The Long Run

It seems that starting a little bit later, when it is just starting to get light, rather than when it is still dark is more comfortable since that's when the breeze starts up. So, that's what I did this morning. It was raining before I woke up but it was cooler this morning with a few light sprinkles at the start of the run.

Started out with two easy miles, than ran 4 miles just under 7:07 (ranging between 7:00 and 7:06) and the final mile at an easy 8:20. I hadn't done a run like this for a while, it wasn't easy but it felt comfortably hard with no aches or pains, just a desire to quit most of the way, until the last 1/2 mile of the hard 4 miles where I suddenly felt stronger and wanted to go farther at that speed, but that was enough for today.

"Easy" is a relative term I suppose.  This morning's run wasn't physically demanding but it was challenging due to the rain.  It was more than just a light sprinkle, but varied between moderate and heavy, except for one very short time when it let up and came close to stopping.   Dixie, Keith, David and I left from his house this morning at about 5:50 and ran out his neighborhood and up Starkey Blvd.   I didn't give my Garmin a chance to lock in its signal so the distance ended up being off.   This route is pretty well measured and always comes out to 6.5, but today it said 6.33.   The rain made it darker and there were some pretty significant puddles which you couldn't see until you stepped in them and totally soaked your foot.

At the turn around point things felt better, last mile and a half picked up to about a 7:30 pace.  Garmin distance was 6.33 with an 8:32 pace.  If 6.5 is really correct then it would be about an 8:20 pace.  

Enjoyed some coffee and bagels on David's porch along with Karen, Regina, and Barbara.  Despite any perceived complaining I might be guilty of here, overall it was a good run and one to remember. 

Today was one of my longest runs since December. It went pretty well overall. I was running a little bit later than planned, arriving at the trail parking lot at about 6:15 instead of the planned 6:00. It was already about 76° but it felt somewhat cool. I saw Eudair in the parking lot as she was getting ready to go for a bike ride. She had thought about running but is still going through some PT and decided to not do the long run with me today. The first four miles were at an easy pace but felt difficult, just took me a little while to get going. Those miles were between 8:35 and 8:53. I was wearing the water belt with two 20 oz bottles which is part of the problem, doesn't feel bad after a while but does feel heavy at first.

After that I started to get my legs. I was heading up the Suncoast pkwy trail, went a little past the entrance the Starkey park bike trail then turned back and got on that trail. At about mile 9 I was feeling good. Mile 10 was my second fastest mile for the day. Started to feel hot out just after passing mile 11 but I kept on moving. Eudair past by me a couple of times throwing out some words of encouragement. There were mainly cyclists on the trails with a few individual runners like myself and a few groups. Mile 14 felt encouraging as there was only 4 miles left. As I was finishing mile 17 I thought I would back it down a little bit for the last mile. Just then Eudair showed up to run the last mile. We ran in at a 7:32 pace which was the fastest mile for the run. I then drank lots of water, walked around a bit and stretched. The temp was 86°, humidity not too terrible at 64%

Overall pace: 8:05/mile

A pretty good run this morning. Didn't get running until just before 7:00. The start of the run was warmer than Saturday morning's start but the end was probably not quite as hot. I took a tip from something I had read recently and made sure to do a route that I don't usually do. I didn't cross over Mitchell Road but instead stayed on the side by the Y. First mile was pretty slow at 9:29, second mile was not too bad at 8:35. I don't remember what the next few miles were but somewhere between 8:00 and 8:15. Last three miles were at 7:39, 7:38, and 7:17. Jogged for another .1 and then went inside for some cool down on the treadmill for about 6 more minutes.

Average pace: 8:05

My plan for today was to take it easy until I felt like going faster but not push too hard, so that is pretty much what I did.  I was satisfied with today's run especially after running 18 on Saturday.  I felt like I was recovered from that run, if I had not been then maybe I had pushed too hard on Saturday.  Fortunately it looks like I did not push too hard.  I have 20 miles  coming up this Saturday which I'm going to try and stick to an 8:15 pace

Temp was 80° at the start with 71% humidity.

I'm not sure how many miles I have put on the two pairs of running shoes but it is probably starting to get up there. So, once I get a new pair I'm going to start keeping track of how many miles I have put on them. I'd hate to start having painful runs because I forgot to get new shoes!

No running today.  Just 30 minutes on the arc trainer.  I might do a short run on Friday in addition to longer runs tomorrow and Thursday as well as the long run on Saturday.  If I do that then I can get one mile more than last week which was my longest week so far - not counting the week where I did 50 because I did my previous weeks long run a day late.

I did see some of my running friends as I was heading into the Y.  They sure looked hot and sweaty! 

This morning's run was not the best run ever.  At one point it almost seemed like it was going to be a disaster, but fortunately it ended up as a run that was not that bad.   My upper back had a small knot in it which partially restricted my breathing.  I'm not sure where the knot came from.  Temp was 80° with about 75% humidity.  At first it did not feel too bad.

I warmed up a little bit inside at first then started my run.  Did 2 miles at a slow pace (9:15ish) - (my ankles felt tight, not painful, just tight) then picked up a little bit for 0.5 miles, then planned on doing 3 X 1 mile repeats at 6:32 pace.  I held the pace at first but then had trouble holding on.  It was slipping away from me and I slowed down to 6:50 at one point, got a little back towards the end and finished with 6:46 but it took a lot out of me.  At that point I really felt like scrapping the whole run or at least heading back inside and finishing on the treadmill.  However, after I slowed down a bit I kept on going and bargained with myself to at least do 7 miles.  Things got a little bit better although I did take a couple short walk breaks.  When I got to 7 miles I went past the parking lot by 0.5 miles, turned around and came back to finish 8 miles. 

At the end of my run all of my minor aches and tight muscles had gotten worked out.  I didn't make my goals for mile intervals but at least I put in the miles.  Sometimes, the first mile can be difficult, then the other ones get better, so I wondered if I had at least tried the second mile repeat what would have happened.

 Average pace: 8:23
 

Today turned out pretty good.  I showed up at the Y about 5:30, but not sure when other people were running.  None of my usual running friends were there so after warming up and stretching for a little bit I got moving.   I thought I would do about 8 miles and maybe throw in some tempo in the middle of it.  As I was into my first mile I saw Dixie drive by so I headed back to the Y.  Keith and he were going to go to the track and do 3 X 1600 at a 6:30 - 6:40 pace.   I told them about how poorly I had done at yesterday's attempt and decided for a "rematch".   It certainly is a lot easier when you run with other people.  I warmed up some more with Keith and Dixie and then we got over to the track.  The first 1600 felt hard but doable.  The second one was maybe a little bit easier than the first one and was a little bit faster.  The third one was not too bad and came in right around the pace of the first one.  Dixie took the lead for each one so I just followed behind him, he was in front until the last 1600 where he faded a bit, fell behind and came in about 10 seconds after Keith and I - not bad at all since he had recently taken some time off from running.

After the third one I felt like I could have done one more if I had to which made me feel really good.  Much better than yesterday.  Plan for the rest of the week is a few slow miles tomorrow and then 20 on Saturday.  If I do this then I'll have a few more miles than last week. 

Splits were 6:32, 6:25, and 6:30 

After the 1600's I did almost another 3 miles.

Temp was about the same as yesterday, 80° with 80% humidity.

Easy run today of just 3 miles.   I did 45 last week and didn't want to jump up too far this week.  I ran outside although I had strongly considered running inside due to the humidity of about 85% and 80º temp.  But fortunately I wasn't planning on going too far and some reason the stickiness didn't really bother me.

I started out with a warm up inside of 10 minutes on a stationary bike along with some stretching.  Did my run in 24:25, came back inside for another 7 minutes on the bike for a cool down followed by about 20 minutes of not too strenuous weights and some ab work.

I did not bring my Garmin today, otherwise I would have constantly been looking at the pace.  I need to do this more often as there are a good number of well known routes with known mileage. 

Today's run was pretty good overall. Not everything went exactly as planned but it all seemed to work out somehow. I was going to get to the park gate a little bit early and then run 2 miles, then run 13 with Keith and Dixie, then do 5 miles on my own. When I got to the gate it was pretty clearly marked for no parking. So, I ended up waiting there until just before 6:00, then Keith showed up and then Dixie. But the gate was not unlocked yet. Just after 6:00 the park worker showed up, unlocked the gate and then locked it behind him. He came back about 15 minutes later and then unlocked the gate. So, we went in and got ready for our run. Keith and Dixie were planning on 13 but I talked them into 14. The morning was a typical Florida August morning with 81° temp and 87% humidity. I also realized today that I had been writing down the wrong humidity for my notes. I had been looking at the humidity at the time I wrote my blog instead of when I ran. I realized today that the humidity rapidly drops each morning when the sun comes up. Probably a fact that was obvious to everyone else.

We took off running at an easy pace of 8:45 for the first mile. There were several nasty flies buzzing around us for the second mile. Their bites can be pretty nasty so we seemed to pick up the pace a little bit. The outside part of my shins felt tight which often happens to me on a training run. It's not painful, just bothersome and uncomfortable. After just over 4 miles the started feeling better. At seven miles we turned around to head back. The weather was decent at that point with the sun still low and the humidity down slightly. All of the water stops were filled full with very chilly water. We stopped a lot for refills. I did not bring my water belt but just carried a 16 oz bottle of water. The good part was I didn't have the water belt, the bad part was I had to carry a bottle of water for 14 miles.

At 11 miles we ran into Eudair who was just heading out. We talked her into running back with us. Keith started to get some calf cramps so he slowed down a bit and Dixie stayed with him. At one point Eudair and I had picked things up and we did mile 12 at 7:08 pace, next mile was 7:44. We got back to the parking lot where we stopped for a short time and I finished off my Accelerade. Then we headed back to the trail for the last 6 miles. It was getting hotter and hotter with the sun up higher now. Finally, at 3 miles we turned around and headed back. The heat was pretty bad at this point but we kept going, and kept about an 8:15 pace. Then finally it was over. My second ever 20 mile run.

The average pace was 8:24. I would have liked 8:19 but considering the conditions I was pretty happy with the pace.

It was extremely fortunate that Keith and Dixie ran with me for most of the first 14 miles, and also very lucky that we ran into Eudair. For the last 6 miles I was going to listen to my ipod shuffle but it decided to die on me.

I didn't get a very early start this morning, woke up about 6:15, got out of the house, warmed up and stretched and actually started my run just after 7:00. As predicted today was a few degrees cooler, just 76° , humidity about 75%. Felt much cooler than any runs recently.

Today's run was supposed to be just an easy run. The first 3 miles were difficult and it felt hard to get into a rhythm. They were about an 8:50 pace. 4th mile was 8:07. 5th mile was 8:44 but part of that was to slow down and walk while I had a gel pack and water. After that I started feeling much better, with the miles gradually getting faster and faster. Before I knew it the 10 miles were finished, I was not quite at the parking lot so it ended up being an extra 0.4 miles onto the planned run.

Average pace: 7:58

Except for the start, the run was one of my best in recent weeks. I was especially pleased that this was after doing 20 miles with just one day off from running. The last time I did 20 miles, I took two days off, then just did 5 miles with some residual soreness left over. Looks like I did not overdo it this time. The miles are building up now so I'm going to try and concentrate on being injury free. If I can do that I think I'm almost certain to get a PR in Chicago and maybe have an outside shot at a BQ, but I'll have to see how the next few weeks progress.

Also, almost forgot:

Glycerin: 10.4

(new pair of shoes today)

Cross training day.  30 minutes on bike, followed by weights, stretching, pull-ups and some ab work.

Next 4 days running, get some good quality runs for a total of 48 miles this week.

My alarm was set for 5:00, I woke up at 4:30, fell back asleep and dreamed that I overslept until 7:50.   So, when the alarm did go off at 5:00 I was happy that I did not oversleep - good to start the day on a positive note. 

Dixie was up for a run this morning and we were both up for a change of scenery, so instead of starting out from the Trinity Y we started out at the Lansbrook Y.   Weather was back to normal for this time of year which is about 80° and 90% humidity.  First 2 and a half miles felt sluggish.  Stopped for water at the lake park then got going again, felt a lot better at that point.  Hit a couple of miles right at marathon pace then we were soon at the high school where they have some water fountains outside with nice chilled water. 

Return trip was about an 8:10 pace.  We had made some wrong turns along the way so the planned 9 mile run turned into 9.9 miles.

Overall it was a good run.  Average pace 8:11

When I got home I jumped in the pool for about 10 minutes to help stretch out. 

(Glycerin: 20.3) 

Tempo run today!

I was a little bit worried about it. I haven't done very many tempo runs, last one I did was two weeks ago when I tempo'd for 4 miles. That time, the first three and a half miles were miserable, with only the last 0.5 feeling good.

The weather was fairly decent this morning at 78° and 84% humidity. I spent a good amount of time warming up and doing some stretching, then headed outside. My goal was to do 5 or 6 miles at between 7:00 and 7:10 pace. I ran 1.8 miles as a warm up at about a 9:00 pace, then took a powerbar gel and stashed my accelarade and got going. To my surprise the first mile was not miserable, probably due to having done a good warm up. I was running at a pace which felt about 7:00 (turned out to be 6:59). I kept going with about the same effort with slightly faster times (6:57 and 6:58). At the start of the 4th mile I still felt pretty good thinking if all I did was this then it would be pretty good run - that mile was 6:54. Kept going and hit the 5th mile at 6:56. Now just one mile left. At this point I was feeling pretty pleased with my times. I sped up a little bit towards the end and decided to go an extra 0.2 miles and call it a 10K practice run - last mile at 6:47 and final 0.2 at 1:22.

Then I slowed down, grabbed my accelerade which I drank along the way and jogged back to the parking lot, another 1.2 miles for a total of 9.2 miles.

Some days my runs go better than other days, today was a better day.

Average pace of 7:37

 A bit late for this but I might as well start (based on a guess):

Asics Gel 300

A very light day today.

Warmed up on the arc trainer for about 10 minutes. Did some light lower body work and ab work then ran 2 easy miles on the treadmill at about 9:00 pace. It seems like forever since I've been on the treadmill.  Yesterday afternoon, seemingly out of nowhere my left knee was a bit sore when I walked.  It felt better this morning (didn't bother me at all while running) but I'm keeping an eye on it. 

I started kind of late since I slept in until 6:30 (I remember when that used to be early).

With tomorrow's 16 mile run I'll be right where I want for mileage this week.

I woke up at 6:00 this morning. However, the night before I did not have everything all set out and ready to go so I was fumbling around for a while getting everything I needed together. I got out of the house a 5 or 6 minutes after 6:30. Up until when I left home I had not made up my mind about where to run, I finally chose John Chestnut park/Lansbrook over Starkey Park. Starkey has a great path with lots of water stops but also has some nasty deer flies (they do make you run faster though). Keith and Dixie were going to San Antonio (FL) to do some hills (there aren't many places around here to do them), and I didn't get in touch with David to see when he was running so I was running alone today.

The weather was pretty good with 77° temp and 84% humidity to start.

It was almost 7:00 when I got to the parking lot. Little bit of warm up and stretching and then started at 7:03.  Today, I borrowed my wife's water belt which holds 2 10 oz bottles instead of mine which holds 2 20 oz bottles.  Her's felt lighter and more comfortable, hardly felt like I was wearing it.

Took the first mile really easy at 9:22 (I was worried about my knee although it felt ok this morning). Next mile at 8:29, then 8:24. Stopped at Lake park at 3.4 miles, had a power bar gel and some water. Now I felt warmed up. Next mile at 8:02. Pace naturally picked up - 7:49, 7:35, 7:44, 7:38 .... and on it went. Made 2 more stops, once at east lake hs on the way up and then on the way back again.

Now it was starting to get warm and the last few miles were a little bit harder.

Last full mile was 7:33 and final 0.6 miles at 7:25.

Overall pace (mostly not counting breaks): 7:53

Except for the end, if I saw my pace was 7:45 or 7:50 I resisted the temptation to speed up to hit "marathon pace" and just kept going trying to hold a steady pace.

No knee problems today!!

Glycerin: 36.3

Dixie offered to run with me again today.  We met up just after 6:00 for a 9 mile run.   Temp was 81°, humidity was 84%.  We started out slow with 9:22 for the first mile, gradually speeding up to 8:15 for the third mile.   We ran from the 7-eleven, up the east lake trail, looped around the high school, with a short water stop there.  Came back through some neighborhoods to the lake park in Lansbrook where I refilled my water bottle.    As it got lighter, the humidity dropped a little bit and a small breeze picked up, although the temp went up slightly it felt a little more pleasant at the end than at the start.    Finished strong with the last mile at 7:35.

Average pace: 8:05

Asics Gel - 309

This is going to be a cut back week for me, which mainly means I won't be doing a long run this weekend, want to get 40 miles this week, then next several weeks will climb up in mileage from these past few weeks with my first venture into to 50+ mile range. 

Also, for the past few weeks, since I've cut back a lot on weights I had been doing pull-ups at home.  Jenny read something in a magazine about a technique called "greasing the groove".   You start out figuring out what your max number of (whatever you are trying to do, in this case pull-ups).   Then for four weeks, mon-fri you do three sets per day, you do the sets at least one hour apart.  Mon you do 70% of max, tue 80%, wed 90 %, thu 70% and fri 80%.  The article said you could improve 20% in 4 weeks.  I started out at 20 pull-ups for my max.  This morning I did 30!   Jenny also did this but with push-ups and pull-ups.  Her push-ups went from 40 to 50 and pull-ups from 4 to 5!   Looks like this really works.

It seems similar to running in that if you run consistently at a slower pace than what you are capable of, after a while, one day you go to a race and can all of the sudden run a lot faster.

Jenny has started a blog also which is at :

http://www.jennyruns.blogspot.com

She has started running more now that her obstacle course competition has finished, with a 10K time of 54:53 back in March (a PR).  She's training for the Disney half marathon in January.
 

Non-running day today.   But, not a day off from exercise.   Got to the gym about 6:45 but ran into a couple of my running friends, stopped and talked for a few minutes.   Did the rowing machine for 10 minutes, the bike for 25 minutes, then did about 20 minutes of lower body weights and some ab work.  I've found that the ab work is very important for me when I am running.  Back in December I kept on blowing it off and ended up having problems which resulted in the need for about 10 sessions of physical therapy.  Don't want to do that again.

Looking forward to the rest of the week of running. 

..second try at this, first one was lost, couldn't seem to find it in the browser cache, oh well that is the first time I've done that.

Met up with Dixie at the  Y this morning at 6:00.  Weather was nice with 77° temp and decent humidity.  Started out at 8:45 pace for the first mile and gradually picked up to about an 8:00 pace by the time we got to 4.7 miles where the water was stashed.  Got going again and did the next few miles at marathon pace.  At about 8 miles we spotted one of the cross country team members who had slowed down a bit.  Dixie yelled at him (in a nice way) to start running again and follow us back, which he did.   As we neared the end of the run I saw that the pace was at 8:00 exactly for the run so I picked up a little bit faster until it clicked over to 7:59.

Did some strides in the grass afterwards - I've never done those before so I just followed along with Dixie.

Glycerin : 45.35

Easy run today at a reasonable pace. Started out with a few slow miles between 8:36 and 8:50. Had one mile in the middle that was a 7:36 pace, and the rest were between 8:05 and 8:15.

Ran with Dixie. We met up at 6:00 at the 7-eleven, got moving finally about 6:15. We ran up to the lake park, then just past it a little bit and reversed the route back.  We did not ran through the high school campus as school has started now, although it was probably still early it might have been ok.

We were making a conscious effort to stay at a comfortable pace which we manged to do pretty well.

Weather could not have been better, start temp was 75° 

Average pace: 8:15

Asics Gel - 318

Easy day run. Ran without the Garmin at a relaxed pace. Calculated how far I went later, turned out to be 4.2 miles in 35:46, or about 8:30 pace.

Slept in late until 6:30. Went to the Y, warmed up inside, then did my run. Back inside, stretched out and did about 20 minutes of weights, some lower body and some upper body. Came home and did a set up 20 pull-ups to hold onto my recent gains.

Glycerin - 49.55 

 Short run for a Saturday but not too short.  Just a little bit over 10 miles at a reasonable pace.  Met up with Joe and Randall at the Y.  We did the horse farm route with a loop through the Grey Oaks neighborhood.   First few miles were kind of slow.  After the turnaround at the horse farm there is a slight downhill where we picked things up a bit faster and kept the momentum for a good part of the way back.   Weather was great and it was nice to run with others.  Hadn't run with Joe for a while - he's the one that got me started running with this group.

At the end of the run I felt like I had a lot left over and that I could have run another 10 miles if I needed to which is good since next Saturday I am going to do just that.

Average pace: 8:05

Glycerin - 59.7

9 miles at an easy pace this morning. Met up with Dixie a little after 6:00 and ran through the Lansbrook neighborhood. I had my new water belt today which I bought yesterday - it's just like the one that I had been borrowing from my wife. I hardly notice wearing it. Dixie had a lot to talk about this morning so we talked the entire run which seemed to make the run go by pretty fast even though we were at a slower pace than usual. I also let the timer run through the water stops. With the slower pace and stops the average pace came out to 8:49. I think the fastest we got up to was about an 8:00 pace. This isn't too bad considering I'm going to be going up in miles this week for my first ever 50 mile week.

Weather was good at about 77°, I'm hoping it holds out and we don't go back to 80° starts.

Asics  Gel - 327

Today was a cross-training day.  I did the stationary bike for 25 minutes and some lower body weights, stretching and ab work.  I ended up on the treadmill to stretch my legs with some fast walking which quickly turned into a jog, then a run, then back to a jog.  I got off before this turned into a running day.

Today was another tempo run. The goal was a bit more ambitious than my last tempo run. I wanted to do 8 miles at a 7:10 pace. I had some doubts as to whether I should do this or not as my right knee has been a little bit bothersome recently. When things are bothersome they either get better or it turns into a pain of some sort. I'm trying to stay away from the pain route. So, I figured I would run until there was any hint of a problem.

Warmed up inside on the arc trainer for a bit then headed outside. Ran about 1.6 miles at an easy pace, took a power bar gel then started off on the tempo.

First mile felt good and came in right around 7:00, miles 2 and 3 were also pretty good. I ran past the cross country team and said hi to the coach. At the end of Wyndtree I turned around and then ran past one of my running friends and said hi to her. Mile 4 was harder. It felt like I was putting out the same effort but my pace was slowing. I picked things up and finished that mile at 7:10. Now I thought about my knee, it still wasn't hurting which was good. I also thought that running just over 28 minutes at a tempo pace counts for something and it might be a good idea to come out ahead and slow down before my knee hurt at all. So, mile 5 was not run at a tempo pace but more of a regular pace (I'll have to check later what it was). I drank some accelerade which probably helped - I was carrying my new water belt which might be part of the reason for the need for extra effort in today's run. For mile 6 my pace had naturally picked back up to about a 7:30 pace. By mile 7, I was feeling good again and finished that mile at about 7:00.

I slowed down then as there was just a little over a mile left to get in 10 miles which was my goal for total mileage for today. Backed down to about an 8:00 pace. There was one road to cross with a traffic light which was green for me if I hurried, so I picked up the pace to make the light. Momentum carried me back to close to the parking lot, finally slowed down with a little bit left to go for a cool down.

The one big boost about today's run is that the average pace for the 10.2 miles was 7:34.

I had to keep moving as I had a dentist appointment which I could just barely make if I took a very quick shower.

Gycerin - 69.7 

Today's run felt refreshingly good for some reason. It wasn't my fastest or longest run. There wasn't too much remarkable about it which is possibly what made it feel good. I had run into one of my running friends yesterday who said he would probably be running this morning at 5:30. However, last night I made the decision to sleep in an extra 45 minutes since it was just a "probably" for the others.

I showed up at 6:30 and 3 of my running friends had just finished their run, oh well. I didn't have high hopes for my run today, just finish 8 miles at a reasonable pace. I set out and right away I noticed that my legs felt "fresh" which I was not expecting since I ran hard yesterday. So, I continued on. First mile was slow and easy, but not too slow. For a change I set the Garmin lap distance on 0.25 instead of 1 mile just to try it out. Maybe this helped as I did not obsess about my mile pace. After about 1.5 miles, the 0.25's were pretty much between 2:00 and 2:03. Eventually the run was over. My average pace was 8:13 which was pretty much exactly what I wanted for today's run. I stopped very briefly twice, once to drop off the accelerade and once to pick it up.

Asics gel - 335 

Various cross training and a little bit on the treadmill today.  Did 15 minutes on the elliptical, 10 minutes on the bike, some upper body weights and finished up with 2 easy miles on the treadmill.

Big run tomorrow!