sub-3 or blow-up trying

OK...last Saturday was low to mid-40's w/high winds.  Today was low to mid-90's with high humidity.  Serious?  That's a 50 degree swing, close to 60 if you include wind chill- in one week!  Anyway, ran the road race course with my oldest who wanted to run it fast.  I told her to use caution and the heat took care of that fairly quickly- mile 1- 7:45, mile 2- 8:00, mile 3- 8:20, mile 4- 9min and hung to about a 9min pace until the bottom of the 9% grade hill on mile 7- that knocked us out!  Dropped her off, switched shoes and ran another 8 miles on my own- mostly trails.  Seriously beat at the end!  15.2 miles total. 

Ran 3 miles warm-up on the TM, then 3 miles (6:27,6:22,6:18), quick stretch and then another 3 miles in 18min- 9 total.

Ran 7.5 miles w/my 2 oldest at just over an 8min pace. 

1 miles warm-up and then ran the 1st 6 miles of the Litchfield Road Race.  Since I'm 4 days away from running it this weekend, I decided to break it into 2 parts (so 4 miles would be my longest stretch at race pace).  Did first 4 miles firm, jogged a quarter, and then 2 more firm miles.  The 6 miles were in 39 min (6:30 pace).  Jogged the final mile for 8.25 total. 

Ran .25 warm-up and then 3.25 miles @ 7:18 pace and completed the rest of the run @ just over 9min pace- 7.25 miles total.

5 miles on the TM.

Did 1.4 mile warm-up before heading to the starting line for the Litchfield Road Race.  It started 1pm in 80 degree heat and high humidity.  Today was a day I felt only 1 gear, so treated it like a training run (although many of my training runs have been better this past month).

2,000 runners and the start and we were off at 1pm sharp...

Mile 1: 5:52 (not as fast as it seems...includes huge hill with 9% grade down)

Mile 2: 6:23 (felt comfortable, yet was already feeling the heat...small uphill, no shade)

Mile 3: 6:42 (things flattened out, entered shady area, no 2nd gear)

Mile 4: 7:07 (feeling the heat...stopped and drank 3 cups of water before heading uphill)

Mile 5: 6:59 (still feeling the heat...kept things slow and steady)

Mile 6:  Never checked the watch, but probably around 6:55-7min pace)

*40:13 at 6 mile mark (6:42 pace)...now entering the 9% grade uphill for 1/3 mile

Mile 7: walked the 2nd half of the hill and then held my place till the finish.

Finish:  49:01 (91st, 8th in age division)...56 sec slower than last year...also weigh 7 lbs more than last year at this time...other than the hill, satisfied with the effort.   

Raining out, so headed to the gym.  The plan was to run 1 hour on the TM @ 7:30 pace.  I was doing just fine until my machine blew a fuse at the 6mile mark.  Front desk couldn't fix it, so cut my workout short.  Felt good for post-race.  Didn't really kill myself yesterday, so felt fine today. 

Pouring rain...ran 8 miles on the TM @ 7:30 pace.

I've been unable to get out in good weather for the past several days, so found a window this morning and dropped an 18-miler in (18.3 to be exact)- first 7 miles under 8:30 pace and the last 12 over 9min pace.  Went loop from gym. 

Raining again!  Did a quick TM workout- 7:30,7:30,7:24,7:24,7:18,7:18,7:13- 7 miles total. 

Ran 14 miles- 1st 7.75 on my own @ 8:08 pace (last 2 around 7:30 pace)...stopped by the house and joined up with my wife for another 6:25 miles @ just under 9min pace. 

7.25 miles with my 2 oldest daughters- nice run w/great conversation. 

4 more miles w/my wife.

Ran 8.5 miles w/my wife.

Ran 2 miles down to the track w/my girls and did 3 miles worth of intervals- 4 x 400, 2 x 800, and 1-mile- 84 sec avg., 2:51 avg, and just over 6min- ran 9.5 miles total.

6.5 on the TM- 2 @ 7:30 pace. 

Ran 10 miles @ 7:09 pace w/my 2nd oldest next to me on her bike.  Closed w/a 2-mile cooldown- 12 miles total. 

1 mile warm-up and then 7 miles @ 7:30 pace on the TM.  Sweaty mess at the end!

14.4 miles- 1st 8.4 combination of trails/road @ about 8:40 pace.  Last 6 on road w/my wife @ about 9min pace.

Did TM at the gym:  2 mile warm-up and then 3 miles @ 6min pace.

Joined the girls in the afternoon, 2 runners and 3 on bikes.  Headed 2 miles down to the track- ran the 2 miles in 13:08 (6:34 pace) before doing intervals- 2 x 100, 2 x 200, 2 x 400 (75,71), and a few extra sprints.  My 2nd grader surprised everyone w/a 38 second 200 and a 91 second 400.  Although we know she's fast, we've never timed her at those distances- all done barefoot.

Ran 2 miles back home to make it 12 miles for the day. 

Ran alongside 2 of my girls + wife on bikes.  Went off road and then I ran the trail course in 19:24 (6:28 pace), breaking it into two chunks w/a quick breather after the hill.  Did a total of 8.6 miles. 

5 miles on the TM in the morning- 2 x 400, 1 x 800, and 1 miles @ 6min pace.

Ran w/my 13 year old.  First, did 2 miles to the track (13:08 for me and 14:32 for her)...ran 4 x 200 and 2 x 400 (81 sec each)...a storm came sweeping in and we ran 1.5 miles hard before taking cover on someone's front porch.  It was an older couple, we knocked on the door a few times and they seemed scared to answer it.  So we just sat in a narrow porch area for 20 minutes or so getting absolutely pelted.  My wife drove through the neighborhood and found us.  Lighting was bad and we lost power for several hours.  All is fine though!  Oh yeah, I did  the first mile back in 6:04 and then stopped to wait for my daughter who did the first mile back in 7:04 and we kept just over a 7min pace for the next .5 before taking cover- 6.5 miles total. 

4 easy miles on the TM.

7.25 easy miles w/my 2 oldest daughters.

3 easy miles on hotel TM.

Lined up for a 5-miler with my 2 oldest.  It was warm w/100% humidity.  Started firm, but then just hung on for a nice training run.

Mile 1- 6:16 (hills)

Mile 2- 6:26 (more hills...nothing strong, but steady)

Mile 3- 6:38 (warm...wishing this was a 5k...quit looking at my watch)

Miles 4 & 5- just hanging on for a respectable time.

Finish:  33:49 (glad to get it over with!)

My 13-year-old ran a 39:40 and my 15-year-old ran 41:04.  Both respectable times.

Ran another 7.75 miles w/my wife in the afternoon.