August 5 - 11

Monday: 8.04 Miles – 1:00:39 – Average Pace 7:32/mile

Days off from running are quite bittersweet.  I enjoy the rest, but I hate the feeling of getting my legs moving again.  Set out tonight with a temp of 100 degrees with fairly low humidity.  The first mile felt like garbage.  Little by little my legs started loosening up as miles two and three went by.  I tried to push the pace subtly as I finished mile 4.  I stopped for a minute to think, and pay some respects to Grandpa on his birthday.  Easing back into the run, I had to push the effort a little to get up the climb to mile 5.  Nothing special for mile 6, but I started to stretch out and finished mile 7 with a 7:26.  Feeling solid, and after a brief stop at the stop light I decided to give a solid effort for the last mile, and ended up with a 6:03.  The last third of the mile was certainly a higher intensity, but if I had started the “kick” earlier, I would have had no problem dropping into the 5’s.  Good start to the week.  Hopefully I can manage to get some good miles while in Ann Arbor.

Tuesday:  Off

Had to work late in order to get things in order to be gone from work for the next 2 weeks.  Wanted to spend time with Christy more than I wanted to run.

Wednesday: 7 Miles – 1:00:11 – Average Pace 8:34/Miles

After dinner, I tried to do some recon on trails around the hotel, but I couldn’t find anything.  Instead, I opted for some hill work on the treadmill.  I set the speed to ~8:30/mile pace and ran the first mile flat to warm up.  After that, I increased the incline by 1% each mile for the next 6 miles.  By my calculation, that would equal out to approximately 1109 feet of gain.  Kind of cheap, but I felt ok doing it.  The fitness center was really hot.  It would have been better to run outside and enjoy this nice weather.  Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Thursday: Off

Work seemed to take a lot out of me today.  I just crashed out to get prepped for the hard effort I have planned for the weekend.

Friday: 8.01 Miles – 57:53 – Average Pace 7:14/mile

The plan was to get out and push the effort so that I can fight through some leg fatigue on the first of my long runs this weekend.  I left the hotel and really enjoyed the nice cool weather.  I headed out past REI and just started making turns where ever the traffic lights would allow and found myself on Main Street headed for downtown Ann Arbor.   Once I got there, I immediately changed course because the street was absolutely packed.  I felt very good throughout this entire run, and know that I could have pushed the pace a hell of a lot more.  This time is only about a minute slower than my PR, and I wasn’t having any difficulty.  Time to test that again I suppose.  I don’t know what my splits were, because my watch decided to be a douche and delete the tracks.  I think the last mile was around a 6:25.

Saturday PM 1: 22.01 Miles – 2:58:06 - Average Pace 8:06/mile

Did a little route research before I left the hotel to find a long out and back so that I couldn’t bitch out halfway through.  Bobby suggested getting on Ann Arbor/Saline road and do some weird ass loop thing but I only took half of his advice.  On the way to that turn, I stopped at REI to get some gels, including the new Salty Caramel flavor, which I think is now my favorite.  Dodging traffic for the first three miles was a bitch, but after that, I was treated to a run on a long country road with smells reminiscent of camping in Idaho.  There seems to be a ton of pine trees around, and I think that most people are hanging out by fires in their backyards.  This run was awesome.  I felt really strong the entire time and this really builds my confidence for Bear.

Saturday PM 2: 1 Mile – 20:00– Average Pace 20:00/mile

Got showered and cleaned up after the run and I decided that a recovery walk to get some food would do me some good.  It did.

Sunday AM: 2 Miles – 45:00 – Average Pace 22:13/Mile

Wanted to stretch my legs out a bit to see how I was feeling, and loosen up for my second long run of the week this evening.  Felt really good.

Sunday PM: 20.01 Miles – 2:44:47 – Average Pace 8:14/Mile

Did some more route recon to find out how to get to the Border 2 Border trail that connects several cities around Ann Arbor.  Figured out it was about 4 miles to the trailhead and it wasn’t too tricky to get there, so I went for it.  I told myself I was going to take it really easy today, but I was only half successful.  I didn’t really feel stellar for the first 5 miles, but from 5-15, I felt great.  Ann Arbor is really a beautiful town, and it makes me feel a little homesick for Boise.  The trail runs along lots of water and it was very active with people.  All of which were friendly, except for one lady who said “Leave me Alone” as I said good evening in passing.  Bitch.  I started tanking a bit at about 17 miles in, so I stopped and sat on a bench for a minute to regroup.  It was exactly what I needed, as my last three miles were among the fastest of my run.  I am really stoked that I am dialing in my pacing so that I can finish strong.

Total Miles: 68.07

Total Time: 9:46:37

Absolutely jacked about this week.  I managed to get just about all of my planned miles in this week, including nailing the back to back long runs.  Especially happy to get it done while working out of town while putting in 12 hour days.  Furthermore, my body feels great.  I am going to reward it by going down to the pool and hot tub for a bit.  Confidence continues to build.