The paper on the clinical study that I participated in over the winter is being written, and got a sneak peek into it (read most of the thesis written about the study). I was in the placebo group. No surprise I felt zero effect of the supplement. But even people who took the real supplement showed no improvement (neither worsening) of running performance or quality of life.

Mostly successful LT run today. I felt like crap when I was heading out in the evening at around 6:00pm; it was still 83 F and sunny, and my legs felt heavy. I ran the warmup miles at around 8 min/mile, and they didn't feel super easy. Despite all of this, I managed 6:15, 6:21, 6:27, 6:18 mile splits. I was tired, but not unreasonably. I finished with 1.5 miles of cooldown.

I finished my second week of training mostly successfully... My last run today was an epic meltdown. I was supposed to run 16 miles with 8 at marathon pace (6:43). Pfitzinger specifically wants you to run the last 8 at marathon pace. So I did. Sort of. After 6:41, 6:37, 6:44, 6:44, 6:48, I was unable to keep the pace, and finished with 6:59, 6:56, 6:53. Average is 6:48, which is not so bad, considering that I was tired, hot, and the first 16 miler in a long time, but I don't like the way it went down. OK, just one, run I'll take it.

After some solid weeks in Hungary, I'm back in the USA. Last week I turned my ankle on a trail in Hungary, and I didn't run for a week. It wasn't terribly hurt (I still hiked over 10 kilometers on two days each), but I didn't want to risk more injury, and then I was flying back. I'm actually up to 148 pounds. My (low) peak weight was 141. That's fine. It's hard to maintain weight with high mileage, but apparently good Hungarian food does it. I'm glad I will have something to lose from.

I ran on the TM today, and I might just do the same tomorrow. It's hard to get up early, and it's too hot during the day. Today I needed an LT run, and I'm sure I couldn't have done it outside in the heat. I managed 6:20 pace for 4 miles. Not bad for fat old man. :)