The Long Run

I didn't run today although I had planned on it.  Decided on one more foot rest day.  I also spent time wondering why I ran 15 miles on Saturday and didn't stop after ten or twelve.  At least I didn't make things worse.   My first goal for Chicago is to make it to the starting line, followed by completing it, followed by various time related goals which I haven't nailed down yet but will thing about it as my training continues.

I did do 6 minutes on the arc trainer followed by 30 minutes on the rower and 30 minutes of weights. 

A hot and sticky run this morning - actually more sticky than hot as it was "only" 77º.

I resisted the urge to go faster and instead did an 8:14 pace, with first mile at 9:00 pace and the rest between 8:00 and 8:20.

It's a good thing that I resisted because my foot is not 100% but is getting close, a little bit of discomfort on top of foot last 0.5 miles.    I did not use the extra padding today like I did on Saturday.  I laced up my shoe a little bit loose, maybe too loose as it was sliding toward the end and I could feel the top of my foot hitting the tongue and lace area of my shoe.

Was alone for the run this morning, but that was ok.  Easier to do exactly the pace you want to do - at least when it is an easy pace.  No one tempting you to go too fast.

My new "program" called from temp run with 2 easy and 4 at 7:09 but I don't think I'm ready to get back into that for now.  Actually this is a new program with 3 20 mile runs instead of 5 and one "speed" session (either tempo or intervals but not both in same week) with some weeks off.  Seems pretty sensible.

 Anyway, run went pretty well, ended up doing 6.7 miles.  First two were slower (8:32 and 8:20), third mile was a bit faster.   Refilled my gatorade bottle at the Y with water, then turned around.  Going out there was 3.7 miles, then I took a slightly different way back for a 3.0 mile return trip.  Last mile I picked it up a bit to 7:18.

Average pace was 7:51, probably a little faster than intended. 

 Put some extra padding on the top of my foot.  Pain is better but not all gone yet.

I was drenched in sweat at the end of the run.  It didn't feel that hot when I started out but it was pretty hot at the end with the usual Florida summer humidity.



 

Run over at David's house. Up and back down the Starkey Blvd bike path. Keith was there also. They had both just down July 4th 10 k's and were not up for anything too fast which was just fine with me. We went up the trail at about an 8:30 pace. The mile which included the turn around and chance to grab some water was 9:11. Picked things up slightly on the way back, then finally at the last 0.5 mile, Keith and I started going faster, picking up to a 6:30 pace.

No pain in foot on the way up, a little bit on the way back. It was strange that it started feeling better for the last 0.5 mile which helps confirm the Dr's diagnosis of it not being a stress fracture.

Overall pace was 8:20 which is pretty much where I wanted it to be. Weather was a little bit nicer with the heat and humidity combination being tolerable.

I felt good today afterwards because I have now had 3 good days in a row, all run outside.  I feel like I can get back on course for some good solid preparation as the marathon is starting to feel like it is coming up fast. 

Did some swimming this morning but did not run.  Did some weights but not too heavy.  Foot feeling a lot better.  I think I should be up for my 12 mile run tomorrow.  Maybe try 5 runs next week.  At the very least I won't skip two days in a row.  Hopefully some of the Las Vegas heat will cool down a little by next Saturday when I want to do 14 miles.  Normal low for this time of year is supposedly 78 which I can handle.  A few degrees more might be ok.

12 mile run this morning. Most of it with David and Keith. Tried to get an early start but I was a couple minutes late, but still I think we got going about 6:20. It was already warm when we started. The usual high humidity and about 80° Stopped several times for water/gatorade. Picked things up for the last three miles with 7:17, 7:26 (slowed down for traffic light), and 6:56 for the final mile. After doing 15 last Saturday today's run felt much easier and I had a lot left over, except right after the last mile.

Average pace was 8:05

Pretty good week for running, although it was only four runs I stayed consistent.  My foot continues to get better. 

7.2 easy miles.  Although, as usual, warm and humid.  I'm hoping that 80º and  humid is good preparation for running in Las Vegas where it will be low 80's before the sun comes up but very low humidity.  No pain at all in the top of my foot.   Ran by myself today, there seem to be fewer people running on a regular basis these days between vacation plans and the less than ideal running conditions.

 Good run for a Monday morning, only one day off running since Saturday.
 

Average pace: 8:11 

Cross train day today.  Warm up on arc trainer (about 10 minutes) then 34 minutes on the rower.  I can remember when 20 minutes on the rower was difficult, now I just keep going.  Felt like I could have gone on a lot longer but today was not knock yourself out day :)

 A day off from the heat and humidity was also nice.

Based on what weather.com tells me, the heat humidity combo during the morning is equivalent to the higher heat / lower humidity combo of Las Vegas but I'll have to wait and find out for myself when I get there later this week.
 

6.1 Miles , average 8:06 pace.  Felt cooler out at start of the run for some reason even though thermometer read the same at beginning and end of the run - 80º

No pain whatsoever in my left foot today, either on the top of it or the big toe so I think I may have turned this one into just a close call.

7 miles tomorrow morning then off to Las Vegas to see how I do in the heat.  My wife will be competing in the Women's Tri-Fitness competition, she has been training very hard for this.  Once finished with that she'll get back to running and training for the Disney half marathon in January which she'll run with her Mom and 3 sisters. 

7.5 easy miles (about 8:14 pace).  Ran by myself at 5:30.   No one else had showed up, although I ran into some people about 3/4 through my run as they had started later in the morning.  They would have told me but thought I had left for vacation already :)

 Temp was warm (81 degrees) and humid as usual.  I think I'm getting used to these.
 

My first dry run :) This was one of my most challenging and rewarding runs. Everything felt different but it worked out fine. Running in Las Vegas! I woke up at 4:30 but fell back asleep until 4:52. Seeing how late it was I got moving quickly. I got into the car and drove out of town a little bit so I could run on the roads. I had spotted some roads that looked pretty good the day before. I was able to start my run at 5:30, already 86 degrees with the sun coming up. I took my water belt and carried a bottle in one hand.  The water belt has two 20 oz bottles which I usually don't take but instead put one 12 oz gatorade and one 16 oz water, but today used the two bigger bottles, one with water and one with Accelerade. 

The first 3 miles were very hard and I couldn't seem to go faster then 9:00. The first three miles were something like 9:50, 9:30, and 9:10.  But I figured that didn't matter. Eventually I was doing 8:30 miles. Once I got just past 7 miles I turned around. At that point the run got a lot easier. I realized I had been going up a slight incline the whole way. The run back was much easier due to running down a decline and carrying less and less weight.  I was doing miles between 7:35 and 7:40 the return trip with what seemed to be less effort on the way out. Final average was 8:13 pace.  1:02 to where I turned around at 7.1 miles, finish time at 14 miles was 1:54.

Another run in Las Vegas.  Started out at 5:30 but this time just decided to run starting from near the hotel.  We were at a different hotel than on Saturday, so the night before I looked over some maps to pick out a route.  Unfortunately, it turned out that part of my planned route was through a private neighborhood and apparently they don't make exceptions for runners.  So, I just went around it, which was probably just as well as I was able to see more things.  The only drawback was that it meant running on more sidewalks.  It seemed a little cooler out than on Saturday but not a whole lot.  Started out slow and gradually picked things up.  By 5.5 miles, I had averaged 8:30 pace.  I wanted 8:24 so I figured I would pick things up some more -  I was planning on running 7 miles.  I seemed to get a little bit lost and ended up doing an extra 1.2 miles.  The last two miles were at 7:05 and 6:52, and about 8:00 for the last .2, followed by some walking around the parking lot to stretch things out.

This is my new longest Monday run, and second longest run while on vacation. 

Average pace: 8:09 

Pretty much an easy run day. Ran from hotel down to UNLV, a little bit on the grounds there, and then back up.  Heat wasn't too bad.  Picked up a little bit for the last mile and ended up with an average pace of 8:20.

No running today.  But I did hike 2.2 miles on the Bright Angel trail in the Grand Canyon (1.1 down and then back up) with 3 other adults and 5 kids ranging from 5 - 12.  It all worked out surprisingly well with very little complaining.  Of course the scenery was wonderful and everyone seemed to like going back up better than going down.

Another morning run in Las Vegas.  Ran down through convention center and into Howard Hughes Pkwy which has no traffic in the morning and lots of shade trees.  Felt very sluggish at first but gradually warmed up.  Last mile at 6:59.  Average for run was 8:05.

Well, this really should go with last week's training. Due to traveling was not able to do my Saturday run until Sunday.   This is going to make my mileage for this week look pretty big for me. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see the temp at only 73º when I started my run this morning just before 7:00. I ran alone at Starkey park, going out to the end of the bike trail and up the Suncoast pkwy trail for about 1.5 miles. Did a good job of taking it easy on the way out. Ran faster on the way back with the last mile at 7:06. With 3 miles left to go it started to sprinkle which felt good to run through and kept the temperature from going above 75º. It could have been a miserable run but turned into a pretty good one.  I noticed that there were two extra water stops that weren't there before.  I refilled my water bottle a little bit two different times to make sure I didn't run out.

Average pace: 8:02

Did some cross training today.  Recovering from yesterday's run.  12 minutes on arc trainer, 20 minutes on the bike, and about 30 minutes of upper body weights.   Calves felt a little bit tight but not terrible.

Another nice day for running, 74º and very reasonable humidity.  Before leaving for my vacation mornings were warm and humid, then I had a week of running hot and dry, now it is much nicer and very much appreciated.  No one ran with me this morning, the regulars seemed to have dropped off a bit right now.  

Ran at the neighborhoods near the Y.  Started out slow, felt all recovered from Sunday's run but thought taking it easy would be wise.  First mile at 9:14, picked up a little bit faster each mile with  the last two miles at 7:32 and 7:16.  Ran the last .2 miles with the high school cross country coach who was leading his pack back in.

8 miles at 8:08 pace. 

This morning's run was kind of interesting.  I wasn't expecting to run with anyone and got a little bit later of a start.  Just past 6:30 I was at the Y, I saw my friend Jenny who was talking to another lady named Anne Marie.  Anne Marie asked if I wanted to run "with these guys" - who were the high school cross country team, they were all doing 10 miles, but there was another guy there who was not on the team but ran with them who was only doing 8 that day.  So, I went along with them.   Started out with an easy 8:38 pace for the first mile, followed by 8:08, gradually picking things up.  On the way back got caught at a really long traffic light, maybe about 45 seconds or so.  Weather was pretty good again at about 74° and pretty reasonable humidity for Florida.

I was invited back for speed work on Mon and Fri but I think that would be asking for it :) 

Average pace: 7:49 

Another 8 miles this morning.  Alone.  8 miles is starting to feel easy which is a good sign.  Started out at 8:50 pace, then just kept on running without trying to increase pace but it seemed to go up slowly by itself 8:11 -> 8:09 -> 8:07, last two at 7:32 and 7:26.

 Temperature has gone back up but still not too bad, 76° and a somewhat stick 75% humidity.

A bunch of people will be running on Saturday so I will do 10 miles with them at 6:00 am.

Overall average pace: 8:02 

10 mile run with David, Dixie, and Randall.   Hadn't seen Dixie for a while, so it was good to run with him again.  We met up at 6:00 at the Y, waited a few minutes for Joe (who couldn't make it but I didn't check my email), got moving at about 6:10.  Pretty easy pace most of the way, stopped a few times for water.  I do enjoy running with other people but the stops always seem to take longer.  Had a couple of faster miles at the end at about marathon pace.

Weather was pretty decent with not too much sun, a reasonable 75° and average humidity.

Overall pace was 8:22

Woke up not feeling much like going on a run, but that's ok because there are days like that.  I got moving and was able to start my run just after 6:30.  Ran alone this morning with a 12 oz bottle of gatorade for company.  Started out with a couple of slow miles, built up a little bit faster and ended with the last 2.2 miles at about marathon pace.  Felt like going a lot faster for the last mile but held back a little bit as this wasn't supposed to be a fast day.

Average pace: 7:59 

Weather getting back to normal, 80° and 68% humidity.

I thought today would be an easy run, but it was just David and I and he was up for something a little bit faster so I went along.  It rained very early this morning but didn't cool down much so the run was warm (80°) and sticky (86 % humidity).  First mile at 8:19, then kept on increasing the pace.  Garmin said that 6th mile was at 5:52, but that is highly suspect as the mile before was 7:15 and the last .4 was at 6:53 so I'm guessing around 7:00 give or take 5 seconds - also I have never run a mile that fast, although maybe I could?  I need to try out it out sometime.  This course usually measures between 6.2 and 6.3 depending on which direction we go on the loop.  The Garmin also said 7:21/mile average pace, so that means it was probably more like 7:30 ish.  These are great tools to train with but aren't always perfect.