Getting back to Boston

Double today. Easy 3 this morning at the AC, then harder 5 tonight, also at the AC. Didn't run Sunday because of an afternoon thunderstorm and our celebration of Tyler's IB scores (worth somewhere in the range of 14-17 college hours). So got up early today to get in a short run. I've decided 5Ks are HARD. I still feel those three miles in my hamstrings. Tonight, went to Heber to fill a pump after work, didn't get back until nearly 8 p.m., THEN had dinner. Finally went to run at 9:15 after finally finding my HRM belt hidden under a basket. Ran first four at slow progression, then cranked it to GMP for the last mile. HR was around 140 for the first 4, up in the mid-150s at GMP. GMP sounds about right; that would be about 83% of HRR. The 140 would be about 70% of HRR; I guess that's OK for a run on the slow side of the GA range.

Interval time tonight as part of the "spring training" program focusing on speed work. Decided to run early(er) rather than wait until almost dark, as it wasn't all THAT hot and humid today. Headed over to East Campus at about 6:20 at a slow trot; 1.5 miles to get there. Once there, stretched, jogged another 200 then began the intervals -- 6 X 400 at what I hoped would be about 6:00 pace. Turned out it was more like 6:12 pace on average, with my usual wide variation in pace from 5:56 to 6:30. Wore the HRM, which showed a max rate of 168. Not sure when that happened, but I bet it was during the last 400. Given that the best previous estimate of my HRmax was 173, I'd say I was bustin' it.

In retrospect, it probably would have been better to do this tomorrow and give my legs a chance to recover from yesterday's double, but I still haven't ruled out the BDB 5K Saturday night and wanted to be able to recover if I decide to tackle that. Probably not going to try that, though. Firecracker seems to have taken enough out of me. But given the fairly tired legs, I thought it was a good session. Then trotted home to complete the 6-mile run in just over an hour.

Easy 5 on the DM at the athletic club. Wore the HRM tonight to see what kind of rate I get on a slow run when the weather is not outrageously warm/humid (i.e., running inside with a fan blowing). AHR was 125, and it says I got up to 142 once, but in looking at my watch during the run, I never saw anything over 130, much less 140. However, I do believe the 125 average, as that corresponded with what I saw for most of the run.

This is the week I start to pick up the mileage a bit after five easy post-marathon weeks. Have 19 already, probably 4-5 tomorrow (40-minute tempo run on Higdon's 5K plan), 3 easy on Friday and probably 8 on Saturday, unless I decide to do the BDB 5K. That would put me up to 35 for the week. At some point, I gotta go get Hudson's book and see if I want to do that for Memphis, or try Daniels, or go back to Pfitz. FIRST isn't gonna happen; I don't have the crosstraining flexibility to do that properly.

Tempo run tonight on the dreadmill. Warmed up for 15 minutes, 15 minutes at 7:24 pace (2.07 miles), then cooldown for 15 minutes. Total 5.25 miles. Not a great run, but I got through it, which I guess is what I need to do on a few runs to get myself back in gear.

Another 80/80 morning in central Arkansas. In spite of that, got in my 10 miles with the Crackheads starting from Murrary Park and going over BDB to the wooden bridge.Not sure of the exact mileage, BTW, since the Garmin never even made it out of the car before it died, but mapmyrun says 10.05, so I'll go with that. Not sure of the time either. Tried to run conservatively because of the humidity, but I'm never sure of my pace when I don't have either the Garmin or someone to run with. Probably ran a little faster than I had planned. Up to 34 miles and change this week -- biggest week since the marathon.