Running Chick

I ran a slow 6 miles this morning after the 26 miles on the bike yesterday.

My legs were a little tighter in the beginning than they usually are, hence the slow first mile. I did end up making it 75% up the Shopko hill before I had to stop, rather than my usual 50%. I'm sure it was because of the snail's pace I was running. That's pretty cool, but I'd rather keep my speed up.

I was worried about the traffic on M-26, but it was fine. I think I saw three or four cars the entire time I was out. I battled a strong head-wind all the way to Old Mill Road not to mention the humidity, which had to be around 80%. Whew.

Weekly summary:
Run - 14.25 miles @ 11:17
Bike - 33.70 miles @ 11.7 mph



That's it for the week.

This afternoon, James and I met up in Lake Linden and biked to Gay for the Gay Parade.

The ride out was fairly easy, once we got past the enormous hill on the turn to Gay. It took us just under an hour to ride the 13 miles. The ride back to Lake Linden was a bit more of a challenge as it's uphill for about 10 miles, which explains why the ride out was easy. The ride back took 10 minutes longer than the way out.

Ride summary:
26.11 miles in 2:07:19 for an average speed of 12.3 mph.

Josh rode his motorcycle out to join in the festivities. The parade was a hoot as usual.

My favorite entry:


My second favorite:



Josh and James:



Bonus for me, I bought $5 of raffle tickets and I won a $20 gift certificate to the Loading Zone! We blew it all at the Loading Zone after our ride. Easy come, easy go.

I did a zippy five miles tonight followed by 20 minutes of strength training. My first two miles were totally uphill, and were my slowest. The remaining three were downhill/flat and I was able to crank out times in the 10-minute range for those. In all, I was able to average 10:40 miles overall. Not too shabby.

My strength training routine varies from session to session. Tonight I worked on my abs (100 sit-ups on the stability ball), arms (50 push-ups, then bicep, tricep & shoulder work with the 10 lb. weights), back (reverse sit-ups) and legs. Since that was my first strength session since probably April, I'll probably be sore tomorrow. No pain, no gain.

Foot report:

socks - yellow Smartwool micros
tape - big toes, one piece underneath

No blisters, no tender spots.

That's the third day of running with no foot issues. I think I finally found the recipe.

Next up, Six on Saturday. I'm starting to get bored running the same old routes. I think I'll head toward Atlantic Mine and Old Mill Hill. I figure if I go early enough, M-26 will be traffic-free. I was thinking around 6:00 AM ?

Not.