week 8

Well, after my long run on saturday, I was pretty sore for the next days.
this week my planning was:
- thue: 3 miles
- wed: 6 miles
- thur: 3 miles
- sat: 13 miles

On thuesday did 6 laps in the park. I find it really hard not to go too fast on those short runs. I did one more then I should have, since after 4 laps I overtook a friend, and I just ran those two last laps at his pace that he had left.
On Wednesday did 9 laps in the park. Again, I was running way too fast. All my laps were around 5:15 a lap. Of course I can hold that for those 10k, but I'm not sure I'll hold that for the 20k next week, so I should focus on starting out slowly, since I can always get into higher gear if all is going well then.
On thursday just ran 30 minutes on the streets. I was running at a good pace, so surely did the 6k.
As I'm tapering for the 20k of Brussels next week, I'm gonna run an easy 15k this saturday.

long run

Did the usual 6km on thursday on the streets. No biggy :)

I did around 13 miles on saturday (1:49).I don't know for sure, since my Garmin 201 totally frooze when starting up, and I had to let the battery die all day. But it went smoothly and the pace was ok, so it must be around that figure.Bought new shoes that morning, Brooks Addiction 6. Buying them was pretty funny, since I had to run on a treadmill first to see how my stature was, and it turns out I'm a neutral (not overpronator). The fun thing was that I never ran on a treadmill before and it was really creepy (strange to get balance on that thing) The shoes felt great while running, my knees were happy about that. But got a blister in the palm of my right foot afterwards though. Still need to pop that, yeeew.

week 7

First of all, my dad came over for diner. I was really happy about that, since I didn't see him for over a year. He was very thrilled about my running, but he said to run the marathon only when I was ready, since it's very hard. So, he gave me some tips about running a marathon (like running one in the Netherlands since it's flat), and about where to buy shoes, go see a sports doctor, etc... I'm gonna call him when I'll have to do my long runs, since he knows some nice trails and then he can pass me water and stuff, which is really important.

So, about my week 7:
- tue: 3 miles
- wed: 6 miles
- thur: 3 miles
-sat: 12 miles

I skipped tuesday, since a friend of mine had free tickets to the movies. My right knee was still sore from running on saturday too, so I thought the extra rest day wouldn't harm.
Today I ran 9,2 km in 45 minutes. I ran in another park, where the laps are around 1,5 km (slightly less then a mile) and I did 6 laps. From ppl I heared that the lap was like 1,7-1,8km, but I took my Garmin along and it gave lengths between 1,5-1,65 km, so it must be like 1,55 km or something. At first I thought I started too fast but I could keep the pace, I actually ran faster at the end. I hope I won't regret that tomorrow :). All laps were around 7:30, with a last one of 7:16.

long time no see

man oh man, I'm like 4 runs behind here.
So, let's recap:
- last week on thursday: did the 3 miles easy, as I wanted to hit the 10 miles again on saturday in the park
- saturday: did the 10 miles, 15 laps in the park = 16,6 km in a time of 1:25 sharp. Everything went alright, it wasn't too warm, and actually it rained slighlty 2-3 times during my run. Came home a very happy man :). I started slowly, just focussing on getting to 10 laps without getting tired. Then I slowly started to accelerate pace, without really pushing it to far, still keeping in nicely in the comfort zone. Unfortunately, I can't seem to connect my Garmin to my computer. That really sucks.

I'll post this week in another snippet, otherwise this will look like a composition :).

in the middle week 6

Normally this week I have to run:
tue: 3 miles
wed: 5 miles
thur: 3 miles
sat: 7 miles

Already ran on tuesday, and my legs felt like they were made out of steel (5 laps in the park).
On wednesday, I ran 8 laps in the park and it felt better.
Anyway, as I didn't really ran my whole distance last weekend, I thought about running the 10 miles again on saturday instead of the 7 miles. Also, I'm gonna run it in the park as well. It's gonna be boring, but the surface is not as hard as the road, so it will be better for my legs, since normally it's a set-back weekend.

a bad long run

on thursday did the usual 5 laps without problem (6 km). Not going out too fast since I had to do the 10 miler on saturday.
On saturday, I was planning on running early, since it was going to be a warm day (22C). But of course, I went out too late on friday, so I only could run around 2pm. I didn't start out too fast, but I was running in the sun the whole time and at one point it really got to me. After doing a big tour of 13km, I was totally exhausted by the heat, and I didn't find the strength to run to the park and do 2-3 laps to finish. So, instead of doing 16km, I only did 13. That's worse then last week since I ran 15k then, and I felt like I could run more. So, it must have been the heat. I wasn't too happy about it. Normally I have an easy long run next week (7 miles), so I was thinking about running the 16k then. When I look at the schedule, I should run 7 miles next week, 12 the next one and 13 the one after that. But in 4 weeks, I have to run the 20k of Brussels. So, maybe it's better if I run 16k next week, then have a set-back week of 7 miles, and then build up again to peek with the 13 miler (20k of Brussels) in weeks. I think that's a good plan.