Sunday (18.1mi 2:38:40 8:46/mi Avg) It was around 90F out on Sunday and the only time I had to get out for a run was at noon meaning I'd be out for the hottest part of the day. My hastily put together schedule to prepare for Baker Lake 50K calls for long runs pretty much every weekend until the race. I hoped that the heat would be good training to toughen me up. I lived inland of Los Angeles when I started running 20 years ago. It was > 100F and bone dry all summer. I got used to the heat pretty quickly and didn't know enough o bring water with me on my runs. I've always done pretty well i the heat so I wasn't too worried. I started the run out with my cousin who was visiting. She had run 10 miles the day before (she's training for a half marathon) so she was only up for 4 miles.
We started out with the One Store Loop, heading up the tunnel trail and out to Ray Nash rd. It was great to chat with her and start out at a slower pace to really warm up properly, something I rarely do with my limited time to run. When we got to the store, she headed back to the house and I split off toward Fox Island. I didn't plan out a route so I headed toward Fox Island. I figured that I could run up to the top of the hill on the island and stop at the store if I needed any water. I had two bottles with me, so I figured I could make it up to 12 miles before needing to refill. I did pretty well on the way up the hill on fox island, switching sides of the road depending on where the shade was. At the top of the hill I still had a full bottle left so I figured I could make it back to the Arletta store to refill so I kept going, picking up my slower-than-usual pace on the way back down.
I crossed the bridge back to Gig Harbor and went East up the hill to take 70th ave up to 40th. It was a little bit of a struggle with almost no shade, but once I turned to go down 40th, it was shaded the whole way (about a mile). I ran out of water on the way down 40th with maybe a mile from the store. At 12.4 miles I finally arrived at the store. The woman working behind the counter joked about me burning up running on such a hot day. I refilled my bottles and took another S-cap and a gel and was back on my way. I headed out Ray Nash in the opposite direction and out toward Kopachuck State Park. I knew how far it was from the top of the Tunnel trail home so I planned to run an out-and-back to eat up some distance so that I could finish close to 18. Unfortunately the out portion was almost all uphill and sunny. I hit my turn-around and was almost out of water again. I stopped at a Middle school on the way back figuring that I'd fill up at one of the many drinking fountain I'd find there. I looked all around the school, around every building and every playground but didn't find a single fountain. When I was in primary school there were fountains on almost every side of every building. I left disheartened and thirsty.
I came back to the Tunnel Trial and was still feeling pretty good running in the shade of the trail. The trail dumped me out onto the road where I drank the last of the water with maybe a mile and a quarter to go. I eased up the pace and finished with a partial lap around the block to make sure it was just over 18 miles. It was a little slower than my usual long run but it was also about 15 degrees hotter. I'm happy with my performance.
Monday (0, nothing, nada, zip)
Tuesday (5.1mi, 57:45, 13:57/mi avg) I planned a recovery run and ran it with a co-worker who's not terribly interested in running as anything other than a way to burn calories. Our paces aren't that close, but he's a good guy and I enjoy the company once in a while. I felt pretty good but he was having a bad day. He didn't eat enough, and started cramping up about half way through the run. We started taking walking breaks depending on how bad the cramps were and then with about 1.5mi. to go just walked the rest of the way in. We still burned the calories and got the exercise. Recovery accomplished.
Wednesday (5.4mi, 35:04 6:29/mi avg) Today was a day for a tempo run. I looked at the splits from the last time I ran the Redmond Streets route and compared them to what I was hitting on today's splits. I was one second faster after the first two miles, but I felt like I was going maybe 5% easier than last time. I was still gasping for breath on some of the uphill pitches and struggling to recover after cresting them, but I didn't feel that I was quite as deep in the cave for the first couple of miles. I planned to go out a tiny bit easier and then make it up in the final 2.5 miles.
Today's run also took me over 100 miles for the month. It's a little slower than I'd hoped to reach 100, but I still have a good chance at hitting 175 this month if I can keep my long runs on track.
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