Back to Normal

I finally feel like my old self again. My lungs and legs are back to where I would expect them to be. I don't know if it is the weather or what, but I finally feel like I can run again. It has been a pretty frustrating summer with regards to my running fitness. I think the pulled groin muscle that put me out of action for a good two to three weeks at the end of May really hampered my attempts at getting in good shape for the triathlon season. Despite this injury I still managed to have a one or two good races, but I didn't manage to do as well as I had hoped.

Granted it has only been two days of good runs, but I finally feel strong and increasingly faster. I am still no where near my normal 4 - 5 mile run pace of 7:45 - 8:00, but I am getting closer.

Tuesday
I went for a run with my friend Bill at lunch and we both felt pretty good. We opted to do a 4.66 mile run that includes a pretty decent hill around two miles in. I was actually surprised that he wanted to do it considering he had done a similar run the day prior. Our first mile was in 8:09, second was a bit slower at 8:15 and the third, which is essentially the hill was 8:28. Then we picked up the pace and did mile 4 in 7:53 and the last .68 in 5:24 (7:59 pace). Total run stats: 4.68 miles, 38:09 (8:09 pace) (forgot to wear my HR monitor). I felt great after the run and definitely could have run farther and faster.

After work I got my wifes blessing to go swimming. I have been horrible at keeping up with my swimming over the past two weeks. Since I don't forsee me doing any more triathons this season (maybe one in October), I haven't been that concerned about getting in the water. I still felt the need to get in and flop around for a bit since I had the time to do so. I did 1,400 yards, 500 yd WU (8:57), then did a ladder of 100 yd (1:39), 200 yd (3:39), 300 yd (5:42), 200 yd (3:44), 100 yd (1:45). You can see that I was definitely fatiguing at the end there. I could feel my stroke going to crap at the end of each set. Regardless, I felt good having gotten in and doing some laps. Total - 1,400 yds, 25:28.

Wednesday
What a gorgeous day out there today. 75F and sunny, not a cloud in the sky and humidity very low. I was actually excited to get out there and run. The plan was to run with my friend Chris (ran Philly Marathon last year in 3:18...he is the rabbit of our work time running group), and do the 7.25 mile route we all like so much. It goes along a creek for about two miles, then up a dirt/gravel road for another mile, then down a good hill and then back along the creek. It is just a very pretty run (damn...why do I always forget my camera!!!). We actually had to shorten it a bit, so we ended up just going 6.24 (or 6.27 by his Garmin 405):

Mile 1 - 8:05
Mile 2 - 8:12
MIle 3 - 8:22
Mile 4 - 8:24
Mile 5 - 7:45
Mile 6 - 8:03
.28 - 2:10 (7:54 pace)

I felt awesome and definitely could have ran the last 1.24 miles faster than we did....surprisingly Chris was hurting a bit and his HR was really high for him. It was odd, I just felt like I could have kept running at a 7:45 pace, I just felt so strong. So the final run tally was (subject to change): 6.28 miles, 51:02 (8:08 pace), HR 153 BPM

No swim or ride planned for tonight...U7 soccer practice for my daughters soccer team that I coach. I will be in charge of nine six year old girls from 5:30 - 6:30pm tonight. Should be interesting, God knows last week was!