Bret

AM - 5 miles very easy with Finn before church 

AM - a little over 5 miles this morning with Finn through the East Bluff neighborhood - so many deer out this morning in the fields and woods and neighborhoods. 

AM - 3 very easy miles - in which I did a walk/jog with Dan who is struggling with a hamstring injury - and the two dogs on the trail.  I needed a recovery effort - as yesterday evening I was feeeling some aches and inflammation in my upper back and traps and shoulders.   I may do a workout on the treadmill later if my schedule permits and I am feeling up to it. 
 

PM - treadmill tempo- 10 minWU and 3 miles at 7:40 pace.  HR was no higher than 143.  

AM - 5.5 very easy recovery miles with Finn through the North Valley/East Bluff neighborhood starting on the trail to avoid the traffic on Freemanville.  Really nice morning with lots of mist arising from the ponds and fields full of deer. 

AM - speed work on the track - 17 x 200 with full recovery.  Ran these very consistently in the 42-43 second range - with a few at 44 at the beginning and a couple right at 40 seconds in the latter half.   Finn ran with me, and seemed to do fine; though he headed to the exit after #17 when I probably would have maybe pushed to do a few more - but probably best to see how the body does in recovering from the two more intense sessions this week and not push too much. 

AM - 3 easy walk/run miles with Dan and the dogs on the trail. 

AM - 2 miles with Finn and then drove to the Forsyth greenway and did 13.   Very warm and quite humid.   Could have met Ben and Greg at Riverside but I knew they'd want to run sub 8's and that's too far to drive anyway.  Glad I did my own thing today because I really was not feeling it.  Legs were tired from two workouts this week and extra volume/mileage called for slower effort.  This ended up being hard in terms of my HR in the latter half of the run.  Saw Rodee going the opposite direction when I had about 4 miles left - had not seen him a quite some time - we chatted briefly.  Pleased to have gotten the miles in, but it was not pretty or easy.

AM - 3 miles on the treadmill in the afternoon - which was interrupted by a 5 min power outage.  Legs were very sore this morning and I did not feel well, so I did not run early as is my normal routine.  Felt better by the afternoon and the legs were not as bad. 

AM - very slow walk/run with Dan on the trail.   Finn is sick with something that is perhaps a stomach virus or worse.   

PM - 3 miles on the treadmill to get a few more miles in.   Finn is in fact very sick and had been with the Vet all day.   Things are looking a bit grim for him.  

AM - 2.5 miles easy with Dan to do a bit of a mental health run with him.  Brought Finn home last night from the vet, and will need to make some decisions if his condition continues to deteriorate.  They have him on antibiotics, and we are hopeful that perhaps his acute symptoms are as a result of a bacterial infection, but he also has a handful of other comorbidities that may or may not be the cause of his symptoms (in no particularl order, seizure disorder, heart murmur, kidney function deteriorating/declining, some type of mass seen in his abdomen on x-ray which may or may not be a tumor).  He is slightly better today - though I need to carry him up and down the stairs, because he is very weak and lethargic. :(

AM - track workout - 7 x 400 at 6:15-6:30 pace with a 200 rest.   

Finn passed away peacefully and naturally yesterday in our home, with me sitting next to him.   The little guy had a lot going on in the last year or so health-wise, but it was some type of bacterial infection that he contracted over the weekend that was just too much for him to overcome despite efforts with the vet and antibiotics.   We brought him home late Tuesday afternoon and he spent the night the next day very close to my side.  He was very weak and lethargic and I think he knew it was his time.   I was thankful that I was there with him in the end and that he felt at home, secure and at peace.

Finn was my very close running companion for the last 10 years.  He probably ran with me nearly every day that I was in-town with the exception of days when he was sick or injured.  Our routine in the mornings particularly for the last 5 years since I began working from home with the pandemic, was that he'd usually urge me to get up before my alarm - stroll in the backyard for a few minutes to let him do his business; then I would read some emails, read the paper and take my blood pressure, about which time, he'd come over to me and stare, or make some noise of impatience as if to say "well, it's time to go run, what are you waiting for?"  

From the first time I took him out for a test run as a pup, maybe at 6-9 months old, he just naturally took to it - running on leash always in front, always all business about the run.   Even if we met Dan or his dog Rosie after starting a run, Finn had very little interest in soicalizing when we were running; before and after of course he was excited and playful, but running was his thing.   He knew the routes we ran, he had his preferences, but he could also sense when I was going to turn even before I did it - and then post run we would spend time stretching in the exercise room in my basement.   He'd get in my way, purposefully positioning himself to have me scratch his head, or rub his shoulders before I would say, ok - go get your breakfast - I am getting in the shower.   

Over the last year I was particularly aware that our time was going to come to a close. He developed a seizure disorder, which the vet surmised was possibly a brain tumor since he did not have epilepsy as a young dog...They told us he may have a few months or at the most a year - and as it turns out we got right about a year's more time with him.  

His running was still a part of our routine even as he aged, and did not have the same youthful energy or endurance.  Whereas there were times when we'd easily go 10 miles together or even as many as 15 a few times, I was very careful not to take him longer than 6 miles or so on a daily basis over the last several months.   Indeed, on my Saturday long runs lately, I would get up early, and take him out for at least a mile or two, and then go meet the guys for a long run just so that Finn could get his exercise and not feel too left out or disappointed.   We shared a bond together with running that is something for which I will always feel blessed to have had.  

Last week we did a workout together at the track.  It was supposed to be 20 x 200 and I was not sure he'd be up for it, so I parked the truck close to the track in case I needed to bring him over to finish the workout as he watched from the truck, but in fact, he did the workout without a problem - running on the inside of the track on the grass as I ran in lane 1.   When I got to rep #16 I thought, that's probably, enough for me, but maybe a couple more...when we finished #17 Finn moved across the track heading for the exit - deciding or sensing that we'd had enough for the day - we always seemed to be in sync that way....This morning as I did my workout on that same track, in a morning fog with the dew still on the grass, I remembered not even a week ago seeing his pawprints on the grass - and I felt at least briefly this morning, that I saw them again, as if he'd been running with me the whole time....

AM - 5 miles solo (ugh...without Finn now) in a recovery level effort following the workout yesterday.   Appreciated the kind words from everyone here and via text, and on Strava about Finn's passing.  

AM - 4 easy miles with Dan at the high school and through Crabapple.   His hamstring is gradually improving but needs very easy running and recovery time in between runs so doing an easy run with him at around 11 min pace worked well for me to keep my effort light following a workout 2 days ago and heading into a long run tomorrow. 

AM - long run in some quite humid/high dew point conditions today.  Did the first few miles with Dan, and then Ben arrived and unfortunately his training pace is more like my tempo pace and so I had to ask him to slow down a little, and although I had wanted to go 14-16 today, when we got back near the cars, 12 seemed like enough under the conditions today.  

AM - 5 miles before church - quite humid with a high dew point conditions- which I expect will be the case for the next couple of months.  Slow going today following yesterday's longer run.

AM - just under 6.5 miles through WC and cutting through the golf course and out the gated section and back through the entry from Birmingham in the non-gated section.   Good number of hills, and legs were still fatigued, so it was slow going at least for the first 4 miles today until I began to get warmed up.  

AM -3.75 miles with Dan on the Milton Trail still with a modified walk/run for his hamstring. 

AM - treadmill tempo of 3 miles after a 1 mile WU and a 1 mile CD after.   Avg pace was 7:22 but the last two miles were both under 7:15 after the first was around 7:40.   I was trying to target a HR of the mid 150's but never actually got there until running closer to 7 flat the last half mile.  Cooler indoors of course, so this was a good workout and not as taxing on me as the track or running long and fast on the hills on Saturdays...Honestly, the increased intensity of workouts and somewhat higher volume was beginning to result in some soreness and lack of motivation - so I needed to recalibrate my efforts to maybe do just one workout such as a tempo every week and a long run - versus two workouts which I might do every other week to keep me from getting injured or rundown. 

AM - 4 miles on the trail with Dan.  

AM - 4.25 miles with Dan from Milton HS - we ran into a different neighborhood, with some hills, and then did a quick lap around the track.  He was feeling nearly back to normal - and our pace was nearly where it normally is.

AM - 5 miles social run with Dan and Darryl from my house - neither of them were up for a long run and so my plan was to enjoy a run with them and then add some miles later. 
 

PM - 8 more miles on the treadmill with most of the miles at 8:20 pace and my HR not exceeding 130.  Really like these longer efforts at a decently steady pace and comfortable HR.  

AM - 3.75 recovery effort miles on the trail.   The construction of the new phase appears to be in the closing stages - with most of the bridges over the newly created creeks complete - and much of the gravel trail now in place - I would suspect that it will be done by August.

AM - 5.25 miles with Dan from his house out to the horse farm trail roads.   Felt a bit sluggish today to start and then later the HR seemed a bit higher than it should have been for the pace we were running - but it was considerably warmer and more humid - so that could have impacted things as well.   My overnight HR was 48 with a low of 43 - so that is suggesting that my fitness may be improving if that trend continues..

AM - 3.5 miles easy on the trail with Dan and Rosie. 

PM - treadmill fartlek - which was about 18-20 bursts of about 30-45 seconds at 5k pace with about a minute or less of rest.  1 mile WU and short cool down.   Really surprisingly good effort.  

AM - just under 3.75 miles with Dan on the Milton Trail at a recovery effort pace.  Quite warm and humid - good conversation.   I am leaving this evening for a long weeekend with Tracy and Bradlea and the grandchildren for Va Bch where Tracy's brother and his extended family are located.  Dan is out all of next week on vacation in the NE and moving his middle daughter into her new apt. in NYC where she starts her new job - so we will not see each other to run for over 10 days.   

AM - 5.75 miles in VA Beach from my BIL's house on a trail around a lake and did some exploring.  Found an historic marker for the Skirmish at James Plantation related to the revolutionary war and after Benedict Arnold had already switched sides.   Very hot and very high dew points - so kept this very slow and easy - which was not too bad of a plan because I kind of enjoyed the run.

AM - just under 6.25 miles on essentially the same route as yesterday at the same slow easy effort except for the last 1.5 miles when I wanted to have my avg pace begin with a 9 instead of a 10.  

AM - 11.25 mile long-ish run in Va Bch - exploring some different roads - high dew points and humidity with warm temps in the upper 70's even at 5:30 am - so I managed the effort to not overcook - which seemed to work well.  Hoped the route would have given me 13-14 miles but as it was, the morning plans with the family on the beach would not have allowed for it anyway.  

AM - 4.75 miles in VA Beach for my last morning here before heading home.  Slow effort again in the heat and humidity.   

AM - 5 miles through the neighborhood and partly on the golf course.  Lots of downed trees on my property from a bad storm when we were out of town.