Going With The Flow

Weather in TN is definitely a change. It was 90 degrees and very humid. The air feels so much more dense. Anyway, just went out for a 6.8 mile run (7:15 pace). It felt good - a little fatigue in my muscles, but no soreness from the race yesterday. 

 I spent the rest of the day with family and tried not to eat TOO much delicious southern food :o)

Medium-long run today (7:30 pace). I tried to really stride out on the downhills for UVM prep. I forgot how much I missed rolling hills out in the suburbs. It was a nice run - I felt a tired at the end, but hopefully I'll be ready for tempo tomorrow.

AM - 4 miles easy. I was going to do a tempo workout this morning, but my legs didn't feel ready, so I just took it easy. 3 mile bike ride.

 PM - 4.2 miles. Had to go at 8:30pm so the temperature would drop below 85 degrees in TN. 

AM - Woke up at 8am and it was already 85 degrees and very humid. I should've gotten up earlier but I needed the sleep. Ran a mile warm-up. I was planning to do 2 x 2 miles at half marathon pace, but had to change it to 2 x 1 x 1 miles. The first two miles were rolling but downhill overall and I hit 11:56. It didn't feel great. Jogged for 4 minutes and then started my second set of rolling but uphill overall. At 1 mile (6:08), my heart was racing and I felt like I was overheating. I stopped and poured water on myself for a 1:30 (mostly jogging) break. I just tried to get through the last mile (6:14). I didn't quite hit the paces that I wanted, but given the fact that I am not used to hot humid temperatures and rolling hills the times weren't too bad. Jake sent me this article about training in heat and humidity http://running.competitor.com/2011/05/training/ask-the-experts-should-i-adjust-for-heat-humidity_11857 So that made me feel better. The most important thing about the workout is the effort level and getting my heart rate in the right zone, and I'm positive that I hit those. My 2 mile jog home was probably 10 min pace! 

 I'm heading back to SLC tonight. 

AM - Ran with Jake to Sugarhouse then back home. Taking it easy today and tomorrow to get ready for the Fight for Air 5k on Saturday. 

PM -  Needed to get the legs moving after work, so just ran a short 1.5 miles with a couple 200s thrown in there.

AM - Horsepark loop with Jake. Can't believe I'm wearing gloves in June!

The Fight For Air 5k race was very close to my condo, so it was nice to wake up and not have to drive more than a couple miles. I did a nice warm-up and included some hard efforts to get my legs ready to race fast. The number of people was much smaller than I had thought, and the start wasn't the most official (a guy starting his watch as the official time with no real start line).

Anyway, the first 1.5 miles was super fast - I have never actually done an aided course and it was actually pretty nice! I came through the first mile at 5:05. PR for the mile :o) The 1.5-2 mile was flat to slightly uphill so I was getting back on a normal pace. I felt strong through 2 miles with a time 10:35. PR for the 2 mile! The race was in Sugarhouse at this point, on the stretch that I run 4-5x a week and am very comfortable running. Jake and I marked half miles on the course yesterday, and that also helped me through the 2.5 and 3 miles. I was excited to go through the finish in 16:52! I actually hit the 3.1 mark at about 16:40 with the extra 90 meters as just bonus (the course was definitely long). I didn't think I was in sub-17 5k shape, but the 250 ft of downhill definitely helped.

I felt great during and after the race with a 3 mile cooldown. Today was a confidence booster for the UVHM next week! That is the race that Jake and I have both been building up for and it should be interesting to see what we can do.