The Long Run

Passed the test this morning.

The test was to find out if I had run Saturday's run too hard, if I had run that too hard then I would have a hard time running today.  Fortunately I did not.

 Went to the YMCA, bike warm up, core work, and then 4.17 miles on the treadmill about a 7:55 pace average.

Headed outside where it was reasonably cool.  I know I said I would stop talking about the weather, but yesterday morning was really nice out, unfortunately I wasn't running but fortunately for Jenny, she was running and had a great 11 mile run.

Did another 6.07 miles outside.  Tried not to look at my watch much until the 5th mile when I felt I was going faster, then I looked at my watch and decided to hold that pace for the rest of the mile, before returning back to an easier pace.

Average pace outside: 7:24

Ran from home this morning.  Plan was to stick close to home until Jenny got back.  As I was getting ready to leave, Jenny was already coming back from her early morning run in the hilly neighborhood.  We passed each other briefly saying hi as I headed out.  Legs were a little bit dead this morning at first but eventually woke up.  Weather was once again pretty good for a June morning in Florida.

Headed over to the Trinity Oaks neighborhood and did a big loop through there before heading back home.  Increased the pace gradually. 

By the time I got back to my house I had done about 8.5 miles so I ran a bit past it before turning back to make it 9 miles.  I picked up the pace for the final mile to just under a 7 minute pace.

Average pace: 7:54

Going to try for a tempo run tomorrow morning if everything goes well.

Later in the day yesterday, I was contemplating not doing a tempo run today.  I had picked up a couple minor aches and pains and didn't want to make them worse.  So, last night I took a quick soak in an epsom salt bath which did the trick (along with a good night's sleep).  This morning I decided to go ahead with the tempo.  Plan was to do the same route and distance as last week.

Ran from my house to Starkey blvd at an easy pace for 2 miles, then started the tempo run.  First mile felt difficult as it often does for the first mile of a tempo run.  Second mile was better.  When I finished the second mile I didn't feel like quitting like I did last week, I had my sights set on finishing the 3rd mile so I could turn around.

Second half went pretty well.  For the last mile a song came on my ipod which I had just recently put there and I didn't know how well it would work out for a tempo run song.  The song was by a band named Cake, and was a remake of a song made famous by the Muppet Show, "Mahna Mahna".   Before I knew it the last mile was almost over and I was on pace for 6:28.

Splits: 7:00, 6:50, 6:48, 6:52, 6:50, 6:28

Two more miles to get home.   Last mile I sped up a bit but it felt easy at 7:10 - I'd love it if 7:10 always felt easy!

Average pace: 7:31

I ran with Jenny this morning.  She wanted to get in some faster miles so I was going to pace her for 4 miles and try and keep the pace between 7:45 and 8:00.  It was a bit warmer and humid then it had been the last few days - more back to normal for around here.

We warmed up for one mile, then bumped up the pace.  I had some trouble keeping the pace steady since my garmin pace seemed to be jumping around.  First mile seemed ok and the start of the second mile was pretty good but just after finishing the second mile things were not going so well.  Jenny was starting to lag a bit, I said let's just finish up the third mile.  She was able to hang on and then kept on going after 3 miles.  I thought she might finish the 4th mile, too, but instead said let's get to 3.5 miles.   The last 0.5 was at a faster pace, about 7:30ish.

So, I wasn't able to give her the boost I had hoped for, but it was still a pretty good run.  In cooler weather, I don't think this pace/distance would have been a problem.  I'll have to work on my pacing ability also, knowing when to say encouraging things without being annoying, I was a bit too quiet while we were running.

After running 6.25 miles together, Jenny called it a run, and I continued on a little bit longer and ended up with 8.6 miles total.

Average pace: 8:19

No running today.  Went to Disney Magic Kingdom to use last day of 4 day pass before it expired.   Lots of fun even though Space Mountain was closed for renovation.  Went to downtown Disney afterward, had dinner there and spent some time in the Lego store.

One more longish run before next weekend's marathon.  Went to Starkey park this morning, arriving right at 6:00.  Keith and Dixie and a few others were there.  I had told Raj about 6:00 arrival and start at 6:15.  The other guys took off at 6:10.  I said I'd wait a few more minutes.  Waited almost until 6:15 before deciding he wasn't going to show up this morning (he hadn't said definitely that he would or wouldn't show up).

I got moving at a slow pace to get warmed up.  After almost a mile, I heard someone behind me.  It was Raj.  He had shown up at about 6:15 on the dot and must have run about a 7:00 pace to catch up to me.  So, we ran together, stopped briefly at 4 miles, kept on going.  Saw Dixie coming back from a 5 mile turn around, next up was Jorge and Victoria a little later, then finally Keith and his friend David from his church. 

We turned around .4 miles later after doing about 6 miles.  Had one more brief stop where I kept the clock running then started picking up speed.  Held onto a good pace for the last 5 miles, averaging a little bit under 7:00 pace.

Average pace: 7:52

There were even more people this morning at social hour.  Lots of new faces, younger people and older people, all sorts of abilities.  David (the original David) has done a great job getting more people to show up.