The Next Step

Kinda unusal to do a long run on Monday but glad I was able to get it in.  Not the best day weather wise.  It was 80 degrees when I finished the run and fairly humid.  When I started off I felt good and ran along easily.  I felt good all the way to around 14 miles and then the heat started taking it's toll.  I probably should have started off slower knowing it was going to be so warm but it felt very comfortable at the time.  Also, I probably needed to get out about an hour early because once the sun was up I started the melt down.  I had planned on going 20 today but once the heat kicked in I took the shortest route back and was only able to cut off a mile.  Glad I stuck it out but looking forward to cooler days.

2:38:8 (8:19 avg)

I am on a business trip to Huntsville, AL and since the forecast today is for 100 degrees and humid I got out real early and only had to deal with a temp of around 76.  I thought my legs might be a little beat up after the long run yesterday but they felt pretty decent.  I started off easy and after a few miles actually felt pretty good.  Since I was feeling good I picked up the last couple of miles to around marathon pace.  Turned out to be a good run.

64:58

Still in Huntsville and had a better day this morning around 74 but felt like lower humidity. I wanted to do 12 miles but had some early meetings so was only able to get in 10 miles. I felt pretty good starting out and felt better as I went along. Turned out to be a good run and was treated with a beautiful sunrise as I ran.

83:45

It was a pretty nice day for Huntsville in July (68, lower humidity). I felt tired this morning when I got out. The legs just didn't feel very fresh. I did an easy 4 miles to get going and then wanted to throw in a couple of miles at tempo pace in preparation for Sat's race. I didn't want to do a longer tempo run just because of the way I felt and being this close to the race on Sat. The tempo miles went ok. Still didn't feel very strong but the pace was ok. I did a rough measurement of the distance so not totally sure on the times but ran the 1st mile in 6:40 and 2nd mile in 6:47. After this did a couple of miles for a cooldown.

64:14

I was very lucky with the weather this week in Huntsville.  Another good day with lower humidity, cloudy and around 70.  Again this morning I didn't feel very strong.  Just kind of tired.  I decided to cut the normal run short a couple of miles because of this and the fact that I have a race tomorrow.  I don't have too high of expectations for the race unless I feel much better tomorrow.  Ok run this morning.  Seemed to feel a little better as I went along.  I threw in a few strides at the end just to stretch out the legs.  I think I am just feeling the effects of a long week on the road.  Glad to be heading home.

51:10

This morning it was pretty warm and humid plus the last couple of days I have felt kind of sluggish so I didn't have great expectations for this race.  I wanted to treat it as a good strong tempo effort and get a few extra miles in the process.  I did a 2 mile warm up and it was very warm already (mid 70's, sunny and humid).  Going into the race I was hoping for something around 6:45 pace.  I got started easily but early on I felt like I was putting forth a lot of effort and wasn't going that fast.  I came through the first mile in 6:41 so was pretty close to pace.  Second mile was more of the same.  Just felt like I had no speed in my legs and I knew I was slowing down.  Second mile was 6:52.  The third mile was a long sunny stretch and now I was trying to adjust my effort so I could have enough for the finish and slowed even more.  The 4th and 5th miles I didn't feel like I was losing as much but just didn't have any left to pick up the pace.  Here are the splits: as I remember them.  For some reason when I went back to my watch I couldn't pull them up.

1st - 6:41

2nd - 6:52

3rd - 7:17

4th - 7:07

5th - 6:47

This is a real disappointing result for me.  I just really thought that I would be further along now.  These are the kind of times I was running a couple of years ago on 25 to 30 miles a week.  Now I am running 50 to 60 miles a week and I'm not any faster.  I know the weather wasn't the best but I run in this stuff everyday so don't think I can use that for an excuse.  It is very hard to trust the training when the results are not coming.  Maybe I need to do more tempo work/speed work something because this doesn't seem to be working.  Did a three mile cooldown for a total of 10.