Running update - Slow going

I just finished a 8.684km running that lasted about 0hh:53mm:43ss !

Hey y'all, you might remember back in May when in my last running post, I mentioned I was trying yet another time to resume training. Well, it wasn't as bad as previously, but it also wasn't great. See below the list of runs since then. It was very inconsistent, sometimes just 3 or 4 days between runs, sometimes more than 10 days. Definitely not ideal, and it cannot even be called a training routine. But it wasn't nothing! And surprisingly, it seems it was at least sufficient to feel like I was improving. Well, except for the run detailed in cover pic and below. But I have some excuses that I will explain. Overall, I feel like I can easily manage 5+ miles with a pace under 9min/mile. And something a bit surprising and confirming I must be making progress: I run with a much more relaxed form. How do I know that? After the first 3 or 4 runs, my shoulders, traps and neck were as sore as my legs the next couple of days. Now at least, it's only my legs, and I guess my abs a little bit.

Of course, that's nowhere near where I need (and want) to be for the Detroit half marathon, but it is still 2.5 months away, which for me is a very long time to train. I said many times, with age I am not really able to finish a half marathon without any training like I used to, at least not with a decent time. That's why I need to crank up the training for real now.

As for this last run, like I said, it was a bit of struggle. As you can see on the splits, it started okay, at least for the first 3 miles. And I did feel good. But that's when a sharp stomach pain hit me. More than just the simple runner's stomach. I tried to run it off, but at the end of the 4th mile, I just had to walk for a bit. The pain didn't completely go away, but it was a little better. I even slowly ran the last half mile. Not sure what happened, but it wasn't fun. Luckily the pain didn't last, maybe an hour after the run, all gone. So it may have been runner's stomach after all, but not like any I experienced in the past.
This was also the first run in real heat, with lots of humidity. It will take time to get used to that, I just hate summer!

Well, let's see now if I can at least get up to two runs a week, before I can finally get to my ideal frequency, at least every other day. In a couple of weeks at the latest, I should also start increasing the distance, and maybe start adding some speed work. That's a big program, we'll see how it goes...