*New Update* Week #5 Completed

Greetings Everyone!

Well, today saw a week #5 end with a very large 12 mile WAR at Lake Murray. First, a little background on the week.

This week saw me have a 100% nutritional failure. All of my willpower was thrown out the window and I was eating absolute GARBAGE all week. Candy, fast food, girl scout cookies...you name it, I ate it. To go along with that, I came down with a really gnarly sinus cold right around Wednesday. It knocked me out of work for two days and really knocked me out. I really had to pay attention to my body and because of this I made the decision to skip my Thursday 3 mile run so as not to jeopardize missing my Saturday run. It was a plan that ended up working for the best. Now, on to the runs:

Monday I lifted weights and jumped on the elliptical. That worked out pretty good. Wednesday I ran a solid 4 miles at the Lake. You already know what happend the rest of the week.

Today (Saturday), I was really apprehensive about the run. I knew that I was scheduled for 11 miles, but because I missed my Thursday run I had to try and ratchet it up a little (even if it was only an additional .5 mile). That being said, I also knew that I was in for some pain because I had eaten so poorly and been sick. Well, I ran....and it SUCKED. At mile 2 my hips and knees were very, VERY tight. At mile 5 I was starting to feel like there was no way I would make it. I kept working on the mental aspect of the run and kept thinking positive. In the end, I ran 10 miles, then walked 1, then ran the last mile. 12 miles total....in 2:35:17 for an average of 12:56/Mile. I am honestly not very happy with the TIME, but I am extremely happy with the fact that not only did I battle through a bad run, but I battled through a bad run when I KNEW it was going poorly. It would be one thing if I didn't understand what was happening, but knew it....and made the adjustments necessary. I really need to talk to the nutritionist...I need help with the food part of it. I have to call my running doctor back and let him know that I am really feeling it in my knees and hips now...much more than I was before (and is this normal). And last (and certainly not least), I have an appointment with my Acupuncturist this coming Tuesday (Thank God) and I need to let her know that the pain is now localized on my knees and hips...and my eating willpower is awful.

Overall thought for the week - horrible physical performance that could have been MUCH worse had I given up mentally. I would say this is one of the strongest mental moments I have had in the past 20 weeks. Rock solid, focused and determinted ie-Commit,Train,Succeed.

This next week (Week#6) sees a MAJOR ramp up in running. Mon(3mi),Tues(Accu),
Wed(3mi),Thurs (3mi) and Sat. (11mi). Total mileage for week #6 = 20 miles AND it's time to start adding hills. Here we go... Woo-hoo!

Talk to you all next week!!

Bill