Liftoff

AM: 6 miles. Family run to Northshore Park. Usual routine pushing the jogging stroller, then running around on the grass with the girls. We look a little nuts, but the shoe fits.

AM: 7 miles with a few strides mixed in.

PM: 8 miles after work. Finally feeling a bit snappier.

AM: 6 miles to Northshore with the girls.

PM: 5 miles, with 1 @ 5:29. I was hoping for 3 @ 5:27, so I can't say the run was a success. But it wasn't a complete fail either. This is the first fast running I've done in two weeks, and I haven't felt sharp a single time in that period. Also, 84 F, 70 dew point.

Justifications aside, I have 7 weeks to Gasparilla 15k, where I'm hoping to run 9.3 miles at 5:27. So I have my work cut out.

On the wholly positive side, I ran the last part with Elise on her bike. She is almost ready to lose the training wheels.

AM: 9 miles moderate with Lee and Christina. Way too humid for January.

AM: 8 miles. Big week ahead.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 6 relaxed miles. Christmas decorations are put away, everyone is back to work or back to school. I'm ready to get focused. Tonight is my first real track workout in over a month. We're repeating a ladder we did in late September when I was at a peak, firing on all cylinders. So tonight's workout should be...telling.

PM: 8 miles at SPC track. I ran a descending ladder with Mike and Lee. Here's the format:

1 X 1 MILE, 400 REST, 1 X 1200, 400 REST, 800 WITH 200 REST 800 WITH 400 REST, 4 X 400 WITH 200 REST

I last ran this workout Sept 23rd, and it was one of my best track workouts to date. At the time, I was coming off a couple months of high mileage, and I had a few weeks of sharpening under my belt.

Since then, I've had positive weeks, but also a few weeks lost to a hamstring injury and the flu. This was my first real track workout in over a month.

I didn't think I could match Sept 23rd tonight, but I was hoping to be in the neighborhood. Overall, I was. I struggled most on the 800s, at which point the missing stamina became pretty apparent. Overall though, I can't complain. The parentheses indicate the number of seconds over (+) or equal to (=) my comparable time from Sept. Recovery pace was slow, 2:30-2:45 per 400.

Mile: 4:59 (=)
1200: 3:42 (+1)
800s: 2:26 (+1), 2:27 (+2)
400s: 1:11 (+2), 1:09 (=), 1:09 (=), 1:08 (+1)

I'm hoping this is more a baseline than a peak now.

AM: 7 miles.

PM: 7 miles at lunch.

AM: 10 miles on a (Florida) cold and windy morning. Plan was 4 mile tempo at 15k target pace (5:27). Averaged 5:40 for 4 miles. Part of that was on me, but the wind today could not be denied.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 10 miles in the outer darkness.

PM: 4 miles after work with strides. Went to Lakeland to work on a client site today. It gave me a new appreciation for Tampa/St. Pete.

AM: 8 miles with strides. Heading off to Orlando in a couple hours.

To preface, I'm not a Disney fanatic. We have two daughters, 3 and 6, who may be the only children in Central Florida yet to enter the Magic Kindgom. Growing up near Disneyland in California, I have fond memories, but only within the past year has the draw become difficult to resist. They'll finally be going later this month.

Early in the fall I applied for a program that invites a dozen FL runners to the WDW Marathon, and comps their entry, hotel and throws in park passes and other neat perks. While this isn't a marathon I'd typically target, I applied for the benefits, and thought it would fit within my racing schedule.

I was grateful to be accepted, but knew it would be tight to fit in a fall half-marathon series, this marathon and then the typical Feb/March peak races in Central Florida.

My fall was a mixed bag. I raced mostly well. I had a lot of great training. I did get injured for two weeks though, and spent another week and half sick with the flu. I never got in the (abbreviated) marathon training block I'd hoped for. I found myself in late December with the realization I wasn't in shape for full-blown marathon PR attempt.

That's not where I usually come in at. I don't run a ton of marathons - 1 or 2 a year tops. When I do, I train for them with focus and let other distances go by the wayside. Up to Disney, I'd run 9 marathons, and lowered my time in 8 of them. So to decide this time that I'd run a sub-optimal effort wasn't easy to get my head around. Also, since I'd applied and been invited to the race, I was guilty about not showing up in peak shape. Ultimately, it wasn't the best planning on my part, but once I let it go, everything fell into place. Yes, that was my one subtle Disney reference.

A very good friend and training partner, Quint, was also running, and hoping to break 2:50. This would be over a 6 minute PR for him. He had an excellent fall, with PRs in the 5k, 10k and a recent 1:19:46 half-marathon, so this was an attainable (though challenging) goal. We decided to run together.

The morning of the marathon was pleasant - a little under 60 degrees. Slightly warmer than you'd want, but not a killer. We got off to a good start in the race, and clicked off steady miles to hit the halfway point in 1:24:36. Over the next three miles, we picked up a few more seconds to hit mile 16 about 40 seconds ahead of pace. I could feel the distance starting to take its toll on Quint. The Disney Marathon, despite its reputation, is actually fairly interesting, but the sights come at the expense of an extremely circuitous course with countless tight turns. I can't really tell one theme park from the next, but miles 18-20 navigated a sports complex and dirt track. For Quint, the wheels wobbled here. We started losing steam, and at mile 20 were a few seconds behind 2:50 for the first time in the race.

I knew where he was - I have been there in marathons, and most everyone has. There is no benefit to having a friend around...it's nothing you can think or talk your way through. You just have to get to the finish line. So after a short, grunted conversation, I took off. I ran the last 10k mostly at marathon pace in 38 minutes. As I ran through Epcot, I was struck repeatedly by how difficult the course was to navigate, and pitied the fool who chose this marathon to run a PR. I finished with a silly leap at the finish line. I'm not sure why I did that.

Quint showed a lot of grit. He finished in a little over 2:57. He could have taken a more incremental approach and paced for (and probably nailed) 2:52-2:54. I really respect him for swinging for the fences.

The big story of the day was my wife, Allison. Allison has run around 3:46 a couple times over the past few years in attempts to hit a sub-3:40 BQ qualifier. Over the last six months, she began training seven days a week and increased her mileage. Through steady work and determination, she got to the starting line in great shape, and I knew she was ready to run sub-3:40. As I ran the course though, I became concerned. Disney is a fun marathon to experience, but if you are there to hit a time goal, you'd better be ready to run 1-2 minutes faster on a more neutral course.

I found a spot at the finish line. From checking her splits on my phone, I could see Allison was dead on pace up to mile 20. With 30 seconds remaining, she came around the final turn and qualified with 7 seconds to spare. Definitely the best moment of the day.

For me, this marathon was a good lesson. I sometimes wonder if I'll be interested in running when I can no longer improve my times. Although I get a lot from watching my friends race and train, I have wondered how motivated I'll feel when I'm no longer chasing PRs. After this race I am thinking I may be in this for the long haul after all.

Samwise Gamgee was on our bus back from the race, and being huge nerds, we had to hassle him for a photo-op. He was a sweet guy, and we actually ran into him in the halls of the hotel a few more times that day. Each time, he was stoically posing with fans looking not a little like a guy who had hiked hundres of miles through poison swamps and razor sharp rocks.

AM: 8 miles around the Animal Kingdom Lodge. By around, I mean in the parking lot. I tried running down Osceola Parkway, but it's one of those situations in which you drive or you die. Frogger, effectively. That said, the parking lot out there is huge.

PM: 6 miles back in St. Pete in the afternoon. Elise rode the first two with me on her bike, and her training wheels never touched the ground. Our second mile was close to an 8:00 mile.. the possibilities of running with her riding are very exciting.

AM: 6 miles.

PM: 8 miles at track practice. I'm feeling pretty good after Sunday, but not good enough for a full-contact workout. I ended up mostly jogging, and ran 4 800s medium-hard.

AM: 7 miles.

PM: 7 miles at lunch.

AM: 7 miles.

PM: 9 miles at lunch with Quint. I was happy to hear he was a fan of American Ninja.

AM: 12 miles, with 2 x 2 mile workout, 5 minute jog between sets. Target was 5:15-5:20 pace.

1. 10:29 (5:15, 5:14)
2. 10:36 (5:18, 5:18)

Overall, encouraging, but also a good lesson. Next Friday I'm planning on 3 x 2 miles. If I want to surive to the third repeat, I need the first one to come in closer to 10:40.

PM: 6 miles with Quint at lunch.

AM: 6 miles to Northshore Park with the girls. Sometimes, these Saturday morning runs are jolly occaisons of family togetherness in the outdoors.

Not today. But to be fair, when 6 and younger, and only used to FL climates, it can't be much fun getting stuffed into a jogging stroller at 7am in Arctic 50 degree weather.

PM: 6 miles.

AM: 21 miles on a beautiful morning, 6:55 avg pace. Ran with Scott D and Mike M - small group this morning since we have two big local races today.

Should be fun to see the results. Also watching Jon Mott, one of the best runners in Central FL, try to hit the OTQ mark in Houston.

PM: 2 miles, running with Elise on her bike.

AM: 10 miles. I'm going to be working at a client for the next couple weeks that reminds me of the captain from The Black Hole. Not in the sense that he turns his employees into cyborgs, but in that his enterprise lives on the brink of a spinning vortex of chaos and destruction. The problem for me is going to be squeezing in my lunch runs.

PM: Zero. I was hoping I could find a small window, but there was no escaping the Kafka-themed reality show we seem to be filming at work.

AM: 4 miles. I'm making it to track tonight no matter what.

PM: 10 miles. Here was the workout for tonight: 4 X 400 WITH 200 REST, 5 X 400 WITH 200 REST, 4 X 400 WITH 200 REST; 400 REST BETWEEN THE THREE SETS

It was a struggle tonight. I was worn down, and things were about to get real ugly when Lee jumped in and started each rep a few seconds ahead to pull me in. Considering he ran a marathon on Sunday, he definitely got in his good deed for the day.

1.  1:09, 1:13, 1:12, 1:13
2. 1:13, 1:12, 1:14, 1:11, 1:14
3. 1:13, 1:12, 1:12, 1:10

Recovery pace averaged about 8:20. Not the sharpest, but I was glad to get through it.

AM: 10 miles

PM: 4 miles at lunch.

AM: 7 miles.

PM: 5 miles at lunch with Quint.

Busy, but getting most of the running in. 3x2 miles tomorrow AM.

AM: 12 miles, with 3x2 miles around 10k pace, 5 minute jog recoveries in between. Subjectively, at least, the best workout of the year. Compared to last week, I felt in much better control of the pace.

1. 10:43 (5:22, 5:21)
2. 10:38 (5:20, 5:18)
3. 10:39 (5:22, 5:17)

One thing I seem to keep forgetting and needing to relearn is that when I'm trying to run a 10k, it's best for me to start above target pace and work down. I've probably imploded in the 10k more than any other distance, and running even a few seconds too fast in the first mile or two is a bad, bad idea.

My race is in two weeks, and I can feel it starting to come together. On a good day, I think I can run a PR (a little under 33:30). I'd love to break 33, but that's going to be a stretch.

PM: 5 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 0. I had an hour this afternoon between my niece's birthday party and my daughter's basketball game. Run 5 miles or sleep? I chose sleep. Very solid nap.

AM: 18 miles, 6:46 average. An awesome and varied group for the the long run this morning. Splits all over the board, with a few in our group picking up their training for Boston. I ran one mile a little under 5:15 to touch in on 10k pace.

Today was one of those (rare for me) mornings when running at any pace felt easy, great even. Afterwards I had a huge rush of positivity. Eventually the adrenaline died down and I realized my legs are feeling a little thrashed, but not in a bad way.

AM: 7 miles on a wet morning.

PM: 7 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 4 miles.

PM: 10 miles at track. Workout for tonight: MILE, 800, 400, 200, EACH WITH 200 REST, 2 SETS WITH 400 REST BETWEEN THE SETS

This is similar to the descending ladder from a couple weeks ago, but with shorter rest and more variation in distances. I felt solid tonight, though I still am not running my 800s as well as I should. The 400 & 200s felt like a full-effort, but without overly straining.

In the last three weeks there has been incremental but noticeable progress. Splits:

1. 4:59, 2:28, 1:11, :33
2. 4:58, 2:28, 1:10, :32

Recoveries were 9:30-10:00 pace.

AM: 8.5 miles. It isn't pretty, but to quote DDL in There Will Be Blood, "I have a competition in me."

This morning, on a recovery jog, I felt compelled to run down a good-sized group ahead of me- not a high school team, or a rival track club, but one of those Couch->5k programs, out enjoying their morning. Ug. I've always wanted to be a Zen master, but I'm so clearly not cut out for it.

PM: 5.5 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 10 miles, with 5 mile tempo, 15k target pace (~5:27). Averaged 5:25, a very good day for me.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 9 very early morning miles. We're taking the kids to Disney on Sunday, so after protracted negotiations, I moved my long run to Saturday, and Allison moved her Sat. morning run to this morning. Since I'm taking Sunday off, and next week will be light, I didn't really want to skip another run today, so I was up today before 4.

The world is really beautiful and still at that time of day, but I found myself in an emo state of mind, with ghosts and concerns dancing around my head. I don't think I'll make these super early mornings a habit.

PM: 5 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 20 miles, moved up from tomorrow to today. Quint, Christina and Lee joined me for a run up the Pinellas Trail and back. This was a good change from the usual downtown St. Pete loop, especially for Q&C who are training for Boston. On the trail we ended up with 12 overpasses for about 350 ft of elevation gain. That probably sounds ridiculous for 20 miles, but I'm lucky to gain 30 feet in my normal long run. Avg pace 7:08.

Day off.

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint, cool and rainy.

AM: 4 miles.

PM: 11 miles at track. The workout scheduled for today: 6 X 300 WITH 100 REST; 3 SETS WITH 500 REST BETWEEN SETS.

Since I'm racing Saturday, I decided to name the first set Easy, the second Medium and the third Hard.

Running 300s is out of my comfort zone. According to Lee's theory, that makes it a perfect workout.

Splits for today:

1.  58, 60, 59, 59, 58, 59 (Avg: 59)
2.  55, 55, 56, 56, 55, 53 (Avg: 55)
3. 49, 51, 50, 50, 50, 50 (Avg: 50)

I keep meaning to write better blog entries, but work has been super hectic lately.

Running-wise, I'm planning on taking it easy until Saturday, dropping down to single runs Thurs and Fri. I feel locked in right now, and ready for a good 10k. Just need to eat right, get my rest, and keep my head screwed on.

AM: 9 miles.

PM: 5 miles at lunch with Quint.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 6 miles with a couple strides.

The weather is looking perfect for tomorrow. I know of at least two guys who will be in the mix in the 10k.

Nick Miehe: He's a bit of a wild card. Around 26 now and a few years removed from college, where he was mostly a middle-distance guy and ran a 4:08 mile. So on that level, he's a completely superior runner. He is still moving into longer distances, and in the couple longer races we've been in, I've had a slight edge due solely to years of higher mileage. If he's anywhere near me at mile 5, he's in the driver's seat.

Jon Noland: Definitely my #1 target in this race, and a more predictable factor, Jon usually runs a 10k close to 33:00. I don't know him well, and he seems like a very nice guy, but hey- rivals help! Plus:

1.  Jon recently turned 40 and joined the Masters ranks.
2. He's an (excellent) triathlete. Not that I hate triathletes, but honestly, I don't want to get beat by someone who trains for three events to my one.
3. He destroyed me in this race last year.

Should be a fun day tomorrow!

Today was an early start - the 10k went off at 6:45 and the logistics of parking in Safety Harbor require a prompt arrival. I got to the start and ran into Bret and Richie, and a couple other friends to help break things up.

Nick turned out to be a wild card indeed, and didn't show up. Jon did, though. I've raced him at least twice before, but each time the other was having an off-day, so I had never really ran against him.

From the start we were alone out front, and ran through the first 1.5 miles together at a steady pace. I was planning to run the first mile under control, and it went by in 5:23, just about right. About halfway into the second mile, we crested a small rise then turned around. I'm not a good downhill runner, and Jon put a few seconds between us on the way back down.

I felt fine about letting him go, though. The pace was dropping slightly, and I was happy to be the hunter. I slowly narrowed the gap and caught back up to him at the 3 mile mark. So far, the race had gone to plan, but I was not able to bring it together for the second half. Mile 4 continued down the main drag, then made a right turn up a rise into a residential neighborhood. I hung with Jon until we hit the next downturn where he gapped me again, and I was never able to bring him back. We both hung on the rest of the way, and I finished in 33:17, with Jon 4 seconds ahead for the win.

Although the distance between us was narrow, I did feel pretty dominated. At no point did I lead the race or drive the pace. While I might not have had my A game today, I ran hard and never gave up, so I have to give Jon the credit - he was the better runner this morning.

There's disappointment when things don't go exactly the way you want, and there's disappointment when you underachieve. Today falls more into the first category. I did run a 10 second PR, which is something. 3x2 miles is usually a dead-on predictor of my 10k time, and that workout from a couple weeks ago averaged 5:21-5:22 with Garmin correction figured in. So today's result is about what I had coming.

I could leave it at that, with setting things into some kind of perspective, but then this would be a superficial race report. While driving home I felt my blood starting to boil. It's one thing to get blown out of the water by a runner on a totally different level, but losing a head-to-head race by a few seconds is not in that category. And I welcome that anger and frustration. It's easy to feel like all the miles and workouts have been for nothing, but I don't like that kind of thinking, which is really just an excuse for giving up. Instead, I'll be feeding the outcome of this race into the woodchipper, and when I'm tired in the morning, or dragging in workouts, it's more fuel for the fire.

I was able to make it back to the Y in St. Pete by 9am for my daughter's basketball game. Watching three-year-olds play basketball is a good antidote to competitive rage.

Splits:

1. 5:23
2. 5:19
3. 5:19
4. 5:23
5. 5:22
6. 5:22
7. 1:09 (5:12 pace)

AM: 10 miles.

PM: 3 miles.

Typical Sunday with a lot of moving parts. I bartered away my Sunday run to race yesterday, so while Allison was out on the Pinellas Trail I took the girls out to run around and get donuts. Then I met up with Quint for 10 miles downtown in the late morning. Straight to a friend's daughter's birthday at a nature preserve, then home for the usual chores. Squeezed in 3 miles with Elise on her bike before dinner.

I can get tunnel vision when I'm training for a goal race. Today was a good recovery day, and a good time to remember the other moments that make running meaningful - being outside and active with my family, spending time with friends, and time alone too, when I can just unspool for an hour or so. It's about as close as I get to meditation.
 

AM: 10 miles.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint, nice cloud cover and light rain.

I'm looking forward to watching classic movies with my daughters when they're ready. At 3 & 6, they haven't seen many yet, and my older daughter is sensitive, so it may be awhile.

This morning when running I was trying to come up with light movies- by that I mean stories that don't delve too heavily into romance or the threat of death. That's a tough list to assemble.

Last week I previewed the first 20 minutes of Pee-wee's Big Adventure, and it was just as nuts as I remembered. Although I think it does fit the above-state criteria, the pace seems to go back and forth over the line between madcap fun and unhinged insanity pretty freely.

There must have been some event yesterday in Straub Park downtime, since the usually pristine grass was covered with trash. Also, I felt creeped out by the sound of squirrel claws on oak tree bark...I guess my nerves are still a bit jangled.

AM: 4 miles.

PM: 10.5 miles at track.

I had a good run in the morning. I've had a lot of crazy thoughts since Saturday - thoughts of cramming in more races and white-knuckle workouts into the next month, bad ideas all.

This morning I decided to take this week easy. I've put in a lot of good training lately, and I'll be fine for the 15k next Saturday.

Evening track with Lee and Steve. All of us raced on Saturday and wanted to keep it easy, so we ran a couple 800s, 1200s and mile repeats at 6:00 pace.

AM: 7.5 miles.

PM: 0. The machines won = no lunch run.

AM: 7 miles.

PM: 0 lunch running again, although my computer crisis of the week finally got resolved. I don't like getting off schedule, but something tells me the extra rest is a blessing.

AM: 12 miles. I met up with several friends at Northshore Pool, most were out for an easy run. I joined Mike G and Christina for a 6 mile tempo that came in right at 40 minutes. Both are running Boston and rounding into very solid shape.

PM: 7 miles. Met up with Quint for a lunch run. After a couple days of singles and lower mileage, I was feeling snappy.

Everyone in the family ran but me today. Allison did her long run, and when she got back we took the kids to Tampa for a race organized for 2-10 year olds. It's a neat event, broken into many waves by age, even month of birth. The kids get race numbers, and the experience of starting a race, but there is no clock or pressure.

Afterwards we spent the afternoon in Temple Terrace with family. A nice day, just no running.

AM: 20 miles with the Forerunners. A great group today, with a 4-3-2-1 theme mixed in for the members doing Boston. I ran the last mile at target 15k pace (~5:30) and felt solid.

I'm a little regretful last week was hit-or-miss, and the coming week is also going to be patchy, but I'm trying to remember the extra rest will probably help more than hurt.

AM: 9 miles

PM: 5 miles at lunch.

PM: 10 miles at track. No snowpiles building up here, but driving through St. Pete at 5pm in a steady, cool rain. We've got a good thing going on in our training group. I had little doubt Mike, Lee and Quint would still be there ready to go. And of course Joe standing under whatever shelter he can find, yelling splits.

Workout was: 4 X 400 WITH 200 REST, 3 X 800 WITH 200 REST, 4 X 400 WITH 200 REST, 400 REST BETWEEN THE SETS.

Lee, Quint and I are running Gasparilla this weekend, so we kept the effort controlled. I was looking for 10k-15k pace. Mike floated around us for the first half, then took off. Maybe because of the cool rain, or the reduced effort, but we kept the recoveries brisk, which felt good. Splits:

1. 1:24, 1:24, 1:19, 1:19
2. 2:45, 2:40, 2:35
3. 1:16, 1:18, 1:18, 1:16

AM: 7 miles.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint.

My one planned run today was scrubbed by a surprise lunch meeting, but I didn't mind. It looks like I'm going into Gasparilla with a serious taper, which is probably a Good Thing.

There are many good and great races in Tampa Bay, but Gasparilla is the one event that sticks out. The 15k on Saturday is the race with history- between men and women the world record was set on the course five times in the early 80s. Gradually the elite prize money went away and was replaced by a very solid local purse for top 5 area finishers ($2000 for first place). So everyone tends to come out of the woodwork for this race.

Last year, both local and elite prize money was introduced for the half-marathon as well. Ryan Vail was the winner, with 3 other men under 1:05.

As exciting as it would be to run the half with nationally-known runners, I came back to the 15k again this year. Partially because of the tradition - and simply - there is a half marathon staged almost every week around here in Jan and Feb.

I managed to snag the 5th local spot last year, which was due at least in part to a softer field. This year looks to be tougher, with around a dozen guys who can contend for a top 5 spot. From what I can tell, only the first spot is automatic. Jon Mott, who recently ran heartbreakingly close in Houston to the OTQ (2:18:12), can tempo the race and win easily.

Irrespective of place, I'm just looking forward to getting out hard. Most of the guys know each other, and it's fun to run with and against them, and this is the #1 chance to do it during the year.

AM: Just 2 miles. 37 degrees - the cold weather PR for St. Pete this winter.

I ran the Gasparilla 15k today, and it was kind of a beautiful race.

The start is in downtown Tampa by the convention center, a simple out and back on Bayshore Blvd. I ran into Coach Joe on my warmup. Being 76, Joe's hearing isn't what it used to be, and I hear like a 76 year old myself. Our conversations are often short, but we understand each other well. "Headwind on the way back," Joe noted, but quickly added: "Same for everyone."

No worries on my end, and it was true. Of the 9 times I've run on Gasparilla weekend, it has either been unseasonably humid or cool/windy, and I'll take the latter anytime.

The starting line looked pretty stacked this year. Many Forerunners and other friends around, and the race went out even quicker than usual. Once the dust settled, I found myself in 14th place. Several guys I wanted to run with were ahead of me, but I came through the first mile in 5:22, which was about 5 seconds faster than planned, so I didn't rush. The pace felt  relaxed, and I knew we were running with a good tailwind.

I passed a teammate around the first mile, then worked my way up to a group of three runners just ahead, one of them my training partner, Lee Stephens. I caught the group around mile 2, and hoped we'd continue together, but they were slowing slightly, so I just focused on maintaining pace. The next 4 miles were all around 5:26 and felt comfortable, with no changes in position.

At the start of mile 6 we were turning north onto Bayshore. Somewhere around here I passed one guy, and was passed by another. We got our first taste of the headwind, and it didn't feel bad. I was running a very good race, and was cautiously optimistic I'd break 51 handily.

Bayshore has long, gradual bends, and the headwinds in miles 6 and 7 were at worst 45 degrees. Unfortunately, around mile 8 we turned again and I hit the headwind full on now. I ran about 5:48 for this mile, and gave back my entire sub-51 buffer, and then some.

Coming into the last mile, I was dazed, and didn't fully register the footsteps behind me. Lee's voice jolted me so hard I would have jumped, if I wasn't so tired. "Come on Drew, you've still got plenty in the tank."

I've never thought of the right words  to say when I come up on another runner in a race, and I've never been particularly inspired by the comments of others. Not that I dislike the attempts at encouragement, but the standard "Good job" doesn't really cut it as you are getting passed.

Lee knows me well though, and he did get me fired up. He was right. We had turned out of the wind again, and I could still give more. What truly touched me though, was that it was completely apparent Lee wanted me to run my best. If he had cared more about beating me, he would have blown by - maybe that would have got me going, or just as likely, I would have been demoralized and slowed even more. I took Lee's words to heart and began pushing hard again. I knew I could come very close to breaking 51 minutes, and I was running as hard as I could.

Right around here, I heard Richie before I could see him. He has a bullhorn for a voice, and is the best cheerleader I've ever met. He was running on the sidewalk of Bayshore parallel to Lee and myself, shouting "Alright Drew, you're looking OK! Keep it up! Lee- close the gap! Close the f--- gap!!" I ran harder.

Just after the 9 mile mark, I saw Mike and his girlfriend cheering and holding up signs. Mike's read: "Drew - don't get lost!" I had a moment of existential panic - how could he know?! - then I realized he was referring to my well-earned reputation for running off course. It was refreshing to smile at that point.

I crossed in 51:04, 10th place this year. I wish I didn't tank quite so badly in mile 8, but I also realize that my first four miles were wind-aided, so you figure you have to pay the piper at some point. It would have been great to be in the top 5 local finishers, but truly, I'd rather this race have a great field, and this year was much better than last.

I lowered my 15k PR by about 55 seconds, didn't lose to anyone over 30, and had a finishing time that may be my best performance yet. But what made today special was seeing the true goodness in many people, in particular a few friends. That just doesn't happen every day, especially in middle-age, out of college, when people tend to hunker down and establish emotional distance. I need to remember all the things my running community has given me, to be sure to return it as I can.

Splits:

1. 5:22
2. 5:26
3. 5:25
4. 5:26
5. 5:26
6. 5:27
7. 5:25
8. 5:48
9. 5:26
10.   -- .3 1:53 (5:17 pace)

AM: 10 very relaxed and easy miles, 7 of them with my wife, which is sadly very rare. We had a babysitter this morning.

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint.

Shifting gears. With the 10k and 15k in the rearview mirror, my training for the next 6 weeks is focused on a mile road race and track 5000.

Main St. Mile - 4 weeks away: I ran this last year in 4:45, which I didn't feel was a good performance. This year, I'm planning to focus on mile training for the next 3 weeks and do my best to get under 4:35.

Florida Beach Halfathon - Day after Main St. Mile. The reason this race is on my calendar is that it's last in a series I started last fall. There is some decent money for top 5 finishers. I currently hold the #2 spot. I'm hoping just to hold my place in the standings. Not a goal race.

Carlsbad 5000 - I really wanted to run this, but some of my relatives are out of town that weekend, so I had to reschedule my trip to CA.

Ryan McCall Open Track Meet (5000 meters) - 7 weeks out. I really want to run a 5k before the heat sets in, and this is probably a little late, but it's the best thing for my schedule.

I have a reasonable sense for 5k - marathon training, but much less experience training specifically for the mile.  I'm always open to suggestions/criticism/random ideas - I would really love to hear about any workouts that have really helped runners in the late stages of gearing up to run a mile.

AM: 6 miles, super foggy morning.

PM: 9 miles at track. Workout was 7 x 1000 with 200 rest.

I've recovered better from the past race than the 10k, but I still wasn't ready for a full workout today. I took it by feel, starting around 5:40 pace and working down. I felt better as the workout went on.

1. 3:28
2. 3:32
3. 3:24
4. 3:23
5. 3:17
6. 3:13
7. 3:06

AM: 7 miles.

PM: 7 miles at lunch with Quint and Josh.

AM: 7 miles.

PM: 8 miles.

An interesting and frank conversation with Quint at lunch, which really started a couple days ago at track with Lee. In a nutshell, both guys have told me they think my races this winter are underperformances.

The thinking is that I race too conservatively, not really finding another gear beyond what I have established in workouts. The workouts I did that were most specific to my races this winter were:

• 10k: 3x2 miles, averaged ~5:21. Couple weeks later averaged 5:21 in a 10k.
• 15k: 5 mile tempo, averaged ~5:28. My 15k pace was 5:28.
• 1/2: 2 weeks out ran 8 miles @ 5:35, averaged 5:36 for 13.1

If anything, my serious track workouts are more skewed, where I run sub 5:00 pace for most repeats. That said, my best distance is probably 5k, so shorter reps are more a strength than say, marathon pace.

I'm a little divided. On one hand, I'd love to think that with some minor tweaks I could be running at a higher level. I do think there is plenty to think about in terms of what they're saying.

On the other hand, I'm comfortable with my approach, which is pretty good at predicting what will happen, and arriving at incremental improvments. I guess the question is whether I'm artificially limiting myself, or am I just dialed in to what I can reasonably do?

AM: 12 miles. After discussion with Coach Joe, I decided to attempt .75 on the road at target mile pace. I wanted to have a sense for how that would feel, to help decide if it was worth spending a couple weeks training for Main St. Mile.

Pulled the plug at .35. I think it will be fun to chase this goal at some point in the future, but I am going to need more than 2 weeks to ramp up to it. By deciding to skip the mile race, I can focus more on my last two races of the spring.

After this misadventure, I met up with a group of friends training for Boston and we ran 6 miles together at their MP. That was more fun.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint, mostly easy, but 1 at 5:30 for no good reason.

AM: 8 miles.

AM: 20 miles. I felt the ground way too much today.

AM: 7 miles.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Quint. March brought the humidity. *sob*

AM: 6 miles.

PM: 11 miles at track. Scheduled workout was 2x2 miles. I spent the day psyching myself up, but no mental trickery could change the fact that I'm pretty flat right now. I felt it on the warmup- a little extra soreness and fatigue, mental and physical.

I've come to recognize this part of the cycle - it arrives right on schedule in March, coincidentally with the rise in humidity. The hard part is that I'm not quite ready to give up on racing yet, but I do really need to reset my workout expectations.

Last year, I actually found the perfect solution, which was to switch gears into marathon training mid-March. Going from 5k to marathon training felt very refreshing, a different type of challenge very appropriate to the time of the season. With 10-12 weeks of training that led me right up to Grandma's marathon, which I can't say enough good things about.

I have too many non-running things to do this summer to contemplate that- including hopefully selling our house and finding a new one. But next year that will definitely be a consideration again.

For right now, I know I need to not force workouts - just put in the time, don't engage expections...I will feel stronger again, and it will be easier if monkey brain isn't jumping around and chattering throughout the process.

Anyway, I did run the 2x2 mile repeats with a few others, came in right at 12:00 for both.

Afterwards, I hopped in on 6 400s with Steve: 80, 80, 77, 77, 77, 69.

Flying out to LA after work for a long weekend on Friday, time to catch up with the family.

AM: 7 miles.

PM: 7 unpleasant miles, luckily with Quint to distract.

AM: 7 miles in the fog. New shoes!

PM: 6 miles with Quintmeister.

AM: 12 miles. Motivation has been hard to come by this week, and I haven't run hard. No excuses, I guess I just needed to ease off a bit.

One really good thing about being in a running club is that someone always has a race coming up; today I ran with the crew heading to Boston. It's refreshing to stop thinking of your own goals for a bit, and help other people.

AM: 8 miles.

Flew out to LA after work last night. Meant to recapture a sliver of my long-lost self and get into a book, but forgot it in the packing madness. Luckily I love Sudoku.

My brother picked me up in Ontario. I was trying, but I had all the personality of a turnip by that point. Went to Mom's in Arcadia, stayed up another 15 minutes then crashed.

Woke up too early, looked at old pictures and watched the sun come up. When my Mom got up we drank coffee and talked. Ran up Santa Anita into Sierra Madre, one of my favorite places around here. 

Now off to visit Dad in the convalescent hospital, then to my sister's in Glendora. Sounds like a short run with her and my niece may be on the agenda.

PM: 4 mile run into Glendora Canyone with Sis. Only tripped once.

AM: 6 miles. Yesterday at my sister's place we played frantic sessions of basketball, soccer, football and capture the flag. From an outside perspective, we must seem like complete fruitcakes, but we kind of revert to our adolescent selves when we're all together, and it's how we bond.

I was way too sore to do my planned track workout this morning. Definitely my best excuse of the week.

I did still go up to the Arcadia High track, and dragged my Mom along to walk while I did 6x400 to shake things out. 83, 82, 81, 78, 75, 76.

Afterwards, we were walking a few laps together, and a guy came up and said hello. He was taking a kid through some football PT drills, casually mentioned: silver medalist 84 olympics in 400 meter hurdles, beat Edwin Moses in 87. His name was Danny Harris. I looked him up when I got back home, interesting guy. He was very nice and laid-back, but also had an definable sense of power surrounding him. As achy as I was feeling, I was half-hoping he would tell me to sprint an 800 all out, because I would have.

PM: 2 miles.

AM: 2 quick miles before flight back to Florida.

AM: 6 miles with Richie and Mike G. Good to catch up. Pretty silly, but I have a tweak in my left hamstring from playing with my niece and nephew that is going to limit me this week.

PM: 9 miles. Track was closed down for Spring Break, so I ran on the Pinellas Trail. Kept it light- about a dozen strides between 100-400 meters.

Now that the LA trip is over, I'm ready to initiate Operation Get Ready to Race in 12 Days.

AM: 4 slow, sore miles.

Taking today off. Went to sports doc yesterday and got treatment on my left hamstring, much stretching and rolling last evening.

This morning it is improved, so I'm going to give it a day or two, and I expect it should be fine. Sometimes in the past I would have run through this, but the last couple runs I've felt like there was some compensation going on in my stride, and that never turns out well.

AM: 4 miles.

PM: 7 miles.

AM: 5 miles. Pushed the jogging stroller down to Northshore Park and ran around with the girls.

AM: 17 miles, averaged 6:45. Started with a good group, but after a few miles warmup we started picking it up, and it was just Mike and me for the second half.

Some people are good at taking downtime to recover- I'm not. I'm not a health nut by nature, so when I'm not training with focus, I tend to eat worse and stay up later.

I knew I needed to test my hamstring and shake the dust off this morning, and I think that got done, but it wasn't pretty. The combo of lazy running, a Belgian chocolate pie last night and ascendant humidity made this one a struggle. It was basically a progression run through about mile 13 when we managed two miles at 5:45 then 5:35, then I had to throw in the towel.

Definitely not adapted to the humidity yet. The dew point was 69, which is unpleasant, but at the peak of summer this would be dream weather. After the 5:35 mile, my heart rate was through the roof.

I think Mike knew I needed to take my mind off the suffering, so he spent the next mile describing the role of three-dimensional shapes in Greek philosophy, how they were translated into theories of the elements, and how those theories led Kepler to elliptical planetary orbits. Since the discussion was based on a lesson for his elementary students, I was able to follow about 75% of it in my stupor.

I spent the next few hours at home useless, promising my wife I'd get productive as soon as I could move again.

Skipped the morning and ran 8 at lunch with Quint. Felt surprisingly good.

Lunch: 10 miles. Met up with Quint, Josh and Christina at Northshore Pool. Coach gave us a good plan: 4 mile tempo, commit to a pace, and start accordingly to finish together. Josh started off early since he was looking to run easy. Christina signed up for 6:30 pace, Quint for 6:15, and I was aiming for 5:45. Christina started, Quint one minute later, then 2 minutes later I took off.

The competitive angle on the workout really helped us today. We hooked around the Pier, and although my first mile was 5:42, I saw I had only gained about 10 seconds on Quint!! I managed to catch him at 3.75. Splits were 5:42, 5:38, 5:32, 5:25. Considering we ran this at noon, this was a very good workout for me, the first in awhile.

AM: 6 miles.

PM: 8 miles with Quint at lunch.

AM: 6 miles.

PM: 6 miles with Quint and Josh.

Half marathon this Sunday! It is the last race in a local series. You need to run three of four races to place in the series, with your top three times summed up. Also, participation in the last race is mandatory. Top five places win money, which has an interesting effect. The cash is nice but not life-changing, but it does bring a lot more focus and competition to the events.

On the men's side, first place is locked up barring a broken leg. I'm currently in second, but there are four guys close behind me, all of whom are running better than they were at the beginning of the season. That's not so much the case for me. I haven't exactly been slacking, but treading water might even be kind. Thankfully, I haven't worried about my time and pace Sunday - my focus will be on racing well. I expect the race to go out fast. I will need to balance keeping within range of the leaders against not blowing up. It will be a muggy day, and that will play a role too.

AM: 6 miles.

AM: 6 miles, couple strides.

Today was the last half-marathon in a series that began in late October. I went into the race a bit flat today, and not as focused as usual, but I was motivated to run hard in order to maintain my place in the series standings.

I've been guilty of some long race reports, so I'm going to keep this one under control. Also, it would be easy to make this into a complainfest.

I'm actually very satisfied with my time, despite running 1:30 faster three months ago. Although the temperature was not bad (low-70s), the dewpoint was also pegged at 70 degrees, which is not fun for racing.

As expected, the race went out fast, and I ran my first 3 miles faster than I ever have in a half in order to stay within reach of my guys. Hard to say if this was a mistake or not. After the first miles, I slowed, almost metronomically, for the next 4 miles or so, until I cratered in the low 5:50s.

Luckily for me, a similar scenario was playing out for everyone else as well. This race has long straightaways and it's easy to see where your competition is, so I knew I was about a minute behind the guy most likely to pass me in the standings.

In the last 5k I was able to gather myself for the final push. I finished plenty back, but held my spot in the standings by 13 seconds. Perhaps a hollow victory, since I finished well behind 3rd and 4th in the series, but I'll take it.

If this sounds  a bit negative, I wish it didn't- I was very happy with my time and focus. It was simply the experience of running this race that was deeply unpleasant. Probably in a couple days I'll be talking up how awesome it was.

Splits:

1. 5:29
2. 5:35
3. 5:34
4. 5:39
5. 5:44
6. 5:49
7. 5:53
8. 5:48
9. 5:50
10. 5:56
11. 5:44
12. 5:46
13. 5:38

.1 ~5:25 pace

AM: 8 miles.

All haggling about supplements aside, if Salazar really wants to understand why Americans are losing to Kenyan runners, he should revist that classic American sports documentary, Rocky 4. Except we're Drago.

Based on his Twitter feed, Ryan Hall seems to be in the loop, although the fatal misstep in his LA buildup was taking his cues from Rocky 5.

Really, when you trim the schlock back from those six movies, what's left is the searing masterstroke How Awesome is Mr T?

AM: 6 miles.

PM: 10 miles at track. I was able to run pretty hard tonight, which is not the norm two days after a half marathon, obviously. The race was draining, but didn't beat my legs up too badly.

The workout for tonight: 4 X 800 WITH 200 REST, 2 SETS WITH 400 REST BETWEEN SETS

Mike and I decided to start at 2:40 and work into the sets. It was a drag in the heat but we worked through it and walked away pretty happy.

First set: 2:40, 2:37, 2:36, 2:30
Second set: 2:36, 2:34, 2:32, 2:30

AM: 6 miles.

PM: 5 miles at lunch with Quint.

I was tired this afternoon at work, when my client requested a new application/report, to tell them what was about to happen with the massive processing application we've spent months developing runs on their files.

I was trying to explain that reporting on that ahead of the application running was tantamount to executing the same functionality on the same data set.

I failed.

Day off.

I'm feeling hopeful I can lower my 5k PR in a couple weeks at a local track invite, but I need a tuneup to make that happen. I'm going to jump into a local 5k tomorrow night to get into gear. It's non-certified, and widely described as noticeably short, so time is irrelevant. I do want to run as close to 5:00/mile as possible to see how I hold up.

AM: 3 miles, couple strides.

PM: 9 miles.

Fun local race last night. It rained lightly until about 15 minutes before race start. This plus the cloudy skies made for better conditions than we've had in weeks.

After months of battling injury, a teammate and great runner - Sean Gallagher - made it out last night. He is not near peak fitness, but he still took the race out fast with a couple high school kids and other ambitious types trailing in a phalanx behind. He's one of those guys who will go out hard no matter what, and it's pretty awesome.

I wasn't sure what to expect from most of those runners, but one guy I knew was serious was Mike, who was hanging a bit back with me. After about a third of a mile we moved up to the front and starting setting the pace. One of the kids came with us, and lasted until about mile 1.25.

This event is a precursor to an IndyCar race held annually in downtown St. Petersburg. The 5k winds through the narrow canyons of walls built up to contain the cars. I ran steady and tried to slowly lower the pace. Mike remained with me until shortly after the 2 mile mark, when I was able to open a small gap. With him close behind, I was motivated to keep moving - knowing that if we were close at all near the finish line he would crush me.

Sadly, reports of the short course proved true. It measured between 3.04-3.06 from the informal survey I took. We estimated it took 20-30 seconds off an actual 5k time.

I was very happy with this race. I wanted a test run before the track race in two weeks, and I was hoping I had some 5k fitness. Everything came off well, and I think I have a shot at running 15:4x on the track.

One impressive constrast that really stood out was how far Mike has come in a year. We raced a 5k for the first time almost a year ago. In that span he has gone from a guy in the upper 17s to hovering close to the 16 minute barrier. At this time next year, I'll be chasing him.

Splits:

1. 5:09
2. 5:06
3. 5:02

AM: 7 miles with the family pushing the jogging stroller.

AM: 17 miles. My wife got the morning long run slot, so I ran later with Quint around Tierra Verde. Felt good, averaged 7:12.

AM: 6 miles.

PM: 5 miles with Quint.

Looks like a rocking race at Carlsbad yesterday. Masters winner in 14:58, almost 25 seconds on 2nd place.

My cousin was 10th in 16:16. He wasn't completed satisified, but I think that's an awesome time at 45. I'd probably say the same thing. I guess we're related.

While on the family brag topic, my sister was 2nd female in an LA trail marathon yesterday. Unfortunately, I can't figure out the name of the race (worst brother ever).

Very proud of both of them.

AM: 2 miles.

A cursed day. My wife got stuck early, meeting a running friend, when her car battery died. I was late to work.

At the office, I picked a fight with the network team that was unpleasant but needed. Meanwhile, we're putting an offer in on a house we can barely afford. I am trying to manage contractors making our house (hopefully) saleable. I feel both stressed and remote.

Out of work late. An accident on the bridge heading into St. Pete brought traffic to a crawl, so I had to bail on the plan of mile repeats with Lee and Mike.

Time to go to sleep.

AM: Spinning on the treadmill of life, sadly no actual running.

PM: 7 miles a lunch with Quint and Jim.  I entertained the idea of a workout to make up for yesterday, but it was enough to be out there.

When I got back to my car to change into my work clothes, I had messages from my wife and realtor that that our offer was accepted. I'm sure in six months this will be a good thing.

AM: Chores.

PM: Zero. Quint drove to Tampa to run at lunch. 15 minutes before he showed up, a client called with their environment in flames. I had to bail on him - he went out and ran solo.

A normal person would be at least a little irritated about this. Instead, he offered to help me move boxes into storage on Saturday.  I'm lucky to have a friend like that.

AM: 14 miles. Christina is a couple weeks out from Boston, so she tried to pull together a group for a long run, since most are occupied this Sunday. It ended up being her, Mike and myself.

I'm not sure how much it helped from a marathon standpoint, but having a couple good friends to blow off steam with definitely helped me.

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 4 miles. Full day of decluttering and yardwork. Quint brought one of his delivery trucks and helped me move stuff into a Public Storage unit. When we got there, the manager was out for lunch. We both were wearing old running clothes, so we got 4 miles in. It was that or a whole lot of rock-paper-scissors.

18 miles, ~7:15 pace.

My family went to Jacksonville for Easter to see my wife's parents. Normally, they invite me along on these outings, but this weekend I was frantically packing.

AM: 6 miles.

Usually, when Opening Day rolls around, I'm pretty stoked to see the Rays in action. Last year, David Price & Co dismantled the Yankees for the season opener. Everything seemed to go their way- perfectly positioned shifts, some actual offense, Sabathia was sweating...

It was tough watching the season unravel, as almost every player went on to underperform. I was hoping Price would finish the year with the Rays in the postseason before being traded, but that was not to be.

Then, in the offseason, seeing the departure of the Rays excellent GM and manager combo was bad. More trades came- Zobrist (one of the most valuable players in baseball), Myers (his talent remains to be seen, but we did give up James Shields for him), Joyce, SRod, Hellickson (another former Rookie of the Year).

Even with that, I had been nuturing hope in the face of the faded AL East. Then 3/5 of the starting rotation hit the DL during Spring Training.

The great thing about this time of year in baseball is that all the stat lines are zero, all the teams are tied, and unless you are settings lines in Vegas, any fan can imagine their team in the World Series.

PM: 6 miles at track. We settled on 8 x 800s broken into two sets. It was a real struggle. I tried to keep within a few paces of Mike, but couldn't help pull the pace at all.

First set was: 2:38, 2:40, 2:34, 2:31. Jogged a quarter, tried to get going, then pulled off the track and walked 200. Jumped back in on the 6th repeat, ran 2:45, and quit the workout for good.

With everything that's gone on in the last week, there's no big mystery why my running is off. Looking forward to running better, next time hopefully.

PM: 7 miles of slogging at lunch with Quint.

Another zero day. I planned to run during lunch, but work obstacles cropped up for both Quint and myself, and a co-worker ordered a 28" pizza. He was very excited about the place - supposedly the most authentic NYC pizza in Tampa, even shipping in the water for their dough.

So basically, I sat on a pointless conference call, holding the phone away from my mouth, while I shoveled in greasy, overrated pizza, instead of running.

AM: 10 miles. Woke up very early and got the run out of the way. The inspections on the new house are happening today, and a meeting about our new, shiny mortgage is this afternoon. Somehow I'm working today too.

Lots of thoughts rolling around this morning on the run. I'm uncomfortable with the  house purchase. It will be nice when we're settled in, no doubt. But it's big, and expensive, and I am very much a less-is-more type of guy.

I don't own nice things. I drive a 2004 Civic without power locks. I don't like shopping. It's not that I'm some ascetic purist - I just don't have any interest.

With the house though, I'm pulled in by the thought of a haven for my family, particularly my daughters. My current situation is not ghetto, but it's not a place where I'm comfortable with them being outside, or someday riding bikes, without supervision. That's pretty much what it boils down to.

I've been working hard on all the moving parts involved in that transaction for the past month, and running has taken a back seat. I'm OK with that, but I'm also conflicted there. There is a local track meet tomorrow night I can't even decide on.

Behind all of this, moving is a clean slate, and I have been feeling for months, if not years now, that I need a fresh start. I think I'm a solid B student in the game of life right now- as a father, husband, employee, runner, friend. Sadly, as a son and brother, I probably score even lower. The point is, I've been comfortable with doing pretty well, but I think there is a lot I could do better, if I can find my way to it. That gets into motivation and focus, which is another thing I want to think and write about, but this is already long enough.

PM: 2 miles.

Busy day, almost didn't run. But when I finally got the girls down I got in 2, just to avoid the zero.

On the positive side, I worked the yard, fixed things inside, dropped off junk at the storage space, went to Home Depot, Bed/Bath/Satan, replaced the dishwasher, etc....

I didn't magically appear at the track meet tonight and knock out 5000 meters. Not even close.

No running today, but very productive, with plenty of lifting and schlepping. Getting there.

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 5 miles.

PM: 6 miles. 400s with descending rest at track. Not exactly a real workout, but I am just trying to regain my footing. Mike knocked out a real workout. Lee and I lollygagged behind, "discussing" politics.

AM: 2 miles.

Not a good day, but that was no surprise. Early to work, and shuttling between multiple clients in Tampa. Tomorrow will be similar, hopefully a bit better in the AM though.

AM: 7 miles.

PM: 5 miles at lunch with Quint, our last run before he heads to Boston.

AM: 7 miles.

AM: 6 miles with the girls to Northshore Park.

AM: 14 miles.

Small crew with a lot of people out of town for Boston this weekend.

Then a cleaning frenzy leading up to 1pm, when we had to vacate for an open house on our property. Hours of cleaning and strangers roaming through your house, what's not to like?

My cousin called while we were out. 16:00.45 5k on the track this weekend, and he just turned 46.  Gotta keep up with that.

We took our daughters to an indoor playground where they had coffee and lounge chairs for the parents. I almost fell asleep.

My younger daughter asked my older daughter what her favorite thing was today, and she said "being with my family". I guess we're doing some things right.

First thunderstorm with rain this evening.

AM: 6 miles.

AM: 5 miles, gentle progression run.

School event tonight =  no track. Maybe a lunch run?

PM: 4 miles with Richie, good to hear his Boston tale.

0. Running vacation continues unabated.

Back to school on Monday.

AM: 6 miles.

AM: 15 miles with Lee. Since St. Anthony's Triathlon will be occupying downtown St. Pete tomorrow, moved this one up by a day.

Got to catch up with the Boston Marathon crew last night. Somehow that ended in a jam session at Bryan's house that I didn't escape until about 2AM. I noticed two things: (a) running 15 miles on 3 hours of sleep isn't much fun, and (b) I can no longer play the guitar.

AM: Pushed the jogging stroller down to the Forerunners aid station on the St. Anthony's course. The 10k section of the triathlon goes back into a beautiful, shady neighborhood, with lot of spectators and a 4th-of-July-in-April kind of feeling.

The girls didn't hand out water, but they did enjoy picking up discarded cups. A lot of parents and kids from our running group- great atmosphere.

I had a few minutes to catch up with Joe. He was 3rd in his age group at Boston, first American. We made a soft agreement to run Twin Cities this fall, but haven't signed the blood oath yet.

AM: 10 miles.

PM: 5 miles at lunch with Quint.

Day One!

AM: 6 miles.

PM: 10 miles at track. For the workout, 8x600 with 200 rest. Ran with Lee. Not fast, but a decent effort. Averaged ~2:03.

AM: 10 miles.

PM: 6 miles.

After some waffling, I've decided to run TCM this fall. The waffling was mostly because if I did decide to go, I wanted to go all in.

There are so many outs from training with 100% focus. No doubt a lot of it is psychological. I've put together blocks of good months here and there, but I don't feel like I've ever fully committed myself.

I'm in my prime years as a Masters runner. If I do care about running well (which I do), now is the time to go after it.

AM: 10 miles.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint and Josh.

Great night for Tampa Bay sports last evening, with the Lightning advancing to Round 2 in Game 7. And the Rays beating the Yankees in extra innings, with A-Rod grounding into a double play to end the game was nice too.

AM: 10 miles, with 4 @ 5:54 avg pace

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint.

My company announced a "Wellness Benefit" yesterday. Quarterly, you can expense iPhone workout apps, gym memberships, personal trainer fees, exercise videos and CrossFit.

You cannot expense running shoes.

AM: 5 miles with the girls to Northshore Park for some tree climbing. Then another 9 solo to meet up for a picnic lunch.

AM: 23 miles. 8 solo, then 8 with Steve Wilcox. Ended up at home, picked up the family and ran 7 more with the jogging stroller.

Goal for the week is a lot of miles, and keeping them slow. So far so good!

AM: 10 miles.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Quint.

Due to the unrest in Baltimore, the Orioles moved their games against the Rays this weekend to St. Pete. All tickets were $15, general admission. I took my older daughter, and me made it to the seventh inning stretch - a new record for us.

My training partner, Lee, won a 5k on Sunday. Although my understanding on this point is imperfect, there is apparently some confederation of American nudist resorts, which conduct 5ks, and the Central Florida Bare-to-Dare 5k is considered the championships. So congrats to Lee-male nude 5k champion for 2015!

We close on our new house in 3.5 weeks. Not a single viewing request on our current home yet.

Unseasonably cool weather over the last five days. Won't see this again for five months.

AM: 10 miles.

PM: 10 miles, light track workout. Not too humid, thankfully.

1 X 1 MILE, 400 REST, 1 X 1200, 400 REST, 800 WITH 200 REST 800

Splits: 5:55, 4:27, 2:55, 2:55.

AM: 10 miles.

PM: 9 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 12 miles of running back and forth over the newly renovated Pinellas Bayway bridge. Yes, I am jealous of people who live in geographical regions containing changes in elevation.

PM: 9 miles at lunch with Quint and Josh. Feeling goofy.

AM: 11 miles - 3 warmup, then light fartlek the rest of the way.

PM:  9 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 10 miles. My wife gets first shift on Saturday, so while she was out running my girls and I turned out the lights and danced in our underwear. Even though I got to start my run around 8, it was already pretty unpleasant out. For most of the run I wished I was back inside boogeying down.

PM: 4 miles, off to Tampa for work-related dinner. My wife and I get a date out of it.

Great day, except the running part. My long suffering wife got to sleep in, and we made bacon, eggs and cinnamon rolls. 5 mile family run, then I headed back out a little after 10 to get the rest in. Quint met me midway through the run, and we got it done, but between the heat and excessive bacon consumption I was massively dehyrdated. The rest of the day was good though - headed into Tampa and relaxed with my wife's sister's family.

AM: 10 mile slog.

PM: 12 miles. Client meeting on the east side of the Clearwater Causeway got done in a hurry, so I had plenty of time for running at lunch. Met Quint a couple miles in and we ran west on the Causeway to just pass the hump. As we ran up the small pedestrian bridge, we saw a few dolphins swimming by. Different route, that really helped.

AM: 10 miles.

PM: 8 miles. Track didn't play out quite as planned. Workout was 400s, which I was planning to do a bit sub-MP. At the start of warmup, we could see a dark patch in the distance, otherwise clear and blazing sun. Within 45 minutes we had blackend sky and lightning strikes nearby. A few of us waited awhile, but it was only getting worse.

I got in 3 400s. On the block of classrooms next to the track, I got in two more miles running up to the second floor, along a short corridor and back down. It took about 20 of those to get a mile.

AM: 10 miles.

PM: 10 miles. Lunch meeting broke up the normal slot. Squeezed running in after work, 2 with Elise on her bike. Hopefully we can make that happen more.

AM: 10 miles back and forth on the Pinellas Bayway bridge. Better pace than last week, but still pretty relaxed. The alarm clock this morning felt like a rock through my window.

PM: 10 miles.

AM: 10 miles, with 4 mile MP tempo at 5:52 avg (5:55, 5:53, 5:53, 5:46). I'm targeting 5:55 as marathon pace at the moment. As training gets more specific, I may tweak that a bit in either direction.

PM: 10 miles at lunch, Clearwater Causeway, over the hump and back again.

AM: 13 miles, 6 w/ the girls to the park, 7 solo. Elise ran .5 with me of her own choosing, which was cool.

PM: 4 miles.

AM: 20 miles, with 1 at 5:56 randomly tossed in. Overslept, so I intercepted the group a mile in. Averaged 7:13.

We faced a deadly dilemma for a family of two girls aged 3 & 6. My wife's friend gave her 2 tickets (Adult/Child) to Disney: Frozen on Ice for today. So only one girl can go. We decided it would be Elise, because primogeniture. Actually, it was even more pragmatic- Anna won't remember it, and her attention span, even for some Frozen boondoggle, is questionable. We have an Open House this afternoon, so Anna and I have to be out. I think we're going to a kiddie movie, where maybe I can grab a nap.

PM: 4 miles. I erred in theater selection and our movie was not playing, but the afternoon was better for it. We ate ice cream and hung out on a playground, having fun/killing time. Short run before throwing together dinner.

AM: 12 miles. I didn't  do any hard running last week, but there were enough medium efforts coupled with my highest mileage week ever that some background aches have moved into the foreground. As usual, it's the left hamstring/glute/hip that becomes a problem when I overdo it.

I'm going to be more disciplined this week about keeping the effort light while trying to maintain good mileage.

PM: 8 miles with Quint, cracked 8:00 pace for the first time today on 2nd to last mile.

AM: 10 slow miles.

PM: 9 miles at track. One thing that has always interested me is how the conscious mind can broadcast a message like "Well, I'll go to track, but it will just be to see my friends and get my miles in." Then you find yourself there, in flats, and well- the high school kids are back with the club now that school is out and the hamstring is feeling pretty good...

It's like there's a shadow mind calling its own shots, but in this case at least it's only requesting intervals.

It also brought to mind an article I read years ago in Running Times by Pete Magill that really cracks me up. I did a quick search and didn't find it, but the gist of the article (almost read like something from The Onion) was that rather than take it easy by default when injured, you should do a workout. The article went on to enumerate certain types of workouts for specific injuries.

It doesn't make me laugh because it's ridiculous to me - I think there's some truth to it - it's just the compulsive mindset that I find funny, and that I can relate to.

Anyway, with that preamble out of the way, here was tonight's workout:

1200, 800, 400, 200, EACH WITH 200 REST, 2 SETS WITH 400 REST BETWEEN     THE SETS

Splits:

1. 4:01, 2:34, 1:15, :32
2. 4:01, 2:38, 1:14, :32

Compared to winter splits, those look lackluster, but the effort level was at least moderately hard for the heat/humidity.

AM: 10 miles.

PM: 10 miles after work with Quint.  Also Richie, who showed us a small squirrel cemetery on the edge of USF St. Pete.

AM: 10 miles, bridge repeats, medium effort.

PM: 7 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 10 miles, couple strides.

PM: 13 miles at "lunch", most of it with Quint. When I got back to my car, there was a yellow triangle on my phone with a message letting me know it was ready to detonate unless I got it cooler in there.

AM: 13 miles. 5 with the girls to the park, then 8 solo.

PM: 4 miles.

Final packing of the house this weekend for the move next Saturday.

AM: 24 miles, 6:50 average. Good run overall today, although Richie and I got into it about halfway through, and that cast a shadow.

Richie and Mike G. sometimes meet our Sunday group about 10 miles in. They're both strong runners, so their presence always helps. I told Richie this morning that I was training seriously for TCM, and he renewed his recommendation that I begin receiving online coaching from a friend of his, who runs a prominent American development program based on Canova workouts.

I like Richie very, very much, probably more than he likes me. Our relationship has never been terribly easy though. He bills himself as a New Yorker, and he is loud, brassy and domineering. Underneath that exterior though, is a sensitive guy who needs a very delicate balance of factors to feel validated. This isn't an ideal match for me. I rarely raise my voice, and am generally cordial- but my cool reserve goes deep, and when I argue with people I don't feel anything. It's easy for me to insult people. Not intentionally, and I've gotten better with age, but I have some disconnects.

What really enraged him today is that I told him I didn't need coaching. I know that sounds arrogant, it probably is. I'm not deluded though. Meb is a couple years younger than me, and can run a marathon 30 minutes faster. I wasn't trying to say I am a great runner. I was trying to say I know the path I need to walk.

Like many debates, be they politics, religion, or even running, one conversation often covers another. I tried pointing out to Richie, as he grew increasingly agitated, that we were really debating whether magic workouts exist. For Richie, they absolutely do. He attributes much of his success at Boston to "special blocks", in which you do a hard workout in the morning and another that evening. The theory being that your body is low on fuel reserves, and ..... (fill in scientific mumbo jumbo here) .... and adaptations occur. In seriousness though, I am sure that workout is great for Canova's Kenyan elites, but for a 41 year old father and full-time employee, I feel strongly that the risk of that approach is greater than the reward. As I've mentioned recently, I get injured most when stacking quality too close together, and the higher the mileage, the more caution is needed.

We do have a fundamental disagreement. I don't think there are gatekeepers, or keys, or special workouts. It's not so much that I have the answer- I don't think there's a real question. I think running a good marathon requires a boring, plodding base phase. Then at some point, a few months out, you transition to specific sessions - steady-state runs a bit above and below race pace, wave tempos - most of the things Canova advocates, actually.

And if there is one secret weapon to running, it is consistency. Richie says I'm a narrow minded computer programmer, and X+Y doesn't always = Z. Amusingly, my wife says the same thing. I am narrow minded, and pattern driven. But I still think I'm right. I have to feel that part of Richie's attraction to special workouts can be attributed to his aversion to structured training, which is an extension of his free spirit. His free spirit is one of the things that makes him special. I do think you need to run every day, though, if you want to maximize your potential.

I thought it was an interesting discussion, but Richie was out of sorts. I told him I'd keep tickling him until he got over his mood. Being from California, it's OK for me to do things like that.

AM: 6 miles solo, then 6 to the park with the family.

PM: 9 miles.

AM: 10 miles. We're closing on our house today. I have some nerves, but big picture it will be a great place for our girls to grow up. Yesterday, I found an old DVD of the Smurfs while boxing things up. In the evening, we watched the episode about the Smurf zombie apocalypse. One of the Smurfs gets bitten by a purple bug that turns him into a snarling, hopping rabid Smurf with the sole thought of biting another Smurf's tail (thereby transmitting the plague). We laughed about it, but at bedtime Anna was terrified, and for the first time in ages went to sleep in our bed. There was also a theatrical lightning storm outside.

PM: 10 miles at track. Workout was 5x300, 3 sets, 100 rest between items, 500 between sets.

With temp in the low 90s and dew point in the low 70s, this was more about survival than splits. Averaged 55.

AM: 2 miles. The universe wants me to do other things than run today, but we'll see.

AM: 10 miles, just easy running on the bridge.

PM: 10 miles at lunch with Quint, new route.

I've had a kind of subterranean fatigue circling around me recently, but the walls came crashing in yesterday. It was probably a good thing I had no time to run. I felt like a ghost dragging chains around. Right before the crash though, I had the first glimmers that the recent excessive mileage was starting to click.

Work has been light over the last few weeks, which has allowed me to train my head off. Things are picking back up, so the challenge will be to stay employed and train my head off.

I signed up for a 5k on Father’s Day, partly to mark the transition into specific marathon training, partly because I could get permission.

Tomorrow, the forecast predicts a morning dew point around 65, which probably won’t happen again for 4 months. I’m planning a 10 mile MP tempo, which I would normally do every 2-3 weeks during specific phase. Usually the dew point is pegged out at 75 or worse from June through September, which will make that workout much harder than it should be.

AM: 15 miles, 10 mile MP tempo in 58:56, 5:54 avg. Splits:

1. 5:53
2. 5:57
3. 5:51
4. 5:56
5. 5:53
6. 5:51
7. 5:55
8. 5:55
9. 5:56
10. 5:48

Best running weather I can recall for FL at the end of May. Wish I could say I felt strong today, but it was a grind the whole way. Pace felt about right for where I am in my training. Mentally and physically just exhausted though.

Glad to get my first official TCM workout on the books. It's a good sign to run this workout 4 months out.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Quint, both of us dragging.

0 miles, but I moved today. That was a lot of exercise.

AM: 22 miles with the group. I parked at my old house, ran downtown & did the usual route, then met the family to clean the place as much as possible. After 10 years in that house, with 2 daughters added into the mix over the years, and myself- not your model homeowner...only so much could be done.

In college I used to get pretty nostalgic moving out of a dorm or appartment I lived in for a year. I'm way too tired for that this time, and when I do think about it, the first image that pops into my mind is heavy machinery and a wrecking ball knocking the walls off that place.

AM: 10 miles. I think I was really able to appreciate my new surroundings for the first time at 5AM this morning.

PM: 10 miles at lunch with Quint.

PM: 10 miles at track.

A few factors came together this morning which pointed toward skipping the AM run. I had tons of work, however I made unusually good progress. I'll ponder the connection.

It was cloudy and rained most of the day, so I also figured this would be a good chance to run hard at track. The humidity was still pretty unpleasant, but heavy clouds and light drizzle were way better than we'll get most of the summer.

Workout:

1 X 800 WITH 200 REST, 1 X 1 MILE WITH 200 REST, 1 X 800, FIVE MINUTE REST, REPEAT ENTIRE FIRST SET

Splits:

1. 2:31, 5:04, 2:32
2. 2:27, 5:06, 2:32

I have to consider this a good workout. I was pretty well-rested, and was running hard with no physical impediments.

The effort was high, though - and 4 months ago I did this workout in 1-2 seconds per 400 faster. I could not run sub-5 minute miles today though.

Rationally, I know you have to accept the slower summer times. This is about as fast as I've ever run in June. It is just something to get your head around though - almost like running with a weighted vest on.

Intervals are such an honest assessment of fitness. Running a bunch of miles is great and all, but it would have been nice to see slightly faster splits.

Just recently struck again by how specific training is. Sometimes I get myself through unpleasant slogs by saying- hey, you are probably ready to race faster, or soon will be... after about 5 weeks of base training, I have seen one noticeable adaption show up - simply that I feel less tired at the end of a 20+ mile run at easy/moderate pace.

Which is pretty much exactly what most of my training is like now. I think it's a necessary start, but I have plenty of hard running ahead of me this summer.

AM: 10 miles. Beautiful weather, calm mind, no rushing. I need to do more runs like this. Having the kids out of school definitely helped.

PM: 0. Busy at work.

AM: 12 miles on the bridge, medium pace.

PM: 0, another work through lunch day. Nearly done with the project though. I'm moving a client's health care claims format from old to current version. It is almost as exciting as it sounds.

AM: 10 miles. Was aiming for a 4 mile tempo @ 5:30 pace. Got through 2 miles (5:26, 5:32) when I abruptly stopped, without really thinking about it. At first, I was thinking "Wow, I just chickened out!" But pretty quickly I realized my body knew what it was doing. I was heading fast into the red zone.

There's no reason at the beginning of June to do that. I could handle 5 miles ~5:30 in the winter, but it took several workouts to sharpen into that. The humidity hasn't been bad yet, mostly with dew points around 70 degrees. Every tick after that is significant, and today was up to 74. By July it will settle in around 76 and 77, so I really need to be patient and incremental right now.

On the positive side, after I cooled down I didn't feel beat up. The last two weeks have messed with my rhythm a little. I just need to keep going.

PM: 10 miles at lunch with Quint, and lunch run guest Mike M. Mike, being a lunch run n00b, ran shirtless. It was funny though - within literally a minute of leaving the parking lot, a young lady screamed out her window THANK YOU!!

Quint and I have been running through there for a couple years, and that has never happened.

AM: 5 miles with the girls to a new park, then 6.5 solo.

PM: 3.5 miles with Elise riding her bike.

AM: 24 miles, avg 6:45. Last 4 miles @ MP (5:56, 5:54, 6:01, 5:55).

Best long run yet of this training cycle. Overall endurance is feeling good. Although I'm still a way off from where I want to be at Twin Cities, I'm at a good place in the timeline.

AM: 12 miles.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Quint and Mike.

AM: 4 miles at lunch with strides, loosening up for track.

Elise's bottom/front teeth have been loose for months, and we've been waiting to see if they would fall out naturally. This morning after breakfast she told me her loosest tooth was ready to come out. So we went to the bathroom and I pulled it out. She was a little shaken at first, but got over it quickly and began brushing it.

It brought back strong memories for me of my Dad pulling my teeth. I was always a little nervous from the pressure. He was very calm, and being a dentist, he knew what he was doing.

PM: 10 miles at track. Today was good from a standpoint of getting stronger through the workout. I'm a fan of conceding the first 3rd of the workout during the summer - just using it to warmup. Beside conserving energy, it seems to help mentally.

Workout: 4 X 400 WITH 200 REST, 3 X 800 WITH 200 REST, 4 X 400 WITH 200 REST, 400 REST BETWEEN THE SETS

Started out with Lee and Mike, everyone running carefully.

1:25, 1:20, 1:20, 1:15

Got moving on the 800s. Felt better than last week.

2:29, 2:30, 2:27

A high school guy named Ched joined us for the final 400s. His coach was telling him to hang with us and run 1:15s, while the four of us were looking distracted and thinking "Time to race these things!"

1:08, 1:07, 1:08, 1:10

I was feeling pretty good about outlasting our high school friend on the second and third repeats until Mike blew past me like I was standing still.

Love having these guys to run with. Solo I'd be lucky to make it to the track.

AM: 10 slow miles.

PM: 10 miles at lunch with Mike and Quint.

AM: 12 easy miles on the bridge.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Mike and Quint.

AM: 11 miles. I took the day off, so like any sensible person I slept in, did a few chores, then met three buddies for 2 x 1.5 miles in Tampa at 10 AM.

This plan developed over the last couple weeks. We ran the workout at Al Lopez park, on the course where the 5k is staged next week. Charles was very familiar with it. I had heard it was a good, and it really was - a couple of slow circles around ponds with decent shade. Not only certified but engraved mile markers by the City of Tampa!

Charles wanted to run the full course as a 5k practice, while Mike, Quint and myself opted for running 1.5 miles, 5 minute standing rest, then another 1.5. I've done this workout once before, and it was a great indicator and confidence booster.

This time, I had a lot of work-related stress on my mind, so at least I wasn't thinking too much about running. It was still daunting though. I want to believe that on a good day in winter I could run close to 7:30 for both repeats, and my goal was to get as close to that today as possible. I tried to clear my head and just slug it out.

We staggered our starts, which really helps us with motivation. I ended up running 7:45/7:55 - solid but not spectacular. That suggests to me I'll run around 16:15 next Sunday. I'd really like to cheat the reaper and get under 16, and I think I have a slight chance, very slight.

PM: 4 mile shakeout.

AM: 12 miles on the waterfront. That's all for the day- heading to Orlando for an engagement party.

AM: 7 miles with Allison around Lake Baldwin in Orlando. One of the rare times in the last half decade we've run together without a jogging stroller.

PM: 4 miles back in St. Pete with Elise on her bike. Good quote from her when we finished: "It is completely hot!"

AM: 8 miles.

PM: 8 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 4 miles. Tonight is a short and sharp track workout, then an easy recovery week leading up to Sunday's 5k.

After that, it's 15 weeks to Twin Cities, and if you throw out the final two weeks for taper, that seems about right for a marathon-specific training block. Over the last two months, I've put down a decent base (could always be more), and I've done some sharpening - think I'm ready to get down to business.

I'd really like to hear about any key workouts other runners have had success with in the build-up to a marathon. I have some things that work for me, but I have a lot of time this cycle and I'm looking to incorporate new ideas.

PM: 8 miles at track. Summer has arrived in full fury mode, and at least once around this time of year I need my Groundhog Day.

On this day each year, I attempt to ignore the conditions, then I explode. At least this year I didn't waste much time crying in my Cheerios. Plan was 5 x 1k with 200 rest, target 5:00 pace. Plan was also to put mind over matter and ignore conditions.  Plan failed. Started at 5:30 PM, 94 degrees, 78 DP.

First K was 3:06, felt pretty good! Second was 3:09, skin melting, eyeballs baked. I sat around for 5 minutes in the shade feeling sorry for myself, then jumped in with Lee for his last two: 3:35, 3:36. I rallied for one last K solo: 3:15.

Lesson relearned: start slow and speed up, or adjust winter times by 10-15 secs pace per mile. These roads lead to a productive workout. Otherwise disaster.

AM: 4 miles.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint.

Carrying over some thoughts on marathon workouts, here are some things I plan on this summer. Most of them I've done in previous cycles, all of them are stolen from other sources.

Mid-week

1. 5-6 mile wave tempo, alternating MP and 10k pace every 1/2 mile
2. 6 x 1 mile at 10k pace, 400 jog recovery
3. 10-12 mile MP tempo
4. 6-8 mile HMP tempo
5. Random intervals to maintain speed (400/800/Ks/etc)
6. Bridge (hill) repeats

Longish

1. ~16 miles at MP
2. 20 miles - First 10 MP+1:00 min/mile, second 10 MP
3. ~24 mile run ~ 85% MP (Canova ripoff, means of calcuation percent described here: http://www.runningwritings.com/2014/04/championship-racing-with-renato-canova.html)
4. ~20 mile run ~ 95% MP (Same as above)
5. 4-3-2-1: Want to incorporate Jason's suggestion on this one.
6. Standard long run with finishing miles at MP, build longer as summer goes on. Aim for getting to 8 miles or so.

AM: 4 miles. Sleeping in is nice, I could get used to it. Maybe it wouldn't be nice then.

PM: 4 miles at lunch, back to Al Lopez Park. I like it there, more shade than the usual trail.

AM: 4 miles.

Cutting back this week has been good physically. I was feeling pretty lousy at the start of the week, and by yesterday I could feel the turnaround. Mentally though, a lot of second-guessing. I feel like a slacker, and a small voice wonders if this is the beginning of the end. End of what, I'm not sure.

Obviously kind of silly, since after seven big weeks, one week of light running is probably in order. But the mentality that creeps in with a lot of training can be pretty illogical at times.

In the past, one thing I've done poorly during light weeks or tapers is taking care of myself. Since I have more energy, I stay up later. There's a link in my life between focused training and eating well. I don't eat healthy as a default, but it's easy when I can link it to good fueling. So in the past, I've often gotten less out of rest weeks than I should have. This week I've done much better. I feel like I'm doing everything in my power to produce good results- hopefully they will come.

AM: 4 miles. Last night Elise was in a short play, end result of a week at drama camp. It was super cute. Anna sat in my lap and was totally spellbound.

Mostly excited to race tomorrow, it's been a few months. Interested (in a perverse way) to see how I handle the heat.

I'm going to bullet point this one. Sorry for the unattractive presentation, but I'm eager to press the reset button on and get on with Father's Day.

• I was surprised (and mostly happy) to see Jon Noland at the start. He is a Masters runner who thumped me in a 10k last Feb. As I warmed up, I told myself I am in better shape now, and I could take him.
• He joined me for a warmup mile. We compared notes- he was a little stiff after running a 4:26 mile on the track last night. He is preparing for Masters Nationals in Jacksonville in a month. The realization washed over me that he is a signficantly better runner than me.
• I need to make time to run with him in the future.
• No excuses day. Hot and humid, sure, but the course was shaded and the humidity was if anything better than most of the week. I was well-rested, nothing hurt.
• Planned to run 5:10-5:15 for the first mile. Came in around 5:12.
• Jon and a college guy were about 6 seconds ahead.  Instead of digging in, I just let go. 5:20 second mile, 5:25 3rd mile. Got the college kid in the second mile as he was dying off.

Sick of bullets. Today was an underperformance, plain and simple. Wasn't a disaster. It was flat and sluggish. It's been a couple months since I raced, and it felt like it today. I ended the race far too fresh, and mentally was lacking.

This happens though. My focus has been overwhelming on endurance. It may not be healthy, but I'm going to think of this as a workout of 3 miles @ 5:19 pace rather than a 16:30 5k.

Still, I feel like I should have run closer to 16:15. It's never good to check out like that in a race.

I'm pretty over it already. My girls were out there cheering, which is always great. And we get to spend the rest of the day goofing off.

PM: 4 miles. Laziness cancelled starting tomorrow.

Plan for the week- Tues: 2 x 2 miles @ 5:30 pace for track. Fri: bridge repeats, pretty hard effort. Sun: long run with last 5 miles @ MP.

We saw the new Pixar movie Inside Out with our girls yesterday. Our younger daughter is pretty hard boiled, but our older daughter is sensitive. The movie isn't frightening, but it's very emotional, and she cried for most of it. I took her out for a break and the first thing she said to me when we got outside was "Why would anyone make a movie like that?!" I'm hopeful it was more cathartic than traumatic.

It might have been more traumatic. I still remember the bad feelings I got from Pete's Dragon, which I saw in the theater when I was about her age.

AM: 6 miles.

PM: 8 miles at track. Workout was 2 x 2 miles with 5 minute standing rest between. Splits: 10:58, 10:57.

Although Sunday's 5k felt negative at the time, several positives came out of it. One of them was that I knew this workout would feel manageable, and it did. This was the best I've felt running on the track so far this summer.

Coach Joe was quotable as usual: "Every time I've had a bad race, all it made me do was want to try harder. It just renewed my running. To really train...to overtrain...oh, and by the way, there is no such thing."

AM: 12 miles.

PM: 6 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 11 miles, bridge repeats, hard. I really want to go to sleep now, but I have the next best thing across the street from my office- a homestyle Cuban place that serves Cafe con Leches that should be classified as Schedule 1 drugs.

PM: 7 miles at lunch with Quint.

AM: 10 miles, felt pretty lousy on the way out, light fartlek on the way back, just to end the misery.

PM: 5 miles. Late afternoon run with Quint. Mostly to battle the summer slog, we came up with a running game. The rules were:

• Set watch to beep every 1/2 mile
• No looking at the watch except when it beeps
• We have to stay together
• Every 1/2 mile has to be faster than the last, otherwise game over

We got through 4 miles like that, starting at 8:45 pace and ending a little under 6:30. It wasn't intended as a workout per se, but getting a little quality was a bonus.

Mostly just looking for ways to break up the summer running. Other ideas under consideration are:

• Superhero / Carnival costumes
• Parkour
• Acting out historical scenes

Quint isn't actually aware of these ideas yet.

6 miles. A bit before noon in the middle of errands on the Pinellas Trail to get in a few overpasses.

I was very close to skipping my run and grabbing lunch somewhere, but I dragged myself onto the trail. As I was getting to the top of the last overpass, I was patting myself on the back for making it out there. Some guy rode by on his bike and muttered "Looks like you need something to eat."

AM: 23 miles, about 2/3 with a good group of 9 people. I really struggled with overheating today. We had friends over yesterday, and I did pretty good eating-wise for a pool party. Mostly pasta, a couple chips, one beer. I still felt off this morning. I would get rolling for awhile then I'd start overheating. I went through that cycle about 4 times.

My goal was to run the last 5 miles at target MP. I made it through 2, then blew up and staggered home. A little frustrated - with the heat I feel like every aspect of pre-run and recovery has to be managed perfectly, and perfection is not my strong suit. 7:05 avg pace today.

PM: 2 much more relaxed miles running with Elise while she rode her bike.

10 miles in Whedon Island Preserve. There are miles of boardwalk and actual trails running through mangroves, palms and pines back there. Unique place in Pinellas County. Sawgrass Lake is a miniature version, but before you go a quarter mile you are either running up against the 275 Interstate, or back to the water where the shots from a gun range constantly echo across the water.

AM: 4 miles.

PM: 10 miles at track. The workout was an ascending & descending ladder from 100s to 400s. I'm planning something separate tomorrow morning, so I just ran with the group as a rabbit. I ran a steady pace through the recoveries to get ahead of everyone, then I'd get caught on the fast sections. I really like sessions like this where I'm not concerned with my own splits, and helping my teammates through a workout is gratifying. If I ran like this all summer I'd probably be a lot less stressed.

AM: 6.5 miles. This morning I went to another club's track workout at University of Tampa, and yes, I did feel like Daniel Larusso training at the Cobra Kai dojo.

Besides just shaking things up, one of the main draws was running with Jon Noland, who has been blowing me out of the water every time we race.

His group does similar intervals to ours, with one interesting difference: the workouts are announced that morning. Everyone runs the same distances, but there are many pace levels. This morning the workout was 1200-1600-1200-800, with passive rest of 3:00, 4:00, 3:00.

Jon's assignment (and mine by proxy) was 3:39, 4:56, 3:39, 2:22. I doubted I could hang with that, but the reason I broke up my routine and drove early to Tampa was to get out of my comfort zone, so I went for it.

Amazingly, I came pretty close, and today was my best track workout in a long time. I was chasing Jon the whole way, and that was a huge help. As was running in the dawn as opposed to the crushing sun/heat of 5pm. Splits were: 3:41.3, 4:56.0, 3:39.9, 2:21.5.

A small victory in training today, but I'll take it. Next up is a tough long run (20 miles @ 95% of MP) - I'll be doing it in Jacksonville, so I'm hoping the weather will be ever-so-slightly cooler.

PM: 2.5 miles shakeout.