The Long Run

AM 5.27@7:58

Ran in Westlake Village doing the "fun with quarters" workout where there's no warmup other than the first quarter.  Run the next quarter faster, then go back to easy, keep repeating until you've had enough fun.

PM 4.08@8:25

Ran with the Humpday Hustle crew at Longleaf.  Did 1 mile with Daisy before she had to turn back due to sore ankle.  Ran out to the 2 mile tree.  Still had my watch laps set to quarters.  Return trip was under 8:00 pace.

Stopped by my house to say hi to Andy and Stella before driving back to Palm Harbor.  $5 Sushi night at Publix and some miso soup for dinner.

3.15@8:25

Not as many miles as planned but had a pretty good first mile (9:13), and overall pace at 8:25 was good.  Did not have the big spike that whoop usually shows and overall strain was a little bit lower than usual.

7.71@8:34

A little bit over 7 miles, running from my house down the Starkey Gap Trail and a little onto Keystone then finished up with 6x100m strides up and down the street.

Run didn't feel as easy today but not bad.  5k one week from tomorrow for me.  Hasn't been much 5k specific training, maybe use this next one for a baseline and then try to jump into some more races over the summer.

14.51@8:44

Ran in Safety Harbor.  Went to see Tom race in the BDR "Leftover" 5k where you get to pick your own medal from previous races leftover medal.

It was drizzly rain although not torrential downpour but had been raining enough so that the streets were a bit slippery.  Saw several of the Striders before the race and also Michael MacDonald.

One runner took an early lead on Tom and was able to stay ahead of him for the race, there were reports of him closing the gap a bit but I only saw the start and just before the 3 mile mark.  The first place guy, Dylan, is 16 years old and ran two seconds faster at the Turkey Trot back in November.

After things wrapped up, I started my run.  Warm and humid but some breeze here and there and a good amount of shade on the route helped.  Headed south for a bout 2 miles and turned onto the Ream Wilson Trail which I stayed on until the end, backtraked a little and then south down the Duke Energy Trail to some point south of SR60.  Had a to wait a couple of times at some long lights.  Saw some parrots hanging out overhead on a phone line.  Supposedly they are only in south Florida.

The route was a little hillier than I thought.  It was a pretty good route for variety with a decent number of water fountains along the way.

6.41@8:42

Ran over to Fox Hollow running from Heritage Springs to Trinity Blvd.

First mile was 9:52, ok but could've had a better warm up.

Rest of the miles were fairly even.  Finished up with 6 strides up and down the street in front of my house.

5k this weekend, will do some repeats tomorrow.

6.34@8:19

5x1km workout - 4:13, 4:20, 4:09, 4:22, 4:08

About 1.5 mile warmup, then 5x1k repeats running from Sandy Hook to Lakeview, then reverse for the next one.  Kind of warm and humid but doable for a short enough workout like this.  I didn't have high hopes for this run but just wanted to get a baseline, overall was pleased.  I can build on this to get back some speed.  Hoping to break 22 minutes at Saturday's 5k.

AM 4.37@8:48

Big square loop around the outside of Westlake Village

PM 4.03@8:45

Ran with the Humpday Hustle group from the Longleaf church.  Daisy turned back after a mile.  I went out to the two mile point and caught up with Evan and Chad then ran back with them for return trip.  Picked it up a little for the last 0.33 miles.

8.16@8:39

Run from WLV over to the Pinellas Trail and then north to just past Conservation Park.  Stopped at Wall Springs fountain for water then continued back.  Mostly even pace until the last mile which was 8:06

4.34@8:55

Ran a couple of loops inside Anderson Park.  There was a little bit of rain when I started running, which helped make it feel cool enough. Hadn't been here for a little while.  It's got some small hills (similar in size to Westlake Village).

Warmup - 1.03@10:15, cooldown - 2.33@9:24

Race - 3.09@7:01, 21:41

Fun times.  One of my most evenly run races with each mile within a second of the other.  It was warm and humid of course but no different than other years.  Splits were pretty close to each other:

7:02, 7:01, 7:01, then 35 seconds (0.09@6:27)

First mile was a big crowd, the usual enthusiastic younger runners, most of whom faded about 1/4 mile out but many held on and several kept a good lead on me.  First mile I steadily improved my pace, then held on for the second mile at about the same pace.  Third mile I was tempted to slow down.  My goal was to stay under 22 minutes.  I also wanted to speed up.  But between wanted to slow down and speed up, stayed about the same pace until finally hitting the three mile point with the finish line in sight.

Awarded first place age group 55-59 but was 14 seconds short of "Grand Masters Award".

As always, great to see so many familiar faces and enjoy the festive atmosphere.

Last 5k was 21:07.  I felt like I had lost a lot of speed but 34 seconds isn't so bad.  I can get back to low 21's and could break 21 soon.  I've been cutting back on alcohol, gradually eliminating mid-week consumption and also reducing weekend intake.

4.1@9:24

Ran in Hilton Head, SC.  Was warm and humid but trail/sidewalk was mostly shaded.  Just trying to get in a few miles instead of 0.

6.07@8:29

Ran inside Westlake Village, 2.5 mile warm up and then did some hill repeats up Sandy Hook and then back down Village Way running in a loop.  Was not going very fast until the last one which was near 6:30 pace, should've tried for one more.

AM 5.03@8:37

Big square loop around outside of Westlake Village.   First mile 9:15, last mile 8:14

PM 4.02@8:57

Humpday Hustle run from Longleaf church out and back.  Ran 3 miles with Daisy then ran one more mile by myself

8.29@8:46

Out and back run from WLV to Pinellas Trail and North to Conservation Park for the cold water fountain, then reverse route back to the house.

This would end up being my longest single run for the week.

6.18@8:26

Almost 6 miles at a mostly steady pace, and then 6x100m strides to finish things up.

6.52@8:36

Got out the door early enough to warm up and start the run at 6:03 am.  Wanted to get in at least 6 miles and then have time to shower and be on the road by 7:30.  Ran a couple of loops in Westlake Village.

On the road a little after 7:30 (getting closer to 8:00,but at least it was before 8:00).  Drive to Tallahassee with Jessica and baby and a bunch of Jacob's stuff in the minivan.  He's starting his college career with summer session.  Made pretty good time both ways with only one stop total.

5.59@8:46

Things sure did warm up.  Felt like I was melting , but despite that maintained a decent pace while sticking mostly to the shade.  Finished up with some strides up and down the street in Foxwood.

6.98@8:07

Trying to make sure I don't ignore workout runs, but not on any program at the moment.  I decided on 5x1200m repeats.  Didn't quite stick to that goal.

Ended up with 4x1200m followed by 2x400m

1200's: 5:10, 5:31, 5:03, 5:15

400's: 1:42, 1:36

For the 1200's, first one felt ok, thought to myself "I got this", second one fell apart, although it was a lot more uphill.  Third one was good, thought ok, maybe I do got this.  4th one was back to meh but at least I hadn't given up completely.

For the 400's - first one was not any faster than the good 1200s, but then finally for the last one was back to my goal 5k pace.

It was definitely better than nothing , and these will pay off on the next 5k.

AM 5.32@8:35

Big square loop around the outside of Westlake Village.  Run felt good today after yesterday's harder run

PM 4.04@8:45

Evening run with Humpday Hustle group.  Ran out 1 mile with Lucas before he turned around, then caught up with the three other guys at the two mile tree, stopped for a bit until Patty caught up to us.  No Daisy this week, she's out west someplace.

10.12@8:44

Ten good miles, heading out from Westlake Village to Pinellas trail and then north to Klosterman Rd and just enough there to make it out just past 5 miles before turning back. Stopped briefly both ways at the fountain outside of Wall Springs Park, not a cold water fountain but water nonetheless.

Wow, today was first time over 10 miles since June 4th.

5.16@8:35

It got warm fast.  Did not get out of bed when planned.  A was up crying that she could not sleep and the baby woke up too so I calmed the baby while Jessica tended to her older one.

Warmed up with a loop inside WLV.  Had my watch programmed for 10 x 25/50 (25 seconds fast, 50 seconds reovery).  I wasn't quite getting up to the speeds I wanted but I did plow through all 10 without stopping.

Keep pushing.

13.14@8:39

First long run of the month even though month is almost over.  Goal today was no stopping, start early enough to get back by 9:00.  Carried my fuel belt with 16oz bottle and also a pack of sport beans.  Headed towards Pinellas trail via Eniswood and the sidewalk near Conservation Park, then headed south to near the base of the pedestrian bridge.  First mile 9:35, last mile 8:20.  Everything in between was ok.  There are no traffic lights on this route and the road crossings weren't very busy.

Today was Jessica and my fifth wedding anniversary.  We had dinner at Mystic Fish while her friend Emily watched Charlotte Dani.  Our very first dinner out without the baby (whose pretty much not really a baby anymore).  After dinner, we drove to Rocky Point and stayed at The Current hotel.  It was nice, all new looking, and nice view of the bay.

7.53@8:45

Ran from Foxwood, over to Fox Hollow along the sidewalk from Heritage Springs to Trinity Blvd and a little on that road.

Got back to my house and then did 10 x 25s/50s (fast/recover), which was what was on the plan from McMillan's marathon plan.  I'm not running the fast segments nearly as fast when I did 100m strides with standing around between sets.

Trying to finish up the month with 200 miles, 26 miles to cover over the next three days.

10.3@8:41

First mile was a little slower today at 10:12.  Left achilles was a little tender, so took it slower to start with and thought about doing only 7 or 8 miles today, but it soon felt better so went with 10.  Ran from WLV over to Pinellas Trail and then north to Klosterman.  Stopped at conservation park on the way back for some cold fountain water.

AM 5.15@8:44

Big square loop around the outside of WLV

PM 4.0@8:59

Humpday Hustle run from Longleaf church out to the 2 mile tree.  Ran with Evan and Chad and also Dave for part of the way.  Others opted for the shade of the neighborhood.  Ran through clouds of bugs so had them all over my chest and stomach by the end of the run.

Wednesday night $5 sushi from Publix and a Becks NA beer, refreshing.

7.27@7:55

I was stressed in my sleep about this run.  Had a dream about going to a 5k race at a church but I kept on getting delayed and was running out of time, never did get to the race.

Goal was actually somewhat modest, 5 miles of sub-8:00, 7:59 would've been ok.  Anything I could hold without slowing down.

Looped in WLV, 1 mile warm up.  I paused a little just before the end of the warmup.  Got going and mentally counted through the percent complete - 10% at 0.5, 40% at two miles, 51% at 2.55, until 80% at 4 miles, ok I think I got this.

Splits: 7:28, 7:36, 7:35, 7:17, 7:25

So, about 7:29 average.  Have not tempo'd for a while, have not put together this many sub-8:00's since the last half marathon.