The Long Run

It was good to feel like I was back in a routine today.  Went to the Y, warmed up on the bike followed by some stretching and ab work.  4.2 miles on the treadmill at about an 8:05 average pace before heading outside.  Beautiful morning in the high 50's.

Ran another 5.8 miles @ 7:28 average pace.

When I went to bed last night I thought that maybe I would miss another run due to a worsening sore throat and the general feeling of coming down with something.  Woken up at 12:00 and 2:00 by my son who was also not feeling well.  Miraculously, whent the alarm went off just after 6:00 the sore throat was gone and I felt better for the most part.  I'm hoping to shake this all later this week so I can feel fresh next week for the taper.

Ran with Jenny this morning on our usual routes.  Nice and cool morning for running.  Felt pretty good still after yesterday's run with the exception of my right foot which is fluctuating between maybe getting better and staying the same.

Towards the end the run was starting to feel "long" which is not a good feeling.

Average pace: 8:50

Soaked in the pool for a little bit which is now starting to resemble an ice bath (although not quite) as I don't have the heater turned on.  Partially to save money and partially so I can soak my legs after a run.

I think it is time to start to do some tapering.  Less than 10 mile runs until Saturday when I'll do 12 or 13.

Ran with Jenny again this morning.   She had 10 on her schedule but I started out thinking I would do 9.  When she saw me stretching at a water stop she suggested I cut back to 7.5 miles, so I said ok, why not.   Run went pretty well.  It was another very pleasant morning.  I wore shorts and short sleeves but could have gotten away with sleeveless and still been fine.

We split off at the neighborhood we started using as an add-on and I went directly towards home.  When I got close to our house I was at 7.6 miles so I went a little bit past it to get to 8 miles.  Soaked in the pool afterward, feel pretty good.  Glad I cut back a little bit.

Average pace: 8:42

Ran with Jenny on her set of 1600's which she had to do at 7:28 for each one.  Like before, I did the first 1200 with her and the last 400 I sped up (although I had debated as to doing this or just staying with her).  We warmed up with an easy 2 miles then got started.  Run felt pretty good and when it was time to speed up I was happy to find that I could still go faster when I needed to.  Jenny did great and finished each of her splits a bit ahead of pace with the last one at 7:08.

Cooled down with 1.5 miles back to the house.  I felt pretty good afterward also, maybe not 100% but pretty close.

Average pace: 8:32

Easy paced run this morning and a little bit shorter also.  It was cool but very humid with a bit of fog reminding me of the 5K I did last December.  Ran with Jenny for 4.5 miles before I turned around and headed home.  I didn't speed up very much for the last 1.5 miles, body didn't feel like moving quickly, just saving it up for the race I suppose. 

Average pace: 8:42

I go a bit longer tomorrow to finish off the week.

After work, we drove down to St. Petersburg for the packet pickup for Jenny's half-marathon on Sunday.  We ran into David at the expo who was picking up 12 race packets for many of the Striders.  He mentioned that Boston was sold out already, I thought he joking but it soon became apparent that he was not.  Kind of a bummer, although it does take some pressure off Jenny and also one less trip we would need to fit into a pretty busy schedule.

I managed to finish a pretty good week of training after missing most of the last two weeks so that was a pretty good accomplishment.  I had a plan of doing somewhere between 10 and 13 miles this morning with the return trip as a fast finish.  I didn't go out of my way to wake up extra early since I didn't have any specific meeting plans with other people, the weather was going to be good and it wasn't a super long run.

I ended up getting to Starkey park at almost 6:30 and for the first time ever had to park in a different parking lot since the one right next to the trail entrance was already filled up.  Almost everyone had left already.  I saw Karen and Alpana heading out to walk Karen's dogs.  I headed out with them and when I got to the main trail I saw Eudair.  It was pretty unlikely to see her at that exact time.  I sometimes go months without running into her but have seen her a few times these past few weeks.  She was going to be doing over 20 miles but it was good to have the company for the 5.5 miles I'd be going out before heading back.  At about 5 miles I saw a bunch of the other Striders heading back from various assorted lengths (I'm guessing anywhere from 13 to 18 miles).

 After turning around, I started to pick up some speed and once I was at the 6 mile point decided to pick it up to what should have been about a 7:00 pace.  I ended up going a bit faster than that for all but one of those miles and averaged about 6:45.  It was good to know that I could still pick it up when I needed to.

Cooled down after the fast miles to get back to the parking lot.  The left leg felt great the whole way and afterward also, however the right foot was maybe a little bit worse.  I'll need to do the best I can with it this next week before the marathon.

Average pace: 7:27

Chatted with a bunch of the Striders at the social hour before heading home.  It was a great morning for running and gives me some hope for next week.