Bret

PM - early morning heavy thunderstorms kept me in bed this morning, probably for the best as I got another hour and a half of sleep.  Pretty much rained all day - and I even took a nap (Bam-style) this afternoon.  Went out for an aerobic recovery run after 6 pm when the rains had stopped.  Did 12 miles fairly steady recovery pace - but felt fine.  Very buggy and stilly quite humid in the 90% range and tropical in feel.  Ran into a spider web that was so thick and strong that it kept one of my eyelids from opening until I could peel it away.  Really hoping for some fall-like weather to blow in soon....

AM - just an easy shake out 4 miles this morning before work.  Felt a little nausea before I went out, so took it very easy and kept it short.  Felt fine after eating some breakfast.  

PM - 8 miles on the treadmill at lunchtime (to avoid the muggy weather).  Wore the HR monitor for the first 15 mins and found everything to be back in order (no longer elevated).  I think the extra rest yesterday combined with the medium/long run at aerobic effort was a good reboot. 

AM - easy 5 miles before work. Had an option to travel down to St. Pete early this morning to do some track work with Richie - but did not sleep well and decided in the end to do a workout at the end of the day today instead.  

PM - VO2 Max workout 5 x 800 with 90 second rest.  Ran over to the high school to run on the better track this evening but the gates were all closed and locked and there were teams and personnel on the practice field so I decided not to climb the fence.  Instead I thought I would do the workout on the roads using the Garmin workout feature - set for half mile intervals.  The good thing about that feature is the alarm tells you when you have completed the rep and when the recovery/rest is over.  The unfortunate thing is that unless you have the watch set only to show your distance/time/pace (which I have not done - instead I have three scrolling screens of other information) the watch does not display your time for each interval when completed - in fact not until I was done with the whole workout could I check the results.  I wore the heart rate monitor and was able to see how much my HR was blowing up though.  Anyway - I averaged about 2:55 which was not bad for a lack of real feedback and being on some uneven and rolling roads (never noticed how many undulations a road has until you are running for time on them).  Heartrate told me I was well over the anaerobic threshold for all of them.  So it was an honest effort.  I think the reps I did last Tuesday morning on the track at about 2:46-47 pace were perhaps a tad short or the GPS tonight was a bit long - either way I got a good workout in the books.

AM - 4.5 miles at an easy recovery pace.  Humidity was down to 79% this morning so that made for an almost pleasant feeling air.  Felt very good - blood volumes are probably still up from yesterday's workout - but had a good positive attitude and feel this mornnig about the progress of my training thus far. 

PM - Only had time for 7 miles on the treadmill at lunchtime.  Again felt very good.   

AM - 6 miles easy before work with loops around the Enniswood and Autumn Woods neighborhoods.  Did not feel quite as good as I did yesterday.  

PM - 8 miles easy - the "dump run".  From my office park down past the solid waste facility / landfill on a hot humid summer like day with the stench of the dump and the surrounding stagnant ditch water along the road.  Character building for sure.  Wore the ipod for a distraction.  Dylan's newest "The Tempest" - little bleak - apropos for the dump run of course.    

AM - only had time for an easy 4 before early morning work meetings.  It will be a stressful day today.  Expecting a stress-relieving run later this evening will be required.

PM - 8 miles easy after work.  Legs felt flat.   

AM - early start at 5:30 am.  Met Richie in downtown Clearwater.  He brought Justin with him which was great because Justin is not quite as fit as us, which kept us from pushing the pace too early.  He ran the big loop with us (13 miles) and stayed close for the first 7 or so.  The Bellair bridge and the subsequent climb up West Bay did him in.  We circled back for him a couple of times and kept our pace right at 7:30's until we got back to the cars.  He finsihed there and then Richie and I went back out to do an out and back over the bridge at some marathon paced miles.  Unfortunately I was straining to hold it together after 2 of those miles - so, I grabbed a drink at the marina and told Richie to keep going.  Turns out he went south on the beach and I went north.  I got another marathon paced mile in and then had to slow back to 7:30-7:45 pace.  Last two miles were even slower going back over the bridge.  Turns out Richie only had one more fast mile in him than me.  We sat at the fountain at City Hall soaking our feet afterwards.  I was completely spent.