Week 6, Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!

First off, a few more anonymous Hawaii pics:

My new indestructible camera is verifiably waterproof! I was scared to dunk it, but it didn't break! Here I am ducking under a wave at Three Tables. Sadly, we didn't go snorkeling for some really great underwater photos. Next time...

Driving out to the North Shore. Pineapple fields!

Ali'i Beach. That umbrella was the best $10 ever spent. I am very anti-tanning nowadays (vs. the sun worshipping of my teens) so loved getting out of the sun. BTW, I LOVE the clouds in Hawaii. Fluffy, low, and white.

On to the running:

Sunday: 6.14 miles including 6x 1000m @ 8:39, 8:45, 8:36, 8:35, 8:34, 8:38 pace (goal 8:40); Not an easy run and I let myself walk the recoveries what with the Hawaii heat/humidity. But I am pretty pleased with the end results.

Monday: 4 miles @ 10:26 pace; My body was definitely tired from yesterday's run.

Tuesday: 6 miles including 35 min (3.97 mi) @ 8:49 pace; I had to work for this one but am really happy I was able to maintain a sub-goal pace. I find it interesting how much harder these 4 miles were today vs. the 6 miles I ran at a 8:54 pace last week. I felt loads better during the 6 at a pretty equivalent pace. I'm not sure if it was just a really on-day vs. an off-day or more of a mental perception. I go into these timed tempo runs thinking I have to run "fast" the whole time, vs. the goal-pace pick-up runs I feel like I just have to push the pace a bit to get down to goal-zone.

Friday: 3 miles @ 10:14 pace; First run back in SF! This was supposed to be a 12 miler but I jumped ship at 3 miles. I started running at 10:30 am. I didn't realize that SF is having a "heat wave" and it was already pretty warm and sunny. Maybe my week+ worth of Hawaii running would help me out? Umm... Not so much. It wasn't THAT hot, but I was definitely baking. I even saw three guys running without shirts which rarely happens in SF. I think 3 is 200% more shirtless runners than I've seen the whole 2 years running here. So yeah, I wimped out and decided I'd rather wake up before sunrise tomorrow and get the miles in before the heat and work. So all that worry about being a walking, sweaty, blubbering mess in Hawaii?? Not so much. I saved all that for my supposedly cool SF.

The above is a snippet from weather.com today which states: "Excessive heat outlook for the San Francisco Bay Area...for Sunday through Wednesday." Wah? It is going to get HOTTER?? Well, the good news is that if things turn warm in San Jose I'll be better prepared. I even told my parents I wish my trip had been a week later so that I would be more heat acclimated in case race day was warm. Guess I'm getting my wish. I now also feel guilty for knocking Hawaii's heat. Karma sucks.