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Sunday, July 8, 2012

Jul 2-8 : Great Week of Doing Nothing -p

 (Meet Spike - my new friend, Spike, the 2012 Boston Marathoner)

July 2, Monday:
Went to my parents' house in Charleston on Saturday.  I'd work from home Monday and Tuesday.  Monday, at 6:15am, I did 3 loops around the neighborhood.  6.7 in 56:14, 8:33 ave.  It was cloudy, and even almost sprinkling at first.  Perfect. 75 degrees manageable.   Progressively more effort, with a bit more speed. 

July 3, Tuesday:
Free after work!  9pm, did a relaxing bike session while reading a magazine.  I had wanted to exercise, but my legs hadn't been quite ready to run yet.  The resistance was higher than I was used to, but it was good.  This bike was smooth.

July 5, Thursday:
Treadmill hill workout.  1 mi warmup in 8:11 @ 1 degree.  Then, 2x [1/2mi @ 5 degrees,  1/4mi @ 1 degree, 1/4mi @ 10 degrees (equivalent to 6:02/mi effort), 1/4mi @ 1 degree] @ 7.5mph.  It totaled 3.5 mi, 28:04 min, 8:01 ave.  Afterwards, it felt like it had been really short, even though that last rep of the 1/4 @ 10 degrees was quite a challenge.  Afterwards, I had tried to/wanted to run a bit more to round it out, but I was in no mood, so I stopped there.  It was a good workout, though, and felt like a nice "snack".  I was on a runner's high on the bike ride back home.  I had wanted cardio that was ez on the muscles, and this hit the spot.  

Today, I felt like I was acclimatized to the heat for the first time, at least psychologically.  I wouldn't have minded running out in the heat at all.  Good stuff.

July 7, Saturday:
It's kind of the day for LRs, but the sun rose so quickly, even though I set off at 6am, before sunrise.  I managed 3 progressive laps, at 8:34, 8:15, then 7:52 pace.  It was humid!!!  and 76 degrees.  It was a pre-breakfast run, too.  To shake things up and train the body to burn fat more efficiently and to train psychologically and physicologically for running on fumes.  That was another reason I didn't keep going.  I could've eaten something and gone on, but this workout had a different goal.  6.7 in 55:35, 8:18 ave.  Better than Monday's identical route/run, even though it was slightly hotter/humider, and even though I was running before breakfast.  Oh yeah, I was wearing lighter shoes, the Kinvaras...  so that helped.

July 8, Sunday:
Treadmill, 1 degree.  11.0 in 1:28:17, 8:02 ave.  I was hoping in the back of my mind that I could get in a LR after all this week.  I set off on marathon pace, hoping to get my body used to going at that pace with no problem.  It went really well and felt surprisingly easy.  Splits> 8:15, 06, 06, 06, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 7:55, 51.  Drank about half a bottle of water, at miles 7.5 and 8.5.  I think it was easier because I was wearing the Kinvaras, and maybe because my body is acclimatized, but I was running indoors, with a big fan on me.  Good confidence builder.


CBS had a show about a guy running the Pony Express route, from Sacramento, CA to St. Paul, MN.  Perfect.  I watched it while dynamic stretching and while re-fueling afterwards.  Great to see running coverage on antenna TV.

Wednesday - Sunday, lots of naps, TV, etc... doing nothing (a couple hrs of work while on vacation, but not bad).  It was GREAT.  Just what I needed.

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