I’m happy to report that this week is going a little better than last week .. I haven’t had to face any of the struggles that I had dealt with last week. I’m finding though that my pace has slowed quite a bit, especially this morning. I took the normal route I would take for 6 miles (up harris hill road and all), and found that at the halfway point (or what I envision to be the halfway point), I was at almost 29 minutes … doesn’t seem right, but I still did it in about 55 minutes after picking up the pace. Two things at play here, either I wasn’t at the halfway point (slightly beyond it maybe), or i’m taking it easy.

I figure that I need to get through this heavy mile week and keep my pace on target as I head into next weeks stepback. Since the miles are reduced somewhat next week, I intend to kick up the tempo and the pace up more, as I head into the last few weeks before Steamtown. Again, i’m not looking to break any records, but I’d like to do as well, if not a little better than I did in May .. i’d love it if I can do it in 3:45, but thats really a stretch (or maybe not) … The time is coming where I would like to start peaking on the training sometime in mid to late September, so I think its achievable.

I remembered back the last 2 weeks where they have bee paving Demunds road, and how difficult it was running on the rough terrain. I planned my 12 miler tomorrow on a slightly different course, one that I am somewhat familiar with, but still different. I hope it works for me and the weather holds out. It is not quite as hot this week, and the upcoming weekend is not supposed to be quite as warm either, which is a good thing.

Other than that, i’m just working on healing up the bloody mess on my lower back from that fuel belt. I’ve been using Neosporin on it for the last few days and its finally getting to a point that its hardened up and is starting to heal. I’m not sure how i’ll approach hydration this upcoming week though, guess we’ll have to see how this heals. I would hate to take and rip it apart again .. i don’t think it can take too much more. In addition to my back, i’ve been stretching and attempting to heal up my legs … just staying off of them is the best thing I can do. It seems that my cold has subsided somewhat, I hope that i’m over it. I’m feeling much better than over the weekend .. the sinus pressure is gone, and my nose isn’t really stuffed anymore (its always somewhat stuffed, but not like over the weekend).

Thats about it for whats going on … just keeping the weight off and trying to stay healthy! We’re almost there!