Getting back to Boston

After (unintentionally) taking Sunday off, right back at it with a 10-miler including five miles at LT (7:35 pace). Felt a little easier than my last tempo run, maybe because my legs are relatively rested after taking two of the last three days off. Warmed up for three, did the LT run, then warmed down for two. Got in the pool afterward, maybe one last time before our apartment management closes the pool for the winter (in September?). Wind starting to kick up a little bit from the outer edges of the Gustav system, which felt pretty nice. Amazing how a 10-mph breeze can improve your mood when there hasn't been much wind for, oh, about two months.

 Back to work tomorrow for another post-holiday pummeling. Maybe we'll hire a nurse soon and get that load off my desk (I hope). 

Added a mile to the recovery run tonight to make up for part of the run I missed Sunday. I'll add another mile tomorrow and then do a 3-miler Friday night.

 Routine treadmill run tonight as the rain pelted down outside and the wind blew 30 mph (Gustav is definitely here, and will be for the rest of the week). Had a little interruption at 3.75 miles, but picked up the pace from then on and wound up at about a 9:30 pace for the entire run. Started real late because we had a 21st birthday dinner for my niece -- for me, a small steak and lots of carbs: sweet potato, wild rice and a big dessert.

Got pummeled at work even worse than I thought; Ginny's daughter shattered her arm (humerus?) over the weekend and she stayed home, so I had to see 26 patients and handle about 100 refill requests, including some from people Ginny was supposed to see in person today. I sure hope she's back tomorrow... 

Twelve-miler tomorrow; I'll have to decide how to handle it -- slow and steady, 3:1, progression? I haven't done a 3:1 in a while, so that may be the approach, with the last three miles at MP. 

About four miles into tonight's run. I wouldn't have bet a plugged nickel on my chances of finishing 12 miles. Or nine miles for that matter. The legs just didn't want to loosen up, I was dripping water like a shower head, and I just didn't feel good. But I kept plugging, and suddenly at about 7-8 miles, I felt better. Had to  take a bathroom break at 9 miles, but after that cranked up the TM and actually ran the last two miles at MP and a little faster.

Was still a tough run, though, and I may have to reassess the plan to run five tomorrow at three Friday. Might just run six tomorrow and skip Friday, for instance. But chalk one up for perseverance. My wife thought I'd run 11 miles (which is what I told her I was doing) reasonably fast. Even with the MP, I ended up at about a 9:40 average, which is not great. But I finished. 

Good progression run on the TM; started out thinking 5 and wound up running more than 7 in about 64 minutes. Last mile and five-eighths was at MP or faster, and really felt unusually comfortable at that pace. Maybe I need to do more running after getting clobbered at work, just to release the frustration of a bad day.

 So now it's a day off, then 17 or 18 on Saturday. Forecast is for clear skies and temps in the LOW 60s. I'm going to be practically shivering at those temps -- but boy, it will feel good after about 10 miles. 

The 18 miles is an estimate. Thanks to Gustav, the River Trail was blocked off, although apparently the trail was not completely flooded and you could get through. But I didn't know that until the return trip, and I had already taken the Campbell Lake detour to get around the barricades on the outward half, so I did Campbell Lake again on the inward run. Pat is out of town, but I ran the first five miles with Anna, who was a good companion, if a tad bit slower than Pat. But Anna gave up when we got to the second barricade on Isabella Jo and headed back to Allsopp Park, so I was on my own.

Weather was wonderful -- clear, low 60s. Right around dewpoint, so high humidity and a little fog, but it was so cool it didn't matter.

Ran into a skunk at the base of Big Dam Bridge, but he was running away from me faster than I was running toward him. Then right after I got back on the river trail off Campbell Lake, I saw another skunk, and this one wasn't running. He/she was raising the tail and preparing to let loose a blast. I slowed, gave him a wide berth, and he didn't fire his shot. Thank goodness. I don't think I could have run another 11 miles smelling like skunk.

This was my first 18-miler since the marathon in March. I'd forgotten how hard 18 miles is. You think back and remember you did it, but you don't remember how hard it is. I remember now. The last six miles was brutal. Even so, I think I finished in less than three hours (forgot to charge my Garmin, so had neither a timer nor GPS capability). Mapmyrun says I ran 18.72, but that's purely an estimate because many of the trails are not marked on the map (neither is BDB). But I'll go with that estimate.