Long Run

Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:38:28
Pace: 9:50 min/mi

Comments: The forecast today is for record-breaking heat. Which I tried to avoid the worst of by keeping to the early start. This avoided the worst of the day's onslaught but it wasn't pleasant either.

The first half of the effort went extraordinarily well. I knocked out five miles in good order and felt pretty strong doing it. I probably should have dialed it back a bit because the uphill sections on the west side of the lake whipped my ass.

I stumbled through miles seven through nine and tried to regroup a little for the last section. In the end, I kept under my 100 minute goal but it was not fun at all.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 35:41
Pace: 8:54 min/mi

Comments: Third day in a row. Didn't set a real goal for the run since I didn't know how my legs would be holding up. And I wasn't optimistic given the wind this morning.

The first mile was unexpectedly unpleasant but I warmed up well and got into the groove of it. Like most of my recent runs, I really have been able to stride after mile two or so. Not sure if that's improved strength or what, but it's encouraging.

Now for a much needed rest day and the chance to actually sleep in a little.

Fitness Run

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 53:50
Pace: 8:58 min/mi

Comments: Getting up at 5 a.m. still isn't easy but it's already a little bit of a routine. While the heat is the reason for the early runs, the lack of traffic is one hell of a side benefit.

The goal today was six miles but I also ended up doing a tidy little job of pacing. It took less time to warm up today in comparison to yesterday but I didn't do anything significantly different in the early miles in terms of pushing things.

At about three miles I was feeling pretty confident about the run and concentrated on consistency in the effort. The lack of hills makes a real difference for working on this kind of thing. I finished sub-9 min/mi which was far more than I expected.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 37:22
Pace: 9:20 min/mi

Comments: Up early again. With the heat promising no letup in the foreseeable future, it looks like this is my new routine. Which, to be honest, isn't all that bad (outside of the wakeup part of it). It's nice to be out there before all the stupidity gets a chance to get going.

I was a little creaky and sore getting started but that's somewhat understandable. It took a good mile or so to warm up but, when I did, the rest of the run went very smoothly. I felt in control the whole way with this one and increased my pace each lap.

Long Run

Distance: 9.07 miles
Time: 1:30:15
Pace: 9:57 min/mi

Comments: Since the heat has started early this year, I'm having to start early as well. I got up a little after 5 a.m. and was running about an hour later. I decided to do White Rock Lake partially because if I ran it clockwise, I'd have shade from the trees on the second half when the sun was up.

This worked exactly as I planned. And my effort to acclimatize to the warmer weather seems to have worked as well. There is just one drawback to this approach -- humidity. It was formidable and I was sweating heavily by the end of mile one. Still, that's better than trying these kind of miles in the heat of the day.

I didn't look at my pace at all on this one so the sub-10 minute/mile overall effort was a nice surprise. That probably would have been my goal had I chosen to set one. I have to say, I'm pretty happy with this run and this week overall.