It was hot when I started running. Well, it wasn't really hot (80F), but it was humid and it felt hot. Last Tuesday, I ran 8 miles with 6 x 2 minute intervals. This morning, I added a 7th repeat.
By the end of the 3rd repeat this morning, I thought I was going to throw up from the effort and the heat. But, on the 4th, I felt a bit better and the next few repeats went well - until the last one. On the last repeat, I just felt like I was spent - no speed left at all.
From there, I did a cooldown of 2+ miles for a total of 8 miles.
This afternoon, we are supposed to get hit by some nasty thunderstorms and then the first heat wave of the year should be over. But, by the weekend, humidity will start to return.
This weekend, my wife will be off rock climbing in the Adirondacks. I'll be home with the kids.
I'll get in an easy 10 miler on Saturday and then I'll spend the rest of the weekend getting stuff ready for the race. I need to put Velcro on my race shoes to fasten my gaiters. I need to make sure all of my lights have fresh batteries. I need to check my socks for holes, get my foot care kit together, etc. I also need to do some sheets for my crew, so they have expected times at aid stations and they know in advance what I expect to need at each aid station.
The attention to details before a 100 seems ridiculous at times, but after all the training and time and expense that goes into getting ready for a 100 and then traveling to the race, there's no reason to fail at the race because of a minor overlooked detail.
2 comments:
It's nice having this heat to train in. I'll also start gathering stuff this weekend and tweaking the pace charts. The hour is almost at hand...
Jamie,
I don't know what your target pace is, but I will be putting together some pace charts based on last year's results. We will be running a nearly snowless course and running the same course as last year. So, I will take last year's splits and plug the finishing times and split times into some data sets, and use that to come up with a formula that represents pace estimates. I will then have a sheet that shows an expected arrival time at each aid station based on a 24 hour pace, 26, 28 and 30. My crew can use my time at one aid station to get a feel for when to expect me at the next.
Plus, they can see by how I track against those times - if I'm picking things up, falling apart, or simply holding the pace.
If you want the spreadsheet when I'm done, I'll be glad to send it to you.
I might be able to find some other years on the old course in a non-snow year as well, but last year should give me enough data for a reasonable extrapolation. The one place it could fall apart would be if it's much hotter this year than last year.
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