The Long Run

6.41@9:47 , 1:02:43

6 miles easy pace from my house and then out and back down the trail past Lake Dan.  I avoided Robert Trent Jones Pkwy today by running in the ditch to the trail and then crossing Trinity Blvd with the yellow flashing lights rather than at the traffic light.

The traffic light can actually be dangerous with left turning cars in a hurry and the intersection near the golf club can be dangerous with poor turn signal usage.  So, to avoid that spot I'd been crossing before the intersection, but the last couple of times some guy in a golf cart has been yelling at me because someone was hit recently.

Anyway, took the run easy with the easy part just over 10:00 pace, followed by not skipping the strides.

Last week I saw my (garmin reported) vo2 max drop from 53 to 51 and then down to 50 on Saturday (previous week it went from 54 to 53), maybe a little bit of overtraining so going to move to the slow end of the easy pace instead of pushing pace the faster end.

5.17@9:13

I pushed out my hard run (6x800,4x400) out one day. I was feeling tired, Whoop said my recovery was low, did not sleep well last night, and the time was tight (wanted to get back so Jessica could get to body combat at the Y), so just opted for easy paced run scheduled for tomorrow.

Out and back run from Westlake Village, to the Pinellas Trail and a little bit north.  It was a nice morning, good temperature for speed work, hopefully will be good tomorrow.

9.06@9:58

Another bad night of sleep and showing low recovery again.  Decided once again to push out the hard run and do Thursday's run today.  Hopefully tomorrow will be good, I'll just have to do the best.

I went out extra slow the first mile (12:18), actually it started out as a walk and gradually morphed into a run.  Was thinking about doing only 7 miles, but when I got to the end of the trail portion where it turns onto Keystone, kept going and a little bit into Brooker Creek Preserve to reach 4.5 miles.

The rest of the miles became a gradual progression run finishing up at 8:17 pace.

I felt really good at the end, not tired at all, somewhat rejuvenated.

Tomorrow I will run fast.

8.05 @ 7:42 avg

And finally, Tuesday's run.  I think it paid back with legs feeling fresher.

The nice surprise is that the first of the 800's was pretty close to goal pace (within a few seconds), but it didn't feel hopeless and I knew that pattern that they would get faster and more doable.  I didn't have to bargain with myself to keep going.  Just did one and moved onto the next one.  Then, moved onto the 400's.  

800's paces: 6:50, 6:44, 6:34, 6:26, 6:30, 6:26

400's paces: 6:08, 6:16, 6:04, 6:04

Route was out to the Pinellas Trail and a little south for the easy miles, and then up and down the trail near the entrance for the repeats.  

Last time I did a similar workout I struggled with the first one and only did 5 out of 6 of them, although I did do the 400's (but only two scheduled that time)

5.82 @ 9:40 avg

5ish easy miles followed by strides.  Did my favorite loop near my house on the "new trail" which I guess has a name because it now has signs "The Starkey Gap Trail", so from henceforth it will be called that.

In keeping with Wednesday's successfull slow run, ran slowish again today although the strides at the end made the overall average seem faster.  Saving it for tomorrow for the 16 miles which includes 4 Tempo miles.

16.12 @ 8:19

Was going to try and get an early start but it was pouring rain (which is doable), but the thunder and lightning gave me second thoughts.  But if I waited too long it might be warm humid and miserable.  Rain slowed down but told Jessica to go ahead to body combat class and I'd stay back with the baby.

So, finally got started at 10:20.  Easy start with slowish first mile at 10:34.  Ran north through Eniswood and over to the Pinellas trail heading south.  Carried a 17oz hand held bottle and had a small 10oz bottle in my belt.  Stashed the big bottle near where I'd start the tempo portion after doing some more southbound out and back.  I let the pace creep up for miles 5-10 (mile 10 @ 8:08) partially so it wouldn't be a big shock transitioning to the faster miles.

Similar to Thursday's run, when I had to speed up I could speed up to the pace I wanted.  It was only 4 tempo miles and I was thoroughly warmed up so no excuses to stop.

Tempo paces: 7:22. 7:17, 7:22, 7:16

At the start of the last tempo mile I seemed to slip off of pace, had to struggle to get back on pace but then ended up finishing it faster.

Grabbed my drink bottle and did the two miles home (which turned into feel good MP miles).

The weather really held.  After a partly sunny warm patch at the start of the run, the cloud cover held and some cool breezes remained for the run.