Hot - Humid repeat until September

With nightly lows of 83 degrees and daily highs of 103 degrees since June, running has been a chore not a joy. I've gradually reduced my running from the 80 miles per week I was running in June to 50-55 miles per week currently. With the introduction of hills and speed work, the afternoon workouts have taken 2 days recovery and morning workouts leave me wasted for the rest of the day. This Saturday we had one of our Soul Buster workouts. 2 mile warm up, 3 miles at marathon pace (7:15), 1/2 mile recovery, 3 miles at half marathon pace (7:00), 1/2 mile recovery, repeat with a final 3 miles at MGP then cool down. I've not had much success this summer hitting paces and wasn't sure how this workout would go. At the last minute, I decided to ditch most of the nutrition/hydration efforts I've worked on this summer (thanks Kent) and go with what has worked for me for 2 years. I drank a highly concentrated Carbo Pro mix prior to the run and drank only 1oz of water every 3.5 miles of the workout. I had a GREAT workout. I averaged a 7:04 pace for the MGP sections (3:05:16 marathon) and 6:43 pace for the half marathon sections (1:28:03 1/2 marathon). I did dry heave for a minute or so at the final marker and the subsequent tender abs caused me to cut the cool down miles short. Total workout was 20.5 miles instead of the 23 I'd planned.

Unfortunately, the next 3-4 weeks will be ruled by the real world. I have to be in Fort Worth tomorrow to evaluate the equipment still in place for salvage. We have a trial date in Fort Worth for next Monday that could last 3-5 days. My daughter Anne is getting married sometime in the next 2 months. Eileen starts 2nd grade. We are preparing the house for going on the market by November. Construction will start for real at Star. I'm getting tired just thinking about it.