Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

6 on the TM in ~48 minutes, which included some 1/4-mile hilly stridey thingys.

TM run in the laaate evening.  8 @ 7:15 (last 3 @ 9 mph).

55F.  12 @ 6:53 AP.  Nice cold front came in, though maybe a day too early for race purposes this weekend.

Didn't look at my watch for this one, just going for a progression toward the fast end of my aerobic range.  Last 6 were 6:30 AP, so that was a pleasant surprise.  I'm in pretty good shape right now - that did not feel like a workout.  Maybe back to pre-injury levels...only took 11-12 weeks!

Sleep and recovery is the name of the game until Saturday.

53F.  6 @ 8:35 AP.

56F.  7 @ 8:00 AP.

86F.  3 @ 7:17 AP.  Thought I had a gap in the schedule at lunch but it closed up so I didn't get a chance to run until after work, around 6.  So I only did 3 miles instead of the planned 5, but, I did 1 stride!

Pretty pumped about the race - it will be more competitive than I thought, and I am really excited just to compete.  Even though it's warm (duh, San Antonio in May), I'm really feeling fit and ready.

63F -> 76F.  Let me start out by saying I still had fun.  I did.  This was maybe the worst decision-making I've ever had in a race.  Worst bonk of my life!  1:33 / 1:58

So, my going-in strategy was to run in the lead pack, no matter what.  At the start line, my RH buddy Matt pointed out Paul Terranova, adding that he was the fastest trail runner in Texas.  I think he has won a couple national championships so it was good to know but, well, I already had my strategy.

Started out in a pack of 4, with Paul in front, and I was the caboose.  As the middle 2 guys appeared to lose contact, I'd pass them.  So about 3 miles in, I'm in 2nd.  Ran behind Paul for a mile or so when he turned back to me and said, I should probably let you know I'm only doing 1 loop, then dropping."  He had to be somewhere else.  I thanked him for letting me know and he said something to the effect that he didn't think he'd be able to maintain this pace for 2 loops.  Hint dropped.  Hint ignored.  I did let him go a little, but caught glimpses of him until mile 10 or so.  I felt really, really good.  Hit the half in 1:33 which I knew was downright irresponsible.  Hot trail race, and a 1:33?  I knew there were 2-3 really good runners behind me somewhere though.

I continued feeling pretty good.  There is a little out and back for the middle aid station on the loop, maybe mile 20 for the 2nd loop, so I knew I'd get some info about my lead.  Josh was in 2nd, and I had about the same lead on him as I did on the first loop.  But Jason had dropped back and I was pretty sure he was no longer a factor.  However, somewhere around mile 22 my world came crashing down.  The bonk escalated really, really quickly.  I knew by 22.5 that I would get passed, even though I couldn't see anyone yet.  Mile 23 or so I did indeed get passed by Josh.  It was shortly after that I started walking.  Just couldn't run.  I did the gallo walking a little, maybe 50/50 walk/run, and just waited for Jason to pass me.  I could barely keep up with the half marathoners I had lapped.  There were some 13 and 14 minute miles at the end.  Jason finally came by with maybe 1-1.5 miles to go.  "Good job" he said.  Every time I started walking I got really dizzy.  I was really thirsty and really hungry.  I almost felt like I could sleep when I closed my eyes (I stopped closing my eyes when I got more worried about passing out).  The sun beating down felt like a hundred degrees even though I knew it was probably only in the mid-70s.

I managed to run the last 200-300m and had to sit down right away.  Another teammate kept bringing me water, coke, and all kinds of food and I would guzzle/eat everything immediately.  Finally able to get up and talk to people after about 10 minutes of that.  Yikes.

One day I'll find a happy medium with my race strategy.  That day was not today.  The winner ran 1:36, 1:41.  I'm almost certain I was fit enough to win, had my execution not been so incredibly bad.  I talked to  everyone for awhile and had a good time, but I definitely threw this one away.  Skipping the final aid station was one of the dumber decisions (I was out of water!).  One day...

68F, 90%.  4 @ 9:17 AP.

73F, 90%.  7 @ 8:41 AP.  Obviously a way faster recovery than a road race, as I've noted in the past.  Course it also helps that I didn't actually RUN an entire marathon.  

My youngest slept over so I couldn't knock out a run this morning...which these days means no run at all.  But we always have fun and now somehow there's an ongoing ritual of eating ice cream after bedtime.

8 miles, no gps.

Yesterday I was at the office for >15 hours.  So I didn't even bother to set the alarm last night, even though I knew early morning would be my only shot...needed sleep more than a run.  Really glad to have this week behind me.  

8 on the TM in 1:04 (TM since I have the kids this weekend).  Included 1 @ MP.  Hopefully an evening run outside on Sunday, though it looks like crummy weather.

4 @ 8:13 AP.  it was after 8pm or so before I got a chance for a run, so 4 was about all I felt like doing.  I'm basically useless physically and mentally once the sun goes down.

16 TM miles at some decent aerobic paces.  I need to find an alternate place to run when it's raining and flooded on my trail.  Almost 2 hours on the TM is inhuman.

69F, 95%.  6 @ 8:43 AP.

65F, 95%.  T-storm blew through a couple hours before I woke up so we got a nicer, cooler morning.  I did 8 x (3 min on / 1 min off) on the creek trail...had to do a little back and forth as the flooding cut me off in a couple spots, but I got in a decent effort.  Legs were still a little gloopy from Monday's run but all the reps were still ~1/2 mile (~6-min pace) give or take.  Finished with a decent amount of gas in the tank.

I'm not even going to plan out my training at this point.  Doubles are probably out for the foreseeable future, work is too much of a variable, I plan on racing quite a bit, and the other weekends will be booked by the kids, so just need to take it week by week from here on out.  For example, looks like I need to cram in a long run on Friday this week.  I think overall it'll still work though, and hopefully I can still knock out 60-70 mile weeks on singles.

62F, 100%.  8 @ 8:31 AP.  Rained the last couple miles.

62F, 100%.  20 @ 7:22 AP.  Picked it up for the last 3: 6:34, 6:37, 6:22.  Felt decent.

Puts me @ 60 miles for the week, so if I can't squeeze in a run this weekend as Single Dad, it's already been a productive enough week.

TM at the apartment gym while the kids swam in the pool.  The gym treadmills look out toward the pool so at least that's convenient.

Was going to do 6 or 7 but had to hop off at 4 and barely made it to the bathroom before disaster struck.  It's been awhile since one of those days (but I remember one pretty well).  Anyway I didn't feel like finishing the run after that.

16 @ 6:51 AP on the TM - rained last night and I wasn't in the mood for unpredictable trail flooding cut-offs.

6 easy, then a continuous 10-mile progressive tempo at the following speeds by mile: 9.0, 9.0, 9.0, 9.0, 9.1, 9.3, 9.5, 9.7, 9.9, ~10.3.  Not even going to try to figure the AP out for the tempo part.  Seems pretty good but who knows with treadmills.  I do it on the same TM for every workout and this felt better at the same speeds, at least.  Progress.  Maybe.

75F, 90%.  7 @ 8:49 AP.

76F, 95%.  8 @ 8:02 AP.

10 on the TM, with 10 x 1 min on/off.  On's were 10.5 mph progressing to 11.4.

78F.  6 @ 8:17 AP.  Late evening run.

76F, 85%.  5 @ 8:17 AP.  Other than Monday, I've felt sluggish all week - not sure the race tomorrow could possibly be a decent performance, especially with a dew point of 73 but I'm going to take it easy and try to progress through each 5k.  It's a 5 x 5k loop race - one of those races that most people just do as a relay, because why would you run 15.5 miles solo at this time of year kind of race.

70F/85% -> 75F/80%.  Some ridiculous thunderstorms last night came through and hung around until right before the race started.  We got off to a bit of a late start, but the storms made things cooler than they would have been otherwise - looks the dew point stayed below 70, although it was increasing throughout the race.  Leftover t-storm wind was an issue on one of the legs (3/4-mile homestretch) but not too terrible, maybe 10-15 mph.

I really liked the format - it's mostly a relay race, so there are teams of 5, the course is 5 x 5k laps, and each lap has 2 different out-and-backs so you're never more than a mile from the starting line.  Only about 60 of us bozos did it as a solo 25k.  I definitely didn't mind the monotony of the loops and kind of enjoyed keeping tabs on each 5k time and getting encouragement from the crowds near the start.

The race plan actually went just like I'd envisioned for once, with progressively faster 5k's, and overall faster than I thought would be possible given the temperature.  The guy that won already had an insurmountable lead after the first lap, and there was no one close behind me, so I was able to relax and go by feel.  Splits:

20:18, 20:00, 20:02, 19:57, 19:20.

Laps 3 and 4 both had a 10-15 second stop to re-fill my bottle, so it was probably a near-perfect progression, even though the sun came out in full force for the last 4-5 miles.  Last thing to note is mile 15 was my fastest full mile (6:06) and the last ~1/2 mile+ was at 5:50 pace, so a really strong finish.  Pretty solid result in my first road race of the year. 

6 @ 8:40 AP.  Pouring rain the whole time!  Felt really regenerative though, even if it's just my imagination.

I finally have time for a double today...on probably the one day I shouldn't do one, trying to recover from a long road race (can already tell it'll be a rougher recovery than my trail races).  I'll just do some push-ups instead, I guess, since Allie could probably beat me up right now.

75F, 95%.  7 @ 8:45 AP.  Legs still really mushy...what I get for running a race on 100% concrete.