Bret

AM - 4 miles easy in the neighborhood.  It was already 75 degrees with a dew point of 73 at 6:15 this morning - going up to 95 today.  It is forecast to remain in this pattern through Saturday. 

AM - 3.5 miles on the trail - very light jog.  Felt lousy. 

Rest day

Peachtree Road Race 2026.  Not bad under the very warm humid red flag conditions.  I nearly didn't even get to the start - the Marta train broke down and everyone had to exit on the way down to Lenox.  I looked at the time for the back-up train and called an audible - and summoned an Uber to get me to the start - literally had the driver drop me off on the highway before the exit and used the remaining distance for my warm-up.  All good.  👍 

Tried to run conservatively but failed.  Ended up with a decent first half split and then did my best to mitigate the losses on the uphill second half. Heart rate was way up due to the high dew point and heat with the hills - but I just kept my concentration and focus to get to the turn for the last half mile where it goes downhill.   I may have run about 40 seconds faster last year but at much lower effort and heart rate.  The reverse version of this race held in January was 30 degrees cooler and nearly 3 minutes faster.   
 

Still pleased with where I ended up in the top 1% of my age group.   I age up in less than 3 weeks.   And I have run this race for 12 years (missing a few when traveling) and this was not my worst time - though on the upper end - I know that my age will probably be the single most factor in slowing down- and I'm totally at peace with that.

AM - 3 miles very easy - recovery run effort before church.  Systems check ok. 

AM - 5 miles on the treadmill - for a change of "scenery" and because I needed to be close by for a few things.  I do like the TM for easy runs living in such a hilly area - the tready is flat and climate controlled. 

AM - 5.25 miles out to the East Bluff neighborhood with a slight variation in starting route.  Saw another runner ahead of me - and followed her for about a half mile before catching up and then we took different routes after that.  Hardly ever encounter another runner out in this direction.  Pace was good today. 

AM - 5.25 miles early through the neighborhood, the grove and reversed direction on Nix.   Concentrated on form the last couple of days as it ties to economy and HR and so pace was quicker. 

AM - 10k this morning on a seldom run route through the golf course into the gated section of WC which is usually a bit of a hassle with having to climb a fence on the west entryway to exit - particularly when I was running with a dog.  But I noticed they were doing roadwork in the neighborhood yesterday and so I thought of doing this route today.  Decent if not moderately hard effort with the high dew point, warm temps and humidity on this hilly course with nearly 700 feet of climbing.  

AM - 5 miles on the Milton Trail starting up Freemanville for the extended route.  Hips felt a bit tight and sore early-on.  Overall felt kinda heavy and slow, but managed to grind through.   

AM - 8 miles on the treadmill- better climate and no hills. 

Travel day / long drive = no running

AM - 6 miles very easy kept my HR under 118 - which meant around 10 min pace.  

AM - 5.25 miles in Moundsville WV - ran out to the 12th street ball fileds and fitness loop, did 2 x around and then up Poplar to 2nd and back down Tomlinson.   Pace was a good bit faster today after the first mile.

PM - 1.25 miles with Riley who is gradually getting back into running post-partum.  

AM - 6 miles easy - keeping my HR below 118 on a humid morning up to Glendale and back down the river trail.  

AM - 5 miles on the city streets in Moundsville on a progressive run with the last mile at 7:30 pace.  After finishing the run I met up with Riley who is doing a training program of run/walk to get back into running since having her baby.  Did 2 mins on and 1 min off for about 2 miles.   

PM - 5 miles on a treadmill at a gym in Moundsville.  The AQI was 283 this morning and continued in that range throughout the day - I was going to take a zero today, but most of the family events we had planned were for outdoors, and we decided to stay inside which gave me time for a run.   The smoke should clear a bit overnight into the morning with some rain, but if it doesn't I may go the gym again. 

AM - bad air again - so 5 miles on the gym treadmill- with limited time this morning.  

Travel day - no running. 

AM - 4.75 miles on the Milton Trail with Dan.  I arrived earlier than him, so did a little jog/warm-up for about a half mile before we got started.  Easy effort - he's now resigned that his knee will only continue to deteriorate and though he had PRP he thinks the relief will be fleeting if at all.  So, we will run together when he's feeling up to it.  We had not seen each other in over two weeks, with us having consecutive weeks of vacation/out of town travel that did not overlap at all.   Good to catch up.   

AM - just under 5.5 miles slow and easy on the Dinsmore/East Bluff route - which is pretty hilly.  

AM - treadmill tempo workout.   2 mile warm up then 25 mins at tempo pace then a short cool down.   Tempo pace determined by HR was around 7 min pace today.   Had a little challenge with connecting the HR to the Zwift app paired with the Apple Watch - so ended up just viewing the HR on my watch and otherwise using the app for recording the distance and pace.   Treadmill was noticably louder this morning...its 12 years old.  May be reaching its end of life or in need of a repair/tune-up.  Good workout overall.  Benefited from the nicer temps indoors of course. 

AM - a little less than 4.5 miles with Dan from his house.  Very easy effort - good to get a couple of runs in with him when he's feeling like his knee is up to it. 

Seems like a just a few years ago I was running daily with Dan and my dog Finn - and now Finn's been gone for over a year and Dan's knee is deteriorating to the point at which I think my runs with him will be fewer and fewer.  

AM - 6.0 miles for 60 years old today.    Solo run which started out with my weather app saying rain was concluding and was not supposed to rain for the next 4 hours...but the skies opened up around halfway through with a full deluge.   Slow and easy and likewise trudging through some deep flash flooding type run off.