Bret

Half marathon "time trial" on the treadmill following a 2 mile warm up with a 1 mile cool down in 1.23.40 -ish.  After the first couple of miles where I started at 6:40 pace, I worked my way down to 6:18 which I stuck with from about 5k onward.  Had to change treadmills around 8 miles at the gym as the sweat on the belt was causing my feet to slip and squeak.  Memo to self not to wear the Nike lunar racers for long treadmill workouts.  Felt reasonably good most of the way.  Did not use any incline/grade on the treadmill as I wanted to compare a time I did last year around this time using no grade.  Matched up very well in terms of fitness (this year to last year). 

Easy 3.0 miles following yesterdays workout.

AM - easy 4.5 miles.  Still a little tight/stiff this morning.  Discovered a blister on one of my toes from the racing flats on Sunday's run.  Legs felt heavy for most of the run even after getting warmed up.

PM - lunchtime run slightly more than 8 miles - variation of the "dump" run.  Quite hot, so kept the pace just under 8 mins per mile, but not much faster.  Huge storm about 30 minutes after I finished.  Would have been nice to at least had the cloud cover during the run!  Anyway, I find that I am really not hungry / not wanting to eat after hot weather runs - so I end up missing a meal.  Tried to counter that today with a protein drink and gatorade.

AM - easy  3.0 mile run with Riley and Delaney.  First mile was really slow and then they woke up - ran the last mile faster than they ever have this summer.  Quite interesting how "refreshed" I am after running some easy miles with them as opposed to an easy run on my own. 

Bought new shoes (Ascics Air Nimbus ) last night.  I have been wearing this model for a good 5 years now - love how they are pretty consistently the same shoe year after year with only color changes or slight variations on the uppers. 

PM - Lunchtime run.  On treadmill 9.0 miles.  Last 6 were at marathon pace or better.  Was one of those runs where everything felt easy and smooth and could have run forever.  Love those.  Wish I could conjure them up in races sometime.  Was not planning to go with any speed today but the effort was not forced and I felt great - so I just let it go.  Only stopped because I had to return to my real job.

8.00 miles at lunchtime - two and a half times around the Feathersound loop.  It had rained off and on for much of the morning so it was not quite as hot as it might have been.  Ran a steady pace, increased speed slightly each mile split.  Averaged 7:40 per mile.  Not too fast but good up-tempo recovery run. 

AM - 3.0 miles easy with Riley.  Ran to PH Middle School, once around the track and returned.  She maintains a decent pace running for a swimmer - talked about getting her on the bike and maybe doing some tri's this year. 

Treadmill workout scheduled for lunchtime run.

9.0 miles on the treadmill - steady state at 7:00 to 7:15 pace for most of the miles.  Riley and Delaney were on the treadmills next to me and finished early.  Delaney did a one mile warm-up and then a 2 mile time trial at just under 16 mins in a fairly conservative/cautious effort with a half mile cool down.  We needed to see where she was with her fitness.  Cross country tryouts are this week for her high school.