May the Mass x Acceleration be with you

SEJ-5 mile loop - 5.125 miles in 39:24

Felt pretty good and comfortable.
Splits: 7:53 - 7:40 - 7:53 - 15:58

Warmup - 2 miles in 15:25

Sometimes you have to make adjustments to your running plans on the fly. And sometimes you have no choice in the matter. Your body simply is unable to perform according to plan.Such was the case today, when I set out to run an 8 mile LT run at sub 6:30 pace. Perhaps it was the residual fatigue from last week's series of challenging workouts. Or perhaps it was the unusually warm and balmy day (78 degrees with humidity pushing 90%). Or a combination of things. It was not long into the workout that I saw it was not meant to be. At the half way point I had to go into serious negotiations with my body to come up with a reasonable compromise.

Workout

1x4 mile, 2x2 mile LT intervals

The first half mile of the run felt great and was way under goal pace. So, I slowed up a bit. After that I couldn't get my pace down again. At four miles I was forced to stop due to fatigue, dizzyness, the heat and humidity. I wrung out my shirt and stuck it in my shorts. That helped a great deal. While stopped I decided to stop trying to run an 8-mile tempo run, and instead break the 2nd half into 2 two mile intervals, and I backed off the pace a bit, too. Resulting splits, below:

4 miles in 25:57 (6:29/mile)
0.5 - 3:06 - 3:05.75
1.0 - 6:22 - 3:17.00
1.5 - 9:43 - 3:20.75
2.0 - 12:58 - 3:14.75
2.5 - 16:16 - 3:18.00
3.0 - 19:28 - 3:12.25
3.5 - 22:44 - 3:15.75
4.0 - 25:57 - 3:13.00

2 Miles in 13:12 (6:36/mile)
0.5 - 3:20 - 3:20.50
1.0 - 6:37 - 3:16.75
1.5 - 9:48 - 3:11.00
2.0 - 13:12 - 3:23.50

2 Miles in 13:16 (6:38/mile)
0.5 - 3:10 - 3:10.00
1.0 - 6:31 - 3:21.25
1.5 - 9:55 - 3:24.00
2.0 - 13:16 - 3:21.50

Cooldown:

Cool down - 1 mile in 7:45

Strength Training:

2 sets of:
15 pushups
12 1-leg fast squats
15 Burpees
50 Crunches
12 High Bench Step-Ups
20 Bench Dips

2 sets of:
15 Heel raises
30 Back Arches
18 Walking Lunges
12 Feet elevated pushups
60 1-Leg hops in place.

Easy run on trails - 6 miles in 49:09

7xCM, 6xLM

4.75 miles warmup - 38:11
5x200m hills with 200m jogs (1.25)
46.15, 44.50, 44.25, 44.17, 43.53
3.3 miles cooldown - 26:41

Warmup

Warmup run over the 5k course during the girls race. I gave them a couple minute headstart, then cheere them on as I passed them.

Race: WHS Alumni XC race - 5K in 19:01 (6:08/mile - 10k pace)

Fun day and race. It had been pretty warm during the warmup, but was starting to cool off by the race. I went out at a moderate effort, making sure I was able to talk while running during the first mile. My hope was to go through the first mile at around 10k race pace at the fastest. Since I just ran hills yesterday, and I really want to be fairly fresh for my last long run on Saturday I didn't want to push too hard, so I backed off a bit during the second mile, but then picked up a bit in the 3rd and kicked in decently. I started out probably around 10th by the 1/2 mile, but passed people throughout and moved up to 4th with 1/2 mile to go. I gained on 3rd place but came in just behind him - a freshman who shows some promise. I'm sure the high school athletes were not running all out, either. The winner came through in about 17:05 - not bad for an early season race! I was very happy to finish in 19:01, though if I knew I was that close to breaking 19 I would've sprinted in a little bit harder. We need better turnout for the alumni team next  year. I expected there to be a few recent grads who could run with the leaders. I didn't expect almost 40-year old me to be our top runner. We got trounced 18-47. Next year the score will be much closer I think!

Splits:
1.0 - 6:07.5
2.0 - 12:28.75 - 6:21.5
3.1 - 19:01.00 - 6:32.25 (5:53/mile over this segment

Cool down jog over course

I ran backwards over the course for about .95 miles in 7:25.59. Then we had an awards ceremony and I ate a couple fudgecicles. The ideal post race recovery snack! Then I ran the whole course again for more cooldown, fueled by the treats in 23:23, a few seconds faster than the warmup. For the entire 10.25 miles I averaged 7:09/mile.

Weyerhaeuser Way route - 6 miles in 46:31

I felt pretty good today, not really very tired and not sore from yesterday's race.

Splits:
7:48
15:27 - 7:39
23:17 - 7:50
38:48 - 15:31
46:31 - 7:43

Great marathon predictor long run - 10 miles at normal pace, 10 at marathon pace, 1 mile cool down. This went better than the 18 miler two weeks ago, and better than expected. The first half I was a little on the slow side, but the pace felt very easy and comfortable. When I say slow, I mean I was under my original goal of sub-7/pace, but not quite down to the 6:53/mile which is my new goal, to break 3 hours. On the second half I was able to run a bit quicker, but the pace still felt pretty easy. Even the last couple miles of the pace run I kept thinking that if I feel that good at mile 20 I will be set - I should be able to speed up and bring my time down over the last 6 miles.

10 miles of normal running on Allison loop and start of Vickory route - 1:16:47
Splits: 8:10 - 7:41 - 7:45 - 7:40 - 7:32 - 7:24 - 15:17 - 15:17

10 miles at marathon pace -
Splits:
0.5 - 0:03:27 - 3:27.5 - 6:54/mile
1.0 - 0:06:56 - 3:29.25 - 6:56/mile
1.5 - 0:10:22 - 3:26.0 - 6:55
2.0 - 0:13:53 - 3:30.25 - 6:56
2.5 - 0:17:23 - 3:30.5 - 6:57
3.0 - 0:20:45 - 3:21.75 - 6:55
3.5 - 0:24:12 - 3:27.25 - 6:55
4.0 - 0:27:39 - 3:26.75 - 6:55
4.5 - 0:31:01 - 3:22.00 - 6:54
5.0 - 0:34:22 - 3:21.0 - 6:52
5.5 - 0:37:46 - 3:23.75 - 6:52
6.0 - 0:41:12 - 3:26.5 - 6:52
6.5 - 0:44:42 - 3:30.0 - 6:53
7.0 - 0:48:12 - 3:30.25 - 6:53
7.5 - 0:51:35 - 3:22.5 - 6:53
8.0 - 0:55:00 - 3:25.0 - 6:53
8.5 - 0:58:25 - 3:25.0 - 6:52
9.0 - 1:01:53 - 3:28.5 - 6:53
9.5 - 1:05:16 - 3:22.25 - 6:52
10.0 - 1:08:20 - 3:04.0 - 6:50

Cooldown - 1 mile in 7:59