Tropical Grove Run

After doing the yard maintenance cross-training thing yesterday, complete with moderate dehydration, I joined the herd this morning for a long run on the Grove loop. It was warm and humid as usual, but today, the sun came out, and before the run was over, we were in the low 80's. It wasn't fun. But, I get ahead of myself...

Gilbert told us that this week was intended to be a recovery long run, so no fast finish was ordered up by Coach. I mainly wanted to do the full 13.5 mile route, at a nice solid pace, with a medium fast finish as an option. Most of my normal gang ran yesterday for a variety of travel or other logistical reasons, so today, once the initial shuffle was over, I ran with Rachel, Richard, Thon and Mike. The first 4.2 miles or so were generally trending up hill along Riverside, and we found Bernard with the rolling Powerade/water stop right at ACC on Grove. Rachel had us get through the water stop efficiently, and after a quick GU and a couple of cups of Powerade and water, it was time to get moving again. I figured that I'd drink more than usual today, owing to the heat, just to keep the machine working smoothly.

The journey through the quiet park at the end of Grove was nice as usual, and the conversation covered the standard widely disparate topics. Up and over Longhorn Dam, and we stopped the second time at Holly Power Plant for another quick sip of water. Off again, and soon enough, we found Gilbert at I-35 with the powerade/water. I took my second GU there, just because, and again grabbed a bunch of Powerade and water. I was feeling a little tired in the legs, and generally not as sharp as usual, but I wasn't wobbling or anything. On we went. Mike started pulling away from Thon, Rachel and me after that water stop, and ended up finishing ahead of us on the day. Richard cut the run a little short, still feeling the effects of his post-dental work medications. That was probably smart on his part. Another quick sip of water at the warm water fountains at Lamar, and we continued on.

It was that sort of odd place. I felt good enough to continue, knowing that I would have 3.5 miles to finish, but just bad enough that the thought of cutting it short by crossing Town Lake right there really appealed to me. Oh, well. Peer pressure kept me going. The sun was baking us by now, but in a mile and a half, we reached Mopac, for some nice cold water. That was really a life saver, and I also took advantage of the outdoor shower to douse my head with cool water.

Sort of revived, the three of us continued on, and although we didn't speed up, we didn't crash and slow down, either. Thon dropped back with a mile to go, and Rachel and I dragged each other mentally to the finish line. This was just one of those runs that saps you, with the heat getting to me for the first time, really, since the Capitol 10,000. Nonetheless, we completed our assignment in more or less adequate fashion. No fast finish, but it was decent running today.

The splits: 9:50, 9:11, 9:03, 8:53, 0.4 miles at 8:36/mile pace (Powerade/GU stop), then 8:51, 8:54, and .73 miles at 9:01/mile pace (water stop - quick), then 9:01 and .34 miles at 8:46/mile (Powerade/GU stop), 9:00 and .7 miles at 8:57/mile pace (quick water stop), 8:51, and 0.2 miles at 8:58/mile, finishing with 9:12, 8:55, and 0.2 miles at 8:14/mile (woo-wee, some fast finish!). Total run was 13.5 miles at 9:01/mile average running pace. With all the water stop time, it drifted to 9:30/mile pace. Given the conditions, I'll take this one.

I continued to drink plenty of water afterwards, and tried to recharge a bit. A friend of mine from high school days appeared as we finished, and we had a nice visit. He had to finish up his run, and I had stretching to do, so after 5-10 minutes that break was over. Now, I might have hallucinated that visit, but I'm pretty sure I saw Mark this morning. :-) I went over to do strides, and I guess I was moving so poorly, it caught Gilbert's attention. He told me that if I couldn't do the strides at more or less normal to quick running pace, that I wasn't helping myself, so he shut my striding down for the day. Thus, only 2 striders, and I never really felt all that great doing them today. Oh, well.

Stretching was lively, and except for some dizziness getting up off the stretching mat, it was very therapeutic. Conversations after stretching were amusing, as I caught up on some of the sights that others saw on the trail today. I won't say any more than I'm glad I missed this one. :-)

I wished Frank a happy vacation and cruise, and headed home to catch the finish of the Tour de France. Floyd Landis completed his improbable race, and has the maillot jaune all but locked up for the ceremonial finishing stage into Paris. Awesome!

For the week, 28 miles. Now, you must excuse me, for I must continue my aggressive hydration therapy for the rest of the evening. I think I'm still low about a quart. :-)