The Long Run

7.31@8:44 (1:03:48)

Start of week 14, 7 miles easy followed by some strides.  Ran from Westlake Village over to the Pinellas trail by way of Delaware Ave.  Headed north to reach about 3.5 miles then turned back.  On the way back it felt like the shoe laces on my left foot were too tight and digging into my foot (I once made the mistake of ignoring this, tendons were not happy) so I stopped and loosened.

When I got back to the house, did some of the strides, but was feeling like something was off (also was not hitting the usual speed for these), so did 4 out of the 6.

8.02mi@7:54 (1:03:23)

Scheduled workout was 6x1k @6:47 pace, followed by 3x400m @6:25 along with warm up and cool down.

I ran from WLV to the Pinellas Trail, on my way there I was feeling a little bit sluggish, not tired or achey, just slower (11:11 for the first mile, at least a minute slower than what I've recently been runnning for a warm up mile).  I was also feeling a little bummed out, having just found out that my Uncle Dan passed away yesterday.  He'd been sick for some time and not doing well, but still sad for it to finally happen.  Many fond memories from growing up and into adulthood.  He loved to cook and was somewhat of a Mr Clean but loved his kids, nephews and nieces, and grandkids and everyone in the family.

So, the first repeat was a struggle, instead of a 6:47 pace was a 7:07 pace and that was after a valiant attempt at the end (was hovering near 7:30 for most of it).  Thought about calling it off, maybe switching with tomorrow.  But, no try just one more.  Next one was a lot better, same amount of effort but faster.  Bargained with myself to get through, at least do 5 of them and then maybe 2 out of the 3 400's at the end.

So, the 5 1k repeat paces ended up at: 7:07, 6:40, 6:37, 6:26, 6:37

On the last two especially I felt like I finally had an efficient stride, like I was gliding rather then clunking along.

After doing the first of the 400's, decided they were too good to pass up so did all three:

5:56, 6:02, 6:06 for the paces.

The jog back felt good.  The paces were there, I just needed to not give up.

5.04@8:45

Ran from Foxwood on my new favorite loop.  Scheduled easy run day.

10.09@8:46 (1:28:35)

Mid-week medium long run, from WLV then cut through Eniswood, over to the Pinellas Trail, then headed south.  I was trying not to push the pace but probably wasn't going slow enough to count this as easy.  At the same time I didn't feel like I could go faster.  It's a dangerous pace because you want to go faster to see if you can without actually trying to run a specific pace.

I also started probably 20 minutes later than  I should have so Jessica was not able to get to body combat, she said it was ok.

6.47@8:41

Today was another easy day run (but with strides added at the end).  Did the Lake Dan run - out and back from Foxwood then down the new trail until hitting 3 miles before turning around.

Strides today felt a lot better than Monday, did all 6 this time.

Another 18 mile run tomorrow with 4 tempo miles near the end.

18.12@8:17 (2:29:58)

Long run with 4 Tempo miles near the end, followed by 2 "easy"miles one of which turned into more of marathon pace.  Ran from my house, then over to Starkey Blvd via SR54.  This took me a little bit into Starkey Park to reach the turnaround point at 9 miles.  First mile was decent at 9:50, then next at 9:02 then in the 8's until the hard part starting at mile 13.  Mile 12 I did slow down a little bit to get ready for the tempo portion.  I ended up not running it straight through, felt pretty clunky.  I should have just kept going, but I stopped and then started going again.  So, second half (about 2.8 miles) was much faster.  

The tempo miles: 7:21, 7:08, 7:00, 6:52

Going into the last tempo mile I felt really good, although toward the end I was struggling to hang on but wanted to finish under 7:00 (even though not really on the plan).

Next mile was easy and as I got closer to home picked it up and did last mile at 7:46 which unlike the last tempo mile felt somewhat effortless.