Feeling Crappy

Have felt sort of bad in the second half of my last few runs. Not sure what is up. Monday on the six-miler, I had to walk most of the last two miles. Tuesday i was out late in the day and i really struggled to make it through the four-miler in the park. Of course, my encounter with the creep who said I shouldn't be running did not help. Wait, maybe that was Wednesday? No, Wednesday was five miles on the treadmill, and okay, that was the fairly typical five miles on the treadmill.

Yesterday was four miles through the park, trying to get back on that horse.Had that kind of weird vision aura, dizzy thing that happens sometimes in the heat and glare. And then today, I just got back from five miles on the Madison route, which went a little better than the rest of the week but was still very slow.

And I'm fat. Fatter than I've let myself get in a couple of years. Doesn't help.

Anyway, I'm sitting out on the porch right now with my frozen peas and chocolate milk, feeling that good relaxed post-run feeling but also feeling a little bad about myself because I am so slow and fat and I have that race on Sunday where I am going to suck.

Felt Excellent Today, What is Up With That?

Today I am posting directly from Google Chrome/Web vs. the blogging app I have been using recently. Like the regular interface better. For one thing, I can have my ipad horizontal instead of vertical.

So anyway, it is beautiful weather today. I did my scheduled four miler on the route I call "Settle," which includes the Murray Ave. bike/hike trail. I felt great. Ran faster than I have in months for a training run. Probably fastest I've gone since the marathon in March on a training run.

I'm fatter than I've been for awhile, too. So it's not like I'm suddenly more fit. I think it is the weather. After getting acclimated to heat and humidity---at least somewhat---it is a nice change to have the temps drop into the low 60s and have relatively low humidity. So that must be it.

Also, was wearing the Newtons which do seem to give me a little more speed. Although, I was relatively fast yesterday, too, and that was in the clunky old Vomeros. So I think it is mostly the weather.

Noticed that more people say hello on the bike trail. Is it the better weather or is it the bike trail? Or the type of people who are on the bike trail vs. the street?

Never did find those supposedly for sale Newtons on The Clymb, but I got an email today from Gearbuzz offering them at a discount. They have them for $111 to $130. I do seem to be liking the ones I am running in. But I only paid $55 for them, so...even $111 is more than I like to pay for a pair of running shoes. Plus these Newtons I have seem to be wearing out really fast. I am kind of amazed at how the tread is disappearing after just 30 miles or so.

I might stop by Roncker's and see if they have any of those $55 Newtons left in my size. Of course, that was back in March that I bought them so its doubtful.

What else to say about running today? Well, I was making a list of stuff I need to bring for CPE nationals, and what I need to shop for and whatever and what I need to think about, and I was thinking about how am I going to get a run in, and I have these ideas. First, I could get up really early on Thursday and do a 4 miler before I leave. That takes care of Thursday. Then for Friday & Saturday I could just try to do a mile, maybe even on the hotel treadmill since there does seem to be one. Highly unlikely I will run into any fellow dog owners in the hotel gym! Or I could get out for a little run on Friday after I am done showing. Probably not too hard to get in 3-4 miles outside the hotel.

On Sunday, depending on what I did on Friday, I could either do a mile when I get home or do 4-6 if I have the energy and it is not too late. And with all of that, I will still be on schedule and also keep the streak going.

The PITA about using Chrome with the iPad is that I really miss my mouse.

Just Another Manic Monday

Not really. If it was a manic Monday I'd probably be trying to write a novel again. As it is, I did post in my journal and now I am actually showing up here again.

Today, after the dog walk around the park, I headed out for the scheduled 5 miler. I wore the Vomeros, and they were okay once again. I would not want to race in them or do a really long run, but they are okay for this. I did the Madison route, except I started out down the path to avoid the guys working on the construction project down the street, and then when I came back I had to do a loop around the block to get it over five. It was 5.23, not bad. Actually the fastest pace I've managed on a training run in many months, also.

I iced the knee when I got home. Don't know about the knee. Feel it catching some when i get up from sitting, in the morning when I am just doing things around the house. Wonder if it is going to hold up to the rigors of the coming training and all those marathons. Wonder how it is going to make it through the CPE trial and 18 runs over 3 days if I run Eddy in all of them. Actually, it would be 22 runs if you count the run throughs on Thursday. But I am really not expecting to do all the runs with Eddy. I will be lucky if we make it through any of them.

Thinking some more about the charity fundraiser thing. Have not heard yet from Cheryl. Trying to decide how many weeks I will give them before I pick something else or do nothing at all. Maybe a month to be fair.

I'm kinda starting to lose interest in the whole idea.

Now would be a good time to groom the dogs but I want to wait until tomorrow so I can groom them and Frontline them at the same time. I think I should frontline them before we go up to Springfield because who knows what we will find up there

Saturday 6 Miler

Would have liked to head out to Williamsburg for the 10k they were having, but Tommy has an all-day match and I didn't think it was fair to the dogs to leave them alone that long. So after dog walk (a little later start than we should have gotten but at least it was mostly overcast and a bit cooler after yesterday's rain), went out for a six mile run as per the schedule.

I had done the Observatory walk with the dogs and didn't want to retrace my steps, but ended up doing that a bit anyway. I did my loop of the park plus the Kilgour race route, then added on the Observatory loop. It was just a little short of six miles so i had to add a loop around the block at the end. Being a runner and being obsessive go together so well.

Even though I did not start out until 10:45, it wasn't too miserable. It almost started raining in the last two miles but the rain is still holding off, even now. Glad I didn't chicken out and try to do it on the treadmill.

The top of my right foot has been irritating me, since, I think, the other night in obedience class. I was wearing the tan Addictions and I think I had them tied too tight or had the tongue in the wrong place or something. I'm pretty sure that was when it started. Bothered me some yesterday but I still got the dog walk and run in. Then I wore my new Ghosts around th house for a few hours and it was really bothering me then.

Was going to give the Ghosts a try for a couple of miles today but not with that foot pain. Was also afraid to go with the Newtons because I'm not 100% sure that they didn't cause the problem. So i ran in the Vomeros. Surprise, surprise, they felt pretty good. Guess I won't give up on them quite yet.

Not sure if I am keeping the Ghosts or not. They feel a tad bit big in the toe box, maybe a little too sloppy. I know that I have been complaining about the Newtons being too snug but there is a happy medium somewhere. Oh the other thing bothering me about the Ghosts, and this is trivial, is that I thought I was ordering the white ones with pink trim, and instead they sent me those (I think) kind of ugly denim-ish ones with the teal trim. Not worth sending them back over that. I guess I just went back and forth to the page so m much that I lost track of which pair I was ordering.

Also wore my new running shorts and bra for this run. All was well. Thinking about ordering another couple pairs of those shorts, because I need them.

Tomorrow I am just going to do a little unsheduled three miler, I think. Still waiting to hear back from Cheryl about the fundraiser. Still can't think of a better cause than the Foundation.