Sunday, August 2, 2009

Fun weather fact

Today the mean temperature did something that it hasn't done since January 16th - it went down a degree (82 to 81 degrees - mean temp on 1/16 = 36 degrees). It won't really matter on Tuesday night at the track when it's supposed to be ~90 degrees - but, it does mean that the long dog's mouth of a Baltimore summer is slowly moving out.

Not that I'm complaining - I'd rather carry some water on a run than be forced to the treadmill because of ice on the roads, but it isn't exactly ideal for racing. However, I will be racing next Sunday for the first time in over a month. I'm running the Harris Teeter 10k next week in Leesburg, VA. I don't know exactly what to expect - but, I think I am ready for ~32:30. My JD inspired training has been going pretty well, so far. I've had some aches & pains, but nothing major. A cold water bath seems to take care of any soreness.

Today I ran one of my hardest long runs in awhile. I sprinkled in some 2 mile tempo sections into an 18 mile run. Overall I was pretty pleased - but, my second miles were consistently slower - which is not ideal. The big question will be how well I recover - this was my first week of seven planned weeks in a row at over 80 miles. The planned high week is 90 - so, nothing close to as "big" as my Boston training - but, it's more intense.

It's easy to let things get a little out of control with all the guys on the track each Tuesday - so, I think a key will be to just make sure I'm hitting my goal times and not worry about how many guys are finishing in front of me. Summer might be cooling off, but my training for the Army 10 miler is just starting to heat up! (yes, that might be the corniest sentence i've written on this blog - but, give me a break, I ran a hard 18 miler today! ; )

Last Week:
Monday: 10 miles
Tuesday morning: 4 miles
Tuesday afternoon: 10 miles 3X(1200, 2 min rest, 800, 90 sec rest, 400, 2 min rest) (3:48.5, 2:30.0, 71.8; 3:44.4, 2:26.0, 72.6; 3:40.5, 2:21.4, 65.5)
Wednesday: 10 miles
Thursday morning: 4 miles
Thursday afternoon: 10.5 miles hills 6X84-88 seconds
Friday: 6 miles
Saturday: 11.5 miles
Sunday: 18 miles 2 mi easy 2X2 mi tempo (5:30.0+5:38.4=11:08.4; 5:23.5+5:32.2=10:55.7) 6 mi easy 2X2 mi tempo (5:27.4+5:38.6=11:06.0; 5:17.6+5:33.2=10:50.8) 2 mi easy
Total: 84 miles

This Week:
Monday: 10 miles
Tuesday morning: 4 miles
Tuesday afternoon: 10 miles Track Workout
Wednesday: 11 miles
Thursday morning: 4 miles
Thursday afternoon: 10 miles Tempo workout
Friday: 10 miles
Saturday: 6 miles
Sunday: 15 miles Harris Teeter 10k
Total: 80 miles

5 comments:

RM said...

The mean temperature, like the average for the whole year? Or the month?

Fortunately for you Ben this is probably just an oversight. Summer hasn't even begun yet. It will get warmer before it gets colder. And also more humid.

JD-inspired training...for a second I thought you meant JD as in Joel David (Brusewitz). He is pretty inspiring.

Ben said...

the mean daily temperature. look it up on weather.com under averages for baltimore.

alyssa said...

I'm interested in what part of this fact was actually fun?

Also my verification work is dhotingi. Sounds like a drink they'll be serving at the indian porsh of Arjun's wedding.

Ben said...

alyssa - if you mean that "fun weather" is redundant - i agree. everything about weather is fun.

RM said...

My word is "undis"

Like underwear's abbrev (I know, it should be undies)