February 6, Thursday

By 3 this afternoon it was 84 degrees in St Augustine. The wind was blowing pretty briskly down along the beach. It was a strong wind but very warm. So, I decided to head out to my favorite running neighborhood and try to do some Progressive miles. IYesterday as an easy day only doing a 5-mile bike ride. I completed 5 miles with walking 2 minutes to 4 minutes between each. The time dropped from mid 14:00 for a warm up first mile, down to 11:00 for #2,  followed by 10:20 & 10:08 for #s 3 and 4.  and 11:24 for# 5.  I debated the wisdom of running number five after I had completed the first four. I was pretty beat. But I had just read an article sent to me by Rich Refi about Glenn Cunningham.  So, inspired, I decided to go for #5. I began with some trepidation but maintained a fairly strong pace to finish below 11:30. I was glad I had done it, but my body felt extremely hot  as I approached my car. I feared for a few moments that I had underestimated the effect of the heat. I haven’t run in anything near 84° for months.  The ride home with the cool breezes blowing  helped to cool down and I feel okay tonight. Tomorrow is scheduled to be another typical St Augustine winter day with temperatures reaching only high 50s or low 60s. If the wind is not bad it seems like a good day for a comfortable 5 mile beach run

I do remember running some sub 9 minute miles on this circuit a few years back. I will have to check my log for the exact circumstances. I haven’t felt like I can run sub 9 on this course right now. Maybe I need a few days rest to have that kind of confidence in my legs before a workout.

Steady stats.

 February 4, Tuesday

I had little motivation to train today even though I took off yesterday to rest.  I felt overall tired and my footstrikes for the first 15 minutes rattled my legs. I was tempted to turn around a few times and call it a day.  But I settled on a series of 30 second  SS at a very modest pace with a 30 second walk between.  A few months ago I was calling that MMF for My Modified Fartlek.  The body began to respond as the run progressed.  The result was 2.75 miles with 22 SS in 38:40.   The SS were progressively dropping from 10:30 pace to under 9:00 for the quicker efforts.  I worked on quick, short strides with relaxed  Belly Breathing until I got my stride count up to above 80 for the 30 seconds.  It was a productive aerobic day, not too anaerobicly demanding, better than expected.

Steady stats.

February 2, Sunday

The flat, firm, endless, St Augustine beach always provides an exhilarating experience.

The sun came out in St Augustine today. The temperature was in the high sixties.  I biked for 20 minutes to loosen up. Then Arlene and I walked for 45 minutes on the beach. Then I ran a pretty solid 4 miles in 41:53.    🙂  🙂      I walked the first minute of mile 2 and mile 3 but continued non-stop from there on.  It felt like about an 85% effort.

 11:16,  9:29,  11:26,  9:43 = 41:53

SUPER BOWL TIME!

January 31,  Friday

Today it felt like I did a substantial bit of work on the beach. I ran a half mile to the beach and began running a ladder. The ladder consisted of bursts of speed with 1 to 2 minute  recovery in between each.  The steps in the ladder were 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 4 minutes, 5-minutes, 4 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes and a final 3 minutes.  I think that adds up to 27 minutes.  With a half-mile jog home the day was a total of 5 miles.

Because the day was dreary with a heavy overcast and a barely perceptible mist, my Garmin watch recorded some crazy numbers.   The visibility was only about 100 meters. My perceived effort indicated to me that I was running most of the speed segment’s between 8:30 and 9:30 mile pace.  The steady wind made the final segments  quite challenging.  When I got home my clothes was sopping wet clear through, sweaty from the inside and Misty from the outside. LOL

February 1, Saturday

The St Augustine Lighthouse 5K is in 29 days, Leap Year Day!

As a recovery day, today I rode 5 miles in 35 minutes on the bike.

STATS ARE STABLE