Today was another scorcher, and in the spirit of a week moving the mileage up a bit I couldn’t help but resist pushing the tempo miles on this run out to 2.5 from the 2/week I’d been doing for some time. Perhaps not the best week to do it, given the increase in mileage; maybe not the best day to do it, given the heat; maybe not the best day of the week to do it, given the hot 10-miler on Sunday and the hotter 5 miles of hills yesterday. But what the heck.

Start Time: 5PM.
Distance: 4.5 miles.
Time: I think around 33 minutes or so, with splits of 7:45, 7 (2.5), 7:45.
Workout Structure: One easy mile, followed by two “tempo” miles, followed by an easy mile as a cool-down of sorts.
Route: I chose a different route for this run, given that the route into Boston gives a nice one-mile stretch between the B.U. and Harvard Bridges, but its not right to extend out to 1.5 miles. Instead I took the run the other direction, out of Boston, to exploit the underpass on the Eliot St. bridge. Started by doing my 5-minute warm-up walk towards Boston, then turned around and did the slow mile past the Anderson Bridge, then picked up the pace. I was at around 1.33 miles, or a bit more than the 1.25 I needed to turn around, by the time I got to the Arsenal Street Bridge and turned around, and finished the 2.5 tempo miles right before heading back into the wooded section that is just past the Eliot St. bridge.
Pre-Run: Had a bottle of Nuun-ized water, the usual amount of stretching, etc.
Notes: While running, particularly I think when it’s humid, I have been having some problems with the IT-band strap I have been wearing, namely that it slips down and usually either comes to rest right above my right kneecap where I doubt it is doing much good, or slips down even past that and threatens to end up around my ankles. I stopped a few times to address that today, but finally got fed up and removed it for the last slow mile. Not sure exactly how much I need this anymore, so it may be time to stop wearing it, or find something that works better.
Post-Run: Good round of stretching, foam rolling, and a shower!