July 30

AM: 9 miles easy/moderate

PM: 6 miles easy

Rock Creek Park trails in the morning. Feeling crisp, even though the humidity is still absurd.

After work, I went up to Columbia and ran easy with Samy on some soft trails.

Quote of the day:

"Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap."

Oh, those Sumerians....

July 29

AM: 5 miles easy

PM: 7 x 3'on/1'off, 11 miles

Quick morning shake-out run along Connecticut Ave via the produce stand coming back.

I met P. Murphy at the Line after I left work for a fartlek on the Rock Creek Park trails. The effort felt really crisp, and despite the stifling humidity, I was actually able to get my legs turning over fairly well.

July 28

AM: 8 miles easy

PM: weights, core

Recovery day in the morning on the Rock Creek Park trails, and then the gym with Valerie in the evening. I hadn't spent much time there in the last month, but I honestly needed a little bit of a break from it.

Awful and embarrassing. 

July 27 (105 miles/week)

AM: 20 miles easy/moderate

I met a group of almost a dozen GRC guys at Old Angler's Inn, where some of us departed for Edward's Ferry and the rest a few miles south along the canal.

After nearly wrecking the car on the way out there when a spider started crawling on me while I was driving, we started the point-to-point run back to Old Angler's Inn 18.5 miles away.

Despite brief bathroom stops at 8 miles and for water/Gatorade/gels a 11 miles, the pace was steadily moderate, ticking off 6:10-6:30 (it's hard to be certain on the canal because the mile markers are so inaccurate. I deliberately tried to pick it up to MP for a few miles around mile 12.5 to see how my legs would feel, but running under the sun with no shade, I could never really get going at a good clip. After 25 minutes, I eased off the accelerator and took the rest easy. Bain and I added another 10 minutes or so at the end to make the day an even 20 miles in 2:08.

This was a solid week for me--two good workouts, one OK long run, and my highest weekly mileage since March. Next week will be a recovery week.

July 26

AM: 10 miles easy

Quick run down the trails and back up Beach Drive before heading over to College Park to take the GRE.

July 25

AM: 5 x 6:30 on/:90 off, 10 miles

PM: 6 miles easy

I rolled out of bed in the morning to find pleasantly cool temperatures. I ran down to the Meadowbrook loop for a fartlek, which I was pretty pleased with. I ended up running 5:35 pace total for the workout, and was hitting 5:15-5:20 pace (goal 10-mile or HM pace) pretty consistently on the splits I did take.

The weather warmed up considerably by the afternoon, so I stuck to the trails and the shade on my second run.

July 24

AM: 13 miles easy

PM: 4 miles easy

I got in a medium-long run in the morning, running the back stables loop and adding the Tilden hill. The rains from last night left some pleasantly cool weather.

In the evening, I tagged along with Valerie on her run, making a go-around on the Meadowbrook stables loop.