April 18

FIT:
77 degrees. Today was a rude awakening. Hotter temps are here. I've had it good so far since "real" training started in February. Oh, to go back to the days of 30 degree runs. It's time to buckle in now, time to show what you're made of mentally. Me, I stopped 5 times during my 7.5-mi run today. Two were shorter b/c they were to drop off and pick up my shirt (that Nike track t-shirt, by the way, that I wore in sub-freezing temps on its own, so it's reasonable that at 50 degrees hotter, I take it off. It's kind of a thick shirt anyway, wicking as it is. I think I should go with a singlet next time.)

Splits> 8:27 t, 3:39 p, 3:41 h, 3:59 b (19:48, stopped once during to drop off but not too long), STOP, 4:19 x, 2:39 w (26:47 tot, which isn't actually great considering the stop, but considering the heat, maybe it's not so bad, 6:58 for the 0.95 mi b to w),STOP, 2:37 x, 4:20 (6:57 for the 0.95 w to b), STOP, 4:01 h, 3:51 p, 3:56 t, 9:37 t (slowed down lots on the uphill, eh? so thirsty for this last interval). Total: 55:12. My record is 54:41, without cheating like I did today.

I was debating what to call this in my excel supersheet. I had set out to do a tempo but had to stop. I wasn't going terribly fast by the time I got to b, but it had been so long since my last real training week (like a month), and it was so much hotter today. I decided speedwork may be a better name for it. It's not even like my usual speedwork, though, since I stopped completely between the intervals, as opposed to jogging the same distance. So this pace should be faster than the usual speedwork, although the legs of it are a lot longer, too.

To take a look at paces: 7:16 for the first 2.72 miles - about how I ran the 5K. I should be able to do the 5K faster than that, if I can run another 5ish miles after that. I need to do more speedwork with shorter distancse to achieve that. 7:20 for the next two legs, each of 0.95 miles. And it only gets worse. I won't even bother calculating it. It was uphill anyways. Uhh. I'll be stronger next time for it.

I decided to switch to my Asics Gel Evolution 3's, which so far I've only been using for the track to keep them clean, while I've used my 4's for the dirty tow path. I'm getting up there in mileage for the 4's, though. 200 miles since January, plus whatever I did from July-ish until January (which wasn't too much, perhaps a weekly 6 on average at best, maybe 3 weekly? And I ran pretty much zero over December. So that'd be maybe 5 months x 4 weeks x 3 miles = 60 miles. I want to play it safe, knowing my body. 260 isn't even on the low end of the suggested 300-500 miles, but given my injuries in the past month, I think I should play it safe. Time to pretty much retire the Evol 4's. 4's, it's been a good journey with you. Thanks for taking me through the first stages of my marathon training. You're a great shoe. 3's, I have about 45 miles on you so far. Looking forward to many more. I'll need to start looking for new cheap 3's or 4's to buy to use on the track or use as backup if the 3's get wet or something.

After the run, I downed a bowl and a half of water, plus about half a bowl of milk. Then, I ate about a third of a proteiny PB&J sandwich and about a forth of a grapefruit. Dinner's coming in 2 hours, so I'll be okay. I also made some attempts to stretch (learning from the last run), although probably not enough. My lower right quadrant (lower from ground's perspective, right from my perspective) of my right knee was feeling pounded a bit after the run again, but it's probably just the remenants of the damage I did on the 16 four days ago. I'm glad it's not feeling too much worse. It was probably good that I switched to the more cushiony 3's for this run. I gotta be careful.

Wow, that was like an essay.