C5W6D7 - 6.5mi Outdoors 1.5mi Treadmill

When my alarm went off at 4:50am I drank a 5 hour energy and hit snooze. I woke up 4 hours later and decided to run 9 miles in the heat. I got in bed before 10pm last night so I could run before the sunrise and beat the heat. The treadmills at the gym will only let you program them for 60 mins. I think mentally the treadmill is harder on long distances and I prefer to do less than 30 minutes on them.

I started my run at 9:30am and it was 84 degrees with a nice breeze and no clouds. I began a little slower than a 10 min pace for 2 miles. I picked up the speed for the next 0.75 mi then the heat got to me. I pushed myself up the hill to the square then walked for a bit. I decided to run to the convenience store and get a Gatorade. I got the the Mid-Way Mart at 3.25 mi and paused my Garmin watch.

Being in the A/C felt nice and I cooled off. I looked around for a snack but nothing looked very healthy. I went back outside and started back on my run moving at a sub 10min pace for 0.5mi. I got back on the trail determined to do at least a 10k outdoors and finish my run on the treadmill since I started from my gym parking lot. I kept a good pace for another 0.75 mi then walked for a little big. There was a big hill ahead with a long downhill afterward so I decided to push some more and ended up going 1.15mi then took my last walk break. I was at the big hill on Spencer road and I had less than a mile back to the gym and half a mile to a 10k. I gave it everything I had only getting up to a 9 min pace but I just kept going finishing 6.5mi in 1:07:29.

I walked straight into the gym, refilled my water bottle, and got on a treadmill. I started out at 6.5mph thinking I had 1.5mi to go but soon remembered I needed 2.5mi to reach 9 miles. I got discouraged and slowed down. I decided due to sleeping in 8 miles was good enough as I would put me at the same mileage as last week. I have two long run left before I start my training program. I ended up doing 1.5 miles in 14:46. That makes a combined total of 8 miles in 1:22:15

This coming Saturday morning I will attempt 9 miles and I hope to get in 10 miles the first weekend in August. We will be visiting San Marcos so there will be lots of very big hills. I did 10.25mi there when I visited Easter weekend.