The Long Run

Ran at Starkey park again this Saturday.  Group of runners seems to be growing especially the ones starting at 6:00 in order to get some miles in before the sun comes up.  Started out with Eric and Mike.  Went pretty easy the first mile, a little faster the second mile, then continued to get a little bit faster.  Originally I had thought about doing just 12 today, then decided one more mile couldn't hurt.  When I got to the turn around point, decided to go a little bit farther to stay with Mike and Eric for 14.

Shortly after turning back and getting back into Starkey park from the Sucoast trail, I must have had a garmin malfunction because it said I ran that mile in 5:51, it was probably close to 7:00 but still a pretty good pace.

As we made it to the 4 mile water stop, there was a big gap between Eric and Mike and a big gap between Mike and myself.  I wasn't feeling quite as fast this week.  It was a good deal more humid than last week, certainly not the best running weather.   Eric did not stop at the 4 mile water, Mike stopped very briefly.  I stopped a little longer.  My heart rate was up and I needed to cool down.  David was turning around at 4 so I got going with him.  We picked up the pace on each mile back, going from 7:40's to 7:20's.  Finally, I did the last mile at 6:45 and finally was feeling good again.

Average pace: 7:23

This was a harder run than last week with faster starting out miles and faster overall pace, but less solid second half

Somewhat typical Monday morning run.  10.8 miles - 1.5 treadmill, 7.8 outside, 1.5 mile treadmill.

Went to the Y, warmed up on the bike, 2 sets of crunches on the ball, then onto the treadmill for 1.5 miles.  Looked like it was getting warm outside so figured I'd better get going.   Based the route on my favorite 6 mile route with some extra added on.  Did a few fartleks to try and wake up the legs, it seemed to help a little bit.  I used a new water bottle today.  Actually, the bottle itself is a lot like ones that I have but this one came with a strap on it so you don't actually have to grip it with your hand.  It was better than just holding a bottle but not as good as carrying nothing in your hand.  I'll try it again for a longer run and see how it does.

Average pace outside: 7:48

After being outside, cooled down with another 1.5 miles on the treadmill, a few minutes on the arc trainer and finished up with 3 sets of leg extensions.  Inflict workout tomorrow!

Ran by myself, starting out at the Y, just after 5:30.  I wanted to do my Inflict workout in the gym and I potentially had two people to run with.  Run went pretty well.  I felt like I was running at a relaxed pace, and possibly a pace that was faster than average, but the pace turned out to be a little slower than I thought but still in the right ball park - 8:12

While running I came up behind Barb and Regina and said "hi" when I was about 10 feet behind them which gave them a startle.  I must have been running  quietly for them not to hear me, so maybe in addition to a nice easy pace I was running with a good form and not breathing so hard I could be heard from a mile away!

After the run I did my Inflict workout.  This was the first one I did at the gym, it was harder and took longer for a few reasons.  For one thing, I didn't have Jenny there to ask questions on what I should do next.   Also, some of the equipment was in use when I needed it, and there were heavier weights available than what I have at home.  It took me about 50 minutes to complete the workout, which seemed a bit too long to me but at least I got it done!

 Spectacular light show this morning.  Sky above me was clear, but several miles away were some big cumulonimbus looking clouds.  They were lighting up with lightening which didn't seem to reach the ground.  Sometimes you just saw light, other times you could see some pretty spectacular bolts of lightening across the length of the clouds.  It was pretty far away and not getting closer so I figured it was ok to still run.

I hadn't done a tempo run for a while so I thought it was time.  I headed out from my house and ran the first 0.5 miles with Jenny before I split off towards 54 and Starkey blvd while she stayed in the neighborhood on phone duty.

I had trouble getting going at first and actually stopped a couple of times so I could start up again and hopefully shake off the dead legs.  It worked eventually and I started to feel better.  Just over two miles out, I was ready to begin.  I knew the pace would feel hard especially at the beginning.

So, here is what I did:

6:57, 6:48, 6:54, 6:41, 6:37

As I thought so, the first mile felt hard.  The 4th mile didn't feel any harder than the first mile, perhaps a little easier.  The 5th mile was better than the rest, maybe because I was glad to be done.  Not sure why the first mile is always harder than the last mile.

After the tempo portion, I slowed down and gradually picked up the pace as I recovered.  The last mile for the morning was at 7:14 pace, which felt pretty good.

Average pace: 7:35

I received a surprise in the mail today.  It was a medal from the Estes Park Marathon for finishing 3rd place, male age 40-49.  The overall winner was in my age group, so that opened up a spot for another award.  I know some people don't believe in age group awards and some people don't believe in awards due to someone getting bumped up, but I sure do, because the award is sitting on my counter!  It was very nice of the people at the Estes Park Marathon to mail this medal out to me, thank you!

Nice run this morning at Longleaf with Nelson and Keisha.  Overall group was smaller than usual with several out on vacation some place.  Nelson, Keisha, and I ran 6.1 miles together, averaging about an 8:25 pace.  After they split off, I did another out and back to get in a total of 8.3 miles and bump up my overall average pace to 8:15.   I got back just in time as everyone else was packing up and leaving but was able to grab a cup of Regina's famous Brazilian coffee.

Headed home for a quick dip in the pool and then onto the Inflict workout (home version) about 45 minutes.  My innovation of the day was to do the horizontal pullups, which when I was at the Y I had lowered the bar on a squat rack.  Since I don't own a squat rack, I put a broomstick between two chairs for a bar. It was a little bit shaky but it did the trick.  For the squat rows, Jenny suggested using the band slung around the coffee table legs (it's a very sturdy coffee table made out of heavy duty pipes for legs), while holding dumbbells.

 Nice morning for a run with a surprise treat of a rainbow!  7.25 miles @ 7:51 average pace, consisting of first half nice and steady and then a slight speed up in the second half with the last 1.5 miles faster.

16.06 @ 7:24 pace (1:58:55)

Good run this morning in Starkey park with Eric, Mike, and Dan.  Met up at 6:00 and was running by 6:10.  Trying to get out to the turnaround point while the sun is still low.  Temperature was pretty good but the humidity was back up, the air almost looked foggy at first.  I started a little bit ahead of the other guys so I could go a little bit slower for my warmup.  They caught up to me in about a mile, then I ran with them.  Fortunately, we kept the pace pretty easy and didn't start picking it up really until after 4 miles.

Eric turned around at 5 miles and headed back, and Mike turned around at 7 miles.  Dan and I made it to 8 miles then headed back - the sun was still pretty low.  The first mile after the turnaround the pace had picked up a little bit faster than I thought.  We stopped briefly at the water stop before going back into the park to try and cool off a bit, then continued on.  Kept up a pretty good pace to the 12 mile point, grabbed some more cold water then headed off for the final stretch back.  With about three miles left I was starting to feel a little bit tired and felt like slowing down.  With two miles left, Dan said let's run the last two at 7:05.  We were able to do that and a little bit better with the last two at 6:58 and 6:55.  Dan was ahead of me 30-60 seconds for the last mile, hard for me to tell exactly.

I was happy with the run because on Friday night I was not sure how I would hold up for an early morning 16 mile run in the heat/humidity at the end of 60 miles, but it turned out just fine, long run magic I suppose.

Hung out for a bit at social hour before heading home to enjoy some delicious french toast Jenny had made from home made bread she made the day before!

10 miles @ 8:15 pace with Jenny this morning.

We ran around the neighborhood, starting about 6:40.  She gets on pace faster than me, so I'm sort of trailing a few feet behind for the first mile.  Weather was nothing to complain about and after the warm up we both felt pretty good.  We hit some miles in the low 8's (which used to be her tempo pace,  but now is more her warmed up feeling good pace).

She finished her run at 7.5 miles and I continued on around another loop to try and get to 10 miles.  As I was getting back close to the house again she had two of the dogs out for a walk.  She handed me Sammy's leash and I tried to run with him but he was concerned about his "sister" Barbie and didn't want to run without her, so I turned back around, gave the leash back to Jenny and finished up my ten.  Walked back over to Jenny and the dogs and walked back to the house with them.

Jenny and I averaged an 8:30 pace together.  I ran the last two miles about a 7:15 pace to bring up the overall average to 8:15.

Nice and easy run this morning with Jenny and her friends Jenny and Cherise.  Ran through the neighborhood and over by the golf course.  Warm and humid as usual but nothing to complain about really.  We averaged 8:44 pace.  Jenny and the boys were off to Texas and had a 9:15 flight so we didn't have a lot of extra time.  

I got the job done, and felt pretty good.  Ran 4 miles of tempo, with goal pace of 6:43.  Started with about 2.5 mile warm up over to Starkey Blvd.  Tempo felt hard as usual and the goal pace was a slight bump up from last time but a shorter distance.  Here are the splits:

 6:40, 6:40, 6:35, 6:29

 Cooled down on the return trip.  Felt good to hit my splits.  On the cool-down I started to feel a little tired, then felt ok about it because I realized I had just done the last 0.75 miles at 7:05 pace but thought I was "dragging" at a much slower pace.

Average pace: 7:28

After work, and before heading out to dinner with customers, stopped by the local running store to get a new pair of shoes.  Wanted to try something lighter, so they suggested these shoes - the Brooks launch.  I went over to Longleaf this morning to run with this group at 5:30. Several people commented on my new shoes, probably because of the very loud color, hope these work out ok.

For most of the run I ran with Keisha and Alex, sticking with them for most of 6 miles.  I dropped off the bottle of water I was carrying then headed out for a little over 2 more miles.  I went faster for the last two miles and the shoes felt nice and light on my feet.

Average pace: 8:10

After socializing for a little bit, headed back home, swam for a few minutes then did the Inflict workout, which I had been thinking about skipping but did not really have a good reason for skipping it.  But before getting started, I kept on having to do things - pick things up, feed the fish, feed the older dog, let the dogs out and back in, water some plants, and feed the gerbil.  There's more that needs to be done but I had to get going to work at some point. Can't wait for Jenny and the boys to come home!

It was nice and cool this morning (weather underground says 74.9°) so the run felt really good.  For some reason, 75 degrees seems to be the threshold between cool and warm.  Today would have been a great day to do a tempo run but it was supposed to be easy day, so that's pretty much what I did.  Ran the loop around the neighborhood then headed out towards the golf course, to the last neighborhood out that way and then back.  One brief stop at the water fountain where I did not stop my watch.

Average pace: 7:43

No sleeping in tomorrow, wake up at 4:45 and driving up to the hilly section of the Suncoast trail.

Ran on the Suncoast trail, but went up to Brooksville where there are some hills.  The trailhead starts out next to a pedestrian bridge going over the road.  I didn't bring my phone on the run so I don't have any pictures of the actual hills but they were a pretty good mix of small and medium hills.  Originally, there were going to be three of us meeting this morning and running but that somehow turned into 9!  It definitely made the whole morning a fun adventure.  Jenny gave me a ride up to the trailhead along with two of her other running friends.  I waited outside my house to be ready at 5:15 and she was right on time.  We picked up one more person and arrived just before 6:00.

All 9 of us started out together.  It was still dark and the temperature was cooperating at 74°, although there was a bit of humidity.  We stuck together for the first mile then the group broke up into smaller groups.  First mile was at 9:20, second at 7:55, then the rest were between 7:42 and 7:05.  I actually looked at my pace very little while running and was looking more at the hills.  The thing I like about running on the hills at this trail is that it makes the run go by pretty quickly.  You see the hill, then you are at the bottom, then at the top, and then down the other side.   This seemed to cover around a half a mile, give or take depending on the hill.  Some were tiny rollers and others were more substantial.  There is no water on the trail except at the trailhead so we all had different water bottles and fuel belts with us.

With about 4 or 5 miles left, Eric starting pulling away.  At one point Mike told me not to let him hold me back, the funny thing was that I was thinking the exact same thing.  So, we pretty much stuck together with just a little bit of drift over the last mile.

It was nice to see the bridge at the end as I knew that was the end.  My legs were getting a little tired.  It was a good simulation of tired legs during a race but you keep going.  Last mile was at 7:05. 

Average pace: 7:37

Afterward, we hung out a little bit at the shelter and shared some snacks.  We hadn't really planned anything in detail but it turned out great and everyone seemed to enjoy the challenge and the change of scenery.

Victoria, Mike, Mark (me), Eric

Mike, Jenny, Eric, Jorge, and Laura

I drove to the Y this morning.  I was listening to the news and they were talking about some rocket launch which I had assumed happened some time last night.  As I turned at the stop light I saw in my rear view mirror a long zig-zagging contrail which finally ended in an arcing shape.  The contrail was oddly illuminated in the still dark sky.  Looks like the rocket launch (a Delta 2 carrying a gps satellite) had just happened.  It was quite a sight.

Made it to the Y, warmed up on the bike for 10 minutes, followed by two sets of crunches on the ball.  Ran 1.5 miles at about an 8:30 average pace, then was ready to head outside.

Warm but not too warm out.  Ran 6.5 miles @ 7:35 average pace.  Saw some of the cross country team out running.

Back inside, for another 2 miles on the treadmill with some treadmill style striders thrown in for fun.

Finished with 3 sets of leg extensions.

As I was leaving to go to work, I saw this very strange looking bug outside the front door.  It was about the size of a lizard.

Ran with Jenny this morning around the neighborhood. We started the run about 6:45 which was nice since it was in that narrow window where it is starting to get light out and the air changes from stagnant to breezy, the humidity drops slightly but the sun has not come up yet so it isn't hot.

We kept our splits pretty even throughout the run. Jenny said she felt like she was dragging a bit but the pace wasn't  any slower than what she has been running. At 8 miles, Jenny ended her run. We had averaged about an 8:29 average pace. I did another 1.2 miles slightly faster, bumping up my average pace to 8:21 for the run.

Quick swim in the pool to cool off (the water was actually cool due to last night's rain), then did my Inflict workout "The Anchor" (they all have such ominous sounding names). Went pretty well, took me about 45 minutes.

 First track workout in quite a while.  As is often the case, a little worried about how it would go.  Got to the Y a little after 6:15, and warmed up a little over two miles of easy running.  Stopped inside the Y for a drink of water and received some more comments about the brightness of my shoes.  Grabbed my drink bottle and put on my crocs to run across the field to get over to the track.  This turned out to be a good idea, otherwise my shoes would have gone from bright orange and red to mud color.

Put my running shoes back on and did one easy lap around the track to check it out.  Today's goals were modest, just 2 X 1600 @ 6:17 , with 800m jog between repeats.

  Started the first repeat, felt pretty good and was hitting the laps around 1:30, finished the first one at 6:00.  Second one was at 6:01.  I ran the first one clockwise, and the second one counter clockwise.  The garmin is way off on the paces and even more off when comparing clockwise laps to counter clockwise, but it doesn't matter too much because it's really just a stop watch when running at the track.

As a bonus, I did two 400's to see what I could do.  They were at a faster pace, but not dramatically so, with each one at exactly 1:24.  Then one slow lap around the track.  Crocs back on, across the field, running shoes back on and about another 2.2 miles to get over 9 miles for the morning.  During the last mile I saw I had picked up the pace, so I held it and finished that mile in 6:46, which didn't feel so bad compared to the 400's.

Cooled down even more inside with 5 minutes on the arc trainer and 3 sets of leg extensions before heading home.

But first, took this washed out looking photo with my phone of the view from the Y, looking across the field to the track.

Good run this morning over at Longleaf with the Striders at 5:30.  Ran with David, Alex, Keisha, Nelson and a new guy, John.   It was pretty dark this morning with no moon, but the stars sure were visible.   When we got to the turn around point I decided to put my music on.  My shuffle had been in my pocket and the cord got all tangled up.  I fixed it but it took a while.  When I got going again the group was way ahead of me and I tried to catch up, but didn't quite make it.

Average pace: 8:01

Cut the run a little bit short since Jenny was heading out early.  Did Inflict workout "The Anchor" again.  I skipped the very last set of walking lunge presses because I slightly tweaked my left adductor (but nothing too terrible, just didn't want to strain it more).  When I said I was skipping it, Jenny suggested I do squat presses instead, alright...  :)   Those didn't hurt.

On the way to work, there was a car driving ten miles per hour below the speed limit a couple cars in front of me, it was so annoying.  But this was actually a blessing.  As I was getting near to the major intersection, there is a smaller side street which runs across the street I was on.  A mini van pulled out very quickly to try and get across but did not see the large dump truck.  I thought the van would make it across,  but the truck plowed right into it.  The mini van driver was ok (but very shaken), but some of the passengers did not look good at all.  Several people had gotten out of their cars to help.  I went over to make sure someone had a cellphone to call for help, but mainly stayed out of the way.  Police and fire rescue showed up within minutes.   Once I gave a short statement to the police I went on to work as there wasn't anything else I could have done to help.  If the "annoyingly slow" driver had not slowed me down, I might have been involved in the accident, so slow drivers aren't so bad.  I hope everyone is going to be ok.

Nice, mostly relaxed run this morning.  Woke up at 6:15, got ready and did a loop around the neighborhood on the bike.  Weather was pretty good, someplace in the mid 70's.  Ran a loop around the neighborhood then headed on the t-route over to the golf course area.  Stopped once for water (where I stopped my watch) and another very brief stop where I did not stop my watch.  Picked it up the last couple of miles to a pace in the low 7's.  

Average pace: 7:29

Good solid run today.   Not as relaxed as yesterday's run but still enjoyable.  Back to Starkey Park for 6:00 run.  I was a few minutes late.  Not exactly sure why because I woke up on time, just not quite moving fast enough I suppose.  Since I was a little late, didn't get much of a warm up in.   Started running with Mike, Eric, and Dan.  I had some trouble starting out and the first mile 8:28 pace felt hard at first.  Things got better after that and the running started to feel easier.

Out 8 miles then turned back.  We kept the stops down to a minimum today.  On the return trip, my garmin said I was going really fast, but it was a bit off since it wasn't matching the more advanced garmins, but it was still a pretty good pace (for example, garmin said 6:09 for one of the miles but the other garmin said it was more like 7:00).  Still good, maybe I'll see those number for real some day on a long run.

As we got closer, our group slowly spread out.  I lost sight of Eric.  Could see Dan most of the way but eventually lost sight of him until back at the end.  Almost exactly as I finished, the rain started.  Just a light sprinkle to cool things off.  Hung out for a bit and chatted with the others while sharing snacks and coffee before heading back home.

Average pace: 7:17  (maybe 7:20's due to inaccuracy)

Skipped my usual Sat. afternoon naptime to watch the boys do their Tae Kwon Do class.  They've both made big improvements this summer with all of the extra classes that they did.

Monday morning split run (treadmill/outside).  Went up to the Y, warmed up on the bike then did 3.55 miles on the treadmill at about an 8:15 pace.  Then headed outside.

What a nice treat today, temp in the low 70's and humidity way down (felt like maybe 50%).  I'm sure the heat will be back again before it really turns fall, but it was a nice preview.

I was good about not looking at my pace, even resisting when I heard the beep for the mile splits. Ran 6.05 miles outside on one of my favorite out and back courses from the Y out to Wyndtree and back.

Average pace: 7:53

 With the treadmill portion and the outside portion averaged, it was right around where I wanted to be.

The boys started school today, 2nd and 5th grade.  I know everyone says this, but I can't believe how fast they are growing!

9.53 @ 8:20 average pace.

Blessed with another nice morning for running.  A little more humid than yesterday morning but still well within a comfortable range.  Ran with Jenny on our usual neighborhood loop plus t-shaped route near the golf course.  We ran 7.5 miles together, then I added another 2 miles.  Sped up a little bit for the last 2 miles (maybe around a 7:40 pace).

Since a lot of the Inflict workout for today requires some things I don't have at home, I'm going to stop by the other Y on the way home from work.   That way, I'll also get to see some of the Tae Kwon Do class.

 I was not quite feeling up for a tempo run but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.  Yesterday, I did not do my Inflict workout as planned after work.  Work ran late.  I still made it to watch some of the Tae Kwon Do class and I might have been able to still do the workout but thought that taking it easy might be better. 

So, when I woke up this morning I was feeling better but maybe not quite 100%.  Warmed up with most of the first mile alongside Jenny until I split off to head up Starkey Blvd's bike path.  First two miles were around 9:00 pace.  I noticed it was warmer than it had been the last two days, but still within a range where I could complete this run. (temp was 74 and humid)

I was able to get on my pace quickly and concentrated on getting the first mile out of the way.  I was pretty consistent with my splits.  The last mile started to feel a bit hard and it felt like I was having to put in more effort than what a tempo run should be.  Felt good to finish the last mile, here are the splits:

6:39, 6:40, 6:40,6:39, 6:34

Had to walk for a bit, then started up again slowly for the return trip, ended up picking up the last mile to 6:56, followed by about a 1/3 of a mile at a 9:00 pace. 

More cool down in the pool.   Decided against trying to get the Inflict workout in because I needed to pack for business trip to Austin.

Average pace: 7:30

Trying to catch up after being away.  Thursday morning in Austin for a meeting.  7.5 miles on the treadmill.  Not too much exciting.  It actually went pretty well as far as treadmill miles go.  They had little tv's on each one.  I watched tv for a bit and listened to music part of the time.  Averaged about 8:00.

More treadmill miles.  But this time I was in Dallas.  I was supposed to be home but the Austin-Dallas flight was two hours late.  Just enough time to almost make the Dallas-Tampa flight, missed it by less than ten minutes.  Got booked on 8:30 flight and eventually made our way over to nearby Embassy Suites which was very nice (they had a special "distressed traveler" rate).

I had to get creative with my workout clothes since I only brought one set for the trip.  Rinsed out my running shorts in the sink so they didn't stink.  Fortunately they dry out quickly.

Time was short so I just got in 6.2 miles.  Individual tv's helped pass the time again.

Average pace again about 8:00

Made my flight ok and finally made it back home just 12 hours late.

Mentally preparing now for 18 mile run tomorrow.

Pretty good run overall this morning.  Plan was to meet Victoria and Jorge at Longleaf and start out with them, running up Starkey Blvd and into Starkey Park, then get a ride back to our cars.  Due to some email issues and the fact that I was a few minutes late I ended up running alone.  

I started out slowly trying to get my legs warmed up and doing the best I could to see in the morning darkness using the little keychain light that I had.  Since I knew that Jorge and Victoria were already ahead of me I didn't have to worry too much about running into a lot of cobwebs.  There was no moon for light, but the stars were pretty bright.  Saw lots of bats, but as usual they didn't bother me.  No coyotes today fortunately.  After a few miles, David pulled up in his car alongside me and asked if I needed anything, which was nice.   Continued on and made it inside Starkey park.   As I got onto the bike trail there it was just starting to get light out.

Turned around just past what is usually the 4 mile water stop.  Stopped there very briefly to refill my bottles then started my return trip.  Was starting to feel good about mile 10.  At the turn around I put on my ipod shuffle.  Saw a bunch of the Striders heading out.  Said hi to lots of runners and headed towards the park exit then back onto Starkey Blvd.   Weather was decent and I was mostly going to miss the full Sun, but caught a little bit of it on the last couple of miles.

At the turnaround point I had averaged an 8:20 pace.  Finished strong for the last couple of miles with the final mile at 6:57.  I was however starting to feel some of the week catch up with me but fortunately not until the end.  Finshed the run with a 7:55 average, so it was a progression run of sorts.  Stopped by the social hour for a bit to say hi and catch up, then headed back home.

First 20 miler in a while will be in two weeks from now.

Monday morning split run between the treadmill and outside.  10 minute warm up on the bike then onto the treadmill.   I felt a little achy at first in my left foot but that seemed to loosen up after a couple of miles.  Averaged about 8:05.

 Headed outside, another 4.2 miles at 7:31 average pace.  Looked at my pace after the first mile, then no more looking until the end.  Felt pretty good.   This is my cut back week with just 8 mile runs planned Mon-Sat., although maybe I'll do 10 on Saturday (possible peer pressure).