The Long Run

10.1 mi, 1:36:43, 9:34 avg, elev gain 207 feet, HR 130 bpm

I wanted to go a little bit farther.  Although I felt kind of slow and clunky, the pace was not too bad, ending up at 9:34 average.  Ran from Westlake, south through the cut through and over to the Pinellas Trail and then north to just past Conservation Park. Quick stop there on the way back to take a gel and use the fountain.

9.04 mi, 1:20:41, 8:55 avg, elev gain 341 feet, HR 139 bpm

I was planning on doing a tempo run on a longer out and back but had to change plans a little bit.  Had sod installed in the front yard but the sprinkler system was damaged, so was waiting on irrigation repair person (all day window with 30 minute advance call).

So, I did 4 loops through Westlake neighborhood (actually more like a figure 8) so that I'd always be less than 30 minutes from home (maybe like 10 minutes at the farthest).

It felt a little boring at first, and then especially at the start of the third loop.  Twice, I had to stop a pet a big dog that ran out to greet me.  The first time I didn't know if the dog was friendly (the owner, who was working on top of his roof assured me he was).  The second time around I knew the drill with the dog.  And, the third time past the dog, he just sat on the front yard looking at me - I guess I was no longer interesting.

Weather was great.

Also, I started going faster most of the 4th loop and did the last mile about 7:27 pace.

9.0 mi, 1:13:11, 8:04 avg, 

5 mile tempo run, after about 2 mile warm up, and then 2 mile easy jog home.

Would have liked to have averaged 7:00 pace, but wasn't quite there.

First two miles of the tempo I just couldn't keep my legs moving, then I resigned myself to not quitting.  Third mile, finally 6:57, then 7:04, and finally 6:56

So, splits: 7:16, 7:12, 6:57, 7:04, 6:56

That 5th mile felt really hard.

Decided I'd need to not go out at 7:00 pace this Sunday, but instead 7:10 would be a better goal (and even that pace might require some race day magic).

5.1 mi, 48:56, 9:31 avg, HR 133 bpm

Easyish pace run from Westlake Village out to the Pinellas Trail for a little bit and then back

5.75 mi, 51:01, 8:52 avg, HR 140 bpm

Nice, relatively short run in Starkey Park. Out and back from the bike parking lot on the main bike trail.  Taking it easy but not too slow before tomorrow's race (Holiday Halfathon)

Holiday Halfathon

Good to be back here since not running this race since 2016.

Conditions were nice and I was feeling somewhat ready.  A tempo run earlier in the week where I wanted to run 5 miles @7:00 pace, did not quite go as well as I hoped, with the average about 7:05 at an effort that felt harder than it should be.  So, to see where I'm at today, I decided I'd go out at about a 7:10 pace and see how it goes and maybe try for about 1:34 time.  Also, Tom would be racing today.  This would be his first race-effort half marathon.  If he was just going to "jog it out" maybe he could pace me, but I didn't think I'd be seeing him very long after the start.

The first two miles were pretty good, and as planned did a nice steady 7:10 for miles one and two, and it didn't feel horrible at all.  Next mile was 7:16 and I was ok with that.  I was looking forward to the second half of the race, especially past mile 7, running on the Pinellas Trail.

Mile 4 put me at the top of the bridge back to the mainland, it's not super huge, only about a 25 foot climb, but it did slow me down a little bit, mile 4 was 7:20.

And then, too soon into the race, the first rough patch.  I was slowing a little bit and getting passed.  Finally, after about the 5th person passed me I got out of the 7:40's and caught back up a little bit, ended up finishing that mile at 7:26.

Mile 6 can be bad for me sometimes, it's a long very slight uphill.  The kind that doesn't look uphill at all, but your pace slows with a steady effort.  However, not bad this time, and I actually picked up the pace a little bit, finishing that mile at 7:19.

So, it's actually mile 7 that's usually the slowest mile of the race for me.  You finish up the last little bit of uphill, loop around a small park and then go onto the Pinellas Trail where there is an aid station, and just after the aid station is the first pedestrian bridge you have to go over.  As I was entering the park, I was chatting with a guy who we'd been leap frogging.  Also, ran past Maria some place in this area (she was driving Tom and Jenny and cheering them), she called out to me that Tom was in first place.

I asked the guy I was running with if he had a goal, and he said sub 1:40.  I said "me too", even though my original goal was faster than that, I'd honestly be happy just to keep it under 1:40.  We ran together a bit, maybe the next mile or so.

Finished mile 7 with 7:46.  And then, all of the sudden I was moving faster and it felt easier.  I was back near the 7:10 pace I had started out at (and maybe slightly faster here and there).

But, as I approached a pretty busy intersection where there was a policeman stopping cars, I kind of lost my nerve and wasn't sure if he was going to stop the next car in time or if I'd have to stop.  I slowed down a little bit until it was clear I'd be ok.  So, mile 8 would not be that 7:10 it was looking like but turned into 7:26.  Still not bad considering mile 7 was 7:45.

The next 4 miles were decent, in high 7:20's mostly.  Made it to the mile 12 sign.  I had been pushing pretty good but instead of trying to really pick things up, kind of relaxed a bit.  Plus, the last mile starts out on a section of packed shell path.  But, basically I got a little bit lazy, finishing mile 13 in 7:46.  There was more in the tank I could have used.  I used that for the last 0.1 miles where I found a 6:09 pace to finish.

As I ran to the finish I could see the seconds ticking away, still under 1:37:00, however it was actually 1:37:02 clock time after I crossed (chip time would put me at 1:37:00).

Early results were posted, saw that Tom ended up second place overall with a time of 1:19:11, average pace of 6:01 - so his average pace was 8 seconds faster than my finishing sprint!

Saw Jenny finish, coming in at 1:57, meeting at least one of her goals of sub-2:00.

Hung out for a bit waiting for awards and chatted with various friends.

I think there's a lot I could say about this race, for example, it dawned on me that I need to race some more half marathons (and by racing I mean train for them and then race).  This was my first sub-1:40 half in a while, maybe since early 2017.

Looking back at 2007 results, saw that I ran 1:37:51, one week before the Jacksonville Marathon where I ran 3:21:24 (my first of many nearly but not quite BQ races).   I ran that year's race in revserse order pace wise, starting out in mid 7:30's and finishing mile 13 at 6:50 pace, but running the exact same pace for mile 7.

I need to wrap my head around running these paces for at least the half marathon distance.  I've got some work to do to get back to the 1:32 range (would like to be able to qualify for NYC marathon again).

Later in the afternoon, Tom had his winter trumpet recital.  This year he was doing a duet with Jenny accompanying on piano.  Andy and I watched from the audience and after we all went to Outback for dinner

Say No To Drugs 10K Race

(Filling this in a bit late, 2023)

Looking at old race results, saw I never had put this in.  On Sunday of this week, raced the Holiday Halfathon with a decent time. 

Splits for this race: 7:21, 7:10, 7:09, 7:14, 6:59, 7:16, 0.25@6:26

Average pace about 7:10

Results somewhat in line with recent races (3:35 marathon, 1:37 half).  This race has a pretty tough last mile with 70 foot climb up the bridge, back down and a climb up from the bridge base before the downhill finish.  They have good pancakes.

7.11 mi, 1:07:28, 9:29 avg, no HR data

Out and back run from my house onto the Lake Dan trail and down to Keystone Road and then just enough there so that I'd get over 7 miles for the day.

6.09 mi, 59:24, 9:45 avg, elev gain 167 feet, HR 135 bpm

Flat tire run.

Jessica's minivan picked up a nail in the tire, donut spare was on so I took two of the kids to school (Jessica took middle one to orthodontist appointment).  After school dropoff, drove to Tires Plus then started my run from there, running back to the house and then one loop around Westlake Village.  Then got a ride to work.  Later picked up the van and swapped cars back so I could drive to Mitchell HS for the cross country awards and potluck.  Can't believe this is the last year of HS cross country.  Tom was recognized for his 800 miles of running over the summer.

5.59 mi @9:44

0.67 mi @9:47

0.58 mi @5:55

Ran with Joe and Jamie, starting from my house in Foxwood at 7:30.   Happy Birthday to me.  We ran to the Heritage Springs gate, and then out and back for a bit on the Lake Dan trail.  On the way back, while waiting for traffic (I had my watch paused), rain on the touch screen caused my run to get saved (so that's the first part).  Next part was the run home (0.67 mi).

Finally, I decided to go back out.  6 years ago today I did 5x1 mile workout with the last mile at 5:58.  So, I wanted to run at least something at sub 6:00 to see if I could.  I ended up doing about 9x100m strides.  The first one was maybe about a 6:40 pace.  I hit the stop button at the end of each one, then started when I started again.  Finally started getting the pace down and then called it a day after the 9th one when the average was 5:55

7 mi, 1:10:08, 10:01 avg, elev gain 202 feet, HR 127 bpm

Felt slow and clunky today, especially the first few miles.   I got a little bit faster but realized my legs were a bit sore (I think I've maybe had too many races and not enough recovery).

Course was pretty fun, though.  Did the loop north of Westlake Village - Alderman, to Alt 19/Pinellas Trail, to Klosterman, down Belcher, and then back to Alderman (looks like a trapezoid).

3.8 miles of walking.  Legs were feeling beaten up so I figured today was the day to not be stubborn and not run.  Walked Stella in the morning and checked out part of the new trail near my house, 2.7 miles.

In the late afternoon did 1.1 mile walk out and back from my office.

6.83 mi, 1:31:56, 13:27 pace, HR 101 bpm

Another day of not running, but at least this kind of had some running. Run/walk with Stella. Decided to check out the entire section of new trail.

Left from my house with Stella, crossed Trinity Blvd and then went to the trail where I usually turn left.  Turned right to check out the section between Robert Trent Jones and Trinity Blvd over to the section I was on yesterday.

Then kept on going all the way to SR 54.  Saw Claudia and her family on bikes, she had a similar idea, to check out the new trail.  I crossed 54 and decided that Starkey Market wasn't much further.  It was a nice morning out and no one else was hanging out on the porch, so I bought a coffee and Stella and I relaxed for a bit before heading back.

I cut the route a little short on the way back, so instead of 7 miles, was about 6.8 miles.

I think my legs are feeling like they are getting back to normal.