Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

87F, SSE 22-30 mph.  8:38 AP.  Wasn't going to run until tomorrow, but the soreness was basically gone, so why not?  Felt terrible once I started of course.

Anyway, I think this is going to be a much easier recovery than Houston from the feel of it.  Probably evidence of underperforming, or maybe a more favorable asphault-to-concrete ratio at OKC.

I signed up for a 5K on the 12th.  Our little town of 2,000 is having one, so I can't miss it.  I'll be slow, I'm sure, but I'm guessing this is the only race all year that is actually in Elgin.

No run, just wanted to post a couple pictures.  Mine are always terrible, which I love, and this was no exception.

Sometime in the first half:

Around mile 15 - at least I was still running the tangents correctly!

Best picture ever - I didn't even notice that guy during the race, was just trying to get a clear path to the finish line among the half-marathoners.  Wish I looked half as happy as he does!

72F, 85%.  5 easy this morning, 8:38/mile.  I'm now in Abilene for the weekend.  The high tomorrow is a nice, even 100F.  Triple digits already??

73F, 84%, S 17-30 mph in Abilene, on its way to a high of 101F today....yuck.  8:03 AP on the run - it felt pretty good.  Legs are fine, just felt unnecessarily out of breath.

74F, S 17-29 mph.  7:38 AP.  This recovery is definitely much easier than Houston.  I might even be able to eke out a sub-19 next weekend.

58F, N 12 mph.  7:26 AP.  I finally caught my breath somewhere in mile 4 and had some quicker miles on the way back home.  Still feel a little awkward and out of shape but pretty good for 9 days post-marathon.

49F, calm, clear.  What an awesome morning.  7:02 AP - obviously way too fast for a marathon recovery week but it felt amazing and effortless, just floating along in the cool air. 

It's too bad I crumble so easily with the slightest bit of heat...where was this weather 10 days ago??  Ah well, I will enjoy it while it lasts; maybe this summer won't be as bad as last year.

*just signed up for the Houston HALF marathon, not the full this year.  8 months before the race - early registration is open for both events, for anyone interested....

52F, calm and clear again.  If only we could bottle this weather up and use it this summer.  Looks like the window will be closing soon...   8:18 AP.

61F, heavy rain.  7:26 AP.  Not so bad once I got used to the shirt-glued-to-your-torso feeling.  I wanted to spend a few minutes at 5k pace on the way home today, but after my second 1-minute repeat I was in severe, severe distress.  Severe.  So I slowed to butt-clenching speed for the last couple miles.  Butt-clenching pace is down to 7:45 or so; it used to be 8:00.  Obviously, I'm really starting to see the results of all my hard work.

61F, NE 14-18 mph.  I ran our little town's local 5K(ish) race today.  Got schooled by a couple high school kids on the xc team and ran pretty mediocre myself, but ok for 13 days post-marathon.

5:58 - tailwind

6:05

6:19 - headwind

1:22 for 0.23 miles (5:52 pace)

All in all, AP was 6:06, so more like a 19-flat on a correct-distance course.  The headwind mile killed me.  I have a long way to go before I'll get close to sub-18.  Slogging through the summer at 8-min pace isn't going to make it happen for me this year (unlike last year), I will have to spend a lot more time at 3k-5k pace this summer.  My speed/VO2 max has deteriorated to nothing!  There's a 10K pretty close by next weekend; I think I will run it too.  Gotta quit being such a speed wimp...

56F.  7:35 AP.  Felt kind of tired today, but I have a full day off tomorrow.

55F.  7:42 AP.  Really refreshing run on another cool, perfect morning.

Tempo run tomorrow.  Probably somewhere between HMP and MP; I don't think I'm ready for much faster quite yet, although I am signed up for a 10K this weekend.  Time to cram some speed down my throat.

58F.  7:14 AP.  Today was 8 easy, followed by 5 tempo.  Per Jake's suggestion, I started out at MP.  That felt fine, so I dropped it ever so slightly to TT pace for the last half of the tempo (tinman has a calculator now, woohoo).  The 5 fast miles were 6:45, 6:44, 6:41, 6:34, 6:35.  Cooled down to my mailbox and finished with exactly a half marathon distance on the watch.

I was glad I took it easy for this first post-marathon tempo; I definitely finished with some gas left in the tank, which is good with the dreaded 10K looming.

58F.  I think this morning was the last time the temperature will dip below 60 again until this fall.  R.I.P. 50s, see you in September (I hope).  8:24 AP.

62F.  7:29 AP.  Kept it a shorter effort today, hoping to be somewhat fresh for the 10K tomorrow.  It's going to be 70 degrees with 20+ mph wind.  Don't care too much, I am really just running it to get a good hard effort in anyway.  I was definitely never expecting to run the sub-38 McMillan thinks I can do.  Actually if I even run a sub-40, I'd be pretty surprised.

Oh, and I pooped in the bushes again today.  Did not even make it 2 miles.

*Here's an update from the 10K facebook page, from the RD, that makes me a little nervous:

"You know that feeling you get when you finish something really hard, and you know you pushed yourself to your absolute limits? You can have that feeling this Saturday no matter what your limits are. 1 Mile, 3.2 Miles or even 6.4 miles"

73F, S 16-21 mph.  sunny.  really sunny.

I drove up to Chickaska (about 30 min) to do this 10k.  Once again this distance plagues me.  On top of the heat and wind, it was pretty hilly.  The good news is there was a 5k and 10k and they were paying actual money for 1st-3rd.  I knew that would draw some fast people from OKC, but was hoping they'd be spread out over both races and maybe I could sneak in and grab some cash.  Sure enough, both winners of the OKC marathon this year showed up, Jacob Buhler and Camille Herron.  So at the starting line I was looking around and other than Jacob there was one other guy with shorty shorts who looked fast.  So I figured it would be a battle for 3rd to get that last $50.

The 2 fast guys took off and ended up running 32 and 33 for the race.  They disappeared pretty soon and it was me and gray shirt for the first mile.  He sounded like he was breathing hard already so I passed him but he stuck close by.  I started feeling really hot and drained already by mile 2.  At the halfway point he was still there, and I was sure I was being used as his rabbit, but he slowly faded (worse than me) and I ran the second half of the race alone.  Could not even manage half-marathon pace out there; it just felt like I was shuffling along, and I just kinda slogged it in unceremoniously.

I invented a new kind of run today.  You've heard of the progressive run, this was a "regressive run."  I'm sure it will catch on everywhere pretty soon.

6:15, 6:28, 6:34, 6:36, 6:41, 6:35, 1:32 for 0.23.

But, of course I got my 50 bucks - the first time I have won actual money in a race.  Past prizes I've received have included a jar of gumballs and a PetSmart coffee mug.  So it was all worth it!

63F, calm, then E 20 mph, then calm again.  T-storms/rain.  I ran into the wind when it was strong, then it died down before it was time to turn around and go home.  At least the rain cooled everything off.  Something that would have been helpful YESTERDAY, but I guess that's ok because the weak effort on the 10k left my legs fresh today.  7:31 AP.

I think I will take it easy until Friday, then hit the track and start doing 2 workouts/week next week -- 1 tempo and 1 speed.

64F.  7:45 AP.  I woke up, I ran, the end.

70F, S 20 mph.  7:39 AP.  Sorry, I still can't think of anything interesting to say.  These filler runs are just not exciting.  So instead, here is a picture of a cat.

73F, S 17-23 mph.  8:27 AP.  Off to Abilene later today to move the family up to Oklahoma once and for all, since the last day of school is today.  Fortunately we have packers and movers so hopefully it's not too painful.

Tomorrow (in Abilene) I will hit the track in some unfavorable heat and wind, but I will get it done, even if the paces suck.  I think I should be recovered from the marathon by now, so it's time to start working on speed for awhile.

73F, S 18-25 mph.  Well, despite some heat and a nasty wind, I decided to hit the track anyway and just slug through some intervals.  The track at ACU is oriented north/south so the wind hurts; the headwind straightaway felt like I was literally going half as fast as the tailwind. I did 6 x 800, 400m recovery.

?:??, 3:17, 3:16, 3:14, 3:01, 3:01.

Recovery paces were 8:15-8:30

I decided just to go by feel and not strain too much.  The first one I hit the wrong button.  The second one I could not believe how slow it was.  I thought at first I ran the wrong distance or something but with an 800 (2 full laps) it's kind of hard to mess that up.  Sure enough the third one was just as bad.  I mean, wow, I was still kinda running hard -- how was I not even at HM pace?  Who does 800s at slower than HM pace?  Finally I got frusturated and ran the last two hard.  Conditions were tough, but not THAT tough.

I jogged a couple laps, then, figuring I hadn't got the turnover I wanted for the day, I did 4 x 200 with 200m recoveries, averaging 36.5 seconds.  I just wanted mile pace (about 40 sec) so I guess I ran a little harder to take out some frustrations.

I think I am just not mentally there with intervals yet, but I will keep trying, and maybe there won't be such a nasty wind next time.

73F, S 15 mph.  8:29 AP.  Last run in Abilene, ever!  We drove back to Elgin today and the movers are bringing our stuff tomorrow.  Kind of exhausting, even with all the help.

74F, S 18-25 mph.  Got out before the movers came for a warm, windy long run.  I think 17 miles is probably where I'll max out this summer on Sundays.  Anything longer starts to get miserable.  7:32 AP.

72F, S 13 mph.  8:39 AP.  Lots of unpacking to do today.  Unfortunately I have to help since I have the day off.

65F.  7:47 AP.  A few degrees cooler today, legs felt good, family has moved in with me....everything was right with the world this morning.  Nice relaxed run on a calm morning.

Tempo tomorrow.  I think Friday will be my track day, and either Tuesday or Wednesday for tempos; we'll have to see what works better.

64F, 91%.  7:06 AP.  It stayed cool for my tempo run today.  5.5 easy, turn around, then 5.5 @ TT.  The tempo miles were 6:33 AP -- (6:40, 6:32, 6:34, 6:30, 6:35, 3:12).  I was targeting 6:36, so mission accomplished.  As it warms up this summer I might even slow it down a bit from there.  I'm just now figuring out that you don't have to race every tempo and take it to the house for every workout.

Since I finished with some gas in the tank, hopefully I'll be ready for some 400s on Friday.  We're getting a cold front tomorrow afternoon/evening, so I'm hoping to finally get some 5k (or better) paces on Friday.

64F, N 10 mph.  8:29 AP.