Buttsweat Towel© season has begun

77F, 85%.  7:35 AP.  A good 90 minutes of poor man's altitude training.  Good week too, close to 70 miles.  So far I've been keeping my summer promise to myself - to keep the average week above 60.  The 2 toughest months are coming up but I think I'm more motivated this summer.

AM:  77F, 83%.  6 @ 8:05 AP, included some pickups.  My weight vs mileage chart is looking better lately.  My goal is to keep miles per week above the red dotted line and avg weight below the blue dotted line.

It was tough to see the relationship since I stopped running for a couple weeks in March, and ran Boston in April which kinda botched the trendlines.  So below is a simple linear regression - you can better see the inverse relationship between mileage and weight:

 PM:  4 on the TM with 3k-paced strides.

AM:  75F, 89%.  7 mi total.  Good ol' 5 x 800m @ 3k, 2 min rest today.  I did well, averaging 2:46.6 (2:46.1, 46.8, 47.2, 46.5, 46.2).  No heroic finish today, just a good consistent effort.  Last time I did this, the temp and DP were 7-8 degrees lower and I averaged 2:42.7.  Obviously the heat doesn't screw with you quite as much on shorter intervals, but I'd still say today's effort was equal in quality since this was officially in The Death Zone.

PM:  4 on the TM with a hill sprint session.  I did 4 x 30s @ 6%/10.5 mph and 3 x 30s @ 10%/9.5 mph.  Kind of comical, especially on the last 3.  First, I had to increase the incline 20 seconds early so it would reach the right angle by the time I was ready.  Then the speed took another 10 seconds or so.  Then I'd go at it for about 20 seconds with the speed and incline up.  Then came the hard part - holding down the buttons and getting back down to 0%/7.0.  That took another 20 seconds.  Sure makes the time fly by though!

AM:  75F, 85%. 6 @ 8:21 AP.

AM2:  4 on the TM, with 4 x 1/4 mile pickups @ HMP.

AM:  73F, 84%.  8 @ 7:56 AP.  Good running day, we climbed out of TDZ!  DP was only 68 which felt great.  Weirdly, they were having a race on Leon Creek again.  At 6:30am on a Thursday.  Saw about 10 people with bibs running it.  I even got some cheers as I ran by the aid stations.  Reminded me of the time I ran through the MCM satellite at good ol' Camp Victory.

For my run today, I just drafted behind the 8-minute guy most of the way, and then dropped him at the end.  I know, kind of a dick move, but he's been lording his speed over me all summer.

PM:  4 TM miles, same as yesterday.  HMP workout tomorrow - should be a non-death-zone day again (fingers crossed) so I'll take a shot at it outside on the track.

72F, 81%.  All week, I had my eye on the weather forecasts for this morning.  A low DP (66 or so) and very low temps for July.  So I did an LT workout at the track, 4 x 2400, 1 lap active recovery.  I hit the lap button every 800 for pace feedback.

9:21 (3:05, 3:09, 3:07)

9:27 (3:09, 3:09, 3:09)

9:22 (3:07, 3:07, 3:08)

9:12 (3:05, 3:06, 3:01)

Works out to about 6:15/mile when you average it all up.  Much better than I expected.  I did this workout about 6 weeks ago and went 6:20/mile under similar conditions, maybe even easier conditions.  At my peak HM shape, before my PR back in January, I would've been pleased with this pace had it been 45 degrees outside.  So to be able to pull this off in the 70s is a pretty good sign that I'm more fit than a 1:22 (under ideal conditions).  Don't want to get too far ahead of myself but I think I might have a legit shot at sub-80 this fall if I can keep up the consistent training this time.

Happy 4th, all!

Cleaning up firework debris with a hangover....a semi-annual tradition.