The Long Run

AM 4.37@9:00

A couple of figure 8's inside Westlake Village

PM 2.11@9:18

Short out and back run from Brighter Days in Tarpon Springs.  Went there for packet pickup for Pinellas Trail Challenge.  This year I pre-ordered a t-shirt (it's a free race so you need to buy the shirt, still a great deal).  My bib number is 11.  I asked the RD why my number was low as I'm far from elite.  He said they used bibs 1-25 for people who had completed the race 3 or more times.  Hoping I'll make it number 4 without a lot of suffering.

3.05@10:24

Kept it very easy and short while trying out the Camelbak (should've done more practice with it before this).  Decided against using it.  Felt too cumbersome for starting out even though I eventually get used to it and forget it's there.  Would still need to wear some sort of belt to hold my phone and possibly a small handheld so I can take gatorade to go from the aid stations.  I'll just stick with the UltrAspire Synaptic 2.0 which has gotten me through all the other ultras this year (except for Durty Beer Run which I just used small water bottles).

In the later part of the race the aid stations are only 3-4 miles apart, but at the start, the first aid station is 8 miles.

46.03@12:25  9:31:54

Pinellas Trail Challenge Race Report

I think this race went pretty well overall with no really low points.  Yes, some hard spots here and there but overall kept on moving.  This year I had race bib number 11.  They used bib numbers 1-25 for people who had completed this race 3 or more times.  This was my 4th time running it with the other three races in 2014, 2016 (PR year for me), and 2019 (my slowest).  I was just over an hour faster than in 2019.

Race morning Jessica drove me to the start line in downtown St Pete and we picked up 3 riders from Weaver Park (finish line).  One of the riders was a woman in her early 70's who had run all 10 of these races (but DNF'd a couple of them).  She was interesting to talk to on the ride down.

Planned on doing 7 minute run then 1 minute walk which I stuck to pretty well except during the last 10 miles there were a few extra walk breaks.  I also added in walk breaks going "uphill" on the overpasses.  The first 7 minutes of running I did not feel well for some reason.  But then after the first 1 minute walk break, felt really good which I held onto pretty much through mile 26.

This year, I had two drop bags (insulated lunch bags), each one with extra gels, small bottle of coke, frozen bottle of water and a Reese's "big cup".  First bag was at about mile 13.5, next bag was at 25.5

At the 13.5 mile stop I started putting ice into my bandana.

One of the Wednesday night Striders, Stacy, was there to crew her husband (Tracy) who's mainly a Tri guy but jumps into ultras here and there.  At around mile 16 I ran with him for a bit but he was going a bit faster so I said goodbye to him.

With this trail being not in the woods, restroom breaks require actual restrooms.  Kind of had to go early on and then again but just had to hold it until Weaver Park where I knew the restroom was pretty close to the trail.

About mile 21 or so there was an aid station in downtown Clearwater.  They did an amazing job and had lots of cold stuff and ice cold wash rags.  Just down the street, past the aid station there was some music playing which felt uplifting enough to give me a short runners high.  But, still a long way to go.

About a mile or so before the 25.5 mile aid station (at the Boxcar in downtown Dunedin), one of the trailside bars had a big box of ice sitting out with a pitcher for a scoop.  This was perfect.  Even though the next aid station wasn't far, it still helped out quite a bit since every bit of ice was helpful today.  Saw Stacy at the Boxcar, she helped handing me stuff and getting my bottle filled and said Stacy was just a little ahead of me.  I think I saw Stacy about 5 times on the course.

Mile 26ish was Weaver Park, so quick bathroom break and pay no atention to the big finish sign which although right in front of me was still 20 miles away.

Next big treat, maybe only a quarter mile down the trail were people with ice cold ice pops (I had a blue Powerade one), so delicious.

And then another treat - as I approached Curlew Road, heard a beep and saw Jessica on the road next to me.  She pulled into a pizza place just ahead.  She and the baby got out and handed me a frozen bottle of water.  It was great seeing them (I'd see her a little later near Wall Springs Park and then at the finish line).

I'm not sure what happened at the 30 mile aid station , but I seemed to slow down a bit after this while I tried to get my ice bandana just right.  As I stood off to the side, Andy Barrett came running by.  I had passed him earlier in the race but now he seemed to be on a second wind.  Once I got myelf sorted out I felt like I was moving again but no site of Andy, he'd gotten too far ahead.

At the mile 33 aid station I saw Tracy again along with Stacy.  He'd gotten there before me but ended up needing a longer break so I left before he did.

Now, only 3 miles to go until the turnaround and my secret weapon, Daisy.  Just kidding, Daisy is not a weapon but it was very nice and above and beyond to volunteer to bike alongside me while I shuffled along the last 10 miles.  Mile 36 was Brighter Days micro brewery.  It was quite a lively aid station, wished I could've stayed longer but I had a race to finish.  

The next 10 miles went reasonably well.  Daisy did her best to make conversation with me, although I was not feeling too conversational.  She also talked to quite a few of the other runners.

At the mile 30/42 aid station, or rather just after leaving it, I finally got to the point where I felt like I'd finish the race.  Had not fallen apart yet (to me would've meant I'd switched to 100% walking), still mainly doing 7/1 run/walk but adding in a shorter walk break here and there between scheduled walk breaks when out in the full sun, sun breaks.

There was a bit of a wait at the Curlew Road traffic light (Curlew and Klosterman are about the only two real traffic lights as most ever other crossing is using a pedestrian bridge or it's a side street).  After the light it was less than two miles to go.  With about 1.75 miles to go Daisy called out "2 miles left!" and I was like, no don't say that! There's less than two miles to go, big difference (to me at least), although not a very big difference in the framework of 46 miles.

And then finally, after 9 hours and 31 minutes it was over.  I'd held onto the sub 10 hour goal and wasn't too far off from a PR (about 12 minutes).

Rain came shortly after I finished, which probably felt pretty good to the runners still out there.  Hung out at the finish for a while with Jessica, the baby, Stacy and Tracy.

And then the next challenge was to get on the road and drive to Tallahassee so I could watch Tom the next morning run his first college meet (8K at the TCC Invitational).

3.14@11:04

First run after PTC.  Very slow and clunky feeling the first mile.  By the third mile much better, still fairly slow at 9:46 but not slow like the first mile at 12:43

AM 4.21@9:09

Second run after PTC.  Figure 8's in Westlake Village doing much better and feeling close to normal.

PM 4.02@9:02

Wednesday evening HumpDay Hustle.  New 4 mile loop which instead of out and back, starts out the same but then curves around to the new, almost opened road which comes back to the church.  Have to add a little loop at the end to get to 4 miles.

5.37@8:15

Fun with quarters, slow, fast, slow, fast.  Fastest quarter was 1:39 (6:36 pace).

Loops inside Westlake Village

7.02@7:52

Started out from Trinity Blvd trailhead, warmed up for a mile, then picked it up with intention of doing 5 uninterrupted miles faster than 8:00 and hopefully closer to7:30 average.

First mile 7:55, then 7:48, 7:31, and 7:17

My phone kept on ringing, two calls from same number, should've ignored it, but stopped instead.  It was a wrong number.

So, finished up the last mile making this a 4 + 1.  Last mile was 6:55.  Nice to visit the land of sub-7:00 especially outside of intervals.

10.22@9:34

Ran with the Striders, first time in a while doing the Saturday run. Ran first 6 miles with the group.  Slowed down at mile 5 when Daisy called for a walk break.

I added a 4 mile solo loop where average was around 8:50 pace.

Run was just long enough and was able to get back to the house early enough for Jessica to make it to body combat at the Y.

4.26@9:05

Somewhat short and sweet inside Westlake Village.  Did the 3 mile loop and then added some on with up and down the street action.

9.06@8:57

Ran north from Trinity Blvd trailhead, crossed SR54 and ran out to Cannon Lake, then looped back on the new road back to Starkey Blvd and then back to my car.

In the evening, went with Jessica, Aubrey, baby and me to Poke restaurant in Trinity to meet up with Jenny, Andy, Sean and Tom for Tom's birthday dinner.

AM 6.09@8:11, 5x1km

5x1k repeats in Westlake Village - 4:11, 4:17, 4:11, 4:15, 4:08

Goal of all under 7:00 pace, check.

4:12 per km, almost but not quite.

Wanting solid all at or under 4:12 so I can start aiming at 4:00/km

PM 4.06@8:51

Humpday Hustle run, ran with Daisy and Evan

7.09@8:51

Out and back run from WLV, through Eniswood, up Alt19 to the Pinellas Trail and then sharp left south out 3.5 miles, then turn around and come back.

After 10:07 first mile, rest of the miles were between 8:31 and 8:48

8.35@7:48

Ran on Starkey Blvd bike trail.  Warmed up about a mile, then ran 6 mile tempo, first mile at 7:42 and last mile at 7:11.  Slowed down for the remaining part but slowly picked it back up for 8 mile to run that one at 7:40 pace, so 6 miles ended up being 7 miles.

Then only about a third of a mile run back to the car at an easier pace.

15.15@9:29

Headed out due west to the Pinellas Trail taking the shortest route to get there, then up north and kept going until just past the tunnel that goes under US19, ran back the way I came, ran a little bit south of where I started on the trail and ended up finishing in downtown Palm Harbor, grabbing a muscle milk at the gas station for post run recovery then across the street to deBine's for some more refreshments.

Did 7/1 run/walk the whole way.  Pace progression was somewhat similar to if I had just run with no walk breaks, but overall the breaks made it seem easier.

Yesterday morning my foot was kind of bothering me a little bit, but with the easy start and mostly easy running it didn't bother me at all today.

3.27@9:02

Short and easy run, across Trinity Blvd and then down a little bit onto the Starkey Gap trail heading south before turning around.

10.06@8:46

Wanted some more mileage today so planned on 10 miles and also wanted to do a steady but easy pace which I did not end up doing.  Too fast to be easy to but too slow to be tempo or marathon pace, but overall seemed ok.

Westlake Village to Omaha and over to the Pinellas Trail heading north to Klosterman which I ran on just enough to get to the 5 mile point before turning around.

Little did I know, this would be the longest run of the week.

 6.12@8:15 5x1km workout

Retry of 5x1km workout with net improvement of 1 second faster when adding up the times.  I felt slightly off but wanted to try it anyway so felt pretty good at hitting the same splits as when I felt better.  Maybe could've seen some improvement if not feeling off.

Splits: 4:11, 4:18, 4:06, 4:17, 4:09

Looking for 4:12 average so I can then starting looking at hitting 4:00 and under for these.

Did not make it to humpday hustle run in the evening.  Had to take care of moving the boat to storage facility.  Original plan for storage fell through and boat had been "driveway surfing".   HOA at my parents neighborhood not happy, so finally found a place with an open spot.  Was a bit stressful moving it but glad it got done.

6.21@8:53

Did big square loop around outside of Westlake Village, and then about another 2 miles inside.

Going to try a longer run tomorrow, maybe 10-12 miles with some tempo, maybe 8 miles, starting at marathon pace and getting faster.

5.63@9:23

Woke up this morning with unexpectedly poor recovery according to Whoop band - 3%, deep red, high respiration, poor resting heart and low hrv.

Cut back expectations and just put in some easy miles.  Ran north from Trinity Blvd trailhead to 54, felt ok, so then did a short out and back going south.

No running today, was going to try and get in a few miles after watching Tom's meet but left foot was hurting a bit.  It had been feeling tight , maybe like PF, but was a little worse today.

Meet was at St Leo University, technically, across the street at the Abbey Golf Course.  Tough looking course.  For flat Florida it was quite hilly.  Pretty big meet with ages ranging between elementary school 3K to Collegiate 8K.

Tom did well, only about 10 seconds off his race at Tallahassee but I know he's looking for more based on what he can do in the marathon and half marathon.  He's putting in the work so I know he can get there.

Next scheduled race is in Chicago on 9/30.  I found a $78 airfare on Frontier so going to try and watch it.

3.36@9:40

Trying to get at least a short run in this weekend.  Came back from Tallahassee early enough it was still light out.  Ran a loop inside Westlake Village.  

Left foot hurting quite a bit, worse than on Friday.  Going to take some time off and go slowly.

Hurricane Ian currently on track to come close by.  Should've filled gas tank all the way up on the way back from Tallahassee but the gas station where I stopped was only doing prepaid, so did $30 worth instead of full fill-up.

Day off running.  Went to work and left a little bit early to start getting ready for possible hurricane this week.

Another day off from running, but busy doing hurricane prep stuff

3.21@11:54

Testing the waters with a short run, starting out very slowly.  3rd mile was 10:57.

Felt ok afterward.