Flashing in the Sky; Churning in my Stomach

OBJECTIVE
9 mi.@ base pace
stiff-legged run 2x20 seconds
running no arms 2x20 seconds

ACHIEVED
9.06 mi.@ 8:33
stiff-legged run 2x20 seconds
running no arms 2x20 seconds

5:39 AM 79° 82% 0 mph

My legs are still tight from the long run in the hills on Saturday. It took a long while before they loosened up and never really did completely. I ran from the YMCA this morning. As I headed out there were near-constant dry lightning flashes in the southeastern sky. Mother Nature's fireworks, I suppose.

An upset stomach was the other sensory excitement added to this run. I like corn. It's actually on a short list of vegetables which have good nutritional value that I truly like. However after a long series of comprehensive testing, I have concluded that I can no longer eat corn. Without going into the physiological details, suffice it to say that after eating corn any running that I do over the following 48 hours causes quite a bit of GI discomfort. So long my tasty, yellow friend. Yesterday was my last corn on the cob.

This next item I'm even more embarrassed to acknowledge. I'm fairly fanatical about my training schedule. Yesterday while sitting in church, it occurred to me that my schedule was somehow off. I was mentally reviewing my remaining long runs before St. George on October 3. It seemed like there were too many long runs left and not enough weeks to complete them. So I pulled out a piece of paper and stepped through each week. I arrived at the same conclusion but still just figured that I hasn't remembering correctly since all of this was off the top of my head. Later, when I was home I checked it out week by week. And, yes, my training schedule has me on the perfect schedule for an October 10 marathon. Isn't that nice? I have no idea how that happened but it had to be screwed up from the very beginning and I've just never verified it. What to do? I've got to keep the full two-week taper so that stays in the schedule. I've got to keep the 20- and 22-mile long-run weeks. So that leaves this week with its 8-miler at marathon pace, a recovery week, or a half marathon race week that needs to be dropped. At the moment I think I'll drop the recovery week but I've still got to think it through before finalizing my plan to get back on schedule. What an idiotic screw up!

PRE RUN
water

POST RUN
SlimFast
Later, water, multivitamin & Kashi Go Lean cereal w/1% milk