I only run on days that end in a "y."

8 aerobic base miles - another hot one.

70's and humid at 5:40 am.  I decided to wear my watch today and I am glad I did.  I have probably been running these easy runs too fast.  I looked down at one point and was plodding along at a 6:55 pace.  I slowed down a bit but I think I have muscle memory programmed around the low 7:00's.   I need to back off on these not hard runs, esp. in the heat.  It's just hard to do do.  7:15 average after the 1st mile warm up of 8:15.

Yikes - I just read this about long term endurance training possibly being bad for one's heart:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/04/ultra-marathon-heart-bad-exercise_n_1567868.html

77 degrees - 85% humidity.  I could have easily slept in today but somehow I got myself out of bed.  I had to stay close to home to help out with the kids this morning.  So I found this workout in my new Running Times and it looked pretty doable in the heat.  I figured I would give it a try.  I did a 2 mile warm up to the middle school track and then some intervals and then 1.5 mile back to the house.

2 mile warm up around 9 minute pace.

5 x (200m x 5 with 30 second active recovery between 200's) and 2 minutes recovery in between sets

I ran the 200's between 39 and 42 seconds with the majority right at 40 (5.21 pace). 

1.5 back to the house @ 7:10 pace.

I was glad to get home. ;-)

Went to the Y at lunchtime for a solid core workout.

I opened the garage door this morning and felt a cool breeze and knew it was going to be a good run.  The car showed 71 outside - I could swear it felt cooler than that.  Certainly cooler than 79 which it has been lately.  But by the time we started it didn't feel all that cool, though the breeze was nice.

So met up with the group for a progressive run.  I wasn't looking forward to this as I bombed out last week.  But this week I was intent on just sticking with the lead pack as long as I could.  Fortunately, we were smart this week and kept the paces sane until the last mile when everyone took off.  I of course held back and didn't really start to push until the final 3/4 when I passed Mike Woo and another runner, I almost caught another at the end - maybe 5 seconds behind at the most, a few more seconds from the runner in front of him.  But the other 2 were way ahead.  I don't know what they ran that last mile at but it was crazy fast. 

I like days like this.  All in all a good stamina workout.

7 mile progressive run: 9:00, 8:00, 7:28, 6:57, 6:49, 6:35, 5:56.

Followed by 4 x 50m strides.

6 easy.

Met up with the group at 6am for a 12 mile run on the Scenic route.  Some opted for the 14 mile route to the top of Mt. Bonnell, and I was tempted, but I stuck to my original plan.  I have plenty of time to get back up there on the long runs.  I just don't see the point right now.  I took off with the lead pack and by mile 4 I figured that might have been a bad idea.  At one point the watch read 6:33.  We were going down a hill, but still.  I turned around at the 6 mile point with Liz who was also doing 12 and was the one pushing the pace.  As a side note she also ran with UT and had made it to the Olympic Trials for the 800m, albeit many years ago.  Anyway, I said something along the lines of I wasn't going to be able to keep her pace but we ran together anyway. She was gracious enough to slow down a bit until the last mile when she took off.  I kept up the best I could but finished about 15 seconds behind.  

Back at the annex I was standing around and chatting when the Mizuno rep came by and gave me a card for a free pair of shoes - an excellent start to the day indeed!

The good news is I feel like the fog is lifting and my legs and mind are finally coming back.  I have had a great week of running.  

12 miles @ 7:04 AP with 10 x 100m strides and 40 lunges at the end.

8:04, 7:36, 7:29, 7:08, 7:03, 6:58, 6:58, 7:04, 6:48, 6:54, 6:54, 6:10.