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

Had to run at the gym today - 5 easy.

78 degrees, 70% humidity.

OK - so yesterday at the gym I did some calf work which resulted in sore calves this morning.  Not the smartest idea as I knew I had this workout today.  In retrospect I should have stuck to my 5 miles at the gym and gone home.  Second chance though was to call off today's workout but I decided to tough through it.  I dealt with the minor discompfort and got through today's run - how much it negatively impacted the final results I am not sure.  It did not help, I know that much.  And then on mile 2 of the last interval I landed wrong on a dip in the trail and further aggravated my right calf.  I am glad I have some easy miles lined up for the rest of the week - I will need them.

Workout went OK - I switched shoes at mile 7 and found that I ran faster in the Brooks.  After the first interval I could not imagine running another 4 - I was pretty beat with the heat and a bit sick to my stomach, but after a slow mile and some water I was ready to tackle it again.  I was doing well until near the end of mile 2 when I tweaked my calf - I ran the rest of the mile and took a short break to stretch it out before finishing out the final 2 miles of the interval. 

2 miles warm up

4 miles: 7:16, 7:28, 7:15, 7:03 (nowhere near my target of 6:50s)

1 mile recover

4 miles: 7:10, 7:05, 7:12, 7:07

2 miles recovery

I contemplated not running today.  I still had some discomfort in my calves.  I decided to go ahead and run, thinking I can just do 5 miles.  The first mile was pitifully slow but picked it up as my legs got warmed up.  The first few hundred feet I thought "I'll just go 2 or 3 miles." But it ended up not being too bad.  Overall a nice slow 6 miles.  Glad I put my running shoes on and went out afterall.

77 degrees, 70% humidity.

Easy/slow run today - working out the last bit of soreness, I hope.  10 miles, overall 8:40 pace.  Had to get creative and capture some water with my hands from a spinkler system. 

6 easy - 8:30's across the board.

76 degrees, 70% humidity to start

This was my first run over 14 miles and I did 18.  Some good hills between miles 4 and 7.  I ran with a group but the broke off at mile 7 so I had to run the rest alone.  By the last mile my heart rate was up there and I could feel the heat.  I wanted to try for the last 4 miles at MGP (7:15) but it was not in the cards today. 

We jumped into Barton Springs after the run.  This is a natural springs with a year round temp of 65 degrees.  Needless to say, it felt great. 

Overall it was a good run until the last 4 miles and I had to gut it out a bit to keep going.  Good practice for a marathon!

Overall pace was 7:49 - probably close to 7:45 without the warm up mile.

Complete 18 mile splits:  8:31, 7:50, 7:44, 7:37, 7:40, 7:44, 7:43, 7:46, 7:47, 7:42, 7:45, 7:44, 7:52, 7:56, 7:59, 7:55, 7:47. 7:50.