Gail and I did weights last night at the Y.  This morning I got up at 4:30 a.m.  I WAS planning to run in the pm after work, but my stupid cats started doing their "Feed Me!" and "Let Me Out"  cat-calls and just would not shut up, so I figured heck with it, I might as well get up and go run.  I went down this morning to another local Y,  one near the San Antonio Riverwalk.  Started from the Y and looped down to the Riverwalk, then back through a local park, and then back to the Y.  It was nice and quiet running between 5 and 6 a.m., virtually no traffic, sweet.  I really felt good the whole way, in spite of the already 80 degree temp, dew-point of 73, and humidity of 89%.  Cold shower after that felt great!  Glad I did get up and go run because some scattered thunderstorms are supposed to go through my area after work, just about right where I run.  I guess my cats are smarter than me, lol, getting me up early.     The weather guy on TV was funny too.  The news-guy asked the weather guy what the difference was between 'scattered' storms and "isolated' storms.  He said "Let me put it this way...would you rather have scattered, as in all over the place,  mosquito bites or isolated mosquito bites? Think of the storms like that."    lol.

I got my run in; 7 miles total with 5x1000m. The plan called for 6:50 on the intervals but at this elevation and rolling hills it was not going to happen. four of them were about 7:40 and one was 8:05. That one was all uphill and I was sucking wind! You know how kids sound when they have whooping cough? That was me. I remember what wcrunner taught me about perceived effort and to nor worry about it if you don't hit your pace. Today's perceived effort felt like a 4:40 pace (not that I know how that feels) so I think I'm good.

 

On to the World Cup games.

I did some running when I was in Park City on ski vacation.  Running at 7,000 feet after a full day of skiing meant for some slow, lung sucking runs.  I can't imagine attempting speedwork in that.

 

Here are some snippets of Jack Daniels speaking about his ideals and principals.  They may provide clarity for you in certain instances or as they did for me, cement what I already concluded.  (link)

Thanks. I'll probably check out some more of his videos.

I did more reps at Interval speed than what I would have normally done, because I now understand what they're for. In the first reps, I barely reach the VO2Max, but after a few then I spend some of the time at VO2max. Since the whole idea of this type of workout is to spend time at VO2Max, I did more reps. The last one I did, I was losing form toward the end, so that was it. I finished with easy paced running.

MTA: I could have been more effective. I did a few reps too fast. That tired me quicker. Maybe if I would have kept to the pace I could have done one or two more reps, and spend more time at VO2Max. I'm learning

Ugh, just went out with my team to have some Indian food. So stuffed. The best part was the director picked up the tab. Booya.

 

Good luck with the 5K trail race, Baboon.   Happy biking too, hope your duathlon training goes well for you!

 

Thank you, SCOTTY!

Work is a bit crazy these days.   In my department we have a team of 4.  One worker is on disability leave before she retires at the end of the month and probably will not be back in at all.  Our boss is in Greece right now for a month (mix of business and pleasure) which leaves me and the other person to handle the research and data maintenance workload for EIGHTEEN Development officers, our Big Boss (a university VP) and the university President who often needs 'short-notice' stuff done when he has unexpected meetings that come up.   My normal work hours are 7 - 4 pm, but so is that of my co-worker.  Today the bosses told me and my remaining co-worker that they want someone to be the "late person" for the day (which is usually the person who is in Greece now) so since my co-worker has kids and I don't, I went ahead and told them I'd do it.  So my hours for summer will be 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 pm.  Which is not bad, actually, gives me plenty of time in the morning to get a run or workout in when it is much cooler in Texas summer.  And even sleep in late a bit on non-workout week days.

Adventures in running, Tico style.

I was up and out super early to go to the track for my 6 x 800.  But after one rep I was pretty sure I was going to need to go to the bathroom, and there wasn't one available.  I suffered through two more intervals before I decided that I really needed to walk home.  No problem, I thought, somebody from the house is going to the gym at 7:30, maybe I'll go with her and see if I can join the gym there.

Then I heard that no, this isn't the type of gym where you can run, it's just for classes.  But there's another park in the other direction that has bathrooms.  Cool.

Meanwhile, I got a call that I needed to drop some paperwork off for one of the students at her school.  It was close, and I got directions and headed off on foot.  I got to where the school was supposed to be, and nobody had heard of it.  Lame.  Also, my phone isn't working, and hasn't been for over a day now.  But on the bright side, I must have been able to at least fake looking like I knew what I was doing, because somebody stopped to ask ME for directions!

I pull out the address of the family and ask somebody, and they think it might be in the next district over, maybe I should take the bus?  Instead I hop a taxi, we head over to where I had been directed at the store, but nobody there has heard of the school either.  Maybe it's the school where they wear red pants?  But of course I haven't been there, I don't know what kind of pants they wear.

So I end up using the taxi driver's phone to call the girl who is at school to find out where it is.  It's in a totally different part of town, maybe 15-20 minutes away.  Well, I've come this far, OK, Mr. Taxi driver, let's just go.

I got the the school, paid the driver, visit the girl, drop off the papers, and am on my way again.  I hop another taxi to get back home, and when I pay the second guy (the rate that the meter says, last guy wasn't using a meter), I realize I got ripped off last time- about double what it should have been!  I had no idea since it was my first taxi ride here.  Maybe it was a premium for driving around asking questions and using the guy's phone.  Hah!

So I get home and of course have to watch the Costa Rica team's world cup game.  A tie- enough for them to win their group, which is a great result.  Then there are lots of fireworks and stuff going off.  People are driving around all over the place with flags and horns.

Then it's time for lunch.  And I still haven't gotten my second run in.  I was short in miles yesterday, that is NOT going to happen today!

So I headed out just a little while after lunch.  It was about a mile to the other park, down a very busy street.  I get there and I am trying to do my last 3 intervals, but I keep running in to dead ends, huge broken bits of sidewalk, hills and bridges, people on bikes and sidewalks blocking the path, etc.  So at least I did 3 "hard" intervals, but I very rarely had good footing and level ground.

A scope of the area revealed one set of locked bathrooms with a sign that said it costs the equivalent of 50 cents to use them, but no clear way to pay.  There is a police station next door with some policemen outside shoveling gravel, but I am NOT going to go ask them how to get in to the bathrooms!  Especially since I don't even have to go, I was just scouting.  There IS a Burger King nearby, that may be an option.

I got home and found out that yes, the gym does apparently have treadmills, so that might work.  I've been invited to come to a class with somebody from my house tomorrow, so maybe I'll scope out that option while I'm there.  There is another gym in the other direction, but close to the track.  That might be a nice one because I can start my run outside, and just head in to the gym if I need to.

Now it is pouring down rain, so I'm chilling.  I am supposed to be calling all of the students to check in on them, but my phone is not working.  The guy here who is supposed to fix them supposedly just went to do that.  Maybe that is where he went.  If they're still not working tomorrow, I can head downtown to see if I can come up with something myself.