For Whom the Dogs Bark

78F, 92% (DP 76F), calm.  Another beautiful morning.  Back to LLHR today, 10.15 in 1:52:05, 11:03/mile, 121 bpm.  After the first few miles I had revised my training program for the rest of the summer, then after the second half I wasn't so sure.  First 5 were 11:13/mile, trending to a steady downward spiral since I was hitting 10:30 with no problem at the beginning of the summer; then the second 5 came in at 10:52 which I was much happier about.  Still not sure I'm making progress alternating between workout weeks and slow weeks.  I think it may be the case that I need to pick one or the other, run its course, then move on to something else, rather than switching back and forth.  I know I can't sustain workout weeks all the way through without overtraining, so that leaves slow miles.  But waiting to see how the rest of this week unwinds.  Another way of looking at it is to keep doing what I am doing, and concentrate on weights and getting my body fat % down.  That would work best if I could do it.

78F, 93% (DP 76F), calm with an almost-full moon settling below the trees at the beginning.  Identical run to yesterday as to distance and DP, but faster.  10.15 miles in 1:49:16, 10:46/mile, 120 bpm.  17 seconds faster than yesterday's pace, with heart rate a little lower.  Wade and I are running at about the same heart rates right now, usually his is 7-10 bpm lower than mine.  But he isn't fully acclimated to the heat and he goes back to Wyoming tomorrow, leaving me alone in the soup.  He has a hilly 10K this weekend in Star Valley; it will be interesting to see how he reacts to the hills and altitude, particularly whether the high-DP training helps.

72F, 94% (DP 70F) and calm.  A storm moved through last night and it was significantly cooler this morning.  Wade and I were giddy, like we had gotten away with something.  10.0 in 1:44:57, 10:30/mile, 120 bpm.  Mile 9 was 10:13, mile 10 was 10:48, so that is where I finally broke.  Same pattern on my other runs this week; I think it means I am improving my aerobic longevity, because this used to happen after mile 7.

82F, 85% (DP 77F), calm.  Late start after not running yesterday due to work schedule.  10.0 in 1:49:39, 10:58/mile, 122 bpm.  Finished with heavy weight session.

PM:  3.5 on TM.  Legs were dead, had to quit early.

79F, 92% (DP 76F), calm.  Very early start, then ran out of gas.  16.5 at 9:00/mile, last half mile at 9:41 pace, unbelievably.  I assume most of this relates to yesterday's weight session.  Have been dragging all day, even after taking a nap.  Have yet to get 20 at long-run speed post-Boston.  Not sure where I am at right now, which is disconcerting.  Just have to keep going and push through it.

We had about 40-50 people at the house for fireworks. My son-in-law is a Canadian who got his citizenship about the same time he got his pyrotechnician's license.  Most of the fireworks were off-the-shelf consumer grade.  But he made one out of gunpowder and coffee creamer.  It was my job to buy the gunpowder.  So I walked into Gander Mountain, a local outdoors store.  It was tough getting the right stuff since I didn't know what I needed.  I didn't want to say "my foreign friend is making a bomb for the 4th of July -- which brand of explosives would you recommend?"  I was saved by a couple of rednecks hanging around the self-loading area.  They got me hooked up and knew not to ask too many questions.  The fireworks were spectacular; some of them were good enough to probably be illegal.  But there is very little in this state that is actually against the law, other than driving slow in the left lane, for which a small but growing minority is advocating capital punishment.