The Long Run

I'm feeling like I'm back up to speed now with 4 good runs in a row this week. I actually did get up at 5:00 and made it to the Y by 5:30 to try and meet up with some other people. I caught up with David and Jenny and ran with them about a mile and a half. David was just doing a short run today, supposed to get knee MRI results today - good luck David.

So, it was nice to have some company for at least part of the run.

The rest of the run went by pretty smoothly. Today was a bit warmer than yesterday, just warm and humid enough to start feeling uncomfortable but nothing like what it was during the summer.

Problems with my left foot seem to be all cleared up today. 

My splits were: 9:29 8:42 8:38 7:55 7:49 7:26 7:26 and 4:01 for 0.52 (7:45 pace)

Average pace 8:10

Asics

Non running day today.

Did some cross training consisting of the arc trainer, stationary bike and lower body weights.  About an hour of time spent in the gym. 

First cool morning of the year here in Florida.  My definition of cool is that I felt chilly until about one mile into the run when I started to warm up.   Showed up at the Y parking lot just before 6:15.  Joe was there as well as Karen and Regina.

Joe and I got moving, at first at a somewhat slow pace then gradually picked up a little bit faster each mile.  Ran out to the horse farm, a loop through  Grey Oaks, then a slightly roundabout route back to the Y.  Pretty much conversational level most of the way.  Last few miles were just under 8:00 pace.  My legs felt achy now and then, maybe from yesterday morning's weights, but it wasn't anything that slowed me down.

Lots of other runners were there from the Striders group were there this morning.  I didn't have time to stay long and chat as Noah and Andy both had a Tae Kwon Do competition this morning.

Average pace: 8:22

 Brooks

Even cooler out this morning than Saturday morning but still very pleasant.  I warmed up  inside on the stationary bike first.   Headed outside at a slow pace.  Felt ok at first, like I would shake off my slugishness after 1 mile.  But it turned out that the first 4 miles were tiring.   Started feeling a little bit better after 4 but not great.   Finally, the last mile felt pretty good.   No huge pace pickups, which was ok for what was supposed to be an easy run.

Some of this could have been due to eating junky on Sunday with cake and pizza and other snacks throughout the day for my son's birthday party.   My youngest was up at 2:00 throwing up and is home from school this morning.   What were we thinking?

Went inside and finished up with some lower body weights.   Between the stationary bike warmups and the moderate weight training my knee is approaching 100%.  This is a big relief for me as I was afraid it was going to turn into a degenerative problem. 

Average pace: 8:31 

Asics 

Pretty good run this morning.   Tried doing a little bit more warm up before actually running.   That may have helped a little bit.  It may have also helped that I seem to do better on the second day of running after a day off.  On the negative side I did go out last night with work to dinner for some customers.  I did skip dessert and did not completely stuff myself.

I finally started running just before 7:00.  I decided on an out and back course from the Y to the horse farm.  One of my goals was to try to keep the mile splits from being too spread out.   I did pretty good with the first 7 miles between 8:52 and 8:10.  Picked up the last two miles.  The final mile was at a faster pace for most of it but I was slowed down by a traffic light.

The weather was great outside, a comfortably chilly 51° and nice and sunny.

Average pace: 8:03 

Jenny was all set to start her run when I got home so I biked the kids to school.  This worked out well since she ended up having a great run.

Brooks 

I woke up a little bit earlier this morning than the past few mornings, about 5:30.  I wanted to get in a warm up and get to the track early enough so I wouldn't have to worry about being there as the school hours approached - which I'm not exactly sure when that is.  The weather was again near perfect, a little warmer than yesterday, but still very pleasant at 60°

It's been well over a month since I've done any speed work so I wasn't sure what to expect.  I wanted to do 3 1600's at 6:28.  On the first one I started out a little too fast, it felt like a good pace but I was not able to hold it, about a 5:45 pace for almost the first 1/2 lap or so, it slid a little bit and then leveled out.   I finished the first one in exactly 6:28.

Next one went ok, just barely faster at 6:27.  The last one was exactly 6:28.

These weren't as hard as I had remembered, but they weren't easy either.  I felt like I wanted to go faster but at the same time realized it was good to stick to the goal pace (assuming that this was the right goal pace).  I wasn't sure what to make of these results because they are not any faster than the last time I did then, however I've just recently completed my marathon recovery and have not been focusing about speed.  So, I'm not going to worry about it and just be glad that I made my goals.

Cooled down after the track with just under two miles to make sure I got at least 8 in for the day. 

Asics - 440 

Coldest morning so far this year - 46° at the start of my run.  I'm sure many people might say that is not cold, but for Florida it is definitely cold.  I had woken up at 5:00 sharp this morning hoping to meet up with some others from the running group but there didn't seem to be anyone there at 5:30.   So, I figured I would spend some time indoors warming up and raising my core temperature before hitting the cold.  Did 10 minutes on the stationary bike and 5 minutes on the arc trainer, just enough to feel warmer.

After, the warm up it did not seem so bad outside.  Easy pace first mile, gradual speed up over the next two miles.   Finally felt good for the 5th mile, then continued picking up the pace a bit.  I wasn't expecting too much this morning, just a recovery from yesterday's speed session and getting in more miles.  Overall it turned out pretty good.

Splits were:

9:34, 8:59, 8:30, 8:35, 8:00, 7:43, 7:35, 7:10 and .31 @ 8:05/mile

Average pace: 8:15

Brooks - 298 

Planned day off from running.

Did a little bit over 20 minutes on the stationary bike and then did about 40 minutes worth of upper body weights - just to help balance things out.

Long run tomorrow, easy pace - will get very close to 50 miles for the week.

This morning was crisp and cool, as it has been on other mornings this week. Originally I was going to run with Joe, but he was not able to make it. I waited around a little bit and some others showed up. They were not going to run very far but I figured it would be nice to have some company at least part of the way.

We started out running faster than what I am used to for the first few miles. It was actually a pace I would call easy if I was already warmed up. Between the cold weather and the faster starting pace my left shin on the outside got extremely tight as it often does. Bob and I stopped for some gatorade at about 3.75 miles. The short break was good for my shin. Bob headed back towards the Y and I continued on alone in the opposite direction. I slowed the pace until I could get rid of the tightness.

I ran a few miles towards a neighborhood which has a 1 mile loop with hills. I did two loops through there and started feeling better. On the return trip the pace felt much easier - up until I had gone about 13 miles. At that point I started feeling a little bit worn down but not too bad. I continued on and before I knew it I was heading into the home stretch.

Overall the run was a success even though it had a couple of rough patches. I didn't do lower body weights yesterday like I had done the week before, so I don't think that was the problem. I think I will do a short run next Friday and see if that helps.

Splits were: 8:25, 7:53, 8:08, .739@8:44, 9:22, 9:10, .62@9:01, 8:46, 7:52, 8:31, 7:44, 7:43, 7:45, 7:33, 7:56, 7:59, 7:30

Average pace: 8:13 

Glycerin

I had one of my best runs today for an easy run.  Sometimes easy is in name only, and even the slow miles seem hard and the faster miles are not as hard but are faster than planned.

The first couple of miles were only moderately annoying - many times the first few miles are awful but not today.

My splits for today were: 8:50, 8:45, 8:29, 8:11, 8:05, 7:57, 7:52, 7:56, .23 @ 8:49

The weather was perfect, about 55° and sunny after the sun came up which was also nice to watch.  Running has certainly shown me more sunrises than I would have otherwise seen.

Average pace: 8:17

Asics 

This morning when I woke up I had a feeling of complete exhaustion, almost as if something was wrong with me.  But, I went ahead and hoped that it was something I could shake off once I got moving.  I got out the door and made it to they Y for a warm up on the machines inside.  I did a few minutes on the rowing machine for something different and then 10 minutes on the stationary bike to keep my knee on track.

I went outside and realized I had overdressed slightly - it was 60° but I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, but I guess it wasn't too warm for that.

My goal again this morning was to stick with easy miles, get through the warm up miles and then not speed up to "marathon pace" but hold back a little bit.  I was also thinking about doing at least 8 miles,  but when I got to 7 miles it felt like a good day to do 9.

My splits were: 8:31, 8:30, 8:34, 8:03, 7:54, 7:51, 7:52, 7:53, 7:52, and 0.13 @8:43

Average pace: 8:07

The splits were even closer together than yesterday.

Tomorrow I'm going to add in some tempo.

Brooks glycerin.
 

I felt good this morning when I woke up , which was a few minutes before the alarm was supposed to go off. I did my usual - let the dogs out, feed the dogs, drink some water, eat a snack. I was at the Y before 6:15. I warmed up on the stationary bike for about 10 minutes then did a little bit of time on the treadmill, speeding up and slowing down for about 5 minutes.

The run plan for today was to do a tempo run of 5 miles at about 7:00 pace, with some easy miles first, and a few easy miles after the tempo, for about 11 miles and 90 minutes total of running.

First few warm up miles were pretty good - 8:52 ,8:43, 8:25, then 0.38 @ 10:54 which included stopping to drop off my drink bottle and loosening up a bit. Then the tempo began

First mile felt pretty good, second mile starting feeling tedious, and all of the sudden my pace dropped off at the beginning of the third mile, but I kicked myself back in gear and made that mile pace ok. 4th mile was better, and I felt good on the 5th mile, either because that was the last mile at tempo or I was fully warmed up.

Tempo miles were: 6:57, 6:51, 6:58, 6:54, 6:47

After the tempo portion I grabbed my drink bottle and was in a slow jog for just over a minute then finished up the easy miles: 8:23, 7:55, 8:09 (and 8:09 pace for a little past the last mile)

So, I made all of my goals. I didn't feel particularly fast and light this morning but that is ok. The 5th tempo mile I did feel like I could have gone faster but I wanted to keep it pretty close to the other miles.

Average pace: 7:52 

Asics

I let myself sleep in a little bit this morning to 6:00 since I was planning on fewer miles.  I woke up with a dull ache in my back on the left side about mid way up.  Not anything too bad, just annoying.

I warmed up inside with some time on the rowing machine and stationary bike then headed outside.   Plan was to try and do an easy and consistent pace today.  First mile felt pretty good as far as first miles go.  Second and third miles didn't feel much better, but not too terrible either.  Sometimes, the day after a hard day can feel very easy and relaxed, unfortunately today was not one of those days.  It was nice and cool outside, about the same temp as other morning recently but a little bit of fog had rolled in.   This is good because for most of the past week it was very dry.

Splits for today were: 8:40, 8:20, 8:20, 8:30, 7:55, 8:15, 8:07, 0.27 @ 8:47

Actually, the 7th mile felt pretty good, and was a little bit faster than 8:07 due to the time spent waiting for the traffic light to change.

Brooks 

Did 20 minutes on the stationary bike, 10 minutes on the rowing machine and then about 30 minutes worth of upper body weights.

It would have been a cold morning outside if I was running today.  Tomorrow will probably be cold for my long run so I'm mentally preparing for it now. 

It was somewhere between cold and cool this morning.  Starting temp about 42°.  I wore an extra shirt, a skin tight body armour shirt underneath a long sleeve tech shirt.  I met up with Joe at the Y just after 6:30 - I was supposed to be there at 6:30 but was running a few minutes late.  Also started out with gloves and a hat.   Bob was also there this morning.

The three of us started out at a nice easy pace.  It didn't feel that cold anymore after the first mile.  Sometime along the way to the horse farm, Eric caught up with us and then passed us.  We turned around from the horse farm to head back to the Y.  It was nice to run with two other people.  WE were at a conversational pace pretty much the whole way.  After getting back to they Y, I ditched the hat and gloves.  After an un-timed break, Joe, Bob, and I headed back out.  Bob split off from us a little past a mile out as he was doing 12 today.  Joe and I continued on to the horse farm again, turned around and came back.  The pace picked up a little bit here and there but nothing too fast.  The last mile was at 7:41 - although most of it was probably faster but we were caught by a traffic light.

So, nothing fancy, just get the miles in without putting too much stress.  Joe had hurt his back a week and a half ago but is back running.

Average pace: 8:40

When I got home, I went into the pool for about 20 minutes to help loosen up, I felt a lot better after I did that. 

 Brooks glycerin
 

It was a difficult run this morning. I woke up tired and was not able to really shake it off like I usually can do. On the positive side, I got the job done. Anyone can have a good run when they are feeling good, but it takes commitment to run when you don't feel like running.

Tried my usual warm ups, but finally I had to just get going. The weather was very nice outside. I ran about 1.8 miles then stopped to drop off my drink bottle and stretch out a little bit. This helped and got me moving a little bit better. I stopped one more time because I figured that if it helped once it would help again. It did help a little bit and I was able to keep moving. It never got to that easy point, so I just kept going.

Also, I had a lot of new music to listen to.  Jenny had felt sorry for me recently and found a bunch of new songs for me to run with, but after a few miles of running with music this morning I turned it off.  On Saturday I ran with no music, most of it by choice.  When I tried to turn it on with 6 miles left, the ipod was not working.  I might just be getting tired of listening to music while running so I'm going to cut back on that for a while until I enjoy it again. 

Average pace: 8:28 (without counting most of the two stops)

Asics - 468

Today's run felt 10 times better than yesterday's run.  I'm not exactly sure why but I'll take it. 

I did not go to the Y this morning.  I warmed up at home with some stairs, walking and some dynamic stretches. 

I ran from my house on an out and back course.  There is only one problem with this in that there are a couple stretches of busy road without a very big shoulder or sidewalk available but it is not too far.

I started out slowly, gradually picked up and got into a good groove after the first 3 miles.  My splits were: 9:55, 8:51, 8:26, 8:01, 7:38, 7:27, 7:37, 7:31, 7:49, 0.72@7:54

I had planned on 8-9 miles but got in a little bit more since I kind of made up the course as I went along.

I did listen to music today, but only after I warmed up.  It made a nice compliment to the running rather than an annoyance like it was yesterday.   The weather was perfect.

 Average pace: 8:07

Brooks 

Ran from home again this morning.  I left a little bit later than usual but that was ok since there was nothing pressing to hurry for.  Mile splits ranged between 9:15 and 8:08 with an overall average pace of 8:29.  Weather was great again.  A little bit warmer than yesterday but still very comfortable.

 I wanted to take it easy today since I'll be doing a 5K turkey trot tomorrow, the one mile run with the boys.   Hopefully I can get in at least 6 miles tomorrow.

 Brooks

 

This morning was our annual local Turkey trot race.   They have a 5K, 1 mile, and 10K race.  Jenny was doing the 10K, I did the 5K, and then I did the 1 mile race with Noah and Andy.  This year was a record year for registrations with over 16,000 runners between the 3 races, although I'm not sure what the breakdown was.

I got to the starting line and ran a 1.1 mile warm up.  After the warm up I had a pretty good spot close to the front.  Just when the race was about to start they announced a 15 minute delay.  At that point, a lot of people went past the starting line to mill about.  When the race was about to start they all came back to the start.  Because of this I was now about 15 deep from the start.

The race started, there were many slower people at the start, so it was slow going at first and more weaving than I would have liked.  I got the first mile in 6:30, but it was pretty hard fought to get that.   The second mile opened up some more, but I ended up doing that one slower for some reason at 6:35.  This could have either been due to the first mile effort or perhaps from the realization that I was probably not going to be in the top 125.  (They only list the top 125 male and female finishers on the results, this is up from previous year's 100).

The third mile went better.  Lots of people had faded so I continued to pass other runner's one by one.   The third mile also has the biggest hill which usually has slowed me down a lot in the past.  This time I held my pace.  The hill leveled out and then turns into a very slight downhill for the tail end of the third mile.  I hit the third mile in 6:15.  This was my fastest ever 3rd mile for a 5k. 

The last 0.1 mile goes into a stadium, by the time I could see the clock it had just turned to 20:00.  I kept going and thought I finished at 20:12, however I didn't pass under the clock until 20:18.  My wife was watching me as I slowed down just before the finish line.  She said I'll get a roundhouse kick from her if I do that again.

So, it's a 2 second PR.  I'll take it since this was a large race with some hilly terrain but I think I could have done a little bit better.

After the 5K I did the 1 mile with the boys.  We stayed together until the end and Andy got a 8:59 by pulling ahead at the very end Noah came in at 9:06 and I was 1 second behind Noah.  Noah was upset that he didn't beat Andy, but with Noah being 3 years younger than Andy it was quite an accomplishment.   The mile race was also very thick with runner's and lots of walkers at the beginning.

Jenny made a 56:06 for her 10K which she was happy about. 

Day after Thanksgiving/day after race recovery run and exercise.

Alarm clock set for 6:30, woken up by dog about to throw up at 5:30.

Went to the Y and warmed up inside with just over 10 minutes on stationary bike, a few minutes on the rowing machine and a little bit of time on the treadmill speeding up and slowing down. 

0.66 treadmill

Then I headed outside.  The warm up had gotten me slightly sweaty so I decided to run without my shirt since it was just a plain cotton shirt.  It was on the verge of being too cold to run without a shirt which I realized shortly after starting the run, oh well.  I did not wear the garmin.  I did wear my watch which I tried not to look at.  Checked the distance later on mapmyrun. 

3.54 in 29:22 (8:17 pace)

Went back inside and did an easy full body weight routine.

I met up with Joe at 5:45 at the Suncoast pkwy bike trail parking lot, it was slightly chilly but nice (about 55°). The moon was very bright so the normally dark bike trail wasn't too bad. We went pretty slow for the first few miles and gradually picked things up. The first 10 miles we averaged 9:00 pace due to the very slow first few miles (10:15, 9:30, 9:15). As the sun came up it turned into a very beautiful morning outside. Definitely the kind of morning that makes you glad you are out for a run.

Around miles 12 to 14 we did a couple of faster miles, about 7:30 each. We backed off for the next few miles then I said I wanted to finish up the last two miles at marathon pace. So, with two miles left we picked it up. The pace was faster than it felt, that mile was at 7:08. Joe had said that I shouldn't wait for him but he managed to keep up with no problem. He dropped back a couple of times on the last mile but managed to catch up and hang on. I kept at the pace but didn't want to push too hard. Last mile was at 7:13, then we slowed and jogged the rest of the way to the parking lot.

This was one of my best runs in a while. I felt even better on this run than on my last 20 mile run before the Chicago marathon.

Average pace: 8:23

Brooks glycerin

It was a pretty good run for a Monday morning.  20 miles on Saturday, pizza and one beer with dinner last night I had my sights set fairly low for this morning.  It was a bit warmer out this morning that it had been recently, about 70°.  I did some of my usual warm ups inside the Y - 10 minutes on the bike, a few minutes on the rowing machine, and a few on the treadmill.

The first mile felt pretty good, not fast, but it didn't feel cloppy or slappy either.   Next mile started to not feel great, but not horrible either.  Then I dropped off my drink bottle at the beginning of the loop I was going to do.  Things felt better after that.  By the 6th mile my pace had picked up naturally.  The 7th mile felt really good, the pace kept creeping up with the same amount of perceived effort.  For the 8th mile I decided that this was not supposed to be a speed day so I backed down a little bit.  

Splits were: 9:05, 8:55, 8:51, 8:10, 8:07, 7:49, 7:24, 8:07, 0.16 @ 8:44

Average pace: 8:20

Asics 

Ran from home this morning.  It took me a while to get going from the time I woke up until I actually started running.  It's a lot easier for me to get warmed up by hopping on some sort of cardio machine.

 I finally got moving and started my run, took it easy, the first few miles were slow but not uncomfortable.   At the 5 mile turn around I had picked up a little bit of speed but my left hip was bothering me so I didn't go any faster.  It finally loosened up after a couple miles.  At about 8 miles the sky started getting dark and I was afraid that I would get caught in the rain but it held off (and still has not rained yet).  I was in a pretty good pace for the 8th mile but had to wait a long time to cross SR 54 in the middle of the 9th mile with all the morning traffic.  10th mile was good, then slowed down for the remainder to get back home - taking the long way back around the neighborhood loop.

Splits were: 9:38, 9:02, 8:58, 8:31, 8:27, 8:21, 8:17, 7:32, 8:28, 7:39, 0.71@8:30

Average pace 8:30

Brooks
 

I started out this morning feeling a little bit tight and maybe sore in a few spots so I didn't have great expectations. However, something happened, I'm not sure what and I had a good run.

First mile was slow but comfortable, then the second mile was faster than usual for a second mile. I tried not to look at the Garmin too much except when it beeped off the mile. The pace felt good and I did not feel like I was forcing the pace.

Splits were: 9:05, 7:57, 7:49, 7:24, 7:29, 7:15, 7:36, 0.26@8:01

Average pace: 7:49

I cooled down inside on the treadmill for a few minutes and then did some leg extensions. I was going to do some more weights but ran out of time.

Today was supposed to just be an "easy" run but I went a little bit faster because I felt good. It wasn't fast enough to be called a tempo run or even a marathon pace run but somewhere in between easy and MP (as far as the overall pace goes). I should have gone slower or faster, but sometimes I guess you just go.
So, not sure if I should do a tempo run or not tomorrow.

Asics.

Another easy run which actually felt easy.  I hope this trend continues.  I woke up at 6:00, seemed to take forever to get out of the house, then made it to the Y.

10 minutes on stationary bike, 3 minutes on rower, then a few minutes on the treadmill speeding up and slowing down.

It rained heavily last night so it was foggy out this morning with a warmish temp of 70°.  First mile felt pretty good, second mile was good also but was not as fast as yesterday.   Splits were pretty good and the run seemed to go by pretty quickly.

 Splits: 8:44, 8:24, 8:03, 7:55, 7:47, 7:33, 7:35, 7:31, 0.19@8:38

Average pace: 7:57

Brooks 

I carried powerade in my fuel belt and drank that while I ran.  This brought back memories of the Disney marathon.  Powerade claims as one of its benefits that it does not taste too sweet so you won't want to water it down.   But I like sweeter drinks when I'm running.  I remember running during the Disney marathon wondering if they were serving us a sugar free drink!  I know better know but it just goes to show how important it is to practice with your race drink before the race so there aren't any surprises.  Looks like Jacksonville will be serving powerade also.  

Went back inside and did some cool down work on the treadmill, about 5 or 6 minutes or so.  Headed home and then volunteered to bike the kids to school since it feels like I have been seeing them less due to work.

Mixed cardio, short easy run and some weights.

Ran outside on what measured out to be a 4.1 mile loop. No garmin, no shirt. Slightly cool but warmer than last Friday, foggy out.

I did get some of that tightness in my shin/ankle area that sometimes gets so bad I want to quit but goes away after a few miles.  I had just had two days of not having it at all so was hoping it would maybe go away forever.  It was back this morning but fortunately went away after just over two miles into the run. 

Average pace: 8:05