Striding for the finish line.

Richard Bouchard Memorial 10k

The course changed this year. I think Satan was the race director! The course was tough! Hills, dozens of turns, wind .... It was all in play.

Garmin had my time at 42:11. Not exactly what I was looking for but I'll take it on this course on this day.

Sixth overall; age group winner.
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless

OBJECTIVE
2 mi.@ 8:30-9:40

ACHIEVED
2.03 mi.@ 8:49

5:18 AM 80° 87% 1 mph

Still have a lingering headache from whatever yesterday's episode was. Legs felt generally okay - a little tightness here and there but nothing of concern.

PRE RUN
water

POST RUN
SlimFast & multivitamin

I started yesterday's run much later than usual due to my up-and-back trip to Chicago on Wednesday. I started at 8:43 AM. Obviously it's August and I live in southeast Texas. It's been hot lately. Well, yesterday's temperature and humidity for the run were 84° and 83%. Okay, not so different than my early morning runs which end up around 78° and 90%. Not so fast .... The heat index yesterday was 95°F. The heat index for my typical morning runs is 80°F. That's a significant difference! I felt lousy all yesterday - getting worse as the day went along. I got home "early" from work at 7 pm and went straight to bed. I'm up now; still not feeling "quite right".

Heading out for a short recovery run and still planning to run the 10k tomorrow. Hoping my standby flight opportunities pan out later today!

Found a fairly tight range for today's 3.5 mile tempo. Target pace was 6:52/mile. I hit it in 6:48 overall. My half mile pace splits are illustrated in the graphic above:

6:41 6:48 6:44 6:48 6:48 6:57 6:55

Yes, I did start out a bit too fast and yes, I was starting to wash out in the end. But in general, this was a good one.

6.18 mi.@ 8:49

Nothing like an early morning (4:10 AM) recovery run.

On a plane for Chicago now. Hopefully I don't end up spending the night there.
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless

3x1k

OBJECTIVE
dynamic stretching warm-up
1.5 mi. warm-up
3x1k @ 6:18 w/3 min. active recoveries
1.5 mi. cool-down

ACHIEVED
1.53 mi. WU
dynamic stretch
3x1k (6:09/6:07/6:05) w/3 min. active recoveries
1.65 CD

total time = 48:06
total distance = 6.04 mi.

5:39 AM 77° 90% 0 mph

Had a good run this morning. Focused on "flowing" through the intervals as I have a tendency to tighten up when I'm pushing hard. If I focus on "relaxing", I slow down. For some reason, "flow" works better for me.

Had a slight upset stomach over the last third of the run. This happened yesterday too.

PRE RUN
weight = 162.5
water & glutamine

POST RUN
SlimFast, multivitamin, poached egg, Canadian bacon & whole wheat English muffin

OBJECTIVE
6 mi.@ 7:40-8:29

ACHIEVED
6.23 mi.@ 7:41

4:47 AM 78° 80% 2 mph

I guess I was trying to prove to myself that nothing has been lost over the past 10 days of slack training. The concept is stupid - really. But it sure felt good to blow it out this morning.

Had a big dog sneak up behind me around the 5 mile mark. He was growling and running at me aggressively by the time I turned around. I was ready to go 15 rounds with Cujo but, thankfully, he stopped dead in his tracks and watched as I disappeared into the darkness.

PRE RUN
weight=162
500 mg glutamine & water

POST RUN
SlimFast & multivitamin