Sunday, July 01, 2007

Week 6 results...

Yes...I am again pleased with another successful week. As I noted last week, my goal for this week was a 40+ mile week; with a 16+ mile long run. What I am noticing is that my 'sustainable' pace is picking up...which is great; but it make me more tired than I would say I was during weeks 3 and 4 when I was doing similar mileage but slower pace. Take a note of Sunday's long run...I am so happy about that. I real good gut check.

Mon - Rest
Tues - Rest
Wed - 10 miles. 1:15 / 7:33 pace
Thur - 6.6 miles. 47 min / 7:08 pace
Fri - 4 mile recovery. 35 min
Sat - 8 miles. 1:04 / 8:01 pace
Sun - 17 miles. 2:02 / 7:11 pace YES!! Did I say, Yippee. Awesome, hard run.

I am writing this about 6 hrs after the long run. I am sore and tired...but that should be expected. I ran harder than I intended, but i have a rule of thumb I follow on my runs. No mile is to be slower than my 1st mile. 1st mile was 7:30...so when I ran that I knew I was in for a hard run. I quickly decided to run a 'double' tempo run. 2 mile warmup, 4 miles tempo, 3 miles controlled, 4 miles tempo, 4 miles controlled. All without breaks...except the one I explain below.

I ran this long run on the Buffalo trail since i am getting bored with my normal routes since i have about a dozen courses I do some sort of variation of for my runs. The buffalo trail runs 20 miles from Freeport PA to Butler PA and for the most part is a nice tree covered crushed limestone trail with a river on one side and a steep hillside on the other; very scenic. My issue with the trail...no water stops. Uggghhhh. I thought I had hydrated well...but i quickly learned I had not. By mile 7 I was pretty thirsty. By mile 12 I was almost spent and needed water badly. With my 'survival' experience from watching Discovery channel and my quick eye I took notice of a mountain stream coming off the hillside. The water looked clear and clean, but I really have no idea where the water was coming from. A quick sniff test and taste test I went for it. Because I was so thirsty, I thought this was the best water I ever had. ;-) I feel fine now, so let's hope it wasn't tainted in some way.

After the run, I drank a large gatorade, a 20 oz bottle of water, a 20 oz pepsi all before I got home. Once home, within an hour I drank more water, 3 glasses of milk and some iced tea. Man...I was dehydrated. But I am feeling better now. Note to self: drink more water!!!! I think the camel back is going to have to come out for runs like this.

Goal for week 7: Back to the 50 mile range...running tempo's 1 to 2 times during the week. 18 mile long run at some point. The holiday week will probably present a challenge to reaching this goal.

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