As of today, I’m on it, choo choo!  I celebrated my 49th birthday on the pavement this morning with 7 well-deserved recovery miles, thanks to a weekend of strong, satisfying runs capping a 66-mile week (and this one had a rest day in there, too).

As mentioned, I switched Tempo days from Friday to Saturday in favor of better temps.  Though I’ve made that Fri/Sat switch 3 times this cycle, I’m never truly pleased about it because it means Sunday’s run will be on tired legs.  Add to that my LRs are in the trail system for hillier terrain, it’s a double-challenge, but I’ll take that over a tempo in humid soup any day, so the switch was made.

Originally scheduled as an 11, I changed it to 9 since those extra 2 warmup/cooldown miles wouldn’t win me anything, so: 2 miles warmup, 6@half pace, 1 mile home. It went swell, I wore my heart rate monitor and the numbers were as they should be.  Pace-wise, I averaged one second over my projected goal pace which bodes well since race morning is likely to be 10-15 degrees cooler.

Later that afternoon, I went to a BBQ where I ate and drank like a happy pig, knowing I had 17 miles the next morning.  It’s good to have an occasional piggy day when you’re dieting anyway, though I may have mowed down a group of small children when the cakes were served, I can’t exactly recall, it’s all one big sugary blur.

Yesterday before the run, I wondered how it would go since it was a 50-50 set of circumstances.  It could go great because I’d carb-loaded at the BBQ with a wide assortment of bean dishes (strangely, no farting…stranger still that I feel the need to report that fact) but on the other hand, I’d had enough wine that it could be one of those leaden-legged deals.

The weather was wonderful – low 60s to start – so I wore a singlet for the first time since May. My initial miles were slow, as they have been all summer (worth a discussion on another post, it’s been a dramatic change) but each mile clicked by a little faster and when I got in the trail, I started feeling more energized.  On the return, I was doing low 8:00s and my last mile was 7:50, an unexpected surprise considering the previous day’s tempo and booze-a-rama.

Coming Up
This next week brings only one major workout (wow, winding down for real!): 3 x 2.5mi @ HP w/3 min. recoveries. Very happy to be doing one more race pace workout…good for the mind as well as the body.

On Wednesday I’ll fill you in on my continued travels down to race weight, the latest numbers and observations.  In the meantime, UPS will be delivering my second pair of Kinvaras tomorrow, blue ones with white soles.  Woohoo!  Not that I don’t love my current pair despite their screaming hot pink soles, but if I wear anything with pink in it, I’m convinced it looks as though I spent serious closet time putting together the perfect ensemble.

Since I’m way too cool for that shit, I’ve been occasionally wearing older crappier shoes to keep from looking like I’m trying to be the Queen of Pink…deliberate insouciance at the risk of tendonitis or some other shoe-related running injury.  Because birthdays may come and go, but immaturity is forever.

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