A day late - or 3 miles short...?

First off, my sincere thanks to Yumke for his contribution to my ACS Charity Drive. Thank you very much, Yumke, for your donation to help fight cancer! Make sure you visit his blog and cheer him on toward Marine Corps.

I had planned to hit 53-56 miles this week. I was on track for 54 as of Friday, but I needed a 20-miler to get there yesterday.

The CARA group was only running 14 and I hoped to add 6 by my lonesome (as I often do). I started out with the 7:30 pace group, which was probably a bit overzealous since I did feel some fatigue going into the run. Not to mention my stomach discomfort at the start, but there was no time to resolve that.

One of our miles was 7:11, which didn't help. At 5.5, I let the group go and hit the can, with the plan to tag onto the 8’s group (who really should be called the 7:45 group).

We finished 14 and we were all overheating. I could not entice anyone to go back on the trail. I often get asked on days like this: “why are you trying to do 20? What program are you on?” I tell them it’s the original “Ryan Sub-3 program”, with the principles of Pfitz and whole lot of wingin’ it mixed into the plan.

Temp’s were in the low 80’s and I simply didn’t have another 6 in me by myself in the heat. I felt like I had partially bonked, to be honest. I was not so strong yesterday.

So I fueled up a little, chatted and then headed back toward home. Before going home, I detoured to the gym treadmill for another strong 3, including a 6:50 final mile. 17 total for the day -- 51 for the week. No way was I going to get six on that hamster’s wheel. I could've added on today - but it was 95 and I need to rest. Chalk it up to 51 this week.

I now have 367 miles on my Nike Air Vomero+2’s. I could feel the lack of impact resistance. Consider them officially retired. I’ve got the identical replacement pair ready to go for tomorrow morning.

Feels like a minor disappointment to not hit the weekly goal that I set, but that’s going to happen when you set stretch goals. It makes me realize I am testing my limits.

It should be noted that I have increased my mileage in seven consecutive weeks. The forthcoming week will be a step back to around 45-47, after which I will kick it up a notch with a 57-mile goal target the following week.