Half Marathon Distance ON.THE.TREADMILL! (week 19)

Honestly, there isn't too much to report this week for my shorter runs.  They are continuing to go pretty well, although the middle distance mileage is now starting to increase (6 miles now).  I'm still running outside when I can, and am very grateful that the days are starting to get longer.  I now don't feel as rushed to get my runs finished after work.  As long as I'm out the door within 15-20 minutes or so of getting home, I still have enough daylight to do the runs.  I still find that I sometimes need good tunes to get me through (especially on the treadmill), but can often go without, especially on my shorter runs. I actually felly feel like I run faster without the music sometimes, which seems kind of weird, but hey. 

So now, I'm at the point where these long run miles are really starting to build up. I'm still figuring out what I need in terms of fueling, as well, and I hope to have that sorted out over the next few weeks.  At this point, I have found that I really liked the GU salted caramel gel.  With those, I can take just a little bit at a time, and wash it down with some water.  I also tried applesauce (Aldi "Simply Nature" brand), that comes in a package of four.  Again, I still prefer to take it with a bit of water. Although they did give me a bit of a boost of energy, I'm not sure if they quite have the staying power of the gels.  

In terms of the actual hydration, I tried using Smart Water, which is plain water with electrolytes in it. I actually really like this idea, and it seemed to work well, because with the GU, and possibly, applesauce, I don't want to overload my system on sugar.  However, knowing that I will most likely run out of the Smart Water during my run on race day, I'm wonder if I can just get pure electrolytes that I can just add to my water bottle, where I can get it refilled at a water station, especially later in the course.  I'm kind of thinking that if I can get those in either a powder form that quickly dissolves, or in some type of liquid form (kind of like water enhancers that you can get at the store),that maybe be best.


The night before my long run, I did drink two bottles of a an electrolyte drink that I found on sale for
50 cents each.  After a really hard run, it might taste good, but I wasn't crazy about either one. To me, they tasted like flavored chemicals. The only reason I bought them was because of the price, thinking that if they worked for me, I could stock up on them.  Yeah....don't think that will be the case.





As for my long run itself, I ended up running the distance indoors as I wimped out on the cold. Okay, it wasn't SUPER cold, but running outside in the 20s, knowing that I get cold SUPER fast after my runs lately, and chances are that I would have to wait for a bus somewhere.....yeah......not my idea of a fun time.  So, I sucked it up, and did the miles on the treadmill. I had a rough start with getting out the door, as I was being absent minded about leaving important things for the gym behind (including my gym bag with needed running gear), but I finally managed to make it out to the gym.  Once I changed, did a few minute walk on the treadmill, and then stretched, I made myself get back onto the treadmill for the 12 miles that was on my agenda.  Yep....12 miles on that thing.  However, remember, just a few weeks ago, I had an amazing run at 10 miles on that thing.  Yet, at the same time, I kind of scared of handling the 12 miles. Again, I don't know why longer distances seem so daunting at first.  It's a total mind game, for sure. I think with me, I look at the jump in terms of mileage, compared to the week before, especially if it's a set back week, and find myself a bit intimidated by the leap. However, in reality, it's not always that much longer than my last long run (such as this 10 to 12).

Once I got onto the treadmill and started going, things went a bit easier mentally.  I had both the tv on (mostly for visual stimulation) and my ipod on for music, as a way to help with the boredom that can come with being on the treadmill.  What also mentally helped was dividing the long run into chunks. In this run, I decided on 3 sets of 4 (so 4 miles each).  The only snag I hit was having the machine suddenly stop on me every so often.  I think this was because the time was set to "time remaining" rather than "time lapsed."  So having it suddenly stop more than once was kind of startling.

In terms of pace, I varied it a bit, depending on what I felt like I could safely handle, and what music was playing. If I was jamming out to a power song, I'd turn the tempo up. If I needed some recovery, I d' turn it down.  I also used the time to figure out when to take my energy stuff. Since I still had some of my GU leftover, I sort of alternated between that and my squeezable applesauce every few miles (about 2-3).  For me, it seems to work well if I just take a little bit every few miles, as it gives my body a chance to digest it a bit easier than if I was to take a bunch at a later point.  I also sipped on my Smart Water every so often.  I think I had a 20fl oz bottle, which got me through most of the run. I didn't have my handheld bottle with me, but I know that holds 16 oz, so this is giving me a rough estimate on how much hydration I may need for the full.  I'm guessing that I would probably need at teast 32oz (and maybe a bit more) to see me through.  There is also the idea of running with a hydration pack to help me carry more water, but I'm not really sure if I want to deal with more extra weight. However, it may be something for me to consider.

For this run, I did hit sort off a wall around 8-9, for some reason. I'm not sure what caused it...might have been energy related, but also kind of mental, as that mile felt so long.  I did take some energy stuff around then, by the time I hit mile 10, I was doing better.  Back in one of my earlier miles, I kind of had the thought of trying for the 13.1 miles on the treadmill, but when I hit miles 8-9, I wasn't sure if that was going to be possible.  Once I hit around mile 11, I realized that if I took it a bit slower, I could do the 13.1.  I think part of me was going, "Oh come on! In a half marathon, you wouldn't quit at mile 12, when you had just.one.more. mile to do.  Come on, let's just go for the 13.1!" So, once I hit mile 12, I played a few power songs to get me going to the end.  As usual, P!nk's "Just Like Fire," got me going really strong. I turned up the speed to nearly a 10 minute pace, which is super fast for me on a long run (I was probably averaging 12-11ish minute miles), and I could literally feel myself springing from one foot to the next.   A few minutes later, I saw my treadmill hit the 13.1 mark! I had literally hit the longest distance I had ever done on the road or treadmill.  I was very tired afterwards, but so proud of myself! 

As for the recovery from running that distance, it was actually much easier than I anticipated.  I did have a banana, my other applesauce pouch (which tasted AMAZING), and some milk after I finished, but I surprisingly wasn't ravishingly hungry.  However, when I got home, I completely crashed out for a few hours.  I know that this is normal for after long runs, but it's making me think that I may need to plan for that in advance. I also had a hard time going BACK to sleep a hour or so later (when I really should be in bed for a 5 a.m. alarm to go skate), so there was that issue.  However, I did take an aleve, just in case my legs got super sore, and was able to skate the next morning on better legs than I anticipated. I was even able to do some jumping, which was previously impossible after I ran my past half marathons.  I also never really got super hungry either.  I know that one of the hunger hormones may get suppressed for a while after a hard workout, but I guess my stomach decided that it didn't need a bunch of stuff in it, and that my normal food/meals was fine. Hey, at least it's a few extra bucks in my pocket, as I'm not chowing down on a sofritas bowl from Chipotle with tortilla chips (my favorite dish from there, and the tortillas make it into an ultimate nachos type of dish).  For the time being, I figure it's nothing worth stressing over, as I'm still eating and drinking as I normally would. I'm guessing that it's needs are probably just changing some, so I may just have to adapt to it.




As for my upcoming long run, I am looking at having it be another set back week, which is jumping me a bit further in the schedule. Since I know I can do the 13.1, there's really no need for me to repeat it, the have a set back distance the following week.  This way, I can do the 10 miles that I have on plan, then next week, go to 15 miles....the longest distance I have ever done so far.  Let's hope for good weather, so that I can do this run outside!

Until then, Happy Running!

Ups and downs(week 17)

What an up and down week this has been.  So much going on, and my brain didn't have space to put it all.  I'll start with the good stuff first, and that was with speedwork.

So, the local running club here offers speedwork practice every Wednesday night.  I had not been to speedwork since October, and have been wanting to get back into it, figuring that I can use mileage from that towards my mileage on my training plan, which is three miles for my shorter runs.  I figure that I can usually warm up with a 1/2 mile on my own, do the speedwork practice and figure out the distance from that, then wind down my practice with doing whatever other distance I. needed to do on my own to make up the three miles.

Just.My.Luck. Guess what I had to do my first time back....a timed mile.  We're also at an indoor 200 meter track, which doesn't help. At first, I thought the other members were just messing with me, but they were right.  I was not happy about this, as I was hoping to ease back into speedwork.  I know that I have been doing some speedwork type of stuff on my own on the treadmill with my shorter runs, but I was not looking forward to the timed mile.  The coach told me that I can just use it as a baseline to see where I'm at, but my competitive side kicks in too much, as I still want to beat my record of 7:50.  For me, a timed mile gives me the mentality of "go hard, or go home," so I did a major case of "suck it up buttercup" and lined up with "slower" group. For this practice, we had a "slower" group (8 minutes or slower), and a "faster" group.

Being grateful that I had my watch on to help me keep track of my distance, I set off.  The thing about the timed mile for me is that I always dread starting it. I tend to have a love/hate relationship with speedwork anyways. I do love that it helps me get faster in the long run and that I'm with good people. However, I sometimes hate how tired and hard I really have to work. Yet, at the same time, it's really cool for me to look back and think, "Hey! I did that tonight! I'm tired as heck, but I did it!"
isr than I expected.  I managed an 8:01, which is right on the cusp of me being in the "fast" or "slow" group.  I know it wasn't my fastest, but it was faster than my previous time in October at 8:04, so I'm okay with that.  After my group finished, we all rested while the faster group did their timed mile.  Holy moses, those people could fly!  Those people were finishing in the 6-7 minute range, which is warp speed for me at this point.

After both groups were done with the timed mile, we did 4 200s. We kept the same groups, but alternated. My group started first, and I have to admit, I was very proud of how I ran those 200s! For once in my running life, I was NOT brining up the rear! For ALL 200s, I was in the top 3 (maybe 4) of my group, and lead female runner.  All of my 200s were in the low to mid 40 second range, and I was able to get really fast starts. On the second 200, there was one guy that I tried to pass as we were running side by side.  We were both running HARD, and I was practically running on my toes trying to catch him.  However, he pulled away and I couldn't keep up.  On the following 200 round, I managed to hold that same runner off for 1/2 a lap!  I know that it doesn't seem like much, but considering that he just kicked my tail in the last round, it was so satisfying to know that I was running faster than he was for half a lap, and that I was in second at that point.  Then, on the last lap, this one other guy snuck up behind me down the last stretch.  I knew he was trying to pass me, so I dug a bit deeper and put on an extra burst of speed. I literally felt my hair flying back, and heard another runner shout something along the lines of "That's the way to do it," as I put some distance between me and the runner behind me as I crossed the finish line.  I was so exhausted, and breathing so hard, but under it all, I was proud of how I did.  I was running hard with an amazing group of runners, who pushed me to run faster than I have in a long time in speedwork, and I seriously can't expect anything better than that. Regardless of what our times are, all of us in speedwork (and in running in general) are doing this together.

After the speedwork was done, and a few minutes of recovery, I realized that I needed another mile and half on my own to do to meet my 3 miles for my running mileage for the day.  I don't know if Garmin sportswatches lie a lot, but mine somehow picked me up at an 8:47ish pace.  I certainly didn't feel like I was running that by any means. I felt like I was running at about 11:30-12 minute pace, due to how tired I was.  I swear, running on an indoor track by yourself (well, there were other high school/middle track practices being held), is super mentally challenging.  At least on the treadmill, I can usually find something to watch on the t.v.  At the indoor track, all you see is a track going in circles, some bleachers, a long jump pit, some high jump mats/bars stuff, and some spit/barf cans spread about the circle.  If you don't have something to help keep track of your laps, that can get difficult as well. I think for me, the hardest part is the thought of just being "stuck" in there with no place to really "go" to.  However, I am grateful for it, in case the treadmill or being outside is not an option.  However, let's just hope that I never have to run majorly long distances in there, if I can at all possibly avoid it.

Now, onto a bit of harder stuff.

I ended up really needing one of my runs (a 5 miler) as a source of "therapy" as I had way too many things going on in my head....things that I'm not proud of with myself, events happening here in the U.S. and even my own community, frustrations in my skating (although the later is very minor in the grand scheme of things), things happening in the lives of those close to me, etc., and my brain only has so much space.  The only way I knew how to deal with all these thoughts and emotions was to run with hopes that things would get "left on the pavement" so to speak.  I got home from work on Friday, didn't even bother to grab my ipod, but changed into some running gear, did a quick planning of my route, grabbed my watch, my water bottle, house key, id, and left before the opportunity passed up.  I purposely didn't grab my ipod as I knew I was running short on time (literally), and I felt like music, for once, was not going to help me mentally. I didn't even have the brain capacity to listen to the music at this point.  Just going out there, and pounding the pavement was the only thing I knew I could handle at that time.

My "therapy session" with running and being outside was very helpful.  It didn't solve my problems, but running gave me something else to focus on. I thought I was running fairly slow, as it felt like that's what my body needed, but I somehow managed an average of 9:48 pace (minus a few stops for traffic).  I did come back feeling much better...something about hitting the ground with my feet and focusing on my breathing does a lot of good.  Despite me having sore legs from speedwork (more about that later) two days beforehand, and gymnastics the night before (which is almost always really fun), I came back in a much better mood.

Then....I made the decision to go see the new movie "Patriot's Day." For those who haven't seen it, it's a combination of a documentary and movie drama about the bombings at the Boston Marathon in 2013. It covers a timeline of the night before/early morning hours of the marathon all the way through the time in which the bombers were captured.  What I was not prepared for is all of the live footage that was shown of the actual bombing.  Maybe I'm just getting more sensitive as I get older, but as someone who is training for her first marathon, I found that SO.HARD. to watch.  These bombings were happening right at the finish line area.  You see the real live amazing runners running towards the finish line, then BOOM...their lives being completely turned upside down.  I nearly cried and almost left the theater. It was so hard for me to see these awesome runners literally lose their lives, limbs, or even a piece of their mentality from such a tradegy.  It just scared me knowing that this could happen at any race, at any time.  Then, the movie continues to show the events leading up to the capture of the two bombers, using both the live footage and movie drama. I don't know how much of it was fabricated to make the movie more interesting, but I did learn a few additional things about the bombings, and I left the theater feeling so horrible that Boston had to go through all of that. However, what was uplifting was seeing some of the survivors running IN the Boston Marathon about two years later, and seeing the city come together.

One of the guys they showed at the end was using a running leg prosthetic, and him running past that exact same spot where he was hit from the bombing.  I don't know how he prepared to go through that spot again, but I have nothing but respect for him probably pushing through that spot....it seriously had to be the biggest mind game for him.  I know that he cried the moment he passed it, and I can't even imagine the emotions that he experienced at that moment. I know that I'd be at least a combination of joy, sadness, and relief. I just can't imagine the physical and emotional pain that people in the Boston area went through, but I am so glad that they have been able to pull together and keep hosting that historic marathon, and for ALL the runners that finish it.

Long Run :
Today was my "set back" week of 7 miles, and I decided to run the marathon course that covers miles 21-23ish as part of my route.  I also decided to try using the salted caramel flavored GU, which, surprisingly, I actually liked.  Since the consistency is super thick, I thought it would be best for me to take just a little bit about every two miles (about where aide stations would be), and it worked pretty well with me chasing it down with a bit of water.  It did make me burp some, so I may have to tweak my process of taking it a bit to not have that happen, but I was otherwise okay.

The temperatures were mostly on the cool side....upper 40s, but with some wind (as usual for our area).  I had written down directions for me to refer to once I got to the few miles that I wasn't as familiar with on the course.  Well, I think I ended up taking a wrong turn somewhere around what will be the mile 22 marker because, I ended up about a mile to mile and half off course.  I know that this won't happen in the actual race as it's well organized, so I wasn't too concern, but what was a bit concerning was that I hard time finding my way back to the intersection that the route showed for me to be on.  I eventually ended up looping back to a previous road that I knew, and eventually saw an intersection that I recognized, and knew my way back from there, I did get an extra mile in out of the deal, but it took me quite a while to get back to the bus stop that I needed to get to (and I got passed by another bus that I didn't think to try and catch....oops).  However, I ended up walking about another two miles to get to my stop, rather than a mile or less had I not gotten lost. By this time, I had cooled down physically, and I think the temperatures had dropped some, so I was getting cold. I finally reached the bus stop area, but saw I had another 17 to wait for my bus.  Plus, there was some guy that was making comments about me obviously being cold.  Thankfully, there was a store I could pop into for a few minutes in order to warm up that was just across the street.  My hands took quite a while to warm up (feet were fine), and a short while later, I was eternally glad to be on a warm bus, and even more thankful to whomever created hot showers once I got home.

So, I guess the lesson of this long run is to really make sure which direction I'm needing to go when I'm in a different neighborhood.  I think what I will do for next weekend is do a google search for more specific directions/maps on the streets for those few miles, so that I don't have this happen again.  I know that once I get to a certain point...close to mile 23, I will be home free in terms of knowing the route.  I just need to be more certain of where I'm going after mile 20, so that I don' have this happen again.




 

AWESOME LONG RUN!!!! (week 16)

Okay, my schedule is a bit messed up still, due to the miscalculating of weeks.  However, the freak out session is over, and I think I may have a better idea of what to do for the upcoming weeks.  I know I have missed a few runs as a result of changing things, but I'm going to try and get back on track as much as possible from here on out.

For my two short runs this week, one of the runs was in foggy condition.  The other run was in a really windy conditions, and that run was TOUGH.  I had a crazy day at work, which left me sort of mentally stressed out.  Normally, running helps me mentally calm down, but not this one.  This run was tough physically, and we had wind gusts of about 50 mph.  At the time, I thought I would be okay with the run as it wasn't super windy the time I went out.  I did have one gush of wind that I had to power through (and it zapped my energy), but I thought that would be the worst of it. On that run, I ended up having to take a walk break, which didn't help me mentally, which didn't make my run any easier.  Then, suddenly, I was running by the this one skinny tree where one of small, but decent sized branches broke off, and suddenly smacked me on the the head, just above my right eyebrow area. I felt like I got smacked on the head with a sharp rock, but there wasn't any large loose gravel around. Yet, I see this branch suddenly on the ground.  Plus, dirt ended up on my left hand, so I knew it had to be the branch that broke off.  I felt my head to make sure it wasn't bleeding.  There wasn't any blood, but it felt like I was developing a bump or bruise there.  I ran the rest of the way home, but took it as a sign the run really wasn't meant to be, and was so glad that was over with.

Now, onto the fun part. :) I had the most AMAZING long run, ON THE TREADMILL (yes, you read that right) back on Friday.  I ended up skipping one three miler this week, as I had been hearing that the weather was suppose to be not fun over the weekend, so I decided to give myself an extra rest day (which included no gymnastics), so that I could my long run on Friday, and have that out of the way before the bad weather hit.

Simply put, the run was AWESOME!!!  It was one of those runs where I definitely had the "runners' high" afterwards.  It was a slow run, but I seriously got into the songs that were playing on my ipod, including some power songs that really got me going, and even almost a bit emotional as I pictured myself running hard towards the finish line at the end of the marathon.  My pace was slow...around upper 4s/low 5s, but I totally fine with it. I ran a bit faster when I felt like I could, such as really mentally jamming to the chorus of a really fun song, and ran slower when I felt like I needed a breather.  And what about those 8-9 miles that I was concerned about last week? I totally surpassed them and ran 10.25 miles!  10.25 miles!!! That is the absolute longest time that I have ever been on a treadmill...and had a blast doing it! I NEVER thought that I would ever catch myself saying that, but I honestly did!  Okay, it did start getting a bit more challenging around mile 8, but that was a time in which I slowed down a bit and took some more fuel, and let my body recover some.  When mile 9 came, my brain and body agreed to push it for one more mile because I was having such an amazing run.  Then, at 9.75, I put on a new power song ("All Fired Up" by Pat Benatar), and kicked up the speed to somewhere near my 5k pace. I was totally picturing myself running hard to that finish line by then, and almost got a bit emotional.  Goodness, if I start getting emotional during a training run, I'm going to be a wreck come race day!  I ended up running a half mile near my 5k pace, to end the run at 10.25 miles, and I couldn't have been happier with it.

In terms of fueling, I had accidently left my fuel at home (oops), so I stopped by our local co-op, which is in the same building as my gym, and picked up a squeezable fruit pouch of mixed fruit (mango and banana, I think), which worked pretty well.  However, I'm still not a fan of the having squeeable banana.   I think I find the flavor too strong for something that's in a warm pouch or something. However, for later in the race, it may not be a bad idea to have something like this on me, as I will very likely need the potassium that banana provides, and I can easily stomach it. I did find it was a good idea to chase it down with some water, which helped tone down the banana flavor some. I found that I really started needing the fuel around mile 5.5, and about every two miles after.  I figure that if I start taking fuel about 1/2 mile before I really need it, that gives my body a chance to let it digest some, and start giving me a boost somewhere near the actual aid stations on the course.  Then, on the course itself, I can "top off" my fuel or hydration some if I need it, plus give my legs a chance to slow down a bit. Since I had good results with the squeezable fruit pouch, I want to give my applesauce pouches a try, and see how those go.

One other fuel item that I'm going to try again at some point is GU, as this is what our race course offers, and I want to see if I can at least stomach it if push comes to shove on race day.  It was an impulse buy from a local sports store that I was at a few days ago, but I got their salted caramel variety.  My last experience with GU was not a good one as I hated the consistency (it was like thick sticky snot), but I decided to go head and give this one a go.  If it ends up being okay, I can at least have one or two on back up for the race.  I figure that it never hurts to have some extra fuel on hand as you never know when you may drop one on the course, or lose some if the package doesn't open properly, or what have you.  Now, the hitch is that I would HAVE to chase down with plenty of water because of the consistency, so we'll see how well this works.

Since I did the 10 miler last week, I can most likely use this week as a set back week of 7 miles for the long run (short runs are 3-5-3 now).  I may also really hoping to get back into speedwork this week as well, which I may use towards one of my three mile runs.  I haven't decided exactly how I will do that, but I'm kinda thinking of doing a slow 1 mile warm up first, do the workout, then do a slow run for any remaining of the 3 miles that I may need to achieve.

I will let you guys off here for the time being, but I hope all of you have a great running week!

Making training adjustments (week 13)I

Okay, so this past week, I realized that I made a big mistake in my training plans.  I miscalculated the number of training weeks that my plan calls for!  Gaaaahhh!!!!!  With training for this marathon, I was expecting some mistakes, but not a big mistake from the very beginning!  I basically found that I'm about 2-3 weeks off from what my training schedule planned.  This caused a bit of panic on my end, knowing that I was going to have skip a few weeks in order to be able my 20 miler in before the race. Plus, I've been concerned about not having much leeway in case I get sick or injured.

So, after my initial panic, what I have figured out is that I should be okay if I skip two weeks of my training run.  This is because I hav already ran 6 miles twice for my long runs, and recently did almost a 4 miler on one of my shorter training runs, so I know that I can handle that distance.  I've also decided that I can cut out my last "set back" run of 8 miles during my taper week to allow a few extra rest days/buffer zone.  Also, if something were to happen, I can adjust the mileage for other "set back" runs as well.  I know that ideally, I should get all of my runs in, but I really do want to allow for some buffer space, since I'm no longer going to have the initial extra weeks off as I had originally hoped. At least this way, I can still allow myself a short shake out run or two a few days before the marathon, but mostly use about a week and half as my rest period before the race day. Plus, I would still be getting in all the miles on the main long runs as a whole.

So, since I skipped ahead two weeks for my long run, and that long run ended up being "set back" run of 5 miles.  That run ended up being harder than I would have liked. I think it was partially due to me doing my 3 mile training run the day before, so I may not have been fully recovered from it yet.  I wanted to go at a 5.0 speed, or maybe a bit higher, but it felt very fast, so I was mostly running in the 4's. I did vary the speed some, just a little bit, and was able to kick up the last .25 miles closer to my 5k speed, but as a whole, that range in the 4s was what my body could handle.

During the run, I tried using "Skratch" for fueling. I had the lemon-lime flavor, and I was able to get a sample through www.TheFeed.com, which sells a lot of samples of various fuels for a buck or two.  Scratch is a low sugar electrolyte drink mix, which you can pour directly and mix directly into your water.  One package is good for 16oz of water. I used my handheld bottle, and it ended up tasting a bit strong. However, I think that may have been due to my handheld bottle being a bit less than 16oz. I think it's maybe 14 oz.  Overall, I liked the taste, but think I might try a bit less next time. If I end up using this in the race, I can always just have a bit of it in the morning with some water, just to "top up" my energy stores before the race.



For my next long run, I want to try some unsweetened apple sauce that I found at our local Aldi.  I have heard of runners using squeeable fruit/veggies for fuel for their runs, and the squeezable applesauce would also be a very cheap option.  I bought the kid sized pouches, which should work well in my flipbelt.  I'm curious to try this and see how it goes.

Speaking of my 9 mile long run....that distance seems like a huge jump from a 5 mile "set back" run.  Even from 6 miles, it seems like a really big jump, and honestly, I don't know if my body is ready for that quite yet.  I know that the general rule of thumb is to not increase the mileage more than about 10%, and so that leaves me a bit concerned, especially since I've skipped the 7 mile run to try and get my training schedule sorted out.  Then, the week after calls for 10 miles...eeek!  So, what I'm thinking for this coming weekend is shoot for maybe 7.5-8 miles instead. Then, the following week, shoot for 10 miles.  That way, I'm closer to the 10% margin for increasing mileage. Of course, a lot of this will depends on how I feel, too.  Either way, I hope to be on track with getting in all of the long run miles soon.

To sort of piggy back onto the long runs, especially with being on a treadmill, I've been finding myself starting to play little mind games to keep myself going.  This is going to be essential, especially with hitting the longer runs. Yes, having some good tunes is helpful, but on the screen I find it helpful to find something to picture myself running towards, especially if it's more in the background.  If you watch something go by quickly, such as someone running away from the police, picture yourself chase after that person.  I even caught a bit of a virtual reality type of game that was being shown in which guys were flying these miniture airplanes through this obsticle course through a virtual reality headset. At times, the show had a "point of view" viewing of the obsticle course, and so I pictured myself being on that course, and "running" through the obsticles, although there were a few views of flipping over and crashing into walls. :) Mind games like this will help me not focus so much on the distance on the treadmill, and actually enjoy the run more.

That is all for this week. Happy Running!