The Long Run

6.25@10:10   HR 131 bpm

A couple of loops inside Westlake Village, leg still feeling good.

7.64@8:37

12 x 90 seconds

A little bit of speed work.  Not as fast as the last time a tried a run like this, but not that far off and very grateful that the injury cleared up quickly and even more grateful that this run did not exacerbate it.

10.11@10:24,   HR 129 bpm

Goal - double digit run, easy pace.  Kept HR below 130 average.  Did a loop around the outside of Westlake Village and added on out and back on the Pinellas Trail down to Curlew Road.

Did the job.

5.07@10:28   HR 126 bpm

Bread and butter easy run inside Westlake Village, one bigger loop and a smaller loop.

6.11@8:00 and  1.12@8:00

Did 6x800m and then 2x400m

5k coming up this weekend, wanted to run a little bit at or faster then 5k goal.  Wanting to practice leg turnover to feel the pace I ended up running the 800s on a net downhill section of road in the neighborhood.

800s (paces): 6:40, 6:36,  6:20, 6:18, 6:18, 6:02

400s (paces): 6:00, 6:21

That was quite a range between the first and last of the 800s, takes some time to warm up I guess.  For the second of the 400s I was ready to go "all out" but that didn't seem to happen.

Accidentally saved the run, so started the watch again and finished up with another mile or so.

AM 3.26 mile walk in Westlake

PM 3.11@9:10

Instead of the usual Wednesday "Humpday Hustle" I ran with the group at RunFit (where Tom works part time).  They were doing a joing National Running Day run as well as the first day of the Run Streak contest.  Evan was there but I ended up running with Tommy Brown who's a lot faster than me but ran with me anyway (also, he's getting over a minor injury).  It was a nice change of pace.  They had food and drinks afterward.  I had a slice of pizza but passed on having a beer.  I almost couldn't believe I'd passed up a free post run beer, but I'm getting better about that sort of thing.

5.11@10:21    HR 126 bpm

Starkey Gap trail south, easy paced run (4/1 run/walk), felt good

5.79@9:45

Ran in Westlake Village, thought I needed to be back by a certain time so Jessica could leave, but I was wrong so ran another mile and a half.

5k race tomorrow - RAP River Run

RAP River Run 5K

21:21,   1st "Grand Master" Male, 27th male, 31 overall

As usual it was warm and humid, not much different than any other year.  I was a little faster this year but a little slower than my last 5k.  I felt ok, but I remember while warming up for the last race (Hippie Dash), I felt GREAT!

Race start is mayhem with lots of kids in the 8-12 year age range going out super fast but most end up falling back within the first third of a mile, but some do hang onto that pace.  It took me a little while to get under 7:00 pace and I was a little worried my legs would get stuck, but as the crowd thinned and I passed people here and there, pace got better and I managed a 6:50 for the first mile.

Next two miles were kind of a struggle and for most of the third mile I was on the wrong side of 7:00 pace and I felt like just "jogging it in".

But, ahead of me within site was Claudia.  She's not far off from my age but way fitter, she's a trainer, a champion tri-athlete and she recently BQ'd - while pushing an adult in a special needs stroller.  I closed the gap on her a little bit but did not catch her (ended up 9 seconds behind), but it was also enough to get me back under 7:00.

So, faster this year than last, and third consecutive 5k with all miles under 7:00.  Looking for those few extra seconds per mile to get me under 21:00 and on my way back to sub-20:00

Post race was fun with good food and hanging out with friends and they are very generous with trophies.

4.6@10:08,  HR 128 bpm

A couple of loops inside Westlake Village, decent pace while staying under 130 bpm.  Patiently working toward running sub-10:00 while staying in MAF zone for "easy" days.

5.02@7:50

Did the Garmin suggested workout.  I don't always do these, but it happened to line up for time and distance.  Suggestion was 18 minute @ 7:10 pace.

This ended up coming out to 2.54 miles, first mile was 7:08, second mile was 7:05 and the 0.54 was 6:54 pace  (but while I was running just saw the segment pace).

I felt pretty good and in control of the pace.

Run was on Starkey Blvd bike path.

3.34@9:46

Just one loop inside Westlake Village.  Work meeting this morning and then after work going to head up to Jacksonville Beach to meet up with Jess and kids.

Ended up detouring through New Smyrna Beach to pick up Jacob's duffle bag he left in lobby (because he was running after the toddler).  We probably should've just done all three nights in New Smyrna, they loved it there.  Jax Beach was nice too, but a farther drive.   I hit some heavy rain the last 20 minutes of the drive.

3.16@11:53

5.21@8:06

First run was barefoot on the beach at Jax Beach, finished up just as it started to rain and the wind picked up.  Helped bring the beach stuff back inside, wind was really whipping through.

Second run, inside the hotel on treadmill, trying to run Garmin's suggested workout of 3 x 6min at 7:10 pace.  It went pretty well and made the 5ish miles on the treadmill go by pretty quickly.

1.21@11:26

Just enough running to log something for the run streak I signed up for.  Ran in Two Harbors, MN outside of hotel.  I checked out the race course, driving to the start line and over by the three mile area where I'd try and catch Tom as he goes by tomorrow.  Course looked a little less flat than I pictured but it supposed to be a fast course.

It was mainly walking.  I did run 0.42 miles but realized it wasn't going to work too well wearing jeans and besides I decided not to screw around between spectating points.

So, Tom was running Grandma's Marathon today, his third marathon and first one since Boston last year.  I saw him go by at miles 3, 9, and 19 and was trying for mile 24ish but couldn't get to a parking spot before him.  They had an app to track runners.  It didn't seem to update "in real time" for a lot of the runners but it did reasonably well for Tom.

As I waited at mile 19, a lot of the runners were looking a bit tired but still moving well.  These were the elite men, then the sub-elite men mixed in with the elite women.  I think there were well over 100 men registered as "elites".  

There was a guy that I'd seen at miles 3 and 9 who had long blonde hair in cornrows, he was about a minute or two ahead of Tom at those first to spots, so was looking out for him.  Not sure if I missed him, but saw Tom come through right on schedule according to both the last update on the app and him holding a steady pace.

Tried to get quickly over to mile 24 but I didn't have a good parking plan.

There was supposed to be an update at mile 23.9, it came in eventually but was a bit delayed, the first one that was delayed so I couldn't tell if it was just delayed or he slowed down.  Fortunately, when the result came in, still showed him on pace.

Between checkpoints, the app updates the distance every 0.1 miles based on recent average speed.  So, when it hit 26.2 I wasn't sure if that was it, then finally got the finish alert and also a text from Jenny who was near the finish area with his brother Andy.

He'd done amazing! 2:28:30, new PR and a negative split!

Hung out for a little after the race and as we walked back to the cars, just before splitting up got a picture with Tom and Andy for an early Father's Day for me since it would be tough to meet up tomorrow with the travel.

I headed back on a flight that night (ended up getting delayed about 5 hours which included a diversion to Atlanta to refuel) wanted to get back early enough to at least spend some time with the toddler.

2.25@10:19

Afternoon run, Westlake Village, just a couple of miles today to log something for Runstreak challenge.

Went out later to Stilthouse and then to the new restaurant in Palm Harbor, Diesel.  Had dinner with Jessica's parents, Jess, and Charlotte

3.2@10:52

Some looping inside Anderson Park, good place to run when I'm on my way to pick up Stella and drop her off at the house.

4.61@10:37   HR 128 bpm

Earlyish morning (6:00) run in Westlake Village.

AM 8.63@8:54

Ladder'ish workout.  Did 100-200-400-800-1600-800-400-200-100

I don't think I should've just done one of each but it went by quickly and made the run more fun.

The mile was at 6:33, which was a faster pace than the initial 100 and 200.  Mile was net downhill, however there was some uphill toward the end where although my pace dropped a little bit, more or less held close to the average.  It's the fastest mile I've done recently.

Was raining a bit toward the end.

PM 3.18@10:47

It was raining on and off today and looked like rain in the evening but there was a short window where it was not raining so drove to Longleaf to the humpday hustle starting spot.  Just me today, but I took a selfie and emailed it to the group that did not show because it looked like it might rain.

Over 11 miles for the day!  Good job Mark

6.26@10:39  HR 131 bpm

Out and back on Starkey Gap Trail south down to Keystone

4.87@9:35  HR 138 bpm

Earlyish morning run (6:12 start) in Westlake Village, a little higher heart rate than for easy but wanted to get a little more running done before I had to be back at the house

12.12@8:03

Decided I wanted to run 10 miles at goal marathon pace (or just a little faster) and I was actually able to pull it off despite being a bit warm.

Starkey Blvd, semi-early start (7:08 am, a lot of people are done by this time, but the tall trees on the east side of the road block out the direct sun until as late as 11:00 am).

Warm up 1 mile, then hit it with 10 get miles - 7:55, 7:51, 7:52, 7:49, 7:52, 7:44, 7:55, 7:53, 7:42, 7:44

And then 1 mile warm down.  No stops or breaks, had just enough fluids on my belt.  Good mental toughness practice.

The altnernative run for today was a small 5k in downtown Dunedin on the Pinellas Trail, but it would be $50, so opted for the longer tempo.  I looked at the results later that day and saw winning time was 20:50.  Maybe that could've been me maybe I'll happen to be at a smaller 5k and have a chance.

1.09 walk up and down the street just to log something (I'll probably not always log walk only days except this is to track the run streak ending on July 4 which counts walks of at least a mile).

5.68@10:16  HR 129 bpm

Easy and sort of short run in Westlake Village, a couple of loops

8.16@8:26

Up and down Starkey Blvd, hot morning out and did not get an early start.  Was intending to do 3 x 1 mile at 5k goal, but it turned into a failure and after about the first half mile decided to just do random lengths that added up to 3 miles total.

I didn't really have a definite goal of what 5k pace is.  Should've used what I've been averaging recently which is 6:55 but went out at like 6:30 on the first one.  Running it too fast would've been better for the second or third one, the first always feels like the hardest.

But anyway, got in some miles.

AM - walked 4.1 miles in just under an hour (57:20)

PM - 3.04@9:54 (HR 126) ran with Daisy at Longleaf.  Although it was a bit hot out still and although I did not do run/walk, nice to be in 9's for pace while keeping heart rate under 130 average.

10.68@8:23   HR 160 bpm

It sure was warm this morning, but still barely early enough that the tall trees would still block the sun for much of the route.  Planned workout was 3 miles Half Mar goal pace, 3 minute jog, 2 miles half mar goal pace, 2 minute jog, then 1 mile at 10k pace.

Ran on Starkey Blvd, took a right on Rangeland and finished warmup and then turned around to start workout.  First three miles went pretty well, on a cooler day, goal would've been more modest, more challenging today but still doable, 7:41,7:33, 7:37.

Next two miles, 7:36, 7:32

Hard part (at least mentally was over), just one more mile , managed 7:17

Then two mile cool down.

Did the job, but was a bit wiped out from the heat.

5.24@9:48  HR 132 bpm

Easier run today, recovery, felt ok, happy with pace but let heart rate get a little high for a recovery run, but still acceptable.  Couple of loops in Westlake Village.  Jessica was out for a bit but the big kids were home and entertained the little one while I ran.  They are soon off to camp this year as counselor, junior counselor, and last year as a camper for the youngest teen.