Aug 27-Sep 2 : Did Nothing Fatal

It's the second cycle.  My left plantar started flaring up, maybe from the technique drills I did on the grass.

Monday, Aug 27:
For the first time in weeks, I had a night of sleep that felt fairly normal.  I had been back from China for 2 weeks already, so it took long enough!  I only slept 4 hours, but at least it felt like normal tiredness.  It made me feel so much better at work. 
Did a progression run.  4.5 in 35:28, 7:53 ave.  Splits> 8:23, 7:56, 7:46, 7:41, and 3:40 for 0.5.

Tuesday, Aug 28:
1 hr strength session - 4:15 plank felt ez and is probably a record for me!  The strength session felt good - it loosened me up, and the movement helped to work out kinks.

Thursday, Aug 30:
Following the training plan's tempo run.  1 mi warmup in 8:11, 4x7:30, 1:38 for 0.2 for a cooldown.  Didn't know if I could handle 4 miles at that pace.  I exceed it during races, I guess, so maybe I shouldn't have been so concerned.  Helped to be fresh from 2 days of not running.  5.2 in 39:50, 7:40 ave.

Friday, Aug 31:
4.4 in 35:18, 8:01 ave.  EZ run to get in the miles.  Only 3 mi were scheduled, but sometimes, it doesn't feel like the run's worth doing unless you go at least 4.  The exception is when you're coming back from energy and craving running again so much, that even 1 mile is bliss.

Saturday:
Over the long weekend, visited my sister in ATL.  Saturday, we went to the art museum.  We didn't have much time to look around, but it was fun messing around a bit.  My mom had taken a picture of my sister in front of a big paining of foggy woods, where she was posing like you normally would.  To me, though, it looked like she was lost of the woods, so we took a bunch more pictures pretending to be lost in the woods.

My sister likes the contemporary art, but I'm more of a fan of Naturalism, with big landscapes.  I get lost in the beauty of it. 

Sunday, Sep 2:

The day for the week's long run.  16 were scheduled.  I was traveling, and between the sun being blazing outside, and wanting to avoid the trouble of finding some kind of trail in the new city, I opted to use the treadmill instead.  I actually thought it was 15 scheduled, so I went with that in mind, but it really was 16.  Doesn't matter, though.  I had some trepidations about being able to complete it, only because of the left plantar.  The first 7.5 mi went by pretty easily, though.  Then, it got hard quick.  At about mile 10, my left hip started tightening up a bunch, maybe from compensations, and I decided tht it wasn't worth it to keep going.  I pushed through 11.5 mi, but that was it.  Disappointment.  Oh well.  I told myself that I DNFed... "did nothing fatal". 

Afterards, I was doing a post-marathon shuffle, even though I hadn't really run that much.  Looking back, maybe my pace was too agressive.  Maybe, maybe not.  I had also been alternating 1 degree and 3 degree inclines every 2.5 miles, so that probably made it harder.  It was supposed to help provide my muscles with some relief from consistent angles.  People just aren't made to do LRs on treadmills, unless they have good symmetry and form.  Maybe I hadn't fueled well enough during the day before the run.

We went to the park, where I walked somewhat slowly and tenderly.