Clyde's Comeback!

Up at 3:30 a.m to get this one going this morning. Ran the annual Steven Abraham Lincoln Hooper Pope 4th of July Spectacular. About 40 people got shuttled up to the start by the Upper Enterprise Lake. We got running about 5:30. Steve, Dave and I basically ran together the entire run. It was a pretty good morning. A little warm at the start because of some overnight cloud cover but then the clouds were nice later on in helping keep the sun off. We didn't push the pace at all and ended with a 7:15 avg. There are some really good uphill climbs that I'd forgotten about from the last time I ran this. Good steady run. After we soaked our legs in the cool stream. It actually worked wonders and felt really good an hour after. 

DC loop. Kind of humid but overcast so actually pretty nice. Quads are pretty sore. Guess I need to really work harder on my downhill training. I always just think that I'm too cool to do and downhill stuff... now I feel like it jacks me up more than anything. 

6.6 miles this afternoon. I kept thinking it would rain or something. But by the time Mik'L got home from work and I got out running it had cleared up and was the hottest part of the day. With the humidity the 100 F felt almost too much today. Plus the quads went weak about 3 miles in and it was a struggle all the way back home. Pretty grim. 

Did a loop out in the fields this morning. 7:20 avg... Yeah the 7 min guy kicked my butt today. I just feel like barf. It's hot and humid. I was doing ok until about mile 7 then the elements took their toll. Ended up dropping buckets of sweat all the way back home. When I got here my hands were all wrinkly like I'd been washing dishes. Got on the scale and was 146.5 lbs which is low for me. I really don't run well under 152 lbs. I've got to dig deep this week and hit some decent mileage because I'll have to start dropping it down again before I can do any kind of real workout- and I need a couple weeks with workouts before running the marathon in Alaska at the end of this month. 

No run this evening. Mik'L didn't get home until after 9:30 p.m. I was also pretty trashed so it was a good evening to have off. 

DC loop @ 7:15 avg. Felt a little better than yesterday morning. My quads are still really jacked. I'm trying to get into see April. But until then I've been using the stick. It seemed to help a little last night. I was able to get up and run a little better today... overall pace was just a little faster but overall effort was way easier. I didn't totally die after around 6 miles. Hope to recover enough today to be able to run at club tonight. 

9.7 Club run cut a little short. Felt so so for the first 5 miles then I started to fade off. Got really hot and thirsty by the time we got to the park at mile 6. Soaked my shirt and hat then tried to finish off the last 4 miles. Quads just locked up and wouldn't go any faster than around 7:30 pace on the way back in. Finished with a 7:08 avg. Everyone else was much faster. 

After last nights bad run I didn't want to even try it today. But it's kind of now or never in STG in the morning. You either go out early or regret it if you don't. Got running just after 5:30 a.m and felt slow. First mile was around 8:30 pace. Just tried to keep good form and not tear or injure anything. Finally got a little faster but not much. Finished with a 7:25 avg. I've got to get in to April to have my quads worked out. 

Ran the Painters course with a little extra this morning. It rained last night and made it kind of muggy but any rain in STG in the summer is a blessing. I thought I'd really struggle on this run because I have all week. But it seemed to go by fast and I felt pretty good. Ended with around a 6:54 avg. Nothing super but far faster than I've been running. 

Went to April tonight... She cracked the whip and I was in pain for an hour. Hoping she helped my quads to loosen up so I can run for real again.