Days Since Last Run Below 70°F: 45 (May 16, a pretty nice Spring this year)
53¼ miles for the week of June 23rd through June 29th
M – 4 miles, recovery run, average pace 8:47 mpm, 79.7°F at 4AM [Dow-] Tu – 4 miles, average pace 6:57 mpm, I had to run these fast because I started late, 84°F at 4+AM [Dow-] W AM – 4 miles, average pace 7:45 mpm, 85°F at 4AM [Dow-] W PM – 6½ miles, 6x800/400rec, overall average pace 7:45 mpm, 800s in 2:54.3, 2:52.9, 2:53.2, 2:53.7, 2:55.1, and 2:56.6, 87°F at 7PM [B’Wood] Th – 4¾ miles, recovery run, average pace 8:41 mpm, 85°F at 4AM [Dow] F - 10 miles, overall average pace 7:54, 88°F starting before 9AM [SeaC/ SSTrail-MBT -2M-MBTrail/SeaC] Sa – 7½ miles, average pace 8:394, 89°F at Noon [SeaC/SSTrail-MBT/SeaC] Su – 12½ miles, average pace of 8:32 mpm, sunny and extremely humid - crashed, 86°F to 87°F from 7:40AM [SeaC/ SSTrail-MBT -2x(2M-MBTrail)/SeaC]
I woke up early for Sunday's run, but it was my slowest medium long run ever. The dewpoint must've been very close to 80°F. We had some rain Saturday evening and I was hoping to wake up to a cooler morning. Wrong.
Days Since Last Run Below 70°F: 38 (May 16, a pretty nice Spring this year)
52¾ miles for the week of June 16th through June 22nd
M – 4¾ miles, recovery run, average pace 8:16 mpm, 82°F at 4AM [Dow] Tu – 5¾ miles, average pace 7:07 mpm, 81°F at 4AM [Dow/B-S] W AM – 5¾ miles, average pace 7:48 mpm, 77°F at 4AM [Dow/B-S] W PM – 4 miles, some easy loops around the HS with Moldy and Bob (Moldy was visiting from Virginia), average pace 7:55 mpm, 87°F at 7PM [B’Wood] Th – 0 woke up too late to run, 82°F at 4AM [Dow] F - 12½ miles, overall average pace 7:32, ran to the track and then ran the “Michigan”: 1600-1M-1200-1M-800-1M-400/2min recoveries, miles were slow: from 6:29 to 6:44, sunny to rain to sunny again, 87°F at 10AM [Ol-B-Plant-FOaks/B’Wood/FOaks-Plant-S] Sa – 7½ miles, average pace 8:44, 82°F at 8AM [SeaC/SSTrail-MBT/SeaC] Su – 12½ miles, average pace of 8:15 mpm, sunny and warm - embrace the slow, 85°F to 88°F from 9:50AM [SeaC/ SSTrail-MBT -2x(2M-MBTrail)/SeaC]
Ahh, Summer solstice, the official beginning of Summer. This week was actually a little cooler in the mornings with the sea breeze getting cut off overnight. We had some strong rains late Saturday afternoon and it cooled down all the way below 74°F Saturday evening. I was tempted to go run again just to enjoy the cool weather. But by the time I ran Sunday morning, it was back to sweat-soaked shoes.
Days Since Last Run Below 80°F: 26 (May 21, May 29 was only 77°F but I overslept) Days Since Last Run Below 70°F: 31 (May 16, a pretty nice Spring this year)
54 miles for the week of June 9th through June 15th
M – 4 miles, recovery run, average pace 8:58 mpm, 84°F at 4AM [Dow-] Tu – 5¾ miles, average pace 7:05 mpm, 84°F at 4AM [Dow/B-S] W AM – 4 miles, average pace 7:02 mpm, 83°F at 4AM [Dow-] W PM – 5 miles, with some strides on the track, one mile of sprinting the straights and recovering on the curves; I did get my mile of sprints down to 8:09 this week (had gone from a 6:55 three weeks ago, to a 7:25 two weeks ago, to an 8:32 last week), overall average pace 7:03 mpm, 86°F at 7PM [B’Wood track] Th – 4¾ miles, recovery run, average pace 8:47 mpm, 84°F at 4AM [Dow] F - 10 miles, average pace 7:26, sunny and warm, 88°F at 10AM [SeaC/SSTrail-MBT-2M-MBT/SeaC] Sa – 8 miles, average pace 8:46, sunny and warm, 90°F at Noon [SeaC/SSTrail-MBT+/SeaC] Su – 12½ miles, average pace of 8:23 mpm, sunny and warm - embrace the slow, 89°F to 91°F from 10:30AM [SeaC/ SSTrail-MBT -2x(2M-MBTrail)/SeaC]
I managed some decent paced runs Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. But I don’t think that was really best for what I’m trying to accomplish. It’s time to just “Embrace the Slow.”
The city renamed the running trail to the “Specialist Monica Brown Trail” this weekend. She’s a medic who was awarded a Silver Star for heroism in Afghanistan. I’ve changed my shorthand for the trail now to SSTrail (Silver Star). I couldn’t use MBT because I already use MBT for the Mountain Bike Trail.
I've been pretty busy with another pump overhaul at the power plant.
53¼ miles for the week of May 26th through June 1st
M – 7½ miles, average pace 8:29, a sunny Memorial Day run, 87°F at 10:30AM [SeaC/NTrail-MBT/SeaC] Tu – 5¾ miles, average pace 7:06 mpm, I’ve given up tempo runs for Summer, 82°F at 4AM [Dow/B-S] W AM – 5¼ miles, average pace 7:37 mpm, 82°F at 4AM [Dow/Ol] W PM – 5 miles, with some strides on the track, one mile of sprinting the straights and recovering on the curves, overall average pace 6:57 mpm, 83°F at 7PM [B’Wood track] Th – 0, overslept, 77°F at 4AM, wouldn’t you know I missed a nice “cool” morning? F - 10 miles, average pace 7:24 mpm, not a cloud in the sky and nice dry air with the dewpoint in the mid-60s!!, 85°F at 10:30AM [SeaC/NTrail-MBT-2M-MBT/SeaC] Sa – 7½ miles, average pace 8:49 mpm, getting more humid, 89°F at Noon [SeaC/NTrail-MBT/SeaC] Su – 12¼ miles average pace of 8:21 mpm, partly cloudy and humid, 87°F from 10:30AM [FWRes/MacL-2x(2M-MBTrail)/SeaC]
51¼ miles for the week of June 2nd through June 8th
M – 0, overslept again, 83°F at 4AM Tu – 5¾ miles, average pace 7:12 mpm, 84°F at 4AM [Dow/B-S] W AM – 5¾ miles, average pace 7:24 mpm, 84°F at 4AM [Dow/B-S] W PM – 5 miles, with some strides on the track, one mile of sprinting the straights and recovering on the curves, as it’s gotten warmer my mile of sprints has gone from a 6:55 two weeks ago, to a 7:25 last week, to an 8:32 (ughh), overall average pace 7:09 mpm, 86°F at 7PM [B’Wood track] Th – 4¾ miles, recovery run, average pace 8:59 mpm, 85°F at 4AM (a new worst 4AM temperature for this season) [Dow] F - 10 miles, average pace 7:37, 88°F at 10AM [SeaC/NTrail-MBT-2M-MBT/SeaC] Sa – 7½ miles, average pace 8:36, 88°F at 11AM [SeaC/NTrail-MBT/SeaC] Su – 12½ miles, average pace of 8:12 mpm, sunny warm and humid - really broke down hard on this one, 87°F from 9AM [SeaC/ NTrail-MBT -2x(2M-MBTrail)/SeaC]
Friday, May 30th, was the highlight of these two weeks. The sea breeze was picking up again and it was already 85°F when I started this run at 10:30AM, but a northeast wind on Thursday left some wonderful “dry” air in place. In most of the country, 85°F with a dewpoint in the mid-60s would be considered warm and humid, but it felt wonderful to me. This 10-miler was pure joy. But I was back to sweat soaked shoes Sunday. I did make it below 180 this week for the first time in months. I'm probably dehydrated.
I ran across this video of Dave Wottle running the Olympic 800. He was one of my idols when I started running.
52½ miles for the week of May 19th through May 25th
M – 5¼ miles, recovery run, average pace 8:41 mpm, 73°F at 4AM [Dow/Ol] Tu – 5¼ miles, average pace 7:26 mpm, too warm for a tempo run, 79°F at 4AM [Dow/Ol] W AM – 5¾ miles, average pace 7:17 mpm, 80°F at 4AM [Dow/B-S] W PM – 4¼ miles, with some strides on the track, one mile of sprinting the straights and recovering on the curves, a couple more miles general aerobic, then another two sprints on the straights, overall average pace 6:56 mpm, 82°F at 7PM [B’Wood track] Th – 4¾ miles, recovery run, average pace 8:38 mpm, 81°F at 4AM [Dow] F - 7½ miles, average pace 7:33, 89°F at 2PM [SeaC/NTrail-MBT/SeaC] Sa – 7½ miles, average pace 8:28, a nice cool 87°F at 1:30PM [SeaC/NTrail-MBT/SeaC] Su – 12¼ miles average pace of 8:19 mpm, sunny warm and humid, 86°F from 10AM [FWRes/MacL-2x(2M-MBTrail)/SeaC]
The heat defeated me Sunday and I had to take the short route home. That 8:19 pace is no indication how difficult this run was. My shoes were completely soaked after six or seven miles. I was dizzy and slightly nauseated; sure signs of heat exhaustion. This run felt much worse than a long run at 7-flat pace with reasonable temperatures. But I was surprised that my average heart rate was 129 bpm, closer to a mere recovery run level. Heart rate was increasing the last couple of miles: 143 bpm at a pace just over 8 mpm. I can’t imagine training for a Fall marathon down here. I know I’ll have plenty of slow miles through September. All I can hope for this Summer is to keep the weekly mileage up in the 50s and develop a good aerobic base for training in cooler temperatures. I'm going to try and keep up wth the strides this year. Even though they're on the Pfitz training schedules, I've never done them consistently because most days they're scheduled I'm running on concrete. But they should fit well with the Wedensday evenings on the track. Hopefully they'll help maintain basic speed while my amin effort is on the mileage base.
54¼ miles for the week of May 12th through May 18th
M – 4¾ miles, recovery run, average pace 8:36 mpm, 67°F at 4AM [Dow] Tu – 5¼ miles, average pace 6:53 mpm, half mile warmp, then the Dow- 2 miles hard in 13:03, then ¾ mile easy, and the Dow- 2 miles return hard in 13:34, 78°F at 4AM [Ol/Dow] W AM – 4 miles, average pace 7:46 mpm, 80°F at 4AM [Dow] W PM – 5¼ miles, with 3 miles fairly hard (6:30, 6:27, and 6:19), overall average pace 6:46 mpm, 82°F at 7PM [B’Wood track] Th – 5¼ miles, recovery run, average pace 8:03 mpm, 81°F at 4AM [Dow/Ol] F - 4½ miles, easy recovery day ahead of Saturday’s Beach to Bay Relay Marathon, average pace 8:43, a nice cool 70°F at 11AM [SeaC/NTrail-MBT/SeaC] Sa – 11¾ miles, with the beach relay leg at 6:16 mpm pace, 71°F at 7AM [Corpus Christi] We had a great binary number. Su – 13½ miles average pace of 7:42 mpm, clear and sunny with fairly dry air, 84°F from Noon [FWRes/2x(2M-MBTrail)/FWRes]
Now that the Beach to Bay race is done and the 80°F mornings have arrived, it's time to go into Summer base-building. I'll still run a couple local races, the Firecracker 4 and the Clute Mosquito Chase, but my training will just be accumulating miles and aerobic base.
The new DS Trainer-13s arrived Friday afternoon, just in time before I left for Corpus. They’re a little heavier than the old Saucony Tangent-3s, my size 13 DST13s are about 12 ounces compared to 11 ounces for the Saucony shoes. I’m not sure why the laces look off center?
This was after Sunday's trail run, but those DS Trainers are still much too white. With the offset laces, my size 13s look like clown shoes.
Beach to Bay turned out to be another fun race. I even enjoyed the drive down the coast: the first third to the nuke power plant, then on to Palacios, over Port Lavaca Bay, through Tivoli and Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, over Copano Bay, and finally over the Harbor Bridge into Corpus Christi.
I volunteered for the first leg on the beach. This year it was 2.3 miles out, then turnaround for 2.2 miles back to the exchange area. The sargassum was pretty thick from the water line all of the way to the dry sand. The dry sand was very soft, especially near the start and the exchange area. But the weather was about as good as you hope for Corpus Christi in the middle of May: Mostly Cloudy, 71*F with the dewpoint at 61*F, and a NorthEast wind at 10 mph (CCNAS).
I was able to get a pretty good position at the start, but there were plenty of small kids and slower people up front too. The first 100 yards were pretty chaotic. I saw someone trying to run backwards toward the start (Huh?). A small kid going very slow started crossing the field and a runner had to take a tumbling leap over him. I was immediately blocked in by a couple slow people and had to wheel around them, but at least I was able to avoid any collisions.
Once we finally cleared the starting line chaos, two groups formed: one along the seaweed on the wet sand and another on the dry sand where cars had been driving. I chose the dry sand. Most of it was decently packed, but there were still occasional soft spots. After the turnaround, we were completely outnumbered by the oncoming runners and the only option was to follow the people ahead of me on the wet sand through the seaweed. The wind was pretty noticeable, so I sped up to latch behind a guy up ahead of me. After a little over a quarter mile I passed him and asked him to pull in behind me, but I think he just fell back. There was another guy in orange shorts about 30 to 50 yards ahead at the tail end of a pace line. I kept trying to fight the wind and catch up to him but I never made it. The Bob Hall pier just past the exchange point didn't seem to ever get closer. I was slowing some and just tried to keep my place. I was ecstatic to see Sim at the middle of the exchange point ready to go. I ended up with 13:58 headed out (2.3M) and 13:53 back (2.1M). It wasn't as fast as I hoped, but I guess it wasn't too bad considering the soft sand and running by myself most of the way back into the wind.
Seaweed or soft sand
The Tornado Tigers
We ended up in 3rd for the Masters Divsion At the right is LanceC; his Houston Strider's Team (including JohnH) edged us out for 2nd place.
