Bret

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.