The Long Run

7.55 mi, 1:04:45, 8:34 avg

Ran from my house out to SR54 to Starkey Blvd.  Original plan would have been to run with Jamie at 6:30.  She had to cancel which was ok since had had forgotten that I had off work today, so slept in a little bit longer (plus it was still going to be cool enough so starting later was no big deal).  Ok warmup mile, then 9:16, then 8:24 and then pace went up and down from there but stayed under 9:00 and had some under 8:00 pace.

Met Jessica for lunch (she was working) at Grandma Sally's in New Port Richey, then went to the store to get stuff to fix a running toilet.  It ended up taking a couple different trips and a good part of the day to realize I had bought the correct $1.99 part  during the first trip.  Now, onto the next thing.

6.22 mi, 52:20, 8:25 avg

This was a second really good run in a row, or possibly third in a row counting Saturday's run.  I woke up early enough to get to Longleaf for the 5:30 start, ran out a little bit past the water stop before turning around.  For the last two miles and change I picked it up running 7:34, 7:10 and then 7:49 pace for final 0.22.

Stuck around for just a few minutes to say hi and then headed back home to help wake up Jessica's kids and get them moving then we had a little birthday breakfast for Aubrey's 9th birthday.

Walked Stella for a bit after they headed off to school and work.

5.71 mi, 55:46, 9:46 avg

Ran with Joe and Jamie in the neighborhood.  Felt a little bit warmer today.  After having a few really good runs in a row, today's run was a little harder feeling and slower but no dead legs, so still pretty good.

Post workout random exercises: push-ups 2x30, pull-ups 10 and 16

In the evening watched Thomas run at the Mitchell HS hosted track meet.  Tonight he did the 1600 and 800.  He PRd in both, with 5:05 for the 1600 and 2:17 for the 800.  In both races he was in the second heat and won his heat both times.  His 1600 was also his most evenly paced one that I can remember with splits of 1:14, 1:17, 1:18, and 1:14

6.02 mi, 51:54, 8:38 avg

The workout of the day was supposed to be my old favorite 5x1k repeats, but it turned out to be a partial failure but did get some miles in and some speed, just not what I planned.

After warming up and doing a couple short strides I switched my watch to 1km laps but was having troubles and could only figure out how to do 0.65 miles instead of 0.62.  I could have sworn I've done that before with this newer watch.  So, I figured what could an extra 0.03 hurt?   First one was ok at 6:23 pace - actually pretty good since goal was 6:26 or better and this was the first one.  Next repeat was 6:18 pace, not bad at all, even better.  But, on the third one I was struggling mentally and was discouraged and looked at my watch and could not get under 6:30.  I weighed just finishing at whatever pace (probably a better choice because I usually make some time back).  Instead, I bailed at 0.28 into the 0.65 lap, pace was 6:33 which was actually not that far off from 6:26 goal.

I was also running out of time, so headed back towards home so I wouldn't be late for my appointment later that morning.

Once back at my house decided for some redemption and did 6x20-30 second strides.  I did get under 6:00 pace on all of them so that felt a little bit better.  I'll go for a 5x1km redo soon and won't give up on the third one no matter what.

5.43 mi, 54:12, 9:59 avg

Typical Friday morning neighborhood run with Jamie but no Joe was the start of the day.  Pretty good run, no soreness or major sluggishness.  Pace was slow due to being conversational.  It was a good cut back from yesterday's harder running.

After the run, did just one set of push-ups, then a lot of little sets of pull-ups, 4 reps by 10 sets (40 total).  Some of the sets I switched my palms but most of them were palms forward.

In the afternoon at work I wanted to see how fast I could walk a mile which I did in 14:06.  I might practice this some more as it could come in handy during an ultra to have better and more efficient walking form so the walk breaks don't cut into the average pace as much.

15.02 mi, 2:13:59, 8:55 avg

Left from my house about 6:10, ran the long way to the back gate, past it, and then back to get in an initial 1.7 miles before meeting up with Joe and Jamie.  We then headed out to 54 and up Starkey Blvd towards Alico Pass.  We ran into Craig returning from his run and ran back to his house and then stopped there to refill water bottles.  I was feeling pretty good and decided I didn't want this to be a sluggish pace run.  Jamie was one week from her marathon and needed something a little faster  pace.  My warm up miles (first 1.7) were a little bit slow but made sure not to let it dip too low when running with Joe and Jamie.

On the return trip I had us line up for "Indian runs" just to break up the monotony, did 3 of them.  Joe and Jamie grumbled a bit but they are always good about playing along.  (Note: I've been researching to see if there is a better name for Indian run but I haven't found anything as universally known to describe this).

After dropping off Joe and Jamie I ran back to my house, then did out and back to the gate and out and back to the end of Eveningwood to hit 15 miles, last two miles at 7:45 average pace.

Then, after the run drove up to Hudson to pick up Aubrey's unicorn shirt for her party later.  I drove by Serenova Tract entrance and saw a bunch of protesters along the road with signs to "Save Serenova".  Apparently there is a road extension which has been approved and funded by the state/county that will run right through the preserve.  Some of it will be elevated to lessen impact.  Serenova is the large tract of preserve land that joins next to Starkey Park.  It's where I've done some long runs when I'm going "extra long" like 30 or 35 miles.

Next, on to Berkely Prep High School for the track meet.  Andy was also there to watch (and drive Tom there and back).  Hung out and watched some of the events until Tom was up.   Even though he had just PR'd on Wednesday in the 1600 and 800 I was hoping he could do it again.  That sub-5:00 barrier was just waiting to be broken.  For today's meet he made it into the "seeded" group so he would definitely be running with some faster runners.  There were some pretty fast runners in the non-seeded heats but definitely more in the seeded ones.  He ran pretty even with usual pattern of faster first lap, 2 and 3 a little slower, then a faster 4th lap, similar to Wednesday, but today they were all a little faster, bringing him from 5:05 on Wednesday to a new PR today of 4:58.  Splits were: 1:12, 1:15, 1:16, 1:14   Very exciting to watch!  Proud of Tom and his hard work.  

There was a long time before the 800 races.  He also PR'd in that race, down to 2:16

It was great hanging out with Andy and also saw several other friends from Striders and other parents of track runners.

Ended up being an hour late for Aubrey's party but she wore the shirt for pictures.  It was at a place where they showed you how to paint something, she had picked out unicorns.