Bret

AM - 7.25 miles including 2 miles of warm up and same of cool down and hill resistance training in between.  Was up too late last night watching the Olympics to get up early to drive to Clearwater to run the bridges for hills, so I went to different hill location than Monday which was steeper but only about 150 - 175 yards long.  Spent time doing sets of steep hill running, bounding and sprining drills.  Was very fatigued on the warm up and completely shattered on the cool down back to the house.  Could be some DOMS from Monday's workout.  This hill was not as steep has I had thought it was in my mind's eye, once I got to it.  Nevertheless it was steeper and given the weariness of my legs now, I assume it was sufficient for the intended work I was doing. 

PM- Richie called me just before lunchtime and we met outside the gym for an easy run.  Did the dreaded dump run because there was a storm brewing to the north and east, but to the south it looked relatively clear.  Only one crack of lightning as we left the parking lot and with the exception of a few raindrops we kept dry.  Winds were blowing the stinky landfill odors our direction on the way out.  Got 7.5 miles in at about 7:30 pace with some good chatting along the way.  I had to hit the showers and get back to the office for a meeting, while Richie continued for a couple more.  Anyway, he did a nice workout yesterday with Drew - where Richie did 4 x 1 mile at 5:40 pace off a 90 second rest.  Drew did 3 x 2miles at the same pace and rest.  Those boys are as fit as Bam. 

AM - 8 miles this morning before work.  Felt a bit stiff to start, then ran a bit more quickly than my norm for an early morning run, which then wore me out to the point where I backed off and finished up with a light gentle run in the last couple of miles. 

PM -  8 more miles  at lunchtime.  Feeling a bit fatigued today.

AM - 4 miles very easy this morning.  Quite tired getting up today - noticed my RHR was a little elavated so I decided to keep things short and easy.  Really felt refreshed afterwards - not too far and not too hard - Will play it by ear as to my second workout today.  May do some LT work or may continue to keep it aerobic and light. 

PM - had a great workout at lunch.  20 min warm up then 25 mins at sub AT; then 1.5 miles cool down.  Though I had not read Bam's suggestion before I headed to the gym to consider doing another recovery run, I had in my mind that if I felt reasonably rested and relaxed in the warm up I would go for it, otherwise I would just keep it easy.  

I would describe this as a "time trial" of sorts, because I really have not tested what I can do since starting this aerobic build-up a few months ago.  So I started out at what I thought was my threshold pace at 6:20 but within a few minutes I realized that this was not fast enough and gradually settled in at 6:03 which is what I ran at for basically 4 miles.  Wore the heartrate monitor and never exceeded my anaerobic threshold number of.  Also wore my Ascics Tarther racing flats.  Felt very excited with this and fairly confident I could run just about sub 6 min pace for a 10k based on this effort. 

AM - early start at 5 am.  Met Richie in downtown Clearwater and did an out and back over to the north end of the beach over the bridge and back for 7.  Got a drink and headed back out over the bridge to do the "big loop" which goes over the Sand Key bridge and the Bellair bridge and back through Bellair.  We made wrong turn and ended up finishing up along the trail instead of along the golf course.  Richie was a bit tired a slowed somewhat in the last few miles and I slowed to wait for him.  Pretty good group of runners showed this morning at 6 am and we saw them going out as we were coming back in from the first loop.  Linked up with Heather and friend Debbie as we crossed the Sand Key Bridge - they are both training for a half ironman in September.  Ran about mile with them until we pulled away.  Very solid good long run for me this morning.  No soreness or fatigue to speak of from the training this week. 

AM - awoke later than planned and then got absorbed with watching the women's marathon, so I just went out for an easy 4 to make it back in time for church.  Legs no worse for the wear after yesterday's 20. 

AM - 8 miles - hill training on the same hill as last Wednesday - with a few more drills.  Will be doing this workout on a bridge with Richie on Thursday if all goes as planned this week - for a longer, steeper effort.  Missed my second run yesterday - not intentionally, but life's events took me down a different path than expected.  Got to bed a bit earlier and got about 7 hours of sleep for a change and was well-rested when I went out this morning.   

PM - 8 more miles on the treadmill at lunch - which was well-timed to watch the pre-lims of the men's 800 and the first race of the women's 1500 pre-lim heat.  In between they showed women's synchronized swimming - not a big fan. 

AM - easy 6 miles before work - little stiff to start but moved along after that at a pretty reasonably clip.  Lots on my mind this morning unrelated to running, sorted some things out and was finished before I realized it.  One of the many things I enjoy about running...

PM - belated start and rather extremely muggy conditions this evening made for an unpleasant running environment.  Stayed on the light and easy side and ran just under 11 miles up Belcher by Innisbrook and across Klosterman Road and around by Helen Ellis Hospital in Tarpon Springs and then back down the trail past the Chimp Farm where the apes and orangutans were already snoozing, under the tunnel of Alt 19 past Well Springs park, through Crystal Beach and back by the high school. 

PM - 7 miles at lunch after a late night and an early start to work this morning.  Felt pretty rested on the run - got to catch part of the 5000 meter heat with Rupp at the end of the workout.  Will plan to do another recovery run after work this evening. 

PM - 6.5 miles more after work - a bit slower.  Not too much time between workouts today. 

AM - got up early with an invitation yesterday from Richie to run hills on the Misner Bridge down in St. Pete this morning.  Much to my surprise this is some kind of major St. Pete local runners' gathering place for hill running in an otherwise primarily flat geography.  The Misner Bridge is part of the causeway leading up to the Skyway Bridge - it is the last exit on 275 before the toll plaza and has a running/biking path that parallels the highway.  Counted at least 20 runners who all parked at a hotel near the beginning of the footpath at 5:45 am.  The path is marked with spray paint for a "start" and in .25 mile increments.   Bottom to top the bridge is 800 meters and probably a 4% grade - more or less.  I did 9 miles of hill drills including warm up and cool down while Richie did a tempo run.  Drew was there with a college runner doing a much faster tempo run at sub-6 pace.  Legendary masters runner Joe Burgasser (google him if you are curious http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=18128 )  who is probably 75 years old now was out there - can't believe he's still doing workouts at his age. 

Although, this was a good hill on which to do the workout, it took me 40 mins of driving to get there.  And I had to get up at 4:30 am in order to make it to work on time.  The scenery of Tampa Bay is nice as the sun is rising, but the path is right next to the highway, with cars/truck barrelling along a 70 mph - quite loud.  Richie was kind enough to let me shower and clean up for work at his house which was on the way back to my office.  Not sure if I will make the trek next week for benefit of the hill.  The Clearwater Beach Bridges are actually steeper and may be a bit longer (and closer to my home). 

PM - 6 miles easy after work.  Legs felt a bit fatigued when I started but were fine after a couple of miles. 

AM - 6 miles easy this morning.  Felt ok - but not great.  Got some better sleep last night - nearly 7 hours. 

PM - 8.5 miles on the treadmill.  Expecting to still be fatigued, I planned just a rec. run, but after I got started, it did not seem like I needed to take it that easy - not that I felt really fresh or anything;  just thought I should moderately increase the effort through the run.  So, I gradually worked the pace down to MP on the last 2 miles. 

AM - early - 20 miles.  Drove down to St. Pete and met Richie and Drew at the North Shore Pool at 5 am..  Ran around the Pier for a toilet break and the made our way north through Snell Isle where we picked up Drew's friend Cameron who is in his second year of college at Emory.  We also picked up an acquaintance of Drew's named Scott who was about 15 miles in to his early run.  So we had a group of 5 skinny guys pounding through the pre-dawn hours of the Shore Acres neighborhood.   It was actually quite an enjoyable group with lots of conversation. 

Scott pealed off at 40th and headed back and then we ran up to 62 Ave and stopped for water at the Mangrove Bay golf course.  Continued north on 1st street to Richie's neighborhood where we picked up his friend Steve and stopped at Richie's house for water.  The pace was steadily increasing as the miles rolled on, with both Drew and Cameron happy to run sub 7:30's or better.  I felt good but decided when we picked up Steve to hang back with him and Richie and told Drew and Cameron to have at it.  And they did.  Within 2 miles they were out of sight.  We grabbed some water at Coffee Pot Bayou park and at our cars back at the pool - did a quick loop down the Pier and back to complete the effort.  Richie decided to run a couple more miles with Steve, but I had enough fun for one morning. 

PM - 8 easy aerobic miles on the treadmill on a very hot muggy day outside. 

AM - 6.5 miles easy.  Mentally fatigued - physically I seem to be fine - no injuries, pain or soreness.  

PM - 8 miles at lunchtime with Richie.  Had a nice run which started out very sauna-like as it had just rained and then the sun had come out.   Around 4.5 miles into the run the clouds opened up a pretty heavy and cold rain with some lightning - but it was very refreshing and made for a good run.  Wasn't expecting to run with Richie today - so that was helpful and a nice surprise that he showed up wanting to run.  Also heard from Ingrid from the blog - to check-in on me which was encouraging.  Very nice to have the support just when you need it.   

Oh -  And perhaps the best thing to come out of the Olympics is the "Mo Farah Running Away From Things" Tumblr. Check it out: http://bit.ly/Qum79z

AM - 9 miles of hill drills including warm up and cool down.  Felt appropriately depleted with wobbly quads afterwards. 

PM - lunchtime recovery run of about 6 miles around the Carillon Office Park - turned out reasonably comfortable as a storm built up on the bay and I got the benefit of cloud cover and the cool wind from the rain in the distance.  Wasn't until my last mile when it finally crept over where I was running and the heavy down-pours and lightning commenced.  Second day in a row with some really wet running shoes. 

AM - tired legs resulted in a planned easy 4 miles this morning.  Had some cramping/spasms in my feet and calves last night in bed (took a magnesium supplement which solved it) - so I took things very light this morning.

PM - 9 miles on the treadmill after work.  Ended up running the first few miles right at 7 mins and the last 3 @ MP - was not really planned as a workout but all of the comments on Bam's log regarding training got me moving faster than I expected.   

AM - 8 miles early with hill drills including warm up and cool down.  Used a different "hill" - (undulation) at Klosterman and Belcher across from the Tarpon SPC campus.  Steeper but shorter in length.   These hill drills really drain me.  

PM - 7 miles easy after work.  Ken met me at the gym and we headed out into a localized thunderstorm around Feathersound.  He's not been training much but we are running London together in the spring and he and Richie and another friend, Tim are doing it too.  We all met after the run at Courtside to discuss logistics.  After about 4 miles when the rain had stopped, Ken needed a break and headed back toward the gym.  I proceeded across the Feathersound golf course which by now was pretty waterlogged - heavy wet turf - completely muddied my new Gel Nimbus 14's and got in a few more miles.  Good to run nice and easy tonight.

AM - 7 miles easy.  Got some extra sleep last night and this morning, but felt pretty crummy during the run.  Quads are rather fatigued. 

PM - 8 miles on the treadmill.  Kept it leisurely.  Good recovery type run.

AM - 20 miles, a bit on the slowish side.  Temp was 84 with 85% humidity at 5:30 this morning when I went out.  Storms building to the north, west and east, but I was able to get it done before the rains began to fall. 

AM - 8.5 miles recovery run.  After my long run yesterday and the heavens opened with a thrashing of a storm - I headed up to Gainesville to move my 2 daughters into their respective rooms at UF.  Riley had actually already gotten moved in with her mom on Friday while I had to work, but they had a few odds and ends to finish up on her dorm on Saturday.  Bradlea needed to have us get her things into her apartment today  when it was first available - which of course happened during a monsoon.  Really heavy rains all afternoon and evening which made for a hard drive home this evening.  So, two away, and the "little one" - starts her junior year in high school tomorrow. 

Oh yeah - the run was pretty good.  In the dark down some country roads in Gainesville - would have done more if I had time.  Of course no time for a second workout today. 

AM - 7 miles easy this morning.  Had a hard time getting started today - perhaps a tad weary from the weekend of moving my daughters into their places and a stressful 3 hour drive in heavy rains at night.  Seemed to sleepwalk through the early part of the run, and then about 3 miles into the run I "woke up" and found myself moving along nicely.   

PM - 8 miles on the treadmill.  Wore the HR monitor to get a measure of where I am currently for proper pacing on aerobic recovery runs and was pleased to see 6:53 pace equates to about 140 bpm (ran the last 3 miles at this pace after a gradual progression from 7:19 pace from mile 2).  Same HR about six weeks ago had me at 7:30 pace.  May not seem like much to the elites on this Board - but to put it in a better perspective - 6:53 ppm is approximately the pace to run right at 3 hours for the marathon.  My conditioning for the last 3 months has now gotten me to the point where my aerobic training pace at 70% HRR is equal to my goal MP for the last few years.

AM - 6.75 miles easy this morning before work.  All good - feeling rested and strong.   Slight variation on a route that I normally run  - came up just short of the expected 7 miles.  (Had a really good dinner last night of jasmine rice, with carrots, chicken, sugar snap peas, peppers, green onions and water chestnuts - perhaps that contributed to feeling well this morning.) 

Heavy rains and storms again last night left a good deal of damage in the area including some of the temporary structures set up for the Republican National Convention that begins its early start this weekend in Tampa.  There's also a long term projection for a possible hurricane track to affect the area for the upcoming weekend. 

PM - 8.25 miles at lunch on the treadmill. Hill drills workout.  First time for trying these drills on the treadmill.  Did not much care for it.  While one can get a consistent gradient and distance on the machine, getting the proper feel for these drills is a bit tricky with the belt moving and finding a good speed in which to do them correctly and with good form is a bit of trial and error.  I also did 8x8 bursts - which was actually more effective than the drills on the machine.   Feet and legs were more pronounced in their soreness following the session - particularly the back of my right knee.  

AM - just time for a short recovery run this morning of 4 miles before early work meetings offsite at the Vinoy today.  

PM  - 8 easy aerobic miles after a long day of meetings at work.  Legs are a bit sore from the hills workout yesterday, but cardiovascularly - everything else was fine and dandy.

AM - 9 miles of hill drills back on my regular hill this morning.  Felt good when I awoke and had a very solid strong session today.  My 8 x 8 bursts made me feel almost ike a sprinter coming out of the blocks.  Legs were sufficiently tired after the effort, but I have noticed that I don't necessarily feel completely drained otherwise - seems confined to the lower half at least today.  Marks the last of my hills phase - onward to some anaerobic work.

PM - 8.5 miles after work.  Met Richie at the lake in Carillon and did a few loops there and then around Feathersound.  Discussed a plan for a long run on Saturday morning.  Felt a little stiff in the first mile but eased into a leisurely pace with him, though he seemed at times to be dragging a bit - said he was a little tired from a workout on Monday and Wednesday.  Our friend Drew did a half marathon in San Diego over the weekend - had a bit of a disappointing time for him - 1:18.11 - second in his age group.  Based on his training times it would seem logical that he'd be disappointed with that too.  Look forward to a run with him to see what happened. 

AM - a little over 7 miles this morning.  Weather front finally pushed the rain and southwest humid wind away.  Not any cooler, but a fresher northeast breeze this morning made for a pleasant change.  Slightly stiff to start, but comfortable easy pace followed.

PM - lunchtime 6.5 miles.  Very nice sunny day - but much hotter than I had expected.  Kind of clobbered me in the last mile or so without warning.  Bleah.  

AM - long run this morning of 20 miles with Richie over the bridges to the beaches in Clearwater.  Ran an honest pace with a plan for a fast finish over the last 6 miles progressing in 2 mile increments until at or below predicted marathon pace.  Worked well for Richie, but I was having some GI issues and had to make two stops for the toilet during the run.  We ended up pushing the pace early around 11 miles and were progressing nicely - in fact to marathon pace at mile 16 when I had to make a pit stop - and Richie carried on.  In fact after my stop I ended up running easy over the last 2-3 miles as I just was feeling a bit too depleted to grind through any more fast miles.  I think next week I will try to get 2 full days of recovery in me before the long run / fast finish effort and hopefully sort out whatever I ate that gave me the GI problems unexpectedly this morning.  All in all though, not a bad effort this morning.

AM - 7.5 miles very easy.  Started off only planning to go maybe 4 miles very light, expecting to be fatigued, but the DOMS had not set in yet, and so I decided to run 6 and then still was enjoying the relaxing type pace enough to run a bit further.  Breezy with low clouds out today, early signs of the Tropical Storm Isaac approaching.

PM - 7.5 miles easy but a bit more speed than this morning.  Stormy and windy outside.  Stayed close to home did a couple of loops past the high school.  Got a shout-out for my shoes.  The Gel Nimbus bright yellows were a hit by some folks sitting on their porch watching the weather. 

PM - there were some heavy sounding storms outside at 5 am when I awoke this morning and so I decided that it may not be safe to run outside in the rain if we had sustained high winds overnight.  As it turns out there was much in it as the tropic storm is churning in the Gulf to the north and west of us - so we are just getting the rain bands and breezy conditions.  Anyway, it gave me an extra hour of sleep.  Did 8 miles at lunchtime with a plan for another recovery run this evening.

PM - after work - a little over 6 miles easy.  Legs felt leaden.  Arms were sore too.  Then I remembered that I had spent the afternoon yesterday lifting and moving all of the deck furniture into the garage in preparation for the storm (that never really came).   

AM - 5 miles easy before work.  Body/mind feel "off" - seem to be in a bit of a funk in the last 2 runs.

PM - lunchtime - VO2 max workout.  4 x 1 mile on 90 sec rest (actually kept it to 80 seconds).  Splits were 5:50, 5:48, 5:44 and 5:38. 2 mile warm up and same cool down.  Heart rates for each were 158, 163, 164 and 167.  The last one was 92% of max HR for me.  So, I was pleased with the first anaerobic workout.  Fair amount of anxiety yesterday and this morning leading into it.  Interestingly, my cardiovascular state seems really solid, as if that was a good workout but I don't feel completely depleted.  My legs and feet however feel the beating.  

AM - 6 mile easy recovery run.  Body was appropriately tired/fatigued from yesterday's workout.

PM - lunchtime - 8.25 miles aerobic recovery miles around the Carillon office park and Feathersound.   

PM - lunchtime - easy 8.5 miles - Had to be at work early this morning, so missed the AM run.  Will plan to do another recovery run after work today.

PM - after work - just about 6.5 miles easy around the neighborhood. 

AM - 5 miles very easy this morning.  Woke up feeling some achiness over the first metatarsal on the left foot and some tightness just above the achilles on the right calf.  Nothing very pronounced but really the first time in a quite a while that I have noticed any dings or aches.  No issues while running.  Will decide at lunchtime whether things feel good for a workout or perhaps opt for an easy regen run. 

PM - Although Bam counseled me to play it safe (much appreciated by the way) based upon my entry regarding aches and pains and to perhaps forego my session this afternoon - in the end I decided that the little noted dings and niggles were not significant enough to push my planned session and so I proceeded with pretty good results and with no pain or issues to complain of either.

2 mile warm up then 8 miles at MRP - which I had estimated to be about 6:30 pace before starting but after the first mile I decided to increase the speed and ended up running the last 7 miles at 6:22 pace. Wore the HR monitor and I was right in the high end of the "aggressive" range per Daniels with the last two miles averaging 163 HR - perhaps some cardiac drift as the first 6 were in the high 150's.  Did a 1 mile cool down. Felt like this was a good workout.  Required good concentration particularly in the last 2 miles or so.  

Heading over to Cocoa Beach on the east coast of Florida this afternoon for the long holiday weekend.  Delaney has a soccer tournament all three days.  I will get to explore new places to run in between games.