The Long Run

20.07@8:44  HR 148 bpm

Not looking forward to this run, 81 degrees at the start, however there were points here and there where it did not feel so bad.  Like so many times before, plan was to start early.  And this time the plan worked, I was running while it was still dark.  Coulda used a light but there dark part was on a pretty smooth paved trail.  Parked at the Trinity trailhead for Starkey Gap trail.  Headed north, crossed 54 and continued up Starkey Blvd and turned right on Rangeland.  Saw Tom heading towards me on his way back.

Goal today was "aerobic pace" which the plan says 8:40.  What about the heat, do I adjust and if so how much.  If I can hit 9:00 or just under that should be good.

First stop at 5.7 miles to use the water fountain in Cunningham Park, then continued on, kept on going until the neighborhoods ended at Publix and then a litte out onto 54 before turning back.  I'd be back at Cunningham Park with about 10.5 miles done, so what to do?  I could take a right onto Starkey Blvd and head north a couple miles but might run out of water.  So, instead did a few extra loops around the lake so I could keep topping off, then headed back towards where I came from, returning back to the car at 17.5 miles, had some ice cold water, then about 1.3 miles south down the trail, then back toward the car to hit the 20 mile mark.

Last mile was a push at 7:51 pace, it was faster than I thought I could do.  Going to fit in one more 20 before the race.  Confidence is mixed right now.  Have had some good workouts where I've felt improvements, good 5k progress, decent but could've been better half marathon and this past Friday's run should've been a straight through tempo but second half turned into tempo intervals.

Oh well, keep on plugging and see what happens.

10.0@8:38  HR 151 bpm

85 degrees "TruPace: 7:57"

Today's workout was 800m running uphill @HMP (7:40 for me), and then back down the hill @MP (8:00ish, but by that I mean 7:59).  45 second rest/jog at the top and then 1:30 rest/jog at the bottom (later realized it was supposed to be 1:00 and 2:00 for the rests).

Pretty happy with how it went, stuck to the rest schedule (except a little off on first one) and was able to quickly get on pace and settle in on both the  up and down.  It wasn't easy but it also wasn't where I'm struggling and then either just barely getting it or missing it here and there).

So, here's the paces for up/down: 7:28/7:47, 7:26/7:39, 7:20/7:38, 7:22/7:36, 7:22/7:16

I guess I was a little bit excited to finish so the down on the last one was faster than the up. 

Warm up was just over 2 miles and cool down was a little under 2 miles.

AM 4.17@9:53   HR 126 bpm

One big loop in WLV and then some up and down to make it to 4 miles.

PM 3.03@9:34  HR 126 bpm

Humpday Hustle run, about 6:30 pm, 90 degrees but had some clouds.  Ran with Daisy and Evan and some with her oldest son.  We opted for 3 miles although everyone was willing to do 4 no one insisted on 4 so 3 it was.

7.15@7:52   HR 158 bpm

Plans were shifting on me, scheduled run called for 10 miles, 2 easy, 4 HMP, 2 easy. Needed to be done by 7:30 and was supposed to take little one to pre-school, so thought I'd maybe do the run after dropping her off.  Turns out I couldn't drop her off as early as possible plus she had a bit of a runny nose so ended up staying home and waited for Jessica to come back from her morning errands.  So now it was later and it didn't make sense to drive to Starkey Blvd and wasn't sure if the run would be a failure so opted for just getting in some miles in the neighborhood.

But then, I turn on my garmin and it says suggested workout 2 x 15 min @7:15 pace.  That seemed doable and productive as well.  So that's what I did and it turned out ok and I felt like I got something done running wise.  In retrospect, I could have easily done this workout by 7:30 without having to run all of it in darkness.

Anyway, with this pace it's pretty much a 2 x 2 mile workout but it's timed so not quite, a little bit farther and going faster doesn't get you done any faster.  With that said:

10 minute warmup 

first 15 minutes in miles: 7:08, 7:12, 0.09@7:07

5 minute jog

next 15 mintues in miles: 7:07, 7:08, 0.10@6:34

10 minute cool down

Definitely feeling like there's been some fitness improvement recently.

5.08@9:44  HR 128 bpm

Easy paced couple of loops inside Westlake Village, slowly moving faster into the 9's with heart rate below 130.  It felt a little cooler out this morning compared to yesterday.

20.08@8:51   HR 149 bpm

Brooksville and Suncoast hilly run.

Well, that wasn't quite what I had hoped for.  With last week's pretty good run in the warmer weather thought this would go better, however, last week I did have an earlier start and the run was on Sunday instead of Saturday, so less then one week between back to back 20s.  Legs felt mushy.   Plan was supposed to be 9 miles easy, 9 miles MP, then two miles easy.

First 9 miles averaged like 9:33, turned around and got onto 8:00 pace but wasn't easy.  Hoping to settle into it.  Got to top of the six mile hill and decided to regroup.  Got going again, was not doing well, decided to take it easy (maybe for the rest of the run), 4th mile was 8:35, way off pace,  but mile 5 was 8:11 so decided to not give up and just try and stay as close as I could to goal pace.  7th mile of the MP portion was 8:19, kind of dying again.   Rallied a bit for 8th mile, down to 7:52, finished up with 8:05.

Slogged through the cool down, resisted temptation to just do 1 mile of cool down.

There were a few people hanging out at the shelter.  Two people had been biking and one lady who had been running.  The lady complimented my running, said I looked strong.  Told them what I was training for and she said that she also did Big Cottonwood last year and loved it, especially the scenery.  Showed me some pictures, nice to chat to a few strangers, meet some new people.