Winter Vs Summer Running

This is the perfect time to discuss this, seeing as how summer is basically here and temps are rising.  For me, hands down, I much prefer winter running.  Sure, summer running is great because I get to wear shorts and a tank top to run in.  But I get dehydrated faster, even if I spend all my free, non-running time sucking down water in my attempts to make sure I’m properly hydrated.  Getting dehydrated faster means I have to carry more water with…or carry water at all!  I don’t get all thirsty in the winter when I’m running so unless I’m running more than 10 miles when it’s cold out, I don’t take water with me.  I just chug a 17 oz bottle of water before I head out the door and I’m good.  In the summer, I have to have water…lots of water…with me when I run.  I have a 2 liter hydration pack that I wear.  I have tendonitis issues in my left elbow, so I try not to carry a water bottle larger than one of the 17 oz bottles with me when I run.  So, on longer summer runs, I will wear my hydration pack AND carry a 17 oz bottle.

 

On top of having to carry water (or more water) on my runs during the summer, I also have to make sure I use my Body Glide as the risk of chafing greatly increases.  I like to wear tank tops in the summer and not all of my tanks are tech, so they absorb my sweat like it’s going out of style.  This is a recipe for chafing.  Also, even my tech tanks will chafe me…so that’s not even a guarantee if I wear one of them that I won’t chafe.

 

With winter running, I can sleep in and basically go run at whatever time of day I want.  With summer running, if I don’t want to die of heat stroke or pass out from heat exhaustion, I have to get up at like 5:30am, go do my run, get home and shower, then I can go back to sleep for an hour or two until it’s time to get up again and get ready for work.  Now, just because I’m getting up at 5:30am, at least an hour before the sun comes up, does NOT mean it’s all peachy-keen chill outside.  Nope.  This is central Texas, folks.  It’s still AT LEAST 80° outside at that time.  Oh and it’s usually so humid you can cut the air with a knife.  BUT!  Yes, there’s a but here…there IS an actual upside to getting up at this time to run.  You are not getting baked by the sun.  I would much rather slog through the humidity than get baked by the summer sun. 

 

Speaking of getting baked by the summer sun…my heart rate has a tendency to go up when I run in the hot sun.  This forces me to stop and rest at least once (depending on the distance of my run, it could be like 5 or 6 times) during my run to get my heart rate to go down so I can continue on with my run.  I HATE this.  Let me repeat myself here, I HATE this.  I hate stopping during a run no matter the reason.  I hate to stop to go to the bathroom.  I hate to stop for traffic lights.  But I’m totally cool with those things, even though I hate them.  I hate stopping to rest because it’s friggin’ hot even more.  I’m not “cool” (get it?) with stopping to rest because it’s too hot out.  I hate that. 

 

With that said, heat training is an actual, real thing.  It does teach your body to be more tolerant of extremes and will help you run better when temps are not so extreme because your tolerance will be up.  So, you will perform better in more temperate weather conditions.  The more you train in the heat, the more used to it your body becomes, so the less I’ll have to stop and rest.  I just have to deal with the stopping and resting for now until my body adjusts and increases its heat tolerance.

 

Also, I wish I could find a 3 liter hydration pack that didn’t include a huge backpack with it and didn’t cost a ridiculous amount of money.  That would help a LOT with my summer running.  If anyone knows where I can get a reasonably priced 3 liter hydration pack, please let me know.

What's Cookin'

This issue of What's Cookin' I've got a summery side dish/snack that the whole family will love and a creamy main dish for your dinners.

The other day while I was running, I randomly started craving fruit salad.  I didn't have time to go to the store and buy a bunch of fruit, come back home, cut it all up and properly sate my craving, so I just cracked open some no sugar added cans of fruit instead and put off making actual fruit salad for today and then I would be eating it all week!

SARA'S FRUIT SALAD

Now, I would like to say that you can basically use whatever fruits catch your fancy.  I will be honest here and tell you that I do use *some* canned fruits simply because those fruits are easier to work with when they're canned...in my experience.  These fruits are pears, peaches, and mandarin oranges.  I did also use canned pineapple this time.  When I use canned fruit, I *ALWAYS* go with the "light syrup," "lite," "no sugar added," etc options.  I drain all the juice out of the can and will rinse the fruit to remove as much unnecessary whatevers from the fruit as possible.  My fruit salads are like my spaghetti sauces...I never make exactly the same thing twice.  So, here I will give you a list of what I used for this batch of fruit salad.

Ingredients:
• 1 can lite/no sugar added pears, cut into small pieces
• 1 can lite/no sugar added peaches, cut into small pieces
• 1 can Libby Skinny chunk pineapple
• 1 can mandarin oranges in light syrup
• 3 kiwi fruit, cut into small pieces
• 3 plums, cut into small pieces
• up to 1 cup grapes, cut in half
• 1 pint blueberries
• 1 lb strawberries, cut into small pieces

I was also going to cut up 2 mangoes and add them, but what I already had was more than I was expecting to have, so I just set them aside and will eat them later.

Directions:
• mix all the fruit together
• sprinkle with 2 packets of your desired sweetener (sweet'n'low, truvia, splenda, etc)
• add about 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
• add 2 tbsp lemon juice
• stir to coat all fruit with lemon juice, sweetener and cinnamon

This amount of fruit made about 12 cups worth of fruit salad.  I divided this into six 2 cup portions.  A lot of food, not very many calories.

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CREAMY SHRIMP & MUSHROOM MIRACLE NOODLE PASTA

Ingredients:
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1.25 lb fresh shrimp
• 4 cloves garlic
• dried basil
• paprika
• crushed red pepper flakes
• 16oz sliced mushrooms
• 1.25 cups half & half
• 1 cup part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
• 3/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
• 5 packages of Miracle Noodles

Directions:
• heat a large skillet until hot and add 2 tbsp of olive oil and immediately add garlic and shrimp.  cook until pink, on medium-high heat.  flip the shrimp and then sprinkle with the basil, paprika and crushed red pepper.  cook for another 1-2 minutes, occasionally stirring, until shrimp is pink on all sides.  remove the shrimp from skillet and set aside.
• in the same skillet, add the sliced mushrooms.  add the other 2 tbsp olive oil.  cook on high heat for about 2 minutes, occasionally stirring, until mushrooms become soft and release juices.  salt midway through cooking.
• add the shrimp back into the skillet with the mushrooms.  immediately add the half & half and all the cheese.  bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer, and cook, constantly stirring, until all cheese melts.  cover with lid and remove from heat.
• for each 7 oz package of Miracle Noodles, drain and rinse the noodles, place in a microwave safe container and microwave on high for 3 minutes, then rinse again.

Weekly Recap

This was not a super great week for me.  I mean, I had a few good runs, but no cross training at all.  I even actively thought, hey, I’m not going to run this day, I can/should go to the gym!  Did?  Nope.  So, I’m a little disappointed in myself over that.  I will try better next week.  I will probably not make much of, if any, effort to pick up anymore overtime shifts next week beyond the one I’m working next Saturday, so I will have NO excuse to not hit the gym at least once.  I have a super early doctor’s appointment for pre-annual physical blood to be drawn on Monday, but I’ll be able to go for a run immediately after that.  In fact, might go run around the downtown lake on the hike/bike trail.  Then, Wednesday, right before work, I have my rower test for work to do, so I won’t be working out that morning at all because I want to do my best on the rower that I can.  I *will* be wearing my heart rate monitor for the test and counting it as a “workout” for that day.

I got my Omron Fat Loss Monitor in the mail yesterday, so of course I read the instructions and set it up and used it today when I got up (I worked the night shift last night, so I was sleeping until 2:30pm).  I wasn't as shocked as I thought I would be at what it says my body fat % is at.  The BMI is about where I thought it would be.  Also, I decided to step on the scale and see where that was at and was surprised that I hadn't gained more weight since I last got on the scale a couple weeks ago.

 

• Saturday: ran 5 miles.  If I remember correctly, I had set out to do 4 miles, but decided at like the 3 mile mark that I wanted to do 5.  This run was also a completely progressive run…each mile faster than the previous one…even if only by a few seconds.

• Sunday: was originally going to run 13.1 miles, but changed that to 10 miles Saturday evening.  When I got up Sunday morning later than I had meant to, I decided I would just do 8.  I went to my hilly route for this run.  It was a good run, but I was done at the end of the 8 miles, so I’m glad I changed to just 8.  If I had gotten up and started running an hour earlier I would have definitely done 10.  It was starting to get pretty warm by the time I got done.

• Monday: took this as an on purpose, pre-planned rest day.  However, this is one of the days where I was all like, I’m not going for a run and I have plenty of time, I should go to the gym, and then I didn’t.

 

• Tuesday: ran 6 miles this day.  It was a good run, but again, I procrastinated too much and by the time I got done, it had started getting pretty warm out and so I was completely spent at the end of my run.  In fact, spent the final ½ mile praying for it to be 6 miles already so I could stop.

• Wednesday: this was National Running Day!!!  I had 10 miles planned (on my hilly route even!), however, Tuesday, the morning supervisor asked if I could work for her this day.  As much as I really wanted to celebrate NRD with a good run, I’m not turning down extra money on my paycheck. 

 

• Thursday: was going to run my NRD 10 miles, but was tired from working 16 hours yesterday, so slept in and ran some errands before work instead.  (also, is it just me or do you get all giggly when I type the initials for National Running Day?  NRD…get it?  NRD = nerd!  Hahaha!)  This was also a day that, since I had decided I wasn’t going to run, but still had plenty of time to go to the gym…thought about it, but then didn’t act on it.

 

• Friday: I was going to run.  In fact, I got up and put my hair in a ponytail in prep to run.  Then I decided to see if I could get Garmin’s latest suggestion on how to get my watch to sync with their website to work.  That took longer than I thought it would because, well…because it worked.  All but one run synced.  My Portland RNR data didn’t sync.  That makes me a little sad, but maybe it will sync at a later date and then I can delete the manual entry I made.  Anyway, by the time I got done syncing everything, there was still more than enough time to run, however it’s June in Texas which means it is now the season of Hades here, so it was too warm for anything more than 3 miles and I wanted to do at least 7.  A little disappointed because if I had known ahead of time it was National Donut Day, I would have not bothered with the Garmin syncing at this time, would have slipped on my donut leggings and gone for my run!  I have plans to make up this run today because I was feeling all sorts of emotional yesterday and I’m guessing it’s because I haven’t run since Tuesday.

 

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Something that made a difference this week for me was that I went on Thursday (one of my errands) to a running store in Round Rock called Fleet Feet.  I went there looking for a toe spacer to help with my developing bunion and hoping that it won’t get worse.  Well, they don’t sell toe spacers, but the lady was super awesome and googled for local places that would sell them.  She came up with a Podiatrist office in Bee Cave.  So I left early for work and went there.  They indeed sold them and they were $14.  They said that it was a very durable spacer.  It slips over the big toe and has a larger piece of “rubber” that holds the big toe in place and then there is a layer of the “rubber” that lays over the outside of the joint where the bunion develops to help reduce or completely eliminate friction on the joint.  I put it on when I got to work and within just hours after starting my shift, the discomfort I had been feeling in that joint was basically completely gone.  The spacer part that goes between the toes is soft and, even though I had thought it would be annoying to start with and that it would take a while to get used to it being there between my toes, I barely notice its presence.  While I was at the podiatrist, I made sure that they take my insurance…just in case the bunion does get worse and I need actual treatment.  They do!  I was hoping to give it a test RUN with yesterday’s run, but since I didn’t run, it will have to wait until I do go for a run to see how it works out when running.

As I’m sure you’re fully aware, the last day of May was Sunday.  I totaled up my mileage for May.  101.9 miles.  However, I am sad to report that those are not 100% running miles.  There was a 9.25 mile technical hike and a 5.25 mile walk around town that I added in so I could hit at least 100 miles for the month so I satisfactorily met the challenge I set out for myself.  Speaking of that challenge, the company I’ve been buying the 100 mile challenge belt buckles from each month changed the design starting this month (June).  I don’t like it.  So, I won’t be buying buckles from them anymore which means I can also kiss goodbye buying the buckle for January this year when next January rolls around.  Unless of course they go back to the previous design.  I am going to do a search and see if I can’t find another company that does a 100 miles in a month challenge and releases buckles specific to each month…or medals…and switch to theirs if I like it better.  Otherwise, I guess I’ll just pick a virtual race each month to do…which will actually be cheaper than the 100 mile challenge buckle was.  The buckle was $39.95 after shipping.  Virtual races are usually $30 or less, even with shipping.  And like 95% of all virtual races have some portion of their profits goes to a charity.  As far as I know, none of the profits from the buckle went to any charity beyond beefing up my bling collection.

 

this is the style of buckles they have been issuing...i love this one

this is the new style...i hate it.  it doesn't have the month listed on
it, for starters.  i don't know, i might buy one...but i might just
wait until january, the month i missed, to buy one...and only one

A lesson learned this week…get up earlier to run!  It’s starting to warm up down here in Texas, so that means if I want to not get fatigued from running in the heat and avoid heat injuries, I NEED to get up and out the door earlier in the mornings for my runs.  This whole waiting until 9am just isn’t going to cut it anymore.  Last summer, I would wake up around 5:30-6:00am, go run, shower and then go back to sleep until it was time to get up and get ready for work (another hour or 2 usually).  That worked great for me once I got used to doing it.  Now, I need to get myself used to doing that again.

Sunshine Run 10K 2015

The Sunshine Run.  This is the second year that it has been the Sunshine Run, but the 10K course has been around at least one year before under the guise of the Schlotzsky’s Bun Run.  For whatever reason, the Bun Run decided it wanted to be just a 5K and wanted to take on a different charity, so it gave up its springtime time slot, course and benefitting charity to the Sunshine Run in 2014.  So, this is my second year running the Sunshine Run but my third year running this course in the springtime.  My original 10K PR was on this course in 2013 when it was still the Bun Run.  I beat that PR at the Capital 10K last month.  When I was running the Capital 10K, I was trying to finish in under an hour and would have had I not gotten held back and held up by a few different circumstances.  When I registered for the Sunshine Run 10K, I registered with the full intention of finishing in under an hour.

Alright, packet pickup.  The Sunshine Run is partnered with Noodles & Company.  Noodles & Company is a great little restaurant that serves numerous noodle bowls, salads, and sandwiches and they are all delicious.  If you have one near you and haven’t tried them out, I highly recommend them.  Anyway, packet pickup last year and this year was at the Westlake Noodles & Company location.  For some reason, they like to route you through the restaurant to get to the patio dining area in order to pick up your packet.  You go out the door to the patio area and an employee is standing there with a tray that has side dish sized samples of some of their amazing food.  When I arrived, they were offering one of their salads, their mac n cheese and their mac n cheese with sriracha.  I got the mac n cheese with sriracha.  It was awesome!  I would totally eat it again. 

After I got my sample and ate it waiting my turn to get my packet, I got my bib and my participant shirt.  The shirt is regular t-shirt that is made for wearing during activity.  Does that make sense?  It’s not a TECH tee, but it’s not just a regular cotton tee either.

I had a little difficulty deciding what I wanted to wear to run in.  I ended up wearing a whole new outfit (I have worn the same brands and cuts before, just not these particular items) and I think my choices are fun!

I had a little trouble getting to sleep Saturday night, so the alarm went off way too early Sunday morning.  I hit the snooze button a few times, but was up by 5:55am.  The race starts at 7:30, but it’s not a huge race, so close-in free parking is still easy to find no matter how close to the start you arrive.  I had packed my race morning necessities into one of my drawstring backpacks as usual the night before, so I just needed to get dressed, grab my bag and go. 

I got to my free parking spot by 6:30am.  A full hour before the start.  As I mentioned, this is a somewhat smaller race, so there’s no need to get to the start area 45 minutes to an hour before the anthem is sung in order to get a decent position in the corral.  I started making my way toward the start area around 7 and went straight to the port-a-potties and only had to wait like 20 seconds before one opened up…no line.  Told you it was smaller.  I then started wandering around the start/finish festival area and discovered a photo op display.  It was the letters S-H-N-E.  There was a space left between the H and the N where you could stand and make yourself the I to spell SHINE.  Yes please.  So of course I did.  A nice lady in line behind me took my picture for me.

I then made my way closer to the start corral where I did my warm ups (leg swings, calf raises and calf stretches).  I then went into the start corral just in time for the anthem.  I love the singing of the anthem.  Always brings tears to my eyes.  After the anthem, off we went!

I knew when I woke up that morning that it was going to be an “off” run day for me.  What I mean by that is that I woke up and my legs just didn’t feel fully into the run I was going to do and I was a little bit sure that I wouldn’t be able to hit my goal of finishing in under an hour, but I sure was still going to give it my best try. 

I kept trying to find my groove during the whole run.  Every now and then, very briefly, I would find my groove, but then it would be gone again.  The course isn’t hilly at all.  There is one hill as you make your way to Lake Austin Blvd to turn left and run toward the turnaround point, but that’s really it.  Coming back up Cesar Chavez, making our way toward the finish, it is a little uphill, but not a hill. 

After I turned onto Lake Austin Blvd, I quickly saw my friend Ben.  This is an out-and-back course for the most part, so you get to see the front runners as they make their way closer to the finish.  He was within the first probably 30 or so runners.  He ended up getting 4^th in his age group.  A little after that, I saw my friend Kirsten (the one that gives me loads of running advice) and she looked great!  She ended up getting 3^rd in her new age group (50-54) and was quite happy with that result.  When I was almost to the turnaround spot, my friend Bill caught up to me and paced next to me.  He asked how I was doing and I pointed to my Polar (it has my finish time estimator on it) and said “so far, so good.”  He said, “well, you’re keeping up with me!”  Haha…nice try Bill.  More like you were keeping up with me!  For a moment anyway.  I sped off shortly after that and left him in the dust.  I had intended to wait for him at the finish to poke fun at him that he got chicked (aka: passed by a girl), but Ben found me and we started talking about the run and wandered away from the finish.

After Ben left, I decided to check the results table.  I knew I hadn’t run SUPER fast, but that I had run kinda fast and I was curious to see my placement.  Just before I got in the line to check results, I noticed I had a text message.  I forgot I had signed up to receive a text when I crossed the finish line.  The text said I finished 243^rd with a chip time of 1:00:50.  I figured with a 243^rd overall finish that I would be in the front third, maybe even front quarter of the pack.  I compared the text to the results on the table that said the same finish time but that I had finished 244^th.  Big whoop.  The results table said I was 18 out of 30 in my division.  Not exactly front anything.  More like mid-pack.  Wah wah.  When I got home, I checked the web results.  Again, 244^th overall place, but apparently there was more women in AG because I was now 18 out of 36.  That’s a little better.  Ha!

After finishing there were some freebie handouts.  KIND bar was handing out granola bars.  CLEAN water was giving out bottles of water.  And Noodles & Company was giving out water bottles.  Usually, I skip the free water bottle, but this bottle was different.  Instead of one of those (for lack of a better term) nipples that slide in and out so you can drink, it’s got a flip top.  And the lid and flip top both seem to have a pretty good seal.  I will actually use this bottle.

When I posted my results on my Facebook page after the race, my friend Kirsten offered to pace me at my next 10K to a sub-1 hour finish, if I can find a cheap one.  Sadly, though, I’ve looked and there are no 10Ks in central Texas in the coming months except for a trail 10K.  I’m not going to attempt a 10K PR on a trail race.  That just spells disaster to me.  So, I will have to wait until the fall for my next 10K PR attempt.  Phooey.  Just gives me more time to do speedwork and make myself faster on my own.  I know I can run a sub-1 hour 10K.  I know I can.  I could have at the Sunshine Run, but it just wasn’t my day.  But I also know that if I have Kirsten pacing me that I will run even faster than I thought possible.  Why?  Because I always run faster with other people and it seems effortless as opposed to running just a fast-for-me pace being a bit of an effort with labored breathing. 

I look forward to running this race again next year.  It’ll be the 3^rd year as the Sunshine Run, but my 4^th race on this course.  My goal for this race next year is 55 minutes or faster.

And here's my scrapbook page for this race!

it's simple, but i really like it.  the background page is awesome

National Running Day

Well, I had PLANNED to do a 10 mile run today for National Running Day, however I got asked to work an overtime shift at work this morning, so no run today.  I will run tomorrow instead.  I would just like to take a moment and share some "why I run" moments with you today.

 If you would like to make your own "I RUN..." and share it on your Facebook or other social media, here you go:

Ever Take A Break?

I’ve taken a few breaks from running over the almost 3 years that I’ve been running.  The first time was when a co-worker attempted suicide in the fall of 2013.  I initially attempted to deal with it by running away from it.  I think I almost doubled the amount of miles I ran the month prior to his attempt in the month following it.  I then attempted to shift gears with my exercise and wanted to start adding more gym workouts to my routine.  Instead, I stopped doing anything.  I didn’t run for 6 weeks, then went and ran a half marathon…without training for it.  Then I didn’t run for another few weeks, went and ran a 5K.  Then, I didn’t run for another few weeks and then finally started running regularly again on Christmas day.  So, that break was essentially 2.5 months if you don’t count the 2 races I ran during that time.

 

Last year, after my trip home to Oregon, I got a little discouraged about it being so much warmer in Texas than it was in Oregon.  The weather in Oregon in June is fabulous.  It’s perfect for running in the early-mid-morning time.  Texas in June is verging on hades (hades happens in July and continues through the first part of September).  I think I was also a little sad that I was no longer in Oregon with my family and friends that live there.  Anyway, I was able to struggle through one or two runs a week for a few weeks after my return to Texas before stopping altogether for about a month and then I launched myself into marathon training mid-August. 

 

This year, I have only taken a 5 day hiatus from running.  It was mostly for the exact same reason as what I listed for last year’s break.  It also immediately followed my trip to Oregon.  Another added component to why this break happened was that I had intended to run 13.1 miles on Memorial Day in remembrance of the fallen, but that got sidelined by a massive storm that caused lots of flooding and some tornadoes.  Also, for the 2 months leading up to this little 5 day hiatus, I had the looming feeling that I needed a break, but kept pushing it to the side, hoping it would go away because while I needed a break, I didn’t WANT a break.  Well, the break happened, and I think I’m good to go again.  I no longer have the nagging feeling at the back of mind that I need a break. 

What I'm Reading

 

Currently I am actually reading a book about how to improve your running times.  It’s called Run Faster from the 5K to Marathon: How to be Your Own Best Coach by Brad Hudson and Matt Fitzgerald.  I haven’t gotten very far into it, but what I’ve read so far, I really like.  I like the way the author thinks and his approach to coaching.  This book is written with the intent of helping individual runners better self-coach themselves.  Since I am not a member of an established running group, nor am I in college on the track & field or cross country team, nor am I an elite athlete, I do not have access to professional coaches or even to amateur coaches to assist me in constructing my training plans.  I just have to write something up, based on training plans I have seen on the internet and in books.  I take these published training plans and take away from them what I feel would work best for me and then I leave out what doesn’t appeal to me.

 

The things I have left out are things like intervals, fartleks and other speedwork.  I’ve also left out hill repeats (however I recently discovered that I la-la-love hills, so these will definitely be added in).  I don’t schedule tempo runs, I just run at a tempo rate when I’m feeling like it.  Recently, just before the Army Marathon, I ran a super progressive 7 mile run that ended with my last mile being sub-9:00.  Usually I only run miles under 9:00 if I’m running a 5K and then I’m doing them on purpose and busting my butt to get them down under 9:00 and am totally spent.  But at the end of that 7 mile run I felt amazing and awesome and on top of the world!  I vowed that I would start doing speedwork.  Now, I haven’t YET started.  This may sound like an excuse to procrastinate to some of you, but it’s a valid reason in my book.  I’ve been waiting for school to let out so I can use their not-fenced-in track for my speedwork.  I’m a little OCD and like things to be nicely measured out.  So, while I could just go out and do fartleks from point to point randomly during a run, I’d much rather have a nicely structured set of speed intervals.  And the track is about a mile from my apartment, so I can jog over there nice and easy to warm up, set up on the track and do my intervals for a some miles, then jog back to my apartment nice and easy to cool down.

 

Anyway, while this is obviously not a book report as I haven’t read more than the first 2 chapters of this book, it is definitely getting the wheels turning in my mind about how I want to structure my upcoming marathon training cycle that starts next month.  I wrote up a run schedule for this month.  I’ve got myself running just 3 days a week.  I’m going to enjoy a little bit of a breather before I crank it up to 4 days a week with marathon training.  I know, 4 days a week doesn’t sound like much with marathon training, especially since you hear of all these other people running 5 or 6 days a week, but I’ve found that if I run more than 4 times a week on the regular, I get injured.  Plus, I can still log enough miles to make me feel comfortable with my training miles.  But, I’d like to have my first 4 weeks of marathon training plan mapped out and ready to go by the 4^th of July, that way I have a week to make any little necessary tweaks to it before I start running it on the 12^th.  I know I want 1 day of hills, 1 day of speekwork, a long run and then I guess just a median length easy run.

 

So, like I said, I’m only 2 chapters in, but I really like this book and I think it’s going to continue to be a great read and I also think it will help me greatly with coaching myself to new PRs!