The Long Run

5.52@11:10 , HR 116 bpm

Easy paced run from my brother's house down to the ocean and some running near the shore.  Felt chilly out, in the 50s.  Stopped here and there for pictures, then made the climb up back to his house.

Then, back to the airport and home.

A rare day off when I could've run (had time, no injury) but taking it easy because a bit tired from the travel back from San Diego.

5.36@9:56 HR  128 bpm

Back at it, bread and butter run of 4/1 run/walk around the neighborhood.  Another work day for Jessica so I ran early enough to be done before she had to leave.

Felt recovered.

6.11@9:49 , HR 132 bpm

Similar run to yesterday, but a little later in the afternoon.  A little faster because I wasn't being careful with heart rate so let it go a little higher than planned, but it still felt pretty easy.

7.3@8:12

Did the Garmin suggested workout, of 8 x 1 minute, followed by 3 minutes rest with 6:15 goal pace.  I usually don't do such long rests, but I guess that was the point.  Hit all the paces at 6:15 ranging from slightly faster to as fast as 5:50

Ran up and down Starkey Blvd bike path.

20.22@10:15  HR 138 bpm

Two weeks until "ultra" 26.3 trail run, so wanted one good long run.  Out and back from Longleaf into Starkey Park until 10 miles from start.  Quick stop at the bathrooms near the bike parking to use the fountain for water refill.  Kept heart rate lower for first half then let it slide a little as I picked  up the pace slightly on the way back.

6.27@10:22  HR 126 bpm

Easy paced run, out and back down the Starkey Gap Trail heading south.

6.11@9:49    HR 127 bpm

Earlyish morning run (6:12 am start) inside Westlake Village, running two of the big loops.  Sub-10:00 average while keeping HR average below 130 (although a little higher than supposed target of 124).

It's been a blessing to have to finish my run before 7:15, seeing the sunrise and enjoying the predawn temps.

8.1 @ 8:30   HR 153 bpm

6 x 1k workout in Westlake Village

Route was slightly different for this (usually I'll pick a stretch of road and run out one way then next repeat back the same way).  Today I did the repeats on a loop, so that starts were not at the same point, always some section of hill.

Wanting to hit splits at 6:46 pace or faster (4:12/km) for goal of breaking 21 minutes.

Did not meet that pace goal but did do the primary goal of doing all of the repeats, not giving up due to missing paces, because I'm still putting in the work.

So, paces for splits were: 6:44 (4:11), 6:57, 6:47, 7:06, 6:55, 7:08

If I take the fastest 5, it adds up to 21:25 5k, a little short from 21:00, but who knows if race day magic will help  

4.54@10:03  HR 129 bpm

Shorter run today, out and back heading south down the Starkey Gap trail.

6.24@10:05  HR 128 bpm

Once again, two big loops inside Westlake Village, keeping heart rate at a decent range, feeling easy.

Hippie Dash 5k

A most encouraging morning.  Signed up at last minute, temperatures not looking great but early enough to not be hot and sunny.  Pretty good warm up, just over a mile easy running, then about 4 strides.  When I went to do the strides I was running a faster pace than I can usually do during such a warm up.

At the start line, not sure the exact course route.  Slight uphill from the start area, turn right and run about a mile with a small loop turn around, run back south a mile then about a half mile more south before turning around then right turn down the finish chute.

Happy with splits: 6:47, 6:54, 6:55, then 6:02 pace for the last bit.

In the last mile, caught up to first place female, but then she just passed me during the homestretch.

Eke'd out a small improvement over the Strawberry Classic 5K which itself was an improvement.

Now, two times in a row getting all three miles under 7:00 pace.  Got a little lazy in the third mile when it looked like I'd have no problem holding the pace, maybe could've gotten down to mile 1 split with better focus.

Fun morning in Safety Harbor, they had a nice collection of vintage and modern VWs (bugs and buses and some rare models). One free beer per runner also and some decent food.

4.12@10:26   HR 124 bpm

Earlyish run (6:27 am) in Westlake Village, run/walk 4/1

Nice morning!

8.37@7:46

Garmin workout of the day was 45 minute tempo at 7:35 pace.

Ended up a little bit faster except for a slower 4th mile.  Nothing extra fast today, fastest was 7:21.  I was trying not to go too fast but honestly, if I'd "accidentally" run a 7:00 minute mile or faster when going by feel I wouldn't have been upset, but today I did the job I set out to do.

Run was up and down Starkey Blvd with a slight amount into the park.

5.51@10:01  HR 127 bpm

Almost under 10:00 pace while keeping heart rate somewhat where I want it.  Early morning run in Westlake Village, a couple of loops of different sizes.

6.01@9:05  HR 147 bpm

Did another garmin suggested workout.  Today's workout felt kind of weird, it was 10 reps of 10 second sprints with 3 minute rests between (easy jog).  Suggested pace for sprints was something like 4:25.  I did not come anywhere near that pace, although it's hard to tell how accurate the pace measurement would be with just 10 seconds of sampling.

Trying to get some more variety.  I wonder if I'd see improvements if I only did the suggested workout?

Might not get to run tomorrow, early morning flight (6:30) for trip up to Rochester to do the Sehgahunda 26.3 mile trail race in Letchworth Park.  My brother Jim and his daughter will be doing the race as well.  This will be her first trail run and second marathon distance race.

Unfortunately, looks like rain forecasted for this Saturday.

No run today.

Travel day to Rochester.  Jim's wife picked me up at the airport and spent the afternoon hanging out at his house.  My parents were there also having just made it up from Florida.

Jessica and baby will meet me tomorrow at the finish area of the race.

Sehgahunda Trail marathon

Garmin stats: 25.62@15:23

Time 6:34:11

Well, that was hard.  Flew up to Rochester on Friday and stayed at my brother Jim's house.  A few months ago I saw that there was a 12 hour race practically around the corner from his house at North Ponds Park called "Mind the ducks", called to ask if he wanted to run 12 hours of 1 mile loops and he said he'd already signed up for a race that day.  His daughter Kelly was also doing it (her first trail race and second marathon distance race).

Friday was a beautiful day and Sunday was supposed to be nice also, but there would be rain today.  My wave was starting at 7:45.  It was barely sprinkling as we lined up.  Jim and Kelly were starting 15 minutes after me (I put down a goal time of 5 hours).  Start area was at the Mount Morris Dam visitor center on the Genessee river.  Race would head south (up river) to a picnic area of Letchworth Park called "Parade Grounds" (historical site from Civil War).  Net climb from start to finish about 300 feet , but with the ups and downs, race site said 900 feet of climbing (Garmin came up with 4200 feet).

The course would run on a trail parallel to the river, but the race checkpoints were on a road, so you had to make the climb from the river trail up to the road and then back down to the trail.  Jim warned me that the first two checkpoints, if raining, would get muddy.  Hoping I'd pass those before the heavier rain started.

Heading out with wave two, I hung back slightly but was soon passed by the other people in wave 2 except for one woman who was running around the same pace as me so we would pass each other back and forth.  Just over two miles or maybe three, first running from wave 3 caught up to me.  There was a relay option so some of the runners were going pretty fast.

Made it up to checkpoint 1 about 5 and a half miles in with no problem.  Although, there was something confusing happening.  As runners were coming down from the checkpoint, some of them were yelling at me to get to the left side of the trail which I found odd.  Usually with two way traffic you keep to the right.  Confused by this, I remembered that the race directions said "pass to the left".  I'm pretty sure they meant pass to the left when coming from behind and not when coming head on.  So, some people wanted me to stay to the right and some to the left.  Oh well.

Back to the main trail.  Rain was picking up.  Still kind of light.  I had on shorts, short sleeve shirt, arm warmers, and a light long sleeve shirt.  Checkpoint 2 was a little more slippery going up and down.  These side trails got muddy quicker than the main trail which was probably harder packed.  Coming down from checkpoint one, I saw Kelly and not too far behind her was Jim.  Coming down from checkpoint two, Kelly had moved a good distance ahead of Jim and was gaining a lot of ground on me.  Before the race Kelly kept on saying how unprepared she was for this race.  It didn't show at all.  Years and years of competitive Irish dance made her a natural on the trails.

After checkpoint two I stopped to retie one of my shoes which was way too loose.  I saw my pace slip away.  I'd try to catch back up to it but could not get much back.  The trail crossed a bunch of little streams, some were almost dry and some were big enough you could barely keep from getting wet by stepping on stones in the middle.

The trail started to get quite muddy.  I started to slip a lot.  I was not wearing trail shoes.  I've gotten away with no trail shoes for far too long.  Florida trails do not have many hills and very little mud with the sandy soil.  This was steeper and muddier.  Fortunately, even with the increasing rain, there were a lot of sections of trail that were not too muddy, otherwise I would've been pushing the cutoff.

Just before things got better, things got really, really bad.  There were a couple of small uphills I had to go up on hands and knees just to go up without sliding back down.  There was a section of trail which slanted down to the right while steeply going down ahead, this bit of treacherous downhill brought me to the last steeep checkoint climb.  There was a woman who was running near me and helping to encourage me, she made it up to the top just ahead of me but then dropped out once she made it up.

Saw Nancy and my parents one last time before I'd see them at the finish.  The downhill back to the trail was one big slip and slide, grabbing onto what I could to not fall down hard.  Finally made it to the bottom, then a little bit more tough trail before it leveled off.  The trail narrowed with tall vegetation on either side. 

Then, coming into some trees, there was a signt "Caution: Trail Monkeys Ahead", with next sign saying "Whet the heck is a trail monkey you ask?", then, up in the trees the trees, lots and lots of toy monkeys.  Then after the trail monkey section, course came onto a gravel road.  Just over 5k to go, still, one more 300 foot climb, but after going so slow for so long my legs just wanted to take off.  It felt like I was flying (although really it was only 9:30 to 10:00 pace but seemed much faster than the 18 to 22 minute miles over the list 8 or 9 miles).

Caught up to a few people here and there.  One more short section of trail from the road, then back onto a short section of paved road with one last short very steep hill going into the Parade Grounds parking lot, and then finally the finish line.

Jessica caught a video of me finishing as she was standing under the shelter next to the finish line.  She had made it ok with her 7:00 am flight from Tampa to Buffalo with Charlotte in tow (she was able to get picture in the cockpit before the flight took off) to car rental and then drive to Letchworth park, arriving just after 12:00 (just in case I finished by 12:45).

Got some food and waited to see Kelly finish.  She came in just ten minutes after me which meant she beat me by 5 minutes.  Not bad at all for her first trail race (but just missed age group award to a woman named Sophie).  Nancy showed up just after Kelly finished.  She had seen Jim at the last tough checkpoint. He'd fallen and hit his head but was ok to go on but it would be close to make the cutoff time.

My parents showed up and were also waiting for Jim.  I was in and out of the car a few times to warm up.  Rain had me thoroughly soaked and once I stopped running didn't take long to start feeling really chilled.

Nancy was waiting for Jim just outside the parking lot.  I went with her down the road a little bit and then onto the last stretch of trail, finally we saw him in the distance and met up with him then climbed up the road with him as he ran toward the finish area.  He made it with about 15 minutes to spare.

On the way back to Jim's house I stopped by the "Mind the Ducks" race which still had about an hour and a half left.  I was wearing my finisher medal and Sehgahunda hoodie.  One of the volunteers saw me and said to her friend, oh look he finished.  Turns out she had also run but missed a cutoff time so DNF'd, but despite that headed to this race to volunteer.  It was fun to stop by and say hi to the race that started all of this.

6.29@10:52

Slower run, stiff and clunky at first but felt better later in the run.  Ran on Starkey Blvd

AM 3.07@11:08

Run in Westlake, felt worse than yesterday, feeling in hamstring/glute area, but felt ok by end of the run

PM 3.04@11:40

Ran with Daisy and Evan on Starkey Blvd.  Ok, now it's even worse, will need to take some time off.  

Off - injury

Off - injury

Off - injury

Still off - injury

4.21@11:36

Maybe it was pyriformis syndrome as it suddenly mostly got better.  Still slow today, but felt much better.

3.11@10:25, HR 128 bpm

Ran solo on Starkey Blvd as the others couldn't make it.  Continue to improve, taking it easy but at least back in the 10's for pace.