Week 3

Week 3 is in the books. Ran 4 times this week - 4.5, 3+, 3+, and 7.1. Total of around 18 miles. Had some issues with my shoes since I got them about a month ago, and was able to take them back to Fleet Feet, where they graciously refunded my purchase. Went to RW and bought a pair of Adidas Supernova Sequence 5's. I like them a lot, and my legs and feet are being retrained in them.

Another OK summer this week. Monday's run looked like it might be more comfortable as it rained pretty hard on Brookside around 5:00. But no such luck as the air was sticky humid as the rain stopped and the heat took over again.

All in all, a pretty good week. I think my nutrition is starting to come together better, although I still need to refrain from the junk. Carbs are important, but sometimes I think I just use that as an excuse to indulge. Working on it.

Today's 7 miler was tough. Start temp was 82 this morning at around 6 am, and it was humid. The first half of today's run went pretty well - breathing good, pace good, and legs felt fairly strong. The second half was a different story though. By mile 5 my heels and knees were beginning to hurt pretty much every strike. But I gutted it out and kept moving at the desired pace. I started a glucosamine chondriotin regimen and will probably add some fish oil as a daily supplement. We'll see how that works.

On a great note, I ran my first 5K this week, the Firecracker 5k in the Blue Dome district! It was a super fast pace for me starting out, but managed to steady out. My timing chip didn't work so I never got an official time, but the race clock showed 24:56 when I crossed the finish line. Not sure how accurate that clock was. I definitely pushed myself, but didn't really think the time was correct.

Overall, I am happy with my improvement and will just take it as it comes. Not too concerned about pushing too hard in the heat. I am concerned about my heels and knees however. Going to attend a nutritional seminar tomorrow at Runners World especially focused on marathon training and nutrition. Looking forward to that info.

Feel free to drop me a line of encouragement if you think about it.

Thanks

Steve