Saturday 8/1/15

Still on Long Island. Pretty much a carbon copy of my run on Friday with an extra 2 miles tacked on to the end. Same route over to Belmont State Park with loops around Belmont Lake. Temps were in the high 80's again, but the humidity wasn't as bad as Thursday. I felt surprisingly good today considering we spent the whole day at a pool party after staying up until 3 am last night with the wedding. This made me feel a bit better about my fitness which I had been slightly worried about since my poor runs on Wednesday and Thursday. 73:52 for 12 miles.

Friday 7/31/15

I believe today was the first time this year when it was 90 degrees when I went for my run. Surprisingly, today felt more comfortable than yesterday. It rained last night which broke the humidity, so while it was really hot with the sun beating down, the run felt easy in comparison to yesterday. I did the same route as yesterday which looped around Belmont Lake, but I only did 10 miles. Alie and I are heading to a wedding this afternoon, and I didn't see any reason to kill myself in the heat today. Overall, felt pretty good. Right hamstring is still a bit of an issue though. 10 miles in 60:57.

Thursday 7/30/15

We drove up to Long Island for the weekend today, and I went out for my run once we got there. Another tough run today as temps were in the high 80's and the humidity was crazy. I ran over to Belmont State Park and got in 6 miles on the mix of packed gravel and paved paths. By the time I got to the park, the heat was already getting to me, and I had to back off normal training pace. Thankfully, the woods along Belmont Lake offer shade around half of the lake which helped a bit. Still a bit of a struggle though. Tried not to push things. 74:53 for 12 miles.

Wednesday 7/26/15

Really tough run today. I was working from home, and I had to get out for my run at lunch time due to my schedule. As a result, it was in the high 80's when I went for my run, the sun was beating down, and the humidity was a silent killer. As soon as I stepped outside, I knew it was going to be a tough run. I kept things steady at a normal training pace for the first 2 miles before backing off once I started to worry about my ability to finish the run. From mile 4 on, the pace got progressively slower, and there wasn't much I could do about it. By the end, I was really just happy to finish the run. I even had to cut the run half a mile short as I took the quick way home once leaving the Charles. On the upside, things never really fell apart. I kind of just slowly faded down to 7 min pace. Trying not to put too much stock into the run today. This was definitely the result of the heat/ humidity and 2 hard efforts over 3 days. 72:35 for 11 miles.

Tuesday 7/29/15 - Track workout (6 x 1K)

Headed over to the track behind Reggie Lewis after work for practice with GBTC. 4 mile warm up with the team at 7 minute pace then over to the track for the workout. As outdoor track season is now officially over for the club, there are only two training groups: the cross country group and the fall marathon group. With fewer sub-groups, I'll have more people to train with which I'm pretty excited about. That wasn't quite the case today though. A bunch of people were taking a light week or two after the end of the track season, so we only had about 5 people running the 6 x 1000m workout with 400m jogging rest. Splits below.

3:03, 3:02, 3:04, 3:05, 3:05, 3:05

Overall, I feel kind of "meh" about this workout. I was coming off a race that I was really happy with, and while this workout wasn't bad, it wasn't spectacular either. Just bland in comparison. I was running alone during the first 4 intervals, and I slowly started to fall off my goal pace of 3:02-3:03. When you put them all together, it doesn't even equal sub 15 for 5K, so nothing to get excited about. I suppose I probably should have gone for 8 x 1K at 3:05 - 3:06.

One thing that I will take some solace in is the fact that I was able to hold 3:05 pace for the last two splits. I was feeling gassed after the 4th interval, but I was able to hold it together. Having teammates to run with really helped me there. A few of the guys stepped up there splits from 3:10 to 3:05 for the last two which put some pressure on me to run 3:05. Without them right behind me, I probably would have fallen off the pace.

Mile cool down on the track with a few of the guys before running back to the North End for 14 miles on the day.