It's all relative

PM: 12.5 miles, ~7:15 average.  A bunch of striders at the end spent mostly just racing cars.  

Now, it's time for a short taper!

PM: 4 miles in EL solo and lots of dynamic exercising.

Goose egg.  Time to focus for tomorrow!

BDR Safety Harbor Half Marathon Race Report

What a race.  I was excited to come back and recapture it in words, but I can't really do it justice.   I wanted to break James O's course record today (1:13:48), and expected to be close, but didn't quite expect to have this effort in me.

Race prep: Have done high mileage pretty consistent (for me) and stuck to 5k specific/short rest workouts mostly.  Very short taper this week, really starting on Thursday.  The weather was in the 70s, windy, and sunny- which isn't ideal, but we'll take it here in Florida.

The race: I was expecting it to be just James and myself today, but a guy from England (Stuart) decided to crash the party to race on vacation.  I was feeling good at the start watching my training partner dominate the 10k earlier in the morning, so I took out the race quite fast just to see if someone would call my bluff- I'd never run anything under 5:40 pace of this length.  This guy Stuart called my bluff quite decidedly and took us out even faster.  We were at 10:55 after two miles.  Then we ran a 5:21 mile for mile three.  Ouch.

I was tentative taking the lead back from him as we hit the hills at mile 4, but he had slowed (5:42 pace) and cadence, so I casually took it expecting to not hold it for long- he seemed very strong.  I then dropped it back down once we crested the hill in mile five- 5:31 pace to try and establish control.  From there on out, I was dictating and just tried to focus manage my breathing, cadence, and effort- especially on the hilly sections.  Honestly, the mile I was most worried about was mile 11, which contains the last of a sucky set of hills in the neighborhood.  Fortunately, right after that mile is where the 180-degree turnaround comes for the final 1.75-mile stretch, so I'd be able to gauge the distance from the field.  My lead had grown to about 35 seconds and was growing- Stuart was slightly long striding and noticeably winded.  I'm sure I looked like a real gem myself.  From there I just pushed.  Negatively, I noticeably let my breathing continue to slip a bit and fall off with its consistency, which was a mistake that I need to fix.  I suppose I just get excited getting to that finish line, so I guess it's hard to beat myself up about that.

The finishing bend came- which is an ideal 150 meter stretch for racing.  I was surprised I didn't have a finishing kick in me at the end because of all the work I've been doing at it, but I guess it's different than two weeks ago when no one is hanging on your shoulder.  I crossed the line, broke the tape, and took the record!  Even if the record stands for only a year, it's something I have never done.  Course record.  Very cool.  And the PR is nice.

                     Me-  1:12:33,        Stuart- 1:14:24,         James- 1:14:46

Splits- 5:28, 5:26, 5:21, 5:43, 5:31, 5:27, 5:38, 5:34, 5:29, 5:35, 5:36, 5:39, 5:36, Finish- ~0:30

5:32 average mile, 17:11 5k pace.

AM: 19 miles with a very large group in St. Pete.  Started early with Anthony and Daniel and we went quite slow, not surprisingly- 7:50 average.  Sore, but not bad today.  I appreciated the support from the group today about our runs yesterday.

I also discussed what happened in miles 2 and 3 with Drew and that put me at east a bit.  He mentioned how- as long as you can recover- running a quick mile or two at the beginning won't derail you, but might actually reset your pacing, making it easier to "slow down" in the following miles.  I suppose I felt exactly that but couldn't put it into words yesterday.  It was as if I was getting a break by running 5:30s.  Still, what a weird race yesterday and I don't think I'd like to make that a habit.

PM: ~5 miles then the gym- arms, back, squats, dynamic stretching.

AM: 6 miles solo in EL.  Still sore I suppose, but not bad.

PM: 10 more miles solo in EL.  Very slow ~8:10 pace.

AM: 5x1000, 1x200 with 400 recoveries.  I still don't like the long recoveries, but I guess they have their place.

PM: Track in East Lake.  6x800, 1x200 with alternating 200 and 400 recoveries.  We decided to start at 2:40 and work down in pacing.  We figured we'd start slow and see if our legs were recovered enough from our races on Saturday.  Felt okay.  I really just tried to relax and have good form and a high cadence.  

Splits- 2:39, 2:40, 2:35, 2:34, 2:30, 2:31, 0:38

PM: 10 miles with Anthony ~7:20 pace.  Felt easy, felt much more recovered today.

Late PM: 3 more miles with the team, one of them quite fast pacing our lead guy, ~5:30mile.

AM: Track in SH.  Did not go as planned- messed up my workout.  Was supposed to be 12x400 with descending rest from :90 down to :10 between intervals (with a couple extra at :60 rest).  I accidentally only did 10 of them.  Early mornings don't work well for my brain.  Fortunately, I missed two of the earlier "long" rests, so that is at least a little reassuring being that I was happy with the effort.  Felt good overall.

Splits- 1:15, 1:15, 1:15, oops, oops, 1:14, 1:13, 1:13, 1:14, 1:14, 1:15, 1:16

PM: 7.5 In East Lake, some with Anthony, the rest solo.

PM: 11 miles solo. ~7:30 average.

AM: 13 miles slow in the parks.

AM: Long run in St. Pete.  Eventually had a decent group, but a bunch of late arrivals.  I threw in a progressive tempo in the second half descending from 6:30 down to 5:30/mile pace.  I felt very good today, which is a good sign.

PM: 4 miles then to the gym- arms and back 5x5s ascending

PM: 11 miles solo, ~7:30 pace.

AM: Track- 4x100, 2x200, 2x400, 2x800, 2x400, 2x200, 4x100 with complete recoveries.  Worked on form.  I decided to not bother with splits with a workout coming this evening.

PM: Track again this time with Anthony- Ladder up and down.  400, 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 800, 400.  We gave a controlled effort throughout the workout until the last item.  I felt pretty good on the last item.  200 recoveries after the 4's and 8's, 400 recoveries after the 12s and 16.

Splits- 1:14, 2:33, 3:52, 5:19, 3:53, 2:31, 1:08

PM: Run in Safety Harbor with Anthony and the rest solo before work.  ~7:30 pace.  

AM: 10 miles in Safety Harbor.  

PM: 10 miles, some with Anthony, most were solo in East Lake.  A bunch of striders to mix it up.  ~7:40 average.

AM: 4 miles then to the gym- chest, shoulders, tris, squats, dynamic stretching.  It was a cold morning which was a nice change!

PM: 11 miles, some with Anthony.  ~7:30 avg with 10 striders.

AM: 11 miles total.  Some fast by myself, but most were slow running/talking with some of the newer runners in the group.  

AM: Did a long run with Anthony and we stayed local for once. We did a progressive from 7:30 pace down to 7:10 at the midpoint down to 6:35 or so. This wasn't really a workout, I just personally just wanted a quality long run in the MP+1 range.

On a sadder note, it was wicked humid and mid 70s despite starting at 4:45am... Summer in Florida has come early...

AM: 4 miles then to the gym- arms and back, then a bunch of dynamic exercises.

PM: 6 miles solo.

AM: Track in SH, 9 miles total. Did 2x2miles at 15k pace with 4 minutes recovery. Felt great. PM: Modified workout with Anthony and Chand in East Lake. We did about 9 miles but only about 1.5 miles of speed. Workout was: 4x200, 4x400, 4x200. 

No running.  This was unplanned, but life happens.  

Race Prep- So it looks like I'll have a good shot at the top 10 this weekend at Gasparilla which is cool.  Really, any modest effort will make me happy, as my race recap from last year was as follows: 

"Gasparilla 15k Race Report:  Ran a 54:37, 19th overall.  I'm not impressed with myself or my effort.  I need to work harder.  This felt like the toughest race I've ever done.  I've really blown it this season."

That being said, I will tentatively make a reach goal of 49:55, a 5:21/mile pace.  I'm really unsure how to run this race with my current fitness.  The calculators are suggesting a 50:25 effort, or about a 5:25/mile pace.  I suppose I could also just race and not worry about my pacing, similar to how I started the last half marathon I ran.  If anyone has any input when looking at my recent mileage and efforts, I'd appreciate the input- positive or negative.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AM: 6 miles on the treadmill with striders.

PM: 5 miles easy in East Lake, solo.

AM: A couple of easy miles then some plyometrics.

Gasparilla 15k Race Report

Final time: 50:07         "A" Goal time: sub 50, "B" Goal time: PR- sub 50:44

Weather/course: 70s, high dew point, humid, cloudy, breezy... Florida.  The course was a flat out and back with 1 little bridge.  

The Race: Interesting start.  I was in about 12th at the first mile marker.  Then, without even increasing the pace at all, the runners in front of me just kept falling off.  By the beginning of mile 4, I was handily into 3rd place-  1st and 2nd were long gone by that point.  Anthony was the only one really hanging (as he should be) around.  He was about 3-6 seconds behind me all the way until about mile 7.  I suppose that's the interesting thing about Gasparilla- everyone starts off super fast for really no reason at all.  I guess there is a reason- there was $5,000 in prize money split amongst the top 5 finishers being awarded, so maybe that's it.

The race was pretty lonely from mile 4 onward- just me and a beautiful vista of Tampa Bay.  Going solo made it difficult to pace and push myself.  It also didn't help that the mile markers were not even close to correctly placed, so my splits below are taken from the timing mats.  I was, fortunately, able to check myself correctly on the last mile, which I was happy came in at 5:18.

Results: 1st- 47:27,   2nd- 48:21,    Me- 50:07,  4th (Anthony)- 50:44,   5th- 51:17,    6th- 51:36

Splits: 1st half 25:11 (5:24 pace),  2nd half- 24:56 (5:21 pace).  Totals- 5:22.5 pace, ~16:42 average 5k pace.

Takeaways: I probably should have gone a little faster in the first half.  A negative split of 15 seconds and the decent final mile suggests I had more in me.  I'm still happy with the PR although, and it just means that there's room for improvement.

AM: 17 miles with Anthony.  Slowish, ~7:57 pace.  Lots of dynamic work afterwards.

Noon: 3.5 miles and then the gym- chest, shoulders, tris, dynamic stretching.

PM: Work was cancelled, so I went on a longish run solo.  I felt great.  ~7:40 average.

AM: 10 miles at track in SH.  We ran 2 sets of 3x800s with 200 recoveries and a 400 recovery between each set.  Stuck to 15k pace except for the last two.

PM: 11 miles at track in SH with Anthony.  East Lake was hosting a meet, so we had to slog out to the asphalt track.  Did 3 sets of 6x300s with 100 recoveries, 500 recoveries between the sets.  The workout felt fine- we kept it pretty chill, and I'm mostly recovered from Saturday I'd say.  

Splits- 54, 56, 53, 53, 54, 54,        54, 53, 53, 54, 53, 53,         55, 54, 53, 53, 52, 50