Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

AM:  75F, 89%.  7 mi total.  Good ol' 5 x 800m @ 3k, 2 min rest today.  I did well, averaging 2:46.6 (2:46.1, 46.8, 47.2, 46.5, 46.2).  No heroic finish today, just a good consistent effort.  Last time I did this, the temp and DP were 7-8 degrees lower and I averaged 2:42.7.  Obviously the heat doesn't screw with you quite as much on shorter intervals, but I'd still say today's effort was equal in quality since this was officially in The Death Zone.

PM:  4 on the TM with a hill sprint session.  I did 4 x 30s @ 6%/10.5 mph and 3 x 30s @ 10%/9.5 mph.  Kind of comical, especially on the last 3.  First, I had to increase the incline 20 seconds early so it would reach the right angle by the time I was ready.  Then the speed took another 10 seconds or so.  Then I'd go at it for about 20 seconds with the speed and incline up.  Then came the hard part - holding down the buttons and getting back down to 0%/7.0.  That took another 20 seconds.  Sure makes the time fly by though!

AM:  75F, 85%. 6 @ 8:21 AP.

AM2:  4 on the TM, with 4 x 1/4 mile pickups @ HMP.

AM:  73F, 84%.  8 @ 7:56 AP.  Good running day, we climbed out of TDZ!  DP was only 68 which felt great.  Weirdly, they were having a race on Leon Creek again.  At 6:30am on a Thursday.  Saw about 10 people with bibs running it.  I even got some cheers as I ran by the aid stations.  Reminded me of the time I ran through the MCM satellite at good ol' Camp Victory.

For my run today, I just drafted behind the 8-minute guy most of the way, and then dropped him at the end.  I know, kind of a dick move, but he's been lording his speed over me all summer.

PM:  4 TM miles, same as yesterday.  HMP workout tomorrow - should be a non-death-zone day again (fingers crossed) so I'll take a shot at it outside on the track.

72F, 81%.  All week, I had my eye on the weather forecasts for this morning.  A low DP (66 or so) and very low temps for July.  So I did an LT workout at the track, 4 x 2400, 1 lap active recovery.  I hit the lap button every 800 for pace feedback.

9:21 (3:05, 3:09, 3:07)

9:27 (3:09, 3:09, 3:09)

9:22 (3:07, 3:07, 3:08)

9:12 (3:05, 3:06, 3:01)

Works out to about 6:15/mile when you average it all up.  Much better than I expected.  I did this workout about 6 weeks ago and went 6:20/mile under similar conditions, maybe even easier conditions.  At my peak HM shape, before my PR back in January, I would've been pleased with this pace had it been 45 degrees outside.  So to be able to pull this off in the 70s is a pretty good sign that I'm more fit than a 1:22 (under ideal conditions).  Don't want to get too far ahead of myself but I think I might have a legit shot at sub-80 this fall if I can keep up the consistent training this time.

Happy 4th, all!

Cleaning up firework debris with a hangover....a semi-annual tradition.

73F, 89%.  Forgot to look at the AP but it was definitely over 8.  Headed to Padre Island for a few days for some beach fun!

80F, 85%.  8:17 AP.  Nice sunrise run on Padre Island.  This would be a tough place to be a runner - I wonder if this is what it's like to be Tom K...

82F, 85%.  Just a 30 min run before everyone got up.  Got a little too much sun yesterday; I should've reapplied the sunscreen a bit more!  Danielle had some kind of allergic reaction to sunscreen.  We used to love the beach when I was stationed in Pensacola...10 years ago.  Now I guess we're old and having all kinds of issues.  The good news is the kids are having the time of their life.

80F, 90%.  8:34 AP.  About 2/3 of this was on the beach, where vehicular traffic had packed the sand down a bit.  Once I got to the part of the beach that said "4x4 recommended," I turned around.  I guess I'm a 2-wheel drive runner.

Driving back home today.  I'm impressed with myself for running all 3 mornings on our mini-vacation, even if they were dinky little runs.  Exceeded my expectations by 300%.

AM:  73F, 85%.  8 @ 7:41 AP.  Back to the grind in the frigid San Antonio air.  Passed a guy on the trail who appeared to be wearing jorts, a hydration belt and tube socks.  I had "YMCA" in my head for the rest of the run.

PM:  4 TM miles, 7 x 45s strides from 3k pace down to 1-mile pace.

AM:  73F, 85%.  7 mi total.  Ahhhh, workout fail today.  This was attempt #2 at a 2 + 4x1 @ 10k.  The last attempt was also a fail and I swore I'd move the workout to the nice climate controlled gym, but with the DP only at 68 this morning, I went to the track.  After the 3rd lap, I was already falling off pace so switched it to 6 x 1.  After a 6:12, the next rep was 6:18 and took an incredible amount of effort.  I actually did several cartoon-like double takes as I'd check my splits every lap..."wait, whaAAT?"  Wow, I ran so much better just 1 week ago; conditions were a little tougher today but still reasonable.  Anyway, pulled the plug, broke into a walk, then did my standard jog of shame: sad, right-hand circles in lane 8.  Might do a mini-workout on the TM this afternoon.

PM:  mini-workout on the TM, 5 mi total.  2 mi w/u, then 4 x (.25 @ LT,  .25 @ 5k-3k,  .25 ez).   I used 9.7 for LT, 10.5/10.6/10.7/10.8 for the 5k-3k, and 7.0 for ez.  If you understood all that, you are a running nerd.

74F, 84%.  9:03 AP.  Behind the 9-minute guy today - he has a pony tail now.

73F, 89%.  7:19 AP.  I'd forgotten that I'd turned off auto lap on garmin and when I started to pick up the pace at the turnaround, I could not seem to drop my pace.  I was almost sprinting and the watch was still showing 7:35 or so.  I was convinced, for an embarrassingly long period of time, that there was some kind of mechanical issue with my stride until I finally realized it was showing AP for the whole run, not for the current mile, as I usually have it set.  Stupid human moment...

Off to Sea World / Aquatica (again) with the kids for the next 10 hours or so.  God help me.

AM:  75F, 78%.  5 @ 8:36 AP.

PM:  4 TM miles, including 6 x 1 min on/off @ 5k.  Legs feel cruddy, so I'm taking an extra easy day instead of a workout tomorrow.  I guess being out in the heat for 11 hours at a theme park doesn't aid in recovery.

AM:  75F, 79%.  8 @ 7:50 AP.  People on the trail seemed friendlier today.  The Lorax waved AND dinged his bell for me.

PM:  4 on the TM w/some shorter 5k strides.  My first full-up treadmill workout is tomorrow morning.  Dreading it, but gotta do it or I'll probably be posting another workout fail.

AM:  Cool and dry inside the gym.  8 mi total.  On the TM today, I did 5 x 0.75 mi @ 5k, with 0.25 mi recoveries.  3 mile w/u, then I started the reps, going a little faster each time (10.0, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, then 10.5 w/ last quarter @ 11.0).  So, a 4:30 (6:00 pace) for the first rep, down to a 4:13 (5:38 pace) for the last rep (AP for all reps was 5:49).  I did the recoveries at 6.7 mph, about 9-min pace.

I was working pretty hard, don't get me wrong, but I just didn't get that wasted, lung-burned feeling like you do after a brutal track session.  I guess it is like having a 10 mph tailwind the whole time though.  Kind of unsatisfying...it's just not quite the same.  But pulling the plug on the second rep outside on the track would've been much more unsatisfying, so I'll take this any day.

PM:  4 on the TM with some short, hard uphill efforts.

AM:  77F, 83%.  6 @ 8:40 AP.  

PM:  4 slow TM miles with some lazy pickups to MP.  My legs are a little tired, which is good.  The TM workout yesterday did something.

AM: 72F, 97%.  5 @ 8:40 AP.  Muddy trail after some rain.  Scared off all the cyclists, which was nice.

PM: managed to squeeze in 4 during lunch.

67F, 93%.  7:15 AP.  In Longview, TX for this one, visiting family.  Really lucked out and got a very atypical mid-July morning (due to some rain), even for Longview which is a lot farther north than SA.  Perfect opportunity for 8 @ AT.  I did ok, I guess, averaging 6:46 (6:53, 6:47, 6:45, 6:54, 6:50, 6:41, 6:39, 6:39).  I think with temps in the 60s, I expected a jet engine to sprout from my butt, but that didn't happen -- it was actually pretty tough to move the needle much today.  I did unwittingly pick a hilly course and ended up clomping through a lot of tall grass on a shoulder-less Farm To Market road that somehow had an incredible amount of traffic for the 6 o'clock hour on Saturday morning in the middle of nowhere...  Anyway, I'll take it.  I needed to check the box on a solid long tempo, as it had been awhile.

68F, 95%.  7:50 AP.  Last run in magically-cool NE TX, headed back home today.  Nice run from the trailhead down to Pleasure Palace and back.  No CSI team there this time.

Recovery runs are always a little faster in the Type A's.  

AM:  77F, 88%.  7 @ 7:47 AP.  Back to the grind.

PM:  4 on the TM, with some 3k strides.  Felt good today, powered by Carl's Jr.

Hit 71 miles last week, highest since March....of 2013.  

AM: 76F, 87%.  7 mi. total.  Today was ol' reliable 5 x 800m @ 3k, 2 min rest.  For some reason, it's the only workout I've been consistent with all summer - maybe it's just not that hard to do.  Anyway, another success today, averaging 2:45.2 (2:46.4, 2:46.1, 2:44.8, 2:46.8, 2:42.0).  The nice thing is I've built a little history now, for comparison's sake.

I almost think today might have been the highest quality of the four, given the temp.  Either way, it was definitely in the sweet spot.

PM:  4 on the TM, with a pu pu platter of different pickups (sorry, I had Chinese buffet for lunch).  Incidentally, if your buffet behavior is anything like mine, it takes more than 3 hours of buffet recovery time before you should attempt a run...ugh.

AM:  73F, 90%.  6 @ 8:43 AP.  Ran the other way on the trail today.  Gotta keep the terrorists guessing.

PM:  4 TM miles, with a mile's worth of  LT pickups.

AM:  78F, 73%.  7:50 AP.  Snub day today.  I was probably at an 80% snub rate when I gave up and stopped saying "good morning" to people.  Girl That Looks At Me With Contempt For No Reason was back after a hiatus, and had two friends with her today, who also snubbed me.  Finally the Lorax came riding by and gave me a ding and a wave.  

I also have a new nemesis, Shirtless College Kid.  We always pass each other going opposite directions, and after snubbing me, he waits a second, turns around, and mows me down.  Of course this is always in mile 1 or 2 so I'm powerless to respond.  One of these days I'm going to be warmed up and feeling competitive and there will be a showdown.  With my luck he's probably on the XC team at UTSA or something and will defeat me easily, at which point I'll be forced to commit seppuku out of shame, but I've had a good run.

PM:  4 more, same drill as yesterday.  Workout tomorrow.

LT day, but too warm for that kind of workout, so I took my medicine and went to the treadmills.  3 miles w/u, then a 6 x 1 w/quarter-mile recoveries.  My plan was to start at HMP (9.5 mph) and work it down to 10 mph for the last one, but the legs felt a little heavy today so I scaled back the paces a bit once I got to the 4th rep, to make sure I could finish it.  Splits ended up being 6:19, 6:15, 6:11, 6:11, 6:19, 6:04.  Avg rep was 6:13.  Recoveries were all 2:14 (6.7 mph).  I've had better days, for sure, but I was pretty beat after finishing so I think this did the trick.  Cooled down until I hit 11 total.

75F, 88%.  7:30 AP.  I almost got hit by a guy on a bike wearing a pirate eye patch who was swerving along the trail.  You can't make this stuff up.  Good 90-minute run followed by 90 minutes of yardwork.

AM:  75F, 85%.  6.5 @ 8:44 AP.  Might not have time for the PM 4-miler today, so I added a half mile to this run.  That oughta do the trick.

AM2:  fit it in, yesssss!  4 mi

AM:  73F, 74%.  7.5 @ 7:22 AP.  Really cool and dry today, felt great.  I was going to do 400s today, but my left butt muscles are sore, from bowling.  Yeah, you heard me.

PM:  0 miles @ 4:00 pace.

AM:  72F, 76%.  Continuation of the cool, dry air.  My butt is still sore, but I decided to give the 400s a go, as I'd missed the last couple go-rounds of this workout for various reasons, and this is a fun workout.  So 8 x 400 @ mile pace, 90 sec rest.  I knew my workout PR from May was 75.8 and probably raced it a bit today, usually not a good thing.  Today I averaged 75.1, but with a lot more effort.  Splits were 75.5, 73.9, 74.3, 75.6, 74.9, 76.6, 74.5, 75.1.  I bit off slightly more than I could chew in the 2nd and 3rd reps and had to make a heroic effort at the end to maintain 75s, but it worked out.  Usually on these, I can run the first 200 without hurting and then have to really focus the second 200.  By the 6th rep, I was hurting after 100m.  Good results though.

AM2:  seized the opportunity for a double this morning after striking out yesterday.  4 mi w/ a few pickups to 10k pace.

AM:  78F, 81%.  6.4 @ 9:13 AP.  I went exploring a little today, on the mountain bike trails along the greenway.  Some of it was perfect hard-packed dirt, and some of it was a lot more than I bargained for, but still a nice change from the same ol' same ol'.

PM:  4.6 on the TM with different strides.  Found an awesome hole-in-the-wall Mexican food place for lunch - $4.99 and it was awesome.  After living here a year, I've found the trick is to stick your head inside and make sure there are no white people inside.  It's a bonus if no one is speaking English.  Anyway, I bring this up because the charro beans were amazing, but quite the troublemakers once I hit the TM, and there was nothing I could do to protect the people next to me once I started speeding up for strides.  Sorry people!

heres my monthly chart - holding steady!