The Long Run

Starting to be routine Monday morning run.  Including bike to Y, stretch and core work, then 4.25 miles on the treadmill at about 8:20 pace.   Headed outside and found that it was relatively nice, skies were clear, humidity was down and temp. was reasonable, too bad it was so nice because there is a hurricane on the way!  (I'm keeping my eye on the track and hopefully it passes a little east of us rather than west of us).  Outside portion was 3.9 miles at 7:40 average pace.

Went back inside and did a couple different leg weight exercises.  Time was running out and I went to get back home to see the boys off to school for their first day.  Biked back home in pretty good time although the roads were definitely a lot busier.    I'll have to do these Y days a little bit earlier from here on out. 

Fortunately the weather was not bad this morning - no rain, just a little bit of wind, temp and humidity ok.   I was aiming to be done by 7:30 so Jenny could get her run (the kids were off school today due to the hurricane).    The hurricane is going to mainly miss us.

I started running a few minutes later than I wanted but the run itself went pretty well.   I had done just over six by the time I got back to the house and it was 7:30.  I checked inside and Jenny was still getting ready so I finished up the 7 miles (and slightly more) by running up and down the street.

Average pace: 7:56 

This morning's run felt pretty tough, but I got the job done (for the most part).  Woke up at 5:45 and left the house just after 6:15.  Biked to the Y then did some stretching and core work inside.  It was warmer than yesterday,  humid, and windy.  I almost considered just running on the treadmill but I told myself I needed some practice running in the wind.

I was scheduled to do a tempo run of 6 miles at 6:55 pace.  Warmed up ok with 1.2 miles at an easy pace then got going on the tempo portion.   First mile felt ok, but by the third mile I was dying.  I stopped and composed myself and then did the remaining 3 miles.  So, it wasn't a straight through tempo run but it was the correct mileage.

Splits were: 6:46, 6:53, 6:58, 6:46, 6:54, 6:59

That last one was pretty hard and I had to give it all I had to get in under 7:00. Then I jogged back, about 0.9 miles.

Average pace: 7:20

So, today's run wasn't one where I say to myself how much stronger and faster I'm getting, but it was a good exercise in fighting off wind, heat, and self-doubt, so hopefully that counts for something.
 

Went back inside, cooled down then did some weights (mainly upper body). 

Again this morning it was a bit warm and windy.  Although perhaps just a little bit less humid and slightly less windy than yesterday.   Started out with a warm up on my bike of one loop around the neighborhood.   I ran from my house out the neighborhood to 54, up Starkey Blvd. and then back.  Pretty good first mile at 8:32, followed by a steady pick up after that.

Last mile in was faster than expected, and although it was the same pace as yesterday's last mile on the tempo run it felt much easier.

Average pace: 7:46 

This picture has absolutely nothing today with today's run but I wanted to try and start posting pictures on my blog

It was pretty wet outside this morning so I did not bike to they Y but drove instead.  It was a planned day off from running.   I did some warm up on the bike and rowing machine (which I have not done for a while).   The rowing machine is actually a pretty good stretch for the back and legs.

Then I did some weights, making sure I did not skimp too much in order to keep my body balanced between running and strength.

Big run tomorrow, first 20 miler since May.

This morning I woke up at about 3:30 to the sound of buckets of rain pouring down outside.  When my alarm went off at 4:50 it had slowed down a little bit but was still coming down hard.  Good thing I had told other people that I was going to meet them at 5:30. Getting out to my car I got pretty wet.   But by the time I got to David's house it was not so bad.

We got going at 5:30 in the dark and the (not quite so bad) rain.   I couldn't get my garmin to lock in so I'm not sure how fast we were going.   David is very good at knowing distances as he usually has things measured out.  We got back to his house and he said we had done between 5.1 and 5.4 miles.

So far it had been David, Randall, his friend Ryan, and myself.  Dixie, Keith and his friend Jorge were waiting at David's house.  After a brief break we headed out again towards Starkey Blvd.  Rain had pretty much stopped at  this point.  It was humid and slightly warm but the rain really kept the heat down.  We headed into Alico pass, ran around there for a bit and then headed back towards David's house.    It was now about 16 miles into the run.  David and I did another two together then I did the last two on my own.  At mile 19 my Garmin started acting weird then lost the signal.  It came back eventually but the pace was kind of messed up for that mile, but I think it was around marathon pace but I'm not really sure so I'll mark it down as not marathon pace.