The Long Run

7.27 mi, 59:58, 8:15 avg

I went right from Jessica's house to Longleaf so I could run on the Starkey Blvd bike path.  I was going to bring a gel for the halfway point but I forgot.  Nice morning so I didn't really need water or anything.  Was good to run non-stop.  First mile was 10:14, last mile was 7:09, with last 4 miles at 7:39 average.

Felt really good overall, no knee problems today.

While I was running Jenny had called to say she had a flat tire and to see if I could drive Tom to school.  I was only about 3 minutes away, so stopped by her house to pick him up, then dropped him off at school.  She was also able to use the combo jump starter/tire inflator I had bought Andy for Christmas to inflate the spare which was also flat.

5.62 mi, 55:43, 9:55 avg

Easy run in the neighborhood with Jamie.  Slower pace throughout with a small pick up for the last 0.62 miles (8:21 pace).

Post run: push-ups 25,35; pull-ups - did Jacob's routine with 6 each which I completed without a questionable rep at the end.  After a short rest tried a max set but only got 11 this time.

Race stats: 13.09 mi, 1:42:56, 7:52 avg

(warm-up: 0.79 mi, 8:05, 10:11 avg)

Ran the half-marathon in Safety Harbor.  No expectations other than to try and push myself a reasonable amount.  Hoping for 1:40-1:45.  Felt pretty good going out, much better than at the start at NYC marathon.  First mile was 7:57, then had 5 good miles averaging in the low 7:30's.  For mile 7 slowed down a little then even more when I stopped to take a gel, next two miles I missed being under 8:00 and then found one more mile sub 8:00 at 7:44.  On track for another sub-8:00 but slowed down too much on a hill.  After mile 10 I mentally felt done as in "10 good miles is good enough", this made it really tough to even stay faster then 9:00 pace. 

Fortunately, Strider friend Rudy came up behind me, gave some encouragement and said something about locking onto a pace.  He pulled ahead of me but I was able to just concentrate on him and soon forgot about my slow pace and caught up.  We ran together for a bit.  He said his brain was getting fuzzy.  I pulled ahead a little bit hoping he'd hang on with me.  My last mile was finally back under 8:00 (7:53), which was slower than last years last mile but was more of a pick back up than last year.

My new garmin told me I had two PRs today, fastest half and fastest 10k (new garmin knows how to make me feel good).  I haven't run this pace for 13 miles since quite some time ago (maybe last spring?).  I've got some work cut out for me and had some good mental practice at staying in the game.

Lots of fun hanging out afterward with big group from the Striders.

2.21 mi, 21:08, 9:33 avg

Just a very short run.  Out and back to the gate and then up and down my street doing random distances, picking it up on the return trip.  Legs a little sore from Saturday's race so keeping it light.

I have a stressful week ahead. I have to travel this evening to conduct training at a customer site tomorrow.  I perform this training one or two times a year, so not often enough to be good at it, but I get through it somehow each time.

2.5 mi, 23:12, 9:17 avg

Ran on the hotel treadmill in Warner-Robbins, GA.  Just enough running to avoid getting a 0 today.  Spent a few minutes on the stationary bike to warm up.

Training turned out ok, then I got on the road about 5:15 and headed back home arriving just before 11:00.

One more stressful thing this week - dentist appointment to deal with two loose crowns and a chipped tooth in addition to the usual cleaning.

5.42 mi, 51:44, 9:32 avg

Easy run with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood.  Good to run with company, felt a lot easier than the past couple of days.

4.61 mi, 44:56, 9:45 avg

Evening run in my neighborhood.  Due to wanting to stay in bed a little longer and worrying about my dental appointment I postponed my run until the evening.  I don't do this very often and always feel a big risk of not doing it.

Fortunately, I did not blow it off.  Felt very slow and tight at the start (I'm usually able to get going easier when I run in the evening but not this time).  I basically did one big loop around my neighborhood with some added side streets.  When I got back to my house, ran to the end of Eveningwood, turned around overshooting my house again and ran out to the gate and then back home.  It felt really long for some reason.  Not that far but farther than 0.0

Dental appointment ok,  two crowns recemented back and made an appointment to add a third crown where my tooth chipped while on vacation.

6.21 mi, 57:06, 9:12 avg

Perfect feeling 66 degrees morning.  Slow first mile and felt like it would take me forever to get going.  I ran out of the neighborhood, right onto Duck Slough, and then left on Trinity Blvd and over to the new park with the path around the lake.  Then did 3 laps around the lake and wanted to run each one a little faster without looking at my pace or going all out.  9:31 pace first lap, then 8:52 pace second lap, and finally 8:05 pace for the last lap.  Each lap about 0.7 miles.  I felt pretty good on the last lap.  Felt not so good on the first lap and thought I would start slowing down.  Saw several ducks and other assorted birds.  Ran back home via Corporate and 54 rather than staying on Trinity Blvd.

 3:25:27,20.0 mi,  10:17 avg

(garmin stats - 3:21:27, 19.52 mi, 10:19 avg)

Note: several times on the run I paused my garmin and forgot to restart it, Jamie kept hers going ok and then I ran a little extra at the end to make up for it, might have actually been like 20.2 or 20.3

Decided to go with Jamie on her last 20 mile run training before her upcoming New Orleans marathon.  I'm going to do the Long Play 33 1/3 mile race the same day but closer to home.  Looking back at my training, it's been forever since I've done a 20 mile training run.  I think I have to go back to 2016.  I had one run this past summer where I tried to do 20 but ended up walking a lot and settled for 19 miles.  Today's run felt like it was going to end up that way.

Met Jamie about 6:30ish near the back gate, we ran out to 54 and then up Starkey Blvd and into Diane's neighborhood stopping at her Saturday "lemonade stand".  Weather felt cool at first but the humidity was soon noticeable.  Not too many runners out but said hi to a few here and there - Beka and Diane, Lee and Jackie, and then Bob, Claudia, and Melanie.

We continued on into the park and ran to the shelter so I could use the bathroom and maybe grab some water.  Smaller group today but Tom had a case of water which he brought out to share.

Headed back out onto the trail maybe for another mile and a half before turning around, trying to do the math to make sure we were going out far enough.  After leaving the shelter the easy pace was feeling difficult to keep so I picked it back up a little bit.  It felt harder at first but my stride was soon "reset" back to something more normal and comfortable.

A few times I cautioned Jamie that I'd most likely have to slow down and didn't want to slow her down, but she was fine with whatever.   A little bit past 14 miles, I started doing some run/walk which felt a lot easier and really didn't affect the pace that much because when I was running I was actually running instead of shuffling.

We came back to the little Longleaf church where I stashed my partial gatorade under the picnic table.  Jamie went ahead to the Circle K to get some water while I got my gatorade.  Was not looking forward to starting up again.  But, this time, it was ok, it was easy to get back on pace and it didn't feel like the harder I tried the slower I went.  Made it to the Circle K in time as Jamie had left and headed toward me, then we headed back for the final two miles.

We split up at the gate and I turned left towards home but did a little detour to the end of Eveningwood to make up a little and then some.

So, after a few ups and downs and a couple of lowpoints and hip flexors that felt like they'd get worse and worse, things got better, legs felt a little better and the last two miles were much less of a struggle.  A lot of it must have been in my head.  Bonus points for no chaffing on a humid day and no real soreness.

Picked up the boys for lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings and then had Andy meet me at the oil change place to get my car and his truck oil changed.  Good to hang out for a little bit.

4.35 mi, 40:09, 9:14 avg

Shorter, but not as short easy run.  First part was out and back to the water fountain near the golf course.  Then, after Stella walk and saying goodbye to Jessica and her kids I added a short strides workout, 7x20 seconds with 40 seconds rest between.  I didn't get moving very fast but it was faster than the first part of the run.

Of note: no soreness at all from Saturday's 20 mile run!

Post run - push-ups: 25,30,35 - pull-ups: 10,12,14

So, the pull-ups really do seem to be getting better.

7.12 mi, 56:57, 8:00 avg

Ran on Starkey Blvd starting from the little Longleaf church.  No drinks or gels with me for the run but a few sips of gatorade before and after the run, cloudy and about 70 degrees.

First mile 10:15 as I warmed up and then transitioned to a faster 8:32 mile.  I also had music with me today, a new bluetooth headphone set with built in mp3 player so it works with or without a phone.  This one works pretty good but it only plays things alphabetically - no shuffle, no playlists, but for less than $50 not a bad device.

So, I think the music lets me run faster ( I wore this headset during the recent half marathon and I didn't slow down until headphones battery died).

Next 4 miles were 7:44, 7:36, 7:29, and 7:20

At the end of the 7:20 mile things were feeling harder than they should have so I decided I'd just push until the end of that mile. Kept my word and stopped for a break.  I gathered myself back together and decided to push it less and just stay under 8:00 (thinking 7:55-7:59).  But starting back up the pace didn't feel as hard and without trying I was in the low 7:00's and then with about 0.2 to go pushed the pace a little more to get down to 6:57.

I was a little disappointed that this tempo feeling run was not the tempo paces I considered to be tempo paces traditionally (anything below 7:00 pace for 4 to 8 miles).  But I was happy to find that after I thought I was done I found one more fast mile, faster than the miles I had just done.

5.49 mi, 52:28, 9:33 avg

Made pancakes for the Jessica's kids for Valentine's Day breakfast, along with some bacon and sliced strawberries.  They headed out just before 8:00, then I started my run at 8:15 heading over to meet Jamie.  Ran the usual route, nice coolish 66 degrees morning.

In the evening, went to the track meet and watched Thomas run the 3200m.  He PR'd with 11:16 (about 33 seconds faster than old PR).  He had a good strong start running side by side with the team's fastest senior for the first 4 laps, slowed down a little for the next 4 but did not fall apart.   Very impressive start to new season of track.

Later that evening did Jacob's pull-up routine with Jacob but added one more set, it was 5 close grip on the perpendicular bars, 5 front facing, 5 rear facing, 5 switch grip, and 5 switch grip the other way.

6.6 mi, 53:59, 8:11

Trying to get back up on the horse.  Need to get back into challenging myself mode.  On Tuesday, fastest mile was 6:57 which felt really hard.  For the "Say no to Drugs" 5k, overall pace was slower than 7:00.  I know I can do better but need to work on it.   I've mostly cleared up my dead legs, knee is back on track, and upper body and functional strength is improving.  So, today's challenge and goals was not to have a boring run or a slogging run.  Run 3x1 miles, all at least under 7:00.  No unrealistic goals but make it a challenge.

Ran from my house to Fox Hollow sidewalk, easy pace, a couple of short strides to get ready for the pace.

Mile 1 - 6:46

Mile 2 - 6:35

Mile 3 - 6:42

Mile 1 felt impossibly hard and difficult to keep it below 7:00 at all but pulled things together more in the last quarter mile.  Thought to myself no way can I do 2 more, but also that I say this all the time.  Mile 2 was surprisingly faster and made me happy I did not quit.  Ok, gut it out for just one more.  3rd mile was a roller coaster with a fast start, a slump in the middle and picking up a few seconds near the end to prevent it from being the slowest.

Nice and easy return trip back home.  One small challenge done, on to the next one!

5.42 mi, 55:59, 10:20 avg

Easy run with Jamie in the neighborhood, nice 63 degrees coolish.

11.77 mi, 1:48:30, 9:13 avg

Ran with Jamie and Cynthia and some on my own.  I missed getting up in time to meet them at Diane's house but met them in Starkey Park (Cynthia texted me wondering where I was, that was my second alarm).  So, we ran together from the shelter out a couple more miles then I turrned around with them and I ran almost to Diane's house before I turned around again and ran back to the shelter in Starkey Park.

I was feeling pretty good on this run.  We weren't going fast but sometimes that still feels hard if battling chronic dead legs which today I was not.  The easy pace felt easy.

When I turned back for the solo return I picked up the pace a little bit until finally doing 7:44 for the last mile.

A pretty good week running wise.

Next, I drove out to King High School in Tampa to watch Thomas compete.  He ran the 3200m and was able to beat his old PR from Wednesday by another 9 seconds.  He went out at 1:12 for the first lap which was 7 seconds faster than his first lap on Wednesday and was still able to pick up two additional seconds.  Last lap was 1:22 which was about 5 seconds faster than his last lap on Wednesday. New PR of 11:07!  So proud of him.

Next, I drove out with Jessica to Orlando to watch Sophia compete in gymnastics, glad I was there to cheer her on.

We wrapped up the day by stopping at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa on the way back - I did not gamble, just had dinner and listened to the band they had that night (Stereo FM).

Long but good day.

7.55 mi, 1:04:45, 8:34 avg

Ran from my house out to SR54 to Starkey Blvd.  Original plan would have been to run with Jamie at 6:30.  She had to cancel which was ok since had had forgotten that I had off work today, so slept in a little bit longer (plus it was still going to be cool enough so starting later was no big deal).  Ok warmup mile, then 9:16, then 8:24 and then pace went up and down from there but stayed under 9:00 and had some under 8:00 pace.

Met Jessica for lunch (she was working) at Grandma Sally's in New Port Richey, then went to the store to get stuff to fix a running toilet.  It ended up taking a couple different trips and a good part of the day to realize I had bought the correct $1.99 part  during the first trip.  Now, onto the next thing.

6.22 mi, 52:20, 8:25 avg

This was a second really good run in a row, or possibly third in a row counting Saturday's run.  I woke up early enough to get to Longleaf for the 5:30 start, ran out a little bit past the water stop before turning around.  For the last two miles and change I picked it up running 7:34, 7:10 and then 7:49 pace for final 0.22.

Stuck around for just a few minutes to say hi and then headed back home to help wake up Jessica's kids and get them moving then we had a little birthday breakfast for Aubrey's 9th birthday.

Walked Stella for a bit after they headed off to school and work.

5.71 mi, 55:46, 9:46 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood.  Felt a little bit warmer today.  After having a few really good runs in a row, today's run was a little harder feeling and slower but no dead legs, so still pretty good.

Post workout random exercises: push-ups 2x30, pull-ups 10 and 16

In the evening watched Thomas run at the Mitchell HS hosted track meet.  Tonight he did the 1600 and 800.  He PRd in both, with 5:05 for the 1600 and 2:17 for the 800.  In both races he was in the second heat and won his heat both times.  His 1600 was also his most evenly paced one that I can remember with splits of 1:14, 1:17, 1:18, and 1:14

6.02 mi, 51:54, 8:38 avg

The workout of the day was supposed to be my old favorite 5x1k repeats, but it turned out to be a partial failure but did get some miles in and some speed, just not what I planned.

After warming up and doing a couple short strides I switched my watch to 1km laps but was having troubles and could only figure out how to do 0.65 miles instead of 0.62.  I could have sworn I've done that before with this newer watch.  So, I figured what could an extra 0.03 hurt?   First one was ok at 6:23 pace - actually pretty good since goal was 6:26 or better and this was the first one.  Next repeat was 6:18 pace, not bad at all, even better.  But, on the third one I was struggling mentally and was discouraged and looked at my watch and could not get under 6:30.  I weighed just finishing at whatever pace (probably a better choice because I usually make some time back).  Instead, I bailed at 0.28 into the 0.65 lap, pace was 6:33 which was actually not that far off from 6:26 goal.

I was also running out of time, so headed back towards home so I wouldn't be late for my appointment later that morning.

Once back at my house decided for some redemption and did 6x20-30 second strides.  I did get under 6:00 pace on all of them so that felt a little bit better.  I'll go for a 5x1km redo soon and won't give up on the third one no matter what.

5.43 mi, 54:12, 9:59 avg

Typical Friday morning neighborhood run with Jamie but no Joe was the start of the day.  Pretty good run, no soreness or major sluggishness.  Pace was slow due to being conversational.  It was a good cut back from yesterday's harder running.

After the run, did just one set of push-ups, then a lot of little sets of pull-ups, 4 reps by 10 sets (40 total).  Some of the sets I switched my palms but most of them were palms forward.

In the afternoon at work I wanted to see how fast I could walk a mile which I did in 14:06.  I might practice this some more as it could come in handy during an ultra to have better and more efficient walking form so the walk breaks don't cut into the average pace as much.

15.02 mi, 2:13:59, 8:55 avg

Left from my house about 6:10, ran the long way to the back gate, past it, and then back to get in an initial 1.7 miles before meeting up with Joe and Jamie.  We then headed out to 54 and up Starkey Blvd towards Alico Pass.  We ran into Craig returning from his run and ran back to his house and then stopped there to refill water bottles.  I was feeling pretty good and decided I didn't want this to be a sluggish pace run.  Jamie was one week from her marathon and needed something a little faster  pace.  My warm up miles (first 1.7) were a little bit slow but made sure not to let it dip too low when running with Joe and Jamie.

On the return trip I had us line up for "Indian runs" just to break up the monotony, did 3 of them.  Joe and Jamie grumbled a bit but they are always good about playing along.  (Note: I've been researching to see if there is a better name for Indian run but I haven't found anything as universally known to describe this).

After dropping off Joe and Jamie I ran back to my house, then did out and back to the gate and out and back to the end of Eveningwood to hit 15 miles, last two miles at 7:45 average pace.

Then, after the run drove up to Hudson to pick up Aubrey's unicorn shirt for her party later.  I drove by Serenova Tract entrance and saw a bunch of protesters along the road with signs to "Save Serenova".  Apparently there is a road extension which has been approved and funded by the state/county that will run right through the preserve.  Some of it will be elevated to lessen impact.  Serenova is the large tract of preserve land that joins next to Starkey Park.  It's where I've done some long runs when I'm going "extra long" like 30 or 35 miles.

Next, on to Berkely Prep High School for the track meet.  Andy was also there to watch (and drive Tom there and back).  Hung out and watched some of the events until Tom was up.   Even though he had just PR'd on Wednesday in the 1600 and 800 I was hoping he could do it again.  That sub-5:00 barrier was just waiting to be broken.  For today's meet he made it into the "seeded" group so he would definitely be running with some faster runners.  There were some pretty fast runners in the non-seeded heats but definitely more in the seeded ones.  He ran pretty even with usual pattern of faster first lap, 2 and 3 a little slower, then a faster 4th lap, similar to Wednesday, but today they were all a little faster, bringing him from 5:05 on Wednesday to a new PR today of 4:58.  Splits were: 1:12, 1:15, 1:16, 1:14   Very exciting to watch!  Proud of Tom and his hard work.  

There was a long time before the 800 races.  He also PR'd in that race, down to 2:16

It was great hanging out with Andy and also saw several other friends from Striders and other parents of track runners.

Ended up being an hour late for Aubrey's party but she wore the shirt for pictures.  It was at a place where they showed you how to paint something, she had picked out unicorns.

1.71 mi, 16:37, 9:41 avg

I did not get to run until 10:00pm.  Jessica and the kids were at the house and it was Jacob's birthday so I was going to run after breakfast and after they were off to school but I ended up driving Jacob.  After work went out to Japanese steak restaurant then went back home.  First, walked Stella around the neighborhood loop for 1.7 miles, then ran the same route.

4.25 mi, 38:00, 8:56 avg

Short out and back run on Starkey Blvd starting from Longleaf.  I picked it up the last mile for 7:17 pace.  Shorter run but pretty good overall.

I am filling this in almost two weeks late so don't remember much about it.

5.71 mi, 56:32, 9:54 avg

Ran with Jamie in the neighborhood, 6:45ish start time.  I was dreading the dental appointment later in the morning for a crown and one filling which turned out to not be too bad.  The run took my mind off of things.