back from family backpacking trip where I wanted to run some long trails in the Rockies but ultimately was pretty much on daddy duty the whole time. Not a problem, but just didn't run much... So this is a two-week update representing my last Jack Daniels Phase II week. I'm really struggling to meet my VDOT paces with the humidity!
M - 7 E
T - 8 E
W - 1E + 7M + 1E (was supposed to be 8M)
T - 6 E
F - off
S - 2E + 12x400 R + 2E
The 7 M pace miles (6:21 for me) was tough. Very humid. Terrain was not flat and my splits were 6:05/20/21/38/28/23/26. Felt like crud and wanted to bail after 6 but stuck one more, and probably could have/should have stuck the last one. Strava does a Grade-Adjusted-Pace (GAP) and had my GAP splits as 6:21, 6:26, 6:26, 6:16, 6:27, 6:22, 6:17, which is much closer to my M pace. I felt like crap about this run during the run and after until I stepped back and gained some perspective. It sucked but it wasn't as much of a fail as I felt when running it. When I finished I was covered by a hundred dead bugs who drowned in my sweat.
Saturday 400s were on the road, with a slight downhill. R pace is 76s. GAP 400m splits were 80, 76, 76, 74, 75, 73, 75, 73, 75, 71, 70, 69.
Last week - some running, lots of hiking with a lot of weight.
Peeking ahead to this week... I may be suffering from a down week last week, or a lack of long runs of late, or the humidity, or some of everything, but I'm beginning the JD Phase III workouts and did a 6x1200 @I pace (3min jg)(roughly my 5K pace) and struggled mightily this morning. Aiming for 4:07 I hit 4:08, 4:07. 4:08, 4:08, 4:11, 4:07. After #4 and #5 I didn't even do the 300m jog, but just walked down the straightaway and back. Killed dozens of bugs with my chest sweat in the process. Humidity sucks. Why is this so difficult?