track fan

1:44:26.  Today was a good day to run by time and not distance. It was so hot at 6AM I just couldn't face it ... so I talked Dean into driving up to Mt. Lemmon (9,157 ft).  We drove up to about 8,000 ft and tried a 4 mile loop that we had seen on a topo map.  OUCH.  It was way steep on the front side - the backside  portion of the loop wasn't as bad, but lot's of "ankle grabbers".  I would say it is sort of like Dry Creek Trail in Salt Lake, but with a lot more tree roots and rocks and a little longer distance-wise on the uphill.  It took 50 mins to run 4 miles.  I was going to do 3 loops, but I knew that wouldn't be feasible (or smart) - my legs were already super tired with one loop, I would have fallen for sure after doing even one more time.  So, after we finished the one loop I ran up the road from the trailhead and found a dirt road that wound up (and I do mean up -- about City Creek Canyon steep but at 8,000 ft) for about 3 miles.  It took me 28 mins to get up and at liitle over 20 mins to get back down!  

It was still hot up there, but over 20 degrees cooler - and it was nice to see some pine forest.  At about 4000 ft it gets hot again and the flora turns back to saguaro again ... it is a fun drive (about 1.5 hours from our house). 

The neatest thing was that I ran (not literally) into a local trail runner up there - I have followed her blog for a while so when I saw her, I recognized her right away.  The Tucson trail runners were doing a 16 mile run, she had been out for 4 hours already and still had 1.5 miles to go.  Trail running is not fast, but it is really good conditioning and man it is hard!  My mileage may be a little lower this week, but I got a really good workout in today.

Happy Sunday bloggers!

AM: (9+ miles, 1:19:16 (40:35/38:41)).  82F @ 5:30AM, 90F at the end of the run.  Felt really good though, my legs felt much better than I had anticipated, given how difficult my run on Sunday was.  I suspect that I could be back in 1:36 1/2 shape in about a month if that was my goal.  I plan on actually solidifying short and long term goals with Greg next week when we get up to Flagstaff.  Basically, right now I think I plan on focusing the next 2-3 months on 10K speed (and bringing down my 10mile PR), and shoot for a winter (January?) 1/2 marathon ... maybe a little flatter this time ;-) (Houston?).  Spring is less clear for me, maybe another 1/2, with an optional marathon?  Part of me doesn't really want to focus on the marathon right now, I feel I really only have a couple more years that I can train for shorter distance PR's - so, I am kind of thinking the marathons can wait.  But then again, I think I can do better in the marathon than I did in my first ... maybe not though ... see, it is not as clear yet!

PM: (5 miles, 45:57).  It will certainly be a lot hotter than 100F tonight.  OHHHMMMM ... it will be a challenge to get out, but I will do it for Dean, MichelleL, Rattletrap, Josse, and everyone else who is not feeling well or can't run like they would like right now.  The only thing worse than doing it, is not.

Happy Tuesday bloggers. 

(128.4)  I am stuck, I feel my dreams of 125 slip away, but that is ok - I guess I could ride my bike for 30 miles tonight and then I would get dehydrated enough that I could get it down to 127 or so ;-).  I am not sure if I will track this anymore.

1:02:27 (31:27/30:59). Tired.  Too little sleep, stress and the Tour are keeping me up.  HOT.  This weekend will be a record for me, heat-wise, forcast is in the 113 range over the weekend.  I can't wait until next week, Flagstaff will likely be 30-40 degrees cooler.  It will be a "vacation" that is not really a vacation though.  My class starts on August 14th and I need to get some of the notes finished before it starts.  It is a very hard class (both for the students and me) and it is going to take a lot of time to prepare.  This week I have to finish a manuscript and start working on a poster that I will be presenting in DC the first week of August (The Rocket will likely notice all the geeky statisticians from all over the world that will be taking over her neighborhood -- they are hard to miss ;-) ).

Bike to work (11 miles).

AHHHH the monsoons are here -- very nice.  It really cools things off, and it is quite impressive.  

AM: (11 miles, 1:32:15). 26:40 wu, 5 x 5` SS effort (target pace 7:25-7:36 but because of the heat was expecting 7:40 or so -- actual pace 6:50 - 7:00) w/3` recovery (~ 8:30 pace) +25:50 cd.

I ran about 2 miles of my warm-up with a woman I had seen running on the path before (she also ran the 5K that I worked in a couple months ago, she ran a 20:50, we would be good training partners). She is training for the Long Beach marathon (in October) and runs with a local running group here in town. She was running 14 miles with 6 x 800 - she asked if I wanted to run her 800's with her, I was tempted but had my own workout. Her warm-up pace was actually much faster than mine, I should have paid more attention to that!

I kind of suspected my first 5` segment was a little fast, but I also thought it was just that I hadn't done these for a while and was a little out of shape. By the second one I had my "5K" feeling. Digression: I have a joke about faster paces, I can tell how fast I am going by my "bile rhythm", the higher up my chest the acidic feeling goes the faster I am going. 10K pace is about mid-way between my stomach and my throat, and 5K pace is almost throat high (unfortunately sometimes higher in the last 100 meters - TMI). Anyway, by the second fartlek my bile rhythm was at my typical 5K level. So, I thought "either I am going way too fast - not 1/2 marathon pace for sure - or I am super out-of-shape". I slowed down for my third one and was able to time the first 800 of my last two and realized I was still running 10K pace (~7:00 pace). Yikes, this means my bile rhythm is still pretty accurate for 5K (generally the bile rhythms don't work for 10K until the last 2 miles) and I was likely in the 6:50 or faster range on my first 2 segments. I need to do this on the track next time ... so I can get my internal garmin calibrated! Slightly encouraged, but still a little peeved at my inability to judge my pace right now.

PM: (4 miles).

Happy Thursday bloggers!  An interesting interview with Dathan Rizenhein here - as he prepares for the World Championship 10K. 

1:02:21 (31:35/30:45).  Paid for my bit of tomfoolery yesterday ... but by about 40 mins into the run I felt much better.  Last nights run was pretty tough.  Legs were heavy and it was about 103F ... but I waited until the sun was down and it felt much cooler than the morning did.  

More on the saga of the lizard-sacrificing-cat ... yesterday I found 3 lizard heads ... no bodies, just heads (and a little torso) ... I tried to get him, Titus, to tell me where the bodies were, but he gave me a look like, "if I tell you I will have to kill you", so I let it go.  I wonder if he loves us more or less now then when we got the whole lizard?

Have a wonderful Friday bloggers! 

AM:(8 miles, 1:13:40 (37:44/35:56)).  Slept very well last night - unfortunately I slept in a 1/2 hour later this morning ... and that 1/2 hour cost me some major heat.  Today and tomorrow will be the hottest temps that we have seen since we moved here (108F today and 113 tomorrow).   Today was about 93F and the sun was hot by 7:30.  I was a little nauseated by the end of the run, but recovered pretty quickly by the time I got a couple glasses of water down.  The extra sleep was worth it!

Part of the reason I slept so well is that I finished a draft of my paper -- yea!  Now it is the hands of my co-authors to look over and comment on, I think it will be ready for me to submit in a couple weeks.  Best of all, I have to work a couple of hours this morning, but for the first time in 3 months my weekend will be MINE ... well, and my messy house ...

I hope you all have a good weekend!

PM: (4.5 miles).  Might have to try a frozen bandanna tonight - to keep me cool.