The Long Run

3.33 mi, 28:53, 8:41 avg

Ran in foxwood this morning from my house and just past the golf course water fountain (classic 3 mile route and a little extra).  I thought it would be a slow run.  My feet were sore from yesterday so I started out easy and wasn't going to go far.  First mile was 10:17 but I got faster for the next two miles (8:24 and 7:54), and then galloped the rest of the way home.

No AC at home last night but yesterday was a little cooler than normal so inside only got to 80.  I opened the windows and turned on the fan, was a little humid but slept pretty good.  I could hear the frogs outside much more than usual.

Wires somehow got cut by the fan, AirHawk showed up the next day to fix it, I said it wasn't an emergency.  Wires got fixed (and shortened and a couple more ties added), now back to normal.

6.62 mi, 58:16, 8:48 avg, elev gain 81 feet

Missed running on Thursday due to getting into camp super late (about 2:00), and then rain in the morning as well as getting ready to leave for the drive back, but I probably could have at least squeezed in a couple of miles - and gotten some nice hills as well.  Thursday night drive back turned into much later than planned - getting back about 1:00, so ended up taking off Friday morning as well, maybe I needed it.

But, finally, ran on Saturday morning - although a little later (10:15 am start).  Did two loops around Westlake but in the opposite direction of the last time I did two loops.  Run ended up being better than expected and had a nice steady pick up in pace.  Apparently it is 20 feet less climbing when going in the opposite direction, not sure how or maybe I don't really understand the elevation gain statistic.  The route is a pretty steady up and down, but with much of it 10-20 feet I think it gets smoothed out.

When  I finished the two loops, decided that 5.8 miles was kind of lame for a "long run", so went back out and looped around the trail by the little lake for an addional 0.8 miles.

7.04 mi, 1:02:38, 8:53 avg

The goal today was to run steady, but relatively easy but not too slow.  First mile 9:16 and last mile 8:34.  Started with loop around the neighborhood and then t-shaped route along the golf course and back.  81 degrees at the end but stayed in the shade as much as I could.

It was a pretty good run.

7.17 mi, 1:03:30, 8:52 avg, elev gain 231 feet

I decided to start a structured marathon training plan after I ran across one from BAA.  It looked interesting with a good variety of workouts and different phases.  It's 20 weeks long but I decided to start in week 3.  Next, I'm going to look for a race around the time that the plan ends (a little bit into December).

The core of today's workout was 6 hill repeats, 300m up at 10k pace, 30 seconds rest, back down the hill at marathon pace, then 1 minute 30 second easy.

I found a hill in the neighorhood that looked like it was long enough, ran to the top then jogged back down to measure about 300m (0.19 miles as an approximation).  Also, picked a hill that was shaded.

I started the first one and didn't seem to be going fast enough but was soon on pace.  Goal pace was 6:48. 

Paces for the uphill repeats: 6:26, 6:25, 6:29, 6:29, 6:21, 6:12

Overall it was pretty fun and made the miles go by quickly.

Did 2 more "easy" miles for a cool down.

6.07 mi, 52:05, 8:35 avg, elev gain 107 feet

Day 2 of following the new schedule.  Easy run with planned range of 8:33-9:10 and secondary goal of not starting out too slow and not having to run too fast to get the desired average.  First mile 8:45, last and fastest mile 8:21.  Ran south down Lakeview to Westlak Blvd, onto Nebraska and then zig-zagged way until heading south for a little bit on the Pinellas Trail.  Took a slightly less zig-zaggy route on the way back.  I ended up at the faster end of the easy run range.  Miles 3 and 5 I held back a little bit on purpose.  Warm 81 degrees run but not bad as most of the route was shaded.  No real stops on today's run, carried a little 10oz handheld bottle with gatorade.

PM: 1.16 mi, 13:58, 12:01 avg

Took Stella to "hump day hustle run" at Longleaf.  I was not wearing running clothes so we just sort of jogged.  Got pretty sweaty but Stella didn't seem to mind.

8.17 mi, 1:07:28, 8:15 avg, elev gain 49 feet

Yesterday was a scheduled day off.  I was not able to run this morning but it always feels tempting to just skip the run in the evening, but I wasn't going to even though it had been kind of a rough day and it was still 86 degrees and typical Florida August humidity, but it was getting later and it at least seemed cooler.

Scheduled run was 2 easy, 2x2 miles at half marathon pace (7:08), 3 minute jog between and then 2 miles easy to get back home.  It was about 2 miles to the Pinellas trail and looked like there was a good two mile stretch at least before crossing any major roads.  First mile was better than expected and finished it in 6:54.  Next mile was 7:03, but just after I finished was realizing how much the heat had taken out of me.  But, just two more miles and then an easy jog home.  

Second repeat did not start out well, I really didn't think I'd be able to finish it.  I stopped, mentally regrouped and then got going again and decided to just try my best.  Made the next mile in 7:16, not too far off and then slowly got a little bit faster as a chipped away at the last mile and finished it in 7:05.

1. 6:54, 7:03

2. 7:16, 7:05

Run back home was good and saw a nice sunset when I stopped to scratch a bug bite.

6.09 mi, 52:21, 8:36 avg

Monday was a good run, Tuesday felt great, Wednesday seemed to just flow right, Thursday was an off day, but Friday was a little bit tough and I was worried that Saturday, although scheduled to be easy would feel slow and clunky and not easy at all.  Started later in the morning but had good cloud cover and a little bit of light rain at the end.  Run seemed to play out like Wednesday's run, not too slow of a start and kept a good mostly easy feeling about the run.  First mile was 9:02, last mile was 8:25.

11.46 mi, 1:41:15, 8:50 avg

Today's run was 60 minutes easy, followed by 10x(1min 5k/1min MP), then 20 minutes easy.  At first it didn't sound bad but then I realized it might be kind of rough.  84 degreees, some clouds and fairly shaded course mostly in Westlake Village.  First part easy felt a little harder and that was even with backing off the pace to adjust for heat index.

After the easy part, topped off my handheld, took a gel, then got started.  Speed portion did not go great, not a total disaster in that I did all 10 repeats, but fell way short of mainining "marathon pace" for the minutes between 5k pace.   I did what I could.  5k pace portions were not quite what I hoped for.  But the main thing was I did not give up.

Last 20 minutes of "easy pace" after the intervals felt better and was a little faster than the first 60 minutes of easy pace.

It definitely feels like I'm out of my rut.

9.33 mi, 1:21:11, 8:42 avg, elev gain 172 feet

Yesterday was rest day, which I needed, today was back to hitting it pretty hard.  2 easy, 5x1km @ 10K pace, then 5x200m @5k pace.  

It was already fairly warm even though it was just getting light, but it at least felt a little bit cool.  Shortly into the warmup I soon realized the cool feeling was deceptive.  The repeats didn't seem like they would be too bad, and looking over the numbers I was just a little bit slow on tow of the first three (goal pace was 6:48), but I felt like it wasn't going well, wanted to quit, but then ending up doing the last two a little bit too fast.  Other small snafu was that I could not figure out how to get my garmin laps set up for 1km, so had to settle for 0.65 miles, no biggie.

Paces: 6:52, 6:54, 6:48, 6:23, 6:23

200's were a little bit faster then goal pace but felt great.  When I finished the last 1k repeat, I was in no mood to crank out the 200's, but fortunately, they were on the schedule so I did themm and glad I stuck it out.

The run was a little hillier than I would have liked but I wanted to stay in Westlake so I'd be near the nice water fountain outside the pool with the very cold water.

And in very sad news, I actually kicked a squirrel this morning.  Of course by accident, but still.  They usually do that indecisive move of running one way or the other really fast until finally getting out of the way.  Well, this poor little squirrel was not quite as fast and was taking a more casual approach assuming I'd go around him/her and I assumed we'd miss each other.  But we didn't, my foot made contact with the squirrel, putting the little creature slightly airborne but not too high, before landing and running away.

6.07 mi, 57:14, 9:26 avg

Ran with Joe this morning in the neighborhood and out along the golf course.  We can see actual work being done on the Starkey Gap trail with stakes and silt fences up.

Today was a scheduled easy run of 4-6 miles.  Plan calls for "easy" pace of 8:33-9:10 (assuming I'm in shape to train for between a 3:15 and 3:30 marathon).  I'm ok with the 9:26 average since it is easy day and some might say that 8:33-9:10 is not actually an easy pace.

Tomorrow calls for 6-7 mile "Aerobic run", 8:00-8:40 range.  

7.09 mi, 57:37, 8:08 avg, elev gain 116 feet

Another run completed from the new schedule, 6-7 mile "Aerobic Run" with goal pace between j8:00 and 8:40.  I wanted to get a first mile under 8:40 so I made sure to do a good little warm up routine with dynamic stretching, lunges, jumping jacks and a little bit of jogging.  Weather was pretty good this morning, just a degree or two cooler to make it not feel so warm.  Despite this, it felt like I was stuck at 8:42 for about 3/4 of the first mile, but got a little bit faster with the same effort after getting over the Woodcutter hill.  I ran past and through downtown Palm Harbor to the Pinellas trail where I had to weave a little bit through the morning school kid commute of kids and moms (and a few dads) walking to school, it wasn't bad, kind of nice to see, and the crossing guards where the trail crossed the streets made sure the cars stopped for me.

Did each of the miles a little faster except for mile 6 which was one second slower than mile 5, possibly on purpose.

I'm starting to feel those old memories of actually following a training schedule rather than training by feel and experience (both of which have some merit).  I have those up and down feelings of dread toward hard workouts followed by either the feeling of accomplishment or the let down of coming up a little bit short and then regrouping to try again.

After the run, cut the grass in the front yard which was getting kind of long due to missed windows of free time to cut it due to random rain showers.

Tomorrow was originally a scheduled day off but I'm going to do the long run so I don't have to worry about it on Saturday when Thomas has his first cross country meet.  He's trained hard (and smart) all summer logging more miles than any of the other kids on the team.  Last year he placed third place for the school at most meets behind two senior boys that have graduated - until the end of the season when several kids had caught up to him and passed his times.  I hope his hard work pays off, it takes some courage to go all in like that instead of not putting in the effort and say, yeah I could have done that if I had wanted to.

10.44 mi, 1:28:41, 8:30 avg, elev gain 140 feet

Partial failure.

This run was supposed to be Saturday's run but I didn't want to have to run super early alone in the dark before Thomas's meet or after the meet when it would get hot.  Scheduled run was 1.5 warm up, 4x3miles @ MP, with 3 min rest between, followed by 1.5 warm down.  Wanted to start a little earlier but got delayed and started about 7:20, but still felt pretty good starting out.  Cheated a little by finishing my warmup at the top of a hill.

I ended up not running the 15ish miles and did not finish 4x3miles.  Did the first three after the warmup at about a 7:50 pace, would like to have been faster but I'd be happy with a 7:50 average pace marathon, so ok.  First set started out ok with 7:44 for first mile but I was feeling really worn down.  The mile was actually slower for most of it until I bargained that I'd stop, regroup and try again.  Could not get back to goal pace, it suddenly felt difficult to maintain any pace.  

There was a fountain nearby, but not chilled, so drinking the water was not refreshing but pouring some one me helped.  At about 7.5 miles into the run, decided to take a left hand turn off of the trail early and head back to the house.  Other option was to gut out the next 7.5 miles to at least make my long run goal.  But, I decided on finishing early and trying again on Sunday which was supposed to be 7-10 miles easy.

Summertime running with goal paces can be challenging, summer heart rate training is much easier feeling.

Planned day off so I could watch Thomas race his first cross country meet of the season.  This was the Buccaneer XC Jamboree (combined Varsity and JV) for several area schools hosted at Gulf High School.  

He did very well with a new cross country PR of 18:13.3, holding onto third place overall throughout the race and was first for his school.  Course was three loops (although not the exact same loop) around Gulf HS campus with last 100m on the school's track.  One mile and two mile markers were near each other, each one with time clocks.  He came in at 5:33 for the first mile, 5:52 for the second mile, and then about 6:00 average for the last 1.1  Weather was kind of hot, course was twisty.

His hard work paid off and I hope this season is full of accomplishment and growth.

15.68 mi, 2:09:18, 8:15 avg

Redo of Friday's attempted run.  Not ideal conditions for running but passable.  I had three ideas where to run: 1. try Palm Harbor again, less driving but warmer by a few degrees, 2. run on Starkey Blvd, a little cooler but a little more driving, or 3. Drive to Brooksville, almost an hour away but would be less than 75 degrees.

I decided on Starkey Blvd.  Plan was to finish the 1.5 mile warm up before sunrise and start the MP miles before sunrise but while getting light out. Got there a little bit late.  Ran into Cynthia, Joe, and Renee.  They were going to run 1 mile easy , followed by 1.5 miles at 7:40 pace, and then onto some other stuff.  So, I ran 1/2 mile while waiting for everyone and joined them with another 1 mile easy and then ran their 1.5 miles with them.  This helped me a lot to ease into the faster pace without the stress of setting my own pace.  Said good bye and continued on another 1.5 miles at the same pace.

One 3 mile repeat down, 3 more to go.  Kept on running north and into Starkey Park, onto the bike trail and ran the one mile from the Sun to Pluto and then a little beyond, turning back with about 1/2 mile left so I'd end up at the water stop during the 2-3 minute break.  After making it for the second set I knew I was capable of finishing.  The water jug at the water stop was full and cold, that helped tremendously.

Got going again, ticking off the miles, 1, 2, 3.  Third mile was getting tough and I slowed a little bit.

For the final set, I gave myself a small cheat and stopped 1.5 miles in, stopping at the bridge to stretch.  Found some new life in my legs, then finished up the second half of the fourth set.

I pulled it off somehow and redeemed my failed Friday run, taking the chance that when I quit on Friday I would actually try again and would not quit this time.

Splits for the 4x3 mile sets:

1. 7:36, 7:33, 7:28
2. 7:31, 7:34, 7:32
3. 7:37, 7:24, 7:40
4. 7:30, 7:35, 7:21

Stopped back at my car for my gatorade slushie then finished up the 1.5 mile warm down.  Banged my head on the car door when I opened it and was standing too close, giving myself a small slice on my eyebrow.

8.28 mi, 1:16:50, 9:16 avg, elev gain 279 feet

8 x (300m uphill at 10k pace, 30 second rest, 300m downill at MP, 1:30 jog)

Tough run today but got it done!  Similar run to two weeks ago but 8 repeats instead of 6.  The 2 mile warm up was at a slower pace than last time.  I was just going along slowly since I knew what was coming up.

Used the same hill as last time, corner of Sandy Hook and Lakeview, except for one of the repeats where I went up the hill on Village Way but that one does not go uphill far enough so the last third of it was more flat than hill (I used the Village Way hill since it was close to the pool's water fountain).  82 degrees at the end of the run.

In the afternoon watched Jacob run his debut cross country meet - a jamboree type event with Palm Harbor, Dunedin, Countryside, and Calvary Christian.   Jacob ran 22:42 which gave him 10th for the team and 16th overall for the meet.  He's only been running regularly for the last couple weeks with the team and with the track team running 800m event in the Spring, but before that it was soccer.

Thomas and Jacob will both be running at the meet in Lakeland this Saturday, with Thomas running varsity for Mitchell and Jacob running JV for Palm Harbor.  Looking forward to watching them both.

5.64 mi, 48:17, 8:33 avg, elev gain 109 feet

Scheduled easy run today 4-6 miles. I decided I would not do exactly 6 miles (which is usually just over 6 miles) but would stick closer to 5 miles.  I was slow in getting out of the house, not feeling motivated on the one hand, but feeling pretty good.  Maybe my imagination but I'm feeling "fitter" with the mix of challenging hard days and using the easy days to get into a groove where I don't feel slow and clunky at the start.  8:52 for the first mile which was right where I wanted to be.  Rest of the miles hovering near 8:30 with last 0.64 a little faster at 8:17.  82 degrees again at the finish.

Tomorrow will be another off day, and then a challenging day on Friday with 5x1mile at HMP

10.02 mi, 1:25:44, 8:33 avg, elev gain 159 feet

5x1 mile @ HMP (7:08) was the goal

Actual splits: 7:08, 6:49, 6:58, 6:47, 6:47

Had trouble deciding whether to run on Starkey Blvd bike path where it would be flat and straight or stay in Westlake where it would be challenging since there is no 1 mile path which is flat.  Or, I could go to the Pinellas Trail but then I wouldn't have access to cold drinks/water since I don't have a good stashing place picked out.

I picked Westlake.  Used the 2 mile warmup to figure out a good 1 mile route.  I'd start from the top of the small hill near my house, head north, take a left and loop around on Village Way until coming back to Lakeview to finish the mile which would leave me about 0.2 from my house.  I also tried the same basic route going clockwise, which was easier despite having slightly more up (according to the garmin at least) even thought they should be the same.

The first one started out too slow but I gradually picked up some speed and just barely made the 7:08 goal at the very end (wasn't sure if I would).

The next 4 were hard work but I had less trouble getting onto and holding a good pace - actually was starting out a little fast but didn't want to back down too much in case I fell into a rut of too slow.

When starting the fourth one, told myself if I could do this one I'd won and the last one would be a "bonus" lap.

Finished off the easy two miles, got back home, made a smoothie and cooled off for a few minutes in the pool.

Looking forward to seeing Thomas and Jacob run tomorrow at Jim Ryun Invitational in Lakeland.  It's a great course and will have lots of runners.  Hoping for the best for both.

5.48  mi, 48:17, 8:49 avg, elev gain 58 feet

Did not get to run until 12:12 pm, 86 degrees with some clouds and fortunately the route had mostly shade.  Headed south through Westlake to Nebraska, then up to PA Ave via 18th street until reaching the top of the hill, then turning back the way I came with a side trip to the Palm Harbor Y to use the water fountain inside.  First mile was 9:53, I knew it wouldn't be a fast run but it turned out to not be that slow.

Earlier that morning saw Thomas (running Varsity for Mitchell) and Jacob (running JV for Palm Harbor) race at the Jim Ryun Invitational Cross Country meet in Lakeland (Jim Ryun was the first ever high school runner to break the 4 minute mile).  Event was held at Holloway Park which has one of the few dedicated cross country course with 3k, 5k, and 10k routes.  Humidity was really bad this morning. 

Saw Thomas at the 1 mile marker, coming through in about 5:37, looking strong.  There is another viewing spot, about 2.2 miles where I saw him next.  I was running two feet behind teammate Jacob U.  Next, I ran near the finish line to see the homestretch which comes in a horseshoe shape.  Jacob U came in sight first but Thomas was no longer with him.  He soon showed up maybe 20 seconds later.  I cheered him on as he got near but it all seemed like in slow motion.  A couple kids passed him and as he got closer to the finish it looked like he tripped on something, and then I realized he didn't but legs seemed to give out.  He gets back up and finishes.  A coach behind the finish line helps him stand.  I rush to meet him at the exit to the finish chute.  Jenny is already there holding him up.  I rush back to the team tent where I have a cooler with ice and cold gatorade, then rush back to the finish but have missed them.  Headed back to the tent and they've made it back.  Before that I had a moment of panic, relieved when I saw he was ok enough to tell me to go away and leave him alone.  He still managed 2nd place for the team with a time of 18:39, 33rd overall (last year, 33rd place had a time of 18:06.  Also, last year one runner broke 16:00 and there were 8 others under 17:00, this year there were two runners under 17:00 with winning time of 16:38).

Jacob's race was at 9:30, but started maybe 10 minutes late.  Temperature was about the same and there was almost a small breeze but heat index was still dangerously high.  Jacob's dad Scott was there, so after the race started showed him the 1 mile and 2.2 mile viewing areas.  Jacob came through first mile in 7:34, was looking pretty good still at 2.2 miles.  He had a good kick down the finish line and finished in 24:08, but then needed some help standing up after finishing.

After hanging out a little bit longer, drove Jessica and Aubrey back to Oldsmar to Canal Park where Aubrey was cheering a football game, then I headed back to Palm Harbor, did my run, and then back to Canal Park to try and catch the end of the game and see Aubrey cheer but had just missed it.

15.12 mi, 2:03:11, 8:09 avg

The BAA plan that I'm following called for 13-15 mile "Aerobic Long Run", with suggested pace of 8:00 if training for 3:15 marathon or 8:40 pace if training for 3:30.  I'm somewhere in between, so I decided I'd try and run all the miles at 8:40 or faster but not go faster than 8:00.  I ran from my house to SR54 to Longleaf and then up and down Starkey Blvd with a bit of it into Starkey Park.  Water refills would be at Longleaf pool's water fountain.  Mid 70's and cloudy, first mile was 8:46.  Had some miles between 8:15 and 8:30 and a few that dipped under 8:00 with mile 15 the fastest at 7:40 when I was not looking at my pace.

Before the run, this workout seemed daunting, but not something I couldn't do, just something that might be a struggle.  Fortunately, it all went pretty smoothly and I ended up right where I wanted to be for average pace and for how things felt.

This was the end of the third week of following the plan, maybe it is working.

8.78 mi, 1:14:56, 8:32 avg, elev gain 106 feet

Today's workout was 6x1km at 10k pace, 2 minute rest between and 2 mile warm up/2 mile warm down.

In ran in Westlake and ran a "horse shoe" out and back down Lakeview to Village Way, 1km out, 2 minute rest, and then 1km back so I could grab water/gatorade from my driveway so did not have to carry drinks.  Goal was about 6:45 pace, but ended up running them a little faster:

6:39, 6:41, 6:28, 6:30, 6:28, 6:30

The last time I did 1k repeats, I approximated by setting the lap distance to 0.65 miles since I could not set it to 0.62.  Today I programmed the 6x1k with two minutes rest on my phone and transferred it to the watch, I might have earned a badge for that.

Another fairly tough run, now I've got two easy days in a row to get ready for 2x2 mile repeats on Friday followed by 1 mile slightly faster than the 2x2 pace.

6.17 mi, 53:31, 8:40 avg, elev gain 104 feet

Mostly easy run in Westlake Village.  Schedule called for 4-5 mile run but I thought it said 5-6.  High 70's and cloudy so not too bad.

4.15 mi, 36:36, 8:49 avg, elev gain 66 feet

Another scheduled easy run today for 4-5 miles.  Since I did a mile extra yesterday , I kept it on the lower side today. It was a pretty good run overall.

9.9 mi, 1:19:05, 7:59 avg, elev gain flat

Today's run was a success.  Goal of 2x2 mi @HMP (7:05 goal) followed by 1 mile @HMP-10k (6:45ish).

Ran on Starkey Blvd.  Did not get the pre-sunrise start that I wanted, but it was early enough to avoid the full sun.  Warm up with 2 miles, plan was to go out and back and grab my bottle for start of faster portion. Trail was flooded in a couple of spots and the temporary section across construction was closed.  So, I adjusted a little bit so I could run the 2x2 with no obstacles.  Run was hard, but looking back at the 2x2 run I did a few weeks ago, this one was better, and this time I had one more mile thrown onto the end. 

Repeat 1: 6:48, 6:51

Repeat 2: 6:55, 6:55

Extra mile: 6:39

Felt good to get this run checked off.  Still feel like there's a lot of room for improvement and hopefully this plan will keep me going in the right direction.