Getting back to Boston

Back in the saddle after five days off. Really felt sluggish after the layoff. Kept the pace low and slow for the SHS run and felt better by the end. Today marks the start of training for St. George, so we'll see how that progresses with Alaska and other races thrown in.

Six slow with Kathy. Talked about a lot of things. Jennifer, and Emma, and Tiffany, and marathons, and women in unhappy marriages. That hour just kinda flew by. The run was just OK. Still a little sluggish but not as bad as yesterday.

Hills from the schoolhouse with the Sheris, Ronda, Pattie, and Emily. Uphills made my glutes hurt, but I felt better after the run than before it. Still trying to get back in the swing.

Long run from the Schoolhouse with Lia, Jamie, Heather, George, Spencer and (briefly) D. Langford. I knew they were going to hammer me and they did. Lagged behind until the five-mile water stop. After that, I kept up, and passed them in the last mile. Of course, they were all going another 8... Overall average was 8:28. I didn't have autolap on so I don't have mile paces, but I remember the average was 8:33 at the water stop, so that would make the pace for the last two-plus probably in the 8:15 range. And 8:28 is still faster than I averaged at Bayshore :(

Slow and humid. Summer is definitely here. Bleah. Intervals tomorrow should be interesting.

Intervals at the track. Hot, humid, steamy, lung-burning intervals. 8 x 400 at 5K pace. I was supposed to do 12 of them. Nope. Not in this weather, wasn't in the cards. Eight was all I could do, and even then, I get very lightheaded at the end of my cooldown laps and had to sit in the shade for a while before I drove home. It was 81 degrees with 72% humidity in mid-workout, probably even worse by the end. Only a bit of breeze made it even marginally tolerable.

Since there was no more appropriate option available than "easy", that's what I put, but it wasn't. Threshold might have been more appropriate, as in threshold of heat stroke or threshold of swimming. I felt like I was breathing water and I didn't have gills. Even a 10:00 pace was too fast and I couldn't maintain it. Heather said she struggled too, although she left me way behind. I either have to run before dawn or give up and run indoors. This is not gonna work.

Six slow with Rose this morning. She CAN run this slow, see? It was muggy but not too bad. Main issue was left leg went numb, then recovered, then went numb again, worse. It almost buckled on me coming down off a curb on one street crossing, which was a little scary. Never hurt, just numb and weak feeling. Got through the run, and sensation soon returned.

Mile race tomorrow. Not sure how that's going to go. Equivalence tables say I should be able to run a 6:30. Dunno about that. Especially if the leg acts up again. But I guess I'll target a 6:30 and see what happens. 

Mile race went better than I hoped. I ran 6:31 and really left some time out there I think. If I'd come up with four seconds, I'd have finished 7th AG instead of 10th. And I wasn't ready to puke when I crossed the line, so the effort was obviously suboptimal. :0 But to get a 6:31 out of these legs, as horrible as I had felt 48 hours earlier after my death march with Heather, is OK. I don't think I can go sub-6, but 6:15 might be doable with better training, a little bit more effort and a tiny bit of taper.

Speed work at SHS this morning before work. Didn't want to do it, made myself anyway. I wouldn't say I feel better but I'm glad I got out there.

This was supposed to be a tempo run like 7:50 pace. Legs didn't have it, it was humid, we ran the amphitheater route the wrong way, and the whole thing just sucked. Finally got to run with Debbie Lashley which is nice. Also met Lia's daughter (the only one I beat). Hank drove over too. Overall 6.9 in 59 and change. I think I would have finished 7 in an hour if I'd pushed it, and that included some walking. A tough run, but hopefully one that will pay dividends in, oh, early October.

Report to come

Run at the Schoolhouse with the fasties. I wasn't one of them. Four miles hard trying and failing to keep up, six miles of struggle. Got it done, got to 1000 miles for the year. That's the only good thing. It was miserable. Dewpoint in the mid 70s.

Intervals at the track after dark. Just couldn't get out the door in time beforeit got hot (chat with SAndra might have had some thing to do with that). REps went OK. Just couldn't make myself do that sixth 800.

Recovery run with the Sheris. They were actually going faster than I had planned but was able to keep up, which was a little surprising. This run started 7 hours after I finished last night's track workout, and I was up at 3:45, so not much rest in between. This summer has actually not been brutally hot (yet), but man is it humid. My shorts are dripping and my socks are squishing at the end of every run. And I haven't worn a shirt on a run since the Go Mile.

Tempo run at the storm shelter with the speed burners. Well, tempo is a bit of a misnomer, especially on the bike trail up to the amphitheater. Just running at all was a struggle. Again felt like I was breathing soup today. Three walk breaks, I think, and still averaged sub 8:30, so not too bad. Definitely better than my last attempt at a tempo run last Thursday on the same course.

For now in this weather this will do as an MP run. I forgot my watch so no splits. After two miles I was 100 yards or so behind Lia and Jaycee and decided I was going to catch up. It took me another two miles to do that. When I did catch up she said they were averaging 8:30 pace. I moved ahead of them in the next mile to the water break, then in the last two miles put down the hammer and caught Debbie and Terry too. I suspect there may have been some miles in the 7s in there. I was working, I know that. Total time for 7.00 was 58ish, about a 7:20 average?

Ended June with 11 slow and easy. Ran 3.1 with Sheri before everyone else got there, then 8 with Rose, Jessi and Lionel. I think we were running about 9:30 miles for the last 8, but the Garmin died at about 7 miles so I don't know for sure. The loop got me back to the car at 11.1 and I decided to shut it down rather than stretch it another mile. Only 116 this month with way too many off days. I'll have to do better in July.