Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

77F, S 14 mph.  8:40 AP.  No wall of wind to fight through today, kind of nice.

70F, SSE 9 mph.  Relative to the last few days, a great morning to run.

Today the plan was 6 x 400m with 400m active recovery to introduce myself to interval training.  It was probably the right number of repeats to start out with, and I ended up getting 2 minutes rest between each set which is nice when it's hot outside.  I set the watch to 0.25 mile laps today (I guess they were 402m repeats), kind of annoying having it beep every 2 minutes, but I think it was the easiest way to go. 

First, a 10 mile warmup @ 8:11 AP.

Then the 400s with rest interval in parenthesis 1:31, (1:58), 1:32, (1:58), 1:30, (1:59), 1:28, (1:56), 1:27, (1:55), 1:27, (1:58).

Then a mile cooldown in 8:05.  Overall AP for 14 miles was 7:54.

I was initially shooting for 5k pace on the repeats and ended up doing a little better.  Next time I'll probably try 8 repeats and slow down the recovery jogs.  On the way home I ran through a cloud of gnats and had about 20 of them stuck to my torso when I finished.  What a horrible way to die, drowning in someone's sweat.  Well, that's what they get for hanging out on my route.

67F, low wind.  Wasted this nice, cool morning doing a recovery run (8:33 AP) which my legs needed from yesterday.  Oh well.

Funny picture from our little vacation last week.  The day after Sea World we went on a drive-thru safari and the zebras were very agressive.

I finally decided to dive away from the zebras when one of them stuck its head in the car and ate the entire bag of food, including the bag.

70F, SSE 12 mph. General aerobic run, 7:53 AP. Felt pretty strong today. Long run tomorrow.

71F, low wind.  Maybe the worst of the wind season is over.  It still blows like crazy in the afternoon but the mornings have been nice the past few days.

At 17 miles, this was my longest run since OKC.  I don't see myself trying to go any longer than this during the summer off-season, there's probably no need.  AP was 7:57 today.  Ended up being a progressive run (I started at 4:30am so the first few miles were ugly).  First half was 8:19 AP, second half was 7:35 AP.

Highlights were seeing my first live skunk (after having seen a few dozen carcasses) and having a dog charge through a hay field toward me.  It was dark with no moon when it happened, and I could hear the rustling quickly getting closer and sorta see the disturbed grass on a course to intercept me.  I was hoping it wasn't a coyote but I got ready and out pops this little 10-pound dog yapping at me.

76F, S 12 mph.  7:55 AP.  Fartlek on the way home with 8 x pickups ranging from about 75m - 200m in distance.

In the winter, the weather here can be somewhat unpredictable.  In the summer, not so much...

76F S 15-21 mph.  8:36 AP.

Danielle obtained an old set of Insanity DVDs from someone and we did Day 1 last night.  Let's just say I'm not looking forward to the rest of the workouts.

78F, S 17-27 mph.  So last night Danielle and I did day 2 of Insanity - cardio plyometrics or some crap like that.  Ouch.  Anyway, I realized after we were done as I wobbled over to get some more water that my 15-miler was only 8-9 hours away.  So I'd tentatively planned to do 6 x 800m @ 5K pace this morning but after the first mile I cancelled that plan and decided to just survive the run.  I ended up doing an 8:09 AP, no fast finish, no intervals, just a heavy-legged solid aerobic effort.

It's possible that increasing my mileage + introducing speedwork + Insanity might be asking for trouble, so I think I'll just do a few fast finishes here and there when I feel good and not worry too much about speed while I'm building this nice fat mileage base.

77F, S 12 mph.  8:59 AP.  More Insanity last night; I needed a nice easy day like this.

79F S 14-23 mph.  8:14 AP.  Got started a little later than usual.  When I finished I could've sworn it was 90 degrees out but I checked and it was only 81.  I'm doing a race Friday evening (3-hour race) where it will actually be in the 90s so I'm probably in big trouble there...

Last night's Insanity workout was cardio recovery.  For a "recovery" it sure crushed my quads.

76F, S 15-24 mph.  We skipped Insanity last night so this was my first run in awhile without completely dead legs.  I figured I'd try a fast finish and do the last 4 miles tempo.  In cool weather I'd want 6:50-6:55/mile so I figured I'd be happy to keep the pace below 7:10 today.

First, 11 miles easy, 8:05 AP.

Then 4 fast, 6:56 AP (7:06, 6:59, 6:57, 6:41)

7:46 AP for all 15.

The effort level was probably a bit higher than a normal tempo run, but I was happy with the splits.  Probably would've keeled over if I had to do 1 more mile like that though.

76F, low wind.  Insanity last night was "pure cardio."  You know it's bad when all the fit-looking people in the video are dropping like flies.  This morning - recovery run, 5 @ 8:54 AP.

There's a race here Friday evening (9pm-midnight): run as many 1-mile laps as you can in 3 hours.  The problem is that the high is 105 on Friday, meaning it will still be close to 100 when the race starts, and maybe low-90s by race finish at midnight.  I thought it was a cool concept but not sure about those temps.  May just enter anyway and go for 21 miles (8:34 pace).  Anything faster seems dangerous; actually 8:34 may even be asking a lot, I really have no idea when it gets that hot.

76F, S 20 mph.  7:53 AP.  Legs had some pep today for some reason, kind of a mystery since we did Insanity plyometrics last night.

Now for a 2-day taper for my race on Friday night.  Although I'm not sure I should be calling it a race.  Survival contest, maybe.  On the plus side, the high is now only forecasted to be 103 on Friday so might get mid-90s to start.

78F, SSE 17 mph.  7:51 AP.

High on Friday now 106.  Not sure why I care though; what's the difference whether the "race" starts at 95F or 98F?

79F, 17-27 mph.  8:33 avg.  Race pace for tomorrow?  Anyway, looks like it'll be solidly in the 90s for the race tomorrow.  Start about 98, finish around 91.  I thought of a great idea as I finished up this run - I should have done training runs in the heat.  Timely thinking, SlowJoe...

100F, S 13 mph. When I got in my car to go to the race at 8pm, it was 104, but apparently just a nice cool 100 for the 9pm start.

This race had 3 and 6 hour options. There were maybe 60 people total, with the majority probably doing 3 hours but the 6 hour race had quite a few too -- lots of Marathon Maniacs came out for a rare Friday marathon. There was a 1-mile course (which was refreshingly accurate by my Garmin) and the goal was to complete as many laps as you could.

The big question mark for me was how do I pace myself in 100-degree heat? I mean, I knew it would be a lot slower than MP, but how much - 30 seconds, a minute, 90 seconds? My battle was trying to feel out a pace that wouldn't kill me, but still not waste too much time.

Miles 1-7: 8:19, 8:19, 8:23, 8:15, 8:27, 8:15, 8:13.

9:00 pace

I took a look at the detailed results of the race (when our stupid internet finally came back) and learned a couple things.  I was only a minute behind Ironman after mile 22, and he slowed down a lot after that.  The other guy who I thought was in front, actually wasn't (although he still did the 6-hour race too, and won).  I passed him in the last lap.  I remember doing it too, but he was going so slow I thought it wasn't him.  So it makes me feel a little better that they both slowed down a ton after 3 hours.  Still can't imagine going another 14 miles after I finished though...wow.

78F, S 24-36 mph.  8:33 avg.  The headwind sections were kind of funny, really ground to a halt.  This week is a scale-back week with mileage in the 40s, then back to building up again.

69F, low wind.  A big storm came in last night and dropped a much-needed 1 inch of rain--it's the most we've had since April.  That made for an awesome cool morning.

We did Insanity last night after 4 days off so my legs were a bit tired but the cool weather cancelled it out and I ran a nice 7:53 AP.  I almost wore a shirt today; turns out I should've because it was a bad bug day - I had at least a hundred gnats stuck to me after the run (new PR).

69F, low wind - a repeat of yesterday.  I think the cool weather may be coming to an end soon, though.  Today, just built aerobic base, 7:59 AP.

72F, low wind.  Another really nice morning.  7:50 AP.

I tested out the Kinvaras today - I'm trying to find a lightweight, every day shoe in which I can eventually run a marathon; I'd read nothing but good things about this shoe (and derhammer obviously is a fan) so I tried em (father's day present!) and I was pretty happy with them.  Weight-wise, they are only supposed to be worth 5 sec/mile if you believe the rule-of-thumb that's out there.  Seems like they will be good for a lot more than that (I kept looking at my watch expecting the normal 8:00-8:15 and seeing 7:40s), but I'm guessing a lot of that is mental -- kinda felt like I was just gliding along.  Another factor might have been the easier "cardio recovery" Insanity workout last night, which isn't as exhausting.  Comfort-wise, they felt as nice as my trainers.  I'll wait a few days and see if I get the achilles soreness (it has taken awhile to show up when I've run in flats before) then try again. 

74F, S 10 mph.

No Insanity workout last night as I got home from work around 10pm, which is bedtime for me.  7:44 avg for the run, which was a progressive finish.  Last 5 were 7:42, 7:34, 7:23, 7:16, 6:53.  Slight headwind on the last 3.  I was working pretty hard at the end, although in mile 11 I had to stop dead for 5 seconds (right before my only tough hill) and slide over to the deep grass as someone up ahead decided the shoulder was an appropriate lane to drive in.  I guess that's why I run against traffic.

Tomorrow will be a day off, my rest week is over and I think my legs have a bit more life in them now.  I hope to crush that life out of them over the next few weeks with some nice high mileage.

78F start, 80F finish, S 14-21 mph.  Direct sun for the last 9-10 miles made it a tough one, kind of an oven effect out there.

7:58 AP -- 8:14 pace out (+250 ft) and 7:42 pace back home (-250 ft).  Probably an even effort given the elevation change.  I ran the hilliest route I could find out here which is mostly dirt roads, so a nice challenge.

80F, SW 9-17 mph.  8:54 AP.  My schedule has moved around a bit - I'm taking Saturdays off to give Danielle the full morning for a long run.  Now my running week starts on Sunday (which makes it match up with the blog week) and the long run is the first run in my 6-day block.  Anyway, I expect some easy Mondays now!

80F, low wind, direct sun.  7:50 avg.  Went a little longer in the Kinvaras today - they still feel good.  I made a pathetic attempt at a couple tempo-paced miles on the way home, and pulled the plug pretty early in the second mile.  Some of the reason was laziness but it was tough to get going, maybe too hot for me to do any speed.  I am starting to think this is not even a heat wave anymore; it might just be the new reality for the next couple of months.  I'm still focused on base-building anyway, but I hate to see myself get lazy and never push myself.

79F, S 10 mph.  8:05 avg pace.  Really tired and slow to start out, but mostly high 7's on the way back.  Just some good slog-it-out miles...

Danielle and I just finished week 2 of Insanity last night (it only took 3 weeks), and it was a tough one -- Pure Cardio + Cardio Abs.  We'll get through the program eventually!

79F, S 10 mph.  8:47 AP.

Danielle found this article about the last race I was in, been meaning to post it...  Also, some good news - she was accepted in the Houston lotto, so we will both be doing the full in January.  Good stuff.