Run, Nap, Party, Sleep, Run, walk...

This past week was a big week of running for me. 40 on the schedule. As always there were some obstacles.
Tuesday morning run 4 miles. This was done at the track the track workouts are still a nice variation to the schedule.
Wednesday 8 miles, unfortunately a project at work kept me an hour later than normal, then there were problems with the trains so that pushed me about another 90 minutes later. I got home a little after 9PM. I was wanting to get the run done but I really hadn't eaten well enough to convince myself that was a good idea. So Wednesday's 8 miles didn't happen.
Thursday 4 miler. Only I decided I wanted to get my 8 in, so I ran 8 instead. Iced my knees and heel after my run.
Friday another long day at work.
Saturday 7AM we meet up to run at the High Bridge rail trail. I've got an 8 mile pace run scheduled. I hang with the group for about half a mile then turn it up to an 8:20 min/mile. Or something like that. This trail has mile markers and I'm noticing that since I've moved my foot pod to my new shoes it's not giving me accurate distances. It's falling short. Not a big deal, I decide that I'm going to keep my HR under 170 and use that as my metric. I'll figure out my average pace from my stopwatch at the end of the run.
One really odd thing that happened shortly after I upped the pace. The top of my left foot gave me a few zaps of really sharp pains. I stopped to make sure everything was stretched out and moving properly. It seemed alright so I kept going and it wasn't a problem again.
I finished my 8 miles in 1:04:50 it felt like a good run. I then took the time to do a bunch of stretching. Next stop, breakfast at Gronsky's, I was ready to eat.
After that I fell asleep on the couch for a bit. Then we had to get ready to head to Asbury Park for a wedding.


I know. So odd to see pictures of us without spandex or sunglasses on.

I knew I had a 16 mile run scheduled the next day and Genine had to go into work. So we planned on going easy on the partying. Which was going quite well until I walked past the bar just when he had set out a pitcher of Sangria... The pitcher came with me to our table and the bartender kept watch on our table and would send another over as soon as it was empty.
The party rolled on until about 1AM we got home around 2. I would have guessed I'd sleep until noon on Sunday but was up at 8:30. I was feeling surprisingly well all things considered, maybe this 16 miler is going to happen after all.
I got my gatorade into my Fuel Belt and had an extra bike bottle for refills. I decided I'd run the canal path figuring the dirt trail was going to be easier on my feet/knees. I ran North 3 miles and then back to the car. 6 down, it's humid and I'm already drenched. It's raining on me occasionally which sounds like it would be nice but it's not helping. Refill the belt bottles and head south for 5 miles. The sky looks a bit more threatening than it did an hour ago. Which I guess kept people from running and biking this trail today. Which is really making this run boring. I was trying to keep my HR under 160 but my legs kept falling into a pace that would have me at about 162. Not a big deal, just odd that I can't seem to make myself slow down.
As I'm closing in on 11 miles (my turn around). There is someone running towards me. Should I turn around now and ask if he minds if I run with him? Nah, get to the 11 mile mark that way I'm done when I get back to the car. Big mistake.
I turn around at mile 11, I'm kind of low on gatorade, with no chance at a refill. Bad planning on my part. Then I get to 13.1 mile and I think. There it is, my Half Marathon for Timberman day. And I lose all motivation to continue running. Cardio and legs are good. I just think the lack of sleep and the fact that I've been out here alone for the last 2+ hours had caught up with me. Well there are no short cuts to getting back to my car. It's still 3 miles away. I keep thinking that I really don't want to walk it, that will take much longer, obviously. But guess what, I walked it in. 3 miles, weird, once I'd walked far enough that my HR was in recovery/rest it seemed like a bad idea to start running again. The amazing thing is other than the people at the bridge on the main road fishing. Nobody passed me in either direction as I walked 3 miles. As I said, it was a boring day out on the trail today.
I'm still pleased with how things are going with the running. At times as I was walking I was thinking that I'm really not improving my mental toughness today. I think it's easier to be mentally tough when you actually set yourself up properly to perform something like this. Meaning good sleep and good nutrition. So I'm not going to beat myself up over this one. I had told Genine that if I got 10 miles in today it would be good enough. So there you have it.
Now if only there was a pitcher of sangria in the fridge at home...