The Long Run

17.71@10:36  HR 131 bpm

After yesterday's strenous but not long enough run to be a long run, looking for some more miles today.  Yesterday was rain, today was wind.  The wind was very strong and wasn't sure how long it would be strong.  My dad had just called me worried about the water level near his house - there was a coastal flooding advisory but it had just expired, the worst of it was over with no actual flooding near him.

Decided to just tuck in, get in at least a few miles then re-evaluate.  I headed up Belcher Rd to Klosterman, turned left and then crossed once it was safe so I wouldn't get stuck at the Alt19 traffic light.  Turned right and headed north up the Pinellas Trail and soon was in and out of Tarpon Springs, then the trail turns to the east.  Wanted to try that spur that goes north to Anclote but the sign and fence said closed so I stuck to the main trail.  Kept going, under 19, then the trail turned south for a little bit where I could feel a tailwind, then east again up and over the Keystone "mountains", then finally turned back.  (oh, forgot, I did have one stop on this run at the public restroom near the Tarpon Tavern.  Other than that was steady 5/1 run/walk).

After the turnaround, and the trail heading south, had some tailwind but the wind was also dying down.  Kept straight on the trail when I reached Klosterman and kept going to Palm Habor's little downtown area and finally stopped just past Stilthouse Brewery.

Called Jessica for a ride, she came by with Jacob and the baby and had lunch at a local wing place.  Wings later that day did not sit well later that day.

Also later that day, we had an old (but not too old) unstuffed bear from Build a Bear which someone had given to Aubrey.  Since she's past the bear phase we gave it to the baby and let her watch as they stuffed it with fluff and we picked out a few small accessories.

Walked 2.11 miles.

For the first time in I'm not sure how long did not do a birthday run.  Last few days were pretty solid and challenging so today was an off day, just walking.

Met up with family in the evening for dinner.  Unfortunately the place that I picked, Brick Oven is closed on Mondays despite what google maps told me so we ended up at Zim Zari, was a nice dinner.  Due to the mix up and the extra wait for a table, Tom was not able to stay for dinner but brought me a nice gift.  Also had there Jessica's parents, my parents, and the rest of the kids.

6.02@10:37    HR 145 bpm

Not sure why heart rate so much higher today, didn't feel any harder.  Met up with Cynthia at Longleaf, have not run with her in quite a while.  Happened to run into Jenny so she ran her warmup mile with us before heading off to her workout.  Good catching up with Cynthia, weather a little chilly but pretty nice once warmed up.

4.32@10:06  HR 127 bpm

Loop and a half inside Westlake Village, no Wednesday night run tonight, going to eat out with customers after work.  Heart rate back to normal for the pace today.

6.43@8:37  HR  149 bpm

Did the garmin suggested workout, I usually skip this particular one, it's 15 seconds sprints, three sets of 3.  Lots of rest between each one (3 minutes) and more rest between the sets (5 minutes). Supposed to be 4:35 pace, which I don't think I've ever hit.  I have gone sub 5:00 on a treadmill if it goes that fast.  Today I did have one sprint that was like 4:40.  Apart from these very short sprints, the rest of the run was at a faster than my usual easy pace.

Workout was at least different than what I usually do.  Not sure if this was any more beneficial than doing like 9 or 10 strides at the end of an easy run vs having these 9 spaced out evenly within an otherwise somewhat easy run.

5.21@9:43 HR  132 bpm

A couple of loops inside Westlake Village, going a little bit faster and mostly keeping heart rate low enough but let it creep up, run felt really good.

Will do some big miles tomorrow to wrap up the week.

31.34@10:18   HR 144 bpm

Able to get one more big run in.  Did not set out with definite goal but wanted at least 25 miles, then figured why not make it a marathon distance which turned to might as well go for 50k. 

Left from Palm Harbor, heading north up Belcher, then left on Klosterman then over to the Pinellas Trail heading north and kept on going past US19, along Keystone, across Eastlake, some more on Keystone then north up the Starkey Gap Trail across SR54 and onto Starkey Blvd.  Stopped at the bike shop for a can of Celsius and a honey stinger gel.  Probably should've refilled water, but seemed ok at the time.

Up until mile 13, heart rate was in 120's or a little into the low 130's.  Mile 13 was still at 135, so still mostly easy.

After that I became less disciplined, slowly was getting a little faster each mile.  After the Celsius was going even faster.  Still felt really good.  Kept going up Starkey Blvd and into park.  Got off the pavement for a little bit and then back onto the bike trail running by the planets and a little past Pluto (planets cover 1 mile), turned around and then stopped at the bike parking lot bathroom.  Refilled water at fountain but pressure was low, so a little bit slow filling.

Was at 25 miles when leaving that stop, hit the marathon distance, still feeling good.  After crossing SR54 and back on the Starkey Gap trail picked up the pace for a strong finish.  Hit the 50k mark and a little past that then ended the run and decided to walk the last mile in.

That walk turned out to be more difficult than I thought it would be.  Stopped in at Escape Brewery.  Filled up water bottle and ordered a wheat beer (supposed to be good for recovery).  The beer did not help, was not enjoyable so got up and paid, walked outside and didn't make it too far until I had to stop and throw up.  Haven't done that in a while and not sure if I've ever done that because of a run (came close after some 5ks).  Felt better after that, walked slowly to my house and took a nap while waiting for Jessica to come pick me up.   Stella came in the room and brought me a stuffed elephant to play with which I declined.

Stopped at Grain and Berry for a bowl, that hit the spot.  Was originally going to go out and finish up shopping but did not.  Watched Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer with the baby.  She liked it except for the snow monster.  She hid under the blanket a couple times when it showed up.