Bret

16 miles on the treadmill today while watching the Rays game.  Sunday afternoon in Florida in July was too hot to run outside today.  After having been on a cycling tour in France for the last 2 weeks this was the first long run I have had in quite some time to start my build up for NYC.  Felt very comfortable with the pace right at 8 mins or less - legs were a bit tired in the last 30 mins of the run.

Rest day today following the long run.  Ran with my daughter today who starts at a freshman in high school in the fall.  Easy 3 miles at 9 min pace.  Enjoyed running with her and chatting.

6 or so miles on the treadmill this morning at the YMCA before work.  Tight schedule today - but did 3 of the 6 miles at 5:50 or better pace - with about a 2-3 min in between each one for recovery at 7:40 pace.  Very manageable.  Muscle memory in my legs seems to have finally transitioned from cycling to running today.  Felt great.

PM run - 4 miles easy to flush out any kinks and / or lactic acid.  Daughters made talapia, green beans and cheese grits for dinner --never had cheese grits before.- quite good! 

12 miles in 1:30 or roughly 7:30 pace.  Feeling a bit fatigued in the last 30 mins. 

4 miles mostly easy on the treadmill this morning with Delaney at the Y.  We had to drop off Riley for swim practice and I think Delaney favored the cooler weather inside rather than the humid air outside this morning.  I am scheduled to do 8 later today but my body is saying that I should think about scaling back those plans.

PM run - 5 miles easy outside.  Took about 2 miles to loosen up my legs from being on the treadmill the last two runs. 

Loops, lakes and parking structures....Very hot day for a midday run but legs were too beaten-up for a treadmill workout and my schedule would not permit any other time to run today.  So I tried to keep cool by doing my run in a few of the parking structures and lakes in my office park.  8 x 30 sec striders at a fast 400 meter pace in mile 5-6.  8 miles total.  No heat stroke despite the 105-110 heat index! 

8 miles in 61 mins this morning in St. Pete.  Riley had a swim meet this morning at North Shore pool with a 7 am warm up. So as she went to warm up in the pool I got my run in.  Ran the 10k course of the St. Anthony's Tri - on Snell Isle (added an extra loop to get 8 miles).  Lots of other runners and cyclists out on a muggy  morning.  Probably could have kept this as just a 10k because by the time I was finishing, the sun was really heating up.  She had a really good 500 free last night - dropped 21 secs off of her best time 5:57.  Inspired me.

18 miles on the treadmill this afternoon while watching the Rays defeat the Yankees.  Did the last 2 miles at marathon pace.  Felt pretty solid most of the run.  Debated whether to do 20 or 18 which was on my schedule; opted to do the last 2 miles at marathon pace as an alternative.  I seem to benefit from fast finish long runs.

Easy recovery run - with my daughter Delaney who is training for her first HS cross country season.  Legs felt a bit stiff in the first mile be loosened up nicely on a very muggy morning after an overnight thunderstorm.

9.25 miles in 65 mins on treadmill at 1% incline.  Started at 7.0 mph and gradually increased the pace until I was suffering.  Actually probably moved up the speed a little too quickly as my heartrate was blowing up and I needed to slow down at 55 mins.  I am a little disappointed with how I felt today - sort of heavy and a bit "flat".  Generally I do better running at a slower pace for  a few minutes when I start and don't get to an 8 min per mile pace until about a half or 3/4 of a mile.  I think jumping in at 7 mph though not fast, was faster than my normal wind up and as a result I struggled to find a comfortable groove today.

AM - easy recovery run with Delaney and with Riley who has a week break between club swimming and high school swimming.  Kinda cool to be out running with two of my daughters in the morning.  Felt very blessed.

PM run at lunchtime.  8.0 miles - call it the "dump run" as the route goes by the solid waste facility - on a particularly hot day such as today, the odor and the heat make this one a challenge.  Despite the heat humidity and smell, had a pretty good run - Forerunner 405 watch battery died about a third of the way through - so that may explain why the run was good, as I was not checking my pace on the watch.

AM - Easy 3.0 miles this morning with  two of my teenaged daughters - chatted and laughed most of the run.  Great way to start the day.

PM - Lunchtime run on the treadmill.   Since there are no real hills where I live in Florida, my hill workouts are primarily on the treadmill.  Total 8 miles.  2 mile warm up then did a progression where I started out at 6% grade for a mile at 8:20 pace, then "rested" at 7:30 pace for about .3 miles then 7% grade for 1.25 miles at 8:10 pace, with a "rest" at 7:20 pace for .25 miles, then 8% grade for 1.5 miles at 8 min pace - rested for a half mile then did the last mile or so at marathon race pace.  Great workout - started as a strength workout and then became more of a threshold workout.

Easy 3.5 miles this morning with Riley and Delaney.  No rain over night so it was a bit warmer than the last few mornings.  Delaney had soccer training last night and so was particularly sore and tired.  Riley who is used to swimming kept snickering at the clop clop sound of our feet during the run.  Easily amused.

PM - Lunchtime run 7.5 miles.  Run was entirely during a shower/thunderstorm - so it was a slog with very heavy water soaked shoes most of the way.  Managed a marathon pace last mile.  Enjoyed running in the rain - except for the heavy shoes and the occassional lightning strike in the near vicinity!

AM - 1 hour of cycling on the TT bike - reasonable effort of 20 miles - then transitioned to a run of 5.5 miles.  Really stuggled with the heat/humidity on the run this morning as I got a later start than expected.  Kept it under 8 mins per mile, but just barely. 

Half marathon "time trial" on the treadmill following a 2 mile warm up with a 1 mile cool down in 1.23.40 -ish.  After the first couple of miles where I started at 6:40 pace, I worked my way down to 6:18 which I stuck with from about 5k onward.  Had to change treadmills around 8 miles at the gym as the sweat on the belt was causing my feet to slip and squeak.  Memo to self not to wear the Nike lunar racers for long treadmill workouts.  Felt reasonably good most of the way.  Did not use any incline/grade on the treadmill as I wanted to compare a time I did last year around this time using no grade.  Matched up very well in terms of fitness (this year to last year). 

Easy 3.0 miles following yesterdays workout.

AM - easy 4.5 miles.  Still a little tight/stiff this morning.  Discovered a blister on one of my toes from the racing flats on Sunday's run.  Legs felt heavy for most of the run even after getting warmed up.

PM - lunchtime run slightly more than 8 miles - variation of the "dump" run.  Quite hot, so kept the pace just under 8 mins per mile, but not much faster.  Huge storm about 30 minutes after I finished.  Would have been nice to at least had the cloud cover during the run!  Anyway, I find that I am really not hungry / not wanting to eat after hot weather runs - so I end up missing a meal.  Tried to counter that today with a protein drink and gatorade.

AM - easy  3.0 mile run with Riley and Delaney.  First mile was really slow and then they woke up - ran the last mile faster than they ever have this summer.  Quite interesting how "refreshed" I am after running some easy miles with them as opposed to an easy run on my own. 

Bought new shoes (Ascics Air Nimbus ) last night.  I have been wearing this model for a good 5 years now - love how they are pretty consistently the same shoe year after year with only color changes or slight variations on the uppers. 

PM - Lunchtime run.  On treadmill 9.0 miles.  Last 6 were at marathon pace or better.  Was one of those runs where everything felt easy and smooth and could have run forever.  Love those.  Wish I could conjure them up in races sometime.  Was not planning to go with any speed today but the effort was not forced and I felt great - so I just let it go.  Only stopped because I had to return to my real job.

8.00 miles at lunchtime - two and a half times around the Feathersound loop.  It had rained off and on for much of the morning so it was not quite as hot as it might have been.  Ran a steady pace, increased speed slightly each mile split.  Averaged 7:40 per mile.  Not too fast but good up-tempo recovery run. 

AM - 3.0 miles easy with Riley.  Ran to PH Middle School, once around the track and returned.  She maintains a decent pace running for a swimmer - talked about getting her on the bike and maybe doing some tri's this year. 

Treadmill workout scheduled for lunchtime run.

9.0 miles on the treadmill - steady state at 7:00 to 7:15 pace for most of the miles.  Riley and Delaney were on the treadmills next to me and finished early.  Delaney did a one mile warm-up and then a 2 mile time trial at just under 16 mins in a fairly conservative/cautious effort with a half mile cool down.  We needed to see where she was with her fitness.  Cross country tryouts are this week for her high school.

20.0 miles on the treadmill this afternoon.  First hour was a little tough to sort out mentally - but once I found a groove the run was good.  Was a guy in the gym who was a Hulk Hogan look-alike complete with the headband and blonde mustache - not quite as fit.  Some of you may know that Hogan had a home in Clearwater for years (he may still)...but this wasn't him.  Anyway, did the last 2 miles in 13 mins. 

AM - 3.0 miles easy with Riley.  HS Swim team try-outs last week and this week.  They have "dry land" tryouts - which means they run on a track.  She ran really well this morning - if she wasn't so committed to swimming (one of the captains this year) - I would say she could do cross country too.

Very stiff to start out this morning for the first half mile - but felt better once I warmed up.  Will keep this a "rest" day and not do a PM run today.

AM - 4.0 easy miles with Riley again this morning.  Delaney had a time trial tryout last night in the two mile for cross country, so she is taking the mornings off this week.  She went 15:40 which is a good starting point for her as a freshman - - quite telling about the tryout was that she was 5th out of whole group which included returning runners from last year.  Lots of room to improve.  They run a 5k tomorrow evening. 

Will do a lunchtime run today - hopefully with my training partner for the first time in months.

Well, my training partner bailed on me - so I did 8.25 miles in the heat around the Solid Waste facility.  Stinky and hot - but a decent run - keeping in recovery mode at about 7:40 pace for most of the miles. 

AM - easy 5.0 mile  run this morning before a treadmill workout scheduled for this afternoon.  Little cooler (not much) this morning after an evening thundershower.  Looking forward to some real Fall weather.

PM - lunchtime run  10.0 miles -

"Rob Murphy's Treadmill workout"

Incline set at 1%

2 minutes at 7 mph
2 minutes at 8 mph
3 minutes at 9 mph
3 minutes at 10 mph (this completes one 10 minute cycle) Repeat 5 times.

2 mile warm up and 1 mile cool down.

If nothing else, this is a mentally taxing workout - knowing the faster pace is just minutes away and more repeats of the cycle await.  Felt very good after completing this workout that I worked hard, was not completely suffering, but was on the verge.

AM - 4.0 miles easy - body is stiff and fatigued today. Felt better by the fourth mile. Will try to squeeze in a second run today on a busy schedule.

PM - 6.0 miles - still recovery pace - felt really poorly the first mile and the last mile.  Worried about a little twinge on the top of the right foot which suffered a stress fracture last year.  It is not in the same location but it has a similar feel to it.  If I was not going to be running with Doug tomorrow - (on a trail in Gainesville) I would probably take tomorrow off completely to let my body rest.  Will take it very easy if we manage to coordinate a run either way.

AM - run with Doug (dugco on fastrunning blog) this morning in Gainesville San Felasco trail run.  Each of our daughters are starting college at the University of Florida - and Doug and we were dropping them off and checking them in to their dorms.  We have not run together in over 20 years.  We met early before a convocation ceremony for the students this morning.  The plan was to run about 5 miles on dirt trails.  Well, we got to talking and somehow got turned around (perhaps dodging huge banana spider webs and wide boar) and ended up running about 9 miles.  The kindness of a stranger with a map of the trail set us straight.  Of course by that time we were running late for the ceremony - wife was not happy.

Anyway - nice run and great to catch up with Doug.  Small world - his daughter happens to be two doors away from mine in the same dorm!

Foot was fine on the run - figured it would be ok running easy on dirt trails.  Probably will go easy or take tomorrow off.

6 miles easy this morning.  Rain shower in the last two miles was nice.  Finished just before the sun broke through to steam things up.  No foot pain, but feeling a bit flat, so will take tomorrow as a complete rest day.

Complete rest day today.  (Harder than it sounds...)

13 miles total today.  2 mile warm up and then 10 miles on the treadmill at a shade over 6 min pace. 1 mile cool down.  Felt very solid today - was a bit concerned late last week about possible beginning of an old foot injury, but took yesterday off and really was quite strong with no injury indicators today.  With the exception of the first three miles which were at 6:15 pace - the last 7 were right at 6 min pace - Thought about stretching it out to a half marathon effort, but when I approached 10 miles I decided it was enough for the day as I would have had to dig a bit too much get the next 3 miles done - and I was not planning an all out effort today.

AM - easy 4.0 mile recovery run in the rain.  Legs felt a bit beaten-up from yesterday's treadmill workout.  Noticed some deep quad soreness climbing stairs this morning to my office.  Will do a lunch time run with some fartlek pacing.

 PM - lunchtime run - 7.25 miles.  2-3 mile warm up and then fartlek of about 4 miles with 2-3 min efforts at 5k pace.  Light rain most of the run, heavy at times.  Deep quad soreness was quite pronounced - did a few minutes with the foam roller following the run.  Maybe consider an ice bath this evening?

AM - 3.0 miles easy.  Still quite a bit of soreness in upper legs - will keep PM run in recovery mode as well until soreness subsides.

AM - 10.0 miles easy.

Had some very upsetting news yesterday that my father passed away suddenly.  I would not have posted this on the blog, but my Dad was a runner for many years.  Started in the late 70's and was the reason I became a runner at a very young age.  I can recall going out with him in the morning to run a couple of miles when I was only 10 years old.   I loved it.  A few years later I was routinely going out to run in the morning before I went to school at age 12.  I have been running ever since.

We would go to local road races together and even got the rest of the family involved.  When I was in my twenties I remember entering a father/son race (combine the times of the two) and we took first place in a 5k.  Probably one of his proudest moments. 

He had his flaws and made his mistakes over the years as we all do, but he opened the world of running to me and it was something that always kept us connected.  Though he was not able to run due to his failing health in the last couple of years, he mentioned to me even a week ago that he was looking forward to getting stronger so that he could go get back to running like he used to do. 

So as I was trying to deal with the stress of his loss and unable to sleep early this morning - I went out for a nice quiet long run before the sun came up - as a remembrance to him.  I think he would have liked that.

AM - 6 miles easy - lots on my mind, good therapy to just go for an easy run to relieve some stress.  Will refocus on training in a few days.

PM - 10 miles on the treadmill with no real plan for training today but just to run and to process my thoughts on things.  Did the first 5 miles at about 7:10 pace and then the last at marathon pace which right now is between 6:40 and 6:45.  Could have done more, but that felt about right.  Will try to get a long run in tomorrow and resume training plan.

PM - late.  6.0 miles easy.  Long day with church and funeral - then a gathering at the house.  Wife actually suggested I looked like I needed to run.  So I went out in the rain around 9 pm.  First 3 were good stress relief but was really pretty tired after that.

AM  - Early start 5.0 miles to begin the day.  Will squeeze in another run around lunchtime today.  Felt too tired to do a run this morning, but once I got out the door, the run was good and felt better that I had done it.

PM - lunchtime run on the treadmill.  7.0 miles at a reasonably quick pace.  First two miles were below 7:15 pace - then moved to 6:50 pace with the last 4 miles at 6:30 or better.  Tight schedule today did not allow for longer run.  Amazed at how "comfortable" the pace is feeling even well below 6:30.  A month or two ago, I would have dreaded a workout where I planned to run that "fast" and would have viewed it as a hard workout, and now I am not intimidated by the pace and would not even count this as a hard training session...must be doing something right!

AM - 5.25 easy miles out the door at 5:45.  A little less humidity this morning, relaxing recovery run.  Plan to do 6-7 at lunchtime with Richie.

PM - 6.0 lunchtime run with Richie.  We used to train together at lunch everyday when our jobs were in the same location/building, and then later when we both were gearing up for races even after our jobs were not in the same place and not really convenient to do lunchtime runs, we'd coordinate early morning runs or weekend long runs together.  It has probably been several months since we did a run together - so it was nice to see him, get caught up on things, and talk about the NYC that we are both planning to run in November.

Richie's training has been admittedly on his part a bit spotty over the summer.  He's been doing something called P90 X training and some basic running.  His longest run was two weeks ago at 12 miles.  But he said he felt good and excited and bolted out to a quick pace which kind of surprised me, but I went with it.  Around 2.5 miles into the run, he asked how far we'd gone and what pace we were running - which was 7:30 pace.  We needed to slow things down a little bit shortly thereafter and then he decided to finish up at 5 miles and I went ahead at his suggestion to tack on an extra mile at the end. 

At this point his plan is to go to NY and run with another mutual friend who is doing the race for charity and depending on how his training goes will decide how fast or slow he will go.  Last year he went 3:01, but had a very strong build-up, was very fit and was extremely focused mentally on going fast.  He doesn't seem to have that same focus yet this year, but he is a great runner and gets fit pretty quickly, so we'll see. 

AM - out the door by 5:15 - I did 13.0 miles this morning.  I was a bit on the slow side - only going about 8:15-8:30 pace.  I have been doing most of my longer runs on the treadmill, but this was outside and though it was not as warm as it has been, it was quite humid, with my shoes squishing with sweat around the 6 mile mark and onward.  Were the marathon today, I would have struggled to finish.  No food or drink before or during the run - probably played a bit of a factor.

AM - 6.0 miles easy to moderate pace.  Soreness on the upper part of left foot - very wary and paranoid due to a stress fracture near that area last year around this time.  Will continue to monitor it and rest if it seems to be anything more significant.

PM - 6.0 mile lunchtime run.  Pleasant day with unseasonably lower humidity than normal.  Was really nice running weather.  Noticed some soreness in the foot about midway through the run - stopped and walked a little bit - resumed pain/soreness-free thereafter. 

AM - 9.0 miles on treadmill. First 6 were moderate to fast and then last 3 were threshold. Felt great - no foot pain at all.

AM - 7.0 miles early - in Atlanta for daughter Delaney's soccer tournament. Cooler temps and way less humidity than at home. Great run. First 5 miles easy then 1 mile at threshold and 1 mile at VO2 or close thereto - 5:30 pace.

AM - between Delaney's soccer games today - easy 6 miles around the Clayton State University campus in Morrow, GA.  Nice again today, with a little more humidity.  Will be here overnight if her team wins in the semi-final match this afternoon - with a final game Monday at 12:30.  So - plan is to run a 10k race in Atlanta tomorrow if her team advances, but if they do not advance, I will do a long run at home tomorrow morning after a late flight this evening.  Her team has not lost yet, and has only given up one goal...so we'll see.

AM - in Morrow GA again.  The good news is that Delaney's team advanced to the finals today, but the bad news was the the 10k race I was hoping to run in Atlanta closed its registration before the end of her game on Sunday - and there was no race day registration or packet pickup.  A big race - with 11,000 runners on a point to point course.  Logistically, it would have been challenging to be able to get there and back in enough time to get Delaney to her game.  In the end I did not want to run in a race unregistered and would not have been in the right frame of mind to race well, worrying about that and getting back in time.  So I slept-in a little and did 12 miles this morning around the perimeter of the Clayton State University campus.  Felt kind of off this morning - and it was warmer and more humid - Did it at a moderate pace.  Not a bad run but certainly not as good as I have felt the last two days.

PS - Delaney's team won the Atlanta Cup U15 Girls Championship for the B Division following a 0-0 draw, two extra time periods and a penalty kick shoot-out.  Great finish to a great weekend.

AM - 4 miles easy this morning.  Significantly more humidity back at home in Florida - yuck. Trying to plan out the training for this week.  Will do a fast treadmill workout at lunch and then figure in a possible 5k race on Friday evening.

 PM - 6 miles - treadmill actually after work as I was too busy at work to take a lunch.  2 mile warm-up then 3 x 1 mile with 2 min recovery at 1% incline.  Did them at 5:44, 5:33 and 5:32.  Felt reasonably strong throughout.  Thought about doing a 4th one, but decided it was good enough.  Interested in gauging the recovery - as the last few hard workouts I end up with a 24 hour delay in actually "feeling" it; and needing the recovery day not the day after, but the 2nd day after. 

PM - took the morning off and did an easy 7 miles at a late lunch today.  Quite hot outside, still summertime hot here.  Last mile was probably not needed - so I feel a little drained from the high temps.  Otherwise a good run - no signs of soreness from yesterdays workout.

AM - easy 4.0 miles early this morning.  No issues or problems.  Will do an easy 6 at lunchtime or later. 

PM - easy 6 miles on the treadmill at lunchtime.  Kept the pace in the low 7 to 7:30 range - very light.

Well - the time is not so great - but under the rather uncomfortable conditions of over 90 degrees and over 90% humidity at the end of a long work week - I am not too upset.  I was second overall in the race.  The winner was well out in front of me by nearly a minute and a half and the next closest competitor to me was over a minute behind.  I think I lost concentration somewhere in the second half of the race and though I thought I was maintaining an even pace - I slowed more than I realized.  First mile was 5:55 second was 6:12 and third was 6:35.  Race started on the small beach end of Fred Howard Park which has a long causeway out to it.  It is nearly a mile from the beach to the park on the causeway.  I  had moved my way into 2nd place about 3/4 of a mile into the race and could see the leader when he hit the first mile split and it appeared that he was under 5:30.  I never saw him again after he turned.  When we entered the park we made a series of twisty turns for all of the second mile which slowed me down a bit.  When we emerged from the park we had the last mile heading straight into the sun with a slight headwind.  The leader may have been in front of me but the sun's angle was blinding so I really couldn't see anyone to focus on.  With no one close behind - I think a zoned out a bit.  I finished strong and really did not feel spent afterward.

Immediately following the race, I ran back across the causeway to the park to my car to make it to Delaney's cross country meet in Tampa.  She was supposed to run at 8:00 pm but was designated to the JV squad which I had not expected, and they started at 7:10 (exactly when I left Tarpon)  - so I got the play by play from my wife who was there and arrived just when she finished. 25:20 for her first HS 5k cross country race.  She was first on her team to finish and later when the varsity girls ran, it turns out that her time would have been 5th on the varsity team this evening.  So she will move up in the next meet. 

The XC meet location was a mud bog in high heat and humidity.  I counted 7 ambulances on the scene - all actively administering first aid to distressed runners.  Delaney's team's number one runner  actually pulled out the race just before the second mile but then later rejoined.  It was  just that hot and humid.

Delaney lost a shoe in the first mile - in a thick mud bog - and she was quite upset at the end of the race because she only had one shoe on for the last two miles.  She was not alone - many many athletes lost shoes on the course. 

It was a great night though - we stuck around to watch two other races and then went to my friend's sandwich shop "Henry's" for meatball subs.  Mud and sweat all over us. 

With the warm up and the cool down I got about 7.5 miles in this evening.  I think if the conditions were better and there was more competition I would have been in the low 18's. 

Rest day following race last night.  Attended Delaney's club soccer game in the morning - heat index was 105.  Ouch.

Early AM - out the door at 3:30 this morning for my long run of 20.00 miles.  Busy day ahead with church then travel for work to CA this afternoon.  So in order to make sure I got the long run completed, I got it done early.  Rather warm and humid, but no sunshine to really heat things up - I finished before dawn.  Ran reasonably well - at a conservative 8:15-8:30 pace for most of the miles -I may have slept through a few.

PM - in San Francisco for work today.  Finished up meetings at 4 pm - enough time to get a run in before a dinner meeting.  12.0 miles on one of my favorite runs - from the financial district to the base of the Golden Gate Bridge and back - along the waterfront Embarcadero.  Cool weather was a pleasant relief from Florida - though the wind was quite strong.  I felt good enough following my long run yesterday to run the last 4 miles or so at marathon pace. 

PM - almost took a zero today.  Up at 3 am PDT to catch an early flight back east.  Arrived at home at 4:30 pm and was on conference calls until 7:30.  But, thought the stress of the day would be well suited for an easy 5.0 miles to clear the mind.  Amazing how much of a difference the perceived effort is here with heat and humidity as compared to yesterday's run in temperatures nearly 25 degrees cooler.  Hope I get cool dry weather in NYC in November!

AM - 4.0 easy miles this morning.  Little less humidity was welcomed.  Trying to become a little more focused on what I need to work on between now and the marathon - while I still have some time.  I weighed myself this morning for the first time in several weeks, and think I may be about 3-4 lbs heavier than I want to be for racing weight, so will try to drop those over the next few weeks; and I have requested some traininng advice from Rob.

I have a treadmill workout scheduled for lunchtime.  Am reminded that it was about this time last year that I started developing signs of a stress fracture.  Kept running of course, thinking it was just soreness, until I got to the point where I couldn't walk.   So very wary of overtraining at this point this year.

PM - lunchtime treadmill workout.  2 mins at 7.1 mph; 2 mins at 8.1 mph; 3 mins at 9.1 mph and 3 mins at 10.1 mph times 5 after a 10 mins warm up with a 5 min cool down.  Good workout - felt a little pushed in the fast section of the last set. 

PS - I attended my daughter's second HS XC meet today at John Chesnut Park - it was a 6 team meet.  She had a great race finishing fourth on her team and eighth in the race overall with a time of 24:39 for the 5k.  Although the final tally was not completed before I left, I am certain that her team won the meet with their top 6 girls finishing in the top 10 in the race.  Proud papa.

Lunchtime run - took a longer lunch today and did 12.0 miles on the treadmill at 6:58 pace - Felt a little like a tempo run - well within a conversational level pace - but long enough and fast enough that I finished feeling like I had gotten a good workout in. 

PM - after a stressful day at work I did 10 easy miles.  Felt really relaxed afterward.

PM run - 10.0 at a moderate pace from my house up the Belcher extension almost to Helen Ellis Hosp and back down the Pinellas Trail.  Exactly a 10 mile loop (how often does that happen).  Had a good week of training with 81 miles as a high weekly total for me over the last few months. 

10.0 miles on the treadmill.  Was planning to do my long run today, but I really felt very tired and flat - even before I started.  Sometimes a few miles of running will wake me up - but I really never felt very good and instead of pushing through for another 10 miles I decided my body needed rest.  Felt really tired and lethargic afterwards for a few hours too.  Will take tomorrow off completely.

Complete day of rest.

AM - easy 3 miles early before heading to the airport this morning.  Busy day at work, had to fly to Ft. Lauderdale for a meeting.  Finished up early enough to catch a stand by flight home in time to see Delaney's cross country meet - Countryside Invitational (race report below).  Then went to Riley's swim meet at the Y - where she swam a relay (just under 30 in the 50 Fly) and then;

PM run - after Riley's race I went into the gym and did 9 miles on the treadmill.  First 2 miles at a moderate warm up and then 7 miles at 6:24 pace (1% grade).  Very good tempo run.  Was going to do 6 miles but felt good enough to do an extra mile.  Great workout after feeling so flat and tired on Sunday.  The day off really helped.  Started reading Matt Fitzgerald's Brain Training for Runners.

Delaney had another PR today - running 22:58 in the 5k on the same course that last week she ran 24:39.  Better competition and I think perhaps better feel for the course.  Dropped 1:43 in one week off of her best time.  She was 4 on her squad again and 22nd overall in a much deeper field than last week's 6 way meet.  We thought her goal should be to run in the 23's by the end of the season - but it looks like we will need to reset some new goals.  The winning time in the race today was around 20:15. 

PM - lunchtime 6.0 mile run.  Very hot and humid again today.  Quads were heavy after last night's tempo run on the treadmill.  Did not run particularly fast, but the perceived effort was more difficult than it perhaps should have been.  Scheduled to do another run later today.  See how I feel later.

AM - treadmill / track workout.  2 x mile @ 5:50 pace; 2 min rest; 2 x 1/2 mile @ 2:45 w/ 1.5 min rest; 4 x 1/4 mile at 78 secs w/ 1 min rest.  2 mile warm up 1 mile cool down - total of 7 miles.  Felt very heavy, and not really up for the speed of the workout when I started this morning.  I don't usually do my fast workouts before 6 am - but a busy work schedule today made this my only option.  The second mile of the was pretty ragged - I was suffering at the end of it.  The halves were fine - and the quarters (except for one that I did at 75) were on the edge but manageable mentally and physically. 

May squeeze in an easy 3 later today if my schedule permits.  There is a 5k on Saturday evening in Dunedin - The Dunedin Brewery 5k - to kick off OctoBEERfest month.  May do that if I feel recovered enough from the two quality workouts this week and the weather cooperates.   

PM - easy 4.0 mile recovery run at lunchtime.  Felt pretty good considering I had done the hard workout earlier this morning. 

PM - lunchtime run.  7.0 miles easy on the treadmill to stay out of the heat.  Decided today to to a 5k tomorrow morning - so kept the pace very light. 

The time is not indicative of the effort or the actual distance for this race.  It was actually over 3.2 miles on my GPS Garmin - Very "hilly" course for Florida.  Run  went from downtown Clearwater at Coachman park.  Started at the bottom of the hill on Drew and then turned onto Osceola right on the Court and the across the Bridge to the Clearwater Memorial Causeway.  The elevation of the Bridge is about 100 ft and so the first mile was a start with a sharp uphill then a gradual incline to the bridge which then has about a .3 of a mile of another sharp climb to the top.  Then down the other side and turn around and back over the bridge.  Coming back the course did not give the full benefit of the downhill of the bridge but instead went down a "helix" (sort of spiral ramp to the road below) then back up another hill.  I was right at 6 min pace at the 2 mile mark - but really suffered a bit on the uphill third mile and though I was at about 18:35 at three miles - the finish line location was evidently mismeasured.  Came in 5th overall.  Felt as though I gave this a better effort  than my most recent 5k - and really for the most part, handled a non-typical Florida course pretty well. 

Immediately left race to drive to Brandon to catch Delaney's club soccer game - missed the first 15 minutes or so.  Then went to delicious late breakfast with Tracy and Delaney at Mimi's Cafe. 

PM - 16.0 long run pace.  Was planning to do this early this morning but ended up out later than expected, so I thought I would do this in the middle of the day.  Not wanting to get on the treadmill I though if I had enough water with a camelbak and a hat, I would be able to deal with the heat.  Ended up ok - though, I was planning to do 18-20, but when the heat started to take over my heartrate, I decided to end the run.  Was probably in the mid 90's with 65% humidity. 

AM - early - 4.0 mile easy recovery run through Autumn Woods and Enniswood.  First two miles was tight and slow until I was completely warmed up by the last mile. 

Rest day - by default.  Had to awaken early for a flight for work.  Good news was that I had breakfast with Doug in Tallahassee - but did not get home until 7 pm and then had to attend a soccer meeting for my daughter - so no run time even available.  Probably good though.  I think I am perhaps a bit overtrained.  Have a number of the symptoms muscle soreness, fatigue, reduced concentration, apathy, irritability, decreased performance, decreased enthusiasm for training etc.  Will take it easy for the next few days - may try to race on Saturday.

AM - 6.0 miles easy to moderate pace.  Actually did not feel like running at all this morning, and was in a bit of a negative mood - a fair bit of it probably work related stress.  Anyway, went out the door with no real plan but to see how it would go.  First 800 meters was a bit ragged and noticed some discomfort around my previously injured left foot but ended up moving into a decent pace and focused on form most of the run.  Ran a good bit faster than a normal training run but slower than marathon race pace.  Felt less negative afterward.  Think the day off helped.  Workday is unlikely to render another run opportunity for me today.

AM - early 10.0 miles.  Never felt very good for this run.  Quite humid still.  Planning to incorporate some improvements in nutrition and diet to help give me a lift.  Weighed in at 143 this morning.

PM - lunchtime easy run with some striders.  Still quite warm/hot but good bit less humidity - so conditions were better than normal.  Legs felt heavy and sluggish.  Did the striders in mile 3 and then did some surging/fartlek type of running in the last mile.  Thought occurred to me that at one time in my running life this would probably have been my average workout whereas now it is an easy day or in my mind as close to a "zero" day as I ever will consider doing.

Not sure I would call this a real race report as I did this one as a confidence builder to run at marathon race pace for part of the race and then let go. Ran with my training partner, Richie who kept us at 6:50 pace through 3 miles and then I let go and averaged 6:18 the last three miles - was a good workout and gave me some reassurance regarding race pace for the marathon next month. Felt very comfortable and almost slow in the first part of the race and Richie had to keep reigning me in. Weather was much better this week in the 70's and lower humidity. Ran 41:25 and was 27th overall - had I raced the whole thing I felt reasonably sure I could have gone 38 or 39 mins today or better.

PM - did an easy 6.5 mile recovery run this evening.  Did an ice bath thereafter - first time I have tried it.  Brrr. 

PM - easy to moderate 6.0 mile recovery run.  Weather was good - much less humidity and mid 80's - felt like Fall.

PM - at the gym, did 20 miles on the treadmill.  Richie joined me for the first 10 miles or so, mostly running, but taking time to stretch and chat and show me some core exercises I should incorporate in my strength training.  Felt fine running at 7:30 pace with a 1% grade for most of the way.  Started feeling a little crappy at 16 miles so in mile 17 I ran a marathon race pace mile - to change things up.  That wore me out, so I ran the last two  miles at 7:40 pace with no incline.  LOL.  Drank a myoplex protein drink and some gatorade and then did an ice bath when I got home.  Rob, thanks for the suggestion to use swim jammers with the ice bath - that made it a little more tolerable.  Little bit concerned about feeling rough toward the end, but still have time to be rested before the race and I am training pretty hard.

PM - lunchtime run - easy recovery run - first few miles were around 8 - 8:30 then increased to comfortable 7:30's or better but still in recovery feel.  Richie met me at the trail around the lake at Feathersound at the end of the run and took me through a core strength training routine for about 20 mins that pretty much nearly killed me.  Then I jogged back to the gym. 

AM - early start - 9.0 miles or so including warm up and cool down - track workout.  Richie met me at the Palm Harbor Middle School track at 5:30 am.  Cruise intervals with short rest.  3 x. 1 mile and 3 x 800.  Plan was to do the miles at 6:20 with a short rest and then the halves at 3 mins with a shorter rest.  Did the miles all at 6:10 - 6:13 and the halves all at 2:53- 2:55.  2.5 min rest on the miles and 1 min rest on the halves.  I was pretty tired/fatigued from Monday's 20 miler and yesterday's strength / core training and was not mentally up for this workout.  Richie was constantly in my ear pushing me through - can't thank him enough for the commitment - the track was dark (no lights) so at one point he found a flashlight app on his i-phone and ran next to me for a while shining the light on the track!  LOL.

Felt good to get the workout done - and pushed through some tired mental thoughts today.

PM - lunchtime recovery run of 6.0 miles.  Kept it light and easy - then did buttkicks, high knees, bounding and striders at the end.  Followed up with core/strength work for about 15 mins in gym.  Quite sore still from my first day of core work on Tuesday.

Rest day

AM - 10 miles total - 2 mile warm up with 8 miles at marathon race pace.  Did not feel all that great this morning - but decided to push through it.  Felt good about mental toughness of running on a day when it would have been my preference to back off the pace when I wasn't feeling it.

AM - easy 8.0 miles recovery run.  Had some stomach issues yesterday and was still feeling them this morning, but had a nice relaxing run quite early before the sun was up this morning. 

AM - took an early and long lunch to cover 14.0 miles on the treadmill at about 7:25 pace.  Felt very relaxed and comfortable at that pace. 

Rest day.

Early AM - 8 x 800 at 2:55 w/ 90 second rest.  Did these with Richie at the park / lake in Carillon at 6 am.  4.0 miles of warm up and cool down.  Felt like I was working as hard as I could with this short rest.  Good confidence builder workout.  Richie ran part of a few with me, having gone to the Rays game last night, he was a bit groggy and perhaps still had a few drinks in him! 

AM - easy 3.0 mile recovery run before work.  Busy days this week including today.

PM - 7.0 miles easy to moderate with last 2 miles at mrp.  Long day at work, stress reliever type run.  Impromptu last 2 miles at mrp just because I felt like pushing it a little bit.  Core / strength work afterwards. 

AM - before work at the gym - treadmill run with "hills" - sort of a fartlek workout.  2 mile warm up at 7:30 pace and then 4 miles of off and on increased grades up to 3% for 3 mins on and a couple of mins off to get a sense of rolling hills for the race next month.  2 mile cool down.  Nice weather coming in for the weekend - will plan to do my last long run outside on Sunday - 3 weeks out.  Felt a little tired today perhaps from the core work last night.  Starting a pre-taper to stay ahead of fatigue after this week.

AM - easy 6.0 mile recovery run.  Very pleasant weather this morning.  Probably the first time since the spring that I needed to wear a shirt to run.

Early AM - 21.0 miles - my last long run before NYC.  Was expecting much cooler drier weather today, but only one of the two happened - which was fine.  Temps in the low 60's but humidity was about 85%.  No worries.  Started very slow the first mile but worked into a comfortable pace.  Ipod lost the battery at 8 miles - so it was just me and the quiet early morning air for the rest of the way.  Second half was much faster and last 6 miles was what I would call a fast finish with the last two miles at mrp.  Pleased with the run this morning in terms of fitness and confidence.

PM - Lunchtime run - easy 3.5 miles recovery followed by core/strength training.  Ran reasonably well - did not feel as though I had done a long run yesterday.  Felt a bit weak and tired after the core work though.

AM - 7.0 miles moderate pace (7:20) after a 2 mile warm up - finished with 7 striders.  Did not feel like running when I awoke this morning - but ran ok once I got moving.  Had some pain on the lower part of my right leg near the shin - almost like shin splints but very localized - no weakness or increased pain with running.  May have tweaked something on Sunday's long run.

PM - lunchtime run on treadmill.  Tempo workout.  2 mile warm up.  5 miles @ 6:17 pace on treadmill at 1% grade.  1 mile cool down.  This was a tough workout for me today.  Around 3.5 miles I moved the grade to .5% but kept the same speed which took just enough edge off for me to finish the last part without too much distress.

AM - 6 mile recovery run at 7:30 pace with 6 striders at the end, followed by core/strength work.  Considering how tired I was late in the day following  yesterday's workout I felt remarkably good this morning.  Delaney has the Dunedin Invitational cross country race later today - my old high school home course...She's hoping to dip under 22 mins today.  Conference and District meets in the next couple of weeks - so hopefully she's peaking at the right time.

AM - on the treadmill.  1 mile warm up.  8 miles at MRP.  (6:48 pace 1% grade) 1 mile cool down.  Felt reasonably comfortable this morning.  Did this workout about 2 weeks ago and had to suffer through it a bit - so was able to see some measurable improvement in feel.

AM - 6.00 mile recovery run plus 6 striders.  Felt very heavy legged this morning.  At UF visiting my daughter for parent's weekend.  As a part of my run this morning I did a mile around the track at the University which was inspirational.  Feeling a bit achy and tired today - not sure if that is as a result of training or if I am getting sick.

PM - 16.0 miles on the treadmill mostly at 7:15 pace.  Felt very good today - was holding back and would love to feel this comfortable on race day.  Still a little achy but I don't think I am getting sick.

Rest day

AM - 6 mile recovery run with 6 striders followed by core/strength work.  Change of plans this morning - was going to do a track workout but my quads had some deep soreness in them.  Will delay the hard workout until tomorrow.

AM - 2 mile warm up then 2 x 2 miles @ 6:15 pace; 2 min recovery; then 1 mile @ MRP (6:50) then 1 mile cool down.  Was a bit tired near the end of each of the two mile intervals - had to really focus to get them done - but was rewarded with feeling great on the 1 mile at MRP.  Good confidence boost workout.

AM - 3.5 miles easy recovery run.  Ran extremely easy and slow and felt very good and refreshed at the end.

AM - 6 miles total.  2 mile warm up and 2 mile cool down.  3 x 800 @ sub 2:55 with 1 min rest was the plan - did 2:47, 2:50 and 2:50.  So hit a little faster than the target, but had solid turnover and pressed the heartrate - but did not have a huge quantity workload today.   

AM - 4.0 easy recovery miles at no faster than 7:50 pace.  Good shake out run - slightly fatigued - but no real soreness or heaviness.  Got 8 hours of sleep - (which is unusual for me - generally 5-6 hours).

PM - 10 miles total.  2 mile warm up then 4 miles at MRP and then 4 miles at 7:30 pace.  Felt very good.  Used the heartrate monitor for the first time in quite a while.  Was able to keep the HR right in the 148-150 range at MRP - which gave me a boost of confidence.

Planned rest day.

AM - easy to moderate pace 4.5 miles.  Ran a couple at 7:15 pace just to keep from feeling so slow.  Warm humid morning here - weather forecast for the race will be 25 degrees colder than this morning.  Brrr.  But good.

AM - 5.0 miles - warm up run to the track then 4 x 400 @ 85 seconds w/ 1 min recovery then 2 x 200 @ 38-40, then cool down back home.  Just a short workout to keep from "rusting" during the taper.  Felt fine - did not push the pace very hard.  Because there was no light at the track and the bezel on the FR 405 was acting up, I did not see any of the times until I went home to download.  Just went by feel.  Seemed to have locked in on the pace for each one. 

Feeling a bit jittery (too much caffeine and carbs?) - two long stressful workdays ahead of me.  Yesterday my traps and upper arms felt achy and fatigued - not so much today.  Weird.  Hate the things tapering seems to do to my body...

AM - easy 3.0 miles - felt ok - not great (blame it on taper).  Busy day ahead at work.

Planned rest day.  Quite nervy and jittery again today.  Carb loading, hydrating and resting.  Long work day yesterday, but got 7.5 hours of sleep last night.  Two members of my family are sick -- gotta hold it off for a couple more days!

AM - in NYC - did an easy loosen up 2.5 mile run into Central Park and along the route to the finish line.  Weather is great, I felt good and very excited in anticipation of running tomorrow. 

Delaney had her high school cross country district meet in Sarasota this morning while I was en route to NY, and had a breakthrough race - she ran 21:36 for the 5k and was first on her team - that was represented nearly a one minute improvement on her personal best.  She did not know at time of her text and call to me if the team finished high enough to advance to regionals - but I would have to say it was a great time for her to peak at what may have been her last race of this season.  I was extremely pleased and proud and even inspired by her performance especially as a freshman and knowing how we ran together through the summer for her base training. 

So I had a pretty successful race today in NYC.  3:01.17 which was a PR by over 8 mins (and over 12 years ago in fact).  I was hoping to go sub 3 hours, but I came up a little short.  No worries, I am quite pleased with my time and my effort.  Richie came up to NY with me as my adopted coach - and brought a pancake breakfast to my hotel room this morning at 4:45 am.  Rode with me over to Staten Island on the ferry to see me off and then ran with me from miles 17 to 22 - constantly giving me encouragement and barking out "coaching" advice the whole way.  I had a slowish start, as my garmin gps did not work in the first mile where my starting wave was on the lower deck of the bridge - so no reception and I really was quite cold and did not know how fast or slow I was going. 

I thought I was into an avg 6:52 pace by the halfway mark - but looking at the text updates, it appears that I was a bit slower than that in reality.  Anyway, I kept my pace at a manageable heartrate of no more than 160 beats per minute but mostly around 156 for much of the early part of the race.  Somehow I slowed going over the 59th street bridge much more substantially than I had thought - and had a couple of miles over 7 mins.  Again, the gps did not work on the lower deck of that bridge.  When I connect with Richie at 17, he pressed the pace and I wondered why - and he kept telling me if I wanted to break 3 hours I was going to have to work for it, and run 6:40 miles the rest of the way.  I really was starting to suffer - but he kept me in it - and at least according to my watch, I clipped off some sub 6:40 miles. 

The last 3 miles are primarily uphill - and I think I slowed on  them slightly - but I worked very hard the last mile and felt like I gave it all I had - satisfied that I had not made any errors or mistakes but did the best I could do on the day. 

Heading out now to celebrate...

Awoke spontaneously at 4 am and could not get back to sleep - so I did some work and went to breakfast - and then walked for about a mile in the city - down to the Today show where there were a bunch of marathon finishers lined up to get on TV.  Was very dreary, windy and spitting rain with some snow flurries.  Glad we had such nice weather yesterday.

Recovery week.  Did 2 miles on the elliptical at the gym followed by a mile outside around the lake at lunchtime - very easy.  Leg soreness a bit more pronounced today from yesterday, but once I got moving, I felt ok.  Mainly just wanted to get outside in the nice weather and away from my desk for a break.  Still enjoying the memory of the race this weekend and recounting it to anyone who asks.

Complete day of rest

Lunchtime - easy 2.5 miles around the lake at Carillon - Caught my expected post-marathon cold - so I wanted to get out into the fresh air and move around a little.  Still some lingering soreness in the quads and calves but nothing significant. 

Lunchtime run - 4.0 miles easy - to moderate.  Still have a pretty bad cold, but could not resist running in the very comfortable temps again today in the sunshine - Legs feel almost normal - calves are still slightly tight and sore. 

AM - in Gainesville - had just enough time for a quick 4 miles in cool weather (low 50's) - was happy to see my speed was good - avg'd 7:25 with last mile under 7 mins.  No lingering soreness - now just need to re-set some race plans and goals and resume training.

AM - easy to moderate 5.5 miles.  Longest run in over a week.  Feels like there is some rust in the tank - not completely fresh yet in recovery.  Have a long cycling event this weekend, so need to do a couple of rides this week to reacclimate to the bike, perhaps the cross training will do me some good.

Went to the gym at lunchtime and did 20 mins on the stationary bike and then stretching and core/strength work for 30 mins. 

AM - 25 mins on the bike this morning in the neighborhood.  Easy ride to get the blood flowing.

Lunchtime - 4.5 miles easy to moderate with Richie.  He ran 7 this morning so we shortened our planned 6 mile run when he was feeling a bit tired.  Did 20 mins of core/strength work thereafter in the gym.

Lunchtime run 7.5 miles - generally at 7:30 to 7:45 pace with Richie.  Quite a bit warmer today and I felt rather fatigued and tired at the end of this one.  Longest run since the marathon - and I noticed it.

Afternoon - 6.0 miles easy to moderate with Richie through Carillon and Feathersound.  Very breezey day - with the temperature dropping a bit.  Good stress-reducing run on a very tense work day. 

Lunchtime run 8.0 miles in 58 mins - did the dump run.  Temps were pleasant - still a bit windy.  Ran this as a progression run with the last mile being at marathon pace.  Felt good most of the run - but knew I was pushing it at the end.  Longest and hardest run I have done since NYC 12 days ago. 

Rest day

Cycling - Did an event in Clermont Florida called the "Horrible Hundred" - 100 miles of cycling around central Florida outside of Orlando.  Actually probably one of the few places in the state where a course can be laid out to have "rolling hills."  Very few flats on this ride that my high school friend Craig Oldham asked me to do with him a few months ago.  He lives about an hour away from me, and we may see each other once per year and exchange emails or phone calls every now and then.  He had done it last year and had a very difficult time with poor training but this year was much better prepared.  Unfortunately in the first "climb" of the day (about a half mile at 8% grade) his chain jumped off when he was changing gears and jammed between the spokes and the cassette.   I was out in front of him, and was unaware of his mechanical problems.  But he got some assistance and was up and heading down the hill behind me when I circled back to check on him.  Shortly after that, it happened again, this time snapping a spoke and forcing the wheel out of true to where the bike was unusable - this time I did not know he had stopped.   He reached me on my cell when I got to the first rest stop at mile 17 and let me know he had gotten a ride with a mechanic to the next rest stop where I met him only to find out that they were not equipped to make that complex of a repair - so his ride was over for the day after only 10 miles of riding.  He encouraged me to continue to ride and refused when I offered to pull out or give him my bike.

He had a few other friends who had their wives in the event too -and I rode with them for a time, but the pace was very slow and they were sort of recreational cyclists and so, I ended up riding the rest of the way alone after the second rest stop.  There were very few riders in groups working together (which was surprising for an event with 2000 cyclists) and I never really latched on to anyone or two riders for very long.  The course was at times scenic but it became quite warm (in the 80's) and very windy - which combined with the lack of any long flats - made it a rather choppy - less than enjoyable ride for the last hour to hour and a half.  The "hills" were significant for people who are unaccustomed to them especially because they were so numerous - but none were very long or even approached the mountain climbs I did in the French Alps this summer.  Would have been nice to have a triple chain ring on a couple of the hills especially since I have been really only running (no cycling) for the last few months and did not have great riding leg strength. 

Met Craig after the ride at the finish area and shared lunch with him.  He was quite dissappointed with his mechanical problems but was circumspect enough to know that there will be other rides.  I had stayed with him the night before with his family at his home in Lithia so I was glad that I got to visit with them and share the drive over to the event even though we had a short time of sorts actually cycling.

Lunchtime run - 5.0 miles through Feathersound and Carillon.  Warm day - but felt ok after the first mile or so of shaking out the tightness of yesterday's long ride.

Easy to moderate 5.0 miles on treadmill.  Racing tomorrow.

Had a nice Thanksgiving Day tradition race this morning.  My three daughters and my nephew lined up early for a 5k "Wing Ding" and Richie and I paced my youngest daughter Delaney through a 21:55 race - which is her second best 5k time.  My other daughters and nephew sand bagged a bit and finished together.  My wife took pictures and held sweatshirts while we ran. 

About an hour later Richie and I lined up to run the 10k.  We had talked about running even 6:30's as he is getting back into shape for a February marathon.  Instead we cruised through the first 3 miles at 6:15 pace and were running along with one of the eventual top female finishers.  We had been trading turns on the lead, but at that mile mark Richie pushed the pace just when I was starting to feel a little off.  So I backed off and ran a 6:36 mile followed by a 6:30 then 6:38 -  Richie fell off the pace at 5 miles and finished 39:48 a couple of places in front of me.  I was pleased with the race overall - having not really done any fast training since the marathon 3 weeks ago - and having just done the Horrible Hundred cycling event on Sunday. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

PM - 10.25 miles easy to moderate.  Was planning to make this a recovery day - but I felt fine following yesterday's race - and probably had adequate glycogen stores from all of the Thanksgiving food - so my muscles were not sore and well stocked.  Ran most of the miles betweent 7:20 to 7:30 which was comfortable, not pushing, but not recovery easy either.

AM - 5.0 miles easy before church this morning.  Cool day to start, in low 50's.  Felt fine.

AM - early start this morning - 10 miles easy.  Not a bad run, but feeling like I may be getting something.  Headache and a bit acidic / heartburny feeling this morning - very unusual for me.  Busy work week ahead, so will be getting my runs in before work in the mornings.

PM - after a long frantic day of work I hit the gym/treadmill for a speed workout.  I did an old workout that I had not done in years.  Pretty basic - 2 mile warm up then it is an "50/20" run.  I run 50 seconds "on" and then 20 seconds "off".  With the "on" segments I run at 11.5 mph and then drop it down to 7 mph for the "off" segments at a 1% grade.  I do these for 15 mins then a 2 mile cool down. The first few are manageable, but the last few really become challenging.  Was really pleased with the workout, but then disappointed that the gym shut down the front desk where I wanted to buy a protein shake and gatorade for the drive home. 

AM - easy 3.0 mile recovery run in the cold and rain.  Needed a shake out run from the workout last night.  Hoping to get a second run later in the day.

Lunchtime run - 6.0 miles on the treadmill at 7:08 pace.  I would call that a steady state run rather than "easy."  A work colleague hopped on the treadmill next to me and we chatted the whole time.  Enjoyable run. 

My gym has begun offering VO2 Max testing for a fee.  I was their first customer today. 

I have not ever had VO2 Max testing done before - but was curious about what my score would be and interested to see what type of "prescription" they provide to me for training to improve performance. 

It was fairly straight forward - They had me in a private room with a Woodway treadmill (nice) - had me do a warm up and then attached a mask to my face which had some tubes connected to a device connected to a computer - and they had a blood pressure cuff on one arm and a heartrate monitor strap.  I started at 7 mph and every 2 mins they increased the incline or grade by 2% until I could go no further.  The tech checked my bp every two minutes and asked me to point on a sheet on a scale of 6-20 (20 being worst) how I was feeling.  When I got to 13 mins I was over 180 on my heartrate and knew I had only a limited amount of time left.  I thought the test was for 16 mins so I felt like I sucked when I had to call it quits just after 14 mins.

I then cooled down and they continued to monitor my HR and BP and then they went over the data.  Much to my surprise my VO2 Max was 72. 

I have an appointment next week with the guy who will run the data into a report with a prescription for improving the VO2 max and my performance. 

Lunchtime run 5.0 miles - cool but comfortable day in the upper 50's and breezey.  I ran really easy - but probably faster per mile than I wanted with a race tomorrow morning.  But it felt good. 

Had a good race this morning. Race was around a mall parking lot - several hills and many turns. It was two laps which was problematic on the second lap because of an abundance of walkers. Similar to the video game Frogger I was forced to weave in and around folks. Richie had a great race - with a 17:51 finish time and 9th overall. I ran through the first mile with him at 5:49 but he was feeling very strong and I told him to go. Another friend Brian Darrow who has his own blog www.arunnersblog.com was with us as well. He ran a PR of 18:55 today. Another friend - Justin came to the race too. We had a great time and had breakfast together afterwards. I was pleased with the race - I ran 6:01 and 6:05 for miles 2 and 3 - so I was consistent. It was the best time I have run for a 5k in at least 5 years.

* Officially I was first in my age group - but Richie actually won the age.  However they recorded his age as 71 instead of 41 on his registration - so they awarded him the Grand Masters trophy - astounded at the speed of his race at 71 years of age.  :)

Recovery run of 10 miles on the treadmill - I used the treadmill to keep my pace even and to assure that I did not begin to run too quickly as is my tendency. I kept my heartrate mostly below 150 for this run which was about 7:45 pace.

Lunchtime run - on the treadmill - it is actually about 51 degrees outside and very windy - so because I forgot to pack any long sleeve shirts, I stayed indoors. 7:15 pace on 2% incline for most of the run. Really was planning a day off today, but thought the run may help as a stress reliever. Not sure why I pushed the pace more than casual except that I did run really slowly yesterday and did not want to do it two days in a row. Planning to do a quality workout tomorrow - schedule permitting.

PM run - Cruise interval workout on treadmill. 5 x 1 mile at 6:19 with 1 min rest at 1.5% grade.  Two mile warm up and 1 mile cool down.  This was a tough workout for me today.  I selected the pace based on Daniel's VDOT formula.  I started to suffer near the end of the 4th mile and cut it short at just over 5 mins - then resumed the last one at a slightly slower pace of 6:30 hoping to just do 800 meters, but I pushed through and completed the full mile.  Pleased that I was able to work through rough part of the work out.

Lunchtime run - easy 5 miles. Chilly still in low 50's and windy - but a nice run to shake out yesterday's workout. Surprised how quick my pace was when I was just really running easy/to feel.

PM -  tempo workout on the treadmill.  20 min warm up at moderate pace; 20 mins at 6:26 pace 1.5% - then 20 min cool down.  This was a challenging workout to maintain the pace especially the last 5 mins.  Not sure why the treadmill seems more difficult this week - even more so than races - except that I have been using 1.5% grade instead of 1%.

Planned day off.

AM - 3.0 easy miles with Delaney with some striders afterwards.  Doing a half marathon tomorrow so wanted to be fresh.  Nice chat with Delaney about her plans for track and cross country next year.

After much trepidation about this race regarding the time on a Sunday morning and needing to get to church by 10 am - I went ahead with it on a tight schedule. 

Not a spectacular time - though faster than I did this race two years ago - this was a very good competitive effort for me today.  The conditions which were not terrible - low 60's with 85% humidity and windy just did not permit my heartrate to maintain the 6:30 pace or better pace I had hoped to run today. 

I made a conscious choice to keep my heart rate below AT for at least the first 8 miles - so that meant when it approached 167, I had to keep my pace in check - which resulted in a number of miles in the low 6:40 pace. 

Richie and I started together and ran until the 2 mile mark where after we had just run two consecutive 6:38's Richie decided to have a go at 6:30's for himself - and I bid him good luck.  Ironically, I actually ran the next mile at 6:30 - but then as we climbed a bridge over the intra costal waterway to the mainland - my pace slowed to 6:47 and my heart rate spiked up to 172.  So, I smoothed things out on the downhill side and kept Richie in my sights - though he was pulling away. 

I nevertheless began to target other runners in front of me after the 5 mile mark and really started to roll after the 7 mile mark to the point where when I came on a runner at mile 9 he declared that my pace was strong and I only had 4 miles left.  I clipped off two 6:30 miles but then was slowed on a bridge/overpass on the next one to 6:42.  So although I was feeling as though I was running pretty quickly, my pace was a bit inconsistent . 

I started to see what I thought was Richie as we approached the turn into Taylor Park just after mile 11 - and I thought he looked like he was coming back to me.  As we rounded the corner a spectator let me know I was the 15th male overall - and I could see two runners in front of me and they were beginning to reel Richie in. 

I really wanted to catch him, but as we made our way around the lake, we turned into a pretty strong headwind, and the course became an undulating and uneven dirt path for most of the last mile.  When we finally hit the road again I simply ran out of race to catch them.  I think he finished 1:26:52 - and I was about a tenth of a mile behind him.  Later he told me that he held the 6:30's until mile 10 and then went into the "hurt locker" where he just hung on to the finish.  We really probably could have run together.

Anyway, so while I was not so thrilled with the time, I took away some positives:  I ran a very controlled and competetive race where I had no one pass me in the race, and was still working to reel in runners in front of me all the way to the end. 

BTW - I ran from the finish to my car and then drove to church 45 mins away  - changed clothes in the parking lot and made it with a few minutes to spare.

Easy recovery run of 6.0 miles on the treadmill at the gym with Richie.  Very cold and windy outside - so this was a nice easy run to chat about the race yesterday.

PM - run on treadmill since the temperature outside believe it or not is colder here in Florida than it is in SLC according to Rob.  6 miles at moderate pace (7:20) then 3 miles at marathon race pace.  Felt pretty comfortable with the pace during the workout.

Rest day

AM - 4.5 easy miles with temps in the mid 30's .... brrr.  Will hopefully get a second workout later day.

Lunchtime run - 5.0 miles.  Richie and I went for a run at lunch - started off very easy and never really went too fast, he said his calf was tweaked and he's had some issues with that off and on for the last few months - so we made it a short 3 mile loop, went back to the gym where I did a couple more miles on the treadmill and he used the stairmaster, which apparently does not aggravate his calf.  The weather turned very nice today, sunny in the low 60's.  We met up with another colleague from my office and had lunch together afterwards - stretching the limits of a lunch "hour" nearly into two. 

Unplanned rest day - was very busy at work and then travel to WVA at the end of the day.

Easy 7.0 miles in cold conditions - 25 degrees with snow and ice and wind.  Supposed to be on vacation but some work related matters kept me tied to the computer and the phone for much of the day - so needed to take a break as a stress reliever in the afternoon.  Unfortunately the very cold wind seemed to add more stress then it relieved.  This Florida boy is not used to the cold.  Ran up a rails to trails path from Moundsville to Glen Dale  and then looped back around on the main room back through town ( which has one stop light on the main street through "business district" in  the town). 

Good to get out, though I feel some discomfort on the top of my left foot over the first metatarsal - having suffered through a stress fracture last year at the second metatarsal on the same foot - I am going to take a few days off from running to give the foot a rest.

Rest Day

In an effort to keep from exacerbating a possible foot injury - I went to the local gym and did 45 mins on a stationary bike followed by some core work.  Really did not like it very much.  Every time someone walked in the front door, cold (20 degrees) air would blow in on my back.  I always have a hard time with staying away from running due to injury.  I have no reason for anxiety over it, there is only some tenderness / discomfort over the top of the foot - which is very slight - and I am not in the middle of training for a major race - so I should just take it easy.  Unfortunately, I always notice how much I enjoy running, when I am unable to do it. 

5.0 Easy miles - early morning crisp 28 degrees - test run on the questionably injured foot.  Felt no pain or discomfort and really enjoyed the run after the first couple of miles after being inside all day yesterday with work. 

Morning run - 9.0 miles - 25 degrees and light snow coming down as I headed out.  Did one of my favorite runs here in WV.  Up Round Bottom Hill (primarily because I just like the name of the road) which is about a 1.5 to 2.0 mile climb up to a ridge that parallels the Ohio River below.  It is quiet steep at 7-8% grade but I take it easy because it is more about enjoying the scenery.   This morning was great, with the snow falling and not a car in sight - I made my way along a cemetary near the top of the climb - quiet and peaceful.  Felt like an early Christmas present to be enjoying a run with nature.   The descent is likewise steep and by the time I finished and my face was thawed out - I really felt my quads got a workout today. 

PM - 10 miles easy in a steady snow in the 20's again today. Ran on the river trail for part of the run which had a good snow accumulation - so I was crunching a slipping a bit. Nice enjoyable Christmas day run after a morning of opening presents and visiting with family.

5.0 miles easy this AM on a treadmill in LA.  Had an unfortunate couple of days.  Following my run on Saturday - later in the evening I got sick, possibly food poisoning, which lasted through the evening and most of Sunday.  Was too dehydrated and tired on Sunday or Monday to run, but then had to make an unexpected trip to LA for business - which turned into a difficult ordeal because I had to fly from my inlaws location near Pittsburgh, through Philadelphia which was hit by the snow storm Sunday evening which caused delays at the airports.  So, instead of arriving in LA around 11 pm Monday night, I arrived at 3:45 am PST Tuesday morning.   Took a short nap, went for a run on the treadmill and headed into my meetings.  Today's run was not so good - but I expected that.  Hopefully, things will improve this week.

AM - managed to squeeze in 6 miles on the treadmill at my hotel early this morning.  Heavy rains in LA - (which I guess is not too common) - so I decided not to venture outside to run.  Looking forward to a trip home late this evening.