Heart Rate Training Week 10 (Weekly Wrap-up Edition)

This week has been much better.  Back has been feeling great (knock on wood).  I did bruise my toe nails on both big toes pretty badly last Saturday so I took Monday off to let them heal. Not sure what the deal was with that as those were the same shoes that I wore though my last few races so I know they are not too small.  They are getting close to 300 miles so it may be time to start rotating a new pair into my week.

Wednesday was another dreary day.  Luckily when I got out there it was in between down pours so it was just misty out.  The only thing I hate about running in the rain is that I wear a hat or visor and they make my head so hot.  But other then that I really don't mind running in the rain - only when it's warm. :)  My toe nails hurt a little towards the end of the run, but other then that I felt great.  It's been such a long time since I've said that.

Friday I was able to wait till the sun came up to run.  I'm not sure what I hate more, running in the dark or waiting till it's lighter out but having to deal with more cars on the road.  Guess it's best that I do half and half and really appreciate the best part of each.  I have also noticed a ton of mushrooms, not only around my neighborhood, but all over the city.  It's just weird as they all just popped up at the same time everywhere.  Also, it looks like one of the condos was throwing out another couch.  This is the second one I have seen in the same place in the past month. Just weird.

The temps were cooler which was great.  It was misty again and very dreary out.  With the coolness I have been able to run more hills before my heart rate would jump too high.  Man I forgot how hard it is to run up hills.  I really should have incorporated them more in my training this time around but I could only focus on the heart rate training this time around. Oh and the day before my toes had healed enough for me to clean them out and trim the nails and they felt fine on my run.  Yay to no pain!

Saturday was such a fun run.  I drove up to PA to visit a friend and we decided to head out to a trail near her which she runs on all the time.  It had been dreary and raining all Friday and Saturday morning when we woke up.  We got up and looked at the radar and thought we could get out there right away and the second we said that it started to rain.  So we piddled around and got dressed and the rain stopped and we headed out.  The moment we got to the trail it started to rain again.  We decided to sit in the car as the radar said it would pass quickly.  Once we did we were out the door.

The trail is fairly flat, with little elevation and it was beautiful.  A lot of farm land around with animals and people to watch.  I had a hard time with the first few miles as I sometimes do.  I'm used to running on the streets and have a lot I have to pay attention to with the cars and this just brought me into my own thoughts, which can be interesting or not so interesting. :)  But I kept looking around at the beautiful nature and animals and farms.  It just sank into me how lucky I am to be experiencing and seeing all of this.  One of my favorite things about running is to be one with nature and this really was.  After that I got out of my head and really enjoyed the run.

It was in the mid 50's.  I haven't seen anything under 65 degrees since May.  It was so nice.  I wasn't sure what to wear so I went with my tank top and shorts.  I wish I would have worn a short sleeve shirt as with the misty elements my shoulders got really chilly at times.

Because of the weather there were not many people on the trail, which was nice then we could run next to each other and not really worry about people coming up behind us or ahead.  We did see a lot of Mennonites out for a leisure stroll or bike ride on the trail.

Can you see the brown bunny in the brown brush?

We also saw a ton of animals.  Lots and lots of cows.  A few dogs.  A bunny.  A couple of kitties.  We saw some little cows in individual tents and Meranda had to explain to me that they were being raised for veal.  That made me feel real sad and and I just wanted to take them out to go for a walk with us.

We even saw a dirt pile where kids have put their toy trucks at the top.  It was so cute.

I was a little disappointed with my time.  I know I can't focus on it, but the weather was a lot cooler and there wasn't really any hills.  I know I haven't done a lot of running in the past month or so and I'm really kinda starting over.  While my heart rate was amazing for this run and I had absolutely no pain, I really just wish I could go faster.  I know I can't focus on that and just need to focus on getting the miles in, it just disappoints me.

Meranda was a lot of fun to run with.  I am a very slow runner and even though others say they will stay with me they tend to get antsy and go on ahead.  But it was fun to gab the whole way, which since I'm used to running on my own was a nice change of pace.  She was only going to do 10 miles but decided to do the last 2 with me anyway since we were going slow enough.  When we finished the moment we got back into the car it started to rain again.  Talk about perfect timing.  It's like the running Gods were looking out for us and waited just till we finished.

So just one more long run next week.  The MTT has 20 on their schedule but I really want to do 23.  I always feel better if I do a little more then 20 for my last long run before a marathon.  Not sure how I will fit in the extra miles, but I'll figure it out.  I can't believe I'm just one long run from taper time.  Things are getting a little real now.

Miles run in September: 63.01
Miles run in MCM/Richmond training: 332.52

Good luck to all of those who are running Chicago this weekend!!!!


Do you normally run on roads or trails?  Have you dealt with bruised toe nails before?  Are you seeing a lot of mushrooms around you or it's just around me?

Linking up with Holly and Tricia's Weekly Wrap Up.