The Long Run

9.36@7:54    HR 159 bpm

2 x 3 mi @ "HMP" which for me was shooting for anything under 7:40.  1 mile warm up, 1 mile easy between sets, and just over 1 mile cool down.

First set: 7:31, 7:20, 7:25

Second set: 7:24, 7:21, 7:24

Felt pretty good about the workout because I was able to quickly get on pace and then settle into it by backing down effort slightly.

Westlake Village route.

1.9@10:32   Treadmill

Panama City Beach.  No run Saturday, up early, drove to Lakeland to watch Tom's meet (8K race on cross country course, 7th place overall, first for the team, a very good season opener).  Drive back home then get ready and on the road to Tallahassee and Panama City Beach.  Plans changed, detours, stopped to get Jacob's golf clubs from his dads house.  Wasn't sure if we'd stop in Tally but finally got word he'd be home and could we take him food shopping?  There until about 6, then on the road again and two more hours and we were at the hotel.  Fortunately the hotel restaurant was still open so dinner was easy.

Next morning was overcast with a few sprinkles, supposed to be cloudy all day but changed to partly cloudy.   I started to go on a run/walk barefoot on the beach but going was tough, had to either run on slanted section or deep and loose sand.  Decided just to walk.  Did about two miles.

A little bit later, while up in the room decided to get in some steps on the treadmill, which turned into a 20 minute run.  Better than nothing.  (The "plan" called for 8 miles easy today).

No running.

Drove home from PCB, stopped briefly in Tally and had lunch with Jacob before continuing home.

7.55@8:19

3x1200m @7:20 - felt good, no struggles (would've been ok with 7:30s)

4x400m @6:20 - actually a little faster than goal (which was really anything better than 6:46 pace, paces were 6:16, 6:15, 6:19, 6:04) - if only I could start hitting 1k repeats at these paces.

Plus warm up and cool down.  Wore new pair of Brooks Hyperion Tempo which I've had good luck with but old pair was getting worn.  Thought about jumping into a pair of carbon high tech shoes but waited too late.  Got Andy a new watchband for Tom's old garmin forerunner 25 which he's going to use for new training plan (written by Tom) targeting the Turkey Trot in November.

4.25@9:37   HR  131 bpm

Easy run day, Westlake Village, usual route.  Started out feeling like I'd have a pretty fast run for being easy.  It was pretty good but no new records, I guess just felt better than I usually do on the first mile, one of those runs where you could trick yourself into running too fast and still call it "easy".

5.02@8:14   HR  143 bpm

Short tuneup MP run, 1 mile easy warm up , 1 mile 9:45, HR was 128 bpm.

Next was 3 miles at 7:46, 7:48, 7:45

Last mile was supposed to be easy, it felt easy but probably did not back it down enough, ended up being 8:05, which technically is still marathon pace for me (if shooting for 3:35).  Or is marathon pace the average pace of one's last marathon (which would be 8:21 for the 3:39 marathon I did at Treasure Coast).

1.15@9:15   HR  139 bpm

Short shake out run day before the marathon.  Brighton, UT, about mile 3-4 of the marathon on the loop at the bottom of three steep miles, still about 8,000 feet or so.  Felt ok, didn't do this run until 4:45 pm, probably should've gotten up here sooner but later flight and getting to the expo in the opposite direction pushed the time.

Big Cottonwood Marathon

Not quite the results I thought I'd get, but lots of unknowns.  How would my quads do?  High altitude?  Running flat after 23 miles of downhill?   But, in the end kept some dignity and this wasn't my slowest marathon.

Low 50's at the start, up high at Guardsman Pass.  Prepared for 3 steep miles to start out.  Towards the end of the first mile my shorts were falling down and I had to pee real bad, so found a little turnoff with some bushes.  Retied my shorts - I need to retire these for good.  Finished up the first mile which was 11:15 - but at least it would be my slowest mile.

Next mile was good, at 8:05 , thought I could build on it.  Course was steep but I was managing but at same time not getting the speed I thought.  Next mile 8:24 which included a small amount of uphill, then next mile was slower as expected with net uphill of 47 feet but maybe a little over 100 feet up before starting down.

Next 14 miles through the canyon, downhill, shaded, cold feeling in parts.  Mixed results catching up.  At start line was near the 3:35 pace group which I lost in the first mile.  Eventually saw the 4:20 group then the 4:10 group.  Don't remember seeing the 4:00 group but at mile 14 saw the 3:50 group.  I would pass them and get passed by them a couple of times.  Another porta-potty stop somewhere in the canyon (mile 16, 9:05).

Then next two miles good with 7:54 and 7:49 (mile 18 7:49, fastest mile). But then we were out of the canyon and onto a bike path before getting onto the streets of Holladay.  Miles 22 and 23 were 9:46 and 9:35, but slowed down more for miles 24 and 25.   Mile 25 was looking like it might turn into a 12 minute mile or slower (I had kinda given up), however the 3:50 pacers caught up to me and were about to get away from me when I decided to try and hang with them.

Had a lot more in the tank than I thought and had no problem keeping up.  There were a couple others that tried to hang on but they fell back after a little bit.

Turning the corner to start the last mile I suddenly felt better and was trying to get a bigger gap on the pacers, but my calves had other ideas giving me some warning cramps - slow down or risk going down.

Came in just ahead of the pacers who must've been close to 3:50 on the dot, but since I'd lined up with the 3:35 group my chip time was 3:50:11.

Besides the shorts issue at the start not exactly sure what went wrong.  My garmin watch and whoop band both said I was at lower performance - garmin body battery started at 55 percent, whoop had me at "red" recovery, and after the race garmin reported my vo2 max down to 53 from 55.

It was a beautiful course as well as challenging.  Race was well run, couldn't have asked for more as far as organization and support go.

Post marathon rest day

Post marathon rest day - more sore today than yesterday

2 mile walk out and back on Starkey Gap Trail , maybe try running tomorrow

Dinner out with Tom and Andy at Zim Zari for Tom's birthday - time is flying

3.05@10:55   HR 124 bpm

Decided to try Humpday hustle run, ran with Daisy and Lucas and Daisy's oldest son.  Asked if we could do 4/1 run/walk, said ok.  Run was a little better than expected.

Garmin had me back at 54 for vo2 max compared to 53 on raceday (marathons usually show 1 higher than my training runs but this time was 2 lower).

Was going to do a walk in the morning but instead did some commuting walk.   Dropped off Jessica's car at shop, walked to work (about a mile) and walked back later when it was ready.

3.11@10:02   HR 126 bpm

6:30 am run around Westlake Village, wore headlamp so cars could see me, streets are lit well enough for me to see but not be seen.  Felt almost back to normal.

Garmin put me back to 55 for vo2 max, where I was before the race.  Maybe I'll try another marathon soon to see if it was just an "off" day.

5.13@9:55   HR 133 bpm

A couple of loops inside Westlake Village, felt really good starting out like I could go faster and keep the heart rate low, but it slowly drifted up.  Still, pretty easy overall.  Decent weather at least.

Tom got a new 8K PR today in Huntsville.  Would've been nice to go, should be able to get to one coming up soon in Tallahassee.

10.03@9:22  HR  143

Up and down Starkey Blvd, from Longleaf to a little bit inside Starkey Park, 5 miles each one.  First half took it easy.  Started at 10:10 pace for first mile, 5th mile was 10:07, easing back from 9:30 pace to keep my heart rate down.  But, after the turnaround starting going faster, but stuck with 4/1 run/walk.  Last mile was 8:03, possibly a new record for 4/1.

Good to get 10 miles done but maybe go a little easier while just one week out from the marathon.  Itching to get back to training and working on my 5k times but also getting in some volume that I need to get through the 100 miler in January to get the 500 mile belt buckle.

4.17@9:55   HR 131 bpm

One loop around Westlake Village and then up and down Lakeview to get 4 miles for the morning.  Heart rate still a little high for the pace but acceptable.

5.11@9:45   HR 131 bpm

A little farther and faster than yesterday , this time on the Starkey Gap Trail southbound from Trinity trailhead.  Heart rate holding steady vs yesterday.

Maybe try some speedwork yesterday, one of the marathon taper workouts to "reverse taper"

7.56@8:20  HR  152 bpm

Workout Wednesday, reverse taper.

Where to start back with speed? Picked one of the last taper week workouts to start back at it.  3x1200m @HMP, 4x400m@5k pace

Ran in Westlake Village, 2 mile warm up, then did the 1200s in paces of 7:13, 7:09, 6:55

Three minute jog between each one.

Then the 400s - 6:24, 6:24, 6:24, 5:52

Pretty consistent the first three, then got off to a speedier start on the last one so just held onto it.

5.6@9:53   HR 131 bpm

Back at easy today.  Did not sleep well last night (had gone out to eat twice yesterday, lunch and dinner, too much to eat).  Heart rate staying a little bit higher than before the marathon.  Two loops inside Westlake Village, fall feeling for the weather this morning.

4.63@9:56,   HR   132 bpm

Nice weather, felt good but legs were a little slower today.  Southbound Starkey Gap Trail out and back from Trinity Blvd.

11.27@8:00   HR 154 bpm

I really wanted to run a race, 5k or 10k.  Short term goal to get back under 21:00 and after that work my way back to sub-20:00  (last sub-20:00 was Father's Day 5k in 2017).  There was a 10k in St Pete but I missed the online registration and wasn't sure if race-day would be sold out, so I decided just to try a 10k time trial.  Also, just got new running shorts - half tight style with a pocket big enough for my phone and a couple of smaller pockets (actually, almost big enough for my phone).  Weater was first sub 70 degree morning in a while.

Starkey Blvd bike trail.

Warmed up with two easy miles, then got going.  Wanted to hit a 7:10 pace but right away it was a struggle.  After about 1.2 miles ran into Daisy, stopped and said hi, ok so much for straight through tempo run/time trial.  Could've kept going without the stop but head wasn't there.  Got going again, this time better, but took one more break with about 2.6 miles left, so this ended up being 3 segments.  Apart from the stopping, got the miles in at least.  (7:35, 7:14, 7:12,  7:14, 7:19, 7:14, 0.24@7:10).

The average comes out to around 7:18 per mile, which is right around what I had targeted for "10k pace" during this last training cycle.  The fastest 10k I've done in recent times (fall of 2019) was 7:10 pace (just after training cycle for Cleveland Towpath marathon). 

Took it easy during the next mile but felt easier than usual so ended up with 8:21 pace, then did 7:56 feeling smooth.  Finally, for the last mile, pushed it a little, another 7:55 would've felt comfortable, did 7:31 which was pushing it.  Felt good about the ending at least.  

Shorts worked out really well, no bounce at all.

Will find a 5k soon.

6.1@10:17  HR 129 bpm

Felt slower this morning and it felt harder as well.  Fortuntately kept it easy and kept HR under 130 after having the last few easy runs over 130.  Westlake Village

Also, ran neighborhood loop in opposite direction than usual, it's a bit harder, which is weird because it's the same up/down elevation change

6.22@8:56   HR 148 bpm

Workout 12 x 60 seconds with 90 second jog, target goal pace around 6:00

Ok, 6:00 was a little too ambitious today.  I did have one that was faster than 6:00 and a few that were just over 6:00, the rest of them were more like 6:15-6:30 range.  12 repeats seemed daunting at first even though they were only 60 seconds long.

Still, good to stretch the legs and most of them had me running a little faster than the elusive sub-20:00 5k

Was back to being a little bit warm, the fall temperatures aren't quite sticking yet.

4.13@10:36  HR 134 bpm

I felt pretty good starting out but heart rate didn't want to stay in the usual easy range.  Sleep was a bit restless, so maybe not enough deep sleep.  Even though I slowed down by 30 seconds, heart rate still above 130, but it did at least feel easy.

Was raining lightly, wore a headlamp because I got started while still dark.

6.02@9:52   HR 133 bpm

Two loops inside Westlake Village, easy paced, but heart rate still a few beats higher than I'd like for this pace.

In the evening, drove to Tallahassee so we could cheer Tom at his race tomorrow at FSU Invitational.

Stopped by to see Jacob and bring him the new iPhone his dad got him to replace the old one with the cracked screen.  He had trouble getting the new one set up and then after his roommate looked at it said "dude! you're dad got you a fake" or something along those lines.  Crazy that people are selling fakes.

3.03@9:57    HR 135 bpm

Woke up at 4:30, met up outside hotel with Jenny, Coach(es) Steve, Jacki, and Lee and also one of the cross country dads.  Drove a couple miles to campus and did a 3 mile loop, got started at 4:55 am.  Glad I got invited on the run, otherwise it's pretty hard to get up on your own after driving the night before with yet a lot more driving ahead. Weather was in the 60's, decent weather for the meet later in the morning.

7:40 am - FSU Invitational held at Apalachee Regional Park.  Before the race heard the announcer mention a couple of times that course record holder is Conner Mantz who set it in 2021 with a time of 22:47, wow, sure are some fast people from the Fast Running Blog.

They had a big jumbotron set up (I guess that phrase is redundant), I hung out near finish line, runners would come by three times.  Tom was looking strong coming by each time.  His 5k split time was 17:04, right about what he ran for the 5k his senior year on this course for state championship, final time 27:25.  Glad we were able to come up and see the meet.

After the meet had breakfast with Jacob and then got on the road, made it back before 5:00, had to catch up on some work stuff, then to bed early enough to get up at 3:30 am and on the road by 4:00 to drive to Miami to do a college tour of U of Miami for Sophia.

No running today, lots of driving, round trip to Miami and tour of U of Miami campus.  I thought it was a pretty nice campus but overall impression for Sophia, not for her.  So far it's looking like FSU for her although there are a couple other schools in the running.

I did get to see a lot of iguanas on campus, south Florida seems so much different than Tampa.  Cafeteria food was pretty good.

Drive back ok, but some on and off rain made return drive a little bit slower.