Thursday Tempo Run 8.9.12

Thursday runs are always very tough so I wasn't exactly looking forward to today when I woke up.  The plan called for a mile warm up, alternating 5 minutes at 50% effort and 5 minutes at 70% effort, and a mile cool down.  I figured the harder effort pace would be around 8 minute mile pace and the softer pace would be around 9 minute mile pace.  I took a Honey Stinger before I left and filled my fuel belt with water.  Good thing.  The weather was cooler this morning but the humidity was pretty high.  I took a Honey Stinger with me but never opened it.  The water was enough.  My warm up mile was a little fast but it felt easy and I felt pretty good.  The first soft 5 minutes and hard 5 minutes hurt a little but I handled it pretty well.  I was actually pretty fast for the second interval group and felt better.  The third interval hurt a little more but I was able to maintain speed knowing it was almost over.  The beginning of the cool down mile was probably pretty slow but in the end it was a very acceptable split.  Not bad for the dreaded Thursday run.  I am beginning to feel stronger again which is a pretty good feeling.

Warm Up:  9:10/mile pace
#1 Moderate:  9:00/mile pace
#1 Hard:  8:08/mile pace
#2 Moderate:  9:21/mile pace
#2 Hard:  7:57/mile pace
#3 Moderate:  9:22/mile pace
#3 Hard:  7:43/mile pace
Cool Down:  9:44/mile pace

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/208433839

I also rode the bike last night.  Plan was for one hour.  Warm up and then 4 minute easy/2 minute hard/4 minute moderate repeated 3 times following a cool down.  I covered 17 miles in the hour so that is a pretty good pace considering stop signs and traffic lights.  I felt very good last night.  The weather was only mid 90s after some afternoon rain.  Mid 90s felt great.  One bottle of water and a Honey Stinger gel.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/208404273

Wednesday 8.8.12

Wednesday swim this morning at the Aquatic Center.  Woke up about 5:15am and was in the water at about 6:20am.  Took a Hammer gel before I jumped in the water and had a bottle of water poolside.  Only a few people there when I jumped in the water but the lanes we were doubled up when I left.  The Dallas Athlete girls show up about 6:45 on Wednesday.  This is the first time in a few weeks that I felt really good in the water again.  The intervals were a little longer but I didn't have any fatigue issues and did not cramp.  Workout was 2300 yards and I covered it in about 57 minutes.  I am supposed to ride my bike tonight.  Weather has been a little weird today.  Looks like rain outside my window and the temps are down so I have to figure out a way to make this work today.  Sub 100 degrees in August is almost chilly.  If it rains, I'll have to do the stationary bike.  I hate those so I'm hoping for the storms to move along.  I need to get some mileage on the bike.  Maybe a trip to Lake Grapevine and back.

Tuesday Run 8.7.12

The Tuesday track run basically consisted of a warm up, (6) 600s in the 2:30-2:40 range which would equate to about 6:40-7:10 pace per mile.  I do this calculation because my garmin will tell me what my pace per mile is for each lap I set.  Woke up around 5:00am and left the house at 5:55am.  It is a about 1.5 miles to the track.  I walked the first .4 miles to get loose and then ran the final mile to the track.  Jeff was at the track and I got a little confused with the math for the 600s this morning.  I decided to go pretty hard and see where the times fell.  The times Jeff gave me were correct.  I have an option on my watch to see the elapsed time on each lap.  I don't use this much.  If you are behind, it's hard to catch up.  I did use it a little today on the last few intervals.  I took a bottle of water with me and had a Honey Stinger before I left the house and another when I finished the fourth interval.  Three of my intervals were in the designated range and 3 were over a little bit.  The 600s this week took a little more out of me than the 400s last week.  I'm not sure if it is too much Olympic watching and lack of sleep that may be keeping me tired.  I am trying to avoid the heat as much as possible.  It was still mid 80s this morning at 6am and was in the 90s when I left for work.  Jeff wants to know where I am at towards the end of the week to see if you push ahead or ease up.  Hard to tell right now.  I definitely don't feel as good as I did a month ago and felt a little dizzy before starting the run back to the house.  The speed intervals are pretty tough.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/207771512

Warm Up Pace:  10:14  (hate running with something in my hands/water bottle today)
#1 600:  2:54 (7:27 pace)
#2 600:  2:28 (7:01 pace/few hundreths of a mile short/stopped to talk to Jeff)
#3 600:  2:38 (6:56 pace)
#4 600:  2:36 (6:42 pace)
#5 600:  2:44 (7:22 pace)
#6 600:  2:44 (7:22 pace)
Cool Down Pace:  9:50

Sunday Trail Run 8.5.12

I got a message from the Matrix (Rich) that he was back from Australia and was up for a trail run this morning.  Good news for me.  I met Rich at 7:30 at his house close to the Northshore trail.  I had a shark salt and a gel before the run.  It was probably about 84 degrees when we started and close to 89 when we finished.  Rich ran about 10 miles before I got there.  The run was hard today.  I took a break at about the 40 minute mark to eat a gel and get some water in my system.  We walked a little bit when we exited the trail and then ran back to the starting point.  Had my recovery drink and jumped in Rich's pool before driving home.  Was a little tired again for some reason today.  Don't know if the two light weeks have caused a slight loss of fitness or if it is just heat and speed work.  Doesn't really matter, the goal for August will be to get in the work and survive the Texas heat.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/206901947

Saturday Bike 8.4.12

Woke up about 4:15 this morning and to get ready for my ride.  I didn't feel great from the time I woke up.  Justin wheeled over to my driveway at 5:15 and we took off to meet Joel.  I did alot of speed work running this week and Jeff warned me my legs may be a little tired today.  I just couldn't get it going today and I never felt strong the entire ride.  I guess there are days like this along the way.  The wind was a little strong for August and especially that early in the morning, about 10-15 from the southwest.  We went over the dam, around the south side of the airport, through Las Colinas and then back through Valley Ranch to the house.  Covered 38.39 miles in 2 hours and 15 minutes.  Averaged around 17mph.  A little slower going out due to the wind.  Picked up my box of Honey Stinger gels yesterday afternoon on the way home from work.  Had a salt shark before I left.  Took in three Honey Stingers on the ride.  Probably not enough on the nutrition side.  Took one bottle of water and another bottle of Accelerade.  Pretty much emptied both of them.  Had a glass of Endurox when I got home and jumped in the pool to cool down.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/206412888

Friday 8.3.12

Today was a swim day.  The workout was supposed to be 2400 yards.  I was running short on time today and had to shorten the swim 250 yards making it 2150 yards.  I was able to swim outside today which was a nice change of pace.  New tiles to watch pass beneath me for 45 minutes.  I felt pretty strong.  I was rushing a little bit to try and get the entire workout in.  Didn't make it but thats ok.  Staying up late to watch Olympics is making it hard to get up and out the door this week.  Tomorrow I am riding with Justin and Joel tomorrow morning at 5:15.  I am supposed to go an easy 2 hours but we may go a little longer tomorrow.  I reserved wheels today at the bike shop for Austin.

Thursday 8.2.12

I missed yesterday so I will need to log that data today.
Wednesday:
On Wednesday, I was to swim for an hour and ride my bike for an hour.  I am back to the hard one hour swims.  The swim was sort of a descending ladder of 200s, 150s, and 100s as the main set.  It took right at an hour to complete the 2400 yard swim.  I felt good and the swim was not a problem.  I wish they would open the outdoor pool for morning lap swimming.  It would be a nice change of pace.  Last evening, I planned on riding my bike for an hour.  It was 112 degrees on the way home and was still 100 degrees at 8pm.  I had a few things to do after work so I just didn't get the work in.

Thursday:
The Thursday run is not my favorite as chronicaled throughout my blog.  I was to run 45 minutes today consisting of a 10 minute warm up, 5 x (3 minutes at 7:00-7:30 pace followed by 2:00 of recovery), and a 10 minute cool down.  My first two intervals were tough but fell in range.  The last three did not.  I had some bad luck catching a few hills that hurt my pace but I just couldn't generate the necessary speed this morning for the latter half.  It was a shorter run and early in the morning so I did not take any water or gel with me.  I did take a shark salt, hammer gel, and drank a bottle of water before I left.  I think going without water was a mistake and could have used it.  However, the speed work on Tuesday could have been a factor in my fade as well.  I covered 5.15 miles in 47 minutes.  The breakdown was as follows:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/205758488

Warm Up Pace:  9:43
#1 3:00 pace:  7:36
#1 2:00 recovery pace:  10:39
#2 3:00 pace:  7:34
#2 2:00 recovery pace:  10:48
#3 3:00 pace:  7:55
#3 2:00 recovery pace:  10:29
#4 3:00 pace:  7:54
#4 2:00 recovery pace:  10:39
#5 3:00 pace:  7:56
#5 2:00 recovery pace:  10:17
Cool Down Pace:  9:33