The Long Run

Easy - 5.01 mi, 58:36, 11:41 avg, HR 124 bpm

Ran in Foxwood, neighborhood y-shaped route trying out 3/2 run/walk.

This might have been one of the better pace vs heart rate run strategies.

After the slow and easy stuff, did about 8 strides up and down the street in front of my house, just counting the running portion did 0.77 at 5:21 average pace.

3.11 mi, 25:32, 8:12 avg, HR 156 bpm

Did not get to run this morning due to appointment (although did get in a brisk (13:15 pace, maybe my fastest walked mile so far) one mile walk in the afternoon.  So, did a quick 3ish miles, going to just past the drinking fountain and back, at night, 9:00 pm.

Just ran.  Pace felt kind of hard, not impossibly hard, just harder than usual.  Little bit afraid that all of the slow running might make me slow even though I know better than that.

6.06 mi, 58:41, 9:40 avg, HR 150 bpm

I just wanted to run at a moderate feeling pace without regard to heart rate but was still curious what that would come out to.  Ran in the neighborhood and near the golf course on the standard y-shaped route.  High 70's for temps.  First mile was 10:21, hr of 135, trying to stay out of the too slow range but not trying to push it either.  Ran onto Trinity Blvd a little bit so I'd get 6 miles by the time I got back to my house.  miles 1-6 were between 9:25 and 9:47.

Strava told me this effort was harder than usual and garmin demoted my vo2 max by one more down to 49, thanks guys.

7.29 mi, 1:20:30, 11:03 avg, HR 133 bpm, elev gain 119 feet (garmin) or 203 feet (strava)

Still trying to tweek what's best for easy run to get the fastest pace at a heart rate average at or near 128.  Ran in Palm Harbor looping through and then a big square around the outside of Westlake Village with a short run in Eniswood neighborhood.  Trying 3/2 run/walk, but not really monitoring heartrate, just figuring it would work out to around the rate I wanted.  Druing the last few miles I started running the run portion a little faster, trying to get the average away from the 11:30 area that it was hovering - run, see the average get faster, walk see it get slower, rinse and repeat.

In the end it probably would have been about the same if I had just shuffled along looking at the heart rate.  

The one thing that makes the most difference is running with other people or even with Stella, seems to keep it lower for faster paces, with averages as low as the 10:15 range or even 9:39 one time while running with Joe.

Overall, I don't seem to be making much progress but I won't really know until I test myself in a race of some sort.

Good news at least is that Garmin gave me back my lost 1 point of vo2 max and strava said that today's run was consistent with usual efforts.

8.05 mi, 1:37:34,  12:07 avg, HR 126 bpm, elev gain 180 feet

Determined to stay within a lower heart rate today, did 5/1 run/walk and tried not to let my current heart rate go above 128 while running, although if it went a little bit higher I'd give it a little bit to see if it would go down without having to take a walk break.  I had a couple of times, mainly toward the end where I had to take a short walk break before the scheduled one minute walk break.

Overall, it was a pretty pleasant feeling run, nice morning out and a scenic route, took the short cut out of Westlake to Pennsylvania Ave and cut across to Pinellas trail going south, with goal of reaching the pedestrian overpass going over Alt 19.  And then since I was almost there, a little bit farther south to the water fountain to wash down the Gu I brought with me before turning back around.  Went a little bit faster on the way home and got a little sloppy with heart rate and ended up with 129 average for mile 7.  Then, for about the last 0.3 miles near the house, stretched out my legs a little bit to bring down the average pace.

More miles and more patience.

10.5 mi, 1:56:48, 11:07 avg, elev gain 175 feet, HR 135 bpm

For the most part this was a repeat of yesterday's route but a little farther south (and a small jog through Hammock Park) before turning back.   Also, instead of run/walk intervals it was all "run", however at a slower pace and trying to keep it around 128 bpm without actually monitoring it too closely.  It felt harder and heart rate was a little higher than I wanted.  As I got closer to the end, I was tired of running slow, so went a little faster compared to what I had been running, went back to taking it easy for the 10th mile, and then went faster for the last half mile.

It did cap off a decent 40ish mile week of mostly easy running, hopefully a good base I can build onto.  It was also a nice scenic run with views of the gulf, streams, inlets, parks, and lots of people enjoying the day on feet, bike, rollerblades.