Getting back to Boston

Meant to get up and run at dawn. Didn't. Finally got on the trail at 9:30 a.m. Bad move. Should have done dawn, then gone back to bed. Plan was to do somewhere between 4.2 and 7 miles, depending on how I felt. Ended up doing 5, and that was really pushing it. I think I skipped dinner last night, and I could tell, even though I'd had some breakfast this morning. But mainly it was just the sun beating down on me. I will not be surprised if I have a sunburn this afternoon. The temp was not all that bad (high 70s rising into the 80s as I ran), but no wind, little shade, and lots of humidity (67% now, higher earlier, I think). Sweatband could not keep up with the perspiration, so I ran semi-blind. Oh well. HTFU and got it done anyway.

Little bit of a progression run this morning. Got out early enough that it was still relatively cool, and felt up to pushing the pace just a bit, then pushed it some more. Wound up with a 9:21 average overall. Now a nap, then off to the airport for the trip to Phoenix. Not quite sure how this plan to run on the canal tomorrow morning is gonna work; it may be 90 degrees at dawn. But we'll see. I may go out, jog a half mile, turn around and head for the dreadmill.

Hit and runb today, since I don't have much computer time. Got up at 5:20 a.m. in Phoenix to hit the road before it got hot. It was still 87 degrees when I started. But it really wasn't that bad, particularly on the return run when I got the benefit of a bit of breeze. Even kept the singlet on for the whole run.

Pretty sure I negative-splitted the run with the help of that cooling breeze, although haven't gone back to confirm on the Garmin readout. Walked 0.41 miles while the GPS locked in, then ran 7.12, for total of 7.53. I took it fairly easy to keep the HR down, coming in just under 10:00 pace. I'm still kinda sore from the run, which was on a nice gravel path alongside the canal near my hotel. But the soreness could be as much from sitting in class all day for Apogee training. Which I have for another 6 hours tomorrow.

Back on familiar ground tonight for a fartlek run, 6 X 40 second surges. Temperature almost exactly the same as Tuesday morning in Phoenix -- but humidity wasn't. Shorts were dripping by the time I finished, although the surges might have had something to do with that. Did a better job of keeping the pace of the surges where I wanted it, while running a better pace before, during and after. Last week's run averaged barely under 10:00; tonight's was 9:10.

More Garmin weirdness. I know that sometimes the Garmin takes a while to recombobulate when you travel. It weirded out in NYC and Phoenix, but not in Chatham or Chicago or Wisconsin. Go figure. Sometimes it weirds out without going anywhere, but that's usually because I'm too far inside the house when I turn it on. No weirdness tonight on the return home, even though that was 1000 miles away from its last use too.

I'm planning to get in a short run tomorrow, then do 8 on Sunday. Since I still don't know the work schedule next week, I may front-load the week's running to have as little conflict as possible with the commute, if and when it starts.

Slow, sweat-soaked, miserable miles tonight. It was 95 this afternoon when I mowed the yard, and didn't feel a whole lot cooler at 8:30 when I started the run. Tried to keep the HR below 140 and couldn't do it. Anything remotely resembling a run or jog took the rate over 140. I wound up with 138 average, but that was due to it being dragged down in the first half mile; once I headed up the hill on Fleming, the HR zoomed. Oh well. That's what HI of 93+ will do.

Finished July with 87 miles and change, and the YTD is at 997. Should go over 1000 tomorrow if I can drag myself out for the planned 8. Goal for August is at least 125, even following the modified Hudson slacker plan. Need to start running at dawn, in part because it's so darn hot and in part to get used to the early wake-up the new job will require.