The Long Run

I was feeling a little bit junked up this morning after a day of not very healthy eating yesterday.  Fortunately by the end of my run I was feeling a lot better.   I biked to the Y, did some stretching and then got onto a treadmill next to David.   Chatted with him for a bit  and slowly ramped up my speed.   Did 4.3 miles ending up with about an 8:20 pace.

Next, I headed outside for another 4.2 miles at 7:45 pace.  It was another pretty good morning, and I'm sure why might get some more hot and humid mornings I don't think it will be the rule anymore.

Finished up with some weights and then biked back home.

 Woke up this morning not feeling very motivated.  Maybe because this week is just base miles?  Fortunately now that today's run is finished I feel a lot better.

Warmed up on my bike with a loop around the neighborhood.   Then headed on my typical Tuesday run - onto the old road, to Trinity Blvd and then into Thousand Oaks and Trinity Oaks, a loop through there and then back through Thousand Oaks East.   All in all a pretty good run, nothing too spectacular, just good solid base miles.   It was a bit warmer today but I knew I had it coming :)

Average pace: 8:02

I had the dark cloud of a dental appointment hanging over my head (not sure why they dark cloud since those have been going pretty well the last few years), so it took my mind of my slight lack of running motivation.  Despite this, the run went pretty well today.  I biked to the Y, did some core work and stretching then got onto a treadmill.  I did 4.51 on the treadmill at about 8:15 pace.

Then I headed outside into the warm and breezy air, ran across the street to the Kinsmere loop plus an out and back on a side street for 4.43 miles at 7:33 pace.  I didn't look at all of my splits but one of them was at 7:01, after which I slowed down a little bit because this was not supposed to be a tempo run.

Biked back home, battling through some wind, and had barely enough time to get ready and leave the house to get to my appointment which again turned out ok.

I started out feeling a little bit blah at the start of the run but things turned around and it was a pretty good run despite the heat.  Began at an easy pace with no desire to push it.   As I was running through our neighborhood I saw a father and son out planting a flag pole in their front yard.  I noticed several other houses with flags out and remembered why I was seeing this today and it suddenly made any of my problems seem pretty insignificant.  That's when I decided to stop being whiny and just go and do it.

I did an out and back up Starkey Blvd. at a pace that felt pretty comfortable with the last mile at a respectable 7:12.

Average pace: 7:55

So, it was a pretty good run and a good morning to think about things.

Cooled down and loosened up in the pool when I got home for about 10 minutes.

Rest day. No running, biking, or weights.

Today's run went very well.  It was definitely great to be able to run with friends.  David was hosting everyone at his house again this morning.  We got moving just after 6:30, about 8 of us.  Ran on an out and back course up Starkey Blvd. to Alico Pass and back.   Weather was pretty good.  I started out in the back of the group and varied between back, middle, and front of the group at times.  On the way back we saw a turtle that looked like it was trying to get underneath a fence and into the woods.  I stopped to try and help it but on close look saw that it was already dead :(

Feeling better than I had most of the week I picked up the pace for a couple of miles.

Afterwards, we hung out and chatted for a bit, snacking on various goodies.