Week 5 was supposed to be a step back week and boy did I step back.

On Tuesday I ran 5 miles in the morning and then played an ultimate game in the evening. I’m not sure what happened, it could have just been too much impact, but my left foot was not happy when I went to bed. On Wednesday I had a strange non-localized sort of ache in my foot. I iced and stretched and iced and stretched and by Thursday morning things felt mostly better. I still decided to skip Thursday’s 5 miler and watch the USA vs Ghana world cup match instead though. While I can skip a solo run I have a harder time skipping out on my team so I did play in an ultimate game on Thursday night. Thankfully the turf was super soft and my foot felt fine. My foot also felt fine on my Saturday run so hopefully the 3 days of rest fixed whatever was hurt. I could have tried to make up Thursday’s 5 miler on Sunday but I sort of believe that once a run is lost, it is lost forever. Really, missing one 5 mile run is not the end of the world!

All in all my week 5 step back mileage was 10 miles (5+5).

Another week, another 19 miles in the bag: (3+6+2+8)

Thursday’s run was a bit of a challenge. It was scheduled to be a 6 mile tempo run with the middle 4 miles done at 9:47. I’m not the best judge of pace so my average over the 4 miles was more like 9:10. I was a mess when I got home. It didn’t help that I ran first thing in the morning so I’d only eaten half a banana with a squirt of honey and a gel at mile 3. Note to self: runs greater than 5 miles can’t be done without a real breakfast first.

Speaking of gels I’ve made a discovery. Before I started running I’d heard that gels were pretty gross. Then I tried them last winter on my long runs and thought they were the greatest thing ever. I wouldn’t have called them tasty but they were far from gross. They gave a little boost to my runs even though I acknowledge the effect might have been psychological. I haven’t changed the brand or flavour of my gels but lately they haven’t tasted so great. I think the problem is that the summer heat is changing the viscosity and flavour of my gels. In other words, my gels are melting! During the winter they were almost chewy and I like that much better. I tried putting today’s gel in the fridge 24 hours before my 8 mile run but the gel was warm by the time I was ready to have it. My next plan is to try the freezer. I’m a little worried freezing a gel might burst its packaging or it might not defrost quickly enough once I start running but I want my chewy gels back so I’m willing to experiment.

Week 3 was a solid training week. This is especially pleasing since I had to schedule my runs around travelling to and from Toronto and Hamilton for Dave and Angela’s wedding. My total mileage was ~19 miles (3+5+~3+~8). The approximate distances (~) were runs that I did based on time (instead of distance) in Toronto.

Matt ran the 8 miler (really a timed 89 minute run) with me on Sunday. We didn’t have a solid plan when we started but we ended up doing some trails through High Park and then running along the waterfront boardwalk. I almost always run alone so it was great to be able to chat with someone during a run. And the scenery was a nice change of pace from my standard Seattle routes.

First things first, I bought new running shoes: Brooks Adrenaline GTS 6. My new shoes are a full size bigger than my previous pair – I’m now wearing a men’s size 9.5! I had to go bigger because as my mileage increased before the half marathon I got a nasty blood blister on the end of my second toe. So far the shoes seem pretty good. I was a little wary of going with a men’s shoe but these are a narrow width so the fit is fine and the sales associate assured me that she’d put lots of women in these shoes and no one had come back with problems.

Now onto the running. Week 2 started out right on schedule. I did two short runs, a sprint training session and hit the weight room. Then the weekend came and everything took a back seat to ultimate frisbee. I was supposed to take Saturday as a rest day and then run 7 miles on Sunday. Instead I played two ultimate games on Saturday and one on Sunday. We had lots of subs so the games weren’t too strenuous and I seriously considered running on Sunday evening. But by the time I got back from ultimate I was tired, hungry and probably a little dehydrated so I decided to axe the long run and bake calzones instead.

For the record, my week 2 mileage was 10 miles (3+5+2). I find this number depressingly low but if I think of the three ultimate games as sprint training it’s not so bad!