Pace Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 34:26
Pace: 8:36 min/mi

Comments: Finally a sunny morning. I probably should have gotten out earlier because the humidity was still brutally oppressive, but it wasn't unendurable for once. It was enough that I decided to trim the planned six miler to the regular four out of an abundance of caution.

Pretty much just focused on cadence today. Short steps. Quick turnover. Wasn't obsessed with forcing the pace, just consistency of effort. The splits reflected that pretty well. The relatively measured heart rate was also a good sign.

Training Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time:  38:31
Pace: 9:37 min/mi

Comments: Up on time and running just a little later than I wanted. Temperatures are much better but the humidity is just absurd. I'm ready for a cool spell like you wouldn't believe.

This started OK but turned into a grind pretty quick. My splits were all over the place and my heart rate wasn't much better. I was working way too hard for what I was getting out of my legs today.

Right now I'm chalking it up to the humidity and fatigue but I need it to get better pretty quick.

Interval Run

Distance: 5.28 miles
Time: 52:19
Pace: n/a

Comments: This was a delightful nightmare to start my day. Got out and got started in simply oppressive humidity. I felt OK in the warm up but certainly not "perky" by any means. Still, I felt willing to try and get the eight half mile intervals I had planned.

The first two went pretty good and the third one as well but number four was met by the struggle bus. I pushed number five with the intention on gritting my way through the second half of the planned workout but... no bueno. Called it a day after one more.

1	0.5	3:42
2	0.5	3:24
3	0.5	3:30
4	0.5	3:24
5	0.5	3:37
6	0.5	3:37

So not only did I fall short, these were noticeably slower than my other recent efforts. And, when I got back to my car, I discovered my battery had died. Fun from start to finish.

Training Run

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 58:29
Pace: 9:44 min/mi

Comments: The rain showed up before dawn again pushing back my planned run. I got pretty busy in the meantime and it was creeping up on 11 a.m. by the time I got out there. That set me up for an awful confluence of heat and humidity.

I gutted my way through this one, there's no other way to describe it. I was still a bit sore when I started and really had trouble finding a comfortable pace. A lot of this run was simply trying to make it to the next landmark and they looking for the next one. Not fun.

Training Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 35:21
Pace: 8:49 min/mi

Comments: So, this one got pushed to the mid-afternoon by morning rains and internet service stupidity. I got stuck at my home because the morons that cut off my service were too busy to come fix it. Sayonara, Spectrum.

The result was I started this one still WAY too pissed and, instead of getting in a good recovery run in the wake of a tough 20 miler, I went for pace. Brilliant. I did try to keep on top of things but there was just too much adrenaline in play.

Marathon Training Summary: Week 11

Distance: 43.65 miles
Time: 6:52:52
Pace: 9:27 min/mi

Comments: I finally got back on track and put in a full six days including the speed work, the pace work and the long run. I also moved this week and averaged about 30 floors worth of steps over the course of four days. My quads were really sore after that, but, perhaps that helped overall conditioning.

The long run went much better than my previous 'big push' for longer miles. Part of that is just getting stronger but the weather helped quite a bit too. I'm hoping even more favorable temperatures will push me over the edge to achieve my goals in the race next month.

For these last few weeks I really have to stay focused and crank out the proscribed workouts. Eating and sleeping well need to be prioritized also.

Injury update: A few aches with all the additional mileage but nothing alarming.

Long Run

Distance: 20 miles
Time: 3:25:08
Pace: 10:15 min/mi

Comments: Went to bed early and made it a point to get out a little earlier. Due to all the rain I figured the Trinity River trail might be pretty sloppy so I opted to do two circuits around White Rock Lake.

This was certainly a challenge and there were parts that were plenty tough. Yet I really felt in control the whole way and it was substantially less exhausting than the 18 miler two weeks ago.

I set out deliberately overslow on the first 10 miles; completing it a hair over 1:49 for an average pace of 10:54 min/mi. Then I upped the cadence on the second loop and nailed a negative split. I took just more than 1:36 for the second ten miles for an average pace of 9:36 min/mi. Even better, three of the last five miles were sub 9:30, one even getting down to 9:17.

This effort suggests the strength is definitely there to complete the marathon and the stamina is getting into the range of making a sub-4 hour effort a real possibility.