W-W-W-Wilke!! (The Mountain Wins Again)

This morning, after I was guilty of staying up way too late reading a pretty fun mystery novel ("Tell No One" by Harlan Coben), I was realllllllyyyy tired as I drove down to RunTex to meet Alex for our warmup to Wilke. The heat and humidity are here with a vengeance, which didn't help matters much either. Oh, well. After a fairly serious internal debate over whether I'd just turn around and go back home, I climbed out of the truck and met up with Alex. We started at 5:45 am so that we could do the longer warmup/cooldown run to and from RunTex instead of the shorter version from the park near Wilke. It's about 2.7 miles from RunTex, and only 1.3 or 1.4 from the park. Since the Wilke repeats are so short (but very intense, as previously noted), it's a short mileage day if you start at the park.

Our warmup run was quite comfortable, and once we passed near the park, we gathered up a couple of the Gazelles parked there, including Gretchen and Joseph. As usual, the rolling hills leading to Wilke were just the appetizer for the workout. My legs were feeling just fine, but I could tell my body was seriously off today. We waited a while at the base of the hill for everyone to gather, and then did our drills in the dark pre-dawn conditions. I struggled through the drills, which was alarming, but I guess I'm entitled to a bad day once in a while.

After meeting up with Gilbert, the fairly small band of Gazelles (I'd guess 15) took a final drink of Powerade (a nice blend of orange flavors today, good and strong :) ), and then we were off. By the way, this is normal for Wilke. Lots of people find reasons to miss Wilke. He prescribed a maximum of 7 repeats, with a minimum of 3, owing to the conditions. I figured I'd try for 3 and see how I felt. I did them a little easier, I thought, than normal, but it turns out my pace was about what it usually is on this workout. I ran up with Gretchen on a couple, but then I was toast after just 3 repeats. I was suffering, and I decided that discretion was in order. I went down and got more Powerade, and poured some cold water over my head, and was partially refreshed. After that, I went up the hill halfway and did the 2 backwards running repeats, which weren't too bad today (I suppose that's because I did fewer Wilke repeats than normal). Last, I did the 3 short uphill striders at the top of the hill, and those were fun as usual, since they were so short (maybe 30 meters).

I felt bad about being off my game, but that feeling soon passed. I rested a bit, dripping with sweat, and felt a lot better once Alex and the gang were through. I headed back with Amy and Alex, and we commiserated about this particular workout in the Gazelles repertoire as we cruised back to the park, where Amy finished her day. Alex taught us a new and useful word on the run back, as well, which I'll just keep among the three of us. Let's just say that he demonstrated the proper usage of this word after a car passed us very closely, honking. Alex and I continued on, and I must admit that I felt pretty good once we got back to RunTex. Alex, of course, loved the Wilke day, and did the maximum number of repeats. It's good to see him so happy about running again.

We stretched for a bit and had our post-run Endurox, and saw Kelly there at RunTex. She's back after a summer in Chicago (summer internship), and it was good to see her back in Texas.

For the day, 7.2 miles, and a valuable lesson learned about the importance of a good night's rest during more serious training. I'll make sure and point towards the next Wilke workout and strive to redeem myself, for my own internal reasons. I guess it was a bad day at the running office, but I'll learn from it.