Going Loopy

Today marks another milestone for me as far as mileage goes. Although I was forced to miss a long run in the middle of the month due to my wonky ankle acting up I was able to stay the course and, with a little creative training plan tinkering, was still able to hit my monthly mileage goal.

The usual Sunday morning long run was done this morning instead, and it was a bit loopy. By that I mean that I ran three loops around my Easy York neighbourhood through Taylor Creek Park between Stan Wadlow Park and Beechwood Drive. The climb up Beechwood is long and steep and I did it three times, which was great but pretty tough. The whole run was good and tough with a pretty steady pace throughout; nothing speedy, but a good long run all the same. I ran a total of 28km in 2:41 and at an average pace of 5:45/km (9:16/mile). This was the second longest training run ever for me.

A short monthly review for July looks like this:

• Ran 255.5km (goal was 244km)
• Averaged 57.7km/week (goal was 55km/week)
• Completed my two longest training runs ever at 30km and 28km
• Weighed in at... who knows, didn't check. Feel good though. Still eatin' pie.

So, I am now over 1300km for the year and going strong. August should be a good training month as well, though with a long road trip vacation at the end it might shake things up a little as far as training goes. I still think I will be able to get all my running in, though weight training will have to take a bit of a break.

Hope your July was also good, and bring on August!

Just Keep on Chugging Along

This morning was one of those "gotta get the run in" sort of things. I woke up at about 2:30am and could not really get back to a real sleep, and then out of the blue my alarm went off at 5:30am and seemingly shocked me right out of a deep sleep! I had a tough time getting out of bed as a result and didn't hit the streets until a minute or two after six.

This morning I was planning to run easy for a dozen or so kilometres and that's exactly what happened. I chose the same route that I did a while back when I had major GI pain towards the end and am happy to report that the route does not seem to be the reason since my stomach held up OK this morning. After a slow first kilometre I managed to maintain a very steady pace throughout the entire 12km and did not tax myself all that much in anticipation of my long run, which I am doing tomorrow rather than Sunday for reasons already given. I am now just 16.5km away from my monthly mileage goal for July, and tomorrow's run should definitely get me over the hump.

Should be a great long weekend here in Canada, so if you are Canadian enjoy the three days off! (And if you are not and have to work on Monday, have a decent two days as well.)

Dipping into Intervals

This morning I woke up nice and early and hit the road at 5:30am for a nice run. It wasn't easy getting going as I felt a bit stiff, but as I ran along things slowly improved.

At about the 5km mark I found myself at the track and, like last Wednesday, I decided to do a little bit of "out of the comfort zone" training. This week I added an extra 800m repeat to the mix and increased the recovery to 400m from 200m.

Things went like this:

400m 1:47 (4:26/km)
400m rest 2:26
800m 3:32 (4:24/km)
400m rest 2:39
800m 3:29 (4:21/km)
400m rest 2:41
800m 3:25 (4:18/km)
400m rest 2:36
400m 1:42 (4:15/km)

Afterwards I ran around the track for a bit before heading home and completing my 15km run. It was not particularly easy, but it was not that hard either. Certainly I am nowhere near the puke threshold with my pacing on the repeats, and that is just fine right now. I know I can go a lot faster, I just am not willing to risk injury right now by running too fast. Also, if this looks suspiciously like the Yasso 800s it's because that is in my mind as a basis for interval training. I should be going a lot slower on the recovery 400s in that Yasso says your recovery lap should take the same amount of time as the 800m does to run. I might try and do that as I add more intervals, but for now my recovery is plenty for the pace at which I am running the 800s.

This afternoon I will test my shoulder at the gym with some upper body weights. Let's hope it holds up!

Going with the Flow

This morning I woke up early enough to fit in a nice 10km run at a recovery sort of pace before work. It was another nice weather type morning with no humidity and I am absolutely loving it when I open my front door and am not met with a wall of stickiness. Although I like the heat and enjoy the challenge of running in tough conditions it is a treat to run in near perfect weather because it makes everything seem that much easier.

My legs felt a little stiff after yesterday's leg weights, but that is to be expected. My pace started off really slow and then picked up as the run progressed even though my perceived effort never wavered.

In other news I am shaking things up a little as far as the training plan goes. Given that my ankle felt a bit wonky shortly after I ran my first 30km training run I am now building in recovery weeks right after long runs of this distance. This will allow me to run the number of 30km+ training runs that I want to prior to the marathon and hopefully get me to the starting line healthy and ready to go. It actually works out quite well on the calendar anyway and gives me a proper taper and good rest heading into the race.

Also, I am contemplating something a bit stupid. Given that I had to skip one of my long training runs this month the only way that I will be able to meet my monthly mileage goal for July is to move my long run for this week from Sunday to Saturday (since Sunday is August 1st and annoying as hell). I know that in the grand scheme this doesn't matter, and blah blah blah all that smart listening to your body crap and don't be tied to the stats etc. etc., but to me it is an important metric. Therefore, what I am planning on doing it running on Saturday evening instead and shifting the long run by a matter of hours and now a full day. Of course, this does depend on how I feel on Saturday and I retain the right to pull the chute on this plan at any point.

Checking Out New Running Routes

Today I went on a longish run to discover new trails in the ravines that are seemingly all over the place in Toronto, but remain largely hidden to much of the population. I was a bit apprehensive when heading out because yesterday my left shoulder started hurting like nothing else. It feels the same as a separated shoulder that I suffered a number of years ago when I was checked into a wall while playing ball hockey. Only this time nobody checked me into anything.

I had a bad night of sleep, and by that I mean that I barely slept at all. The shoulder pain is constant and I cannot lift my arm sideways at all. It throbs non stop and I am really puzzled by this turn of events.

Anyway, I did not want to miss my run on account of an upper body injury so I set of at a gingerly pace. The humidity of the past few weeks had broken overnight and it was +20C with a nice cool breeze. After so much muggy weather this felt like a real blessing and made the running seem really easy.

I ran up to Taylor Creek Park via Coxwell Avenue and then headed further north along trails that I'd never run on prior to this morning. The first section is called Serena Gundy Park, which leads to a big park where I used to play lots of Ultimate Frisbee called Sunnybrook Park, and then I veered off of the road onto another undiscovered trail called Willet Creek Park. This lead to Edward Gardens, which a really nice botanical gardens up near the swanky part of the city called the Bridlepath where celebrities like Prince live(d) and where the disgraced Conrad Black still has a heavily mortgaged estate. This was my turnaround point as I realized that I was already going to run farther than the intended fifteen kilometres.

In the end I ran 18km and it was great. The arm hurt the entire way, but as long as I kept my elbow near my body and didn't swing too much it was bearable. I hope it improves as quickly as it came on because I can't do any weights of any sort until this clears up (other than perhaps some leg weights and core strength stuff I suppose).

A Hot Blogiversary

No, I'm not having a pool party with bikini-clad hired attendees, but today is hot (as in humid) and today is this blog's two year anniversary!

I can't believe I've kept this up for two whole years, but as long as it serves a purpose, namely as motivational tool, I will keep on posting.

Today was a strange day in that I split my run into two for a couple of reasons, not the least of which was that when I woke up at 5am it was piss pouring outside like you wouldn't believe! I don't mind running in the rain, and don't mind too much getting caught in a torrential downpour, but today I discovered that I don't much like starting my run in those conditions.

Today was a strange day in that I split my run into two for a couple of reasons, not the least of which was that when I woke up at 5am it was piss pouring outside like you wouldn't believe! I don't mind running in the rain, and don't mind too much getting caught in a torrential downpour, but today I discovered that I don't much like starting my run in those conditions.

So, I ended up running 6km to the gym, working out for an hour, and then running 8km home. The run to the gym was fine, nice and easy. The run home was so hot and humid that even though I was running really slow my heart rate was way up there. It was good to get the run(s) done though.

Out of the Comfort Zone

This morning I woke up weary and tired and did NOT feel much like running. It had been a late night as Malks decided that 5 year-olds are perfectly OK to stay up well past 11pm, periodically dropping into their parents' bedroom to update us on some uber-important news or request snacks. Yeah... The night before he had fallen asleep in the car on the way home from soccer and never woke up, didn't eat dinner, and subsequently slept through the entire night in his uniform. I guess he made up for that extra rest.

Anyway, so here I was staring at the clock on my bedside table as it ticked away the minutes...

• 5:30 alarm goes off and I had already been awake for a while.
• 5:35 my left leg is off the bed but the rest of the body simply won't follow.
• 5:40 and now I'm sitting up on the edge of the bed wondering why my eyelids are made of lead.
• 5:45 in the bathroom staring at my reflection and thinking that anyone who looks like this should definitely get more sleep before subjecting others to their presence.
• 5:50 dragging my ass down the stairs hoping that the Garmin won't lock onto a satellite and, therefore, give me an excuse to not run.
• 5:51 the Garmin finds satellites and I curse NASA and all manmade celestial objects.
• 5:55 and the running shoes are on, I'm on the front porch stretching my concrete calves.
• 5:56 I step gingerly down the stairs and wonder where the hell I should run.
• 5:57 and I'm off mumbling "damn it" with ever step.

So, there I was, stumbling along aimlessly in the early morning. I felt completely lethargic and didn't know how I would make it through without completely growing to hate running, mornings, or both. Not surprisingly things started to improve and I began to wonder if shocking my body a little bit with some faster running would be a good cure for not only the boredom but also for my marathon training.

As I got close to the high school track that I ran on last year, but haven't hit up even once in 2010, I made a snap decision and got on the hamster wheel. The Garmin went beep, indicating that I had just finished my third kilometre, and so it was the perfect time to pick up the pace. I ran:

• 400 out of my comfort zone (1:52, 4:40/km)
• 200 in my comfort zone
• 400 out of my comfort zone (1:46, 4:24/km) 
• 200 in my comfort zone
• 800 out of my comfort zone (3:32, 4:25/km)
• 200 in my comfort zone
• 800 out of my comfort zone (3:30, 4:21/km)
• 200 in my comfort zone

Then I jogged home to complete a sleepy, but rather interesting 8km. It was not hard or anything, but I ran the faster bits at around the 4:25/km pace, which is not super fast or anything, but definitely not that comfortable for me.

It remains to be seen how my legs take to this. I hope I can incorporate a bit more of "out of the comfort zone" running over the course of the next two months if only to make things more interesting as well as physically rewarding.

Running on a Cloud (sort of)

Back on the roads again this morning as I went out for an easy 5km jog around the neighbourhood with my new Asics GT-2140s. Yes, I know they are last year's model and that I've been running in GT-2150s for much of this year, but they were selling these at the Ottawa Race Weekend Expo for a great price and, given that I'd owned two pairs of the same model previously and was quite happy with them, I bought these. They've been sitting in a box since the end of May, but with my recent ankle pain forcing me to miss my long run on Sunday it was time to throw them into the mix.

The GT-2150s I'd been wearing, by the way, have 751.4km on them, which translates to nearly 467 miles. I guess they are at the end of their useful running life. I didn't think it mattered that much when one no longer heel strikes, but this morning's run in the new kicks proved me wrong. What a difference new shoes make!

In short, I'm retiring the worn out shoes. The ankle felt fine this morning, though I certainly didn't push it anywhere near enough to actually test it. I will still reduce the mileage this week and then go back up again as I am planning to have at least two more long runs over 30km before the marathon. I'm also considering cutting out one of my usual 15km mid-week runs and instead adding another day or running with reduced mileage per run. We'll see...

Hiccup

It pains me to write this, but no more than the pain I felt which caused me to miss my third training run this year. Let me just get it out there before getting to the details:

THIS SUCKS ASS!!!

Alright, now I feel a bit better. I already noted how my Friday run was not exactly of the "fun" variety. It continued on a downward spiral all the way through the weekend.

The culprit is my wonky right ankle. Specifically it is the peroneal tendons of the wonky right ankle. They were damaged way back when and now flop around like laundry drying in a cool summer breeze, snapping over the protrusion at the bottom of the tibula on the outside of the leg. Nothing there to hold them in place so they act up sometimes. Several reasons may account for why this has happened on this particular occasion:

1. Increased mileage.
2. Shoes that are nearing the 500 mile mark.
3. Elimination of running to and from work, which makes each run that much longer on average. (I used to run about 6km to work and about 9km back home, but now I've been getting up early and just running 15km before breakfast.)
4. And lastly, the theory that swimmers were really not meant to run.

That last one I'm trying to prove wrong, but I think the others may have increased my chances of wonkiness.

Anyway, here's how things went down this weekend. I had a decent upper body weight workout at the gym in the afternoon on Friday and sort of hoped for the best with the ankle throughout the day. We drove to London, Ontario that evening for Owen's baseball tournament and my ankle was even worse by the time we arrived at the hotel at about 9pm.

The next day was spent almost entirely at the diamonds coaching three games and pretty much standing up the entire time. It was hot, the ground was hard, the kids played almost as hard as the ground, and my ankle hurt like a mofo. By mid afternoon I was already mentally readying myself for missing my Sunday morning long run. By the time I got to bed at about 11pm it was all she wrote and I didn't even bother setting the alarm.

Sunday was spent driving south to Lake Erie and checking out Port Stanley and such with the kids. I tried to keep my walking around to a minimum, but each step continued to be a source of pain. I really really hate missing training of any sort, and missing a long run when you are training for a marathon hurts more than anything else (other than the ankle that is).

So, today my ankle seems a bit better, but it is early in the day. I am now going to juggle my training plan a little and move next week's planned recovery mileage to this week. This will allow me a bit more rest and hopefully let me get back to higher mileage faster. Also, I am guessing that I should plan the longest of my training run to be immediately followed by a recovery week. I think that doing my first ever 30km run and then trying to keep the mileage up for two more weeks was a mistake. Live and learn.

Anyway, here's hoping that this is just a "hiccup" and not a "setback".

Just Happy to be Running

This morning was one of those "I'm just happy to be running" type of runs. It felt (was) very slow, it felt (was) creaky, and I was not about to try anything stupid like pushing the pace to something even resembling my typical slow effort. I even thought about turning around and cutting the whole thing short, but then I figured that it's these types of runs that make the difference in the end. Although my deliberations had more to do with the dreaded "listening to your body" thing and less with the "I can't stand the monotony" thing, in the end I continued and made it through the planned distance of 15km. The route was the usual one, and I think part of the boredom can be attributed to this fact. I will have to come up with another route, but today I decided to just go on autopilot since my brain was as tired and uninspired as my body.

The source of my consternation was my right ankle, the wonky one, as it felt rather tight and somewhat painful in the Achilles and Peroneal Tendons. I think that my body needs to go through a measure of this type of thing as it adapts to longer mileage, but it always puts a bit of fear into me to have this happen in the middle of a three-week higher mileage training cycle. If this was how I felt leading into a recovery week I'd be much happier.

This evening we're off to London (Ontario, that is) for another weekend baseball tournament and so I will have an opportunity to do my Sunday morning long run through the city where I spent a year studying audio engineering just before my first son was born. It will be neat to explore it a bit on foot, perhaps run past my old apartment, and just check out streets and trails that I never got to experience as a non-runner a decade ago. I just hope I don't get lost!

Rake-ins

I've been disturbing wildlife more than usual during this year of running, and this morning was no different. As I was slowly trying to loosen up my stiff legs on my early morning 15km run today I came upon a family of raccoons, or "rake-ins" as Rickey of the Trailer Park Boys says it. Three of the four furry creatures saw me coming and scurried away, as is their custom. The fourth, however, was behind the garbage can and very much focused on whatever morel of crap it had found. As I came around that side of the garbage can it jumped back about a foot and did this nasty, though amusing, hissing and spitting thing! I didn't want to tangle with a potentially dangerous, sharp and pointy fuzzball and moved off of the sidewalk rather quickly. I will count that part of the run as "cross training".

Good times...

The rest of the run was uneventful, though a bit tougher than I thought it would be. I guess my 30km effort is affecting the legs a bit more than I thought it might after yesterdays training run. Still, things are going well and I look forward to the rest of the week, which will include another early morning 15km or so run on Friday and then a long slow effort on Sunday that will likely take place in London, Ontario as we are there for another baseball tournament. Should make for some good exploring!

Shouldn't This Be Tougher?

Perhaps I have reached the tipping point in my stated quest to "become a runner". Why do I think this? It's because I believe that after a 30km effort, the first ever for me, I should not be feeling relatively good and not sore at all two days later (and after a leg weight training session on the Monday!). And certainly not at 5:30am as I ventured out for an easy 12.5km run. But that is exactly how this morning felt: a bit slow and somewhat stiff at the beginning, but never anywhere near anything approaching pain. It was actually easy and enjoyable to run 12.5km! Shouldn't it be tougher?

I have been running all of my workouts relatively easy as 2010 has definitely become the year of base building, and perhaps I have also reached a point where my base is good enough to set new mileage milestones, both of the weekly and of the long run variety, and not feel the expected after effects to the degree that I had anticipated. It's certainly gratifying to be at this stage and I have no plans on changing anything about my training. The goal is still firm: to finish my first marathon with a smile, at a steady pace, and be able to wake up the next morning without the need for crutches or copious amounts of Ibuprofen.

Going Longer Than Ever Before

Well, almost. I did run this far once, but it was really slow, really painful, and included lots of stopping and walking so in my mind I count today's 30km training run as my longest ever.

I headed out at around 8am and planned to meet Monica and the boys at Ontario Place for some water slide fun before heading to my Dad's to watch the World Cup Final. Everything was going great until I hit the Acura Ten Miler race that forced me to change my route a little bit and also to wait at one spot to cross. No big deal. I should have been running this race, as I did last year, but I thought that with Owen's baseball tournament I'd still be out of town.

Anyway, I ran, and ran, and then ran some more. At 15km I had my first ever and only gel, a disgusting vanilla flavour thing that was NOT fun to consume. I hope it helped because I can't say I'm looking forward to ever trying another one.

Things got tough after the 20km mark, and my original plan to run 28km was still on my mind. But as I passed Ontario Place I chose to run an extra kilometre before turning around and so managed the eventual 30km. Nice! This also marks my longest week ever as I completed 72km since last Monday. Last year I could barely walk after running a 12km training run from my house to my Dad's. I am certainly tired and my legs are drained, but I am nowhere near as sore as I was after that other run (which was way back in February, 2009).

After the run I went down the water slides with the boys a little bit, and then headed home to shower and get ready to head out. I'm cheering for the Netherlands, my Dad is for Spain. Should be a fun game!

"The Decision 2010"

Lebron, Shmebron. Who's that?

A much more important decision occurred on my run this morning. The forecasted break in the heat and humidity did NOT happen and I found myself staring down the barrel of a +26C thermometer at 5:30am, and I'm sure with the humidity it was up there in the mid-30s. As I walked out my front door I was hit with a wall of air that felt thick and sticky. Yum.

But that's okay, I told myself. It would be another slow and steady run, which is the smart thing for me to be doing this year anyway. I felt pretty good and started off at a nice trot with no clue about the route I would be running. Ultimately I trusted my autopilot and headed down to the Lake and the boardwalk, just like on Wednesday. Everything was going fine until at about the 6km mark I was faced with "The Decision": find a washroom or tough it out?

If you are a runner you know exactly what I am talking about, and sometimes the decision is not always immediately clear. At that moment, as I heard a gurgle in my innards, I was not sure if that was just a "settling of affairs" or a prelude to disaster.

As I hit the halfway mark of my run at the end of the boardwalk my mind was made up: find a washroom or face the consequences. The boathouse at that point has a public washroom, which apparently is closed at that time in the morning. Strike 1.

I turned around and headed back down the boardwalk towards Kew Gardens, where I knew of another public facility. With every step I was praying for that washroom to be open, but upon reaching the door my tug at the handle proved otherwise. Strike 2!

Now I was faced with a Sub-Decision of "The Decision": search out another public washroom further down the boardwalk or turn up towards Queen Street and jump into the Tim Horton's that I knew would be open up there? It took about a millisecond for me to make up my mind and I was off, heading towards Tim's.

This marked the first time ever that I used a facility in a restaurant and not purchased anything. I felt bad for doing so, but I would have felt even worse had I continued without stopping. At least that is how I justified my decision...

Anyway, the rest of the run was not much better, but at least I was no longer a ticking time bomb. Shortly upon leaving Tim's the rains came pouring down and I had to wring out my shirt a bunch of times as my clothes soaked up water faster than a Sham-Wow and weighed me down. In the end I managed a decent 15km run, made all the better by "The Decision", which I believe was much more important than that Lebron guy's choice and I didn't need to hold a whole city hostage for an hour to do it.

Poor Cleveland. This morning I suspect many Cavs fans have intestinal pain akin to what I started feeling at about the 6km mark of my run. My suggestion is that they should all go down to Miami and relieve themselves on Dwayne Wade's front lawn (since I don't think Chris Bosh has had time to buy a house yet).

Sleep. What a Concept!

A quick note to remind me that SLEEP IS IMPORTANT!!!

There, that should do it...

Well, I guess I will have trouble remembering what this was all about if I don't fill in some of the details. Recently I have not been getting good sleep, and by recently I mean the last two to three months. Actually it's hard enough to remember how long it's been that I am only estimating when I say two to three months and it could be much longer.

In any case, last night Owen's baseball practice was cancelled because of the heat (no need to see kids get heat stroke even if yours truly likes the oven-like atmosphere) and I found myself watching the pre-recorded Spain-Germany semi-final of World Cup 2010 a bit earlier than I'd expected. After the boys went to bed at halftime I continued to watch the game as the light outside started to dim. It was not even 9pm and I started to drift in and out of consciousness. I was awake enough to see Spain score the lone goal of the game, after which I used the PVR to handily flip ahead 30 seconds at a time right up to the final whistle.

On any other night I would have then gotten up to do something else, and by that I mean exciting things like laundry, or I would have gone through a stretching routine while finding some other sport to watch on the tube. This time, however, my body won the battle of "what to do" and I simply turned off the lights. It couldn't have been even 9:30pm and I was totally asleep. And even though I woke up the next morning and noticed that the clock read 5:27am, after which I proceeded to "sleep in" until 6:30am, I had achieved something that had eluded me for quite some time: a good night's sleep!

Fast forward to this afternoon and my leg workout at the gym. I didn't clue in until just now, but I suspect the reason why I had a great workout is because of that sleep!!!

So, word to the wise (which, clearly, does not include me): GET SOME SLEEP!!!

And keep on running...

Tomorrow morning I plan on heading out for another 15km run, and it should be fun! The heat is supposed to be breaking overnight, and although I might have to run in the rain I am definitely psyched to keep on logging my training runs.

Hot and Steady

It was already +25C without the humidity when I left this morning at a little past 5:30am for my run, and so I decided to keep an eye on my heart rate and run easy enough to try and keep it under 140bpm. This was going to be tough in the heat, but I figured it was worth a try. My morning routine is much faster than I thought it ever could be and it only takes me about 15 minutes from wake up to out the door. On top of that I don't feel as stiff and creaky at the beginning of my morning runs as I used to, although I certainly don't feel springy either. With that in mind the run started off nice and easy and my pace quickly got under 6:00/km, which is where is remained for the entire run. My heart rate was right where I wanted it to be up until I had to get back up the hill that is Jones Avenue on my way home. A little hill training never hurt anyone and I didn't mind getting a little gassed on that one. It was beautiful running into the Sunrise along the boardwalk down in the Beaches, and it just happened that the end of the beach marked the halfway point for my run! In the end I managed a fairly easy 15km and my heart rate averaged out to 137bpm.

In other news I stumbled upon a really interesting (for runners anyway) blog of ultrarunner extraordinaire Anton Krupicka by way of an ultrarunner in the making that I've been following for a while. Reading through his training and his recent Western States 100 podium finish sure put my pathetic marathon training in perspective and helped me to stay really easy on my morning run. I hope that the amazing feats that I read about by these ultrapeeps help me get through those Sunday long runs, which for them would likely be mid week recovery jogs. Anyway, go check out their blogs, and in particular the recent posts from Anton Krupicka as it has some great pictures from the Western States 100 that was run just a week or so ago.

Heat Wave

Boy, Summer has sure come a calling here in Toronto! We are experiencing a pretty major heatwave, and I am not going to complain at all. I love the heat!

It does make running a bit more challenging, but I look at it as a training opportunity rather than a hindrance.

Backing up a little, I finished off the recovery week with a steamy 15km run on Sunday morning to compile a decent 42km for the week. It was hot and my heart rate was up into the 150s near the last section of the run despite feeling like I was running in the high 130s or low 140s on the perceived effort meter. I enjoyed the run as it proved to be a good test of hot weather running. It didn't help that I slept in and left relatively late (about 8am), but having spent all of Saturday outside coaching a doubleheader of baseball, then going to an outdoor pool with the boys, and lastly hosting a BBQ dinner at our house, I was pretty wiped and wanted to try and get some good sleep time.

This week the weather just keeps getting hotter. Yesterday it was about +39C with the humidity (+30C without) and today as I left for my run at 5:45am the thermometer already showed +25C and with the humidity it was already over +30C! I won't bother doing the conversions to Fahrenheit, but let's just say that no matter what the temperature it is the humidity that makes things really tough. You sweat like crazy and it NEVER evaporates.

Anyway, I ran a nice 12km this morning and once more the heart rate was higher than it would have been had the weather been a bit cooler and less sticky. I am OK with that though because I never actually felt like I was pushing that hard despite the fact that my heart rate monitor reading went up into the 160s a couple of times. The overall average was 147bpm, which was nice, but the second half of the run was definitely averaging in the mid 150s. Both runs started off slow and then the pace picked up because I am feeling pretty good these days. Sunday's run averaged out at 5:28/km and this morning it was 5:24/km, and I think that translates into the 8:40's per mile pace, which is not too shabby for yours truly.

I wonder what the weather will be like tomorrow morning as I attempt to run another 15km or so? Today's forecast calls for a high of +33C and +43C with humidity. Nuts!

400!

This marks my 400th post on this blog, which is a bit crazy since it means that I've been able to keep this "journal of sorts" for almost two years straight. It's been a great resource when I want to figure out why something hurts, if I am having trouble deciding on a route to run, or to compare my pace and heart rate type statistics from previous runs of similar distance. Luckily I have had too many of these types of reports...

This morning I woke up at about 5:30am to get my run done before heading off to work. It seems that I have come to prefer the longer morning run to the running to and from work thing that I've been doing for the longest time. It's not even the "glad to get it out of the way" thing, but rather the fact that I don't have to cope with carrying a backpack. The warmer weather causes the straps on any bag I try to chafe my skin and it's just not cool.

Anyway, this morning I was out by about 5:45am and running. I didn't have much of a plan on which route I would run, but I did have a firm distance goal and a very vague pace goal. All of my running is of the slow and steady variety, but that can mean anything from 5:00/km - 6:30/km pace (8:00/mile - 10:30/mile). I was hoping to stay closer to the lower end of the scale.

The early morning creaks and pains in my knees and ankles were not as bad as usual, and that is a welcome trend, so I started off at a decent warm up type trot. By the second kilometre I was well below 6:00/km pace for the split and my average was sliding down below that threshold as well. As I ran up, around, and then through Rosedale things were looking good, and then the 10k mark hit...

I'd been feeling a bit of something I'll just call tension in the lower abdomen for a bit here and there throughout the run, but at the 10k mark it felt like someone stuck a knife into my intestine and proceeded to twist it. It's likely how the Brazilian's felt today as a nation while watching that own goal go in against the Dutch...

I even considered walking, but in the end I am so glad that I didn't. Why? Because when I hit the desired 12km mark and stopped running I had a couple of hundred metres left to walk and it was more painful than running. At one point I was staggering along half bent over at the waist. It's a good thing it was still early or some of my neighbours might have wondered what the hell was wrong and come out to check up on me.

The worst part, now that the pain is over, is that I have no idea what caused it! I am racking my brain to think back on what I ate, what I drank, or whatever in the day or so leading up to this morning and nothing seems out of the ordinary. Very frustrating...

Anyway, that was how my first run of July went. It can only get better from here!