Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

AM:  76F/83% -> 82F/69%.  22 @ 8:20 AP.  Over 3 hours of fun - the last time I ran for 3 hours straight....well, you know...  For this one I made sure I ended up near my house around mile 17, and then did the rest in the neighborhood in case I bonked...really don't have time for a long walk of shame today, but fortunately I was able to trot through the whole thing.  Next up, my daughter's bday party!

PM:  93F.  Took the dog out for 3 in the neighborhood.  I did a progressive run: 10:09, 9:53, 9:24.  The dog did not get tired today.

AM:  71F, 83%.  8 @ 8:32 AP.  Recovery paces except for about a quarter mile when someone in the next neighborhood over didn't want to be passed.  I don't mind (and actually secretly enjoy) when people put up a fight, but not so much when I just ran 25 miles the day before.  It hurt a little but it proved my superiority which is the most important thing.

Picture from the birthday party yesterday:

PM:  4 slow miles on the home TM.  I'd forgotten what a hunk of crap that thing was - I'm used to the good ones at the gym at work...

AM:  74F, 83%.  10 @ 8:15 AP

PM:  5 on the TM, last 2 @ LT (~12:20s).

Supercompensation day 8 -- felt better today than I have since day 1..?

AM:  78F, 84%.  10 @ 8:44 AP.  Aaaaaaand, I'm tired again.  But I'll always have the memories of yesterday...

PM:  5 mile TM plod for my penultimate run in this block.  I've been waiting for 9 days to use the word penultimate.

AM:  78F, 86%.  15 @ 8:11 AP.  I set out to do 20 this morning but determined pretty early on that I would be cutting it short.  I decided to run the last 2 miles hard to make up for it (6:42, 6:18) but I'm definitely ok with 165 miles in 10 days.

So I don't know if this supercompensation theory is legit or not but at the very least, it's keeping my average volume up despite the fact that I won't be able to run for 4-5 days, so I don't have to feel bad about my upcoming period of extreme inactivity.  It also was good to train myself to plod around on legs that feel about twice as heavy as usual.  I often imagined myself in mile 40 of my upcoming ultra and wondered if that's how it would feel.  I bet it'll be much worse.

And I think I did it all without overtraining - still had normal energy at work, home, etc.  Another week of this and I think it would've been too much for me, as the sleep deficit grows bit by bit and today kinda showed me I didn't have the legs for much more either.  It would be interesting to try this in the winter and see if recovery is easier.

Alright - let the healing begin!

AM 6 / PM 4 on TM w/ 6 x 1 min @ 5k

AM 6 / PM 3 TM

AM 5 / PM 4 TM with 1 @ 5:50 and 1/4 @ 1:15

Been running for a few days, just not posting.  I'm trying to do better.  Lots going on, old demons returning, etc.  I'd be less cryptic but, you know, it's the innernet y'all.  Running helps pull me through my problems so at least there's that.  It's how I became fanatical about running in the first place, in 2009.  Of course it's a band-aid, not a cure, but you gotta stop the bleeding first.

What a weird post.  Don't worry, I'll go back to posting pictures of garbage, dry creeks and toxic ponds soon.

AM:  76F, 78%.  7 @ 8:06 AP.  felt pretty decent today, did a few more pickups.  Should be ready to start my 5k block next week.

76F, 81%.  16 @ 7:47 AP.  Last mile in 5:57 - most of the work in the last half mile.  The only good thing about running in my neighborhood, and I really mean the ONLY good thing, is that I can situate a run to have the last mile to my house about 60' net downhill.  I can also set it up to finish 80' uphill, but you know, I don't do that.

6 @ 8:36 AP.  Standard Sunday neighborhood construction trails.  

AM:  74F, 90%.  6 @ 8:22 AP.  I think I'm ready to hit the track tomorrow.  "Ready" is a relative term, but I'll just set the bar low and work into some 5k-ish effort.

PM:  4 TM w/ 6 x 1 min @ 5k

AM:  74F, 91%.  Dang.  I set out to do 8 x 800 @ 2:52, 400m rec.  That's 5k pace.  

1: 2:53 - am I usually this tired 1/8 of the way through a workout?

2: 2:54 - new goal: 8 reps below 2:55

3: 2:54 - new goal: 6 reps below 2:55

4: 2:56 - new goal: finish 6 reps

5: pulled the plug after 200m

Dang.  I knew it wouldn't be amazing but I was really hoping for a decent starting point to this block.  Dang.  The one silver lining is that I am 100% sure I am doing the right thing by shifting my focus to speed - I need it bad.

Probably going to do a penalty TM run this afternoon with some 1-min on/offs.

Dang.

PM:  5 on the TM with my punishment - 10 x 1 min on/off.  Kept increasing the speed until I was panting as hard as possible.

3 easy recovery days next, and then I gotta figure out how to do LT... Mile reps @ 7:30?

AM:  77F, 84%.  6 @ 8:54 AP.  hopped an armadillo.

PM:  92F, H/I: 99F.  4 @ 8:48 AP.  weekly heat plod...might need more of these if I keep tanking workouts.

AM:  78F, 89%.  6 @ 8:47 AP.  Nasty and sticky outside this morning but fortunately all I ever do is plod around now...even when I'm not trying to.  I did finally see some of the UTSA team out on the trail though...a harbinger of fall running maybe?

PM:  3 on the TM because I didn't think I had time for 4.  Then I got to my meeting 8-9 minutes early.  Timing fail, slowjoe.

AM:  72F, 88%.  6 @ 8:16 AP.  Did a few pitiful pickups to HMP, which is 5k effort.

PM:  83F, H/I 88F.  4 @ 8:45 AP.  Right after a way-too-big lunch, so this run tasted like stomach acid.  Buffet again.  Help me.

77F, 90%.  Went to the track this morning for the classic 4 x 2400m, w/ 400m active recovery.  To get through it, I decided to set the bar even lower - I would accept 10:00 per rep (6:40 pace).  Considering that back in peak shape days, I'd want to be around 9:00 per rep, this was conceeding a lot, but I'm accepting that I have to work with whatever the running gods have bestowed upon me.

Fortunately it wasn't quite that bad and I ended up averaging 9:31 (9:38, 9:41, 9:31, 9:13).  That's not quite good, either, but probably the correct-ish stimulus, especially considering I'm a little gun-shy.

The high school XC team (like 40-50 kids!) showed up right as I was starting my first rep, and I was really cursing my luck....aren't they supposed to be running on grass or something right now?  Fortunately they did in fact mostly run on the fields, and not really on the track except to do some lunges in lanes 2-8 and some kind of whistle-based fartlek thing during my last rep.  If anything, it kept me going.

77F, 90%.  6 @ 8:43 AP.  Neighborhood construction trails.  Looks like they are getting really close to paving some of them, which displeases me, but it's still nice back there with no houses or cars or people.  The deer aren't as arrogant either.

Looks like some lower dew points could happen toward the end of the week...might try to cherrypick the best one for a workout.

AM:  First day of school here, running late, so I just did 5 on the TM at work, with 8 x 45s @ 3k pace.

PM: 97F.  3 @ 8:38 AP.  Took the dog out after dinner.  Lots of stops for him to pee on stuff.

AM:  74F, 84%.  8 miles.  Hit the track again today for the classic 5 x 800 @ 3k pace, 2 min rest.  All my workouts are classic.  Fortunately I have a good history of this one built up - I ran it 6 times last summer.  To my surprise, this one was right in the mix.  I averaged 2:44.5 (2:47, 2:45, 2:44, 2:46, 2:40).  Best set last year only averaged 2:42.7 so I'm right there.

Starting to enjoy how my legs feel again.  I was barely making it the last couple months.  I do think all that tired mileage will serve a purpose - the kind of slogging that helps you in an ultra or in the last 5 miles of a marathon, I think.  But it just feels so much better running 65-70 miles/week and having a little spring in my step again.

PM:  96F.  4 @ 9:00 AP.  Had time today to get out on the trail for a good heat plod...full sun, no clouds.  I decided Friday looks like the superior weather day, and it looks awesome...low 70s, DP around 60!  I'm actually fantasizing about how that cool air will feel, which is beyond sad.  Sad on several levels.  But I'll deal with that weirdness another time.

AM:  74F, 84%.  6 @ 9:02 AP.  Super cruddy legs today.  I don't remember that 3k workout ever giving me this big a smackdown but I guess I haven't run that hard in awhile.

PM:  4 mile TM plod

AM:  76F, 85%.  6 @ 8:45 AP.  Still really tired and flat.  I tried a blind half mile pickup without checking pace and guessed 2:55.  It was 3:08.  But I'm still going to try a workout tomorrow with the cooler air coming in.  If I can't recover from a 14-minute workout with 2 full days of 9-minute pace recovery, then I'm not sure what I CAN do.

PM:  3 on the TM with 3 min @ 10 mph.

AM:  70F, 74%.  10.5 miles.  Legs were a lot less poopy thanks to the 62 degree dew point, which magically snapped me back into shape.  Today was 8 x 800 @ 10k, 200m active recovery.  I averaged 2:54.9 for the 800s (2:59, 2:57, 2:56, 2:57, 2:56, 2:54, 2:53, 2:47).  Looking back, I had a similar effort last year under similar conditions, although I'm guessing I milked the recoveries more today...maybe a 75s average for the 200 recoveries today, which is just a small step above walking.  The good news is I am just starting the speed block this year; last year's effort came at the end of a long block of track work.  Also, I have a lot more miles on my legs this year.  So I'm ok, I think.

PM:  3.5 on the TM, with 5 x 30s fast.

67F, 85%.  11 @ 7:54 AP.  beautiful fall fakeout weather.  I think September was one of the hottest months last year, so it won't last, but man it was nice.  I saw someone running outside with a hoodie.

Did my last 6 alloted miles for the week behind the neighborhood again.  Mildly fascinated by how they are building this new "master planned community."  First was the community center and pool, still under construction.  Then a few miles of roads (still unpaved..woohoo!) that wind through hills and trees, seemingly with no rhyme or reason.  The only evidence of houses so far are just the pipes and wires that stick up where the lots are going to be.  Saw a coyote today in addition to the usual deer and jackrabbits.  Too bad Sunday is the only day they are not working out there...it's pretty nice for running.

AM:  74F, 87%.  6 @ 8:36 AP.  

PM:  4 on the TM.  Pretty easy week on tap with 400s on Wednesday and a LR on Saturday.  The rest of the week is pretty much just what you see here...