Clyde's Comeback!

I slept in this morning and didn't make my run with Paul at 6 a.m. So I woke up in a frantic at 6:20 and got out the door as fast as possible. When I did I realized it was very nice out. Almost cool with 63 f showing. That has to be close to a record for mid August. Anyways I just went out and back over to the DC via the Knolls park. Really tried to just enjoy the cool weather and let it soak into my skin. 

Middle B-hills loop. I went out this afternoon and it was only 94 F and there was a soft breeze. Oh it felt good. Almost a touch of fall in the air. Probably should have just kept running to make use of this nice weather as the forecast calls for it to warm right back up. The hammy is pretty sore... kind of a downer. It was soreish last week and today it's worse than it was last week. Hopeing I can roll it out with the stick and maybe even pop some pills to dull the pain for tomorrows tempo run.

3 mile warm up

10 mile Tinman tempo at a 5:51 avg

3 mile cool down

We were blessed with another below avg cool morning here in the STG. It was 66 when we sarted at 5:50 a.m and 63 when we finihsed up just before  7 a.m . That my friends is unbelievable for this time of year. So the run was naturally going to be good because it wasn't over 80 or close to 90 as it has been in the past.

Today's effort was one mile longer than last week on the tempo and 1 second per mile faster. Overall just a more even effort throughout. Last week we were slowish in the start and then ramped it up. Today we started a little quicker and kind of just stayed right there other then the last couple that ended up being a touch faster.

We felt good and were excited to finish off a 10 mile tempo run feeling good when a few weeks ago when we started we were dying during a 4 mile tempo. I'll call it a day now and rest the hammy up. It felt ok this morning but still tender.

The Stone Cliff/ DC/ Knolls loop. Same thing we were doing as our tempo loop a few weeks ago. I woke up at 5 a.m but didn't feel like going right then so I dozed off and next thing I knew it was after 7. So I jumped out of bed and rushed out the door to try and get done before Mik'L had to go to the office. It was another cool morning but not as cool as the last couple days. Today is the first day of school down here and the roads were filled with the hustle and bustle of moms trying to get everyone there on time. This made running on the roads a little more challenging than it has been as there was a lot more traffic. 

Anyways the run was good/ ok. I stared off slow at 8 min pace and worked my way around the loop starting with the Stone Cliff side first. Ended up with a 7:09 avg. Hammy was mildly sore. 

2.75 mile warm up

8x1000m w 200m recovery

3.5 cool down

The big, scary track interval workout. I haven't touched anything like this since the summer of 2008 and have been scared to do so because of a hamstring injury that I think was the result of such workouts... anyways I felt like a lamb going to the slaughter as we walked onto the track. 

However once we got rolling things felt pretty decent and the workout turned out to be positive. One plus to begin with was temps were low again... like 60 F and there was no wind really. So I kind of like the track at Desert Hills High because of that first impression. 

1. 3:13 trying to get a feel for the workout

2. 3:11 picked it up

3. 3:09 decide this would be the fastest one

4. 3:10

5. 3:10

6. 3:10 in a nice groove trying to see light at the end of this tunnel. 

7. 3:12 I told Logan before this one began that it would be hard... and it was.

8. 3:08 Wanted to end on a positive and even though it was hard and the legs were heavy the time turned out o.k.

Solid workout in the bank. Glad I got one in just incase I decide to not do them ever again.

Came home to some sad news. I went to check on the chickens and found that one of them got eaten last night by a predator. I forgot to close the sliding door and something went in and ate our Lady bird. We have 6 chickens right now and she was the most like a "pet". The other five all were upstairs in the nest area. But Lady wouldn't go up at night. She was a sweet heart. Everyday I'd go pick her up and give her loves. She'd even come when called by her name. It's pretty sad... the poor girl didn't have a chance. I decided I'm not a very good farmer. Hopefully now with these five other birds we can have no more deaths and have a nice safe coop.  

Logan came over early before school and we ran over to the DC and back through B-hills. Calves were really sore and tight. I'm starting to get a cold that Myler and Mik'L have had the last few days. Hope to fight it off for one more day so I can get a long run in tomorrow. 

Temps were cool again. I'm not sure whats going on but I like it. 

Big workout this morning. Nice big group to start with too. The running store actually organized 3 shuttles to haul runners up the marathon course. So there was about 40 people to begin with. Temps were perfect and there was no wind; just a picture perfect morning. My only concern was my calves. They were crazy sore yesterday and this morning when I woke up I had to hobble around while getting ready to leave. So I didn't know how things would work this morning. 

We got dropped off 16 miles above the old running store then did a little over 11 miles and hit around a 6:40 avg on this warm up section. Then from the top of Winchester down to the finish line of the marathon course we did a tempo and then cooled down back to the cars at the church by the old running store for just under 3 miles. 

The tempo section was great. My calves somehow didn't seem to bother me and I basically went as fast as I wanted to. My splits rivel any workout I've ever done down the marathon course and that is on trashed legs. Here are the spits for Dave and I. I had a 5:11 avg for the 7.56 miles of tempo and Dave was about 10 seconds ahead of me.

1. 5:10 we get out and Dave says the split time. I'm happy with it and say if we can run this pace down to the church and then hold 5:30's it would be good.

2. 4:56 we are both clicking and chasing down any roadkill we can see.

3. 4:59 Dave is about 2 seconds ahead of me here and I'm thinking "we are going way faster than planned".

4. 5:12 Around the horse shoe turn and up the little hill. Dave looks like he's floating. 

5. 5:06 I close the gap up a little on Dave here as we come down past the old running store. 

6. 5:17 The mile down Diagnal St. This part always sucks and I'm really pleased with how good we ran it today. Dave startes to pull a head by about 4 seconds.

7. 5:26 Going down through town. We got pretty lucky and didn't have any real traffic problems or lights at intersections.

8. .56 in 5:25 pace. Running the last little section over to the park. I can feel my legs getting kind of heavy but still am able to hold a good clip into the finish.

A great workout at the end of a pretty tough week. I've hit 3 pretty hard workouts this week. A 10 mile tinman tempo on Tuesday. A 1000m repeat workout on Thursday, and then this great long progressive tempo. Hopefully I'm not too trashed now and can recover for next Tuesdays workout. Maybe some golf this afternoon will help take the edge off? Both watching and playing.