I really think trail running is making me stronger because the run was a breeze. Trail running still sucks crap though.

I have also been having some slight knee pain again but hopefully it will go away after Monday's rest day. The long run for this week is 6 miles, and I have trails again today. Furrrrrrkkkkkkkk.