July 6th-12th Training

Monday: 11.3 miles (7:18).  Last run in South Carolina and met up with my old high school buddy Ben Jackson. I felt bad that I'm living large as a PE teacher and he's only an orthopedic surgeon now. I got lost on the way to meet him and lost again on the way back to the hotel, so it was some extra mileage, that I ended up needing. It was good to catch back up with him though.

Tuesday: 6 miles (7:20); 8.9 miles (6:45).

Wednesday: 6.8 miles with axed workout.  I was going to do 10 miles of 1/2 mile on/off at 5:05/5:25 pace.  I should have been smarter with the weather and at least started 5s a mile slower than that (upper 70s with a dp. in the lower 70s). My legs felt ok, I just couldn't get going at the right speed.  Was running a little slower and it was getting toasty, so I cut it just under two miles into the session.  Will try a modified workout tonight; 7.8 miles. I was going to do 6 miles of a mile at 5:00-5:05 and a mile at 5:20-5:25.  Quads felt like cinder blocks on the warm-up with Spencer (he was just doing mileage) and on the strides as well. It was also 85 degrees at 9pm.  I felt like a chump just running easy, but fast running wasn't happening. I blame spending over an hour taming my backyard jungle with my crappy push mower in the heat of the day.

Thursday: 6.4 miles (7:29); 10.6 miles (6:34)

Friday: 10.5 miles with a five mile progression in 25:37 (balanced splits of 5:13, 5:11, 5:09, 5:05, 4:59). I was going do something different, but last night, Dave Milner told me that Jake Hurysz (3:40, 13:38 guy who just graduated from Colorado) was in town and was looking for some tempo company, so I joined in. We didn't get started with the workout until about 8am and it was already 80/74 then.  Tempo was rusty the first mile or so and then things got much more relaxed with a little bit of a push the last mile.  Nice session, especially with some good company. But recent college grads make me feel old; 7.6 miles with 3x.30 mile hill (7:36). Met up with Nathan, who is a high schooler down the road from me.  He's a pretty decent runner (4:30ish mile) and has some raw talent, so I'm adding him to my somewhat consistent training partner stable, which is now up to two runners. I wanted a little bit of intensity to block up with this morning's workout since the intensity has been so low this week.  Nathan thought I was joking when I showed him the hill I was going to use, which joins Joey Elsakr's mocking he gave me a few months ago and even my wife laughed at me and she doesn't even run.  But it's real to me!  Anyway, Nathan hammered from the start and I couldn't let him whoop me. I ran 85, 84, 84, which is the fastest I've ever run on this hill and I was expecting to open around 90. Also had to show the kid who was the boss on the last one.

Saturday: 6.8 miles (7:44); 8.1 miles (7:16)

Sunday: 19.6 miles (6:44). My plan was to run the first 14 at sub 6:30 pace and then run five miles alternating a 1/4 at  sub 5:10 pace and sub 6:00 pace.  I could already feel the heat on my back a mile into the run but felt good when I hit home for my pit stop at 9.4.  I  quickly checked the weather on my phone and it was up to 83-76.  I was feeling good, so I kept with the plan and ran my first quarter on target.  After I was done, it felt like my skin was on fire and on my second fast quarter, I could tell I would probably spontaneously combust if I kept it up, so I planned to jog it in the rest of the way. After a water stop at 16ish, I really started to wilt in the heat.  Quickly was over 7:00 pace for the next mile and dropped an 8:02 next mile.  I wasn't thirsty or anything, I was just dead.  I tried walking a couple of times but that was more tiring and would take forever to make it back home.  Walked the last .40 miles in since I was running 9:00ish pace.  Wow, that was dramatic.

Week Total: 110.4 miles.  Volume wasn't bad but less intensity than expected with lots of adjustments, excuses and whining about the weather. But hey, the dew point didn't drop under 70 one time this past week and had a good workout on Friday and before this week, was having solid session. This upcoming week will probably be under 100 again as I'm travelling to visit my aunt and uncle for a couple of days in Rockford, IL and then headed to Chicago for two nights to run the RnR Half.  It's supposed to be hot and humid, so my main goal will be to go for the sub 67 bonus.  Sub 66 may be too tough if the weather is as hot as expected.

Less than three months until the Chicago Marathon. I feel good about where I currently am but there's a couple of things I need to work on before I'm ready for marathon training.