Liftoff

AM: 18 miles running the Clearwater Bridge Loop with Mike, Quint and Cory. It was a good time, although I was a little tired and sore. I got 6 bridge ascents with a couple of them being good quality.

8 miles with Quint at lunch. It was very hot, but noticeably less humid.

4 miles after work, feeling like Florida fall.

AM: 4 miles. After two nights of solid sleep and calmer mind, I'm feeling a whole lot better today. 800s at track tonight to sharpen up.

PM: 9 miles at track. I usually run 800s about 1.5 weeks out from a marathon as a sharpener. Mike was kind enough to make the drive and meet up.

My legs felt like lead on the warmup, and the early going in the workout was tough. I just do not have much top-end speed right now. I started falling off on the second and third repeat, but then made it over the hump and started running a bit more fluidly. By the end I felt at least some of the dust was blown off, a good feeling.

Workout was: 4 X 800 WITH 200 REST, 2 SETS WITH 400 REST BETWEEN SETS

Splits:

2:30.4
2:32.2
2:33.1
2:29.6

2:29.4
2:30.0
2:31.4
2:28.3

8 slow miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 6 miles.

PM: 3 miles at lunch.

AM: 9 miles, moderate fartlek. My legs feel like junk, sore left hip and hamstring. This is absolutely normal for the beginning of a taper for me, so right on track.

Probably because it's darker in the morning, I was almost hit three separate times while running. For good measure, someone tried to merge into me during the morning commute. Bring on the robot cars.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 7 miles, felt decent.