Ahhh. That pleasantness we enjoyed in the northeast is a distant memory. Maybe without the suffocation of mid-July, but the humidity certainly reappeared. Bleh. Call it acclimation or just depressed resignation, but I comparatively felt much better trekking through though the soup over the last couple of days.
Wednesday. A recovery run post Tuesday track night. Nothing terribly exciting here. 7 miles @ 8:33 pace. I tossed in a couple of striders at the end to remind the legs to get quicker when tired. It was hot, but not horrific. Although, I could feel the squish in my socks and shoes. Sweaty puddle. Nonetheless, I felt decent.
Thursday. It was arguably more uncomfortable weather-wise than Wednesday. The air felt heavier. With a race on Saturday, I couldn’t use Thursday as the usual 2nd hard workout of the week. As such, I started at a familiar recovery pace … considering I was weaving my way thru midtown traffic, the goal was not to get killed. Once I hit the park, I relaxed and kept the pace slow. I’m going thru the CP blahs, so instead of more loops around the bridle, I interspersed a series of 800m laps around the Great Lawn (scene of many concerts, and on this day, softball, sun-bathers and layabouts. The switch boosted an otherwise boring run. 7 miles @ 8:17 pace.
My plan for the race changed at the last-minute. Initially I wanted to wrap miles around the 5 miler to constitute my long run. If it were any other race, I could probably get away with this strategy. Tomorrow is Club Championships with the men racing first followed by the women. It’s very important to me to be able to cheer the CPTC ladies on to victory, so planning a very long cool down during their race was not helpful to the cause. Also, I would need to break up the run into 3 pieces … pre-race warm up, race, cool down. The point of the long run is extended aerobic work on your feet … 10-20 minute breaks through out are not necessarily awful, but not advisable to maximize the workout. Therefore, I will run the race and do the long run on Sunday. This is the exact situation I avoided last week by bagging the 5k. Needless to say, I’m not pleased as I am uncertain if I am fit enough to go 7 hardish, then long run with only 24 hour recovery. Yes, I am in full selfish, marathon mode. Anything not directly benefiting 11.7.2010 annoys me. On the plus side, I can cheer our ladies and it gives me an opportunity to do the long run outside of CP on Sunday.
Go Orange!