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

Feeling tired, blue, and over all down.  Taking the day off, though running might help my mood, I just can't get motivated.

Legs felt pretty good after a day of rest.  Too warm still.  Cold front on its way this Thursday.  Looking forward to it.  1 mile warm up and then into some aerobic base miles: 8:48, 7:40, 7:23, 7:23, 7:28, 7:25, 7:08, 7:18, .25 @ 7:40.

Woke up to a surprise cool morning.  As soon as I got in the car for the drive downtown I heard on the radio it was 59 degrees at the airport.  I don't think it was that cool in the city but still low 60's.  

I ran 4 easy and met the group at Wilke (155ft elevation gain in 1/10th of a mile) for 300m hill repeats.  I had done 2 when the group showed up.  They were pretty late - I thought I would have to do this workout alone.  Fortunately I had some company because it was tough.  After the crest of the hill we have to try and pick it up and run through the pain to the end of the street.  It hurts.

7 x 300m hill repeats in 1:28 - 1:30 each, followed by easy back down, then 3 up the hill backwards (ouch, these hurt, by this time my leg muscles were on fire) followed by 3 hill sprints - these are short but on the steepest part of the hill. 

3 miles easy.

I can tell that I have neglected doing any leg strength exercises/workouts. 

PM - 55 minutes overall core and conditioning class at the Kettle Ball gym.  5 x circuits with ab work in between.  Tough.  I think that makes about a 2000 calorie deficit for the day including this morning's run. 

After getting off my soapbox about recovery yesterday I thought I would take my own advice. :-)

I got 9 hours of sleep but that meant I had to go out for a lunchtime run.  Sunny, mid 90's, pretty warm - low humidity so that helped some.  Stayed on the soft trail for 6 recovery miles @ 8:40 AP.   Legs are pretty sore from yesterday.  Know I remember why I don't do that workout too often.   Followed run with recovery meal of champions - an ice cold pepsi, a protein bar and banana.

Woke up and the legs were still very sore.  Decided I would be ok once I had warmed up though so I head down town.  I ran 3 miles and then was to meet up with the group.  I fell behind a bit though since my first mile was 10 minutes due to the sore leg issue.  It was hard to get going.  Once I came around the corner close to then annex people were already on their way.  I passed on group and they said there were more runners up ahead.  It took about a 1/2 mile catch up before I could see them and another 1/2 mile before I caught up to them. 

We ran a couple more easy and then ran a 4 mile progressive tempo run in which each mile was 10 seconds faster.  I am most proud of myself because at the end of 3 my mind was saying to give up but I toughed it out and was able to finish strong, even on sore legs.  The temp was not as cool as I expected either - 72 to start but the humidity was low.

After the tempo I ran 2 miles easy back to Barton Springs.  Finished early enough that I had a few minutes to jump in.

All miles on town lake trail.

Easy miles: 10:12, 8:28, 8:06, 7:35, 7:40, .6 @ 7:50

Tempo miles: 6:50, 6:42, 6:30, 6:05

Easy miles: 8:35, 8:30, .4 @ 8:30.

6 easy/recovery miles in the am.

Met the group at 5:30 am.  The route was 14 miles on the trail with a 6 mile loop through the hills around mile 12 and a finish with the last 2 back on the trail. 

Nice cool morning. 

At one point where the road meets back up with the trail it gets a bit tricky.  It was pitch black and there were "trail closed" signs.  We took another trail and ended up on quite an adventure.  One runner and me kept going while the others stopped and regrouped.  We found our way out to a main road finally and got back on track.  I found out later that the others looped all the way back to another point in the trail.

At mile 13 my partner broke off and I ended up running the rest on my own. 

Nothing special pace wise - it was another hard week of training so I just wanted to get the 20 miles under my belt.  Even with getting lost and rummaging in the dark through the woods and the hills on the back 6 I managed an average pace of 7:40.  Nothing special but I got through it.

Splits:  9:08, 8:31, 8:10, 7:53, 7:46, 8:30, 8:16, 7:41, 7:37, 7:38, 7:38, 7:23, 7:36, 7:19, 7:25, 7:22, 7:23, 7:17, 7:08, 7:05, .54 @ 6:11.

Looking forward to recovery week this week.  Still plan on doing the hard workouts but will cut back a bit on mileage.