Double Digits

     It's a happy and proud day for me today. While out on my run I was thinking about the last time I ran a distance with double digits in it, and I came to the conclusion that it was probably just shy of a year ago. I really wanted to know for sure so I checked out my history on the Garmin app on my phone and was floored by what I saw.  If you can believe it, the last double digit run I did was the Half Marathon during the Glass City Marathon way back on 4/26/15.  Yeah I know!  I couldn't believe it either.  This was my come back race from my issues with my IT Band and where I set a new half PR.  When I looked at May and June's history I had shortened up my long runs in May while recovering from the half I just crushed.  It looks like I was just starting the uptick in distance at the beginning of June to start getting ready for my second full marathon when the hip pain developed, and we all know how that turned out. 

     Being that I have not run a double digit distance in over 13 months I am really glad I took things rather slow.  It was in the low 70s this morning, but the humidity was climbing pretty fast so I wanted to get it out of the way before the sun really started cooking.  I kept my pace around 11 min miles for the first couple just to get my legs under me.  After that I slowly increased my pace to a 10:30 avg for most of the remainder of the run.  I didn't want to complicate things with a bunch of elevation changes, not that northwest Ohio has elevation changes, so I made sure my route only had one small hill and no highway overpasses.

     I was so pumped when I hit that ten mile mark that I got a little carried away and pushed rather hard for the last mile.  I got my pace up to a 9:51, which I was pretty proud of, but I have to remember I am still building my strength back and I don't want to have a set back.

Thursday Weigh In and THE Results!

     To say I am excited by what transpired this morning would truly be an understatement.  To be totally honest I wasn't really expecting anything this morning, maybe a half pound change, but definitely not what appeared.  Yes that picture below says 173.6 which is just a number to some, but to me it means I am a half pound away from my goal.  A number that in September of 2012 felt like a pipe dream, and now that dream is close to becoming a reality.

  

3/26/15 official weigh in

173.5 lbs

Total loss from heaviest:  143.5 lbs

Current BMI:  27.1 (overweight)

     Today's long run was done quite a bit later than usual due to this lovely weather we are having.  I woke up around 7:30am to cold rainy morning.  I check the forecast and what I found was rain early, followed by snow and low 30s in temps and finally around 3:00 the rain and snow quit and the temperature climbed to a balmy 41 degrees.  I don't really like waiting so late, it makes it easier to just skip it, but I like food and 1300 calories burned will let me splurge a little bit ;)  Once I got out on the road I was feeling really good.  My training plan called for a 15 second per mile increase for this week's long run, which I thought might be a problem, however my legs had no problem with it.

     The results for my blood work came back and I thought I would share them.  Back in 2012, when this all began, my blood work results were the catalyst to take the first step in this life long journey.  Each year since then I was to be tested to see if I made any progress.  To be honest I was given the opportunity, but I never made the time until know.  

TEST                         2012          2015

Cholesterol                 156            106

Triglycerides              142             37

HDL Cholesterol        34              46

LDL Cholesterol        94               28

Glucose Fasting         100             88

  Insulin Level              18.93          2.78

Avg. Glucose             108             85

    

     I understand that the change is so dramatic being that there is a three year difference between them, but it does illustrate what one can achieve with hard work and better nutrition.

Wednesday Weigh In, on Thursday??

     Wednesday weigh in coming to you a day late and a pound or so heavier.  Normally I weigh in on Wednesday mornings, which is usually my day, and makes it a little more convenient.  I can take a little extra time to make sure I have cleared my system of any unnecessary weight, or in other words, use the bathroom!  Since my schedule has changed, which I am afraid, looks to be permanent for the foreseeable future.  I was still planning yesterday to get up and weigh in before I headed to the gym, however, when I woke up I went straight to the kitchen and took my two bee pollen pills and drank a half bottle of water.  Needless to say my weigh in would not have been accurate at that point.  I decided that it would just be easier to act like network TV and move your favorite show to another night, so I am switching Wednesday Weigh In to Thursday.

     Since my last weigh in I have struggled a little bit with my food intake.  Mostly it has revolved around my snacking and my portion sizes.  Whenever I have made something to eat I almost always would eat a little extra and not add it to my tracker.  For example if I was measuring out some cereal I was take a small handful and toss it back or if I was having popcorn an extra handful before and after I weighed it out became the norm this week.  I have done this before, but this week it was happening more and more.  I am not stressing about it; I mean shit happens and I would rather eat a little extra popcorn or an extra triscuit or two than binge on sugar and candy as the old Dean would do.  With regards to my portion size, I have just been eating a little more and allowing my calories to go above my daily limit, but not by much.  Some days it’s by 50 calories and another day it was like 200, but at the end of a week it all adds up.   The one positive in all this is my running has come back on line and being able to get back to my regular routine allows me to be able to at least put a dent into some of those extra calories.

3/12/15 official weigh in

176.5 lbs

Total loss from heaviest:  140.5 lbs

Current BMI:  27.6 (overweight)

     Like the Wednesday Weigh In my long run day has changed as well.  In my training plan for the GCM Owens Corning Half Marathon I had an 8 miles to knock out.  We have finally gotten out from under old man winter and a pre-spring warm up is on.  Mandy had the day off from work as well, so we took advantage of the time to sleep in.  After we got up we were playing with the dogs and enjoying the morning as I waited for the sun to kick in and warm things up a bit.  While we were playing around I snapped a cool shot of our older dog Widdle enjoying the warm sun spot in the kitchen.

     The run went alright, but could have been better.  I had strength training yesterday and it was all about my weak hamstrings, and boy did they pay the price.  I was sore all day yesterday and I could still feel it this morning.  The first six miles were fine, but my hamstrings were letting me know they were not happy.  Miles seven started off with a climb up an overpass, and about half way up I got some pain in the outside of my "bad" knee.  I immediately slowed to a walk till I reached the top before I got back in running stride for the decent down.  From that point on I had some light tightness and very mild pain for the remainder of the run.  My physical therapist warned me that this would occasionally happen until the strength in my legs have built up and are use to all this.  Anyway it was great to get outside to run and off that wretched treadmill.  #deathtothetreadmill
  

Wednesday Weigh In & Long run??

     I am not really sure what happened this week, I thought to myself, after what I saw on the scale this morning.  The reason is because I have drastically decreased my running mileage and increased my food consumption as well.  I haven’t gone overboard with my food, but I have increased the caloric intake with the majority of that increase coming from high carbohydrate foods.  I have added a lot of potatoes, brown rice and pasta to my diet this past week, mainly to load up on the carbs for the marathon.  To be totally honest I figured I would be up a couple of pounds because of it.  I’ll gladly take the drop, but sometimes the body really doesn’t make any sense to me.  Anyway, a loss is a loss and I will celebrate it like all the others, and keep working towards my goal!

10/15/14 official weigh in

178 lbs

Change: -1.5 lbs

Total loss from heaviest: 139 lbs

Current BMI: 27.8 (overweight)

Change: -.3

Not much of a long run, hahaha!  A three mile super easy pace run would be my last of my marathon training schedule and last run before Sunday's race.  Normally I post about my Wednesday run here as well, but since I will be posting my last training recap tomorrow instead of Sunday I figured I would just post it there. 

marathon training week 13 recap

     

     This week has been pretty good in terms of my training and my foot issues.  I wouldn't say my foot is 100% by any stretch of the imagination, but if I had to put a number on it, I would say between 90 to 95%.  This week and last week I can say I am finally feeling the cumulative effect of the last two months of training.  I wouldn't say I am over training, but I would say that my body is ready to take a breather.  Thank God for the taper.

Sunday:

     When I woke up and let the dogs out I saw that the fog was super thick.  I could hardly see our garage and that can't be more than fifty feet away.  With needing to run on the road to get my miles in I didn't think it would be safe no matter how much reflective gear and blinking lights I had, so I decided to run after work.  When I got home Mandy asked me if I would get the lawn mowed first. Sigh!!! :(  I sure as hell didn't want to, but it needed it and I couldn't think of another day I could get it done, so Mandy won.  Sometimes owning a home really sucks!  Once I got the lawn mowed I got changed and headed out for my run.  The sun was starting to set which in turn helped the temperature to cool off a bit.  As I started to run my foot felt sorta ok, but I could tell it wasn't a 100%.  I seemed to keep a steady pace but it wasn't anywhere near the pace I wanted to be at.  When I got to mile 4 I decided it would be a good time to opened it up a little and see how my foot would respond.  Once I did this I couldn't keep my rhythm steady and my pace bounced around a little.  Occasionally my foot would let me know it wasn't liking this, but eventually it fell in line and held strong through the remainder of the run.
      I have readjusted my schedule and gave myself the next two days off.  Now that I feel better at how my foot handled the run, I am guessing that two more days off will really help.

Monday:

     Normal scheduled rest day and I continued icing my foot.

Tuesday:

    With my foot issues I made a few changes to my schedule and gave myself another rest day.  I hope it will help but we will see tomorrow with my second to last double digit run before the marathon.

Wednesday:

     I had a half marathon in distance at race pace or slightly faster on tap for today.  The weather wasn't to bad, mostly cloudy with temps in the low 60s with no wind.  I decided on a route where I would only have one overpass as a hill to mess with.  Once I was on the move I decided to change my route on the fly and do a nice long loop where I thought there wouldn't be any hills.  As it turns out running an area you're not 100% familiar with, you end up finding what you were trying to avoid in the first place.  Luckily they were just some smaller rolling hills nothing that aggravated my foot.

     I really don't get why my last few runs have felt this way, I know I was doing the pace that I wanted to do, but it felt like such a struggle to do it.  My breathing wasn't the issue, it was my legs.  They just seem to feel tight when I start and keep getting tighter as the miles progress.  It wasn't till I got to around mile six things started to loosen up a little bit and my time began to fall.  I managed to stay under 9 min miles for the remainder of the run. 

     As for my foot issue, I was a little hesitant to really push my pace, but as the run went on my foot felt good and I opened it up towards the end.  I did have a few small twinges of pain, nothing to really worry about, but overall I was happy and my foot did pretty well.  During my run I noticed I was a little tight in my outer and inner thigh muscles.  I think that may have also been a big reason why I felt so sluggish.  I need to concentrate the next couple weeks on getting some good stretching in to stay loose.  I think as I taper and reduce my mileage my legs might start to tighten up, so I'll bring out the foam roller the stick and hopefully Mandy to give me a little massage therapy. 

Thursday:
     I woke up feeling pretty tired this morning.  My muscles were a little sore and I was feeling pretty stiff (#) from yesterday's run.  I decided to do some stretches in the morning to loosen up before work and another set about an hour before I went to bed.  

Friday:

     I set my sights on a 5 mile tempo pace run this morning.  I wasn't to sure where my pace would end up, but I was hoping to be around 8:00 min avg.  I usually check the weather before I go to bed, but last night I was so tired I forgot to.  I was really surprised when I let the dogs out and it was a warm 70 degrees.  I dressed accordingly and headed out.  There was nothing but clouds in the sky and there was a really good wind blowing that just happened to be at my back when I left, but of course it was in my face on the way back.  The first mile felt ok and my pace was a little slow than I wanted, but the second mile felt great and I was cruising pretty good.  I am sure some of that was because of the wind giving me a nice little kick in the ass.  Once I made the turn to head back the wind really put a damper on my pace.  Mile four was the worst!  I had no tree coverage to shield me from the wind and boy did my pace suffer, falling to a 8:30 mile.  When I hit mile five I was finally surrounded b,y a few trees which helped a little.  I was able to recover my pace and have a strong finish.  My time on mile four really hurt my overall pace, but I still felt like I got in a solid run.  After I finished and got back to the house I did my stretches, two sets of 20 pushups and one set of 15 pushups.  I wore my new shoes for some more break in miles.

Saturday:

     Today was rather cool and when you through in the wind it sure was chilly out.  In the morning I got dressed and Mandy got up to let the dogs out.  She had made the comment that I looked exhausted and suggested I go back to sleep and I could run after work.  She didn't have to tell me twice, I was back in bed and sacked out almost instantly.  After I got home from work I got changed and headed out to do a 4 mile super easy run.  I wanted to get my miles in, but I didn't want to over do it on the pace because I am running a 5K race tomorrow and I am gonna shoot for a new PR.  Today's run was a simple out and back that I kept right around a 9:50 pace.

Week 14 begins now

* For quick access to my entire Marathon training journal click the "Marathon Journal" tab just below the Running In The Fat Lane header

Wednesday weigh in

     I had a really busy day today.  I had to get up around 6 o'clock and take my jeep in to get a new bumper put on for some warranty work.  I didn't get my normal bathroom time in before I left so my weight was a little higher than it would have been.  Keep in mind that I'm not focusing on weight for the next couple of weeks until after the marathon.  So I headed over to the dealership to get my new bumper put on, which took a couple hours, and when they were done I wanted to try and find a shirt to wear for the marathon.  I don't know why am letting something as stupid as a shirt to wear stress me out, but I went to Kohl's then to Dick's Sporting Goods then to another Kohl's and finally Target and I couldn't find anything that I liked.  Actually I found a shirt at Target that I liked, but they did not have my size so I'm going to have to go online and see if I can order it. Anyway, by the time I got back I had about an hour to play with the dogs before I had to head out the door for my run. I had to leave the house so I could be back by 2 o'clock so I could get changed and take Jedi to his puppy check up at 3.  That was pretty much my day!!

10/1/14 official weigh in

183 lbs

Change: +3 lbs

Total loss from heaviest: 134 lbs

Current BMI: 28.6 (overweight)

Change: +.4

     As for my run, I decided to do a half marathon in distance at race pace or slightly faster.  The weather wasn't to bad, mostly cloudy with temps in the low 60s with no wind.  I decided on a route where I would only have one overpass as a hill to mess with.  Once I was on the move I decided to change my route on the fly and do a nice long loop where I thought there wouldn't be any hills.  As it turns out running an area you're not 100% familiar with, you end up finding what you were trying to avoid in the first place.  Luckily they were just some small rolling hills nothing that aggravated my foot.

     I really don't get why my last few runs have felt this way, I know I was doing the pace that I wanted to do, but it felt like such a struggle to do it.  My breathing wasn't the issue, it was my legs.  They just seem to feel tight when I start and keep getting tighter as the miles progress.  It wasn't till I got to around mile six things started to loosen up a little bit and my time began to fall.  I managed to stay under 9 min miles for the remainder of the run. 

     As for my foot issue, I was a little hesitant to really push my pace, but as the run went on my foot felt good and I opened it up towards the end.  I did have a few small twinges of pain, nothing to really worry about, but overall I was happy and my foot did pretty well.  During my run I noticed I was a little tight in my outer and inner thigh muscles.  I think that may have also been a big reason why I felt so sluggish.  I need to concentrate the next couple weeks on getting some good stretching in to stay loose.  I think as I taper and reduce my mileage my legs might start to tighten up, so I'll bring out the foam roller the stick and hopefully Mandy to give me a little massage therapy. 

Marathon training week 12 recap

     This week saw it's share of highs and lows in my training.  If I break the week into halves using my 20 miler as the halfway point, the first half of the week went pretty darn well.  I had some great paces going and felt good for all of them.  On my long run, I changed my hydration plan and only slightly modified my nutrition plan to coincide with the final map released by the marathon.  I also tried out a new piece of equipment for the marathon.  The second half was the low for the week.  I developed foot pain towards the end of my long run and the pain has continued right through the weekend.  I just hope I can get enough rest in to heal before the marathon.  That is a long way to run with foot pain :(

Sunday:

     Today's run was 10 miles at my race pace or slightly above race pace.  The skies were partly cloudy with nice temps but man was it windy.  The goal for the day was to keep may pace below 8:59 a mile.  I felt pretty good at the start, but the first couple of miles my legs were feeling a little tired.  Probably because I ran so late in the day yesterday.  I had the wind at my back for the first couple which helped deal with the tired legs and that's why may pace was so good.  No complaints here though, I'll take it where I can get it.  You can see when I had the wind in my face because my pace took a freaking nose dive on miles 4, 5 and 7. 
     It was grasshopper city out there today, and I hate those damn things.  They would just jump out of the grass and with the high winds they would fly right into me.  Other than food for other animals and wrath of God type stuff what the hell is a grasshopper good for anyways!?  I digress, my pace was quite good on the last three miles, but I have to be honest, I planned my run to have the wind at my back for them.  :)  When I got back I hit the deck and did 2 sets of 20 push ups.

Monday:

     rest rest rest rest rest rest rest rest rest rest rest rest rest!!!!!!  Did I mention it was a rest day :)

Tuesday:

    So before I went to bed last night I checked to see how many miles I was running this morning and I was super excited to see it was only 4 miles.  Even though it was at my slower easy pace the lack of distance allowed me to sleep in almost a half hour longer than I have been.  I got up and took the dogs out for their morning potties and did my morning pre run ritual, which basically consists of eating 2 triscuits, taking two bee pollen capsules and drinking a half bottle of water.  After that I played with the puppy and talked to Mandy for a few minutes while I got ready to go.  It was another chilly morning so a skull cap instead of my visor and I added a pair of gloves and a hoodie as well.  Once I got going the cold didn't really bother me all that much.  If there was a moon out this morning I couldn't see it, and with a clear sky the stars were shinning quite bright.  I wish I would have stopped to take a picture, but I didn't think it would really show up that well on film.  The run itself went good.  Ever since the temps and humidity have dropped my runs seem to be getting better and better, which is no surprise, but the confidence is coming at a great time.  I kept my pace pretty steady and didn't really push it to hard because tomorrow is my final 20 miler and I really want it to go well.

Wednesday:

     Today was a little bittersweet for me as I had my last 20 mile long run for my marathon training.  The weather was the absolute best I could ever ask for.  Clear blue skies, mid 50's for temps and little to no wind all morning so I think God was treating me for all my hard work I have put into my training.  

     Last night when I put together my route for today, I really wanted to challenge myself a little and get as much out of this run as I could.  I designed my route to give me as many hills and elevation changes as I could make.  I ended up hitting 4 highway overpasses and a few roads with some rolling hills.  The other thing I planned out was my nutrition and hydration plan.  The final map for the marathon came out yesterday and has the location of all the hydration stations listed on it.  I have been eating a Clif Shot Block and drinking water at 2 mile intervals.  The hydration stations are not at even intervals so I need some advice.  I spoke with my buddy Thomas who has a couple marathons under his belt and with his advice I decided to keep my nutrition plan the same, but I changed my hydration to match where the fluid stations will be during the race.  I also got a new piece of equipment that I now plan to use for the race.  I was hearing good things about the Flip Belt and it definitely lived up to it.  It is basically a infinity belt that you step into and slide on like a pair of pants.  It is made of a stretchy material that is sewn into a hollow tube with slits for you to slide all sorts of things into it.  Once you fill the belt with whatever you need to carry, you just flip the belt so the slits are now on the inside which keeps everything from falling out.  I had my phone, two packs of Clif Shot Blocks, two granola bars and a pack of gum.  Everything stayed right where I put it, I hardly noticed it the entire run and it was very easy to access what I needed once I got use to it.  Below is a picture I grabbed from their website to give you an idea of how it fits.  If you wanna check it out click here  Flipbelt.com 

     As far as the run goes, well just like the other two, it was long.  I think the first mile was a little suspect as far as what my pace shows, but I am sure it's right I was feeling pretty good at the begining.  As the run progressed I was feeling really good, and obviously my pace shows it.  I wanted to stay around 9:45-9:55 per mile, but as you can see from my pace chart I was actully sticking to the low 9:40s to high 9:30s.

     I ran into an issue at mile 12 with my right foot.  I was starting to climb one of the overpasses and I started getting pain in the ball of my foot.  It wasn't to bad but I had to slow down a little bit and eventually the pain went away until I hit the top of the next overpass on mile 14.  The pain was probably a 4 or 5 out of 10 and was right on the ball of my foot behind my big toe again.  I almost slowed to a walk, but I changed the way my foot was landing and kind of scrunched up my toes to take the pressure off the ball of the foot and that seemed to help.  Once I got back on level ground and got another couple miles, the pain seemed to be gone.  As I continued on for the last few miles, my pace slowly increased and I gave myself the my signature little push for the last mile. 

      As I write this my foot is still aching and slightly hurts when I walk around normal, which comes at a bad time because I have an event at work tomorrow and will mostly be on my feet working a 12 hour shift.  I plan on wearing my super cushy shoes to try and give my foot the best chance mend itself.  If I had to compare it to something I would say it feels like I pulled a muscle or something.

Thursday:
     It was a rough, rough day.   My feet are aching, especially my right foot.  I must have over did it yesterday by running that far and that fast with all the hills.  The aching pain is centered in the arch and a little bit in the ball of my foot and the one thing I need to give them I can't, rest.  I had an event at work tonight and we stayed open till 9 when we normally close at 6pm, so twelve hours on my feet just did not help at all.  I took some ibuprofen and iced them down during my lunch, but I am not sure if I can run tomorrow.   

Friday:

     Well I didn't get home last night till almost eleven and I pretty much walked in the door, changed my clothes and went right to bed.  I made the decision to not run this morning mainly because of my feet, but I needed to get some sleep as well.  The sleep did me some good and I did my best to work at my desk as much as possible.  I continued taking ibuprofen and I iced my feet during my lunch break and while relaxing at home.  I also used a tennis ball to massage my feet as well.  As of right now they are feeling a lot better and I am going to run tomorrow, but I will stay on the flat bike path and take it nice and slow.  

Saturday:

     I got up and went for a 4 mile easy pace run.  As it has been all week, the super thick fog was back and as much as I don't mind running in it, I hate being out there and not being able to see what's ahead of me.
     I have been so worried about this run because of my recent foot pain.  I know I need to give it time and rest them, but time is something I really don't have right now.  I have looked over my next weeks of training and made a couple of changes that will cut me down to 4 days of running instead of 5 and dropped a couple of miles off as well.  Hopefully that will help.  
     During the run my right foot still had a little pain but was manageable.  I got my new shoes that I will be wearing for the marathon and they need to be broke in, so I wore them and that seemed to help with the pain.  I am assuming it is because the cushioning hasn't been broken down and is giving me the best support.
     Lately my "easy pace" has been around the 9:30s, but this morning I told myself my feet and my body would dictate my pace.  I started out around a ten minute pace in the first quarter mile, but slowly my pace seemed to increase.  I seemed to hold steady and hover a little above or below a 9:45 pace, which was fine with me.  I really didn't want to push it and the pain in my right foot never seemed to get any higher than a two out of ten and didn't give me any sharp pains just an aching feeling.
 

      Tomorrow is a 8 mile race pace run and I am a little nervous to run it.  I want to get the miles in, but I don't want to prolong this injury.  As of now my plan is to run it on all flat ground, start out around a 9:30 pace and slowly increase it over the first 2 miles till I get to race pace, unless my feet have other ideas.

Week 13 begins now

* For quick access to my entire Marathon training journal click the "Marathon Journal" tab just below the Running In The Fat Lane header

wednesday weigh in / Last 20 Miles

     There really isn't much for me to say about the week other than I did really well with what and how much I ate.  So I am just going to skip right to the weigh in for the week.   

9/24/14 official weigh in

180 lbs

Change: -1 lbs

Total loss from heaviest: 137 lbs

Current BMI: 28.2 (overweight)

Change: -.1

     Today was a little bittersweet for me as I had my last 20 mile long run for my marathon training.  The weather was the absolute best I could ever ask for.  Clear blue skies, mid 50's for temps and little to no wind all morning so I think God was treating me for all my hard work I have put into my training.  

     Last night when I put together my route for today, I really wanted to challenge myself a little and get as much out of this run as I could.  I designed my route to give me as many hills and elevation changes as I could make.  I ended up hitting 4 highway overpasses and a few roads with some rolling hills.  The other thing I planned out was my nutrition and hydration plan.  The final map for the marathon came out yesterday and has the location of all the hydration stations listed on it.  I have been eating a Clif Shot Block and drinking water at 2 mile intervals.  The hydration stations are not at even intervals so I need some advice.  I spoke with my buddy Thomas who has a couple marathons under his belt and with his advice I decided to keep my nutrition plan the same, but I changed my hydration to match where the fluid stations will be during the race.  I also got a new piece of equipment that I now plan to use for the race.  I was hearing good things about the Flip Belt and it definitely lived up to it.  It is basically a infinity belt that you step into and slide on like a pair of pants.  It is made of a stretchy material that is sewn into a hollow tube with slits for you to slide all sorts of things into it.  Once you fill the belt with whatever you need to carry, you just flip the belt so the slits are now on the inside which keeps everything from falling out.  I had my phone, two packs of Clif Shot Blocks, two granola bars and a pack of gum.  Everything stayed right where I put it, I hardly noticed it the entire run and it was very easy to access what I needed once I got use to it.  Below is a picture I grabbed from their website to give you an idea of how it fits.  If you wanna check it out click here  Flipbelt.com 

     As far as the run goes, well just like the other two, it was long.  I think the first mile was a little suspect as far as what my pace shows, but I am sure it's right I was feeling pretty good at the begining.  As the run progressed I was feeling really good, and obviously my pace shows it.  I wanted to stay around 9:45-9:55 per mile, but as you can see from my pace chart I was actully sticking to the low 9:40s to high 9:30s.

     I ran into an issue at mile 12 with my right foot.  I was starting to climb one of the overpasses and I started getting pain in the ball of my foot.  It wasn't to bad but I had to slow down a little bit and eventually the pain went away until I hit the top of the next overpass on mile 14.  The pain was probably a 4 or 5 out of 10 and was right on the ball of my foot behind my big toe again.  I almost slowed to a walk, but I changed the way my foot was landing and kind of scrunched up my toes to take the pressure off the ball of the foot and that seemed to help.  Once I got back on level ground and got another couple miles, the pain seemed to be gone.  As I continued on for the last few miles, my pace slowly increased and I gave myself the my signature little push for the last mile. 

      As I write this my foot is still aching and slightly hurts when I walk around normal, which comes at a bad time because I have an event at work tomorrow and will mostly be on my feet working a 12 hour shift.  I plan on wearing my super cushy shoes to try and give my foot the best chance mend itself.  If I had to compare it to something I would say it feels like I pulled a muscle or something.

 

wednesday weigh in

     Finally, my schedule seems to be settling down a little and getting back to a normal routine.  Today was the first Wednesday that I have had off in at least a couple of weeks.  It is nice not having anything pressing to do today either.  I can finally just get my run in and kick back a little bit and enjoy the day.   

     I played with the puppy after my run so he is tuckered out and sleeping right now and the other two dogs followed suit so I've got a little free time to write this.  As you read last week, I am not concerning myself with my weight until after the marathon, but I am still going to monitor this situation.  As much as I don't care what the scale says, right now, I really don't want things getting to out of control.  Having said that, here is what my weigh in looked like this week.

9/17/14 Official Weigh In

181 lbs

Change: -2 lbs

Total loss from heaviest: 136 lbs

Current BMI: 28.3 (overweight)

Change: -.3

     My running schedule is all kinds of jacked up this week due to some rearranging I had to make the last couple of weeks.  Normally my run today is my long run which usually is the longest mileage, but it also means I would be running it at 9:50-10:00 min per mile avg pace.  This week my Wednesday run is my longest mileage, but it is also wound being my race pace run for this week.    Now I am sure my regular readers have noticed I've been getting faster during this training cycle and that my original race goal was between 9:00 and 9:10 per mile  Lately I have been running slightly above race pace at 8:50-8:59 avg mile which, one, I think will better prepare me, and two, my body just naturally seems to wanna go faster.
   
     Today's run was 14 miles and it felt pretty darn good.  I did the same route I did for Saturday's 13 mile run, I just turned right instead of left towards the end to add that last mile.  The weather was really nice today, almost a perfect day to run.  It was a little chilly when I left so I wore a thin pair of gloves to keep the hands warm, but between my long sleeve tech shirt and the sun doing its thing, I warmed up pretty quickly.  By the end of the run it felt really comfortable out.  

     when I sat down to write this I uploaded my Garmin to see how my splits were.  I was really happy with how close and steady they were.  With the exception of the last mile, where I pushed myself to have a strong finish, my slowest mile was an 8:57 and my fastest was an 8:51.  The other thing I liked about it was the fact that there was no big swings in pace.  Its not like one mile I ran an 8:51 and the next was a 8:57 or vice versa.  The whole run felt rather smooth while I was running it and it shows in the numbers.

     I would love to stay and chat, but I have some chores to do and get ready for a Fremont Elite Runners Club meeting tonight.  Also, here is a funny picture one of my Ragnar SoCal friends shared on Facebook.  I thought I would show it because it is a great tip for anyone who may have a circus in town. LOL