Week 40: Day 7 - October 09, 2016

• long run (solo) = 8.28 miles; time = 1:36:30; pace @ 11:39
• easy walk with dogs = 2.5 miles

Running: 

Total Weekly Mileage: 22.99

Total Monthly Mileage: 31.09

Total Yearly Mileage: 694.06

Total Shoe Mileage: 106.46

Cycling: 

Total Weekly Mileage: 75.86

Total Monthly Mileage: 140.03

Total Yearly Mileage: 1454.19

I've checked the weather forecast just for the upcoming week, mainly for next Saturday because I have the Race For The Rescues 10K run in the morning. The whole week looks pretty good. When I did the Race For The Rescues 10K last year, it was pretty warm and uncomfortable for my dog and I, although I think my dog struggled with the weather more than I did because you know, she has/had a fur coat on. I really appreciate the cooler weather these days now. It is still not exactly where I want it to be, but it is better than hot, humid and uncomfortable like last year. I've been running one minute per mile faster now because it has been feeling cooler.

Week 40: Day 5 - October 07, 2016

• bike commute to work = 37.96 miles total/round trip; time = 3:02:40; pace @ 12.5 mph
• easy walk with dogs = 2.4 miles

I need to catch up on sleep. Even though I went to work this morning and came home in the afternoon, I wasn't able to take a nap when I came back. It's hard to get a decent amount of sleep if I'm working in the morning because I want to ride to work. I have to be awake by 4:15am to eat something, get dressed, walk my dogs for a few minutes, and pack my stuff onto my bike, so I could leave by 5:20am. Fridays are not my normal work day (I covered someone's shift this morning and I have to do this again next Friday morning), so it is a little harder to fit in sleep because I work on Thursday evenings until 7pm. I need to figure out a way to make myself be in bed by 10pm (or earlier) on Sunday night because I don't work on Sundays or go to bed early on Saturday nights.

Week 40: Day 4 - October 06, 2016

• trail/road RUN with one dog = 6.15 miles; time = 1:12:58; pace @ 11:52
• easy WALK with three dogs = 2.5 miles

I don't want to jinx this, but I'm really enjoying the cooler morning temperature/weather these days. Last October, it was uncomfortable and not fun. I didn't do any races during that month, but it was really uncomfortable and ridiculous on Sunday, October 10 with a daytime high of 100 degrees F. There was a local half/full marathon and 5K that day. The full marathon originally started at 6am and the half marathon originally started at 7:30am, but the half marathon changed the start time to 6am or 6:30am for the safety of the participants. The same local race is this weekend and everyone participating will have nice weather to start with, even though I am not doing the race.

Week 40: Day 3 - October 05, 2016

• easy trail/road RUN with one dog = 5.26 miles; time = 1:01:22; pace @ 11:40
• easy WALK with three dogs = 2.5 miles

I had my vivosmart watch for two days and used it on two runs. I already have some complaints about it. One I can just deal with and made some minor changes to it even though I don't like the change. The other one, I hope it was just a glitch and I hope it was just a one time thing. Otherwise, the watch is good and I like it so far.

Week 40: Day 2 - October 04, 2016

• hilly trail RUN with one dog = 1.1 mile
• warm up = 1.1 mile
• cool down = 1.1 mile
• easy WALK with three dogs = 2.5 miles

I recently purchased a Garmin Vivosmart+HR. It has a built-in heart rate monitor and GPS. It also can detect cycling movements/motion. These features were what sold me on getting this watch. I am still going to map out and plan all of my runs ahead of time because this is what I like to do. I like to know where I am going and how far to run before doing a run. The gps comes in handy for some of my runs because there are lots of trees that cover up the trails/path and I can't see in satellite imaging on mapmyrun. The gps is not that far off (about .05) compared to my runs/routes, so that is good. I had it shipped to my PO Box. Too bad, I didn't have it shipped to my house because I would have gotten it on Saturday (I had to wait until yesterday afternoon to pick it up because I was working all day on Saturday and I had to pick it up at the counter at the post office). I would have tried it out on two runs (Sunday and today) and a bike ride (yesterday). I'll have a better review in a week or so after a few runs and a bike ride or two.

Week 40: Day 1 - October 03, 2016

• bike commute to work = 37.9 miles; time = 3:02:38; pace @ 12.5 mph
• easy walk with dogs = 2.5 miles

My commute to work on bike in the morning wasn't as scary as I thought even though I was riding in the dark for the first hour. It was kinda fun, but I bet some of the drivers thought I was crazy for riding in the dark. I also had to hope that I didn't get a flat tire somewhere. Some parts of my ride didn't have any street lights for a long time and I didn't want to change a flat where I couldn't see what I was doing. I had enough lights from passing cars to light my way on the street.

Week 39: Day 7 - October 02, 2016

• long RUN (solo) = 8.1 miles; time = 1:35:34; pace @ 11:48
• easy WALK with dogs = 2.5 miles

Running:
Total Weekly Mileage: 22.25
Total Monthly (September) Mileage: 89.02
Total Monthly (October) Mileage: 8.1
Total Yearly Mileage: 671.07
Total Shoe Mileage: 83.47

Cycling: 
Total Weekly Mileage: 12.7
Total Monthly (September) Mileage: 64.17
Total Yearly Mileage: 1378.33

I felt pretty good during the run this morning. I think it helped that it was on the cooler side. I hope that the weather will start to get cooler now and for the rest of my training...or ideally until next March.