The Long Run

18.39 mi, 2:34:00, 8:23 avg

Big run for the week, not completely according to pace/distance goals but not that far off and a step up from the usual 15ish long runs.

Goal was 2 mile warm up, 3x(4@marathon goal pace, 2 easy) for a total of 20 miles.

Woke up just after 6:00 but was closer to 6:30 by the time I actually got out of bed.  Headed to Starkey Blvd, dropping off small drink cooler at Aristida entrance.  Did the two mile warm up in Longleaf.  Saw Daisy and Leah finishing up their runs just as I was about to start the faster miles, said hi to them for a few minutes.  Got going on the Starkey Blvd and then ran into Jenny and said hi to her briefly.  Started again and without too much difficulty was on pace to run in the 7:30's.  I'd hit the entrance to Aristida about 2.7 miles into the 4 mile MP section, turn down the street and go far enough on the sidestreet so I'd finish, run a little bit easy and grab a refresh for my handheld drink bottle (was carrying just one 10oz bottle).  Temperature was no longer cool but a little bit warm with the usual Florida early fall humidity (not much different from Florida late summer humidity).

First section MP miles: 7:34, 7:37, 7:40, 7:40

Finished the two easy mile section and was now inside Starkey Park.  Decided I'd run three miles of the faster segment before turning back to do the 4th mile which would put me by one of the park's water coolers.  There was a water cooler at the turn around, so I decided to stop just in case the other one did not have any water, so this segment was not done non-stop.  I did have a lot more energy after the brief stop.  The second set had been going in survival mode where I wasn't forcing myself to stay in the 7:30's, just whatever I could do to stay under 8:00

Second section MP miles: 7:53, 7:48, 7:48, 7:24

Two more miles easy and I was almost out of the park, then just 4 more of the harder miles.  Heat was getting to me, wanted to just jog it home from here, but as a compromise, did one more fast mile and then was going to do the last two miles faster after taking it easy for a mile.  Did the faster mile, then an easy mile and grabbed some ice from my cooler and drink top off.  Changed plan again to just one more fast mile followed by jog back to the start.

So, what was supposed to be 4 more miles at marathon goal pace turned into:

7:28, 9:06, (0.75@)9:30, 7:22, (0.64@7:55)

And the 20 mile run turned out to be 18.39 miles.

But it did wrap up my biggest training month since March (and the march miles are counting the 33 1/3 mile and 50 mile ultra races).

Scheduled day off, no running but I did manage to get over 13,000 steps

10.54 mi, 1:34:09, 8:56 avg, elev gain 388 feet

Another hill workout.  2 mile warm up, then 10x(400m uphill @10K pace, 45 second jog, 400m downhill @goal marathon pace, 90 second jog between sets), then 2 mile warm down.

I woke up feeling slightly lethargic.  Got going and had a decent warm up, ending up near the corner of Lakeview and Sandy Hook where I set my drink bottle down.  The first repeat went ok as I gradually sped up even while going uphill.  But, after the first one, mentally it seemed like a figurative mountain to climb to do 9 more repeats, but without too much worry I did the second one, then things seemed better.  When I finally made it halfway at number 5 I thought about taking a slightly longer break, but instead I kept going.  Finally, when I finished the 7th one I did take a slightly longer break in order to refill my water bottle from the cold drinking fountain.

Then with just 3 left, the 8th one was easier, the 9th one was a little harder but the 10th one I felt like I didn't have to pace myself.

So, paces for the 10 repeats, up and then down, were:

1. 6:40, 7:23
2. 6:37, 7:30
3. 6:40, 7:22
4. 6:37, 7:19
5. 6:38, 7:20
6. 6:39, 7:16
7. 6:29, 7:14
8. 6:33, 7:30
9. 6:49, 7:22
10. 6:29, 7:06

Then , finally the 2 mile warm down.

I was hoping that the cooler fall temperatures would be here, but it was still 76 degrees at the start.  Getting better and it's going to be a few degrees cooler in the morning later in the week.

Also, I somehow thought that this was the most number of hill repeats on the schedule.  Nope.  In two weeks this workout will be 12 times up and down the hill.  The workout after that will have less repetitions but will be on an uphill that is 800m long.  Scouting around for possible locations now, might have to be on a treadmill.

7.04 mi, 1:02:47, 8:55 avg, elev gain 131 feet

Easy run day (scheduled called for 5-7 miles).  Ran out and back from Westlake Village to a little bit past the entrance to Pop Stansell Park.  Slightly cooler morning at the start.  First mile was slow at 10:24, last mile was 8:02 but the overall average was in the easy range.

I saw Kenny while running, he asked where Stella was (I often run into him while walking Stella and he sometimes gives her one of his dog's treats - one time they were fancy duck dog treats) - I need to get her out on some more runs.

Tomorrow is a farely rare mid-week day off. Still feeling like my legs are fresh.

10.44 mi, 1:21:21, 7:48 avg

Today's workout was 3mi@half mar pace, 3 minute rest, 2mi@half mar pace, 2 minute rest, and then 1 mile @10k pace, sandwiched between 2 miles warm up and 2 miles warm down.

It's getting slightly cooler but it's still barely under 75 degrees at the start and into the high 70's at the end of the run.  It doesn't help that I'm not getting started while it's still dark but the little bit of extra sleep helps also.

Run was still difficult, but the splits were all just a little bit better than previous similar runs, and for the last fast mile I knew I could do 6:45 or better and ended up with 6:35 (although that turned into a bit of a struggle for the last 0.25 mile).

First 3 fast miles: 7:02, 7:00, 6:53

Next 2 fast miles: 6:56, 6:51

1 mile @10k: 6:35

I even felt a little better on the warm down this time than last time with 8:22 and 7:57 which both felt pretty easy.

I was thinking about last year when I tried a tempo run of 4 miles at 7:00/mile and quickly realized I couldn't do it.  I think I'm getting a little bit better but it's been a slow enough process.

5.34 mi, 47:55, 8:59 avg, elev gain 96 feet

Shorter, easy run on the schedule.  Started a little bit later in the morning but it was much cooler than last week's run.  Jacob did not have a meet and wanted to run with me - we haven't had too many days that line up where we can run together.  Ran down Lakeview Dr and out the south entrance of Westlake Blvd and headed west via Pennsylvania Ave and made our way down to Pop Stansell Park.  Got a drink from the fountain and turned back.  I saw a guy that looked famililar but couldn't quite remember then he called out my name.  It was Ken from Tae Kwon Do.  He was out walking his dog on the Pinellas Trail.  Stopped and chatted with him for a couple minutes then got going again.  Picked up the pace a little bit.  As we got close to getting back into Westlake, Jacob said he wanted to run about 7:30 pace once we turned the corner.  I followed behind him and the pace kept on getting a little faster, finishing that last mile at 7:10 (with Jacob a few steps ahead of me), then he wanted to sprint up the last hill.  I held back a bit since I had my big run coming up tomorrow and this was supposed to be my easy day.  The 7:10 felt easier when following someone vs running it myself.

Capping off another 50 mile week.  Feeling pretty good but keeping an eye on my right foot with some PF starting.