What I've Been Up to in Week 8

Seeing as how I completed Week 8 today, I guess I should let you know what I've been up to.

Training Days: 4 days
Total Time of Each Session: 50 minutes

Objective: Jog for 20 minutes then walk at a fast pace for 5 minutes. Repeat once.

The running is going really awesome, and I feel so good!

My legs generally feel very slightly tired and maybe very slightly sore at all times during the day. It doesn't carry over into feeling heavy or tired when I start my next workout, so I'm feeling really good about the training program because I don't have any aches and pains to speak of currently. Fingers crossed.

I am really optimistic that we've turned the corner on the heat. There were a couple of "warm" days this week (okay still really hot) but today, when Bella and I got to the canal, the thermometer in my car read 74 degrees. I think it gave me a little burst of adrenaline as I started today to think that maybe . . . just maybe . . . I've survived the worst! Fingers crossed applies here too.

The change in temperature today is even more amazing because I didn't get to the canal until just after 6am this morning. I set the alarm for 5:15am and lounged around until 5:45am or so, reasoning that I was hopeful it would be cooler today, so the extra half hour of sleep wouldn't hurt anything (not a good trend). The interesting thing that I've noticed (and I can't believe I'm saying this is good) is that even when I don't get RIGHT up to leave for the workout or when I'm not "feelin' it" in the morning, my body WILL NOT let me go back to sleep when it is "workout day." It will let me lay there as much as I want, but I don't actually snooze. So, then . . . slowly . . . because I'm awake . . . my mind starts to come out of the fog, and by that time I remember how much I really do want to get up and run/walk.

Equipment Update

I think I've settled into a nice groove. I really don't think much about my "stuff" when I'm out anymore, and I think that is a good sign. Here are some random thoughts about my equipment:

• I need to get a few more pairs of the Thorlos that I mentioned because I love them and they are the only socks I grab and this gets . . . well . . . interesting and smelly . . . when I need them 4 times a week.
• I've been researching hats or visors because I know that when I start the longer runs, the sun will be up pretty far for part of the run, and I don't want to be squinting the whole time. Here is a site that has some that are supposedly very absorbent. Probably any old visor will work though.
• Still not running with music, but I think I will at some point.
• I got a new book. It's called The Runner's Body. It's all about the physiologic adaptations the body makes for running. Haven't dived into in depth yet, but I will keep you posted. I am hoping it will be a less detailed (boring) version of another book I purchased a while back called Lore of Running. I had hoped that, due to it's immense detail, it would get my biomedical engineering juices flowing again, but all it really did is lose my interest.

Bellabelle update

Bella seemed to be getting more tired by the end of our second 20 minute interval this week. Not TOO tired . . . just . . . really trotting-obediently-by-my-side-to-not-expend-extra-energy tired.

Lucikly, she also drank water from my water bottle a couple of times this week when we were out which I think is a really good sign. She obviously will drink if she is thirsty, even if we are out in the big-bad world. I think the problem previously may have been that every time she saw me gesture to her with the water bottle as if to say, "Bella, would you like a drink?" she thought I was going to drench her head with the water as I have done previously to keep her cool, and therefore she would turn her head away to avoid the water on her face. Today, when we were out, I opened the nozzle on the bottle to take a drink myself, and she heard it and looked up at me, so I stopped to give her some water. It was great!

I still don't think the training is too much for her because she comes home and drinks water and rests for a couple of hours and is her usual bouncy self before too long. On Friday while I was running, I thought about how much I LOVE the fact that I was giving our dog 3 miles of exercise before I went to work for the day.

I really hope she's enjoying the training. Sometimes at night, when I go to sleep, I look at her and get REALLY excited to think about getting up and running with her in the morning! I think that's a good sign!

Here she is, in all her cuteness. I didn't snap a picture during her swim today, but if you look closely enough, you will see that she's still a little wet "around the edges." This is her as she lays at my side while I blog: