Puttin' Money In The Bank (L.A.D.)

Travel/rest day today. Heading back home to St Louis and its heat/humidity!

8pm and 83 degrees. Ran around the block (.3) miles with my middle son Ivan (5 years) in 5:45. We ran the long sections and walked the short. Then did an easy 8.2 (4.1 out and back to MQP) that was anything but easy. Note to self, wait more than 30 minutes after eating steak to do your run. Out in 32:08 (7:50s) and back in 31:59 (7:48s). The good news about this run was the consistancy. On the way back there were a couple times that I checked myself and intentionally slowed down because the pace felt like it was possibly increasing. This wasn't really based so much on how I felt (because I wasn't feeling good the whole way) as much as how my sense of my external environment was moving by. I just had a sense that despite the fact that I felt no differently, I was still increasing pace. So I was pleased with that. Its something I've been trying to work on, especially on slower runs.

Nike Vomero - 117.2

9:30am and 85 degrees, humid. 1.55 mile warm up to the YMCA in 12:21 (7:58s). Was hoping to run into Nancy but I found out that one of her kids was sick so she wouldn't be there. Julie was there, but she's doing a half-ironman in Sonoma on Sunday, so she was in full taper mode. I made the decision to go with the ladies anyway and just hang at whatever pace they chose. To be honest, I'm quite glad I did. It was hot and I think I'm still a bit tired from the race on Saturday. We did a 2.5 out and back. I forgot to set my watch on the way out, but I assume it was pretty close to the pace we ran on the way back which was 21:41. So I'm just going to double this and call it a day. I think the total run was probably closer to 5.1 in 43:22 (8:30s). I was tired and my shirt was drenched by this point, so I took about a 5 minute break before heading the 1.55 back home in 11:36 (7:29s).

Nike Elite - 116.2

8am run, 83 degrees and humid. Very easy jog today, not much sleep last night and still feeling tired from the race. Of course, it could simply be that my body is trying to re-adjust to the St Louis summer environment. Out and back to the Webster YMCA. Out in 24:09 (8:03s) and back in 23:47 (7:56s). Pretty good consistancy. Lately these 'easy runs' have been kicking my butt though since I've gotten back to St Louis. I may try a night run and see how my body responds to that.

Nike Vomero - 124.2

An interesting run tonight. Lets start with the preliminaries. 7pm, 85 degrees, humid as usual, no wind. I tried to take some splits on this run based on what I thought were markers and then compare it to google maps when I got home. According to googlemaps the entire run was a 3.6 out and back for a total of 7.2 plus a 1.2 mile cool down for a total of 8.4. The first mile I know was an accurate split at 7:42. My second mile mark was a guess that I took and marked it at 7:36. From there I estimated that I was running approximately 7:30s so I decided to go another 11:15 thinking this would give me a 3.5 out and back. So at 11:10 I turned around for a total out time of 26:28 (which gave me 7:21s). My thought is that the 2nd mile was faster than 7:35 and that I hit the mark later that what was actually 2 miles. On the way back I tried to pick it up just a touch, nothing that felt excessive, but moderate. Concentrate on my breathing and work a moderate pace. I marked off at the same spot on the way back 2 miles out and hit that in 10:43 (6:42s -- of course, if my mark for mile 2 was off, this actually would be a slower pace) for the 1.6 miles which was 27 seconds faster than I hit the 1.6 on the way out (6:58s -- again this would also be a touch slower). Then I took a split from what I thought was mile mark 2 back to 1 and hit a 7:05, but if the mark was long it would be a bit quicker. Based on my last mark I suspect this is true. My last mile I concentrated on my breathing considerably and tried to stay quick without actually going into a 'hard' mode. I would say I stayed just the slightest notch below 'technically hard'. I hit this mile in 6:30 (which I know to be an accurate mark). The short of this long is that my ave. ppm on the way back was 6:45s without feeling considerably taxed. It was a good solid workout and I'm pleased with it. Ave pace for the entire 7.2 was 7:03s followed by a 1.2 mile cool down at 8:21 pace.

I'm pleased with this workout in relation to how I've felt all week during the day. It was an evening run, but temps and humidity were probably consistent with what I've run into M-W. The difference to this run was that I did not run with a shirt on.

Nike Elite - 124.4

Was actually off today, but am showing Sunday's workout here so it is counted as part of this week's and will show Sunday as an off day so as to not interfere mileage for next week. 

Wow. Very hot today. Much hotter than I thought and the only time I had to run was 11am. 93 degrees and humid. Based on weather I decided to just do 4 today. Had planned on going 7. I'll just add in a few more during the week. Splits were 8:10, 7:40, 7:15, 7:45.

Nike Elites - 128.4

3 mile out to the YMCA in 23:08 (7:42s) and back in 22:23 (7:28s) plus a 1.2 mile cool down in 10:01 (8:21s). Good run today at 12pm, 87 degrees and humid. Felt good despite the heat and humidity.

Nike Vomero - 131.2