Practice To Suffer So Racing Becomes Easy

Morning:  7.90 miles in town loop, it was a hot and humid run.  The lack of wind made it tough to keep the core temp down.  Managed a 7:30 avg pace.  The next couple days are going to be triple digits.

Evening:  St. Joe's Golf Outing - my team was almost the worst team, but we were the holiest.  I golfed with two priests and the Grandmaster Knight of The Knights of Columbus.  I had to do my best not to curse at some of my terrible shots!  99 degrees of all you could handle heat and 100% humidity.

Morning:  8.57 miles Creamery Rd to Hwy K - hot and humid!! - triple digit heat index today.  7:05 Avg

Morning: Workout - 6.46 miles - 1 mile warm-up, originally planned for a 2 mile warm-up.  I was sweating so badly after 1 mile due to the extreme heat I decided I was already warmed up.  Workout goal was 4x2 miles @ mp effort w/.4 easy running recovery.  The key word to the workout is effort.  I knew there was no way to hit my pace in this weather.  I settled for a 6:05, 6:08 (12:13), and wound up only doing one more of 6:11,6:14 (12:25) since I was already fading in the heat.  I think I could have been okay doing one more set, but a 4th would have been too much.  Better to error on the conservative side with dangerous heat.  Just happy to get a workout in on a tough weather day.  Finished with a 1 mile cool down - Avg run pace 7:05  Temp 85, Dew Point 70%, Humidity 100%

Evening:  Finally a break in the heat advisory!  10 miles in town loop at night ~ 10:00pm.  Nice pace for the conditions - Avg 6:53  83 degrees/79% humidity 

Morning:  12.39 miles in and around the outskirts of town on some trails.  Thunderstorms kept me from getting out early enough to beat all the heat.  The dew point and temp were the same at 72, but it was cool.  I was originally planning to run 19 miles with some mp effort at the end, but as soon as the sun came out I knew it was time to take it back home when I couldn't keep the core temp down. The legs felt really dead anyway.  I think it was the 10 miler late last night without anything of substance to eat afterwards.  I was probably glycogen depleted.  Managed to drag myself around at a 7:44 avg pace. 

Evening:  3 hard miles on the treadmill running in some test shoes the brooks test development sent my friend.  He's not able to put enough miles on them so he gave me a couple pairs to test for him.  Last last 1/2 mile was in the 5:30's on a 1.5% incline.

Morning:  5 miles in another test shoe (Saucony Omni 12).  Not feeling too peppy this morning due to another late night run.  The shoes seemed to feel good for 8:00 min avg pace.  Finally, got a break in the heat, but still pretty humid.  Not a very comfortable run.

Evening:  20.10 miles w/3 hard miles at the end.  Wow what a difference a little cool temps with some light rain can make!  This run felt easier than some of my 5-10 milers in the heat and humidity.  It was actually so cool my son's swim lessons were brought inside for a safety discussion.

I started the run with the intentions of running an 8-10 miler, so I didn't bring any nutrition or water with me.  Plus I wore the Brooks Adrenaline test shoes my buddy lend me.  After 7 miles I noticed I was keeping the core temp down and the legs felt flat, but I was maintaining a nice 7:00-7:20 pace comfortable enough, so I decided to take a big loop with the opt out option of turning around anytime.  I wound up feeling so good throughout the run I ran the last 3 at a light mp pace effort.  It was my 1st long run over 16-18 miles in a couple of months, so I'm really happy with how it went.  No blisters or sore spots from the Brooks Adrenaline.  In fact they almost felt light enough to use as an mp trainer.  Avg 7:12 pace with the last 3 at 6:35, 6:23, 6:28 

Evening:  4.21 miles in the Saucony Omni 12.  Legs weren't feeling too bad for running 25 miles yesterday.  It must have helped taking the morning off and I'm sure the 9.5 hours of sleep didn't hurt either.  I've got a late night planned with Jen and Jameson running along in a nighttime bike ride tonight.

 Night:  9.78 miles running next to Jen and Jameson on the bike in a sanctioned bike ride at night!  We all had our bikes decked out in fancy lights, it was a nice cool night run for me.  I was the only runner so I felt a little out of place.  The run felt pretty good, nice pace of 6:50 per mile

I learned of this race through word of mouth.  It's a hidden gem if you ask me.  The course is run on a private farm.  It's the home course of Lake Side Lutheran High School.  It's all on grass and takes you through woods and over lots of hills.  Some of the hills were incredibly steep!  It really brought back old memories of Cross Country.  The temps weren’t too bad this morning because the sun stayed behind some clouds and we’ve got a storm system moving in.  It was windy, but I didn’t feel it that much because the course takes you turning in different directions.  I started off in the back of the pack to see how things would shake out with the 5K runners.  By the time we hit the mile marker I was in 2^nd place and could see 1^st place splitting a 6:29 1^st mile.  I wasn’t really concerned with splits on this course.  I came through the 2^nd mile in 5:35 and put some considerable distance between myself and the 3^rd place with that split.  By the time I hit mile 3 running a 6:11 split, I was within striking distance (30 meters) of the 1^st place runner. I was a little concerned that 1^st might be a 10K runner so, I wanted to make sure the gap wasn’t too big.  I made the turn to run the 10K as 1^st place went straight to finish the 5K.  Now I was all on my own with a monster lead as later learned I won by 20 minutes.  My 4^th mile was a 6:51 which was slow, but the steep hills disguise the effort associated with that split.  Mile 5 was 6:00 and I was feeling nice and strong.  For the 1^st time in a long time I noticed I was in good form and the body seemed to be perfectly in sync.  The last .96 was on cruise control with a 5:45 (5:59 mile average).  I didn't fight with this course I took what it gave me and I wound up feeling good about my effort.

I’m really glad I skipped out on sleeping in after the late night run to run this race.  It was also a lot of fun to run in spikes!  This was another win at a low key event without taxing my body.     

3.2 mile warmup 

2.4 mile cooldown 

Avg race pace 6:11