Getting back to Boston

Slow, achy, muggy, streak preservation miles. Now headed for KC for futbol.

Streak ended Saturday; KC trip wore me out too much and I slept too long. Didn't worry about it much because I knew I was going to go long this morning. I did 18 starting at 5:40ish. Finished before 9 even with pitstops, water breaks, etc. It was warm enough as it was, pushing into upper 70s by the finish, I'm glad I didn't wait until 7:30 or 8. Last four miles were a bit of a struggle but maintained something around 10:00 pace anyway.

Nice and slow with Kathy and Jill at Wells Lake. Stoopid humid, no breeze, lots of sun. Bleah.

Too tired to run after work, dentist appointment at 1 and the need to do speed work sent me to the gym at 5:30. Once again I'm reminded that treadmill work needs a controlled environment -- thermostat on low, fan in my face and running shirtless. None of those three were the case, and I had a very hard time doing 5 miles at MP. It reminded me of that 5K at Hope last year that was so miserable. Got it done, though, and got cleaned up in time to clock in at 6:59. Then went home to ditch the sopping clothes and get fresh ones in case an overnight run presented itself. But I'm running with Jill again at 8 so I'll have time to change and maybe even eat something. And the dental work is done for a few months until insurance can be tweaked.

Slow progression after work with Jill and David. Took about four miles to get loose after last night's tempo run. Warm and humid but some breeze and shade helped.

Billats through the soup at SHS. Just hideously hot and humid even at 7:30. Southside came out for football practice while I was torturing myself. I think they thought I was nuts. They're right. Struggled to do 16 reps this time. Lungs burning, etc. Bleah.

Hard progression run on the treadmill after work. Started at 9:05 pace; by the end I was at 7:30 pace. Then I went home and crashed. Hard. This built my confidence. I felt strong at BQ16 pace, and BQ15 pace, and beyond.

Enormously stressful night at work. At 6:30 I was reasonably sure I'd go home and crash. Then the last cup of coffee kicked in. So I went downstairs and hit the treadmill for 97 minutes of stress management at sub-9:30 pace. It worked. I might have even felt some endorphins. Then I went home and crashed for eight hours, hard. Tonight's the "supermoon" so it might be even worse.

2 a.m. treadmill run on a (blissfully) slow night at work so far, thanks to Liza taking the pager. Steady 10:00 pace, interrupted by the 60:00 limit. Actually I'd just planned to do 6 anyway, but decided to reload for another 10 minutes since I felt pretty good. Now I can readjust to daylight hours today without having to fit a run into the mix.

Up at the crack o' chickens for 4.5 with the gang, then kept going for another 2+ hours. Legs felt pretty heavy but was still able to hold low-9 pace for the last few miles, when I wasn't giving in to the walk monster. All in all a decent run. With a month and a day to go, I needed a decent long run, and I did it on pretty tired legs (10 on Sunday, 7 yesterday).

Crack o' chickens run through south FS with Sheri and James. I was sore and they were leaving me, at least until the last two miles. Just got it done. Then left for Bryant at 6 a.m. after showering.

Good strong progression this morning from the schoolhouse. Took it easy for the first 4 except for the big downhills. Picked it up on the uphill on the bike trail and kept past the school, around the lake, down Free and Veterans and Custer to Chad Colley, then capped it off with hill sprints on Massard. Amazing what a good night's sleep did for me.

Tried to do 8-10 Yasso 800s today. Didn't have it, and felt a twinge in my left thigh, so I shut it down after four reps. Still wound up as a 7 mile workout and the four reps I did were at the proper speed, so I think it will be of benefit. Maybe I'll try again next week.

Trespassed on I-49 for a while this morning, then I dropped the hammer after we got off the freeway. Felt pretty good after the first two miles. Last mile and a quarter was at MP.

Kept it slow in stifling humidity. The rest of the group did 10; I diverted through the park and wished I hadn't when I bonked at around 10 miles. This wrapped up a 68 mile week, not bad for a gray-haired old goat.

Progression run on the treadmill at work, pretty comfortable. Did 4.8 before midnight , 5.2 after. Down to MP for the last 400 at the end. We'll see if I get to run at work Wednesday night.

Progression run on the mill, 4.8 before midnight, 5.2 after with the last 400 at MP. Felt pretty comfortable. We'll see if I can get on the mill tonight.

Steady state run on the mill at work. Well, sorta steady state. First five miles at 7:53 pace, next 1.22 at 7:30 pace to get through 10K in 48ish, then cooled down until the mill shut down at one hour. Total of exactly 7.4. Going straight to MP from a dead stop was a bit tricky, but I managed and settled in pretty well after the first two miles. Hopefully the downhill and a tiny warmup in Utah will get me into the 7:50s more comfortably than tonight with no warmup and semi-tired legs. Now I'm supposed to do an easy 6 with Kathy in the morning. VERY easy.

Slow yucky outdoor run with Joel, Kathy and David after work. Tired, sore and blah.

On the treadmill after work. Averaged sub-9 for the first 6, then cranked it up to 7.6 for a couple of miles and finished at 7.9 mph. Overall did 10 miles in 1:25:xx. Felt pretty good really, considering lack of sleep. Sweat was flying thought. Heart rate seemed to be around 130 at the finish, the 120s otherwise. Although the data from the HRM makes no sense upon download...

After essentially sleeping through Monday, hit the mill before my half-shift at work tonight. Cruised 6.5 then put it at 7.6 for the last half mile. Gonna try to get up at 4 and run with Kathy then get another few hours sleep before going to Bentonville and/or working on my CME stuff. But we'll see how running on three hours of sleep goes.

Warm. Humid. Steamy. Slow. Crampy. Other than that, this morning's run went fine. Actually it wasn't that slow. Kathy got to jabbering again and as usual was going sub-9 while her mouth was in gear. We slowed down a bunch when she peeled off and went back to her house. Then I got GI cramps at 7.2 and had to walk for about 0.2 while they subsided, then picked back up and finished the run. Not fun. Still kinda crampy in fact. And I haven't been to sleep yet after working until midnight. I'm about to go correct that.

Another losing battle with the humidity. Not what I hoped for, but what I expected. This is the third time I've run this race and the third different course I've seen. This one was a 1.86-mile loop around the tennis center at Burns Park; we did a lap and a half and finished on the back side. Downhill finish, fortunately, but more undulations than I wanted to deal with. Mile 2 was rough. I was trying to at least keep Cortney in sight ahead of me and eventually failed. Just struggled through the best I could. If you'd asked me for a prerace prediction I would have guessed around 24 and hoped for 22, and the guess would have been correct. Still got 6th AG, but then there were only 8 in my group. Bleah. And a 62-year-old guy beat me. Double bleah. Hoping I'll do a little better than that when GP points are handed out tomorrow. If I'd run goal/PR I'd have gotten 2nd AG and probably top 55 overall.

I just have to hope that my body will respond when the temperatures and the humidity are both below 50 in Utah. It was overcast and there was a tiny bit of breeze which made it slightly less intolerable, but everybody seemed to be suffering with the humidity.

Two hours on the treadmill, pretty hard. Cranked it to MP at the start of the second hour and kept it there for 58 minutes, and felt really comfortable. I attribute it to having slept well last night/this morning; I shouldn't have been able to bust an MP run 34 hours after a hard 5K but I did. Of course, the lack of sleep and humidity meant the 5K wasn't as hard as it could have been. Wound up August with 215 miles, not quite what I wanted but not bad. If I did 215 miles every month I'd break my annual mileage record. Maybe that's a goal for 2016...