Getting back to Boston

Bleah. Just couldn't get it done at Toad Suck. Managed to run the 5th mile at a decent pace (7:07), but not any of the others, with the possible exception of the first. Missed PR by 31 seconds officially, 26 seconds on the Garmin. Missed goal by about two minutes. It wasn't last year's downpour, but it was 100% humidity; I was glad when it did start raining because it gave some relief. I wouldn't say I ran badly. I just didn't have any energy, with the exception of that fifth mile, only a small part of which was downhill. But I finished higher in the overall standings than I did last year with a faster time in a thunderstorm (????)

I haven't been sleeping well. My mental outlook really stinks right now, which is probably partially because of the sleep deprivation and partially the CAUSE of the sleep deprivation. That didn't help my performance today, then last night there were about seven tornado sirens in Bryant which kept me up much of the night. And I'm already sleep deprived as it is...

Let's face it, I am not handling solo life very well. Coming home to an empty house every night rips my heart out. Then tonight I saw Pam for the first time since she left, and it was agonizingly awkward, at least for me. Hoping that I'll get some more time with T once his finals end Thursday; that will help the empty house syndrome, maybe.

Routine, easy run at JBH. Legs felt like they had alittle more snap, although how they would ahve felt at 10K pace is anyone's guess. Anyway, waiting to hear on St. George efore deciding how to proceed. Looking at a mileage cutback for the rest of May, most likely, in any event while I get my act together psychologically (and give myself a much-needed break).

Intervals tonight at FHS. Scott the PA was there. As I expected, he's a lot faster than me. We did a warmup jog, then some drills (skipping, high knees, butt kicks, and kinda of a sidweays jumping jack), then ran 10 X 200. At least I think I ran 10. Have to check the Garmin to be sure... Yep, did 10, at speed ranging from 42 to 47 seconds. At least I didn't go over 50, and 46, as it turns out, is my recommended R pace under Daniels at my current VDOT level. Did not feel very fast tonight, and those things wore me out. I haven't had sprint drills like that since high school. I remember running one similar workout at NLR East, but I don't think I ran 10 200s, not did I run them quite this fast. Warmed down with five jogged laps.

I'm not sure what tonight's workout is going to do for me. I guess it may improve my economy and speed; it's not gonna do much for my VO2 max or anything. But that's what I get for doing a workout from a triathlon coach...

VERY sore in the glutes after last night's intervals. Started out very slow on tonight's RR, gradually accelerated as I loosened up. By the end, I was actually running decenlty, but I started so slow that the overall average remained 10:10. Think I'll do some good stretching now.

Eighty-six degrees tonight at 6 p.m. as we set out from Fleet Feet for the fun run. I think I'm really about to start missing my treadmill... The same 6-7 people show up -- four young guys in front, then me, then two women. Except that I got tired of looking at the back of the young guys and decided to catch them. Even Jason. Finally reeled them in with about half a mile to go on the last uphill, and actually beat Robbie and Jason. Nice. The pace wasn't horrible, 8:48 overall, but I'm still paying for Tuesday night's 200s, so it was tough to get loose. Basically that took two miles, then I decided to catch them. Last 1.9 miles were more like 8:34 pace.

Debbie came in at work and handed me a "PA Day" present from WB (never mind that PA Day is actually in October; Nurses Day is this week, and he thought he had to give the PAs something too). It was a $50 gift card to Fleet Feet! Nice! And timely, given that the Adizeros are just about shot and I have to get some shoes pretty soon. That card may get me about a shoe and a quarter free, and I'll swing the rest.

Easy today with a bit of a progression. Have to work this weekend, so not sure how much running will be done. A lot cooler today than yesterday for sure.

Good run today. New course for me, and I like it; I'll have to use it again. I've done the Shiloh/Wagon Wheel loop before, but instead of coming back down Silent Grove off Wagon Wheel, I stayed on WW all the way to 40th Street, then came back down 40th. Which in that area is not really a street, it's a winding country road with very little traffic. Some undulation, but nothing too difficult, and it was a pleasant afternoon for a run -- about 60, bit of a breeze, and overcast, so no squinting required. Turned off 40th on to Falcon at Smith School, then south on White to Elm Springs, wound around to Gutensohn, back up to Silent Grove, past the house, up the park driveway and cut through back to the house. Wound up 10.26. Felt so good that I ran the last mile and change at MP. Good way to get back in the saddle after taking yesterday off for physical and mental fatigue.

Ran under a tornado warning tonight, sorta. our county is under one, but it's the far southern edge of the county; I'm so far north I almost went out of the county on tonight's 5-miler. Ran the first 4.5 easy and kinda pushed the last 0.7, mainly because I was ready to finish and get out of the rain. Last segment was at roughly MP, the rest was at mid-9ish. Legs felt pretty good after yesterday's Beast.

Progression run tonight. Considerably warmer and muggier than last night, so plenty of sweating. Every mile was faster than the one before. Overall average 9:25 per mile.

Trying to figure out a running plan for NYC. Think I may take the subway Friday afternoon to Central Park, run around the park, then run back to the hotel, which is about five miles south down Sixth Avenue. That might work. Or it might not. Gotta to that before dark, that's for sure. Full Central Park loop plus back to the hotel would be about 11 miles.

Easy but humid 5.4 tonight at JBH and the lake. Kept the HR in the mid-130s despite the heat. Probably was even lower than that, since I suspect I got some flase pulse readings early until I got the monitor belt sweaty enough.

Think I've come up with a running plan for NYC. Go over to the Hudson, run up the Hudson River Greenway, work over to Central Park when I get far enough north, loop the southern half of the park including the reservoir, then back to the hotel. Should be a nice 10-miler or so. That'll be a good run for me, if I can get there and get started in time to finish before dark..

Kind of a nondescript run with the Fleet Feet crew, except that the guy who thought he knew where we were going, didn't. Even when we got back to Old Wire Road, we weren't sure where on that road we were. Until I remembered the mapping feature on the Garmin. Checked the virtual breadcrumbs, and sure enough we were headed in the right direction, and in a quarter mile we were back on track. Our little detours took a 3.5 mile run up to 5-plus. But that's OK. And that feature may come in handy tomorrow in NYC, unless the tall buildings block out my satellites. Average pace tonight 9:12, and that included a stop for Jason and Christian to be goofy and try to do some pullups. Otherwise, probably sub-9 overall. That's probably a good pace for me to shoot for in NYC, in between dodging taxis.

Purely guessing on the run. The Garmin took forever to lock in on the satellite, maybe a mile. Then it cut out in Central Park; not sure if I accidentally turned it off or what. Total run took just about two hours, and the first 4 or so, coming up the Hudson River Greenway, were well under 9:00 pace, so I guesstimated 12 miles this morning. I'll see if I can map it on mapmyrun tomorrow and get a better number, although I'm still not sure what pace I ran in the park what with going up and down steps, twisting and turning, stuff like that. Ran back down 6th Ave. to my hotel, which was an interesting exercise in dodging pedestrians and taxis. Glad I got to do the run though; I can scratch Central Park off my running bucket list.

Easy progression after I took T to the baseball game. He wanted to hang around after the game and get autographs from the team. I got a kick out of seeing this 6-5 kid standing among the four-footers in the line. He got Andy Wilkins to sign his ball and Brett Eibner, Collin Kuhn and somebody else I can't recall to sign his bucket hat. But he got a kick out of it, and so did I. One of the things I've liked about him is as he's grown up, he hasn't lost all of the child in him. Sometimes he's 19 going on 30, sometimes he's 19 going on 7. And he's just fine with that. So am I.

Anyway, back to the run. It was a good one. Legs felt pretty good, despite a bit of sleep deprivation.

Intervals at FHS tonight. With Ron not there, we decided to do 800s at 5K pace in my instance, with 200m recoveries. Warmed up for a mile, did all my reps at 3:30 or below, capped by 3:14 in the last one, then warmed down for 5.5 laps to total 24 laps. Garmin quit in the middle of the warmdown, but I got all the reps timed. Again, the Garmin thinks the FHS track is less than 400m. Whatever. Reps were 3:29, 3:30, 3:25, 3:20, 3:21 and 3:14.

Slow recovery run at JBH. Kept the pulse in the 130s, which is what I wanted.

Stress reduction run after a very bad day. My job is hanging by a thread and may not be there after tomorrow. Got out and did 5 at JBH at 9:26 pace. Try and get some sleep, get up and go to work tomorrow and hope I still have a job when the day is over.

Back in the ranks of the unemployed. Long story, but Cliff's Notes version: I deserved it this time. Which didn't make it any less traumatic. Have a few early leads on something new already, which is nice, and something that wasn't the case last time I went through this in '04. And I have five weeks' pay to cushion me.

Anyway, I came down to Bryant to decompress at the folks'. Didn't run Friday, didn't run Saturday, decided to get in a slow 5 tonight. It was still 85 degrees at 8 p.m. when I started, and the humidity wasn't much below that. So I roasted. Doesn't take much to remind me how much I hate running in hot weather. I'm fully reminded now.

Home now and out on the Wagon Wheel/40th St loop for a HTFU run. Moderate pace, but high temps and high humidity. Wound up with 9:09 average; pushed harder after I got on to 40th. Went pretty well, even running on an unlit road with no sidewalk and no shoulder. Only had a couple of minor scares with traffic. I figured that road would have very little traffic and that was just about right. Then the cat claws the crap out of my wrist while I'm typing this. That's what kind of month this has been...

Tomorrow, have to make myself start applying for jobs and doing other similar stuff. Wish I had enough money to retire. Hah! Don't have enough to go to McDonald's without worrying about it.

Got in a very warm 6.2 this evening before the baseball game starts 8-ish. Sunglasses, headband, didn't matter, I was still blinded by the sweat. Very uncomfortable. Legs were OK, rest of me wasn't. But I gutted it out, maintained a good pace, averaging 9:25.

 Some good news on the job front. Got a nibble on the clinical/risk management job in LR, at least from the recruiter. I'll call her back tomorrow if I haven't heard from her. Also signed up for UI, not that I expect to see a cent from that, but maybe I'll luck out. hopefully something will work out soon and I won't have to stretch out that five weeks of pay. Also might be able to rent a house in LR at a reasonable rate. Keeping fingers and toes crossed...

Looks like I may be on the DL for a while. Left hammy painful during tonight's 7-miler on the Fayetteville trails, and didn't loosen up as the run went on; instead, it got worse. Went into walk/jog mode to finish the run. Now, two hours later, still painful. Hey, it's May. Take the time off and let it heal, if it is more than just a cramp. Probably just a bit of a strain.

Nice humid run in Bryant. Temps not bad, about 70, but megahumid. Forgot the Garmin, so estimating distance based on a mapmyrun map. Basically the same run I did last Sunday as a 5-miler, extended a bit on each end. Took just a smidge over an hour, so pace was OK. Hammy loosened up as the run went on, which was good. Right glute was a tiny bit of an issue. I think I need some more hill sprints to fix that.