Temps Down,Miles Up

After a frankly disappointing week the week b4 my goal this week was to bounce back w/ a  5 day/50mpw.......


Tuesday 10 Miles
Sweet and merciful Jesus the heatwave broke and while I offer heartfelt apologies to any European readers of the blog it's your turn to sweat and swelter under that bastard heat
Monday was shot re a run thanks to a 12.5 hr work day plus the end of the heatwave was punctuated by heavy storms but Tuesday it was blue skies and comfortable conditions
My takeaway from the easy 10 out and back along Kelly Dr,it's nice to breathe,nicer to finish what I started,awesome to be done b4 the heavens opened and the 9 min miles were an added bonus


Wednesday 8 Mile Tempo
This is where the wheels began to fall off last week so there was a sense of "revenge" going over to the Art Museum Loop just b4 11am to tackle my 8 mile tempo run
80 degrees and almost picture perfect conditions{almost because as we all know perfect doesn't exist!}
Splits of:6.50-7.12-7.26-7.29-7.32-7.25-7.39-7.22 brought me home in 58.59 off 7.22 mile pace,a 1.16 improvement on the July 14th effort
W/ the exception of mile 7 being a bit arsey I was reasonably pleased w/ my time and overall performance but as my former coach often told me"there's more meat on that bone" and w/ another 4.5 weeks till the Philly 10k and another 6 tempo runs scheduled I'd like to see my overall time and mile time come down


Thursday 10 Miles
Another easy/recovery/shake out run,one last "calm b4 the storm" day at work b4 the proverbial "hits the fan" for the next 8 days and I put in long hours w/out a lunch hour and then drag my sorry carcass out to log my miles but I'm damned if those feckers are gonna screw my training up
Another evening of pleasant temps and decent air quality as rumours of #4 heatwave are beginning to emerge from the weather peeps........


Saturday 14 Miles
As has become my won't of late I've been not only getting the long run in on Saturday but also getting up early to do so
Out the door by 7.50am and down to the Schuylkill by 8.10 as I made my way out to just beyond Strawberry Mansion bridge on Kelly Dr b4 turning and heading back.
I still have 7 weeks till the Philly Rock & Roll 1/2 marathon and fingers crossed several 14 miles to get myself in decent half marathon shape,roughly 9 min mile pace this morning but come race day I'm hoping to go out in 6.30 pace and hold on as long as I can,I logged a 1.24 half at the Love Run in March and having retasted "rarefied air" I'd like to taste it again


Sunday 8 Mile Tempo
Two choices,easy 8 mile/recovery/shake out run OR second tempo run on tired legs?
Option B please.....,
I would have rather been able to do this early to mid morning but my schedule dictated it would be 2.45pm b4 I could get to the trusty AML to resume hostilities w/ the Garmin......
Splits:6.54-7.14-7.13-7.31-7.38-7.40-8.05-8.09 =60.25 off of 7.33 mile pace,1.26 slower than Wednesday.
I kinda "shit the bed" the last 2 miles" but hung in there to at least finish what I started,I knew my splits were getting slower and slower but frankly I'd rather have a crack at a Tempo run off of tired legs and fail then take the easy way out and "jog" 8 slow miles


All in all a good week,sadly I'm gonna come up a tad short of 200 miles for the month by virtue of being a slacker at the start of July but I'm finishing strong and rolling into August w/ purpose and momentum