Summer is seriously underway. We dealt with a major heatwave this week that threatened to turn running into a bit of a chore. Luckily, I was able to escape to some local trails pretty often. I also participated in my very first track meet and ran my first 15K race! And, it’s my first 50 mile week of the training cycle. So lots of fun in the sun and it cooled off to the 80s by the end of the week. Whew.
Monday, 7/2, Early Morning Crew – 4 miles (10:33 pace)
This week was SO hot. I felt sort of lousy when I started this run and spontaneously headed to the trails in the park at the center of town. That was much better. Ended up okay, but this week is going to be all about fighting the heat.
Tuesday, 7/3, Early Morning Crew – 6 miles –Track Tuesday! 2 miles WU; 4×1200 @5:30-5:35; 1 mile CD, strength training at lunch
I’m still figuring out the track and I sure haven’t run many 1200s. I calculated this to be 55 seconds per 200m and aimed for that. These felt good and I ran them in 5:32, 5:32, 5:32, 5:30, so, really bang on! This was work for sure, but very fun work.
Wednesday, 7/4, Early Morning Crew – 5 miles (10:09 pace)
Back to the to the trails. It’s just ridiculously hot and humid, but I saw lots of tiny toads hopping across the path and a Great Blue Heron flying along the creek. I’m feeling incredibly grateful for Wadsworth State Park this week. Picnic at the lake for the 4th!
The Retiree runs a fast 400!
Thursday, 7/5, Sort of Early Morning Crew – 8 miles, then 4 more at evening track meet
More running in stupid heat and stupid humidity. It’s definitely starting to wear on me, though I was fine once I started running. This was a bit of a progression run, starting slower than marathon pace and speeding up to marathon pace over the course of the run. In the evening, I did my first ever track meet! I ran the mile in 7:03. My local running club is having these meets every Thursday. I had a blast!
Friday, 7/6, Early Morning Crew – 6 miles (11:18 pace)
More trail running, this time with Squirrel. This is the last day of truly awful heat!
Saturday, 7/7, Early Morning Crew – 9 miles (9:16 pace), then weights
I did my new Saturday routine of a short run and then weights and then left directly from the gym to drive to Albany. I’m staying with a friend and running the Boilermaker 15K on Sunday!
Sunday, 7/6, Absurdly Early Morning Crew – Boilermaker 15K plus 1 mile WU and 1 mile CD
We woke up at 3:30am to leave the house at 4:15am to get on the bus at 5am to race at 8am! This was a truly crazy day but lots of fun. Race report forthcoming eventually.
Total: 50 miles