The Long Run

3.12 + 4.31 +1.49, about 9:50ish average overall

Broken up run, last day at sea after leaving Haiti, running on the ship's running track.  Pretty happy with the vacation miles, glad the track was a pretty good length (2.4 laps to a mile or just over 0.4 miles each loop).

18.52 mi, 2:56:16, 9:31 avg, HR 134 bpm

Afternoon noon after getting back from the cruise.  Kind of worried I wouldn't get started in time.  Weather was great, mid 50's I think.  Ran from my house, over to the new trail heading north towards 54, then across to Starkey Blvd and then ran into Starkey Park until I reached a water stop. But, the cooler was mostly out of water, although I managed to top off my bottle by tilting the cooler back, so had enough water to wash down the gel.

It was an easy pace but I felt really slow and clunky at first, not sure I'd even break a 10 minute pace, but it did get better and second half of run was low 9:00's and a few high 8:00's

Longest run since the marathon.  This did top off a 70 mile week (if you count to Sunday) after getting about 50 miles while on the cruise ship.

4.3 mi, 42:03, 9:46 avg, HR 129 bpm, elev gain 147 feet

Run from Westlake Village, out to Nebraska, up Omaha and back onto Alderman, then two loops around the Westlake Park stopping twice at the pull-up bar for some pull ups.

Trouble getting started, wanted to skip so opted for a better than nothing run along with some route variety.  Nice cool morning again but overdressed with a long sleeve top that had me sweaty by the end of the run.

Trying to be consistent with a blog entry on each run day instead of falling behind and never quite catching up.

6.49 mi, 1:03:15, 9:44 avg, HR 130 bpm

Still felt very unready to run so decide I'd just go out as slow as possible.  This got me going, at first it was like a 12:00 pace but it slowly got faster with less effort.

Slightly new route but not really.  From Westlake, out onto Alderman, left onto Omaha, and then right onto Columbia near PHU H.S., then over to Pinellas Trail and south.  

I did do better at not starting so late (out the door before 8:00) and back before Jessica and Sophia left, and then not into work too late.

5.39 mi, 50:20, 9:20 avg, HR 134 bpm

Square loop around from Westlake Village, down Belcher to Nebraska, then up Omaha back to Alderman, and finished up with small loop on part of Village Way.  Started out slow again but not as slow as yesterday.  Garmin rewarded me at the end with +1 on my vo2 max, back to 54, it had been holding steady at 53 after having come down from a peak of 56 at the end of marathon training, so maybe the 70 mile week helped.

Massage after the run which also helped make me feel ready for next weekend's big race.

6.57 mi, 58:16, 8:52 avg, HR 142 bpm

Ran from my house over to the Lake Dan trail, heading south almost all the way to Keystone.  Was hoping to get in at least 5 miles but went a little bit farther once I got out 2.5 miles.  I guess the massage yesterday helped.  Starting out I was still not feeling very fast, but my first mile, although slow was a little bit faster than a lot of my slow first miles.  After the second mile I was running faster than 9:00 pace, but not really looking at my pace, only saw it when my watch beeped each mile.  It was nice and peaceful on the trail.

Andy had some coffee leftover from what he had made, so grabbed some to go on my way to work.

12.02 mi, 2:08:10, 10:39 avg, HR 136 bpm

Preview of the Longhaul Ultra marathon (100 miles), one week from today.  This year's course is 10x10 miles.  Cypress Creek Preserve, one mile out from the gate to "the hub", 1.5 miles south, out and then back, a little bit on the paved road, then north on the "hall of pines", then a little bit farther before turning around and heading back to the paved road.  The third spur starts out like last year but does not have "the crop circle" loop, but is just an out and back instead.

Still a few small fires burning from the proscribed burn.  Not sure if I'm really ready but I'll get through this somehow.   Time limit of 30 hours to qualify for Western States Lottery, 32 hours to be an official race finisher, and 24 hours for the new 24 hour belt buckle this year.

13.45 mi, 2:20:27, 11:11 avg, HR 133 bpm

Longhaul preview part 2 - went back to the Cypress Creek Preserve.  There was a small group running here today, starting at 8:00 am,  to preview the race course, race director Andy and about 10 or so other people.  I got there too late for the start but saw them coming up from the first spur, so I was able to run over and catch up with them.  It was a nice and relaxed easy run with a few walk breaks here and there.  Stopped for a quick group selfie as we got back to the paved road, then continued on to the last spur.  Since I skipped the first spur at the start of the run, ran that by myself and then since I was close to 48 miles for the week, ran about an extra mile or so.

Weather was nice, not too warm and a little bit of cloud cover.

3.52 mi, 41:02, 11:39 avg, no HR data

Run was delayed a little bit due to waiting on washing machine repairperson (repairman in this case).  Once it looked like it would be a little while longer, went for a short run sticking close to the house and carried my phone.  It actually started out as a walk but it slowly turned into a run/walk with mostly running at the end.  

For a run that almost didn't happen, it was better than nothing and maybe what I needed.

5.38 mi, 1:01:07, 11:21 avg, HR 122 bpm

Easy running from Foxwood to the Lake Dan trail.  Today's goal was to practice recharging my garmin while it is in use.  That has been hit or miss in the past, today was a success.  Tucking a USB battery into my running belt and attaching the charging cord after loosening the watch.  Went from 18% to 68% during the run.

Did a little bit of walking here and there to simulate race day.

7.0 mi, 1:13:35, 10:30 avg

First run since the 100 miler.  I'm not sure the last time I took an entire week off of running.  There may appear to be some longer gaps in my blog here and there but those are mostly times I fell behind on blogging.  On Friday, I came close to running but the walk never turned into a run, a little of 2 miles in the neighborhood.  Saturday I slept in a little bit and ended up taking Aubrey to elementary school beautification day which involved some exercise.

So, this morning I met up with Jamie in the neighborhood and we headed toward Trinity Blvd and eventually saw Cynthia (she was running from her house).   We took the new trail north towards SR54 , crossed and went up Starkey about a mile before turning back.  I was the slow person today, slightly behind the ladies although I did keep up overall as they went a little bit faster toward the end.

Jamie was getting new furniture, so after the run I went with Andy to her house and loaded up her love seat in the back of the truck.  So, finally replaced the sofa that Stella chewed up a while ago.  Jamie and Chris were glad it found a new home.

3.28 mi , 38:22, 11:41 avg, elev gain 82 feet

Second run after the big race. Did loop through Westlake Village and onto Belcher and Alderman.  Felt like doing a loop as opposed to an out and back, just a small loop there.

My legs felt ok but not great, I would end up feeling worse later in the day.

I have to be into work earlier than usual tomorrow to do customer training and it seems like a good time to take an off day from running, so no running tomorrow.

4.16. mi, 55:59, 13:26 avg

Still did not feel like running today, so decided on run/walk with Stella because I knew she'd appreciate getting outside.  Ran the new trail, not quite to the end on SR54.  Stella saw lots of storks wading in the trailside water.

5.1 mi, 55:29, 10:53 avg, HR 128 bpm

Another attempt at running and this time finally put in a new battery into the heart rate monitor strap.  Similar route to yesterday, but without Stella and went a little bit onto 54 without crossing (just stayed on the sidewalk a bit until I got just past 2.5 miles out).

It was at least a little bit faster than Monday's run (but not quite as fast as Sunday's run with Jamie and Cynthia).