Catching up 8/1 through 7/28

August 1:
Either 15 or 16.02 today--not sure which thanks to running through
super-thick tree cover and my temperamental Garmin. I planned a route today
that would take me on as many bike paths and woodchip/dirt trails as
possible, since my knees hurt for four days after the concrete-fest last
Saturday. So I ran my favorite route through the woods, which the parks
service says is 1.5 miles one way, but which my Garmin only clocked as 1.3
and also dropped my pace per mile significantly (like 2 minutes per). I
figured maybe the parks service was just rounding, since I've never been
able to get a really solid fix on mileage through those trees and have
ended up relying on sites like mapmyrun or runningmap, and so I ran until
my Garmin said 7.51 and then turned around and ran the exact same thing in
reverse, but it only got me to 14.8 by my house (so of course I ended up
running another .2). So frustrating! I ran 4 loops in total of that
particular trail so it really does make a difference in mileage if it's not
tracking accurately. I don't know if this is just something I need to do
with--the trees are SO thick that it's impossible to see the sky and it's
very dim; my previous Garmin didn't even pretend to get a signal in there
and would just quit--or if I need to return it and try again. Average pace
(assuming I ran the 15, which I know is at least partially inaccurate based
on the out-and-back) was 10:39; 9:58 if it was 16.02. Wanted to pick it up
the last couple of miles because I'm a little nervous about the 10 at MP I
have next week, so I ran 9:35 for mile 14 and 8:55 for mile 15.

Anyway, it was a good run aside from that--the woods parts were really
muddy, but that kept my concentration from wandering! It was quite a hilly
run and included the hill that I always dread but try to make myself run
(miles 6.5-8.5) and I have to say that I felt SO good on it--definitely
noticing an increase in my fitness!

July 31: 4 recovery miles; 166 for the month!

July 30: SRD; yoga and core work

July 29: really long miserable 10-miler. I didn't get to start until about 9 PM, and I was not feeling great--my mouth filled with stomach acid about 2 minutes in and I knew it was going to be a long one! I gutted out six miles on the treadmill and then ran the last 4 outside. I was still really stiff/sore from the ST the previous day, plus I was on the last day of knee soreness after the concrete-fest I ran on Saturday.

July 28: Recovery day--ran 5 miles and then did two circuits of the strength training outlined in my training program book. Felt fine while I was doing them but really felt it the next day.