Getting back to Boston

Drove over to Bryant High this morning to run at the track. It was open, but I found a construction crew putting down the foundation for what I assume to be a new artificial turf football field. Which would not have been too much of an issue, except that they had built a dirt ramp over the track at one corner for dump trucks to drive across, and the dirt was at least a foot thick. Not exactly conducive to running intervals. Plus my glutes were still really sore; I can only assume it was from the drive down, since I didn't run at all yesterday and I had no discomfort in that area after Wednesday's run.

Anyway, between the glutes and the obstruction on the track, decided 400s were not gonna work. So I decided to do a moderate run of about three miles then do some strides and drills at the end. That plan worked pretty well; did 8 strides, two side-shuffles, two butt kicks and two high-knee drills. All of that worked out to 3.6 miles, which was 14 laps in lane 5 due to construction obstruction. Glutes felt better after I finished than when I started, and I got back in time for the soccer game at 9.

Planned to go run with the Crackheads this morning, but couldn't find them. Finally gave up and ran at River Trail, except that the legs were not cooperating at all. Slogged through a slow, painful 8 with lots of walking. Weather was fine, about 70, but just no snap in the legs.

No runs for the past three days, mainly due to zero motivation. Finally got out at 6:30 this morning for a very uninspired 3.7. It was cool, around 70, and not too sticky, but that didn't help the motivation anyway. Got it done though.

Really tried to take it easy tonight, but the HR was considerably higher than I would like. Guess that's due to heat, humidity and really going downhill on my fitness due to lack of motivation/effort. AHR was 147; it should have been in the high 130s at this pace. On the other hand, this is the first time I can recall in a while that I ran for an hour without ever stopping, to walk, take a leak or get a drink. So I've got that going for me.

Try to get in 8 or so tomorrow after the World Cup game some time. Hopefully the humidity will subside a little.

Crash and burn tonight. Or crash, anyway. Stepped off into a ditch alongside 40th Street trying to avoid a truck who didn't want to give me any room. Of course, I couldn't see the ditch because of the truck's headlights, which didn't help, and the edge of the ditch coincided exactly with the edge of the pavement. Three inches too lar to the left, and down I went. Couple of feet deep too; lucky it wasn't full of water, or broken glass, or any number of t hings. Just skinned my left hand and right knee. The run had not been going very well anyway; it was still in the 80s and a nice breeze when I started had subsided, so I was dragging. But I sucked it up and got through at a 10:20 average, including all the walk/fall-down breaks.

I'd actually felt pretty good all day. Let myself sleep in for the first time in quite a while. All the way to 9:30 (ooooh). Kinda gave me an idea how sleep-deprived I've been. I think I'll make a point of getting caught up between now and whenever I start work.

Hill repeats. Ninety degrees. Not a good combination. But I tried anyway. Got through five of them. We were locked out of the track, so Ron had to improvise. Also locked out at Springdale before I drove down there. Legs really stiff after Sunday night's run, so struggled a bit.

One item of interest: A very attractive blonde, right age range. There with her teenaged son, which is no big deal (kinda comes with the age range thing). Also there with her wedding ring. A big deal. Rats.

Another Thursday "fun run" in high heat and humidity. HI was at least 105 this afternoon, and forecast/promised scattered showers didn't arrive. Miserable. All of us struggled, even the triathlete drones.

Might go out later, if the rain ever arrives, and get in a couple more miles. Legs are fine; it's just the the heat sapped me. We were dripping all over the floor at FF; good thing it's still bare firehouse concrete on the floors.

Morning run today, starting at 8ish. It was a little cooler, but not much easier. Bright, bright sun, and I over heated very quickly. It wasn't too awful running into the wind, but if not, it felt just like running on a dreadmill without a fan. No cooling whatsoever. To make it worse, I was getting nauseated or reflux or something. Struggled through with several walk breaks. It just doesn't seem like I'm acclimating to the heat at all. I guess I need to run only in the rain.

Tomoirrow is 20 weeks to CIM. I guess I will begin a training plan, either the Hudson masters plan or the regular Hudson program.

Decided to start training for CIM tonight, using the Hudson masters plan, at least for now. First workout was 6 easy. Actually set the Garmin to show HR, which I'v never done before, and tried to keep it in the 130s. For the most part, I succeeded, and the AHR was 138. At this level of fitness and temperature (mid-80s at the start), 130s equaled ~10:00 pace, and that's what I ran. Turned out to be a lot better run than yesterday's 5, maybe because I kept the pace slower, even though it was a lot warmer tonight than at 8 a.m. yesterday.

Day off tomorrow, except for core work, than an easy run on Tuesday. Hopefully I also get some word on start date of the job tomorrow; I'm getting antsy/bored/depressed as well as broke.

Stilll not planning to run tonight, as the schedule calls for core work, but wanted to get some stuff off my chest, so to speak.

Yesterday was a bad day for me psychologically, as bad as I've had in a while. Tyler has been staying with his mom for several days, and I'm not really sure if or when he's coming back. I think his presence has been a crutch for me, and without him I have to face some issues. I can't blame him for wanting some time with  his mom; I'm surprised that he hasn't spent more time down there this summer.  He came back for an hour or so yesterday, but only to pick up some things, and I took that hard. So here I was this weekend, alone, bored, depressed, too broke to do anything, no focus to my life, and I was really miserable.

I know I have to get used to being without Tyler, because he'll be back in school in five weeks anyway, and I'll be moving to Fort Smith at some point. The job will start soon; with any luck, next week, if not on the 1st. I go to Phoenix on the 26th anyway, so I'll have that. And it just so happened that yesterday marked 20 weeks to CIM, so the start of my 20-week training gives me something to focus on other than my plight. I really do feel a lot better about things this morning than I did over the weekend. And if I get word that I can start work next week, so much the better; that will ease a lot of other worries. Hopefully I can get together with Pam and her attorney this week and get the divorce agreement settled, which will take another load off my mind.

I think, though, a lot of my improved mood has to do with starting training last night. I now have a goal, a distraction, something to focus on. The job isn't a goal; I know it's going to happen, I'm just impatient for it to start. Now I have the goal of Sacramento. I still have to get through the summer heat, starting the job, the trip to AZ, finding a place to live and moving, and training will have to be fit in around those things, but I can handle that.

Day 3 of the plan. Four easy miles with hill sprints, which I did today on the hill on Fleming going up into the park. Again watched my HR which was lower than Sunday night, even though I was running a little faster. Probably because it was about 10 degrees cooler today than Sunday night, but also could be because I was well-rested and much less stressed out. Mebbe a little of both. I'll continue to watch and compare that.

Did my core work yesterday. Except for a little torture session called "staff," which is holding the pushup position with your elbow bent alongide the torso and chest just off the ground, nothing I hadn't done before. Staff killed my deltoids, which I don't think is what it's designed to work, but I could be wrong.

I'm doing a little online coaching for an RWOL forumite named Janie, who IIRC is getting back into running after time off to have a baby. Not sure why she needs help, since she's run a sub-1:30 half and I believe has run Boston before. She had hired a coach but fired him because he wasn't giving her the feedback she wanted. I told her I'd help, and it'd be worth what she pays for it -- nothing. She's also planning to run CIM, so I'll get a chance to see firsthand if my coaching did any good.

Fartlek run this morning, 6 X 30 seconds at what was supposed to be 10K-3K pace out of a 5-mile run. I think actually I went a little faster than that. Paces for the surges were 6:23, 5:56, 6:39, 5:56, 6:03, 5:43. Totaled a half-mile for the six surges, so that tells you it was right at a 6:00 average. My VDOT numbers would suggest about a 6:42 pace for 3K. Then I came home and took a good long nap. Feeling pretty good right now. I might even do a double this afternoon.

No double on Thursday. No run on Friday either. So I got up at dawn today and did 6, up Stultz and Robbins to Wagon Wheel, then back down Silent Grove. The pump station was particularly pungent. The early start meant I had shade, even though there were zero clouds, so that was good, and it was in the high 70s. I didn't have a whole lot of energy (shoulda had those Pop-tarts), but I persisted and wound up with a 9:44 average. AHR was 140, pretty close to goal. I'd call it on OK run, not great. I don't think there are any great runs in July.

Trying to decide my schedule for next week, what with the trip to Arizona. I'll plan to get back on Hudson's schedule tomorrow and do 7. Probably a short run Monday morning before going to the airport. Have some free time Tuesday, so I'll run along the canal in Phoenix at dawn. Might skip Wednesday due to early start of class, or maybe run on the dreadmill in the evening, then run Thursday night after I get back. I'm porbably too OCD to stick with the three-day Hudson schedule, even as the mileage for the three starts to build. I feel like I need more mileage than that, although I'll plan for more rest days than I have done in prior cycles.

Meant to get up and run at dawn. Didn't. Finally got on the trail at 9:30 a.m. Bad move. Should have done dawn, then gone back to bed. Plan was to do somewhere between 4.2 and 7 miles, depending on how I felt. Ended up doing 5, and that was really pushing it. I think I skipped dinner last night, and I could tell, even though I'd had some breakfast this morning. But mainly it was just the sun beating down on me. I will not be surprised if I have a sunburn this afternoon. The temp was not all that bad (high 70s rising into the 80s as I ran), but no wind, little shade, and lots of humidity (67% now, higher earlier, I think). Sweatband could not keep up with the perspiration, so I ran semi-blind. Oh well. HTFU and got it done anyway.

Little bit of a progression run this morning. Got out early enough that it was still relatively cool, and felt up to pushing the pace just a bit, then pushed it some more. Wound up with a 9:21 average overall. Now a nap, then off to the airport for the trip to Phoenix. Not quite sure how this plan to run on the canal tomorrow morning is gonna work; it may be 90 degrees at dawn. But we'll see. I may go out, jog a half mile, turn around and head for the dreadmill.

Hit and runb today, since I don't have much computer time. Got up at 5:20 a.m. in Phoenix to hit the road before it got hot. It was still 87 degrees when I started. But it really wasn't that bad, particularly on the return run when I got the benefit of a bit of breeze. Even kept the singlet on for the whole run.

Pretty sure I negative-splitted the run with the help of that cooling breeze, although haven't gone back to confirm on the Garmin readout. Walked 0.41 miles while the GPS locked in, then ran 7.12, for total of 7.53. I took it fairly easy to keep the HR down, coming in just under 10:00 pace. I'm still kinda sore from the run, which was on a nice gravel path alongside the canal near my hotel. But the soreness could be as much from sitting in class all day for Apogee training. Which I have for another 6 hours tomorrow.

Back on familiar ground tonight for a fartlek run, 6 X 40 second surges. Temperature almost exactly the same as Tuesday morning in Phoenix -- but humidity wasn't. Shorts were dripping by the time I finished, although the surges might have had something to do with that. Did a better job of keeping the pace of the surges where I wanted it, while running a better pace before, during and after. Last week's run averaged barely under 10:00; tonight's was 9:10.

More Garmin weirdness. I know that sometimes the Garmin takes a while to recombobulate when you travel. It weirded out in NYC and Phoenix, but not in Chatham or Chicago or Wisconsin. Go figure. Sometimes it weirds out without going anywhere, but that's usually because I'm too far inside the house when I turn it on. No weirdness tonight on the return home, even though that was 1000 miles away from its last use too.

I'm planning to get in a short run tomorrow, then do 8 on Sunday. Since I still don't know the work schedule next week, I may front-load the week's running to have as little conflict as possible with the commute, if and when it starts.

Slow, sweat-soaked, miserable miles tonight. It was 95 this afternoon when I mowed the yard, and didn't feel a whole lot cooler at 8:30 when I started the run. Tried to keep the HR below 140 and couldn't do it. Anything remotely resembling a run or jog took the rate over 140. I wound up with 138 average, but that was due to it being dragged down in the first half mile; once I headed up the hill on Fleming, the HR zoomed. Oh well. That's what HI of 93+ will do.

Finished July with 87 miles and change, and the YTD is at 997. Should go over 1000 tomorrow if I can drag myself out for the planned 8. Goal for August is at least 125, even following the modified Hudson slacker plan. Need to start running at dawn, in part because it's so darn hot and in part to get used to the early wake-up the new job will require.