The Long Run

5.17 mi, 44:59, 8:43 avg

Another easy-ish 5 mile day.  Changed my route a little bit with a run down Alderman and then north up the Pinellas Trail making it to Wall Springs Park before turning around.  Weather was nice and cool.  I wanted to go a little faster but didn't push it to keep the easy day easy.  Will have a harder run tomorrow.

10.01 mi, 1:18:18, 7:49 avg

Classic tempo run route today.  It felt a little warmer this morning when starting out but the clouds kept it cool and the breeze made it feel cooler.  Ran a little bit over two miles from my house to the Longleaf church and dropped off my drink bottle at the picnic table.

It was a better run than last week but still wasn't quite 100% (I made two quick stops which technically made this tempo intervals rather than tempo run - but there was one less stop than last week, and I probably could have just run it all straight through).

First mile was 7:04 which I kept pretty steady and was even a little faster at times, then the next 4 miles were all just under 7:00.

7:04, 6:56, 6:53, 6:58, 6:56

It was still challenging but was a little less of a struggle and the splits were better than last week.

On the return trip home I picked up the last mile a little bit to 7:40.  It was an easy sort of feeling 7:40 which I need to figure out how to do more of!

In the evening took Tom and Andy to dinner with my parents for Andy's 20th birthday (which is actually tomorrow), good to have the family together, first time seeing my parents now that they are back in Florida for the winter.  

5.35 mi, 49:10, 9:12 avg

It was nice and cool this morning so I didn't run until later, still in the 60's when I ran, very pleasant and sunny. Repeated Thursday's route going out and back from Westlake to Wall Springs Park.  I stopped and looked at the fish congregating in the spring before heading back.

Today is Andy's birthday, happy 20th!

16.04 mi, 2:12:10, 8:14 avg

Slightly shorter version of last Sunday's run minus the rolling hills.  Ran in Starkey Park.  Was pretty quiet this morning, nice weather again.  Not as cool as yesterday but more clouds and a cooling breeze. 8 miles out with goal of an "easy pace"  Last 3 of those 8 miles were in the 8:20 pace range.  Turned around and was able to get onto a pretty good pace, into the 7:30's and then into the next mile, then brief stop at the water stop on Suncoast just north of the Starkey entrance.  Plan was to not stop anymore, but then changed my mind when I got to 4ish mile water stop. My pace was slowing, had trouble staying in the 7:30's, settled for 7:46.  Next mile was worse, found myself running at what felt like the same effort but pace was in the 8:00's.  Decided I wouldn't beat myself up over it, relaxed a little and then finished mile 13 in 7:56.   Next mile a little better at 7:45.  Then, finally for the last two miles felt myself get into a good rhythm, mile 15 in 7:24.   Then I was excited to finish.

The last mile has signs with the planets (and everyone's favorite minor planet), 1 mile from Pluto to the Sun.    Counted down the planets and then turned onto the skinny path to the bike parking lot, last mile in 7:07.

Next week I'm back on the original schedule so I'll finish up for the marathon on 12/15.  Getting excited but trying to not get lazy and/or injured.

10.32 mi, 1:27:06, 8:27 avg, elev gain 358 feet

I was dreading this run.  I wasn't sure where to do it.  I needed a hill 800m long to run up and then back down.  The usual his is just a little over 400m.  Thought about driving somewhere but then just decided to make due.  I started down the street farther so there was some elevation increase, just not as much in the first part.  But it was the right length, did go uphill the whole way and got harder in the second half so seemed reasonable.

3x800m uphill @7:05 pace, 60 second rest, back down at 7:30 pace

Did the first one on pace, the second two a little faster about 6:55 pace.  Downhills were in the 7:20's

The nice thing was that it was only three repeats.  I felt done, but still had 4x400m.  Did the usual hill.  Was faster than previously, maybe better fitness or maybe excited about wrapping it up.

Uphills at paces of : 6:24, 6:21, 6:24, and 6:18.  Downhills were about 7:15ish pace.

Wrapped up with 2 miles warm down.  

Felt great about today's run.  I'd need the win because work would get difficult and the upstairs AC was about to break again.

7.09 mi, 1:04:02, 9:02 avg, elev gain 90 feet

Day after hard run, didn't feel too bad. Got started at 7:33, stuck close by the house waiting for Jessica to get back from school drop off, up and down the street and loops on Park Ct, got in two miles this way.   Then did out and back run out the south entrance of Westlake and a little bit past the Y running on Pennsylvania Ave.  Weather was nice and cool this morning.

Scheduled to run today with tomorrow as an off day.  Decided to flip the days around so I could get to work earlier.  Looking back I think my brain could have used the benfits from the run today.  Always better off to get the run in if at all possible.

6.06 mi, 52:37, 8:41 avg, elev gain 92 feet

Did yesterday's run today.  Was up pretty late last night for work and wanted to skip running, but fear of causing a no running chain reaction got me out the door.  Once I was running I was good.  Out and back through the south entrance of Westlake and past the Y and up the next hill with a couple small detours which turned the normally 5 mile route into 6 miles.  Last mile was at 7:49.

Long run will be tomorrow instead of Sunday this week, followed by an almost long run of 10 miles on Sunday.

14.92 mi, 1:58:46, 7:58 avg

Long run with marathon specific long repeats today, 2 miles warm up, 2x5 miles @MP goal, followed by 2 miles warm down.

Joe said he would go along with me today but was doubtful he'd stick with me the whole way (but you never know about Joe as a often outperforms what he says he can do).

Met up at Longleaf at 7:00 (ish) - I was a couple minutes late.  It was cool but humid, not quite chilly but fortunately it did not really warm up.  Started out on the 2 mile easy part, stopped breifly to say hi to a group of the Striders.  Saw Tom returning from his run, waved as we passed by.  Was dreading picking up the pace from comfortable 9:30ish pace down to a 7:30 pace.  Told Joe I was fine with being a little slower the first mile as long as we were under 8:00.  About 0.6 miles into the faster part stopped by his cooler so he could grab a bottle of water to carry then continued on, finished first faster mile in 7:54, a little slow but ok.  Next mile in 7:43 as we entered Starkey Park.  Started getting a little bit faster and about halfway into the mile, Joe sent me ahead.  Next mile was finished in 7:33, right where I wanted to be.  Then an "old friend" stopped by, it was my old long run speed.  Wasn't struggling but my pace was now in the 7:00's, next two miles in 7:07 and 7:08.  With the faster miles at the end and the slower first two miles, was right around the 7:30 pace I wanted.

Did my three minute easy jog farther down the trail before turning back (later found out it was supposed to be 5 minute easy jog, but close enough).  Leg speed was still there but new pace a little slower than last two miles but faster than goal pace so didn't push it, just locked in.  Next four miles were 7:16, 7:18, 7:25, and 7:21.   Then I caught up with Joe part of the way into the 5th mile.  He had turned back a little early.  Took a left onto Alico Pass then turned back so I'd finish the 5th mile near the corner and meet back up with Joe for the warm down miles.  5th mile was in 7:06 - so about 7:18 pace for second 5 mile interval.  

Had a little bit farther to get back to the parking lot so warm down was actually 2.6 miles.

I felt really good about today's run with being able to not just scrape by in the marathon pace miles but comfortably run a little bit faster without feeling like I was struggling.

In the evening, had dinner at BJs and ordered their pretty big bacon and brisket topped burger and then went to see Bohemian Rhapsody at the movies.

10.25 mi, 1:32:23, 9:01 avg

Almost long run day after faster long run yesterday.  Eased into the run with no expectations.  Out the north entrance of Westlake, onto Alderman, and then north up Belcher, then Klosterman over to the Pinellas trail.

Ran by the primate sanctuary but did not stop, kept going, through the tunnel and then into Wall Springs park where I ran to the lookout tower which was recently rebuilt after the old one burned down.  Checked out the view and then got back on the trail in the park and back out to the Pinellas trail.  Kept on going south until reach Pennsylvania Ave, then took the usual route back into Westlake and back to the house.

Weather was good and run moved along despite starting out with a little bit of soreness from yesterday.  

10.01 mi, 1:23:47, 8:22 avg, elev gain 136 feet

I wasn't afraid of this run, felt a little bit relaxed going into it, another Tuesday morning challenge with new combination of intervals run on slightly rolling terrain.

Workout plan - 2 miles easy, 2x(2k@half marathon pace, 1k@10K pace), then 5x400m @5k pace, followed by 2 miles easy warm down.

After the warmup, decided the 3k repeat course would be out 1k and back 1k followed by out 0.5k and then back 0.5k so I'd end up where I'd started and not have to climb any of the bigger hills.  Ran down Lakeview and right on Sandy Hook to the first big turn where I turned back.  Pace was going good, keeping a 7:02 pace for the first 2k.  Then I was supposed to pick it up down into the 6:40's, but my legs didn't do that, seemed to be stuck at the same pace.  Finally, got a tiny bit faster, doing the last 1k at 6:55 pace.

Altered my course for the next repeat, instead of an out and back with a 180 degree turn, made a loop by staying on Sandy Hook onto it got back to Lakeview at the top of the hill. This would make a bigger climb up but not too bad.  Seemed to do better for the second one.  First 2k at 7:00 pace, then picked it up to 6:45 pace for last 1k.

This pace on demand shifting is hard for me and 3k seemed like a pretty long interval.  But, now it was on to the 400m repeats.  I was able to go faster for these.  Ran these on a straight section of road with a slight incline, so going one way was slightly down and coming back was slightly up.  Pace splits for these: 6:04, 6:22, 6:00, 6:20, 5:47

I had been thinking about that last split from the start of the run.  I wanted to get through the work part to get to that last lap and experience a little bit of speed.

Next, finished up the 2 miles (and a little bit extra to get back to the house)

5.66 mi, 47:24, 8:23 avg, elev gain 87 feet

Day after hard run easy run which made easy pace faster but still feel easy and seemed to require less of a warm up.  Trying to perfect the 5 mile loop course where I usually end up a little short and do a smaller loop inside the neighborhood.  Exited Westlake at the north entrance and turned right onto Alderman, then right on Belcher, and right on Nebraska, making my way to the Pinellas Trail and then north until Crystal Beach Ave and back toward Alt 19.  Made the mistake of trying to cross right there instead of going to the Alderman light.  It didn't look too busy but it would never quite clear up enough, finally  did the right think and went up to the light and pushed the button.  Then it was a straight shot east on Alderman.  Hit 5 miles with still a ways to go.

I will adjust this loop to be 5 miles and maybe not cross Alt 19.  

Weather was nice.

I stayed on schedule timewise because I had to get back in time to drop Sophia off at school since I volunteered for drop off duty today.

4.64 mi, 39:38, 8:33 avg

Yesterday and today were scheduled as 4-5 miles easy.  Since I went over yesterday, I kept today's run within distance range.  Out and back run, snaking through Westlake neighborhood until near the Palm Harbor Y.

Another pretty good morning.

12.08 mi, 1:34:14, 7:48 avg, elev gain - flat

Best run all week.

Scheduled run today 2 mile warm up, 8 mile marathon pace "cut down" run, 2 mile warm down.  Ran a little bit faster each mile and felt great.  First two miles were out and back one mile each way so I could start again from my car.  Still right about 50 degrees, having warmed up a few degrees.

Shifted into pace which felt hard for just a short bit of time, with first mile at 7:41, next three miles each got faster.  Turned around just inside Starkey Park (just past 4 miles) and pace picked up a little more then did each mile back a little faster, except for the 8th mile which was more than a little bit faster at 6:44

MP miles: 7:41, 7:35, 7:29, 7:23, 7:15, 7:06, 7:02, 6:44

For the warmdown, kept heading south and ran a little bit on SR54 until I had gone far enough so I'd have 2 miles by the time I got back to my car.

Great to have a run where I easily made the goal paces and felt like the run flowed.  Sometimes I make the paces but the run feels clunky, and some runs it feels clunky and the goals are not met. Hoping for more of these!

4.42 mi, 38:56, 8:49 avg, elev gain 79 feet

Started later in the morning because it was nice to sleep in a little and the weather was nice.  Headed north out of Westlake, east on Alderman then north onto Belcher until I had just over 2.2 miles before turning back the way I came.  I usually use this section of Belcher as part of a loop and don't come back the way I came.  The hill going back up Alderman looks big when driving but didn't seem quite so bad while running (it's only about 60 feet climb over 1/3 of a mile or so).  Legs felt pretty good after yesterday's medium long run with marathon tempo.

Kept the mileage lower today for tomorrow's 20 mile run (schedule calls for 17-20, going to do 20 because I've not done a 20 in a while).

20.11 mi, 2:41:45, 8:03 avg

First 20 mile training run in a while.  The schedule I'm following does not specifically have any 20 mile runs on it but has some with ranges that could be 20 miles.  I figured I'd better make sure to get one done.

Starkey Park starting from the bike parking lot and headed out onto the main bike trail toward the Suncoast Trail.  Ran into Carin Z and her sister about 2.3 miles into the run and talked to her for a few minutes.  Kept going, running through the tree tunnel into the open area and then to the Suncoast trail turning left.  Stopped at the water stop about 6.7 miles into the run.  Out 3.3 more miles to my turnaround.  It's been a while since making it out this far.

Was wearing my fuel belt which has gotten its elastic a little too stretched.  Finally got it sinched down so it wouldn't bounce so much, made running feel a lot easier.

Pace goal range for today was 8:00-8:30 range for the average.  Some of the first miles were a bit slower but now I was pushing closer to 8:00 pace.  

After the turnaround, felt a mental boost and pace was now in the 7:40's for the next 3 miles.  Then I started feeling a little sluggish, pace got a little slower but still in 7:50's but it felt a lot harder for the next two miles.  Quick stop at 4 mile water and then felt much fresher.

Last 3 miles were good - 7:35, 7:34, 7:11

So, now that's checked off.  Maybe time for one more next week which is supposed to be 8-9 easy, 8-9 marathon pace,  2 mile warm down.  Will try to go up to Brooksville section of Suncoast trail for the rolling hills.

10.05 mi, 1:22:42, 8:14 avg, elev gain 313 feet

Goal workout - 5x800m uphill @7:00, 60 second rest 5x800m downhill @7:30

2 mile warm up and 2 mile warm down after the run.

Ran in Westlake basically going up and down Lakeview Dr to the top of the hill and back down.

Uphill paces - 6:54, 6:57, 6:53, 6:56, 6:49

Downhills - 7:16, 7:23, 7:20, 7:09, 7:06

Should have been a little more disciplined on the downhills to try and lock in on the right pace even though it feels easy so you don't have to pay for it later.  But, still good run overall with the miles and quality.  Legs have been feeling a little stronger lately.

High 60's and cloudy at the start so pretty nice morning for running.

6.25 mi, 54:15, 8:41 avg

Out and back run on Alderman Road to Pinellas trail, just past the old train tunnel to the little park on the other side.  A little cooler than yesterday morning.

Scheduled run was 5-7 miles easy so I think this run counted.

Tomorrow was supposed to be scheduled off day (totally coincidence that it is also Thanksgiving since it's a generic training plan).  But, instead I'm going to do the 5k Turkey Trot at Clearwater High School.  Hoping for a significant improvement over last year and another coffee mug.

Tradition continues, back again to the Turkey Trot in Clearwater, previously known as the St Pete Time Turkey Trot, now the Tampa Bay Times Turkey Trot and this year for the first year ever with chip timing.  Previously, the top 125 male and female runners would get a mug and their time recorded in the results.  Once the race finish cards were passed out, no more results were recorded.   But, this year the bibs came with chips.  Top 125 male and female still received coffee mugs but it was essentially gun time since cards were passed out as people crossed but you no longer filled out any information.

Arrived at the race a little bit later than hoped for, just after 6:30, parked on the street near Rumba restaurant which was close to the start but farther from the planned meeting spot near the stadium.  Drove down with Jessica, Jacob, Sophia, and Aubrey.  Andy, my father-in-law drove down with Emily, John and their kids as well Hannah and Noah.  Jenny drove down with Thomas.

Jacob and I went ahead to warm up and line up near the start, only had time for a few minutes of warming up, 0.33 miles total including a few strides.  Squeezed our way into the crowd and once everyone else squeezed in we were about 8 rows back.  Saw Dixie before the race start.  He pointed to a guy nearby wearing flowery shorts and no shirt and asked if I could beat that guy, had no way of telling, he looked pretty fit, mayb early 50's.  Jacob found a friend of his so was a row or two back from me.  When the race started I didn't see him but he kept me in his sights and was pretty close to me for the first mile.  First mile came in at 6:30, although I started my watch before I crossed (close to gun time) so it was closer to 6:25.   Turned the corner just after the mile marker and kept a steady pace, next mile felt harder but was only 1 second slower.  Shortly into the third mile is the hill, which I recently learned was called cemetary hill.  Looked for the cemetary and saw it for the first time running this race.

Slowed down just a little on the uphill, but made it back once the road flattened out.  Still passing a few people here or there.  For a good part of the race I was following the guy in the flowery shorts, he was running pretty strong.  At some point lost sight of him, not sure if I passed him or if he pulled ahead.

Finally, the turn off to the stadium was just ahead.  No idea if there were 125 male runners ahead of me.  Approached the track and could see the clock - 19:56, just a little way to go.  Goal had been to break 20:30, maybe 20:15 or better if I could.  Crossed the finish line and saw the guy with the cards still had some left, handed me one which I took to the awards tent.

Got my mug and then saw Thomas walking away holding a mug - 17:53 chip time for him, 24th overall.  Next, ran into Jacob, pretty excited about his time, 20:55 chip, 21:06 gun time but did not get a mug (later saw that he was 108th male so not sure why he did not get a mug) - about 26 second PR for him.  Ran into Jenny who was also carrying a mug.

Drove back to Palm Harbor after the race, ran another easy 3 miles to make up partially for the change in schedule (was supposed to do 6 mile @half marathon pace with warm up and cool down).

As I was looking for the rest of the group I could hear them announcing awards - overall, masters, and they were also doing grand masters, surprisingly, I hear my name called.  Go back to the award tent, get a medal and told that I'll get an email good for free entry into next year's race.

Happy with the improvement since PHSC and since last year when I was 30 second slower with much less even splits.

Later in the afternoon, picked up the boys (including Sammy the dog) and went to my parents house for Thanksgiving dinner.  I was in charge of pies, had bought three from JJ Gandy's and Andy made a green bean casserole.

4.49 mi, 39:56, 8:54 avg

Day after Thanksgiving and the Turkey trot recovery type run.  Loop runing south through Westlake to Nebraska Ave and over to Omaha Street and then back north to Alderman.

Pretty good run overall, nice morning weather.

After the run, met up with Jessica's family and went with them (minus Jessica and Aubrey) to iFly in Brandon which is a wind tunnel for indoor skydiving.  After some brief instructions and getting dressed in flight suits we each took one minute turns "skydiving". First minute was very basic techniques to get used to it.  The next time through was the "high flight", where they increased the speed and an instructor guided you up and kind of spun you around while both floating - maybe about 20 feet up, then back down and up again.  There were 14 of us and we had 30 minutes total time so two people got to go for a third minute, I was picked to go again.  The third time through was more relaxing and felt a little more like flying.  Would be fun to go again sometime.

3.21 mi, 30:03, 9:22 avg

Another fairly short run, kept at an easy pace (started slow and didn't get much faster).

Had been out last night with Jessica's sisters and their husbands, as well as a couple of their friends at "Captain Jacks" in Tarpon Springs which we "closed down" - fortunately they closed at 11:00.

In the evening, went to Clearwater Beach and did a dinner cruise as a somewhat surprise early birthday gift since Marc (brother-in-law), myself and Jessica have birthdays one week apart in December.  My parents came down also.  The food was better than expected and I spent some time on the dance floor for the entertainment of the kids watching me flail around.  I was a little apprehensive about going out the night before my 20 mile run - last big one before the marathon.  At first, abstained from any alcohol but later decided on one glass of wine with dinner which turned out to hit the spot and would not seem to impact my long run.

20.26 mi, 2:44:43, 8:08 avg, elev gain 271 feet (Strava says 489 feet)

I don't normally run 20 miles on consecutive weeks but wanted to get two in for this training cycle.  Schedule called for rolling hills, which I'd normally go up to Brooksville to find.  I decided to stay in the area.  I couldn't do an out and back and stay in anything resembling rolling hills, so I picked a loop which I thought could work and get the job done in about 3 loops.  Ran south out of Westlake, left onto Nebraska for a brief distance then continue south on Belcher to Tampa Road, then head west to Omaha Street all the way up to Alderman and then east towards the north entrance of Westlake.  It was basically the same each time but I made some small adjustments - one time going through Indian Trails, other times making some small detours here or there, but basically stuck to the course.  

It was cool enough than I was fine running with a 10oz bottle which I refilled at stops back at the house.  Overall the run went really well.  This was probably my best Palm Harbor long run so far.

First 9 miles called for an easy pace, which I averaged around an 8:45.  After the 9 miles, I felt kind of locked into the pace and didn't feel like I could go faster but was supposed to run the next 9 miles at about a 7:30 pace.  But, when I had to I was able to switch gears and run in the 7:30's (mid to high 7:30's for first 6 miles), then 7:26, followed by last two of the faster miles at 7:15.  Each of the faster miles felt like I couldn't do it, but stuck with a mantra of just one more.  As I was finishing up the 8th mile ahead of pace I knew the 9th mile would be no problem.

Was about a mile from the house when I finished the 9th faster mile for 18 total, was just over 19 miles once near the house so ran a small 1 mile loop near the house.

Glad there were only three loops - not enough to get boring and each loop didn't feel so long after finishing the first one.

10.21 mi, 1:20:29, 7:53 avg, elev gain 254 feet

Another tough Tuesday, or maybe terrific Tuesday.  Finally reached the peak of increasingly longer Tuesday intervals as next week heads into the taper.

3x(2k@7:00, then 1k@6:35), two minutes rest between repeats, two mile warm up and two mile warm down.

Route was south down Lakeview, right onto Sandy Hook which curves around and crosses Lakeview and eventually runs into Village Way, run down that and then right onto Lakeview towards the house and a little bit past it to reach 3k.

Paces for the three sets: 1. 7:05(2k), 6:36(1k), 2. 6:56(2k), 6:32(1k)  3.6:56(2k),6:27(1k)

Felt great to get this workout done.  For a good portion of Monday, legs were feeling a little tired from Sunday's 20 mile run and was considering switching around the schedule this week and pushing today's run out another day but felt good enough to try when I woke up.

Next week's Tuesday run is "only" 5x1k.  Will be less than two weeks from the marathon.  Just far enough out to still have some training effect

5.15 mi,  45:42, 8:52 avg, elev gain 82 feet

Day after hard run easy run.  Did a rectangular loop which was almost perfectly 5 miles and avoided traffic lights - did not cross Alt 19 like the last time I did a similar yet slightly farther route.  Cool - almost cold 48 degrees, but very nice.

6.28 mi, 50:05, 7:58 avg

Scheduled run was 5-7 mile "aerobic" run, goal pace between 8:00-8:15.  Ran from my house to the new, almost ready to be opened trail that will connect the Starkey Bike Trail and the Pinellas Trail.  Saw lots of deer, maybe 8 or 9.  A couple individuals and a group.  They seemed not bothered at all by my presence.  One of them looked like he was thinking of running out in front of me.  Very nice morning, run seemed to flow pretty nicely.

4.34 mi, 38:18, 8:49 avg

Ran in Westlake neighborhood, headed south winding around until out the south entrance and then a little bit on Nebraska to 18th Street before turning back.  Nice and cool morning again.  Bigger run tomorrow.

218 miles for November!  (March was a little higher due to the 33 1/3 mile and 50 mile races).