Training - 26 Miles

I can't believe how fast time is flying!  Training is going very well, and I'm starting to string together some decent distances right now.  Since July 4th I'd been tossing around in my head about doing my own 'little' dualthlon.  Run - Bike - Run (3.1 Mile - 20 Mile - 3.1 Mile)  Well this weekend I did it.  The final 5k really hurt and I'd forgotten how difficult it is to transition into running after being on a bike for an hour, but I did finish the whole thing only having to walk a few mins over the final 2 miles.

I was kind of stupid to start this endeavor at 1:00 pm on Saturday in 82 degree heat, but I dressed for the occasion and drank plenty in the transitions and while I was out on the course.  I'm kind of surprised on how easy it was to complete the distance (just not very fast), and I'm starting to believe that I'm going to be able to finish my half marathon in September without walking.

My other workout have been pretty good also - my long run last week was 8.23 miles at a 10:23 pace.  The run itself wasn't too difficult, I did get a blister on my left pinkie toe for the first time in over 10 years..... While I was out on the course I'm guessing I could have run over 10 miles without stopping so I was happy with the workout, but my recovery afterwards really surprised me.  I ran my long run on Monday night and on Wednesday night I was still really sore.  I wasn't prepared for my body to be so slow in recovering from that effort, so I'll have to keep that in mind.

Abby and Cade in the rain.

Coming up this week I most likely will take it pretty easy.  I'm tossing around another 8 miler in  my head most likely toward the end of the week, depending on how my body reacts to my 'big' weekend this week. If I recover nicely I'm pretty sure I throw in an 8-10 miler, but if not, I'll most likely put some miles in on the bike and try to take it fairly easy.  I'm still looking at about 6 weeks before my run so I have plenty of time to get some long runs in, but the more I get in, the better my confedience will be when I toe the line on Sept 11th.

On my smaller runs/walks of 1-3 miles I've been searching out the local hills in the area to trek up.  I'm doing pretty well with this so I'll continue this practice unless my legs really need a break.

Keep Steppin'
Bob