August 27-September2

Wow, what a week! I started out running in the mornings and ended the week running in the evening. I ran on Wednesday in the evening and got caught in a rain storm. It was miserable to say the least and it actually wore me out. I started the run around 6:15ish thinking it would probably pass and I ran for about 30 minutes and turned around to come back and the bottom fell out. That is probably an understatement. I remember at one point in my run stopping at a bus stop to take cover to get a little bit of relief. That lasted for maybe a minute and I got back out to finish up the run. The rain definitely cooled me down, but at the same time, it weighed me down; therefore, making the run a lot harder. I still had a very nice negative split and was too tired to run on Thursday. I decided to do a 10 miler on Saturday. I originally wasn't planning to run that far due to my race on Monday. I had thought about changing up my routine and running my 1.5 route on Friday, but I was too tired.

Here are this week's results:

Monday: 7.1 mi/1:00:18/L1-30:15/L2-30:03/AVG. HR.=150/MAX. HR=171
Tuessday: 10.5 mi/1:30:55/L1=44:52/L2=46:03/AVG. HR.=150/MAX. HR=??
Wednesday: 7.1 mi/59:34/L1-29:46/L2-29:48/AVG. HR.=155/MAX. HR=172
Thursday: Unable to Run
Friday: REST
Saturday: 10 mi/1:25:09/L1-42:35/L2-42:34/AVG. HR.=152/MAX. HR.=167
Sunday: REST
Mileage=34.7

I decided to skip my Sunday run, mostly because of the US10k Classice race on Monday. I figured I could use the rest seeing that I will be running a very hilly course. I am planning to take it easy on this course due to the many hills. I plan to continue my marathon training on Tuesday, therefore, I don't want to go at it too hard.

Hope everyone has a nice Labor Day and KEEP RUNNING!!
LJ

August 20-August 26

Yippee, I finally got two hour and a half runs in this week. Whew! I must say, on Thursday, I struggled big time coming in, but I made it! I can not wait for this HOT weather to be over. It is definitely getting the best of me! As you can see, I missed my Wednesday run this week as well as my Saturday run. I was planning on missing my Saturday run due to volunteering for Habitat for Humanity with my wife and her company. That was definitely an experience that I hope to have again some day. After working from 8-4 building a home, I had thought that I could get up and run on Sunday. To my surprise, I was worn out; nevertheless, my Sunday run never happened.

Here are this weeks results:

Monday: 7.1 mi/59:06/L1-29:30/L2-29:35/AVG. HR=147/MAX. HR=173
Tuesday: 10.5 mi/1:30:47/L1-45:01/L2-45:45/AVG. HR=150/MAX. HR=166
Wednesday: Unable to Run
Thursday: 10.5 mi/1:31:32/L1-44:40/L2-46:51/AVG. HR=154/MAX. HR=169
Friday: REST
Saturday: Habitat for Humanity(unable to run)
Sunday: REST
Mileage=28.1

For the most part, I had a very good week of running and I was pretty happy with my results. This week I will try to get a good bit of hills in on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. My Saturday run will probably not be as long as usual due to the race that I will be running on Monday (US 10k Classic). That being said, my training for August has been way off as far as my scheduled runs. I think mostly my Saturday runs have suffered as I should have been running for 2 hours and I did not run one time for 2 hours. For September, I am scheduled to run 2.5 hour runs on Saturdays. There are 5 Saturday's in September, so I will miss this Saturday's 2.5 hour run because of the race. The next 4 Saturday runs should be close to the 2.5 hour range. Wish me luck!

Until next week, KEEP RUNNING!
LJ

August 13-August 19

"LJ at the 2007 Peachtree Road Race"
(46:12)

Well, another HOT week of running in the HOT ATL!! I must say, I am proud of my running this week. I only missed one day, Yippe! That being said, my Saturday run was not quite as long as I had hoped for, since I ran with a friend, nevertheless, it was a good run in.

Here are this weeks results:

Monday: 7.1 mi/1:01:20/L1-30:20/L2-31:00/AVG. HR=152/MAX. HR=174
Tuesday: 6.6 mi/57:31/L1-29:48/L2-27:42/AVG. HR=143/MAX. HR=159
Wednesday: Unable to Run
Thursday: 7.1 mi/1:00:21/L1-29:55/L2-30:25/AVG. HR=149/MAX. HR=173
Friday: REST
Saturday: 8.1 mi/1:19:37/AVG. HR=142/MAX. HR=163 **Ran with Allen**
Sunday: REST
Mileage=28.9

This week was one of my better weeks in a long time. The runs were pretty comfortable all week and I feel like I took my time on most of the runs. I did try to pick it up a bit as I finished up with the runs coming in. Mostly, because I have not started doing any type of speed work. Also, since I have NOT been running for an hour and a half on Tuesday and Thursday's like I normally do, I feel that I need to push myself a little bit more. Since I am planning to run the US10K Classice in a couple of weeks, I am going to be doing a lot of hill training this week(Monday and Wednesday) and part of next week. I will probably miss my run on Saturday this week due to some volunteer work that I am scheduled to do for Habitat for Humanity with my lovely wife.

I hope everyone has had a GREAT week!! Is there any cool weather in the forecast? I hope so.

KEEP RUNNING,
LJ

August 6-August 12

Well, another HOT HOT HOT week of running! Due to the extreme heat this week, I decided to run every other day. As you will see, I did not get many days of running in, but nevertheless, a good week of running. It has been great getting up early and running at the coolest part of the day. Of course, I am not sure that I would call 80 degrees with extreme humidity very cool.

Here are this weeks results:

Monday: 7.1 mi/1:01:20/L1-30:05/L2-31:15
Tuesday: REST
Wednesday: 6.7 mi/57:55/L1-29:04/L2-28:50/AVG. HR=134/MAX. HR=169
Thursday: REST
Friday: REST
Saturday: 10.1 mi/1:27:33/L1-43:42/L2-43:51/AVG. HR=155/MAX. HR=168
Sunday: REST
Mileage=23.9

Most of my runs this week have not been that fast, but I am not too worried about running fast. I am for the most part concentrating on slowing down and having comfortable runs. I have decided to do some hill training on Mondays throughout this week as well as last week. On Labor Day, my wife and I are planning to run the US 10K Classic like we did last year. A great labor day run, if you are interested in running a very hilly course. That being said, I need to run more hills between now and Labor Day.

Wish me luck as I return to school on Monday with the students.

Have a GREAT week of running and try to stay cool!
LJ

July 30-August 5

Whew!!! This heat is getting the best of me. I must say, my week started off pretty good with a 7.1 mile run on Monday. My running went completely down hill after Monday. So much that I decided to take the rest of the week off. I got started early Tuesday morning with a good 20 minute run with my wife. It was nice just to be out running with Sabrina again. It seemed like it had been a long time since running with her. Nevertheless, after running with her, I took off on my own and the first 45 minutes was not terribly bad. The only thing that I noticed was the fact that I was running pretty slow. I figured well, it must be because of the heat. Once I made it to my turn-around point and headed back, I had nothing but trouble. At one point, I felt like I was going to pass out. I walked a good bit coming back, but I still kept running after a few minutes of walking. I struggled throughout the day just to stay awake as I was totally worn out. After lunch, I came home and slept for hours and even after hours of rest, I had a very very hard time getting up. To top the evening off, I went to bed around 8:30 which is pretty early for me.

Here are this weeks results:

Monday: 7.1 mi/1:00:49/L1-30:06/L2-30:43/AVG. HR=151/MAX. HR=167
Tuesday: 9.8 mi/1:45:04/L1-44:43/L2-1:00:21/AVG. HR=139/MAX. HR=162
Wednesday: REST
Thursday: REST
Friday: REST
Saturday: 11.3 mi/1:35:57/L1-47:27/L2-48:29/AVG. HR=152/MAX. HR=167
Sunday: REST
Mileage: 28.2

As you can see I was unable to run the majority of the week. I am sure that I could have gone for a run, but I decided to go to the doctor on Thursday to get checked out before getting back into my normal running routine. Thank goodness, I was cleared by the doctor to run again on Saturday. The doctor felt like due to the high humidity and not hydrating properly led to to my downfall. Lesson learned!

It felt GREAT to be back on the road Saturday! I had a GREAT run and a comfortable run. I even ran with Powerade to make sure that I was well hydrated. My plan was to do a 2 hour run, but my wife asked me to take it easy and so I took her advice. Come to find out, it was good that I did because I was pretty tired when I finished. That being said, I pretty much ran 8-8:30 minute miles which isn't too bad for a long run.

This week, I start back to work, so I am hoping to get up around 5ish every day for my morning runs.

Have a GREAT week and HYDRATE!!
LJ