Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

68F, 68%.  Back running after about a week off...ugh.  Ok, goal for this week is to run 4 of the next five days.  Then 6 of 7 days next week, still whatever paces I feel like.  Then, if I can do that, back to some base-building workouts and running every day.  The move is complete (except for a lot of unpacking), I'm fat, and out of excuses.

The run today actually felt great, probably thanks to crazy, unseasonably low temps and low humidity.  Tomorrow it's supposed to be the same way.  Good way to kick off my get-back-on-the-wagon campaign.

73F, 42%.  7:21 AP.  Almost desert-like low humidity made for another good run today.  Finished at or near AT for the last few miles.

We live just outside the city limits on the west side of San Antonio.  Some observations about running from the new neighborhood:

- I have to get on Potranco (busy 2-lane road) to get anywhere.  Fortunately there is a nice fat shoulder for most of it and I can use little neighborhoods to skip some sections.  Coughing up a lot of exhaust; I was spoiled running out in the country in OK.

-The closest place to poop is 3.5 miles away.  Every runner needs to know where they can briefly pull down their shorts if need be.

-The closest track is 6.5 miles away, which means that unless I'm doing a LR/BW, I have to drive to the track...boo.

Overall, it should work out fine; I just have to adjust a little.

71F, 90%.  8:36 AP.

79F, 80%.  Low 8's.  Still sweating, warm morning.  No running this past weekend...because I suck.

77F, 89%.  7:49 AP.  Sticky.  Finished with a 6:48, basically my MP from Boston.  Today it was probably 5k effort...yeesh.  Had to take advantage of my special spot, 3.5 miles away.  It went pretty well, I think.

76F, 91%.  8:28 AP.  tough plod today.

75F, 79%.  7:25 AP.  Another...sigh...3 days of no running.  So I put on the fast shoes, took a caffeine pill to see if I could at least artificially get the legs moving faster.  Got my butt up (somewhat) early to take advantage of a decent running day (considering it's mid-July in south central Texas).

7 easy then 3 tempo @ 6:41 AP (6:48, 6:48, 6:27).  Actually, better than I expected and probably better than I deserved.  It would have been faster but my leg muscles have attrited "due to a period of extreme inactivity."  It's the summer of Joe!

77F, 77%.  8:35 AP.  Legs tired from yesterday.  But when you only run 20-30 miles a week, just going up stairs makes your legs tired.

75F, 95%.  8:10 AP.  (8 miles)

PM: A PM run!  82F, 70%.  Decided to head out in the evening for a quick 3-miler since some rainfall cooled everything off nicely.  It was pretty quick, too, just a bit over 20 min.  The truth is I probably won't run tomorrow, so kinda needed this extra run if I'm ever going to get back in shape.

74F, 96%.  7:48 AP.  Kind of a slog.  When we lived in Elgin, my summer limit was 12 miles without taking any liquids along, but I think here it'll be 10; I was kinda thirsty despite chugging 20 oz before I left.

Pretty decent week so far, by my recent (low) standards.  Maybe I can turn things around...

74F, 98%.  8:32 AP.  Another run!

yeah, I didn't run today....bad slowjoe.

BUT, I'm headed to a group run in the morning - something I found online.  Maybe I can find a training partner here, now that I'm in a good-sized city.  Someone should invent runner's classified ads where you can list your paces and what your training for.

76F, 91%.  7:26 AP.  Met a big group of people at a trailhead at 6:30.  I kind of struck out trying to find someone to run with - they had a run/walk group and a couple people going 9-10 min pace.  I was all hopped up on caffeine, so it would've been hard to run that slow.

The trail was awesome though.  Leon Creek Greenway runs through the city, kind of along a creek.  Lots of deer and bunny rabbits out.  It was also a LOT flatter than it is by my house.  We started upstream and ran down, lost about 150' on the way out; next time I will start downstream (I hate uphill finishes) but this was very gradual so not bad at all.  Might be my new weekend running place.  It would be great for workouts too, as it's marked every quarter mile.

77F, 94%.  5 nice D-ASS miles around the neighborhood this morning.  9-min pace or so.

78F, 81%.  8:28 AP.  I couldn't have gone much faster if I'd tried.  A sloppy, sloggy kind of morning.  But I ran..

77F, 92%.  8:00 AP.  8 minute miles = moderate pace these days.

I ran these all in the neighborhood.  I think I actually liked it better than dealing with Potranco Rd.  I thought I might have found some secret trails behind the neighborhood on satellite (yet to be developed property), but you don't get too far before hitting the barbed wire.  Oh well.

Plan is to go (drive) to the track on Thursday or Friday.  Just for some 200s, and really to see if it's even open.  If it's not, I'm going to find a way in anyway.

76F, 93%.  8:21 AP.  More in the neighborhood.  I saw a couple deer just standing in someone's front yard.  As I ran by they just stared at me.  I don't think they're too happy with the urban sprawl.

5 days in a row!  This is a lot to me now, which prompted me to go look at my streak from before Boston.  86 in a row.  Almost there...

76F, 90%.  I....drove....to the track today for some 200s.  It was actually open, and no one was there to bug me.

2 mile warmup, then 3 x (6 x 200 on/off) with 2 easy laps between sets.  I forgot to bring my watch (which happens a lot when I have to drive somewhere to run) but it was probably a good thing, as I could go by effort.  Wanted to quit after the second set, and almost did, but after a couple easy laps I felt ok, rolled my eyes, and begrudgingly did the 3rd set.  It was actually kind of comforting having my truck right there, knowing I could just quit if it got too hard.  Might be a bad thing later on, but today it helped me do the 3rd set.  I'm just waaay outa shape, and the stale air felt like a warm blanket wrapping me up, which is not the feeling I was going for.

But, it's in the books...good little starter workout.

75F, 73%.  7:43 AP.  Ran on the Leon Creek Greenway again.  I got lost a couple times but finally just ran IN the creek itself (it's dry) until I could spot the main trail again.  It felt a little cooler today, but I couldn't get going for anything (feeble, feeble progression attempt on the way back).  Maybe because of the speed from Friday, since my legs are not used to doing any kind of work.  I mentally caved pretty quickly as well.

Skipped yesterday, but this makes for 6 runs this week, so things are at least moving in the right direction.

79F, 78%.  8:42 AP.  first mile 9:31....I hate Mondays.

77F, 89%.  Easy warmup, then 6 x 8 second hill blasts with walking recoveries.  Then some D-ASS miles for cooldown.  The good news is there is no shortage of hills here.  The bad news is there is a severe shortage of flat terrain.

73F, 93%.  8:18 AP.  Felt sluggish.  It did, however, feel a bit cooler this morning.  Sad that I can tell a difference of just a couple degrees.