July 26 - Marathon Paced run

I have been dreading today for since my vacation began! Today Jack Daniel's called for 12 miles of marathon-paced running (6:30 - 6:45 min/mile). Now you would figure that if your goal is to run 26 miles at a particular pace then running only 12 should be easy....right?! I think for me it is mostly mental...it just seems like such a grind when you do not have some poor volunteer to splash with cold water and gatorade every 1.5 miles (Ooops!!).

Today I was also particularily delighted (and excited) because JD and I were to be joined by one of Houston's finest runners, for any distance. I must take a moment to give him a proper introduction...you know the kind that a ring announcer gives the top fighter of some heavy-weight championship title match. So, now introducing into Bear Creek Park, in the crazy colored shorts is "The Fountain of Youth", "The Marathon Machine", "The New PR EVERYTIME I read Stridelines Guy", "The Pizza Man", iiiiiittttttttt's Mister Yoooooooodeeeeer!

This run was obviously an easy run for JY but I know JD and I were both really stoked about having him there...misery loves company - especially when it is great company! Before the run JD and I were also trying to think of simple 3 word questions for JY that would require 5-10 minute response. That way it would seem like we were actually "chit-chatting" rather than gasping for air. Some sample questions included, "What is the meaning of life?" or "Could you give us a mile by mile description of your last marathon? Ultra-marathon?" or "Why?"

The workout went as follows:
2 mile warmup (7:21 min/mile)
6:37/6:37/6:30/6:35/6:32/6:30/6:30/6:29/6:30/6:25/6:24/6:10 min/mile
2 mile cooldown (7:12 min/mile)

We nailed it! Here is my HR (red) and pace (blue) chart. You can see that we stopped briefly for water a few times. Given the Houston weather and the length of the workout - this is the smart thing to do! You can see the HR asymptotically approaches the high 160's throughout the run until the final mile of effort (mile 13 - 14). I found another gear here, which was not necessary given the objectives of the workout, but it just felt good!

This afternoon (4pm - gross - totally hot) I played Ultimate Frisbee with some buddies. Usually when I play my Garmin tells me that I run 4-6 miles. I figure today I ran 5 miles during the game. Ultimate frisbee screws up my legs like nobody's business, but it is sooooo fun!

Total Mileage for the day = 21 miles.

Lovin' the Heat and the salty nutz!