Training Log

5:50 am - 7.6 miles - added a little more distance to the usual 7.27 mile loop.  Nice morning, felt good.  Was able to pick up the pace during the last 2 miles or so.

6 am - 7.6 miles.  Felt just a little more tired than on yesterday's run.  Nice morning.

6 am - 7.5 miles the opposite direction of the usual loop, which has more downhill stretches than the direction I usually take.

7 am - ride with the triathlon team - 46.3 miles, good ride.  However, because of time spent on midterms and family obligations for the holiday later in the day, there was no time to squeeze in the run.

7 am - local bike club holiday group ride.  Route was supposed to be 40 but my cycle computer says 37.6 at the finish.  Finally completed midterms in the afternoon.  Thunderstorms finally passed through and finsihed at around 7:30 so was able to run the 4-mile loop twice - 8 miles total.

7 pm - 7.27 mile loop.  Left quad began cramping pretty badly about 3/4 the way through - eased up a little to get through.  It is a hot, humid night, and the heavy air made it hard to breathe.  Legs felt pretty heavy.  Stretched well afterward.  Will have to do the long run in the middle of the week - my schedule has gotten out of synch with the holiday rides and midterms this past week.

8 pm - had to wait until it cooled down a little to go out and run.  Still, legs felt very heavy, and the heat and humidity really got to me so just did 4 miles.  Planning to convert back to running in the mornings when it is cooler and I have more energy.

5:50 am - 7.27 mile loop.  Legs still felt heavy at first but felt much better the second half of the run.  Left quad still feels like it is tight or cramping, probably left over from the bike rides this past weekend.  I'm planning the long run for either tomorrow morning or Thursday morning.  It looks like the weather will be cooler on Thursday.

6:15 am - got started a little late - did the usual loop in the opposite direction again with a little extra mileage added - it was pretty humid this morning, however, I really enjoyed the second half of this run that has two uphills but also two longer downhill stretches and then one gradual downhill. 

Absolutely no time to run today, worked on a lab for class starting at 5 am until I went to work, then worked on it again from right after work until 10 pm.  Still need to run it on the CSU server to make sure it works in their environment.

5:45 am - Ran 9.3 miles but had to get back in time to take Jacob to day care.  Promised myself I would run right after work. Planned to run my lab scripts at lunchtime on the CSU server, which I did, but one part came back with a permission error.  One part of my solution which worked on my PC did not work on their server because of student account restrictions. Lunch was over by then and had to go back to work, so I had to rework that part of the solution after work and finally finished at 7:30 and submitted the lab.  Whew!  Was able to fit in a 5 mile run at 8:00 pm.  Total: 14.3.  That will have to suffice as my long run for this week - the schedule has just been too tight.  Looks like the next lab assignment is going to be challenging as well. 

7:30 am - the almost-50-mile ride with co-workers, Mike and Ido, along with Ido's friend Jeff, who is new to riding.  96 degrees by the time we are done, and most of us had leg cramps at some point in the last 10 miles from the heat and distance.  It was a good ride with a bit slower pace to accomodate Jeff not having ridden much yet.  He did OK for being new.  Ido left us about 2/3 of the way through to ride faster and get home earlier.

Tomorrow is the first 5K of road race series.  Of course, my legs won't be all that fresh after the ride today, but I need to race more regularly, and the road race series is a good way to do so.

7 am - first road race series 5K.  I have not done the road race series in several years - the two 5K races are always at Overton Park.  It used to be two loops through the park, but they changed it so that you run out and around the park and then back into the park with part of the old loop.  My previous PR for 5K was on the old course at 23:30.  Today, I set a new PR of 22:54 (unofficially).  The start on the new course is very fast, going right out of the park, with a downhill, then a right-hand turn and running back into the park on Poplar Ave.  My one mile time was, surprisingly, 6:55 - the downhill really helped, along with the adrenaline.  I knew I went out too fast, but it felt good, and I just focused on keeping a decent pace after mile 2, which was 14:34.  The last .5 was a little tough, but I felt good at the end.  Then ran another 1.5 to 2 miles around the inside park loop with triathlon team-mate David.

Wanted to run again later in the day and felt good enough to, but schoolwork and family commitments took over the rest of my day.

Update 7/14 - official time from MRTC site - 22:40. 

5:50 am.  The enhanced opposite-direction, usual loop without the Johnson Park extended loop, which looks like it cut out 1 mile.  Felt good, legs a little tired toward the end of the run.

6:15 a.m. - The new loop with the downhills and the added Johnson Park loop.  They have paved a nice, new greenway that allows me to run on the paved trail instead of Wolf River Blvd. to the neighborhood across the street from mine.  Really nice!

6:15 am - 7.5 mile loop. Feeling a little tired, and then felt tired all day - may be a sinus problem in the works.

5:30 a.m. - new 15-mile loop using the 9.3 mile loop through Johnson Park and then part of the 6.2 mile loop behind Walmart.  Felt pretty good.  Stopped for water at Johnson Park and then later at Walmart.  Legs felt tired after leaving the park at about 9.4 miles so I slowed down quite a bit, then felt better after another 2 miles or so and felt pretty good the last mile or so.   Then headed out to work.

4 pm, 6 miles out and back Peterson Lake Rd which includes the long uphill/downhill from my usual loop.  Heat index is pretty high and it was a little hard to breathe at first because the air is so heavy.  Running past some of the ball fields, it smells like the grass is just burning up, and it looks pretty scorched.  Hotter for the rest of the weekend and 101 on Monday.  Planning to ride early tomorrow.

Cycling 7 am to 11 am - hot and humid day

5:30 am - 7.5 mile loop with some faster intervals.  Hurried so I could pick up Jacob at 7 a.m. to be able to take him to church.  Another hazy, hot, humid day with high heat index.

Happy Monday! 6:15 a.m. - 7.5 mile loop - got started a little late, and really picked up the pace toward the end. Felt good. Planning for a long run either Wednesday or Thursday morning.

5:40 am - 9.3 - a little cooler this morning.  Good run.  A few pickup intervals.

9 pm with Carbon - 6.2 miles. Nice night to run. Several other people out running with their dogs too. I'm working on my final lab for the course I'm taking, and it is just taking up all my extra non-work hours. It is due Friday. Then next week are finals. I'll be glad for a break but want to take one more course starting at the end of August that will be directly applicable to my job. Crazy.

8:30 pm.  Still working on the final lab before and after work.  8.3 mile loop in the dark.  It is hot and humid; lots of people out walking or running in the neighborhoods. 

8:30 pm - 4 mile run/walk with Carbon, trying to work out some soreness in left calf muscle.  Ran about 3 miles and probably walked 1.  Planning the long run tomorrow.  The lab is finally done and submitted!

6:30 am - planned to do the long run.  Felt strong starting out but at about 6 miles started to feel queasy and had something akin to food poisoning.  Fortunately was near the fitness center at the time and could stop in.  Waited there about 10 min or so and started again but by 11 miles felt very light-headed and legs felt weak, so I started to walk/run.  Ended up walking the last 2 miles, so I'll only take credit for the 11.  Disappointing run.  Racing tomorrow, and need to fit a longer run in sometime early in the week.

7 am - 2nd 5K in the road race series.  Still feeling sick from the digestive system problem yesterday and kind of tired.  Got to the race about 10 minutes before the start, which is, of course, not the way to start a race.  (I put so many things on hold this week to get my lab done right that it seems I am backlogged in things at home and with my training, so I feel that I am playing catchup with everything and not especially making good training decisions).  

I was glad to get there before the race start (about a 35-40 minute drive), and warmed up by running through the park to the start.  At the start, I felt ok but not strong.  The first mile was 6:47, but I was really pushing it and knew I could not keep up that pace, so I slowed way down in the 2nd mile and felt like I was going to puke after another mile; at that point almost dropped out, but decided to keep going and just run it out as best as possible. So the end result was about 1:20 min. slower than last time on this course.

Hoping to get the training schedule under control this week.  Class finals are this week - after that, the schedule should be better.

5:20 am - added a little more distance to theusual 8.3 mile loop to make it an 8.8 mile loop by following another runner out to Shea Road near the library.  Started out feeling a little queasy but felt better toward the end of the run and picked up the pace on the downhills.  Also picked up the pace to catch up with the other runner near Shea.  Caught him at Shea and Poplar, then he turned the other direction.

6 am - Easy run out and back around the new lake near town hall and library.   Very pretty area!  They did a nice job on the lake and the new buildings.  There's a lot to like about Collierville.

Felt a little sluggish this morning, so went a bit slower.  Later in the day, started sneezing and coughing.  Hoping it is not a summer cold - felt pretty tired by the end of the day.  Heat index is well over 100, close to 110 today.  It was even pretty steamy this morning at 6 am.

6:15 am - same loop as yesterday - I really like the lake!  Still feeling sluggish and congested.  Tired all day at work until late in the afernoon then started to feel a little better.

5:30 am - Didn't feel too bad, still congested. Nice morning to run - caught up with and passed a group of high school cross-country runners who looked like freshmen. School starts in another week or so.

Later in the morning at work, started to feel really congested and sick - headed to the doctor's office, where he gave me antibiotics for my sinus infection and a referral to an ENT since this seems to be an ongoing problem. Felt pretty sick the rest of the day.