Week 2 of training is in the books and it was a good one.  Ran in everything from the humidity to the pouring down rain!

Monday:  3 Miles (Pace 8:16)

Today, I was pretty worn out and did not feel like running, but for the streak and my training I did.  The weather was warm, in the 80’s, not nearly as hot as it was last week thank goodness!  I ran in my neighborhood, there were quite a few people out and they are beginning to set up for the Heritage Fair this weekend.  That is a tradition in these parts!  They say in Dundalk we have two seasons Christmas and 4th of July.  Normally the end of my loop is a slight decline, I decided to change the route a bit and end on a slight incline.  I ran negative splits each mile.  During my daily runs I haven’t been trying to set a blistering pace, especially as I’m increasing my mileage.  After my run I stopped at Subway and order a 6 inch veggie sub and walked home in the cool of the evening.  At the start I didn’t feel like running but afterwards, I felt refreshed and energized as I do most times!

Tuesday:  6 Miles (Pace 8:37)

It was overcast when I started running today and was hoping to get my run in before the rain came.  In mile 2 of my run, the sun came out for a little while, but then in mile 5 the sky opened up and there was a brief shower.  By the time I finished my run the rain had passed.  Even though it was overcast, it was still humid and muggy.  When the breeze picked up it felt nice and kept me somewhat cool during the run, but even before the rain came I was soaked with sweat.  My legs felt strong but tired if that makes any sense.  I had even splits during the run, I wasn’t trying to do any speed work and just wanted to stay consistent.

Wednesday:  1.2 Miles (Pace 8:21)

I went off the plan again today, I was extremely dehydrated and not feeling well all day.  I felt like a reset was needed.  I waited till the evening air came so it would be a little cooler when I ran.  I took the pace easy and was actually surprised I had any fluid to sweat out.  I was just glad to keep the streak alive, earlier in the day I thought I may be calling it over.

Thursday:  3 Miles (Pace 8:04)

Today was the fist time since running cross-country in high school that I actually did a speed workout.  Before the run I was sort of nervous.  I programmed my Garmin 220 for interval training; today I would be doing 4 x 800s.  I put off the run earlier in the day and it was close to 21:30 when I started (military habit with the time, 9:30 for civilian types ;)).  I started with a non-timed quarter mile warm up before the intervals.  I was bummed I couldn’t see how fast I was running the intervals until the workout was over.  The training plan says to run faster than marathon pace so I was running what I felt was reasonably hard.  After each 800, I took a quarter mile break, I ran very easy and tried to focus on getting my breath under control.  After the third interval I wasn’t sure I had another one in me, I focused on deep breathing and took off for the final 800.  I was happy to finish and for the cool down!  I was really happy to see my 800 times, surprised actually!

1st-800:  3:25     2nd-800:  3:15     3rd-800:  3:19     4th-800:  3:16

Each 400 break was around 2:30.  My overall 800 pace was 3:18, I’m pretty happy with that for my first speed workout in almost 15 years.  My 800 pace was much faster than even my 5k pace, I’m actually thinking maybe I should run a 5k soon to see where I am at.  I haven’t ran an ‘official’ one since December when I PR’d at the beginning of the streak.  Tonight was a good run, and a nice surprise!

Friday:  1 Mile (Pace 8:46)

This morning when I got out of bed my legs and feet were throbbing in pain.  I should have stretched before bed, lesson learned.  My big toe on my right foot was really sore as well, the intervals really kicked my butt!  I spent the morning catching up on some work and writing the blog about becoming a race director.  My best friend called and convinced me to go out on the boat for a few hours, even though I knew I should have ran, I decided to go the weather was perfect for it.  It wasn’t a long trip, I told a local business owner and friend that I would work his snowball stand at the Heritage Fair.  I’ve been helping out the last 3 years at Stouten’s Snowball stand, best snowballs around!  On the boat my quads really started to tighten up, so much I thought I had pulled something, after massaging them for a bit, I was feeling better.  We headed back in after only an hour and a half, I had to go work the snowball stand.  I spent the next 6 hours on my feet, when I finished up it was late, after 10.  I did not feel like running.  I changed and hit the pavement, my legs felt like lead blocks.  My feet clunked as the hit the ground, not my normal quite stride.  I couldn’t get into a good groove so I just clunked along for a mile, to keep the streak alive.  I’m not looking forward to the 6 I have to do tomorrow, oh and another 6 hour shift at the snowball stand.

Saturday:  6 Miles (Pace 8:00 )

Today was a busy day, lots to do on the 4th of July.  Even with a nap I didn’t feel like running but knew I had to, I didn’t want to run late again, especially with more miles to do.  I went back and forth between wearing my sweat gutr or a hat, since it was raining on and off most of the day.  I opted for the hat.  Starting out I was hoping for an 8 min pace, but during the run I thought I was feel strong and thought I might be able to squeeze in under that.  At the end I was right at 8 mins.  About half way through the run, I saw something that really bothered me and got me thinking for a while, it was the Confederate flag.  It got me thinking so much I actually wrote a brief blog about it.  The run was overcast with light rain on and off.  I felt good through the run, but was glad to be finished I had so much more to do today!

Sunday:  1 Mile (Pace 8:49)

Well today I really went off the training plan, I was supposed to do 8 miles and when I woke up I had every intention of doing so, then the day started.  During breakfast I started receiving emails regarding a situation in the community which I needed to address, throughout the day I tried and stay out in front of it.  I don’t want to go into to much detail but it was distracting.  Next week I am traveling for work, so I needed to get a haircut, cut the grass, do laundry, and a few other things.  I also had to work the final shift 6-hour shift at the snowball stand.  After standing for over 18 hours in the last 3-days I just didn’t have 8 miles in me and I didn’t get home till close to 2230.  The days events and dealing with a variety of things left me feeling deflated, though I think I could have ran more than a mile, I still had some emails I needed to send and that was bothering me on the run, so I kept it to 1 mile.  Hopefully, I can make those miles up, and it is still early in the training cycle.

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Total Miles:  21.2