Saturday Dec 12 Update

The weeks seem to fly past quicker every week. I guess we're settling into a routine. I'm not sure I'm entirely happy about that. I like to be adventurous, but, at the same time, it's nice to take it easy and relax too. "It is what it is" I guess!

I decided to push the heck out of myself for the last 10 days of the '30 days and 30 runs' I've been doing with Lynne, Mike and Ted back home. I pushed a pretty good time (for me) on a 10k run last weekend and thought I'd add 1k a day and then do 21 on the last day of the 30.

Where do these idea's come from, and how can I keep them there! I did reasonably well for most of the week. I skipped 13k because, well, 13 is unlucky. I watched my pace stay close to the same every day as I added more distance. I ran further and further into the town of Chapala. On Thursday, I hit the fence. (not to be confused with hitting the wall) View Run. A 15k out and back is all I can do along that route. The road at the far end dead ends at a fence.

Friday I did my 16k run by doing the same route, but cutting back and forth at a few spot sot make up the extra 1k.

Today was something else though. I was missing something when I headed out to start the run. Energy - yea, that's what's missing. A can of Red Bull didn't help either. I started running and remembered that my right leg, calf and hamstring were tight. They were tight the day before, but had loosened up after a couple of kilometres. I got to the 5.25k mark today and they were still tight. My energy level was dropping fast, my chest hurt, my leg, my foot . . . . you name it, it hurt.

I'm not sure if I was sending too much time thinking about the total mileage for this week that I'd done (90 as of today). I thought about the last month and how close we are to the end. I thought about this stupid toenail that STILL hasn't completely fallen off since Ironman and how it bites into the toe. (Isn't 4 months a long time for a nail to drop off?) Obviously, I was just thinking about all the wrong stuff. I turned back at the 5.25 mark, did a bit of a back and forth near the end and ended up running 12k today instead of the 17k I was planning on doing.

Tomorrow's another day. 3 runs left. The initial plan calls for a 18k, 19k and then a final 21k. Hummmm - 2k short of 150k in 10 days . . . . . Hummmmm :-)

Sunday update:

How do you tell when you're being a suck, or when you are making the 'msart' move? That's always the tough question for me.

I really wanted to run 1k a day more every day for 10 days but, I didn't make it happen.

I dragged my sorry ass out of bed this morning. Checked my email, looked that the weather channel, CNN, Toronto Star, Globe and Sun, long term weather forecast for here. I managed to waste an hour and a half and I still didn't want to go and run.

Maybe all this was like a "Message from God" - "You're tired Greg. You need to rest a bit. Go and jog a nice slow even paced 5k and just keep those tired old leg muscles loose!"

Well, who the heck am I to argue with God? OK big guy - you and me and a slow 5k coming up.

Off I went, back out along the back roads to San Antonio. If I'm not going to run far, at least it can sound like it is!.

Oh My God. That knot in my hamstring turned instantly into a burning ball in the back of my leg. My back felt stiff. I couldn't get a good breath. At the 1k mark I looked down to see I was running a 7 minute pace. My pace always stows down over time. I CAN"T do 5k at 7:00 mpk. I picked up the pace a bit, then a bit more. I ran through San Antonio and out the far side to the 2.5k mark where I turned around. 6:40 pace at that point. I totally forgot about running slow and easy to recover a bit from the last 28 days of running. I ended up back at the ranch with an average pace of 6:20.

This is the first time I've ever looked at the Garmin data (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/20478030) and seen every split be faster than the one before!

I'm a bit disappointed that I'm not going to clock all the mileage I'd originally planned to do but, I'm back home and I'm no where near as exhausted as I have been after the last few runs. My legs are loosened up, but not killing me like they have been.

I think I'm going to do about the same run tomorrow, then go for my second chiropractor appointment, take it easy for the rest of the day and see what sort of time I can get on Tuesday, Day 30 of 30 ending with a 21k run.

(I think sleeping in Wednesday is going to be delicious!)