The Long Run

7.18 mi, 1:13:36, 10:15 avg

Week 5 of the plan.  Was supposed to do 8 miles easy plus 6x100m strides.  Better than predicted performance at Saturday's race gave me slightly faster training paces (actually around what some of my easy runs were coming in at).  However, I made a mistake on Saturday wearing a pair of shoes that caused me some PF while doing a tempo run.  Fortunately I recovered from that and I think I will recover from this but it's going to slow me down for a bit.

I thought maybe I'd have only 5 miles in me today, but the foot began to feel better so instead of turning back at 2.5 miles went just past 3.5 miles.  Slowly picked up the pace througout the run.  Nice run from my house, out and back down the new trail south to Keystone Road.

I did skip the strides, would be a good way to make it flare up more. So, a little bit slower but not too far from today's mileage goal.  Can make this up during the week.

8.38 mi, 1:30:15, 10:46 avg, elev gain 135 feet

Week 5, day 2.  Starting out this morning was a little more difficult.  Kind of a hobble at first with the first mile at 13:37.  It did get better after that.  I was ok going slower, just want to get in the miles without injuring myself.  Wanted to be back by about 9:15ish so had to keep moving.  Jessica was trying to get to an exercise class at the Y.  It actually makes it a lot easier for me to get a decent early-ish start if I "need" to be back by a certain time.

Ran out the north entrance of Westlake Village onto Alderman, left onto Omaha, and then right at that intersection near the high school traffic light, onto the Pinellas Trail heading north for a bit.  4 miles out took me just a little bit past the train tunnel.  No need for water stops today or hand held bottles as the temperature was in the 50's

I tacked on just a little bit at the end for some makeup distance, maybe add a little more on tomorrow's shorter easy run.

Jacob is remote learning this week due to a classmate with a (false) positive test.

5.58 mi, 53:36, 9:26 avg, elev gain 165 feet

Week 5, day 3 of the plan.  Foot was much better today, was not hobbling when I got out of bed and felt loosened up a lot faster once I started running.  I used my foot massager yesterday which helped, the Rocktape seems to be helping as well as the cherry juice.  Feel like I'm 75% back.

Scheduled shorter run today, ran from Westlake Village, first up and down Alderman, and then up and down Lakeview.  Did just a little bit extra then 5 miles to make up for some of the missed mile on Monday.

12.02 mi, 1:50:19, 9:10 avg

Midweek longish run.  At the start of the plan 12 was my long run and before that it had been many weeks since running over 10.  Today's run was good, foot a small notch better than yesterday although not as big of an improvement as it was between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Early enough start at just after 7:30 (was hoping for more like 7:20 but close enough).  Trying to finish so Jessica could get to body combat at the Y.

Did same out and back run I've been doing recently on Thursdays - Alderman, Crystal Beach Ave, Pinellas Trail, a little on Curlew Road and then back.  

A little bit slow on the first mile, but ok taking it slow (11:31 pace), next mile better at 10:14, then into the 9's, until mile 6 at 8:55 and the remainder miles each a little faster until finally mile 12 was 8:06.

Got back just as Jessica was leaving, big brother Jacob was watching Charlotte Dani for a few minutes.

8 miles tomorrow and then bump up to 16 miles for Saturday.  

8.47 mi, 1:15:58, 8:58 avg

8 miles easy, followed by 6x100m strides at the end.  Ran from my house and exited the neighborhood from the Duckslough entrance, over to 54 and then down the trail and did the section that crosses the golf course that I don't do that often.

Stopped by where I sometimes drop off my bottle of water (at start of Pinellas County section of trail), south another 1.75 miles before turning back and coming home the usual route (via Tamarind).

At the beginning of the week I skipped the strides due to the PF, but now I figured I'd give them a shot, maybe take it a little easy but fast enough.  Ended up just below 6:00 pace.

Long run of 16 miles tomorrow.

16.12 mi, 2:29:28, 9:16 avg, elev gain 178 feet

Week 5 Day 6, Long Run

Semi-early start (well, at least it was before 8:00).  Started with the 1.25 mile loop in Westlake Village.  Running 8 miles south on the Pinellas Trail takes you through som busier areas, traffic lights, more traffic, more crowds.

Alderman to Crystal Beach Ave, south down the Pinellas Trail.  I stopped at the water fountain at the corner of Curlew and the trail, knowing I'd have to wait for the light.  Took a gel but it won't down the wrong way partially and found myself choking, took me several tries to clear it out.  Wondering if people thought I was in a covid fit of coughing.  Light changed, got going again.  Continued on to a little bit past Weaver Park and then turned around.  First mile was 10:54.  Just past the turn around I was at about 9:00 pace, stayed around there, then 8:46 for second to last mile and 8:36 for the last mile.

Run felt a little bit harder today compared to last few weeks.  It wasn't the 2 extra miles, it felt harder before that.  But, overall still pretty good and other than the gel choking nothing went terribly wrong.

Short run tomorrow, usually a day off but this Sunday and next Sunday have a 3 mile short run.  Will make me appreciate the usual day off.

3.03 mil, 28:52, 9:22 avg

Short run to round off the week of training.  This is one of two weeks with 7 days of running.  Did not run in the morning due to one of Jessica's friends coming to visit for breakfast.

After breakfast headed up to Sweetfield Farms for their corn maze.  We had tickets for 12:00-3:00.  Got there and went right to the corn maze, it took about 45 minutes, a little longer than I thought it would.  It was a pretty fun afternoon.

Stopped by to see Aubrey at her cheer practice and then home.

Finally started my run just before 5:30.  Felt pretty good.  Looked like it might start downpouring as the wind picked up and it grew dark, but made it in time.

8.51 mi, 1:16:03, 8:56 avg, heart rate 141 bpm

Week 6, day 1.  Wasn't sure how today would go with no day off yesterday and run later in the day, but I felt pretty good, like any other Monday, maybe better.

Like yesterday, it felt like I was racing against rain, but not much rain came, maybe a few sprinkles hear and there.

Ran a very similar route as Friday, except I took the long way to the Duckslough exit from the neighborhood, over to 54, then down the new trail south a little past Lake Dan (where if I had gone straight from my house would be 2.5 miles out).  I had thought about runing 2 by 4 mile loops so I could grab the water I left out but opted for the Lake Dan out and back instead.

Finished up with 6x100m strides, did ok, maybe still not back completely.

Wore the heart rate strap for the first time in a while.  Gave me a 50 for Vo2 max, right about where it had been bouncing around before.  But, with no speed work I wouldn't expect it to go up much.  Will start some tempo runs next week.

8.03 mi, 1:11:17, 8:52 avg

Day 2, week 6 - still holding up, out and back run from Westlake Village, Alderman to Omaha and then over to the Pinellas Trail heading north.  Turnaround point was just after the old train tunnel.

First mile 10:24, last mile 8:14

Overall a pretty good run

5.11 mi, 45:47, 8:57 avg

Shorter run today so just stayed inside Westlake Village.  Did one big loop of just over 3 miles, then a smaller inside loop about 2 miles.  Got rained on a little bit for the last 10 minutes of the run.  Was thinking maybe I should've done tomorrow's 12 mile run today since I don't know what tomorrow morning will bring with Eta approaching.

12.06 mi,  1:47:00, 8:52 avg

Mid-week long run, week 6 day 4 of the plan.  Headed out from Westlake Village after a small warmup loop, usual route to Crystal Beach Ave and then heading south down the Pinellas Trail until reaching Curlew Road, then did about another 0.3 on Curlew before turning back.  One quick stop at the fountain to top off the bottle and then continued back toward the house.

First mile was 10:17, last mile was 8:15

I was worried that this run might not happen and thought maybe I should have done today's run yesterday as Tropical Storm/Hurricane Eta was approaching.  It turned out it was a pretty nice morning.  There were a bunch of small sticks scattered on sections of sidewalk and a small portion of one side of the trail was flooded, all worked out this time, grateful.

8.49 mi, 1:14:45, 8:48 avg

Out and back run from my house, over to the start of the new trail heading south, but before continuing on I dropped off my water bottle, then did a 1/2 mile out and back onto RTJ Blvd for a little bit so I'd get the remaining miles by heading to Keystone and back.  Was another nice morning.

Finished up with 6x100m strides once I got back to my house.

16.04 mi, 2:22:18, 8:52 avg, HR 151 bpm

Almost at the end of week 6 (one short easy run tomorrow).

Start time of 8:14 am, weather was decent.  Decided to try and avoid crossing Curlew Road so I didn't have to wait for the light.  Started with short warm-up loop in Westlake Village, then headed onto Alderman, cut through Eniswood, up Alt 19 to the Pinellas trail entrance near the train tunnel.

Headed south, left on Curlew about 0.25 miles, then turned back and quick stop at water fountain.

Continued on, holding a pretty steady pace and slowly got faster (10:17 first mile, 8:12 last mile).

Today's pace was 24 seconds faster per mile than last Saturday's long run.  I'll take each little bit of progress but still seems like a long way to go, but I've got some time.

3.02 mi, 25:41, 8:30 avg

Week 6, day 7 of the plan.  Second (and last) week of having a 7th day of running.  Felt pretty good after yesterday's 16 miles.  Did one loop inside Westlake Village with a small amount up and down the street to make it over 3 miles.  Ran in the afternoon but there was a small breeze and the route was mostly shaded.

Today's run also wraps up the first phase of the plan which has consisted of "easy" runs and two days of strides added onto the run.  Next six weeks will include some tempo runs, a few intervals, marathon pace miles and fast finish runs.

6.45 mi, 56:39, 8:47 avg

Day 1,week 7 of the plan.  Felt pretty good today,   just 6 miles easy followed by 6x100m strides.  Out and back route from my house down the new trail past Lake Dan almost but not quite to Keystone Road before turning back.  Finished up with strides on the section between my driveway and the road curve sign.

10.09 mi, 1:22:35, 8:11 avg

Scheduled tempo run of 6 miles @ 7:22 pace, nice cool day out, run didn't go exactly to plan but overall positivie.  The 7:22 pace actually should have been adjusted to more like 7:44 due to the duration of the tempo run which would be over 45 minutes (plan times are based on Jack Daniels).

Anyway, warmup was from my house to the Pinellas Trail.  My warmup pace was slower than usual, didn't think much of it, figured my legs would turn over better after getting warmed up.

Started the tempo portion, heading south down the Pinellas Trail for a little bit then I'd turn around and head north.  The little bit of southbound was to make sure I wouldn't have to cross at the light over Klosterman Road.

I put in effort to get to what I thought would be in the 7:20's but I was stuck pretty solidly at 7:45, trying to speed up made it worse, slowly crept to 7:50.  Stopped and paused for a second to regroup after about 0.4 miles, then got going again.  Still felt stuck, oh well, just put in the effort and don't worry about the pace.  First three miles ended up being 7:44, 7:37, and 7:36.  Ok, did get a little bit better.  I didn't have this problem at the half marathon.

Planned turn around was going to be a little bit north of the old train tunnel, about 3.5 miles.  But, just past the tunnel was greeted by a big orange sign blocking the trail "Trail Closed", took the sidewalk that goes uphill a little bit to Alt 19 (the sidewalk I run down when cutting through Eniswood), I knew I'd lose a little bit of speed going up but could accelerate on the way back down.  Reached the top, turned around, back down the sidewalk, hard left southbound onto the trail.  Pace showed slower going through the tunnel (down to about 7:55), but then momentum caught up, pace dropped and I finished mile 4 at 7:27 (finally sub 7:30!), then I felt good and kept the momentum to get mile 5 at 7:09.  Now I wanted to finish, probably should have aimed for 7:15-7:20 put kept pushing to the end and did mile 6 at 6:56.

Found my gatorade bottle, now covered with ants - brushed them off and headed back towards the house.  After an easy mile, picked it up again and without feeling like the same effort I put in for the 7:44 mile, finished last mile in 7:41.

I think my initial warmup was lacking and a few quick strides at goal pace could have eased into things better.  Not a disciplined run but there was mileage and effort.

4.02 mi, 42:01, 10:27 avg

Week 7,day 3 - short run Wednesday which sometimes turns into "dog jog with Stella" since she loves to run and I have no reason not to take here.

First stop was in front of someone's house. I stopped to clean up and saw a dog off a leash and the owner was standing nearby calmly telling his dog to get inside.  The dog did not move for a while but eventually listened.  It was a big dog, german shepherd with longer fur than the average.  I was a bit nervous.  After the dog went in I talked to the guy for a while about running, marines, the Marine Corps Marathon, dogs, and the Buffalo Bills (he was from Ohio but liked the Bills better than the Ohio teams).  People don't always take the time to talk to their neighbors.

Continued on, out the neighborhood, through the ditch along Trinity Blvd over to the new trail and headed north for a bit until out two miles, then back home but this time with no stops.

According to my whoop band/app I was only 27% recovered from yesterday's run so today was a good day to go slower.

9.02 mi, 1:19:22, 8:48 avg, HR 143 bpm

Week 7, day 4 of the plan, mid-week long/longer run.  Slightly shorter than last week but still a nice 9 miles.   Trying to get done early enough for Jessica to get to an exercise class.  Out and back route from Westlake Village, Alderman, Omaha, cut over to the Pinellas Trail and head north.  Section of trail just past the bridge still blocked off, say hard right up the sidewalk heading from the train tunnel up to Alt 19, then another left onto the road heading to the reclaimed water plant.  4.5 miles took me right up to the gate I could not go past.  Turned around and went back the way I came. 

First mile was 10:14, last mile 7:56, made it back on time.

5.49 mi, 47:37, 8:40 avg

5 miles easy today, from my house, down the trail near Lake Dan, then 6x100m strides using the mysterious 0, 50m, 100m markings on the street.

14.06 mi, 1:55:47, 8:14 avg, HR 156 bpm

Challenging workout/long run, containing long run mileage with 2x4 mi repeats at marathon pace, 1 mile easy between sets.  This type of run is difficult for me, I'm much better at the "fast finish" long run. I have much more trouble picking up the pace early into the run compared to running faster at the end.  So, I probably need more of these.

Left from Westlake Village, starting the run at 6:56 am (had to be done before 9:00), across Alderman, cut through Eniswood to Alt 19.  Made it to two miles just a little bit before where the sidewalk heads down to the trail.  Before reaching the two mile mark, did a couple of short pickups to mentally and physically prepare myself for the shift to 7:51 pace.  Weather was perfect, cold and cloudy (but not cold, would get a little bit of rain on the run).

Headed down the sidewalk, sharp left turn at the bottom and through the train tunnel, did not get my pace down below 8:00 yet (pace a little glitchy going through the short tunnel), but eventually toward the end of mile 3 finally got to the pace and ended the first MP mile at 7:51 (but did not quite feel into the groove yet).  Ticked off the next few miles and picked up a little more pace but was wondering how I was going to finish the next set.

Ran easy for the next mile with the turnaround at the bottom of the Pinellas Trail overpass just north of Curlew, paused a few seconds to take a gel, then got ready to go again.

Got going again but did a little bit better on the next set with 7:41, 7:42, 7:35, and 7:31

Then, three more easy miles home which felt good.  I'm getting back to where I want to be but it is taking some time.  Run was challenging.  Week was pretty challenging with the switch from all easy miles to adding in two workouts (but a cut back in mileage so I'm not doing hard runs and higher mileage at the same time).

7.12 mi, 1:06:54, 9:24 avg

It was supposed to be a day off from running but today was Joe's birthday. Jamie suggested a run.  I've run with Joe about once so far during the pandemic and Jamie 0 times.  Couldn't pass up.  If my legs didn't feel good I could cut it short a little.  But, I felt fine and even few in a few strides at the end (although not all 6 that were scheduled for tomorrow's run that I was doing today).

After the run, stopped by Joe's house with Stella, we had breakfast on the back porch and Stella got to run around in the back yard and visit with Joe's dog Jasper.

finally, day off, felt good

8.54 mi, 1:12:14, 8:27 avg

Workout of the day, 6x800m with 6:47 pace goal, 2 minute jog between.  2 mile warm up and cool down.  These felt kind of rough, really hard to get onto pace for the first few, paces were: 7:18, 6:54, 6:54, 6:44, 6:48, 6:34

It wasn't written on the schedule but there were supposed to be 2x400m after the 800's, I was going to do them if I felt good.  Maybe should've done them since I was warmed up by then although was a little frustrated (which is way I did the 6th one a little too fast).

These felt really hard, so I mustv'e really needed this workout.  Good to get the job done.

4.02 mi, 35:46, 8:53 avg

Shorter easy run day.  But, it took me a while to get to the run, had some sprinkler heads that were broken and a bad solenoid so water was shooting up in the air.  Tried to find the cut off valve (I was very close - it was just a couple feet away burried under some dirt).  

Did an up and down the street run waiting for the sprinkler fixer to show up.  All worked out eventually, and since I had to pay someone to come out and turn a valve I couldn't find also got the other repairs done (I might've put it off a little if I had been able to shut off the water).

It was also decided later in the day that we'd do Thanksgiving turkey on Wednesday, it was just Jessica, her kids, me and of course Charlotte (but she's not eating turkey).  Simple dinner of turkey breast (bought one of the few left at the store), canned cranberry, dressing, and roasted vegetables thrown into the turkey baking dish.  Turkey was pretty good with the somewhat random seasoning rub from what we had on hand along with fresh garlic cloves, lime juice and some leftover wine.

Will just have dessert with my parents, the boys, Jessica, and some of her kids (and Charlotte Dani of course but she's not eating dessert yet).

The "Westlake Wobble" was kind of a last minute decision.  Put together by some of the residents partially due to so many of the usual races being cancelled.  Advertised as no signup, no fees, no times.  It turned out there was a guy that called out the start and recorded people's places as the finished.

I had 10 miles on the schedule for today, but figured why not.  Sophia was going to walk it with one of her friends so we left the house together and walked to the club house.  As we got closer, I jogged a little bit for warmup but we got there pretty much right before it was going to start.  I had thought about getting up early enough to run about 2 miles and do some strides first.

There were 3 high school age kids and another that couldv'e maybe been middle school.  We ran north up Lakeview and took a left onto Pinewood, curving around back to Village Way.  About a half mile in I caught the middle schooler.  From Village Way back to Lakeview and a quick right onto Sandy Hook.  Runing up Sandy Hook I eventually caught two of the high school boys.  My pace had slowed a little.  I wasn't losing ground on the first place guy but wasn't gaining either.  Got to the top of the hill where it crosses Lakeview again and then turns into Woodcutter.  I wasn't breaking 7:00 like I wanted to, kind of going around the same speed as I did when I did the informal 3 mile time trial about 2 months ago.

Crossed over Westlake Blvd (fortunately no cars to wait for), headed north a bit, then crossed back again.  Coming up a little hill a guy called out to me "catch him on the hill".  I gained a little bit but still way too far to outkick.  Back onto Village Way, heading downhill and got to the finish line back on Lakeview near the clubhouse.

My splits were: 7:05, 7:10, 5:39 (0.81 @6:54 pace)

Not long after I finished, the two other high schoolers finished and then I can't remember if it was the first place female or the soldier wearing a weighted vest.

Next, I saw Jessica coming around the corner pushing Charlotte Dani in the stroller, so I walked with them for about a mile, then I started the rest of my run.

Next part was 7.23 miles on an out and back route to Conservation Park via Eniswood neighborhood and Alt 19

Rest of the day was good with a brunch at Jessica's parents house on their pool patio and then later dessert at my parents house along with Tom and Andy as well as myself, Jessica, Charlotte, and Sophia

Lots to be thankful for today!

6.51 mi, 56:19, 8:38 avg

Flexibility time, decided last minute to ride with Jessica to Kissimmee so she could watch Aubrey at the cheer meet and wouldn't have to risk dealing with a crying baby while driving.  I ended up driving, the baby slept the whole way and it wasn't such a bad area to run.  The main road near Silver Spurs arena is not that busy. I found a route that ran along it on the sidewalk and then onto a cut through bike path onto a less busy road with a pretty wide sidewalk until finally reaching a park which had a fountain.  Looks like it eventually joined up with a bike/run trail but three miles out was all I needed.  Turned around and headed back then finished up with strides in the parking lot.

It was a pretty nice morning, sunny and cool.

Drove back and made it in time to buy 2-for-1 Celsius at the bike shop for black Friday.

14.4 mi, 1:59:10, 8:29 avg

Week 8, Day 6 of the plan, long run with some tempo miles toward the end.  Not too late of a start but not that early either (about 9:15 am).  Headed out from Westlake Village, cut through Eniswood and onto the Pinellas Trail, then headed south until I'd covered about 6.5 miles.

Headed back north until just past the old train tunnel then started the faster three miles with goal pace of 7:22.  First mile ok at 7:21, turned around after a little bit on Klosterman, back south, feeling pretty good at first then was struggling to hold the pace, did what I could and came in at 7:26 but it felt a lot harder.  Paused for a minute to collect my thoughts, then was able to pick it up for the last mile to 7:10 despite part of it being off of the Pinellas Trail and back onto regular sidewalk.

Last mile after that was easy-ish pace back to the house (actually about 1/4 mile short of the house) walked the remainder in just after reaching 14 miles.

Pretty good run overall although not pretty but got the job done.

5.49 mi, 49:51, 9:04 avg

Week 9, Day 1 of the plan, first cut back week after starting at 48 miles per week and climbing to 60 mpw, and then 2 weeks at 48 mpw, down to 42 miles this week.  One challenging workout this week but the rest fairly easy.

Today was 5 miles easy followed by 6x100m strides, didn't push hard during the easy miles and then the strides sped up my average to 9:04 for the entire run.  Ran from my house and exited Foxwood at the Duck Slough entrance, then along SR54 and then a little bit on the new trail heading south before turning back home.