Week 9: Nine and a half miles

30:45 second run/walk ratio
2:30 hours
9.8 miles ?
15.3 min/mile ?

My app went wonky somehow and decided I only ran .14 miles. I think maybe the GPS wasn't properly working with it. So I had to estimate how many miles it was. I ran three complete loops, for three miles each, plus one short lower loop, which I have estimated in the past to be .75 - .8 mile, so good enough. Too bad I couldn't get a more accurate time, I think I was doing pretty well. Would like to know what my pace was.

After last week's run, which was only 4 miles, I was feeling much more tired than I thought I should, and I still wanted to get out and do some woodcutting, so I made myself a protein drink to see if that would help, and it really did help me feel stronger and more energetic. I think I have been getting a little low on protein lately, relying on just one Clif Bar per day to add to my meals. That's only an extra 10 g of protein, bringing my daily total up to around 50 - 55 g of protein per day, which theoretically should be enough, but my experience says not. Partly I think because it's been getting colder (which requires more energy) and I've been doing a lot more hard labor, cutting and hauling firewood, and partly because I just seem to do better at 60 - 80 g per day. So time to start adding another 20 - 30 g of protein daily.

It was really cold today, probably around 35 F, and cloudy and windy most of the time. At least it wasn't raining or snowing! It snowed yesterday, and is supposed to rain tomorrow and snow again on Monday, but I got a little window of dry weather to get today's run in. I went to Big 5 yesterday and bought some more running clothes -- a over-the-head sweatshirt-style jacket with a hood and long sleeves that go over most of your hands with holes for thumbs, a pair of base layer shirt and leggings, and a tube-like cowl thing to wear around my neck. I also got some more wool Wrightsocks. I was mostly okay once I got warmed up, but boy, I could sure tell it was cold out!

I ate oatmeal and an apple for breakfast this morning and it seemed to keep me fueled pretty well through my run, without any stomach problems. I was getting a bit hungry by mile 7 so I ate a GU and that kept me going the rest of the way.

I finally registered for Surf City and made my hotel reservation for the weekend. Looks like I should have made the hotel reservations even sooner! The hotel down the street from the host hotel, which I had planned to stay at because it was about $100/night cheaper, no longer had any of the cheaper rooms available, so I went ahead and booked at the host hotel, which was also getting low on rooms. But I've got mine so now I'm set and I guess I'm really going to do it!