The Long Run

14.22@10:31

For a slower "easy" pace, this run really zapped me.  Did 7/1 run/walk to try and make it "easy".  I carried a handheld 20oz bottle instead of wearing a belt.  Ran from Westlake Village, straight over to the Pinellas trail and then north up to the Tarpon Tavern.  On the way up I caught the "Walk" light across Klosterman just in time.  

Topped off my drink at the fountain outside the restrooms behind the Tarpon Tavern, then continued south with another stop at Conservation Park for cold water.  I did not get the "walk" light crossing Klosterman this time but let me watch run to simulate what might happen on race day (I'm pretty sure I'll do Pinellas Trail Challenge, it's free!).

With the missed day of running on Thursday and the very low miles on Friday this would be a light week, but if I could get at least 13.1 miles today I'd have 40 for the week.  So, kept going enough for that and a mile beyond that.

Off day because I ran on Sunday

10.02@7:58

Success this time.  I had attempted a similar run a few weeks ago, and although on paper the other run might like good, I stopped several times.  This time I ran straight through after the warm up two miles and even moved into the cool down mile without missing a step.

It had rained the night before and the temperature was still good when starting at 7:11 am (still not quite a sunrise start but I did see it on the drive to Starkey Blvd).  Ran from the church, right turn into Starkey Ranch until about 1.6 miles in , turned around and picked up the pace at two miles, then turned back onto Starkey Blvd heading north to almost the park entrance then headed back.

Modest goal of under 8:00 for each mile, was able to do:

7:38, 7:26, 7:29, 7:24, 7:23, 7:20, 7:18

So, a little under 7:30 for average pace.

This run was a good boost after the slower than planned run on Sunday

AM 5.26@8:25

PM 4.01@9:21

Morning run was two different sized loops inside Westlake Village.  First mile was 9:17.  Had a decent pre-run warmup and when I got going I didn't feel too stiff.  I thought the first mile might end up being faster but despite the warm up felt a little bit stuck.  Next three miles were faster, with last mile at 7:46.  A little after first loop, stopped back at the house since the windshield glass person had just shown up (rock strike on Wednesday night).  Finished up the run with a shorter loop.

In the evening did the humpday hustle run, slightly smaller group tonight. I was almost 10 minutes late showing up but Daisy and Evan waited for me.  We ran out to the two mile tree but no one had their phone for the obligatory picture so we just pretended.  I was very slow feeling on the first mile and spent must of it catching up to Daisy and Evan, but after that we did each mile slightly slower.

After the run, met Jessica and baby at Twistee Treat in Tarpon and had some ice cream for her birthday.  I guess not quite a baby anymore since she turned two today.

5.15@8:40

I ran a couple of figure eights inside Westlake Village.  After stopping my watch and saving the run saw that I was at 4.98 miles.  So I did a couple quick strides that added another 0.17 miles so I'd be over 5 instead of just short of 5.

6.37@8:03

Ran on Starkey Blvd bike trail.  7:52 am start, pretty good for me but not quite the pre-dawn warmup I was hoping for.

Did a 2 mile warmup and set down my water bottle at corner of Starkey and Rangeland.  Doing 1 mile repeats.  This start location gives me one mile of uninterrupted bike trail from here to the bridge.  Before starting I took a drink from my bottle which had liquid IV.  It tasted nasty.  I had hand washed the bottle before filling it but had missed something.  Tried squirting some out to hopefully purge the taste but it didn't get rid of it.  Fortuntaley wasn't that hot and I wasn't that far from the car after the run ended.

Anyway, repeats ended up being ok.  When runing 5x1k, I seem to not be able to get under 7:00 pace for the first one.  Today felt the same, at about 1k into the mile I was around a 7:05 average.  But, since I was doing mile repeats, brought down the average and finished first one at 6:58.  Did two more, might've done a 4th if hydration situation was better.

6:58, 6:51, 6:50

"Jog" back to the car was 8:05 pace,feeling much easier than the warmup miles.

28.73@11:27

This was my first time running a 6 hour race.  Loop course in St Petersburg running out to the pier and coming back to the park where we started, about 3.6 miles.  This was a free event.  No clock timing, you just put a check next to your name each time you come back to the start.  No aid stations, self supported but since it's only 3.6 miles you've got your own aid station and there are fountains along the course as well as stores and food vendors.

A lot of people running this were doing it for practice for the upcoming Pinellas Trail Challenge on 9/3.  It was warm today, but some clouds for cover, and course was mixed as far as sun and shade goes.  I had a cooler with ice, a couple frozen 8 oz water bottles, some 12 oz gatorade bottles and two protein shakes.

Loops were taking me around 40 minutes which included time to put more ice in my bandana and anything else I needed to do at the start/finish area.  I think there was one bathroom stop.  

During the 7th loop as I was heading out to the end of the pier, there was a woman eating a snow cone.   They were selling them at the very end so I stopped for one.  The cashier was replenishing change so it took some time to be served and then I walked for a bit while eating it until I could pour the rest into a bottle and start jogging again.

The 7th loop ended up taking me 48 minutes, some of it due to the snow cone and some of it due to slowing down.

As I came through to check off my name I told the RD "one more loop" and she said something like, I believe you can get two more.

Felt pretty good the last loop, took about 39 minutes.  I had just over 31 minutes to run one more loop for it to count which is not that fast, but much faster than I had been running, so decided to call it.  Pretty much right on the edge of being able to get one more done.

There were 4 runners who finished 10 loops, and 4 more that finished 9 loops.  With 8 loops I was in the upper mid-pack.

I wasn't planning on trying to race today, just some practice staying cool at a steady pace.  If I could do 11:27 pace for 46 miles at PTC it will be a PR.  Ice will be key.  I'll try a similar run/walk strategy of two walk breaks per mile, 30 seconds at 0.3 and 30 seconds at 0.75 each mile.  Seems to help break things up and keep legs fresh.

There was actually no beer involved in this race except for afterwards where some of the group went out for some brewery hopping.

Other memories from this run was the awesome early morning view looking over the water, seeing the "new" pier (my first time here since it was redone), and all the runs past the Museum of Fine Arts where Jessica and I got married 5 years ago.