Need more sleep

I did about a half mile of walking during my 6 mile run. My wakeup PR was down to 51 and I felt good at the beginning but became tired on the way back, hence the walking. I've only been getting 5-6 hours of sleep this week, and it's finally catching up with me.

No water in the canal yet, but a lot of big puddles of runoff from rain. Lots of wild ducks in the canal. I saw so many of them on Wednesday that it was like running through a city park with ducks at the city pond.

One of the fields I run by has a herd of buffalo. The animals are usually at the far end of the field, and I don't see them. On Wednesday and today they were at the near end of the field, and I had good views of them. Boy, are they big! They make a low, snorting noise, sorta like someone snoring.

Training Graphs

No walking today!

I ran my six mile course and didn't do any walking or stopping to talk. I felt tired like I did on Monday, but since I didn't walk or talk, I did better. I'm slowly getting my energy back. My wakeup HR was 53.

Training Graphs

6 Miles again today

I ran 6 miles again this morning. I still walked a bit, but not as much as on Saturday. My wakeup HR was down to 52. The lower HR and the reduced walking indicate that my strength is returning. Over the years, I've observed that when I'm out of running for a period of time, it takes me about the same time to build back up as I was off. From that viewpoint, by the end of next week I should be back to my pre-surgery running level.

It was a nice day to be out. Comfortable temperature in the 50s, beautiful clouds. It's great to be alive!

Training Graphs

I did it! 6 miles

I did it! I did 6 miles this morning. About half way through I started getting tired, so I jogged/walked the rest of the distance. My walking was about 1 1/2 miles of the total distance. I should feel stronger this week as I do the 6 miles on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.

My wakeup HR was 55 again.

Training Graphs

Getting back into it: 4.8 miles today

My wakeup HR was 55, and I felt pretty good. I ran 4.8 miles along the canal road. I'm pleased with my running this week. I'd been three weeks with no running and was glad that I could run as far as I did. If I feel fine on Saturday I may do 6 miles, the distance I was running before my skin-cancer surgery. During the last part of the run I started getting tired and jogged/walked about 1/3 mile to my home.

We've had rain the past couple of days, and I saw several pairs of wild ducks swimming in the runoff water in the canal. The Utah Lake water isn't flowing in the canal yet.

I probably would have run a bit farther, but the canal road went into a large muddy area, and I turned around. The mud was from construction vehicles at a home building project. I walked about 100 feet into the mud and then realized the mud extended a lot further than I had thought. I turned around but somehow went at the wrong angle through the mud and missed the canal road. I walked through several hundred feet of mud and came to a road that took me down to the canal road. When I got back I took my shoes into the shower and cleaned them.

Training Graphs

Recovering from the surgery

I had a nice 3 mile run today! After 1.5 miles I started getting tired, and I turned around and came back. I felt fine during the run -- no pain in the incision area of my surgery. My wife and I then walked 1.35 miles around the neighborhood admiring the spring flowers.

On the way back from my run I saw several Canadian Geese foraging in a field. One goose was on the canal trail. I stopped running and slowly walked toward the goose. I was about 15 feet away from it when it flew away. The other geese were about 30 feet away, on the other side of the canal. My wife and I walked to the canal but didn't see the geese.

There is no water in the canal yet, but the water should come any day now. Once the canal has water, I'll start to see new ducklings swimming with their mother.

My wakeup HR is high (58). After the surgery my HR was about 55. Then I didn't do very well last week in getting sleep, and that pushed it up a bit. I got more sleep over the weekend and will focus on sleep this week.

Training Graphs

Doctor said I can run

It's been 15 days since my double hernia surgery. I was checked today by the surgeon, and he said I was making a great recovery and I could now do anything I wanted, as long as I listen to my body and act accordingly. I specifically asked him about running, and he said "yes". He suggested I start with walking and mix in some jogging. I'm planning on walking tomorrow and Saturday, and then on Monday starting some jogging. It will be interesting to see how long it takes me to get back to my six miles three times a week.