Monday September 6
Long run, 16 miles, 3:03:34; splits 10:17, 10:49, 10:44, 10:10, 11:22, 10:25, 11:19, 11:15, 10:57, 10:42, 10:55, 11:44, 14:41, 12:55, 12:45, 12:06
WEEK ELEVEN
Miles for the week: 32.5 (5/8/3.5/16)
Weight about 116?
I have my heart rate monitor back but I haven’t been using it… everything except racking up the miles has fallen by the wayside!

We drove back from NYC so I didn’t get out the door until 5:15pm, hoping that I’d have enough light for most of the run. A golden, beautiful evening. Passed two turkey buzzards in a field, and got very close to some deer (a doe right in the road who didn’t notice me until I was about 30 feet away; two deer in a steep field with their heads down in the grass eating–so all I could see was their bodies–who never noticed me at all). Last of the wildflowers: the tallest goldenrods and the brightest purple asters with yellow centers. Negative experience: as a pickup truck passed me on 858, the jerk tossed a handful of used tissues and other trash out of the window. Hard to believe it was intentionally aimed at me (that would be really awful), but littering makes me furious. I passed a little cluster of cars, people, and dogs on Bowbridge Road but the people weren’t very friendly (which is unsual around here!). It got really dark in the wooded areas even when there was still light in the sky, but the dusk closed in long before I was near home. The last few miles were pitch dark, to the extent that I had to stare at my feet when vehicles approached so as not to be blinded by the headlights. Not ideal running conditions, but it reminded me of my delight as a child in feeling that I could do without a flashlight on country roads. I used to boast of being able to see in the dark like an animal, but really it’s just that there is almost always enough starlight to be able to distinguish the light surface of the road from the dark verges, after one’s eyes have adapted to the darkness.

Overall, a hard run; since the first 16 miler, I’ve been struggling. The pain in my right thigh and left knee abate after the first few miles and merge into low-key soreness and stiffness, but there’s no more “hey, this isn’t that hard!”

Wednesday September 8
Short run, 5 miles, 54:07; splits 10:55, 10:26, 10:51, 11:16, 10:39.

An evening run after work, since my long run was Monday. The tail end of Hurricane Frances was coming through–rain, sometimes heavy, and lots of wind. The combination made lovely patterns on the pond at Canada Road and on Stanley Lake. I thought about how I’ve been doing much more dissasociation as a mental strategy now (thinking about other things than running, letting my mind wander from the here and now), compared to the early part of training when association was easier (focusing just on my steps and breathing). I can definitely see that association is better for form and improvement, as the pros say.

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