June Summary

I took a look at my blog and noticed that I'm again very delayed in posting.  Work has been busy and my teaching position takes up an additional hour to two hours a day.  All my free time is used up with Brooklyn (now 18 months old) and with . . . running.

I'm still pushing along training for the SF marathon and trying to get faster.  This week will be my third 50 plus mile week (with also a 49 mile week).  To get the miles in, I've been having to run 6 days a week.  I normally only run 4 or 5 days a week so that has been a big change.  My legs feel it!  Or, maybe it is just running 50 miles plus a week.

My runs during the week consists of:  a tempo run (up to 11 miles so far), a speed workout, a hill run, and a long run.  The rest of the runs are "easy runs".

Overall everything has been going well.  I wish I was a bit faster on my long runs, but I tend to have heavy legs from the week's worth of running.  Only three real problems:

1.  On my 20 mile run on June 19th, it got very hot.  I am not good at all running in the heat.  So that last three miles sucked.  I just felt very lightheaded.  I ran out of water two times during the run (where I had to run about two miles before the next water stop).  I might need to bring additional water with me for these long runs or plan my water stops a lot better.

2.  On June 26th I had a 17 mile run.  I wanted to start easy and run harder the last 5 or 6 miles.  On the 25th was my B-day (now 41 years old) so I had two huge pieces of ice cream cake.  So, I was very worried about how my body would react.  Things were going great and just as planned.  However, with about 2 miles left my stomach said enough . . . and I had to stop to use the bathroom.  I mean . . . I had to stop for about one minute and then walk the bathroom.  After my pit stop, I finished the run, but it was a bit disappointing that I needed the pit stop.  But, what can you do.

3.  I did a speed workout this week . . . on the treadmill . . . in my five fingers.  This went well, until two huge blisters developed on the bottom of my foot.  I had to skip my Wed run because it was hard to "walk" around with the blisters.  I sucked it up and went for an easy run this morning.  I plan to run again tonight to make up for the off day and get the miles in.

So that is my training in a nutshell.  Now on to the best 18 month old in the world.  This month my wife had to travel for work twice.  Two weeks ago she was gone for 5 days and this week she was gone for 4 days.  That means on the weekend and before and after work on the weekdays, it is just me and Brooklyn.  Watching an 18 month old by yourself (for me) is very intimidating . . . but it is such a great experience.  I truly love caring for her and just spending time with her.  It does give me an appreciation of people that stay at home all day, every day, with their kids.  It is a lot of work.

Here is one recent picture of her (not sure why it came out sideways) and a video of her playing around: