They all can't be "easy" runs.

10.2 slow, ugly miles.Legacy Trail to Colonia. Starting a run at 11:30 am right now is a BAD IDEA. but that's when I had to run. Still sweating.

Same drill as last thursday. Big difference is this run was at 3 pm. A little warmer. 2 mile up. 2x200 @ 75% w/ 200 AR. 4x100 @ >75% w/ 100 AR. 6x50 @ 100% w/ 50 AR. 1 mile down. Times are irrelevant for this purpose. Attempting to use speed to fix form. The kids were very well behaved at the track, so we went swimming right after. Nice.

5.2 Miles. Ringling Bridge. 37:35. 7:14 pace. After yesterday's track work, I have no idea where this came from. Must have been the song I had stuck in my head, that I can never remember the title of:

http://youtu.be/X5eHfn3UWno

5.2 Miles. Ringling Bridge. 38:31. 7:24 pace. Light drizzle for the whole run.  I saw the guy that snaked past me at the finish line of 2 races last year. It kind of fired me up to run. 

Andrea Hits Florida! (Did we do something to Andrea to deserve this?). Also, there are a variety of ways to pronounce "Andrea", and I'm already tired of being corrected. 

Everyone go crazy, and use all of your tropical storm phrases / buzzwords!:  Hunker Down, Spaghetti Model, Cone of Probability, We’re not out Of the Woods Yet, Go Bag, Or (Survival Kit), State Of Emergency, Pounding the Coast, Or (Lashing The Coast), Dodge a Bullet, Storm Surge, Feeder Bands, Storm Front, Low Pressure, El Nino, Eyewall, Water Temperature, Wind Sheer, Coriolis Effect, Direct Hit, Landfall, Doppler. I wonder which catch phrase the newscasters are going to latch onto this year. 2004 was the year of "Hunker Down." Ah, those were good times! 

PM : 7.5 miles. 1:05:18. 8:42 pace. I'm trying to keep the slow ones slow. Every time I felt my speed creeping up, I forced myself to breathe through my nose for a while. That seemed to slow me down. Sounds silly, but it worked. And the "storm seems to be winding down" run was mildly creepy. We have had more rain here in the last 6 days than we usually get in the entire month of June. Make way for the bugs and red tide!

10.2 miles. Legacy trail to Colonia. 1:32:16. 9:03 pace.

Then to the beach with the family for the morning. This is our usual summertime saturday routine - I run early.  I meet spouse and the boys at the beach. We leave the beach at lunch time. I love this season! The barefoot walking in the sand, and the waves are somehow therapy for my legs. We go home early enough that the summer sun doesn't scorch us. These are my favorite days. There were large groups of dolphins out in the gulf today. Some even jumped all of the way out of the water, like you would see at seaworld! I got a late start running today because I didn't want to run in the dark. It's gator mating season, so it's not a good idea to be running down a path in the dark next to a creek by myself right now. There was a 4' gator two doors down in the front yard yesterday. The kids were pretty psyched about that. Lots of wildlife sightings lately.

Junky-ish run, great life!

 2 mile up. 2x200 @ 75% w/ 200 AR. 4x100 @ >75% w/ 100 AR. 6x50 @ 100% w/ 50 AR. 1 mile down. Fairly hot today.

5.2 Miles. Ringling Bridge. 40:41. 7:49 pace. No life-saving breeze today. Wow.

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 35:45. 7:46 pace. Muggy. Weatherman says "Feels like 101 degrees." 

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 34:56. 7:36 pace. The Heat Miser turned down the temps by the slightest bit today. So, I had a chance to run a little quicker. No running Friday. I'm going to catch up on sleep. I have a work schedule change next week, so my weekly routine will go away for a week. I don't know why I'm telling all of you this. It's not like this kind of news requires a "brace yourself" post! I'm hoping that the work schedule change will allow me to sleep better, and run more. Next week is an experiment, of sorts. 

12.9 miles. Legacy Trail to Venice Ave. 1:51:10. 8:37 pace. The way out was miserable, hot and muggy. Even at 6 am. I turned around at halfway, and the sky was black. I didn't realize a storm was following me. Relief! Driving rain and puddle running on the way home. I ran the second half @ 5 minutes faster than the first half. The rain stopped almost entirely at the run finish. Then we spent the rest of the morning at the beach again. Good day.

5.5 Hood route. 40:22. 7:20 pace. Started the run at 10:45pm. 10 degrees cooler than most of my recent runs. Ran in the new Father's Day shoes the family bought me. (they have good taste). I ran without a shirt. WAY outside of my comfort zone, over here!

I missed Running Sunday. I wanted to get that speed work in, but just couldn't find the time. Plus, it was killing me not to run the new shoes. I have been taking Tuesdays off recently, but I'm considering working in a run tomorrow. It will be tricky. We'll see.

p.s. I passed a sign on the side of the road that said "GARGE SALE" That made me chuckle.

3.5 miles. Hood Route. 30:54. 8:50 pace. 

7.5 Miles. Hood Route to Legacy Trail. 58:32. 7:48 pace. 
11 pm - midnight run. Constant pace throughout. Shirtless run #3. Given where I am mentally and physically right now, I feel pretty good about this one. 

3.5 miles. Hood Route. 28:03. 8:01 pace. 4 pm start. buggy.

10.2 miles. Legacy Trail to Colonia. Ugly RUNFAIL. 5:30 am start. I had to walk / run on the way home. Legs felt tlike lead.

10.2 miles. Legacy Trail to Colonia. 1:20:29. 7:53 pace. 6:30 pm start. I considered doing the speed stuff, but I felt like I needed to redeem myself from yesterday's blowup.

Now watching Nik W. That place looks windy. The "belly cam" on the website is BANANAS!

5.2 Miles. Ringling Bridge. 39:04. 7:31 pace. 5:30 pm start. Hot winds. This was...

work. 

 Track-form-fixing workout. 6 pm start. 2 mile up. 2x200 @ 75% w/ 200 AR. 4x100 @ >75% w/ 100 AR. 6x50 @ 100% w/ 50 AR. 1 mile down. I do the form drills (buttkicks, etc.) while I warm up. I have done this for every one of these track sessions. I think it's making a difference. Yes, it was hot and humid, as usual. But today, becuase of all the rain in the last week, I got to run through swarms of gnats! My chest / face / arms were covered by the end of the run. Then I had to go to church to pick up the boys from VBS. I guess I did a bad job of wiping off the bugs. The pastor had questions about the gnats. I don't think he understood my answers.

They might have a prayer request for me this Sunday.

4.6 miles. Ringling Bridge. 36:51. 8:01 pace. 5:30 pm start.

5.2 Miles. Ringling Bridge. 39:41. 7:37 pace. 5:30 pm start.

12.9 miles. Legacy Trail to Venice Ave. 1:50:40. 8:35 pace. 6:30 am start.

10.2 miles. Legacy Trail to Colonia. 1:20:39. 7:54 pace. 2:45 pm start.