Quick Work Week

August 2nd: No AM run. Slept in until 6:15am. Double bowl of Fruit Rings (store brand of Fruit Loops) to start the morning. Work went by super quickly with just Jean and I. Virginia was unable to show up. I did a mini Clif bar at 9am, double PBJ at 12 and a banana at 2:30. Jean left at 2:15 so it was just me for the last hour. I don't mind it because I get to drive the truck and I don't feel like somebody is watching me all the time. I got out of work and thought about how I need to make some financial transactions in the near future. I was gonna wait until my second paycheck to deposit two at a time since my bank is 25 minutes away. But I couldn't really wait. I made the hour round trip to Bristol, NH, to the TD Bank. I made it back by 5 and ran at 6pm. Didn't feel like much after so I wiped up some Belgium waffles for dinner. Realized for the rest of the night.

Summary. 14 miler (actually 13.9+) in a quicker time, 86:50. With the last 5 miles in 6:00s. Felt good. I started thinking about the alumni race and the debut marathon in 8 weeks. It got into my head and i started moving from the gates. I probably should of backed off a bit, but no worries. Good start to the week.

August 3rd: No AM run because I am going long in the afternoon. Started my day by waking up at 6:10am and helping myself to (again) two bowls of Fruit Rings. Work went by super fast again and I did the same food schedule as yesterday. This time at lunch, I destroyed my sandwich and then took a 20 minute snooze to rest up for the remainder of the day. Jean had to leave again at 2:30 for her other job. I drove her to the shop at 2:15 and I drove back to the weeding spot(west side of the Mary Lyon building).Virginia needed to leave as well. Again, alone at the end of the day, but it doesn't bother me at all. I finished up and stopped by the GNC in the Rite Aid to grab some protein powder. They didn't have any gold cards in stock for me to renew mine for the first week of the month discounts. I was bummed and got out of their to get ready for my long run. Ran at 5 and explored a new road. Ended up being a longer run than expected and some UNexpected nagging in my achilles. I ran through it for the last few miles and did the best thing after for it. Cut it with my knife. Kidding. Stretched and iced it. Not much of an appetite so I cooked up some rice and yellow squash. Relaxed for the end of the night. As I was grabbing wifi across the street, the little boy from the house started screaming and crying. I took it as my cue to head inside for the bedtime. One more day of work.

Summary: Mapped out the run and it ended up being 19.4 miles (2:11:30). 6:47 pace, but at a cost of my achilles. I should of went less, but I was clipping off the miles. One of the highlights of my run was being yelled at some a car an elongated "eeeek!" and it was within 3 minutes of departure from the bunkhouse. The other highlight was seeing a Chelsea pupper (Shetland sheepdog that we had growing up and it ran away to a better life a couple years ago on the 4th of July) at 5 miles. Other than that, a spirit breaking run with the achilles aching for the last 3-4 miles. I need to take care of it. I will try a easy morning run.

August 4th: Woke up and rolled out of bed at 5:45pm. Headed down to the grass fields for some barefoot running. Achilles instantly sore. Still did a mile on the grass barefoot, which actually felt way better than shows. Threw the trainers back on and instant aching. Iced, double Nowl of Fruit Rings, and headed to work. No Virginia and a quick day. The best part was lunch because I made 2, count em, 2 PBJ sandwiches (Spongebob reference, with the addition of 2 marshmallows). Jean said she could go for a candy bar. Towards the end of break,i made a trip downtown for a Twix (Jean), a Symphony bar, and an ice cream sandwich. Jean left at 2:00 today and I finished up the day. Rght after work, I chilled in town from 3:30-6:00. Got back to the bunkhouse and chilled. To take care of the achilles, I heated, stretched, iced twice. Stopped in at Hannaford's for some cheese and peanuts. I made some chicken fajitas for dinner at 9pm and called it a night. Campsite tomorrow for the long haul. Gravel pickup and drop off all day tomorrow. Should be good cross training.

Summary: 2 miles (16:10). I have decided to take the weekend off. Friday, Saturday and Sunday to rest up the legs especially the achilles. I got ahead of myself after the good showing at the 5k/10k double and hit a big mileage week for the following week. Plus I haven't taken serious time off since cross country. Wow, I just checked that out. My body is telling me something and I am going to respect it by listening. Enjoy the weekend everybody. I know I will try without running. There will be time for some major napping. The upside of a short break.