BQ by 40

I’m shooting for 60 miles this week all of a sudden, after 42 last week. My legs/brain may change my mind later.

Lunch workout: 6 miles in 55′09″ at a 1% incline on the treadmill (Precor 966i).

Ran to the Rutter Requiem…

It’s not nearly long enough for 6 miles at my pace (under 40 minutes), plus I need some noise-blocking headphones to hear 50% of the work. Crazy that I even attempted to listen to it, but it came up while I was shuffling through the music library.

Queen’s “We Will Rock You/We Are the Champions” and Hurd/Canedo “Mass of Glory” rounded out the listening selections. Church music geekdom on this run.

Modified 8/1/2008:
I slept in and missed my 6 miler. No 60 mile week for me this week.

I broke myself of the treadmill habit after

• new treadmills were installed in the gym (with a more honest speed and incline calibration)
• beginning carpooling (arriving @ 5:30 to 6:00am is not feasible for everyone)

With the new treadmills on 1%, I built some solid strength. Other benefits that I missed:

• Softer landing surface
• Consistent pacing — easier at beginning, but harder at end.
• Controlled pacing — I was running 30-60 seconds too fast, and then trying to maintain. I probably killed the tendon around my ankle this way and some knee.

I still went too fast: 5.68 Miles in 50:00… 8′49″ pace. I tried starting at 6.4 mph, but my entertainment options on the TV were limited. Also, someone asked to “borrow” the remote for the TV. I did not see it return, so I was stuck on the current channel unless I wanted to break stride. Because of this, I sped up to wrap up. Such are the perils of a treadmill in a gym.

I love the smell of garbage in the morning. Passed two garbage trucks in the neighborhood at the end of my out and back, along with several freshly emptied cans along the way. Yuck. Not exactly a motivating smell in the morning when the air is already thick from humidity.

Supposedly, all of this humidity was supposed to be in the form of fog, and probably would have had the temperature gotten closer to the dew point. Instead, I experienced a warm morning run at 80-90% humidity.

Devil dog appeared over the privacy fence (via high jump) in the same neighborhood. I’ve heard the doberman before, but saw her head today. Twice.

Slight variation of my normal morning run.

Distance:8.24 miles in 1:15:01
Pace: 9′07″ / mile
Weather:76° F, Overcast, Humid