Saints and Sinners is coming up soon, dancing into dangerous territory, and training updates.

I'm less than three weeks out from my upcoming half marathon and this is where I start to freak out a little bit.  I start to analyze my training and wonder if I'm doing what I am supposed to be doing and am I where I am supposed to be in my training (navel gazing at it's finest)

My goal is to find a balance between pushing myself hard but, not hard enough to end up injured.

During my last two training cycles I endured minor injures; last year I had a calve strain a month before the Saints and Sinners half.  Earlier this year during my training for the Mustang Half Marathon I had a minor groin strain.  So far this training cycle has been injury free.  I hate writing that statement out because I am very superstitious and I don't want to jinx myself....  I think I am trying to be more diligent about proper warm ups and stretching before speed work.

Stupid Running Mistake and My Latest Workouts

Friday 9/5-  This was supposed to be an 8 mile training run.  I ended up running just under 7 miles and I learned a valuable lesson the other day..  Do NOT underestimate the Heat Index!!!

 I'm such a jerk for thinking that I am smarter than average runner and that I know what I'm doing....


I went outdoors at lunchtime to knock out a longish run with a few tempo miles at the end.  I chose a hilly route

My rule of thumb for heading out doors is if the temps are below 95 I'll go for it.  I will only run  a few miles and I always bring a frozen water bottle with me to dump on my head and to refill it.  I also try to have a couple of dollars on me for emergencies. When I left at lunchtime the temp was only 90 degrees but, the humidity was 35%.   For reference our relative humidity is 10% in the summer.

I felt okay the  first 2-3 miles.  I passed a gas station, and I debated on going in to fill up my bottle and cool off inside the store.  I talked myself out of that stop, because there was another gas station about two miles down the road (literally downhill down the road).  This was so dumb....

The next two miles I could tell that my body wasn't cooling off at all.   The sun was hitting me and the sweat wasn't evaporating like it normally does...The pavement started to feel hot under my feet.  I was also wondering if I should call one of my coworkers to come get me....

I made it to the next gas station.   I used the bathroom, and then I went and stood inside the beer cooler, I could see the steam coming off of my body-I was freaking out mentally, but I knew that I had to get it together because panicking would make it worse.

After I cooled off  in the beer cooler, I ate a banana, filled up my bottle with ice, and I headed back to work.  I only had a mile and half to run, but cooling my body off in the beer freezer helped tremendously.

When I got back to work I took a cold shower, and then I ate as much salt as humanly possible...  For lunch I ate a Cup o" Noodles and then I  had some cheese cubes and smoked almonds. (MMMm Salt).  I kept the salt party going into the evening.  I had some Panda Express for dinner and I drank a lot of fluids too.  I went to sleep early that night and  I was so grateful that I made it home safely that day.

This run humbled me on so many levels, and I can't believe that I was this stupid.

Saturday 9/6- Rest

Sunday  9/7-  10.25 Miles   This ended up being a fasted 10 mile run.     I had plans of sneaking out early and trying to practice eating on  the run.  I bought a Carrot Cake Cliff bar that I was looking forward to eating....  Well on Saturday night before bed I was really hungry and I had some extra snack before bed. Nothing healthy, it was Popcorn, Dortios, and a few Golden Oreos.    I thought I would skip breakfast and eat my bar a few miles into the run.

Well I had to hurry and leave and when I left I realized that I forgot my Cliff bar......   But, I had money on me just in case... I started out at an easy pace and during the first mile I stopped to talk to a runner in my neighborhood.   I didn't turn on my music until the 2nd half of the run, and I tried to push the pace towards the end.  Here's the Garmin Data

It was pretty humid and I got a wicked chafe mark
on my back from my sports bra.

Monday 9/8-  Three miles recovery pace on the treadmill at the gym.  I also did a little bit of strength training.

Tuesday  9/9 I was debating on a two a day, but I think I may be done with these until after the half marathon.  Plus today's workout had me nervous.... I had 4x1600 on the calendar.  We had a huge rainstorm dump down on the Las Vegas Valley yesterday and it cooled off the temps from last week.  

I didn't want to run these on the treadmill so I drove to a local park with a dirt track and I ran the loops there.   I did a short warm up, ran some strides,  stretched, and then I put on my Pure Flows and did the workout.   In between each repeat I jogged/walked/gasped for air for two minutes.  Here's the data:  7:02, 7:07, 6:47, 6:53

I did the first two repeats without music, and then I changed direction and ran the repeats in the opposite direction on the track.  I think my Garmin is a bit wonky.  I don't think that the music helped me that much.  Because during the first two repeats I had to run just over three laps on the dirt track  and for my last two repeats I was running just under three laps.....   

Either way this workout kicked my butt.   I have one more big workout to stress about. I have a two hour run scheduled for this weekend. I'm not sure where I am going to fit this in.  I might try to do this on Friday afternoon or Sunday morning.  I haven't decided yet.  

I'm sure that I will start becoming even more neurotic as we get closer to race day.  Thanks for reading :)