WEEKLY SUMMARY (JUNE 17-23): 63 MILES (94% at E/L and 6% at 8k paces)
  Sunday: 2E, 4-mile race in 24:08, 2E
  Monday: 8.5 miles at 7:37/mi.
  Tuesday: 12 miles at 7:25/mi.
  Wednesday: 9 miles at 7:46/mi. plus 4 hill sprints
  Thursday: 9 miles at 7:28/mi. on a treadmill (PM)
  Friday: 6 miles at 8:08/mi.
  Saturday: 10.5 miles at 7:38/mi.

Pretty boring running week mainly because of a heat wave, but I managed to continue increasing volume a bit. It was still cool the first couple days of the week, and conditions were good for the Dash4Dad race on Sunday. It annoys me when a race billed as mostly flat turns out to be quite hilly and in fact not flat at any point on the course. But I went into it with a relaxed attitude and ended up enjoying the hilly course along with the general atmosphere and competition from a small group of guys right around my ability level. Running down a steep hill near the end (which we had run up on the way out) trashed my quads, though, and I was feeling that for the next couple days. So I decided against doing a tempo run on Tuesday before things really heated up, which would have been pushing it anyway. Instead I did a medium-long run in which I dropped the pace below 7:15 for the last four miles. The temperature and humidity were already rising on Tuesday, but by Wednesday we were in the midst of our first full-blown DC heat wave of the summer, with highs near 100, lows around 80, and dew points in the low-70's. I wasn't acclimated to that yet after the cooler than average weather we've been having here lately, and my easy run on Wednesday was a struggle even at a slower pace. Thursday would have been no different, but my son kept us up for much of Wednesday night with a fever, so I didn't manage to get up early on Thursday morning to run. Luckily, it turns out that the fitness center on campus is open weekday evenings this summer (unlike in the past, when it has been closed all summer). So I ran on one of their treadmills on Thursday evening, which is only marginally less unpleasant than running outside during a heat wave. Having run on Thursday evening, though, and not being accustomed to doubles, on Friday morning I could handle only a very slow and shorter run, which is why I barely missed my mileage target for the week. The weather started improving a bit today (Saturday), so I ran slightly further than my usual easy run but not enough to reach 65 miles for the week. I wanted to save my strength for a tempo run tomorrow. We're supposedly in for some nice weather again next week starting on Tuesday, so in addition to tomorrow's tempo I hope to get in another negative-split long run next week before a 5k race on Saturday, by which time it looks like the heat may be back. I'll aim for mileage in the mid-60's next week and then take a recovery week the following week.