The Long Run

First day of my last hard week before the upcoming marathon.  I think I did pretty well considering just having finished 20 on Saturday at the end of a pretty high mileage week.   I woke  up a little bit earlier and drove to the Y.  Warmed up on the bike for a bit and then did some stretching.   Hopped onto a treadmill for 4.57 miles at an 8:25 average (9 something first mile followed by low 8's).

Went outside to finish up my miles.  Temp was decent enough to make the high humidiy not seem so bad.  Ran at a comfortable pace without looking at the garmin until afterwards.  Ran down Wyndtree and back with a loop around Kinsmere then back to the Y.  6.61 miles at 7:51 pace for the outdoor portion.

Massage scheduled for this afternoon to keep me going injury free  (trouble in right knee is brewing, keeping an eye on it for now).

Good easy paced run with Dixie this morning.  It rained last night so everything was wet and the air was humid, but the temperature was not up too high.   Arrived just after 5:30 ( a few minutes late).  Set out at an easy pace and tried not to pick things up.  Stopped at the lake park on the way out and once on the way back to hydrate.

Finished up the last mile about an 8:10 pace with an 8:22 average overall.  Mid run weeks start getting a little bit easier from here on out so that should be a good psychological boost.  Although, 11 miles wasn't all that bad, you just go out and do it one mile at a time and it's not really any different than 6 or 7 miles, it just takes longer.

Today's run finishes off my highest mileage month so far.

Right knee is still a little irritated.

I feel like I'm going over the hump but I have to keep on reminding myself that I'm not over it yet and there are still some good weeks of training ahead before the marathon at the end of the month.  So, I had another challenging tempo run, similar to one that I did just a few weeks ago and one mile less than the last tempo run.  So, I had some confidence that I could do this again.   I lucked out on the weather as it was a much better morning to do a tempo run than it would have been yesterday morning.

I warmed up on my bike around the neighborhood loop.  While I'm doing this I usually turn on my garmin to let it warm up and catch the signal.  But today, it did not want to turn on.  I had charged up the batteries last not but I think it has finally given up.  Oh well, better now than in the marathon.  So, I borrowed my wife's garmin for today's run. 

I ran from my home to 54, towards Starkey Blvd about 1.6 miles for a warm up.   My legs felt a bit heavy, especially my calves.   Tried not to worry about it too much since this is what warm ups are for.   Got to my starting point, then got going.  Ran a little bit more on 54 before turning onto Starkey Blvd.   First mile came in a little bit faster than planned but didn't feel too bad.   About a mile and a half or so in, something smelled bad but I didn't see any roadkill.  Fortunately the smell passed in about a quarter of a mile.  I kept on my pace finally making it to the turn around point, that's always a big boost once the first half is knocked off.  I think my return trip was slightly faster.  Last mile felt hard again like last time.   But it felt good and ended up being just about the same speed as the first mile.

Splits were: 6:41, 6:48, 6:49, 6:46, 6:45, 6:45, 6:42

Average pace for entire run incl. warm up : 7:24 

Ran much slower for the trip back home.  Got into the pool for a bit then made sure to stretch out before getting ready for work..

Easy run today.  I did a pretty good job of keeping it that way.  Drove to the Y.  Warmed up on the bike first then did some core and stretching.   Got onto a treadmill for 4.48 miles at about an 8:20 pace.

Headed outside for the rest of my run.  It was nice and cool, a great morning for running.   Did another 4.56 miles at 7:54 pace.  Beginning and ending were a little bit slower than the middle.

Biked the kids to school so Jenny could get an early jump on her run.

Non running day.

Did some warm up , stretching, and relatively easy upper body weights.  Just enough so I don't atrophy.

Big run tomorrow - last 20!

Good run this morning with a group of friends.  I met up with Randall, Ryan, and Jorge just before 5:30 near the Longleaf pool.   We looped around the neighborhood then headed up Starkey blvd for a bit before turning around and then heading over to David's house.  There, our group got bigger, adding David, Laura, Keith, and Dixie as well as Melanie and Rebeca for part of the way.

We all headed back up Starkey Blvd. to Alico Pass neighborhood and ran around in there for a bit before heading back down Starkey.   We were about a half mile from 54 and I saw Jorge was lagging pretty far back, we got to 54 then turned around and all of the sudden Jorge was on my shoulder and then in front of me.  He got his second wind from some place.   We headed back into Longleaf for 3 more miles, finishing up the last mile at a good 7:30 pace.

Average pace: 8:36

It sure was nice to get this run out of the way as it was my last big run before the marathon and caps off my highest mileage week ever at over 61 miles.  The weather was great and having other people to run with made it go by quicker and also prevented me from going too fast and injuring myself.