The Long Run

11.97 mi, 2:00:38, 10:05 avg, HR 144 bpm

Sort of an adventure running to the Lake Dan Preserve.  

When running down the new trail connector to the Pinellas Trail, off to the east is a lake which I had always thought was on private land (trail is fenced off on both sides).  It turns out it is part of an 11,000 acre preserve.

So, I ran down the paved trail to Tarpon Ave, turned left, running along the road a bit (kind of a busy road but a decent amount of shoulder to run on).  Turned left ontoTyler Ave, to Tyler Run, to Huckavalle Rd, finally reaching the Lake Dan preserve main entrance which has some signs, maps, a small playground about 8 parking spots.  I ran into the entrance and across a board walk over some water, onto an unpaved trail.  This was about 5.5 miles so far.  Turned left at a Tee intersection (not quite sure which way to go), which brought me to a smaller entrance, an official entry point to the preserve but nothing else (was at the dead end of a dirt road (Tyler Road, down to one lane).

It was already kind of late in the morning so I ditched the 5/1 run/walk at a low heart rate and picked it up, from 10:30~11:00 pace, to 10:00, and finally 8:50ish pace.

My goal had been to make it to the fishing pier on Lake Dan but did not make it this time, but did get to see some of the preserve.

4.55 mi, 56:00, 12:18 avg, HR 118 bpm

Experiment with walk/run (more walking that running), 3 minutes of fast walking followed by 1 minute of running.  Considered something like this for an ultra race 50 miles or longer, or even 100 miles.  Would be a good pace for a 100 mile race for me.

Pace wasn't as slow as I thought it would be and heart rate was good, at the very bottom of the Mafetone range (118-128) and I never felt like I was shuffling, was either walking briskly or actually running.

Course was two figure eight loops in Westlake Village.

4.17 mi, 45:28, 10:54 avg, HR 131 bpm

Short out and back run from Foxwood, followed by 5 strides for another 0.39 miles

8.42 mi, 1:31:00, 10:50 avg, HR 128 bpm

Ran in Starkey with Cynthia, taking it easy with 5/1 run/walk.  Out and back a little bit past the 4ish mile water stop.

2.84 mi, 24:04, 8:27 avg, HR 166 bpm

Followed up with solar system sprint trial (about 1 mile following signs from Sun to Pluto to scale of relative distance.  6:35 for the mile, plust some warm up and coold down.

Easy - 5.01 mi, 58:36, 11:41 avg, HR 124 bpm

Ran in Foxwood, neighborhood y-shaped route trying out 3/2 run/walk.

This might have been one of the better pace vs heart rate run strategies.

After the slow and easy stuff, did about 8 strides up and down the street in front of my house, just counting the running portion did 0.77 at 5:21 average pace.

3.11 mi, 25:32, 8:12 avg, HR 156 bpm

Did not get to run this morning due to appointment (although did get in a brisk (13:15 pace, maybe my fastest walked mile so far) one mile walk in the afternoon.  So, did a quick 3ish miles, going to just past the drinking fountain and back, at night, 9:00 pm.

Just ran.  Pace felt kind of hard, not impossibly hard, just harder than usual.  Little bit afraid that all of the slow running might make me slow even though I know better than that.

6.06 mi, 58:41, 9:40 avg, HR 150 bpm

I just wanted to run at a moderate feeling pace without regard to heart rate but was still curious what that would come out to.  Ran in the neighborhood and near the golf course on the standard y-shaped route.  High 70's for temps.  First mile was 10:21, hr of 135, trying to stay out of the too slow range but not trying to push it either.  Ran onto Trinity Blvd a little bit so I'd get 6 miles by the time I got back to my house.  miles 1-6 were between 9:25 and 9:47.

Strava told me this effort was harder than usual and garmin demoted my vo2 max by one more down to 49, thanks guys.

7.29 mi, 1:20:30, 11:03 avg, HR 133 bpm, elev gain 119 feet (garmin) or 203 feet (strava)

Still trying to tweek what's best for easy run to get the fastest pace at a heart rate average at or near 128.  Ran in Palm Harbor looping through and then a big square around the outside of Westlake Village with a short run in Eniswood neighborhood.  Trying 3/2 run/walk, but not really monitoring heartrate, just figuring it would work out to around the rate I wanted.  Druing the last few miles I started running the run portion a little faster, trying to get the average away from the 11:30 area that it was hovering - run, see the average get faster, walk see it get slower, rinse and repeat.

In the end it probably would have been about the same if I had just shuffled along looking at the heart rate.  

The one thing that makes the most difference is running with other people or even with Stella, seems to keep it lower for faster paces, with averages as low as the 10:15 range or even 9:39 one time while running with Joe.

Overall, I don't seem to be making much progress but I won't really know until I test myself in a race of some sort.

Good news at least is that Garmin gave me back my lost 1 point of vo2 max and strava said that today's run was consistent with usual efforts.

8.05 mi, 1:37:34,  12:07 avg, HR 126 bpm, elev gain 180 feet

Determined to stay within a lower heart rate today, did 5/1 run/walk and tried not to let my current heart rate go above 128 while running, although if it went a little bit higher I'd give it a little bit to see if it would go down without having to take a walk break.  I had a couple of times, mainly toward the end where I had to take a short walk break before the scheduled one minute walk break.

Overall, it was a pretty pleasant feeling run, nice morning out and a scenic route, took the short cut out of Westlake to Pennsylvania Ave and cut across to Pinellas trail going south, with goal of reaching the pedestrian overpass going over Alt 19.  And then since I was almost there, a little bit farther south to the water fountain to wash down the Gu I brought with me before turning back around.  Went a little bit faster on the way home and got a little sloppy with heart rate and ended up with 129 average for mile 7.  Then, for about the last 0.3 miles near the house, stretched out my legs a little bit to bring down the average pace.

More miles and more patience.

10.5 mi, 1:56:48, 11:07 avg, elev gain 175 feet, HR 135 bpm

For the most part this was a repeat of yesterday's route but a little farther south (and a small jog through Hammock Park) before turning back.   Also, instead of run/walk intervals it was all "run", however at a slower pace and trying to keep it around 128 bpm without actually monitoring it too closely.  It felt harder and heart rate was a little higher than I wanted.  As I got closer to the end, I was tired of running slow, so went a little faster compared to what I had been running, went back to taking it easy for the 10th mile, and then went faster for the last half mile.

It did cap off a decent 40ish mile week of mostly easy running, hopefully a good base I can build onto.  It was also a nice scenic run with views of the gulf, streams, inlets, parks, and lots of people enjoying the day on feet, bike, rollerblades.

No running today, but did manage to get over 13,000 steps for the day with various activities.  Met with Jessica's parents for brunch at East Lake Cafe, then went kayaking with Jess and her kids.  Before dinner took a walk through the park and stopped at the pull-up bar.  I could outdo Sophia on pull-ups (although she's making some good improvements), but she put me to shame with leg raises.

For dinner, went to Fireside Pizza.  This time I had the Sardinia pizza (meatballs, sausage, and ricotta) which I could not finish - saved two slices to take home.

5.61 mi, 1:03:03, 11:14 avg, HR 128 bpm

Ran from my house to the new trail past Lake Dan and then back. Did 3/2 run/walk with faster running portions, but not so fast that it wasn't easy to recover heart rate during the walk portion.  Ended up with exactly 128 bpm average.  Pace was about where it has been for the effort but maybe improving just slightly.

0.68, 3:55, 5:46 avg

After the easy part, did a few strides and an attempt to beat my last 400m, but just missed with 1:24 (a second too slow to tie).

4.65 mi, 51:23, 11:02 avg, HR 125 bpm

Drove to Longleaf and parked near the church.  Arrived a little after 7:00.  Had originally meant to get there by about 6:30 to see some more of the Striders at the end of their Tuesday run.   Karen and Regina were still there, Stella and I said hi.  Got started and ran into Beka and Melanie, got going again and saw Joe who said I had just missed Jenny and Tom.  Then, after that no more people.  Stella was pretty good on the run.  I was using the bungie-like leash that wraps around my waist.  Saw several rabbits which she did not chase but she really wanted to go towards the fence where last time there were cows (but none this time).

Turned right into Starkey Ranch and kept going to just past the Huckleberry Shuffle (a Strava segment).  

Despite the extra supervision of Stella this was one of the better recent heart rate runs, almost back in the 10's with heart rate in mid-120's.

Was going to run some more (a loop around my neighborhood) but ended up chatting with my neighbor Mike.  He had just won an award at a car show for the little hot rod he's been restoring, wasn't expecting to get anything, so those kinds of awards are especially nice.

8.24 mi, 1:13:20, 8:54 avg, HR 148 bpm

Warmed up with 4 easy paced miles (about 131 bpm for HR average for those miles).  I had run from my house down the new trail to Keystone Road almost to the point where it crosses over Keystone.  Turned around and picked up the pace.  Wanted to try and run the northbound section of the trail from Keystone Road to the county line at a pace under comfortably under 7:30 (i.e. I didn't want to have to pick it up at the end to try and get under 7:30).  I was in the 7:15 range and approached close to 7:00 pace, finishing that mile in 7:05, next mile in 6:56, then it was about another half mile to the end of that segment when I was running in the 6:40's.  Stopped briefly and was going to jog it out the rest of the way home.  Then I ran into Stacey, sitting down on the trail (she was waiting for the pesticide people to finish up and go away), chatted with her for a little bit and then got going again.  Despite the stop, found it easy to get back onto a low 7:00's pace for the remainder of the mile, then made it a 5K by doing one last pickup for about 0.14 miles.

Then slowed it down and jogged the rest of it out back home (about another mile).

Felt pretty good that I was able to run near a 7:00 pace for 5k with all of the slower running I've been doing (apart from the strides).  I'm going to try and get some more speed and tempo runs in over the next few weeks before the RAP River Run 5K (June 8th).  Would want to at least beat my time from last year, or better yet, pick up where I left off with 5k's (Turkey Trot this past November with 20:12)

7.11 mi, 1:16:34, 10:46 avg, elev gain 190 feet, HR 135 bpm

Today's experiment was 2/3 run/walk.  2 minutes of running to 3 minutes of walking, where I would run the run portion at a faster pace (a pace that in the past I would call my easy pace, like 8:30 to 9:15 range).  The time that I tried 1/3 run/walk my average pace was faster than I thought it would be for doing so little running and my heart rate was much lower than  I thought it would be due to all of the walking (it was like 12:15 pace at 118 bpm hear rate).

Results were a little bit different today than what I had hoped for, but to be honest I did not stick to the plan the entire run.  I took on the challenge of running the Strava segment called "the Everest of Klosterman" which is about 0.6 miles on Klosterman Rd between Alt US 19 and Belcher Road.  The hill is about 45 feet of climbing, so not that big but enough that it stands out in the otherwise flat terrain.  So, while running that portion I skipped the walk parts.  

After that, my heart rate stayed a little bit higher and my pace was just a little bit faster for the remainder, except for one of the miles where I was able to back down the pace and HR for a bit.  So, even though 135 bpm was higher than planned, I'd still count it overall as an "easy" run.

6.15 mi, 1:10:11, 11:24 avg, HR 127 bpm

Another HR run.  To and from my house in Foxwood and along Fox Hollow.  Kept the heart rate low and the pace stayed kind of slow with an 11:24 average.  Just getting in some miles and time on my feet.

12.09 mi, 2:14:48, 11:09 avg, HR 122 bpm

Ran from my house and met Jamie at the back gate, we then continued down to SR 54 and over to Starkey Blvd.  Nice and cool morning.  Saw Tom heading south on his bike.  We continued to Alico Pass, which would have made 10 miles total if we turned around there but instead we continued onto Diane's house.  She had just taken down her stand but was still outside so she offered us some gatorade and water.  Chatted with her for a bit, thanked her and headed back the way we came.

Were doing 5/1 run/walk.  This was Jamie's first run since the London Marathon.  She was up for 10, 12 was a little bit of a stretch but since we were taking it easy wasn't too bad.

Happy with the slightly faster pace than yesterday and significantly lower heart rate.

6.26 mi, 1:07:41, 10:49 avg, HR 128 bpm

Ran in Foxwood, easy pace, regular running (no walk run), first 4 miles were pretty slow, all between 11:00 and 11:30, with heart rate between 119 and 127.  Began to get impatient, sped up just a little bit for 5th mile, and 6th mile a little bit faster than that at 9:54 with 139 average heart rate for 6th mile, and 7:40 pace for last 0.2.   Before I started picking up the pace, average pace was about 11:08, the little pick up at the end brought it down to a less embarrassing 10:49, still slow but at least out of the 11:00's but not so fast that I was able to still get a 128 average (mafetone goal).

There's a certain amount of humility required for this slower running, hoping it will pay off.  I know that I can still run faster, legs seem to still work.

As I was getting ready to go to work, my neighbor was tuning up his hot rod, adjusting the fuel/air mixture so it idled better.  He asked if I wanted to hop in for a quick ride.  No doors, just climb over, watch the exhaust pipe.  Tight squeeze and very basic inside.  Running better when he slowed down, it no longer ran rough, then he stepped on the accelerator.  It felt pretty much like you are riding on just an engine.  Fun to drive I'm sure.

7.0 mi, 1:10:24, 10:03 avg

2 part run.  1st part was at Longleaf on the Starkey Blvd trail.  Originally was trying to get there about 6:30 but didn't get there until a few minutes before 7:00.  Saw Joe and some of the Striders as people were packing up to go home.  Started running and then ran into Jenny so stopped and talked to her for a few minutes. Got going again and saw Tom and said hi as I continued on.  Originally was going to do about 7 miles here, but as it was getting later than planned, just did 4.3 miles, easy pace (11:03), heart rate 127 bpm.

Got back to my house, let Stella out, then did part two.  Warmed back up with 1 mile easy and then did 2x1k at goal of 4:00 each (6:26 pace).  Was thinking about doing 3.  First one was very hard and I missed the 4:00 time with 4:02.  Rest/jog for 2 minutes, then did the second one.  It didn't feel as impossible and I actually ran it a little bit faster in 3:56.  Probably should have done a third one.  Encouraging that I could do the second one faster.

I'll try 5 next time just to see what happens.

5.17 mi, 56:37, 10:57 avg, HR 126 bpm

Ran 4.4 miles with Stella, from my house, to the new trail and then south until we hit 2.2 miles then turned around and came back.  It was already low 80's.  Stella did well, especially once we turned around, she seemed to have a new spring in her step.  Despite the heat it was a pretty nice morning.  Was a slight breeze.  We got back to the house, I dropped her off, and then I ran to the end of the street and back to get over 5 for the day.

8.03 mi, 1:10:18, 8:45 avg, elev gain 184 feet, no HR data

Ran from the Westlake house, to Belcher Road, to Klosterman to the Pinellas trail down to Crystal Beach Ave and then back via Alderman.  I left my heart rate strap at the other house so I figured now was my chance to go faster.  First mile was slow, second mile was a little bit faster (just under 10:00).  After the 4th mile, started picking up the pace.  Stopped at Wall Springs for some water, then finished out that mile at about 8:00 pace.  Next was a 7:20 mile, pulled back a little bit to 7:52, then back to going fast at 7:27 for the final mile. So, about 7:40ish pace average for last 4 miles.

I will slow down tomorrow.

6.2 mi, 1:00:09, 9:42 avg, HR 132 bpm

Ran with Joe in Foxwood.  Happy with the lowish heart rate at 9:42 average pace.  Always seem to do better with heart rate when running with other people, still not sure exactly why.  Medium late start at 8:00, ran the usual y-shaped route.

1:37:31, 10.17 mi, 9:35 avg, elev gain 184 feet, HR 141 bpm

5/1 run/walk from Westlake Village, down to Curlew Rd and Alt 19 water fountain, and then added on a little extra once I got back to get over 10 miles for the day.  Let myself go a little bit faster (i.e. didn't stare at heart rate, actually did not look at all until finishing).  Had to be back at the house in time to meet with the alarm guy, finally broke down and got one installed for the times that Stella is not there to protect us.

Another 40+ week for mileage.  Thinking about moving up into the mid 40's.

8.12 mi, 1:33:12, 11:28 avg, elev gain 185 feet, HR 131 bpm

Memorial Day run from near the end of the causeway back home.  Jessica wanted to spend some time near the water and I did not get an early start for my run, so parked near the start of the causeway, walked out about 2/3 to where they rent kayaks, then I started my run, going out to the entrance of Honeymoon Island park, then turned back.  Started out nice and slow.  It was pretty warm already but there was a little bit of seabreeze.  Made it back to the start of the causeway then got onto the Pinellas trail heading north.  About halfway through the run I was slower than a 12 minute pace (would stop to walk if my heart rate got too high).  Finally, just started running, although still a pretty easy pace.

These one way runs are kind of nice sometimes and was good to get some walking in with Jessica.  Causeway was pretty packed with people.

5.39 mi, 55:19, 10:15 avg, elev gain 166 feet, HR 134 bpm

Ran in Westlake Village, zig-zagging through the neighborhood and also running past the Y

6.1 mil, 1:02:53, 10:18 avg, HR 127 bpm (for first 4.64 miles)

Ran with Stella, out and back from my house to the new trail, a little bit past Lake Dan.  Stopped briefly at the turnaround to give her some water.  She seemed a bit hot, but after the water and getting going again had the bounce back in her step and was pulling me along lightly.

After the Stella portion, did 8x25 second strides with 50 second rest between each while running up and down the street in front of my house.

8.24 mi, 1:17:20, 9:23 avg, elev gain 183 feet, HR 146 bpm

Ran the Alderman, Belcher, Klosterman, Pinellas Trail loop going counter-clockwise.  Stopped briefly in Wall Springs Park and then ran the mile south from there at a picked up pace (7:14 pace for the segment).

146 bpm seemed a little high for 9:23 average pace, but I think that is comparing it to my fitness 3 years ago, which until recently I thought was somewhat in the same ballpark.  But, then I could run maybe in the 9:30's and be well below 130 bpm.  

However, a more recent comparison, where I ran at a 9:40 pace on flatter terrain with a heart rate of 150 bpm, well, this is an improvement.

5.62 mi, 58:56, 10:28 avg, HR 137 bpm

Ran in Foxwood, easy paced, did the y-shaped route.