The Long Run

3.02 mi, 25:41, 8:30 avg

Week 6, day 7 of the plan.  Second (and last) week of having a 7th day of running.  Felt pretty good after yesterday's 16 miles.  Did one loop inside Westlake Village with a small amount up and down the street to make it over 3 miles.  Ran in the afternoon but there was a small breeze and the route was mostly shaded.

Today's run also wraps up the first phase of the plan which has consisted of "easy" runs and two days of strides added onto the run.  Next six weeks will include some tempo runs, a few intervals, marathon pace miles and fast finish runs.

6.45 mi, 56:39, 8:47 avg

Day 1,week 7 of the plan.  Felt pretty good today,   just 6 miles easy followed by 6x100m strides.  Out and back route from my house down the new trail past Lake Dan almost but not quite to Keystone Road before turning back.  Finished up with strides on the section between my driveway and the road curve sign.

10.09 mi, 1:22:35, 8:11 avg

Scheduled tempo run of 6 miles @ 7:22 pace, nice cool day out, run didn't go exactly to plan but overall positivie.  The 7:22 pace actually should have been adjusted to more like 7:44 due to the duration of the tempo run which would be over 45 minutes (plan times are based on Jack Daniels).

Anyway, warmup was from my house to the Pinellas Trail.  My warmup pace was slower than usual, didn't think much of it, figured my legs would turn over better after getting warmed up.

Started the tempo portion, heading south down the Pinellas Trail for a little bit then I'd turn around and head north.  The little bit of southbound was to make sure I wouldn't have to cross at the light over Klosterman Road.

I put in effort to get to what I thought would be in the 7:20's but I was stuck pretty solidly at 7:45, trying to speed up made it worse, slowly crept to 7:50.  Stopped and paused for a second to regroup after about 0.4 miles, then got going again.  Still felt stuck, oh well, just put in the effort and don't worry about the pace.  First three miles ended up being 7:44, 7:37, and 7:36.  Ok, did get a little bit better.  I didn't have this problem at the half marathon.

Planned turn around was going to be a little bit north of the old train tunnel, about 3.5 miles.  But, just past the tunnel was greeted by a big orange sign blocking the trail "Trail Closed", took the sidewalk that goes uphill a little bit to Alt 19 (the sidewalk I run down when cutting through Eniswood), I knew I'd lose a little bit of speed going up but could accelerate on the way back down.  Reached the top, turned around, back down the sidewalk, hard left southbound onto the trail.  Pace showed slower going through the tunnel (down to about 7:55), but then momentum caught up, pace dropped and I finished mile 4 at 7:27 (finally sub 7:30!), then I felt good and kept the momentum to get mile 5 at 7:09.  Now I wanted to finish, probably should have aimed for 7:15-7:20 put kept pushing to the end and did mile 6 at 6:56.

Found my gatorade bottle, now covered with ants - brushed them off and headed back towards the house.  After an easy mile, picked it up again and without feeling like the same effort I put in for the 7:44 mile, finished last mile in 7:41.

I think my initial warmup was lacking and a few quick strides at goal pace could have eased into things better.  Not a disciplined run but there was mileage and effort.

4.02 mi, 42:01, 10:27 avg

Week 7,day 3 - short run Wednesday which sometimes turns into "dog jog with Stella" since she loves to run and I have no reason not to take here.

First stop was in front of someone's house. I stopped to clean up and saw a dog off a leash and the owner was standing nearby calmly telling his dog to get inside.  The dog did not move for a while but eventually listened.  It was a big dog, german shepherd with longer fur than the average.  I was a bit nervous.  After the dog went in I talked to the guy for a while about running, marines, the Marine Corps Marathon, dogs, and the Buffalo Bills (he was from Ohio but liked the Bills better than the Ohio teams).  People don't always take the time to talk to their neighbors.

Continued on, out the neighborhood, through the ditch along Trinity Blvd over to the new trail and headed north for a bit until out two miles, then back home but this time with no stops.

According to my whoop band/app I was only 27% recovered from yesterday's run so today was a good day to go slower.

9.02 mi, 1:19:22, 8:48 avg, HR 143 bpm

Week 7, day 4 of the plan, mid-week long/longer run.  Slightly shorter than last week but still a nice 9 miles.   Trying to get done early enough for Jessica to get to an exercise class.  Out and back route from Westlake Village, Alderman, Omaha, cut over to the Pinellas Trail and head north.  Section of trail just past the bridge still blocked off, say hard right up the sidewalk heading from the train tunnel up to Alt 19, then another left onto the road heading to the reclaimed water plant.  4.5 miles took me right up to the gate I could not go past.  Turned around and went back the way I came. 

First mile was 10:14, last mile 7:56, made it back on time.

5.49 mi, 47:37, 8:40 avg

5 miles easy today, from my house, down the trail near Lake Dan, then 6x100m strides using the mysterious 0, 50m, 100m markings on the street.

14.06 mi, 1:55:47, 8:14 avg, HR 156 bpm

Challenging workout/long run, containing long run mileage with 2x4 mi repeats at marathon pace, 1 mile easy between sets.  This type of run is difficult for me, I'm much better at the "fast finish" long run. I have much more trouble picking up the pace early into the run compared to running faster at the end.  So, I probably need more of these.

Left from Westlake Village, starting the run at 6:56 am (had to be done before 9:00), across Alderman, cut through Eniswood to Alt 19.  Made it to two miles just a little bit before where the sidewalk heads down to the trail.  Before reaching the two mile mark, did a couple of short pickups to mentally and physically prepare myself for the shift to 7:51 pace.  Weather was perfect, cold and cloudy (but not cold, would get a little bit of rain on the run).

Headed down the sidewalk, sharp left turn at the bottom and through the train tunnel, did not get my pace down below 8:00 yet (pace a little glitchy going through the short tunnel), but eventually toward the end of mile 3 finally got to the pace and ended the first MP mile at 7:51 (but did not quite feel into the groove yet).  Ticked off the next few miles and picked up a little more pace but was wondering how I was going to finish the next set.

Ran easy for the next mile with the turnaround at the bottom of the Pinellas Trail overpass just north of Curlew, paused a few seconds to take a gel, then got ready to go again.

Got going again but did a little bit better on the next set with 7:41, 7:42, 7:35, and 7:31

Then, three more easy miles home which felt good.  I'm getting back to where I want to be but it is taking some time.  Run was challenging.  Week was pretty challenging with the switch from all easy miles to adding in two workouts (but a cut back in mileage so I'm not doing hard runs and higher mileage at the same time).