Did a decent workout today. I drove out to the start of Hollow Rd, and did and out-and-back on the TOU course. Basically I ran to near the half marathon start and back. I wanted to keep a brisk pace going up, and then do a 3-2-1 (mile) workout coming down at half marathon race pace, quarter mile recovery between each rep. My first 6 miles were all between 6:15 and 6:00, and things were feeling really good on the uphill. I realized about halfway that the reason it felt so good was because I had a tailwind, meaning I would get a headwind on the downhill, interval part of my workout. Oh well, I just tried to enjoy the tailwind while I could. I also realized that it was getting pretty hot out, and that I hadn't hydrated all morning, unless a pot of coffee counts. I think that it does not. So dehydration could be an issue, as could the heat. It was only 70 degrees out, but if you convert that to Logan Standard Temperature, it comes out to about 90 degrees. Keep in mind I wear gloves still most mornings. Anway, the last 3 miles of the uphill portion felt really good, and I hit mid-5:50s on them. At the turnaround point at 9 miles, I had averaged 6:04/mile for the whole uphill portion of the run. Aided by the tailwind, but still not bad, and it felt really good. I took a quick potty stop at an outhouse in the picnic area, and then started down. Did one mile in 5:55 to get a feel for the headwind and the downhill. Despite going downhill now, the effort to do 5:55 was the same as it was on the uphill with the tailwind. Interesting. At mile 10, I started my 3-mile interval. Obviously, that made the head-wind worse, since I was running faster into it. Hit 16:31 for 3 miles (5:15, 5:19, 5:17). It did not feel good. I was really starting to feel dried out at this point. The wind was cooling me off, but it was also evaporating my sweat faster. I wished that someone had cached some Gatorade in the bushes for me, but that was not the case. Took 0.25 miles recovery (2 minutes), then started the 2-mile interval. This one started better, but finished worse. 10:18 for 2 miles (5:03, 5:15). The last half mile I started feeling pretty bad, and pretty much turned it off the last quarter. And then I turned off the workout for the day as well, and nixed the last interval. I could tell that I was dehydrated, and that the sun was getting to me. I was sweating less and less (a bad thing), and having a tough time catching my breath. I cruised in the last couple miles on Hollow Rd with some low-6's. Amazing how much backing off just a little bit helps. I fininshed the 18 miles in 1:45:54, which is 5:53/mile. So still a pretty good day, despite really messing up my workout by not hydrating enough and by waiting too late in the morning to run (it was about noon when I finished). But I survived. And this run concluded my first 90-mile week since fall of 2007. Training over the last month has been good. My primary goal was to get my mileage up to 90, and actual workouts were secondary to the overall volume. So mission accomplished. I'm looking forward to the UVM Half in a week, and then will do a short 10K training cycle in preparation for Des News, and then from August through October the sole focus will be the marathon.
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