The Long Run

6.2 mi, 53:27, 8:37 avg

Solo run in the neighborhood, mostly easy pace except for some pick up at the end.  Enjoyed the nice weather and peace of running even with news of turmoil. 

On top of the horrible news from Las Vegas, also found out that Jenny's father passed away after battling cancer for some time.  He was a good man, loved by many and hopefully at peace.

8.2 mi, 1:12:32, 8:50 avg

Solo run from my house out to Little Road, stayed on the sidewalk and then turned down Photonics Pkwy and ran to the Y, stopping there for a gel.  Felt pretty tired this morning and serisously thought about skipping my run but conned myself with "just go out and do at least a mile".

Left the Y and headed back home via Thousand Oaks neighborhood, coming out on Trinity Blvd and then right onto Robert Trent Jones.  Stopped a little bit and contemplated life before finishing up the last two miles to get home.

7.15 mi, 1:00:53, 8:31 avg

Ran from my house over to the new park on Trinity Blvd, doing two loops around the lake once I got there (each loop about 0.72 miles), stopped for the water fountain and took a gel, then did another loop before heading home.  First mile on the way out was 10:25, which had started out even slower with dead leg feelings which I gradually shook off.

On the way back after slowly increasing my pace to around 8:00, I felt a small stab in my knee - I had let my form get sloppy and I had a lot of tight muscles.  Stopped and stretched briefly, then continued on at a little slower pace and with more care.

Made it home ok and overall happy with the run.

PM  - Drove up to Suncoast Technical High School in Brooksville to see Tom run with the cross country team.  I got there just before the boys race started, ran  to near the starting area and was about to go closer when the race started.  I started the timer on my phone but was about 12 seconds late.  I followed the coach and ran with him to the 1 mile marker, timed 5:40 for the first mile (which was really 5:52), then ran to the 2 mile marker and waited there.  Mile 2 was 6:15. He was running just ahead of Spencer by a few feet.  3 mile marker was near the entrance to the track.  This time I saw Spencer but he was with a different Mitchell teammate and slightly ahead.  Tom was close by.  He ran into the track where I lost sight of him but someone else could see better and called out when he crossed the finish.  I had 18:51 on my timer (not 100% sure at that time if I was exactly 12 seconds off), later found out, yes I was, finish time was 19:03, a new PR!   I know he was trying to break 19:00 today, but it was 13 seconds faster than old PR and last two meets were in 19:30's.

I was watching some of the kids finish and how some get passed by someone outkicking them.  That has happened to me quite a bit.  In most cases, the passer has built up too much momentum and there's not enough time for the passee to catch back up. This has happened to me quite a few times.  So, what I do now is pick a spot a little earlier than where I think someone might try to outkick me, and pretend there's someone trying to pass me already, so I'm able to outkick my invisible opponent and fend off any actual passers while also bettering my time by maybe a few seconds.

10.24 mi, 1:22:30, 8:03 avg

I dreaded doing this run, so I knew I had to do it.  As a workout and as a test, running as-is, tried Yasso repeats, 10x800m, goal of 3:15 each repeat (or 6:30 pace).  McMillan says this is a pretty good predictor, but 5 seconds faster, so hopefully this would give me some confidence for a 3:20 marathon.  Unfortuntately I did quite get them all in under 3:15, but wasn't too far off and finished them all when I wanted to quit.

800m splits: 3:18, 3:12, 3:14, 3:11, 3:15, 3:11, 3:18, 3:10, 3:17, 3:12

The average came in under 3:15 at least.

I had warmed up with a run from my house out to Robert Trent Jones, dropped off my drink and ran up and down the sidewalk, stopping a few times for a quick drink.  Also, it felt like a did a real workout and that there's still some hope for a good run in NYC.

4.21 mi, 39:11, 9:19 avg

Just an easy run in the neighborhood.  Most of it was by myself but took Stella for about a mile and a half. Good to get some dog miles in.  Little bit of a stressful morning but the run helped a lot and in the end the day was pretty good.

20.08 mile

Part 1: 4.11 mi, 37:27, 9:07 avg

Part 2: 4.24 mi, 36:12, 8:33 avg

Part 3: 5.09 mi, 38:50, 7:37 avg

Part 4: 6.64 mi, 1:01:42, 9:17 avg

I had to break up my run because of life events (suppose I could have woken up at 3:00, but wanted to try it this way).

Drove home from Jessica's house, ran 4.11 miles in the neighborhood, out and back from my house.  Felt pretty good.

Watched Tom at the cross country meet in Crews Lake park where he PR'd and broke 19:00 for the first time with 18:56.8.  First mile was 5:53, he then averaged 6:17 for the next two miles and had an amazing finishing kick which I think he ran at a 4:30 pace (0.107 miles in 28 seconds).  Mitchell won 3rd place for this meet.  There were a few other PR's as well.

Stopped for cinnamon melts on the way back and dropped Tom off at Jenny's house. Then I ran another 4.24 miles, drove over to pick up Tom and take him to hour long trumpet lesson.  I then drove to the Y and ran on the treadmill for another 5.09 miles, with 4 miles between 7:00 and 7:30 (average with warm up and short cool down was 7:37 pace).

After trumpet, I drove to Palm Harbor to meet Jessica to look at a house, then drove back home and then ran 6.64 miles in the hot afternoon (91 degrees but some cloud cover thankfully).  I wanted to quit after a mile "good enough", "why push yourself?"  "what does it matter?".  Kept on going mile by mile then eventually back home.

I relaxed a little bit in the pool floating on a raft and a little bit of swimming, then got up and drove to Land O' Lakes to see Jacob play soccer.  First time watching him.  Game delayed an hour for weather.  They tied, it was fun to watch even though I know hardly anything about soccer.  Jacob played goalie and had one really incredible save early on which I missed and many more saves which I did see.  Then, all of the sudden it was 10 o'clock at night.