5 miles

yay! i didnt skip it.

went 5 miles, at a slightly quick pace (probably close to 11:30 but i'm not really sure). then gorged on a salad and fruit smoothie, cuz i'm a good boy.

long run, sortta

This week's group long run was 14 miles. yep, that's a cut back. see, every fourth week is reduced mileage, to sort of give your body a rest. i know it doesn't sound like much, but dropping 4 miles is really a nice break. the only thing is, and i have made fun of other people for this, that i ran fast on the way back. running faster during a cut-back is just plain dumb. what energy you save in milage you expend in speed. here's my story:

tc just couldn't bring herself to get up that early, she's had a rough week, and all that Wii playing puts a strain on the body that only a good night's rest can fix. well, since tc wasn't there, i wanted to shorten my run and get back to a warm bed (with her in it). my return trip was far faster due to the compound effects of a: not having her there to tell me to slow down and b: not having her there and wanting to get home quickly to snuggle up with her. so yeah, on the return i left the group with 4 miles to go. the first two miles were by myself at a 9:40 pace (as opposed to my self-selected 12 minute pace group). it was then that i spotted another CARA training group at a water stop. since i cant pace myself for shit i figured i'd be best to hang with them and let them set the pace.

at times their pace seemed faster, at times it seemed slower. turns out they were the 9:30 pace group. it figures i'd do the last 2 miles at an even faster pace than running alone without knowing.

while it was good to know my body will run at a sub 10 minute pace, it was not good for my body to do so. i was sore after the run, even more so than after the 18 miler last week. buh. that was not smart.

oh well, time to focus. next sunday is the 20 miler. the longest of our group runs. the longest pre-race run of the program. the longest i have run in a long time.

but first, tc's b-day on wednesday...hooray!

fives

sorry for the brevity, but i'm writing this while riding on the bus.
tuesday went 5.5 miles with a very negative split. wednesday only went 5 miles, just didn't want to still be out running at 9pm without having eaten. thursday 5 miles, felt like poo so I knew I wasn't making up any milage during that run.

18 quickly followed by $16

the group long run was just OK this week. not spectacular, but overall quite good. the weather cooperated with us, keeping it rather mild for the first couple of hours. the sun only made an appearance on the return trip, and even then we were running in mostly shaded territory.
the reason it wasn't all it could have been was clearly.....me. it was my fault that it wasn't great. see i skipped tuesday's 4 miler, then i cut 2 miles off of wednesday (only going 7 that night), and on thursday i had to stop after two miles because i got sick. so, instead of doing the planned 18 miles, i only managed half that. i'm pretty sure the reason this long run felt less than ideal was the fact that i hadn't kept up my weekly mileage.

not so this week. i am prepared to cast aside all responsibility in order to fit in 19 miles. i'm pretty certain that the 14 miler on saturday will seem much easier and, hopefully, that really long run in a couple of weeks will be improved too.

so why is this post titled "18 quickly followed by $16"? because tc and i managed to put away $16 worth of McDonald's breakfast food after the run. that's two breakfast value meals, each. i am pretty sure that Runner's World says you need a high-fat, high-carb, high-sodium meal after a long run.