Liftoff

AM: 6.5 miles. This morning I went to another club's track workout at University of Tampa, and yes, I did feel like Daniel Larusso training at the Cobra Kai dojo.

Besides just shaking things up, one of the main draws was running with Jon Noland, who has been blowing me out of the water every time we race.

His group does similar intervals to ours, with one interesting difference: the workouts are announced that morning. Everyone runs the same distances, but there are many pace levels. This morning the workout was 1200-1600-1200-800, with passive rest of 3:00, 4:00, 3:00.

Jon's assignment (and mine by proxy) was 3:39, 4:56, 3:39, 2:22. I doubted I could hang with that, but the reason I broke up my routine and drove early to Tampa was to get out of my comfort zone, so I went for it.

Amazingly, I came pretty close, and today was my best track workout in a long time. I was chasing Jon the whole way, and that was a huge help. As was running in the dawn as opposed to the crushing sun/heat of 5pm. Splits were: 3:41.3, 4:56.0, 3:39.9, 2:21.5.

A small victory in training today, but I'll take it. Next up is a tough long run (20 miles @ 95% of MP) - I'll be doing it in Jacksonville, so I'm hoping the weather will be ever-so-slightly cooler.

PM: 2.5 miles shakeout.

AM: 10 miles.

PM: 6 miles, return to Whedon Island.

AM: 8 miles.

AM: 22.5 miles. In Jacksonville Beach for the 4th, and luckily had significantly cooler/less humid weather than what we've been seeing in Tampa Bay lately.

Took the opportunity to do 20 miles @ 95% of MP, my target was 6:13 avg pace. Done in 2:04:13, just a bit under target. Felt strong.

PM: 2.5 miles shakeout.

AM: 10 easy miles on the beach. Good since I was feeling yesterday's run.

One of the maddening frustrations of running, or engaging challenges, depending on your mood, is marshalling all the aspects of running leading into a goal race.

Slowing, patiently building a strength foundation, and getting right with your speed and race pace are hard by themselves. Merging those threads together so they support and complement each other only happens for me once or twice a  year if I'm lucky, and the window does not stay open long.

I'm grateful I still have a couple months of training, even if the road does look long, hot and dusty from here. Quite a bit has gone right, and some hasn't, but I'm still a ways from where I need to be.

AM: 10 miles. A beautiful morning outside, Elise rode with me for the last 4.

PM: 6 miles.

We had an epic drive back from Jacksonville to St. Petersburg yesterday afternoon. It's about a 4 hour drive. Half an hour in, the AC stopped working and the engine temperature quickly pegged out. The coolant tank was emtpy - maybe a leak - but really we had no choice but to get home and deal with it from there.

To keep the engine from exploding, we had to drive the remaining 3.5 hours with the heat all the way up. As you might imagine, driving across Florida in July with the heat blasting is not a good time. Windows rolled down to avoid suffocating, then we drove through a lighting storm and pouring rain.

Today we found out there is a crack in the engine block. On the positive side, this apparently afflicts Civics bought around 2006 and the engine will be replaced for free.

AM: 5 miles. Although I wasn't happy with how I ran my last 5k, in retrospect I realized it was  a good thing to put some fast, shorter races into the middle of my marathon training. Along those lines, I decided to jump into a local track series. I missed the 1600, but they're hosting a 3200 this Saturday evening, and a 5000 in August.

PM: 12 miles at track. I did my own thing tonight, one of my core marathon workouts.

6x1 mile with 400 jog recovery, target was 5:16s. Splits:

1. 5:15.2
2. 5:15.3
3. 5:15:5
4. 5:16.7
5. 5:16.1
6. 5:16.4

We had a nice cloud cover which really helped. The funny thing about this workout is the first repeat feels totally manageable, and by #6 you feel like you are sprinting in molasses.

AM: 6 slow, sore miles.

PM: 8 miles with Quint, off the beaten path. Took the Pinellas Trail past Tropicana Field into South St. Pete, industrial decay.

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 9 miles with Quint and Mike.

AM: 5 with strides, track race tonight.

PM: 5 miles, including a 3200 at the University of Tampa.

This was a lowkey event, run in a single heat. The closest I've run to this distance was the 2 mile in high school, and my intention was just to lock in with fast runners and knock out two miles (well, 3200) as quickly as possible.

My training partner Lee gave me another talking to on Tuesday about not racing against the clock, sticking with the competition, etc. I promised him this was a good race to implement that approach, and I did my best to stick to it.

I expected the race to go out fast, but after 200 meters the pace felt fairly conservative. So on the backstrech I took the lead and led the group for the next 300 meters or so. The first lap passed in 1:11-1:12, and shortly after that the reality settled on me that I couldn't hang with that and expect to finish in one piece. The train passed me by over the next 400, and I slowed a second or so per mile.

Normally I'm pretty good about maintaining my pace, but in the humidity it's very hard to run an aggressive pace and stick with it. I don't think starting hard had any seriously negative impact, but I don't think it helped massively either. I felt a tangible wall, right around 5:00 pace. I ran mostly 75 second 400s, and felt OK, but my training right now is not optimized for sustaining paces much faster than that.

All in all though, this was a positive race. I ran a full week of mileage and hung around better than I did in my last 5k. I came through 1600 in 4:56, and at that point I focused on keeping my time under 10 minutes. I hit the 7th lap in 8:46, and was able to close in 71-72.

The most important thing for tonight was to adjust myself to running much faster than 5:55 pace. My family came out to cheer, and my older daughter ran 800 meters of the cooldown with me. My friends made a big deal of that, and that was something I could really be proud of.

AM: 20 miles, 7:23 avg pace. I felt deeply tired and rather sore for most of this run. If not for the excellent company, I would have run 2 miles at 9:23 avg.

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Quint.

After really dragging yesterday, I felt surprisingly good on both runs today. My main workout for the week will be a long run integrating 4/3/2/1 miles starting at MP on Friday.

My track group is running 800s tomorrow. I was initally going to pass on that workout, but assuming I feel good again tomorrow I think I can handle that + Friday.

AM: 4 miles with strides, then a dentist appt. I just need someone to punch me in the gut for the morning to be complete.

PM: 10 miles at track. Workout: 3 X 800 WITH 200 REST, 2 SETS WITH 400 REST BETWEEN SETS.

Splits:

1. 2:31.6
2. 2:30.8
3. 2:29.2
4. 2:28.9
5. 2:30.0
6. 2:28.3

Good-sized group tonight. Two less reps than normal, saving up for Friday. Moderate cloud cover, temp low 80s which helped. Dew point around 80 did not.

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 8 miles at lunch.

A couple days ago, my younger daughter asked me who I love most. I remember asking my mother the same question. She told me "I love you all equally," and that was not a satisfying answer.

I tried to explain that I love her and her sister in different ways, but this also fell short. It sounds like apples and oranges, and you have a preference. I like oranges, but they're messy. You can always chomp an apple.

I wanted to say it's more like colors, but with kids, that's the same thing. It's different for adults though. If someone asks me now, I'll say "green," as a shortcut- a carryover from childhood. I like blue, yellow, orange and red just as much.

After years of living closely with someone, it's kind of like attaching memories to many tones of a color. Elise is gentle, competitive, sensitive, focused. Anna is daring, individualistic, fun-loving, witty.

It's difficult to put into words how you love someone.

AM: 8 miles. Overslept, I love that. Incredible summer views outside- massive rain clouds mixed with blue sky, wide rainbow.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 20 miles. Day of 4-3-2-1.

Woke up to a steady downpour. I'm tied up this weekend, so there wasn't really an option to reschedule. Also, Mike and Christina were planning to jump in for some (Christina) or all (Mike) of the workout, so I headed downtown.

In St. Pete, a lot of rain tends to flood the streets pretty quickly, and this happened today. I parked at my old house and checked in with the gang - Christina opted to start at the Y indoors. I found out hours later that Mike was caught in a flooded street and needed a tow. Now that's dedication to a workout...

I warmed up for 6.5 miles, by which time the rain had let up and I was ready to get this thing moving. Plan (props & thanks to JasonD for the suggestion and pacing advice) was to start at target MP and drop 10 seconds per section.

The workout itself went well, even if the day around it was a wet mess. Splits were:

4 miles: 23:35 (5:53, 5:55, 5:54, 5:53)
3 miles: 17:12 (5:46, 5:44, 5:42)
2 miles: 11:03 (5:33, 5:30)
1 mile: 5:18

I did .5 mile easy jog between sets. I think this is an excellent workout 8-10 weeks out from a marathon since you get to experience several pace ranges, mostly faster than MP, and all in the context of a long run.
 

AM: 4 miles. My wife is out of town this weekend, so in exchange for the promise of cinnamon crunch bagels and hot chocolate, my girls got in the stroller for a few miles.

Rain continued through midday. I felt depression settling in, so I decided to get serious about arranging furniture in our new house. Yes, we've been here for a month and a half.

I made some progress until I settled on moving a massive china cabinent we inherited from the previous owners. I decided it should go on the other side of the kitchen eating area, a 90 degree turn and about 30 feet. I was able to push it, until I smashed into a ceiling beam.

To get under the beam, I unfastened the hutch, then pushed it into onto a field of couch cushions. Moved both sections, then guided by the ancient instincts which created Stonehenge and the Moai, I raised the hutch on chairs one side at a time. I enlisted Elise to hand me books to incrementally get each side higher, until I could finally raise the damn thing onto the cabinet.

This process took about two hours.

Some people misunderstand me, believing that I run because I find deep meaning in the relative accomplishments or exercise. I choose running because home improvement is boring.

17 miles, 7:32 avg.

Like my wife & myself, my friends Quint and Christina have two kids and run a lot.

When Christina got back from the group long run, she graciously took on my kids so Quint and I could run together. We hit a new path just opened- you can now run from Tierra Verde to the Miesner Bridge, which is pretty cool. We didn't get started until 9:30, and the heat was pretty bad until more rain moved in.

As for Christina, she's a tough cookie - waking up at 5 AM to get her long run in, then keeping four kids, all 6 and under, occupied for two hours.

AM: 8 miles. I took the day off work so I could shuttle the kids to their various appointments. After I dropped them off in the morning, I drove to the Pinellas Bayway for bridge repeats. The Master Plan called for more quality than I could muster this morning, but I was OK with that. Easy/moderate pace.

PM: 4 mile fartlek in 26:10 while the kids were at swimming.

AM: 6 miles. Heading to track tonight to get some miles in, but no workout. Next up is 4 or 5 miles at HMP on Thurs.

PM: 11 miles, mostly circling the track while everyone else ran hard.

AM: 9 miles.

PM: 6 miles.

AM: 10 miles, with 5 mile tempo in 27:20. Target pace was sub 5:30, averaged 5:28. I was nervous about this workout for days. So pulling it off was very satisfying. I focused on taking small, quick steps and being as economical as possible, which felt necessary in the stifling conditions. Splits:

1. 5:33
2. 5:27
3. 5:30
4. 5:26
5. 5:24

PM: 9 miles at lunch with Mike and Quint.

AM: 12 miles. Met Scott and Christina at Northshore, mostly easy with 8x30 second pickups late in the run.

PM: 4 miles. Steady rain all morning as Mike, Quint and I did our standard coordination of starting location and time for the lunch run. As the hour drew near, we had to reassess due to high lightning activity.

Mike wisely chose to stay indoors. Quint and I decided to wait a bit - he wanted to stay in his car. He was shy about popping into my office wearing running clothes, but I managed to convey how truly low the bar is set for social norms in a small office of computer programmers.

After about twenty minutes we headed out into gentle rain. Even though we didn't see much lightning, I was on edge and insisted we not head up the trail so we could beat a hasty retreat if the storm worsened. On our second loop around the park, a huge, multi-forked spear of storm rage exploded over the beach, and we turned around and ran hard back to my office.

Afterwards, I felt a little bad about both my runs today. My legs are sore from this morning - it would have been smarter to go 8 miles max, and go alone so that I could slog 8:30+ pace. And the afternoon run really went against my instincts.

It looks like we are in for constant rain and lightning storms over the next week. For now, I'm looking forward to staying home tonight, picking up something warm to eat and cold to drink.

AM: 10 miles. The deluge continues. When I awoke it was actually not raining, so I threw the kids in the jogging stroller and got three miles before the thunder started. I considered heading back out solo, but I guess I learned my lesson from yesterday and resigned myself to the first treadmill run of the summer. I ran on the mill a lot in 2010 and 2011, and I remember I could really go to my happy place. I guess it's like anything - you need to practice - because today those seven miles were a grind.

Hoping to get in a PM run, but time may be scarce. An old friend from San Francisco is visiting, and we'll be seeing him later today. I didn't run much in those days, although he was a runner and would sometimes drag me out to the Marina with him. It's a nice route, but I didn't enjoy it much since I was out of shape and he always wanted to run sub-8 minute miles.

We did Bay to Breakers together a few times. That is still my favorite race in the world. I tried to figure out what times I ran, but apparently I never actually ran it with a bib. People usually associate costumes, intoxication and nudity with that race, which are certainly in effect. My favorite part is the start though. You wait in a huge crowd, and shortly before the gun, everyone starts throwing tortillas in the air like frisbees. It's a really bizarre sight. I have no idea where that tradition came from.

PM: 3 miles with Elise on her bike.

AM: 22 miles. The first of three related long workouts. All are 22 miles with 1 warmup/1 cooldown. For this one, the first 14 miles were MP + 1:00, final 6 miles at MP, targeting 6:55/5:55 averages.

The second version will be 12/8, final one 10/10.

I had Mike with me almost the entire time which really helped. Christina joined us for miles 6-14, during which our pace only dropped.

14 miles in 1:36:00 (6:51 avg), 6 miles in 35:18 (5:53 avg).

AM: 7 miles.

PM: 8 miles with Quint and Mike.

AM: 7.5 miles.

PM: 11 miles. Yesterday I was beat up, today I felt almost OK to go for it at track. I had already resolved to wait until Thursday for my next hard workout, and I stuck to it.

Our group's scheduled workout was a wave tempo. The variant we do is pretty close to what I've seen called an LT wave run - in our case we alternate MP and 10k pace every 1/2 mile. Distance is for 4-6 miles.

Lee and I opted to help pace Quint, who was targeting about 3:15 / 2:57 for his half mile splits. We did 4 miles together, and hit the splits he was looking for. Mike rolled by into his 5th mile and I ran the last 3/4 of a mile with him. He closed the workout down with a 2:36 1/2 mile split, very impressive.

There was another group alternating 4:00 / 3:30. I jumped in with them for two miles to wrap up.

I had a lot of fun today. Training is going well at the moment, but I will certainly go through valleys and burnout again. At times it's really good for me to step away from my personal goals and help other people. I don't think I have the temperament to be a coach, but maybe some day I could just help pace friends through workouts and races. Seeing people work hard, especially when they succeed, is an awesome feeling.

Anyway, I'm planning on doing this workout Thursday AM.

AM: 8.5 miles.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Mike and Quint. Things actually started out dry, but once again we finished with a lightning storm rolling by.

AM: 8 miles, workout fail. Woke up exhausted, went through the motions of getting ready, did my warmup. I struggled through the file half-mile at MP and pulled the plug.

Always a bummer when that happens, but I've been on for awhile so I'm not too worried.

PM: Absolutely exhausted, no running.

Lunch: 8.5 miles with Mike, awesome conversation. I almost walked into my office without my shirt I was so wound up, had to run back to the parking garage.

So the month ended with a whimper, but I'm almost OK with that. I will probably never be totally good with less than optimal training.

I think the default understanding (at least mine) is that training progresses based on the way you mix up the variables (number of runs, total mileage, workouts, pace, etc). And it surely does.

But at the same time, I do believe it's also like riding a wave. There are times you will dial in the optimal ingredients and end up smashed on the ocean floor, and there are the opposites where I've eaten my own pizza and drank the beer and ran great the next day. It just doesn't always add up or conform.

That's not all to say there aren't good approaches to follow - there are - and I'm trying to set myself up as best I can for TCM. I do think it's helpful to keep that sine wave in mind, though - so one (me) doesn't freak out when a workout goes off the rails.