The Long Run

15.22 mi, 2:01:12, 7:58 avg

The scheduled run for today was 14-16 miles at aerobic pace.  In other words, don't start out too slow, keep a nice steady pace, a little faster than easy pace but short of marathon goal pace.

I knew I'd get the miles in but I wasn't sure how my legs would react.  I've been fortunate this time around to not suffer from chronic dead legs like I did last fall, which makes the running itself more enjoyable.  Each run seems to have a purpose, alternating between shorter and easy and some sort of intervals either short and fast or longer and still pretty fast, or a long run with some sort of twist.

Training through the summer and into the fall means slowly getting nicer weather but still warm enough that it's a factor.  Ideally I'd start when it's still dark and have a few miles in by the time it starts getting light.  But, work/life/run balance means that doesn't quite happen.  So, today's run started at 7:34 am by the time I had dropped off my cooler on the course and did my warm up so I could get onto pace.  Started out at Longleaf with simple route up Starkey Blvd bike path and into Starkey park.  Cooler at 2.7 miles and hopefully there'd be some cold water at the water stops in the park, but as a back up plan there are some ground temperature water faucets.

First mile at 8:41, not quite the 8:00-8:20 range I wanted but hey it's still the warm up.  Next mile at 8:10, then the next miles hovering plus/minus 8:00, and last 4 miles getting faster - 7:50, 7:53, 7:40, 7:34.

It was a good sign when I got to my cooler and it was there and still filled with what I had put in it, including my small handheld bottle - was nice not to have to carry it starting out.

Not too many people out running, saw Tom heading back when I was a little over a mile in and then various people I didn't recognize and a good number of people on bikes.

There was some nice cold water in the park and it was a big relief when I hit the turnaround and was still feeling good.  I kept on holding my pace until finally let myself speed up a little bit.

Ended up two seconds faster than my faster end of the goal, compared to what I ran at NYC last fall this itself would have been a good marathon pace, but I'm hoping this time around I can get into the low 3:20's or maybe even break 3:20.  Still a ways to go to December.

But, as a warning, ended up with a tender spot on my left calf.  Didn't seem to affect my running and felt a bit better the next day.  It was right near yesterday's bee sting (or maybe some other stinging insect because I didn't actually see it biting me).  Might have thrown my gait off slightly.

After the run, showered and did some stretching and then met Tom and Andy at TiresPlus to have the truck brakes looked at and also took them to lunch at Lucky Dill.  Stopped by the Palm Harbor house after lunch, which they hadn't seen yet.  Truck wouldn't be ready until tomorrow morning so Andy borrowed my car.  Truck was back in action the next day, coming up on 15 years on reliable service.

9.65 mi, 1:20:51, 8:23 avg, elev gain 174 feet

I have two worrisome runs this week (I've been having weeks with three so this is a small cutback).  Today's run called for 6x1200m repeats @10k pace.  It would be a good workout to do on the track or a bit easier to do on a treadmill where I can punch in the paces - I'd still have to do the physical work, just less mental.  But, I picked the horseshoe route in Westlake.  There's a little bit of rolling but I can avoid any of the bigger hills.  I go out one way for the first repeat and then back the same way for the second one to end up where I started.  It shouldn't be that difficult since there is a 2.5 minute jog/rest between sets, should be easier then running 4.5 miles @10k pace.  Yet, I still struggle a little bit to keep an even pace with the starting and stopping.

But, got through them one by one, hitting the paces I wanted with results being: 6:36, 6:43, 6:37, 6:44, 6:48, 6:39

Repeats were sandwiched between 2 mile warm up and 2 mile warm down at easy paces.

Weather was pretty good, started in mid 70's but around 80 for the warm down.

5.05 mi, 46:00, 9:07 avg, elev gain 87 feet

Easy running day, ran a square loop of Alderaman, Omaha, Nebraska, Belcher, back to Omaha and back into Westlake.  It's a fairly obstacle free route mostly on sidewalks, a small amount of rolling elevation.

Weather was fairly nice.  Another day of the schedule checked off.

7.02 mi, 56:23, 8:02 avg, elev gain 124

Scheduled run was 5-7 miles at "aerobic pace", so not too fast but no dawdling.  First mile 8:43 then settled into low 8:00's-to high 7:50's.  Started out in Westlake and ran out the south end, across Pennsylvania Ave and a little bit on the Pinellas Trail before turning around and heading back.  Last two miles were a little faster than goal range with those miles at 7:48 and 7:39, but overall the average came out right where I wanted it.

Hint of cooler weather when starting out.

10.21 mi, 1:28:39, 8:41 avg, elev gain - flat

Schedule called for 8-10 mile easy run.  Headed out from my house, to SR54, and then north onto Starkey Blvd bike trail.  But, also took a little detour to drinking fountain outside the Longleaf pool for some extra water.  Had a 10oz bottle with me, gatorade and lots of ice which was diluted more after topping it off.  Tried a Roctane gel, salted chocolate, tasted pretty good.

First mile was fairly slow, but not painfully slow at 9:47, then the rest of the miles were between 8:20 and 8:50.  Had a couple of puddles on the trail to detour around.  It was a pretty nice morning with not too many distractions.  Knew I was going to skip the water stop on the way back so ran out a little more than 5 miles before turning around.

Tomorrow will be a short and easy run and then Sunday will be 20 miles, but broken up into 2 mile warmup, followed by 3 sets of 4 miles at MP goal pace, then 2 miles easy pace.  Hopefully the switching paces won't make it feel longer, should be ok.

5.07 mi, 43:18, 8:32 avg

Shorter run on the schedule today, did not run until 1:00.  Drove out to Lakeland to watch Jacob run in the meet.  He got a huge side stitch about mile 2, but still managed to finish in about 23:20 something.  Weather was hot, race did not start until 10:00.  Tom did not run this weekend, seeing if a few days off helps.  I stopped by the Mitchell team tent and chatted with the coach and some of the parents and runners.

Got home a little bit after 12:30 and then headed out the door for my run about 1:00.  Already 90 degrees outside.  There was a slight breeze.  I decided I'd just run an easy feeling pace, which turned out to be at the faster end of easy.  Not sure why the heat didn't bother me, but am not complaining.

This wraps up my first 50+ mile week since March.   Still feeling pretty fresh, avoiding the chronic dead legs like I had last fall going into NYC marathon.