This run finished off my first ever 100 mile week! It is not like the number itself really means that much, but I am excited nonetheless, as I hope to be putting in more of these weeks over the course of the summer. I did my weekly long run this morning, running most of it around the Galleria Mall, and then finishing the run on the Pittman Wash. I made it out the door at 5:20 am, which is the earliest I have gotten out the door so far this summer. The temperature was around 80 when I left the house (similar to last Saturday) and I was hoping that I would react well to the heat since I was leaving earlier than normal. The workout goal was to run 3 x 3 laps around the mall (3.75 miles total for each repeat) with a one lap recovery (1.25 miles). I started the first repeat after 5 miles, and ran lap splits of: 7:23, 7:13, 6:58. Mile splits (plus .75) were: 5:54, 5:44, 5:40, 4:16. The first lap had virtually no wind as I warmed into the pace, but after that lap a wind started to pick up from the SW that affected me during some of the rolling quarters and the uphill quarter at the end of each lap. After a 1.25 mile recovery (9:32) I ran the second repeat with lap splits of: 7:10, 7:08, 7:00. Mile splits (plus .75) were: 5:40, 5:41, 5:36, 4:21. The wind was much stronger during this repeat, and I really had to work hard just to break 6:00 pace during the quarters into the wind. The wind definitely hurt me more when it was in my face than it helped when it was at my back. After this repeat I ran another lap for recovery in 9:49, but I decided that I would shorten the last repeat, extend the recovery a little longer, and run the last section somewhere that the wind would be at my back a little more consistently. The combination of the wind, the heat, and the fact that I have never run this many miles in a week before just sapped the energy from me, and I struggled home to get some H2O before finishing the run. I ran out onto the Pittman Wash, and then started my final tempo heading into the wind for a few minutes before turning around and getting a nice tailwind over the final 2 miles, finishing at my apartment. At the beginning of the last repeat I actually miscalculated where I needed to turn around, so I ended up running about a quarter mile farther than I should have. I finished the last repeat with a total time of 15:31, for what I will call 2.75 miles (it may have been just a little bit shorter, but it was closer to 2.75 than 2.5, which for my purposes is close enough). Total time for the run (20.25 miles) was 2:17:02.
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