The Long Run

6.42@8:54

Ran from my house, over to Starkey Gap Trail and then southbound until I was out about 3.2 miles then turned around.

Today (Tuesday), I was looking at the mileage board and didn't see my name and then realized it was because I was as usual behind in posting to the blog, so now I've almost caught up.

7.27@8:04

Decided it was finally time for a tempo run.  Thought about something really short, like 2 miles, then decided on 3 and then figured round it up to 5k.

Warmed up by doing most of the two'ish mile loop in Westlake then got going.  Had my sights set pretty low, just wanted 3 good miles under 8:00 pace, that helped take the pressure off.  Got a little faster each mile with a surprise sub-7:00 at the end.

7:24, 7:15, 6:53, 0.12@6:27

Took it easy the next mile although that was still at 8:24, and then sped up again to 7:33 for the last mile.  I wish all the 7:33's could feel like that last mile.

So, with practice 5k at 22:19 and garmin showing vo2 max of 52 I'm about where I was not that long ago and with some more speed and tempo work, not overdoing the easy runs and watching my recoveries I can move forward again back towards BQ and who knows what else beyond that.

7.16@8:47

Really like the nicer weather.  Classic route running down Starkey Gap trail with a slight right onto Keystone for  a short distance and then turn back for a 7ish mile run.  My music stopped working so after the turnaround I stopped at a recently installed bench, it was a nice spot.

Pace seemed to pick up after that, second to last mile was fastest, partially because I slowed down a little on purpose.  The first two miles were a lot slower so the easy start made the overall run feel easy.

And today is one of the first days in a while where I'm not behind on the blog.

6.22@8:57

Last run for September and finally made it over 200 miles for a month, didn't think I'd see this again when I couldn't even hit 100 in June.  Nice morning and felt pretty good, ran from Westlake Village out to the Pinellas Trail heading north for a little bit before turning around.  Was trying to keep the effort easy.  It did feel easy but heart rate average at 146 was higher than yesterday's 144, but I guess still in the ballpark.

4.22@10:06

Shorter and easy pace.  Ran from my house, south down the Starkey Gap trail to just parallel with Lake Dan before turning back.  Started out very easy but by the third mile I'd gotten out of the easy zone, but then I got a phone call, stopped and answered it and realized my heart rate was too high for an easy run, then after that slowed it down the rest of the way home.  Ended up with 136 bpm average heart rate after yesterday's 146 bpm average.

Another really nice morning weather wise.  Hopefully today's slow down will pay off tomorrow feeling fresh on the long run.

13.13@9:02

Tough run today.  After having two pretty good 16 mile runs on Saturday in a row, today would not be one of those good runs

Started out later than planned and this time we did not have the cooler weather like the last few weeks.  But still, there was hope because running in the shade there was a hint of a breeze.  Ran from Westlake Village, over to the Pinellas Trail via Delaware and then northboud to Klosterman.  Noticed a mural in progress on both sides of the train tunnel.  Ran a little bit on Klosterman and turned around cutting through a church parking lot that gave me a little extra hill.  Miles were going pretty good and after the slower start at first was heading to soon average faster than 9:00 pace.  Made it down to conservation park, now about 6 miles into the run.  Morning at really warmed up.  The cold water was much appreciated from the cold fountain.  Continued down the trail, mile 8 got rough, heart rate was up.  Alternated in some walking to try and settle things down.  Finished up mile 8 and thought about slowing down enough for a sub 130 heart rate.

Instead decided to cut back to 13 miles instead of 16 but try and hold a pace.  Average pace from run/walk was not at 9:18. 

Turned around near Ozona Elementary and ran back to where I had stashed my water belt.  That was the other problem, elastic had finally worn down enough so the bottles were bouncing quite a bit.  Bottles were now almost empty so no longer a problem.  Put the belt back on and headed back home with pace average ending up at 9:02.