The Long Run

5.04 mi, 44:44, 8:52 avg, elev gain 69 feet

Was not expecting much from this run other than to at least get in a few miles.  Ran in Westlake, heading south down Lakeview, right on Westlake Blvd then right on Nebraska, then down 19th Street.  Made it to Palm Harbor MS and thought about taking a lap or two on their track but chickened out due to the "No Trespassing" signs, although the open gate was tempting and I have heard that you can use the track.

Anyway, headed back the way I came, picking it up a little bit each mile but never feeling like I was past the "easy pace" zone - except for the last 0.04 miles sprinting up to the top of the little hill where my house is (6:34 pace).

8.87 mi, 1:09:53, 7:53 avg

Finally, a planned tempo run.  The last time I did something close to a tempo run was at the end of April when I was determined to run 10k distance at 7:00-7:10 pace range.  That run was very hard and turned into 2x3mi repeats (big break halfway through).  Today's goal was just 4 miles at 7:20 or faster.  Ran from my house to SR54 to Starkey Blvd.

Started the tempo portion and wanted to quit about a 1/4 way into the first mile, decided that wasn't going to happen.  Soon forgot about how hard it was and kept going until finally finishing the first mile.  Then one more mile out and then turning around.  Picked it up the last mile and made it under 7:00 pace.

Splits: 7:08, 7:04, 7:01, 6:50

Today's weather was a few degrees cooler so it felt pretty tolerable.  I still have a ways to go to get back to where I want to be but it felt like one step in the right direction.

Stopped for my stashed gatorade at the little church, ran a little bit slower for that mile but picked it back up for the last 1.5 miles at about a 7:20 average.

3.33 mi, 28:53, 8:41 avg

Ran in foxwood this morning from my house and just past the golf course water fountain (classic 3 mile route and a little extra).  I thought it would be a slow run.  My feet were sore from yesterday so I started out easy and wasn't going to go far.  First mile was 10:17 but I got faster for the next two miles (8:24 and 7:54), and then galloped the rest of the way home.

No AC at home last night but yesterday was a little cooler than normal so inside only got to 80.  I opened the windows and turned on the fan, was a little humid but slept pretty good.  I could hear the frogs outside much more than usual.

Wires somehow got cut by the fan, AirHawk showed up the next day to fix it, I said it wasn't an emergency.  Wires got fixed (and shortened and a couple more ties added), now back to normal.

6.62 mi, 58:16, 8:48 avg, elev gain 81 feet

Missed running on Thursday due to getting into camp super late (about 2:00), and then rain in the morning as well as getting ready to leave for the drive back, but I probably could have at least squeezed in a couple of miles - and gotten some nice hills as well.  Thursday night drive back turned into much later than planned - getting back about 1:00, so ended up taking off Friday morning as well, maybe I needed it.

But, finally, ran on Saturday morning - although a little later (10:15 am start).  Did two loops around Westlake but in the opposite direction of the last time I did two loops.  Run ended up being better than expected and had a nice steady pick up in pace.  Apparently it is 20 feet less climbing when going in the opposite direction, not sure how or maybe I don't really understand the elevation gain statistic.  The route is a pretty steady up and down, but with much of it 10-20 feet I think it gets smoothed out.

When  I finished the two loops, decided that 5.8 miles was kind of lame for a "long run", so went back out and looped around the trail by the little lake for an addional 0.8 miles.