chronicle of the last week's running escapades

DV always says he doesn't want his blog to just be a running log, but I have no such reservations. So here goes.

I missed the Saturday long run on August 9, so I was forced to run on Sunday. After a not-totally-sucky performance in the previous Thursday's tempo run, I was actually pretty optimistic that I might surprise myself again. I set out to do the usual 10 miler a little earlier than usual (around 6 I think) since I woke up early and couldn't fall back to sleep. Near end of the first mile, I started wondering if I maybe I was going out too fast. Then I consulted my watch and saw that my pace for the first mile was 8:40. Hmm, I guess it wasn't going to be such a good run after all. Anyway, I felt sluggish until around mile 7. Somehow I had worked my way down to a 7:40 pace, and then a couple of guys jumped on the trail at the First St and Lamar Bridges who were running a little faster and gave me someone to pace off of. I ended up running the next two miles at something like 7:15, I think, before easing up the last mile and jogging to Barton Springs . Overall, I did 10 miles in , like, 1:19, which might as well be an 8:00/mile pace. Not very impressive.

Tuesday I made it to another gazelle workout. Too bad it was Wilke. It was exciting to see Gilbert and Jean-Marie barrelling up the hill, but not so exciting that it encouraged me to do more repeats. In fact, I only did 6. I have to say, however, that my form was impeccable on those 6.

Wednesday was another PBJ run on the greenbelt. We left from the Spyglass entrance to accommodate Pat's lack of a car. This was a painful run. Apparently Wilke had sucked the life out of my legs because the entire return leg I kept wanting to stop and lay down. Then I'd feel bad for wanting to quit. It was a vicious cycle of self-pity. It didn't leave me feeling too excited about Thursday's scheduled workout of 800s.

As I was driving to Thursday's workout (my third straight gazelles workout!), my car's thermometer said 109 degrees. Granted, it's always a little high, but I've never seen it read that high. I usually expect whatever workout follows Wilke to suck, but apparently, the Wednesday recovery run actually helped me recover. My legs might have felt a tad bit tired, but it was nothing like the lifelessness I usually encounter post-Wilke. Due to the heat, Gilbert was being kind when instructing us on the pace we should targeting. He told me to run at 3:15, which even I thought was a little slow, but was not going to complain about. I had the honor of running with budding gazelle celebrity, Bob Newell, who was a pretty good partner for the day. We dropped down to 3:10 for the second, and then seemed to settle at about a 3:08 pace. I surprised myself by somehow managing to run 2:53 on the 8th one. Heck, I was surprised to even run 8, so while I would have liked to have been a little faster, I can't really complain. It was hot, and eventually I'll get some of my speed back. I hope.

On account of my not-totally-sucky performance on Thursday, I once again felt a little optimistic about my weekly 10 miler. This time I made sure to get some sleep, and maybe it helped, but it was definitely much better than the previous week. Splits: 8:30, 8:08, 7:53, 7:43, 7:34, water break, 7:42, 7:32, 7:22, 7:24, 7:20. That works out to just over a 7:40 pace. I'll definitely take that. Plus, instead of trudging through the last couple of miles, I actually felt very comfortable.

I went for a brief lunchtime run today, mostly so I could be someplace other than at work for a little bit, and to be out in the rain. I can't remember the last time I got to run in the rain, so that made the whole thing kind of novel.

Tomorrow's workout is 3000/2000/1000 intervals, which I normally would be full of dread over, but it's supposed to continue to be cooler and hopefully will be raining, so I'm actually looking forward to it. Let's hope the slow but steady improvement continues.