The Long Run

8.72 mi, 1:19:15, 9:05 avg, elev gain 218 feet, HR 140 bpm

Out and back run from Westlake Village, out through ths south cut through and over to the Pinellas Trail via Georgia Ave., then headed south to the pedestrian bridge before turning back.

It was a pretty good run, last three miles were in the low 8:00's.

8.06 mi, 1:05:14, 8:06 avg, elev gain 177 feet, HR 153 bpm

Ran from Westlake Village out to the Pinellas trail (about two miles), then ran north on the trail 2 miles, then 2 miles back to the starting area with goal pace of 7:00.  I had trouble locking onto the pace and fell behind a little bit, gained some ground on the second mile, and finally after the turn-around did the last two miles faster.

Paces were: 7:07, 7:01, 6:69, 6:50

As usual, the jog back home after the tempo felt nice.  Weather was really pleasant this morning also.

So, I've got this idea to try and qualify for NYC marathon.  Need a 1:32 or better.  My 5k time predicts something close to that.  Going to see what I can do at the Turkey Trot 5k next week, hopefully something sub-20:00, like 19:50 or so.

But more importantly, can I increase my 7:00 pace tempo distance?  In the past if I can manage a 7:00 tempo pace for 7 miles I've got a good shot at a half marathon at the pace.

7.1 mi, 1:03:20, 8:55 avg, HR 139 bpm

Out and back run from my house to the trail along Lake Dan Preserve and then back.  Nice low 60's (warmed up from 51 earlier in the morning). 10:12 first mile, 7:58 last mile.

I was a little clunky feeling starting out but got into a good groove eventually.  Massage yesterday helped out.

8.38 mi, 1:10:02, 8:21 avg

Ran from my house, out to the Lake Dan trail.  Plan was for 2 mile warm up, 5x1k @4:00 (6:26 pace, 5k goal pace), then about 2 mile cooldown on return trip home.

Weather was really nice, but I wasn't feeling very fast but also didn't want to bag it and give up before starting it.  Even bad workouts at least get better toward the end usually.

I was a little slow on the first repeat, the next two were closer to goal pace but still a little short of goal.  Finally, hit the last two at 6:21 pace.  The 4th one actually felt pretty good, the 5th one was a struggle, was really feeling it in my breathing toward the end.

Run back home was nice.  I should probably add in some more variety.

9.06 mi, 1:22:55, 9:09 avg, elev gain 190 feet, HR 139 bpm

Easy-ish out and back run from Westlake Village over to the Pinellas Trail north to just past conservation park.  Started out feeling kind of sluggish, slowly warming up with first mile at 11:00 pace.  But, I slowly got faster and the second half of the run was in the 8:00's.

Really nice morning out, enjoying the weather.

14.55 mi, 2:01:23, 8:20 avg

Long run, Saturday morning later start than I should have but the weather was pretty decent so it's ok and probably good that I had some extra sleep.

Started out from Longleaf, running up the bike path along Starkey Blvd.  Just under a mile into the run I saw a group of cyclists heading toward me, coming around a curve.  A woman on a bike falls over to the side.  I reach her just as a friend of hers is going to her and I start to ask her if she's ok.  It sounded like she was snoring, not sure what happened.  Her other friends are soon gathered around.  They are asking her questions while someone is calling 911.  She's able to answer her full name but still isn't getting up, in a few minutes I can hear sirens in the distance.  Not needing to be one more bystander, I get going again on my run.

  About 2 miles into the park I stop to refill my water bottle, but the cooler is mostly empty (if you rock it back and forth a few more drops come out).  A woman and her dog also stop at the cooler, I tell her there's no water unless you rock it.  Another woman rides by and calls out "Stellaaaa!".  So, I ask which one was Stella.  The woman is Stella and fortunately she's not offended about me mentioning that I have a dog named Stella.

I'm almost out 7 miles where I'd planned on turning around but I decide to try and go a little farther to the next water cooler, just past the power lines.  There's two serious looking cyclists hanging out at the next one.  No water there either.  One of the guys offers me some of his water but I'm ok, can always get some from the faucet outside the bathrooms.  Ask the guys how far they are riding, I'm expecting to hear some distance between 50 and 100 miles.  Nope, these guys are riding 200 miles today.  They started out down in St. Pete, came up Alt 19, over to this way and plan on riding up to Brooksville, looping around there and then heading back.

Head back from the water stop, back to Longleaf.  Nothing else eventful or noteworthy occurred.  I picked up the pace a bit and ran some miles in the 7:40's and last one at around 7:30.  However, when I had about 4 miles left to go I slowed down a little bit, on purpose as this was supposed to be an "easy" run but had turned into a pace pushing run.

The pace was a little slower than last week, the run a little bit longer but it felt a lot harder.  However this run did cap off a 55 mile week with two mid-week workouts.