I wrote last week how I was dealing with heel pain, not sure if its a bone issue, or if its my ACL, but after running with the heel support all week, it felt pretty good until I did the long run Saturday. Its no worse than last week, so thats hopeful, but it still is sore. I’m just not sure what to make of it…

So i’ve been complaining about how COLD it was, well, the northeast is finally in its first heat wave (90+) this weekend, and boy did i need to adjust. I was smart about it, and headed out at 6:30am on Saturday morning to beat the daytime heat, however the starting temperature was still 69 degrees and muggy. I do say that I did well overall, stopping only to tie my shoe and get some water from a machine along the way. I actually used the entire amount of water on my belt, thats a first for me! I think that proper hydration and keeping my pace got me through. I did the same 18.3 mile route as when I was training in March, and I ran it 10 minutes faster this time, without even trying, so I know i’m still improving my time.

This past week also offered my first actual speed work on the track. I have to say that it really pumped me up when I was done and got the blood moving, however I did have trouble keeping the pace. I also found I had trouble keeping my pace today as well on my pace run .. I intended to keep an 8:10, and did okay for many of the miles, but started out slow .. towards the end I had to stop twice for 10 seconds on splits because of dehydration and going up hill. My body was out of sorts after running uphill and I had to get my composure back … thats due to the heat, not because I couldn’t do it. I still have to be smart!

It does appear that i have some work to do on pacing my new goal time of 3:35 in the fall … it is a bit faster than I’m used of running, but we have a lot of time to go.

I’m proud to say that i did my second 50+ mile week, and its only June, so I expect to hit 65-70 mpw by the end of July if all goes well. This week will be a little off since the Dave Matthews concert is on Tuesday night, so no long run on Wednesday morning since i’ll be up WAY too late… we’ll get it in on Tuesday instead ..

Other than that, things are quiet. I don’t plan on doing anymore local runs, they just don’t do it for me anymore (the people and the distance) .. just keeping the miles up, running safe and staying healthy, thats the perfect combination!