It's all relative

AM: Track in Safety Harbor.  The workout was 11x400, 1x600 all with a quick 200 recovery.  I told everyone beforehand it was time to buckle down and get serious with our workouts.  This workout would be run until failure.  If you failed 2 items in a row, that was it- can the workout.  No dogging recoveries, water breaks, or walking.  It seemed like they bought in.  Seemed as if it would be difficult to break them of habits, so I didn't really have many expectations.  I held the same expectations for myself, although I knew deep down I wanted 100m recoveries, but that time will come.

Splits (400s)- 1:15, 1:15.3, 1:14.7, 1:13, 1:14.5, 1:13.5, 1:14.4, 1:13.7, 1:13.7, 1:12.7, 1:13.4

(600)- 1:53.6

I nailed this workout.  I wanted them all sub 1:15 (5-minute pace), and having just running hard 2 days ago, I'm happy with this outcome.  3.1 miles at sub 5:00 pace... that's exciting to see.  I felt very strong, even on the last one and the form held.  Breathing got serious, but still didn't empty the tank completely. 

PM: 8 miles with Anthony, 7:20 pace.  I don't know why.

Late PM: 3 more miles with the group.

AM: Tempo run in Safety Harbor.  Ran marathon pace on mine however.

PM: 2 miles and then the gym- chest, tris, abs, dynamic stretching.

PM: 4 miles solo in East Lake.

Honeymoon Island Half Marathon Race Report

Received a free race from a local race director with a couple of hundred people and decided to run it.  Did okay.  No one really there to run against except Jeremy R, but he doesn't really train anything past the 5k distance, so he finished well back in second at around 1:23:30.  Fun race on the trail (even though you loop it twice which is tiring) and got to hang out with some people afterwards.  I can't say that I shut it down at the end, but I definitely didn't push myself hard the last 4+ miles.  

Splits: 5:55, 5:44, 5:40, 5:39, 5:36, 5:45, 5:41, 5:44, 5:49, 5:57, 5:57, 6:00, 6:00, 0:29

AM: 2 miles and gym- arms, back, abs, dynamic stretching.

PM: 2 miles and then the gym- chest, tris, shoulders, abs, dynamic stretching.  Really am starting to get the hang of this method of lifting.

AM: Track in Safety Harbor. The workout was 2 sets of 8x300 with 100 jog recoveries.  Kept everything at 0:53-0:56 which is about 5:00/mile pace down to 4:48/mile pace.  Felt good and held my form well again.  Could have pushed harder, but the high cadence practice and good form were the real goals today which I achieved.  

PM: 11+ miles at around 7:30 pace solo in East Lake.  I felt bouncy/very good.   

AM: Track in Safety Harbor.  Workout was 5:00, 4:00, 3:00, 2:00, 1:00 with half-time recovery jogs.  Went well, no specific speed/effort goals, just went on feel for the time I needed to reach.

PM: Run with Anthony in East Lake then gym- arms, abs, and back.  Also did dynamic stretching.

PM: Warmup run and then gym- chest, tris, shoulders, dynamic stretching.  Moved up in fly and press.  Revamped dips a bit by changing it to 12 reps with quick recovery, which seemed to work the tris a lot better.  Next, I'll lower the rep count/increase the sets but keep the fast recovery.

Planned day off.

Brass Tap Half Marathon, Ozona, FL Race Report

Course/weather: 2 loop course with lots of turns and I would say that it's a short course.  4 bridge repeats.  Two 180s.  Muggy/wet day in Florida, but the temperature wasn't bad- 70s and little sun.

Prep: No preparation for this race, just low mileage this week.  This is my third half marathon in 14 days with 3 high effort workouts mixed into that.

Goal: 1:15:30.  Actual time: 1:14:29 

Race: Start line- Two old school/prominent local names joined me in the race today- James O. and Josh R. who have been winning races since before I ran my first mile ever, so it was cool to line up next to them at such a tiny race in the middle of nowhere.  Figured we'd start out together and team up.

Miles 1-8: were slow and uneventful- 5:44 average but my splits were all over the place. Only Josh and James decided to stay within a minute of me and neither decided to challenge, which wasn't ideal- I could've used the help to zone out for a bit.  Plus it's nice to have someone there.

Miles 9-finish: I did the math at the mile 9 marker as I was slogging up the last bridge and figured Josh wouldn't be able to catch me even if I had a catastrophic meltdown, however, James was ~58 seconds back and running about 5:40 pace with some swagger.  I figured I'd drop to 5:40 averages and be pragmatically mindful of his gains as he's the last guy you want to give confidence too.  He is a stud racer.  I determined he'd pretty much have to close with 5:28/mile pace if I stuck to 5:40 to have a chance to get me so I liked my plan.  So, I just decided to hold it.  And hold it I did- 5:40 average the rest of the way.

James never really tried to gain so I held even for the last two miles just for my overall confidence.  I definitely pushed at the end but never felt as if I was out of control.  Breathing switch from 3/2 down to 2/2 and that coincided with a cadence drop from 182 to 179 which doesn't seem like much but we all know that means I was gassing.  

                                                                                   
    Place    Name   Gun Time    Chip Time      Pace  
      1    Me      1:14:29.7   1:14:29.7      5:41/M         
      2    James   1:15:52.4   1:15:52.4      5:47/M         
      3    Josh    1:19:55.9   1:19:55.9      6:06/M

Fun race and got to meet another member of the blog afterward!  Mark was gracious enough to say hello to me at the race and hang out with a couple of the other friends I made/had there.  I appreciated that.  Fifth overall for Mark.

Worked all day

AM: Track in Safety Harbor.  Workout was- 8x800 with 200 recoveries between every item or 400 recovery after every three.  Splits- 2:36, 2:33, 2:31, 2:31, 2:31, 2:33, 2:36, 2:35

Not so happy with the splits, but happy I got 4 quality miles in.

PM: 2 miles and then gym- arms, back, abs, and dynamic stretching

PM: 10 miles, mostly with Anthony in East Lake.  Fun conversations.

Late PM: 2.5 more with the team in SH.

AM: Track in Safety Harbor.  The workout was- 2x3200 with 5 minutes jog recovery in between.  Nothing special for times and legs were noticeably tired.

Day off.  Not really planned, but it's okay, I have a long and challenging workout planned tomorrow.

AM:  Solo long run/workout in East Lake.  Didn't want to do this workout solo, but I knew I had the fitness for it, so it was more just... doing it.

Workout- 4 x 3 miles starting at mile 4 of the long run.  All repeats were sub 17:55 which was nice to see, especially during miles 16/17/18.  

On a lesser note, it's nice to learn that running long & fast every weekend would be so beneficial with lower mileage.  I did not expect that.  I suppose I've always learned from high volume/slower pace guys, but I much prefer the speed of the runs during this training window.  Much more fun. 

Ireland- no running

Ireland- no running

Ireland- no running

Ireland- no running

PM: Track in freaking Ireland!  Finally- a place with sidewalks AND a tinder track.  Took a week to find sidewalks.  Sidewalks.  Crazy.  People looked at me like I was a weirdo for running which was kind of sad.  Did alternating 400s and 800s with alternating 200 and 400 recoveries.  Weather wasn't too bad- Upper 40s, cloudy/partly sunny.

Ireland- no running

Griffeen Ireland Parkrun, Dublin, Ireland

So, not really a "race" but my first parkrun.  I had signed up about a year ago with hopes of trying out the one near Orlando, but it's just too far/early for a 5k run.  However, found myself in Dublin 3 miles from the nearest parkrun, so decided to try it out.  The people were incredibly friendly and welcoming, so that was nice to see.  To be honest, I was just happy to see people being active and outside.  Seemed like no one bikes/runs/exercises very much in that country, so I was happy to see almost 200 runners for a local timed weekly 5k.  

I had no idea how to run the course, so I had to stay back for the first loop with the second place guy just to get directions, but it didn't take away from the fun at all.  In the end, I just wanted to do it- no matter the time.  I wish I was here another week although- I'd go right for their course record.

Ireland- no running

PM: Back in the states.  Did a steady state at slightly slower than marathon pace.  Just felt like running fast I suppose.  Very dehydrated from all of the flying back from Ireland.  Nice to see Florida is as humid as ever...

AM: Track in Safety Harbor.  Workout was- 4x100 with 100 recoveries, 4x300 w/ 100 rec, 3x500 w/ 300 rec, 4x300 w/ 100 rec, 5x100 w/ 100 recoveries.

PM: 2 miles at the gym with chest, tris, shoulders, abs, and dynamic stretching.  Happy to be back in there!

PM: Slow roll with Anthony, then a meeting with Celia at mile 9.5 followed by a very short run home.  Still feeling quite jet-lagged and sore from I assume the plane rides.