It's all relative

PM: track. Safety Harbor this time with Cory and Tyler.

Workout was 400s. 5x400, 4x400, 5x400 with 200 active recovery between items and 400 between sets. Figured we'd start at 5:20 pace and work down from there. Tyler only lasted a pair of them, but Cory hung in for the first 10, and the last one which was awesome. Tyler will be there shortly, I'm sure, as a college runner a couple of months removed with a 9:30 two-mile on record. I'm incredibly excited for our winter track workouts now.

Splits:

Set 1- 1:17, 1:17, 1:18, 1:16, 1:19

Set 2- 1:16, 1:17, 1:18, 1:16

Set 3- 1:10, 1:10, 1:10, 1:10, 1:06

Felt really good about the last set. Reached a little too far into the tank for the 1:06 which I will regret Thursday.

PM: Ran mostly on trail/boardwalk today.  Nice change.

Side note- had a phenomenal day of teaching.  I was just really into it today.  Normally I get very excited and into it, because it makes my students wicked excited, but today was different.  I just had so many positive interactions today that I've been on a real high.  I managed to wane every negative situation and parlay that hedged bet into a positive rapport that hopefully is the basis of some great relationships to come.  

PM: first day of coaching running! (Coaching adults, anyway)

PM: Trail & sidewalk run.  

AM: 8 incredibly slow miles.  Longer night runs followed by morning runs are not the most fun.  Note.  To.  Self.

PM: 

AM: 20 mile running reunion in St. Pete with a split tempo planned.  Starting at the beginning of mile 8, we dropped the pace down to around 6:54 average (over the course of the next 4 miles), mostly unbeknownced to my running mates.  Then after some quick water, I finished that up and got Sean to sign on to a 6-mile tempo aiming at 6:15 averages.  Hunter ended up joining for a couple and then both eventually dropped out at the beginning of mile 5.  Selfishly I wish they had stayed, but I luckily found a nice groove.  Ended with a 6:14 average which was nice to see.  

What a great run- the miles flew by.  Talking with Sean, Drew, some new girl, and Christina for most of the run was wonderful.  I felt very thankful to be around such a great group of people and friends.  I really can sense some incredibly things for this group in the next couple of years, as long as we stay dedicated.  

PM: The Beer Mile!

This was a random discussion on Tuesday during trivia night with my friends where I mentioned and 2 of them were interested.  I then gauged some of my running buddies who I knew were drinkers, and fortunately found some more interest.  So, I planned the private event for Sunday afternoon at 5, and at one people 10 runners were planned.  Eventually only 6 toed the line, but we did have a couple of spectators.  

The course: a 0.25 mile loop around a pond in Clearwater.  Had to find a place away from children and schools... so my options were limited.  This actually ended up being PERFECT.  Interesting course with some weird curves, perfect spot to place beer bottles, and trash cans readily available to throw them out so we didn't litter anything.  The course was surprisingly accurate, and if anything, slowed our overall times because of the curvature.

The rules: Drink a full 12-oz light beer, dump the rest over your head upside down to show it's empty, run a loop.  Repeat 3 more times.  If you vomit at any point or spit the contents, you must run an extra lap that will be added to your time.

The field: 

Me- Was worried since I had a long, strenuous run in the morning whether this was a good idea at all to even attempt.

Alvaro- One of the fittest of the bunch.  Consistent runner, but not sure about his drinking ability coming in- wild card on his beer chugging abilities.  Sub 5-minute miler.

Cory- I thought probably the best drinker in the bunch.  Great sprinter- sub 56 second speed per 400m, so I figured the "drinking breaks" would help him.  Former sub 5-minute miler.

Tyler- Former College track/cross country runner in college.  Good drinker, not sure if he could chug beer.  He hasn't run much since the spring, but he is also a former sub 5-minute miler.

Devin- The only girl brave enough to go for it.  Automatically wins the women's title.  :D

Charles- The tallest, strongest of us all.  Great, consistent runner, and certainly a good drinker.  Thought he would do the best at holding onto the beer and running good times.

The race: With a storm rolling in, we decided we had to start at around 5:20 after about 20 minutes of prep.  I felt bad (sorry Jim!) that a good friend of mine had gotten stuck in some traffic and was still a couple of minutes out, but I had everyone just kind of waiting around, so I just decided to start.  We all started with a beer in hand and the timer began after a small countdown from me.  Unfortunately, Charles had snuck out to help his son with something, and we started accidentally without him (I swear!), so I had to split off a 15 second time for him, as it took that long to get back over and start on his beer, and made a mental note to keep him updated on this.

Beer 1/Lap 1: It was a decent first lap.  Tyler destroyed everyone with the first beer chug with Alvaro and I right behind and we all came in to lap 2 pretty much together.  Cory had already vomited from chugging too quickly and was pretty much just leaving the start line, which made us laugh a bit.  Sorry Cory.  Before beer 2 got much under way, Charles came in and began on beer 2 within 12-13 seconds, meaning he was up 2-3 seconds on the 3 of us.  Lap 2 was rough.  I was already full.  I honestly had no idea where the other 2 beers were going to fit.  The running was surprisingly the easy part, just with a lot of burping.  Beer 3 had Alvaro and I were even again, and Charles rolling in still about 2 seconds ahead of us.  I think he mistook this to mean he had lost time, so he really started going after that beer, so I just decided to take huge gulps and pray it stayed down, which gave me my first lead as I dripped foam onto my head and took off with Alvaro right on me.  Beer 4 was rough.  I really thought I was going to vomit on it as I picked it up.  Alvaro and I glanced at it disgustedly.  Where I was going to fit it I had no idea.  I took one sip and honestly couldn't swallow, so I just sat there for 5 seconds.  Alvaro and I were on the same page I think, and just decided to go for it- hoping not to throw it up.  A couple of huge gulps later, I dumped the empty bottle over my head and took off.  After about 50m, Alvaro's quick cadence quickly caught my attention in my ears and I decided to sprint hard the next 150m and hoped he backed off, since I didn't have much left.  Fortunately, I kept a good clip somehow the rest of the way, and pulled in a couple of seconds ahead of him.

Final rounded times (adjusted for Charles too) from my watch splits, now that I had time to read them all and do the math-

1) Mike- 7:18

2) Alvaro- 7:25

3) Charles- 8:25 (adjusted for start split)

4) Tyler- 9:43 (penalty lap included)

5) Devin- (approx) 30:00

6) Cory- (approx) 35:00? (Penalty lap included)

Final Thoughts: 10/10 would do this again.  Felt terrible, as it progressed, but it is something I'll never forget doing.  Great people great time.  Next time- I'll invite all of my run buddies, make sure the alcohol is 5% (we had Bud light, which is 4.2% I think), and have a designated arrival and start time closer to each other.  Say, 15 minute apart.  Also, no ice or coolers were actually needed, cold water bottles are a must, and available trash cans are as well.  Lastly, demonstrate the dump the empty beer on the head rule before starting.  

PM: 4 miles on the treadmill and tris, chest, shoulders

PM: Track workout in Safety Harbor with Cory and Tyler.  We did a ladder and stayed pretty moderate.  Cory stayed with me or led me for almost all of it except for the final 3 items, which was awesome to see.

The workout- FULL ladder up & down: 100, 200, 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 1200, 600, 400, 200, 100, with active recovery in between items- 200 between short items, 400 after the three long ones.  I treated the first two and last two items like striders, and intentionally kept a 5:20-5:30 pace for the rest of the items.  Felt strong.

Busy at work.  No running.

AM: Track workout in Safety Harbor.  

Workout was 4 x 1200 with 400 active recovery in between items.  kept them all in between 5:35-5:40 pace per mile.  My goals were to stay in the LT and focus on form.  This was a good workout to practice the little things as it was not taxing at all.

Feeling ready for Sunday's 10k, but I have been busy and on my feet and running around all week, and that looks to continue, so who knows how I'll feel on the actual morning.  

PM: Had fun this afternoon.  Really should have taken it slower with a race coming up in a less than 2 days, but I just was thankful to run today.  This has been a long week.  In the end, having fun is what matters.

AM: Coached this morning, then went on a little jaunt into the thunder/lightning before calling it quits.  Never did end up raining much at all although.

AM: After a good warmup, I took to the start line.  This is surprisingly a tough course for being in Florida (no real hills).  Lots of weird turns, U-turns, 90 degree turns, turns while switching surfaces, and the end allows for NO speed since you have to zig-zag a parking lot.  Needless to say, I should be happy with the result, but I'm not.  

The 10k left with the 5k group, so I decided to go out at around 5:28-5:30 or so.  After about 2.5 miles, I was breathing relatively okay, but there wasn't anyone behind me, and the ones that were within 20-30 seconds were guys doing the 5k, so after looking back after the turn off, I just relaxed into a slower pace.  I wasn't really happy with myself for this, but in the moment I couldn't talk myself out of it.  Disappointed in my effort today.

Splits-

Mile 1- 5:26

Mile 2- 5:26

Miles 3 to 6.2- Averaged between 5:40 and 5:50s.

PM: Slow run in Tarpon Springs.  I've never had more bugs stuck to me in my life.  Got a funny cat call today though.  She yelled, "you look wet!"  I'm not sure what that means...

PM: Workout in Safety Harbor with Tyler and Cory.  This was a really fun take on a workout.  I stole the idea from a workout I saw and just added some competition to it.  There were 10 items with like rest in between each.  The items ranged from one minute to four minutes.  The fun part was at the "halfway" mark (meaning 2 minutes on a 4 minute interval) you would turn around on the track and race to the start line.  

You would earn 1 point for being in the lead at the turn around, and 2 points for being the first to cross the start line.  With some tweaking, this is a great way to incorporate every runner in my opinion.  It was perfect since our fitness between the three of us isn't equivalent yet.

Final tallies:

Me- 14 points, Cory:10 points, Tyler: 6 points

Loved this workout, and we all worked hard at strategizing and during each item (which is key for making it beneficial.)

No running today.  

Will be at work from 7am until 8:30pm...  I'm not happy about my efforts lately making room for my running.  I hate when training wanes like it is doing right now.  I feel so much weaker as a runner in this mileage.

PM: 17 miles.  Ran with Cory and Tyler for about 10 miles and the miles flew by.  Then a storm rolled in so track was "cancelled" with the run group.  Fortunately, a few crazies decided that they weren't afraid of no ghosts- I mean rain- and wanted to run a couple anyway.  So I tacked on some more miles.  

Interestingly, the night should have been over, but I then had an impromtu business meeting at a wine bar that my fellow coaches asked me to.  That was odd to have and unexpected.  But certainly an experience- particularly in wet clothes.  Then 10:00pm rolled around and a group of my younger friends in their early 20s wanted to play some ultimate frisbee in the pool, so I went over there and had a ton of fun.  Felt like college a bit again and it was nice having fun and hanging out in the hot tub afterwards.  Then that went on until midnight, and then for some reason I got roped into going to the beach.  That turned into 2:30am (and a lost towel and sandals), and I finally made my way back home by 3, just in time to wake up at 7:00am and start a new day.  Oh to be young.  Particularly when I'm not young anymore.  

PM: 10 quick miles after school.  A pair of children drove me crazy this afternoon, so it was much needed.  I needed the miles to relax that out of me.

Early AM- 4:45 start.  7 miles with Dow and company, around 9:45 pace.

Late AM- 6 mile run with the new run group.  Wasn't planning on running, but I can't say no.  Had just drank a giant load of coffee, so it was an interesting experience for 6 miles.

AM: Clearwater over all 3 major bridges with Quint, Cory, and the Drew.  Didn't do as many as I would have liked, but happy I did them,

PM: 4 miles on the treadmill, then chest, tris, and shoulders.

PM: Track in St. Petersburg.  Drew and I knocked around the idea of 800s, so I had my heart set on them all day.  I was late, so I was thankful for everyone waiting to begin.  Workout was: 2 sets of 4x800s with 200m recovery between items and one 400m between the two sets.  I ended up adding two extra 800s afterwards with Cory to help him along to get to the ten 800s/5 miles.

Set 1- 2:29, 2:31, 2:30, 2:30

Set 2- 2:30, 2:31, 2:35, 2:33

With/pacing Cory- 2:38, 2:27

Overall, pretty happy with a 2:31 average for them, especially with the short rest.  This was an important workout to me, so I'm happy I hit some good times.  Good cooldown with Jim, Cory, and Tyler afterwards.  I gave Jim my copy of "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer", which I think he will either really enjoy, or find incredible ridiculous.  Time will tell... I told him that another famous person makes a cameo in the text, so hopefully Edgar Allen Poe gets him into it.

PM: Treadmill and then gym workout: 5x5 with biceps, back, traps, lats.  Short and quick.  I really think 20 minutes is sufficient for the weight training and I like it since it goes so fast if I know my plan for each set.  Happy I'm (maybe?) back at it.

PM: Fartlek with Cory.  I had actually planned on doing a tempo, but I would've been solo, so this worked out better.  We introduced some body weight activities halfway in to simulate some tough mudder stuff.  Was a fun way to break it up, but man was I tired at the end.

PM: Another 1.75 miles with the group as the rain rolled in.

PM: 5 Miles

AM: 7 Miles with the group

No running.  Trapped my car at Weedon Island for the night, and missed the morning run, then got tied up for the day.

AM: 6 miles, then gym: tris, chest, shoulders

PM: 7 miles

AM: Track workout in Safety Harbor in the rain.

Workout was: 1200, 2x400, 800, 4x200, 600, 3x200 with 200 recovery between items.  Kept the paces for the first item at 10k pace, then 5k, for the next 3, then 3k for the next 5, then mile pace for the final three.  

Not the workout I wanted to run, but the group was doing it, so I just joined.

PM: Slow slog in some shitty weather.  Yey...