Wet Intervals and Dry Tempo Ride

Ten days ago, I hit the track for some 3x1600 intervals with 3:00 rest between. It was raining. And it was only going to get worse, so I headed out in the rain. I didn't do as long of a warm-up, and I didn't stand around as much before starting my first interval. I ran the first one and was concerned about the pooling water on the turns of the track (and how it was mainly getting my left foot soaked), so I ran #2 the other direction (clockwise) which I NEVER do. At the start of #3, it was POURING. My shoes were just clomping on the track because they were so heavy. Here's what I ran:

2:48.16 + 2:48.35 = 5:36.51
2:48.11 + 2:45.03 = 5:33.14
2:48.12 + 2:44.53 = 5:32.65

I was pleasantly surprised by that descend! After the first 2 being relatively close, I figured I'd crap out during #3, especially when it started absolutely pouring. So those weren't great times, but I'm OK with them based on the weather. (And it's funny that 4 of my 6 800s were within 0.24 sec!)

Soaked selfie back home.


NOT BLOOD! My orange laces bled all over my white socks.
Everything is soaked in this photo. Gross.

And then this past Thursday, my boys were at Grandma's for one last summer hurrah, so I went out on a 20 mile tempo bike ride. I had HOPED to get up and do some class work, and then take a break mid-morning to ride. But at 6:30, the Weather Channel app was saying it was going to be storming around 8:30, so I HOPPED OUT THE DOOR RIGHT AWAY!!

But it was still sunny when I finished around 8:30. After 9:00, I checked my weather app again, and it had really pushed back the chance and severity of storms:

Damn it, weather app! (And these amounted to nothing as well...)

I did pretty much the same route as I did at the end of July, but I went a bit harder from the start this time. I ended up 74 sec faster with an average of 21.0 mph vs 20.5 mph 4 weeks before.

Along the river, across the river on I35, and then an out-and-back on Big Rivers Trail.


Heart rate. The big "plateau" at 22:00 is crossing the river, and the big
spike at 45:00 is climbing that hill on Big Rivers from 494. Not a flat ride!


And then in my "cool down," I road up Ohio Hill (1-2, 2:21) and Ramsey Hill (3-4, 1:22)

It was a nice way to get 33+ miles in! Thanks for taking the boys for a few days, Grandma Monica!