February 19, Wednesday

Note- I left my book of running quotations in New Jersey.

Not Florida but shirtless.

The Saint Augustine Beach was picture perfect and weather perfect this afternoon. It was a calm, slightly cloudy 70 degrees at 3 o clock. In anticipation of a serious workout, I actually ran shirtless today, first time this year.  I have always believed that 10 days out from a target race is the optimal time to do the most demanding workout.  So, after consultation with my private coach, Rich Refi, I settled on running 800m repeats at goal race pace.  (4:00)  I thought that 5 or 6 would be a good number.   After an 800-meter jog to warm up, I ran the following with about half time walking between each.

#1- 4:22.       #2- 4:09.       #3- 4:12.        #4- 3:54.       #5- 4:08.       #6- 4:05

All along the way I was feeling very comfortable and I actually lost count of the number .  So, after the number six, which I thought was number five, I figured I would jog and walk the half-mile back to my car where Arlene was soaking up the rays on her Tommy  Bahama beach chair.    (Yes, you can park your car on the beach in St. Augustine, which is something we usually do, which is lovely.)       But I digress. On second thought it seemed like a better idea to run back the final 800 meters instead of walking or jogging. I figured I could run a very comfortable five minute 800 to finish off the day. As it turned out, that was #7, and as a pleasant surprise I ran a very relaxed 4:11.  The total miles for the day was 4.44. I am very encouraged by this workout.

Stats are stable.