Liftoff

AM: 23 miles, about 2/3 with a good group of 9 people. I really struggled with overheating today. We had friends over yesterday, and I did pretty good eating-wise for a pool party. Mostly pasta, a couple chips, one beer. I still felt off this morning. I would get rolling for awhile then I'd start overheating. I went through that cycle about 4 times.

My goal was to run the last 5 miles at target MP. I made it through 2, then blew up and staggered home. A little frustrated - with the heat I feel like every aspect of pre-run and recovery has to be managed perfectly, and perfection is not my strong suit. 7:05 avg pace today.

PM: 2 much more relaxed miles running with Elise while she rode her bike.

10 miles in Whedon Island Preserve. There are miles of boardwalk and actual trails running through mangroves, palms and pines back there. Unique place in Pinellas County. Sawgrass Lake is a miniature version, but before you go a quarter mile you are either running up against the 275 Interstate, or back to the water where the shots from a gun range constantly echo across the water.

AM: 4 miles.

PM: 10 miles at track. The workout was an ascending & descending ladder from 100s to 400s. I'm planning something separate tomorrow morning, so I just ran with the group as a rabbit. I ran a steady pace through the recoveries to get ahead of everyone, then I'd get caught on the fast sections. I really like sessions like this where I'm not concerned with my own splits, and helping my teammates through a workout is gratifying. If I ran like this all summer I'd probably be a lot less stressed.

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.