Call it an "off" week - but driving ahead

OK, this was not a great week for me in terms of running. There was some factors that made it difficult to get to running. Taking a quick look back…

Monday 9/12

Monday was a hot day. I was feeling a bit sluggish Monday morning so I just was not able to get to running. At about 3:30 on Monday afternoon, I headed out from the work gym to try to get a short 3. I had run well on Saturday and Sunday so I wasn't worried about pace. Then I hit the wall of heat. I was tired to begin with, but the heat made the run brutal. I didn’t feel well at all.

My route took me across Main Ave to the Merritt on-ramp to the subdivision behind the freeway. This is a steep hilly pathway up to Butternut St. I then went out to West Rocks and down to Aiken. Aiken was mostly downhill and connected at Ward.

Wow, was I struggling. It was hot. I had to walk a number of times. I ran past the Chiropractic Center on Main, whose clock thermometer read 95 degrees. Bad idea to go outside.

Tuesday 9/13

I had a bad nite’s sleep on Monday but luckily had a little extra time since our 2-day Procurement Team Celebration didn’t start until 10 AM at the Doubletree Hotel. I knew I was still tired, but I wanted to get this run in knowing that I would not run tomorrow. We planned to have a late night with the Team.

At 8AM, I ran onto of my usual 4-mile routes. I knocked out a four rather effortlessly in under 31:00.

Wed-Thurs-Friday – NO RUNNING OR GYM! Too busy at work and recovering from lack of sleep. The Procurement celebration on Tuesday night gave me about 4-5 hours of sleep. Then I had to go out to a business dinner on Wed night.

Saturday 9/17

I felt “out of it” so to speak in terms of my readiness to run this morning. Taking a few days off to deal with a busy schedule made it tough to get back into the groove.

Tomorrow is the Darien 10K Race at 1PM. Truthfully, I don’t feel nearly as prepared as I would have liked. Again, the weather is hot today in the low 80’s with high humidity. I am very much hoping that the humidity will disappear by tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise, it will be an unpleasant experience.

So I guess I am going to have to set a goal time. I’ve not run a race in while. Has it been as far back as the ½ marathon at the end of June? Last year’s time was 43:00 or a 6:56 pace. I’m not feeling that in shape.
GOAL: 45 minutes – 7:15 pace