Everything Counts

AM: 11.75 miles easy at work with Denver and Dave, avg pace 7:17/mile. Then Dave and I did some light lower body lifting.

PM: 3.4 miles easy in my neighborhood, avg pace 6:44/mile. I tried to keep my heart rate at 130 bpm the whole run and was pretty close with a 126 bpm average. After the run I did some core.

12 miles easy with Dave with 5 sets of uphill/downhill 7-second sprints, avg pace 7:25/mile. Light upper body lifting afterward.

8.05 miles easy on the BST with Dave, avg pace 8:04/mile.

LONG ADVENTURE RUN

We did a very unique and awesome run this morning. Denver, Dave, Ben, Jared, Jon, Bryant and I met at Jared's in Syracuse and headed out to Antelope Island. From there we ran the Causeway for just over a mile and then hit a natural sandbar that appears only when the Great Salt Lake is very low. The sandbar is well over 100 meters wide and goes 7.5 miles or so to Fremont Island. Once to Fremont, we climbed up to the highest point. Stunning views of the Wasatch Front front the middle of the lake. Overall, we averaged a 7:50/mile pace, but had a few very slow miles bushwhacking and climbing on the island. Here's a few photos:

AM: 12 miles easy with 5 sets of uphill/downhill sprints, overall average pace is 7:36/mile.

PM: 4 miles easy in my neighborhood, avg pace 6:36/mile.

10 miles easy in East Ogden with about half on trails, avg pace 8:03/mile. My legs were quite tired from the leg strengthening I did last night. After the run this morning I did some light upper body lifting.

AEROBIC BUILDER 2x4

I met up with Ben, both Jons, and Denver at the pond for our normal aerobic builder route. We missed the rain thankfully, but is was very windy, especially the last 2.5 miles of the builder!

I wanted a 5:15 overall average for the whole thing. First four miles were just a hair under 5:15 avg, but was somewhat easy on effort with a bit of tailwind for the middle two miles. The second set was 5:20 avg, as the headwind was too much, despite an increase in effort, to hit 5:15s. But overall, the effort was good and this should be a beneficial workout for me moving forward.

A few weeks ago I could only manage a 3-2-3 at this pace, so now I've lengthened that to 4-4, and hopefully next time 6-2, if not just 8 straight. Eventually I'd like 12 miles uninterrupted at 5:15.

10.8 easy, recovery miles in South Ogden with Dave, Ben, Jon, and Denver for half of it, avg pace 7:31/mile. I was definitely feeling yesterday's workout.

9.1 miles easy at work with Dave, avg pace 6:55/mile. Legs felt substantially better today than yesterday. I'm ready for a long run tomorrow...

LONG RUN W/12-MILE PICKUP

I met up with Ken, Dave, Jon, and Tom for a long run. We warmed up 7 miles and then did a 12-mile steady state effort followed by a 2-mile cooldown. Average pace for the whole run was 6:20/mile, average pace for the 12 miles was 5:42/mile. It was a beautiful morning out there with great temps. 

The run felt really good except for the last mile of the steady state when I picked up a wicked side-stitch, but other than that I felt strong and comfortable.

12 miles easy on Monday Funday with Denver, Dave, and Ben, avg pace 7:33/mile. I'm enjoying the earlier sunrises each morning, only first 6-7 miles required a headlamp this morning.

400-METER REPS

I met Albert and Ben at Smiths and warmed up just over three miles including three strides to the Ogden High Track. We met Ken, Denver, Dave, Matt, and Tim there. The plan for me was to do 16 repeats at 69 average. But it was super windy out, a constant 10 MPH wind with gusts up the 30 MPH at times, so I was a little worried about finishing the workout on pace.

But I started anyway still shooting for 69s. It was definitely a tough workout and I thought about cutting it short after the first handful of reps, but I kept taking them one at a time and I ended up hitting 16 reps at a 68.8 avg (4:37/mile pace) with 300-meter jogs for rest in 1:31 average (8:08 pace). I'm very happy with the workout with that wind! Temps were amazing though in the low 60s.

AM: 10 wet, slushy, snowy, breezy miles in South Ogden with Dave, Denver, Ben, and Ken, avg pace 7:47/mile

PM: 4.45 easy miles, avg pace 6:55/mile. Still wet and snowy, not so much slushy and breezy.

AM: 18 miles moderate with Ken at 5:00 am from the 21st Street Pond, avg pace 6:36/mile. A very enjoyable run this morning with Ken, we just talked running for two hours straight. By the way, have I mentioned that the Brooks Adrenaline is basically my favorite shoe of all time! Love that shoe!

PM: 4.35 miles easy after work, avg pace 6:38/mile.

11.4 miles easy with Ken, Ben, and Jon from Rainbow Gardens down to the pond on the parkway and then back across 24th Street Viaduct and up thru central Ogden, avg pace 7:17/mile.

When I got home Evelyn asked, "Dad why do you always run in the middle of the night?" I said, "I don't run in the middle of the night, I just run really early". She answered, "Dad, that's not early morning; that's the middle of the night. It's always dark". I'll give her that, although it is getting lighter every morning, which is nice.

1.5-MILE REPEATS

I  met Ken this morning at the Dee and we warmed up over to the Tempo Loop. I felt awful on the warmup and very lethargic. I wasn't sure how well the workout would go. The plan was 4x1.5 miles at 7:34-7:35 (or 5:03 pace). In Feb, I did 4x1 mile at this pace so the goal was to lengthen the interval at the same pace.

The first rep I felt like my vision was blurry and like I may pass out in the first 1/3 mile. I said a quick prayer and kept on it. Eventually I felt a bit better and by the end of the rep I felt pretty good. The second and third reps felt relatively easy and then the last rep was a tough one.

Splits: 7:32, 7:32, 7:30, 7:28 with 3:00 jogs for rest in between.

I'm really happy with this workout, especially considering how terrible I felt on the warmup and the start of the first rep. The fitness is surely coming around. This has been my best week since the comeback began.

12 miles easy on reverse Monday Funday with Denver, Ken, Ben, and Jon, avg pace 7:12/mile.

1,000-METER REPS

I had a great workout this morning. I met Ken, Jason, Ben, and Jon at Wal Mart in South Ogden and we warmed up just over three miles with strides. Ben and Jon then just continued an easy run while Ken, Jason, and I got down to business. My goal was to run 8x1000 @ 4:51 pace. We did 400 meter jog for rest (2:05-2:20 time-wise). My splits were: 2:59.0 3:00.7 2:59.6 2:56.3 2:58.3 2:58.0 2:58.7 2:56.1 for an avg of 2:58.3 or 4:48 pace. This is the same pace I did 800s at a few weeks ago, so I successfully increased the distance at that pace. Next time I'll shoot for 8x1200 at this pace with same rest.

10 easy, recovery miles on the trails with Denver & Dave (recently returned from getting married in Vegas!), avg pace 8:12/mile.

10.2 miles with 4 of it moderate and the rest easy, avg pace 6:56/mile. I met Ken, Ben, and Denver at the pond. We warmed up to mouth of Ogden Canyon and then Ken and I paced Denver for his 4-mile tempo. He did great averaging about 6:00-flat.

6.8 miles easy, avg 6:46/mile.

SOUTHERN UTAH HALF MARATHON

I had a great time down at the Southern Utah Half Marathon. It rained the night before the race and started again for the start of the race thru mile 4, and then it was cloudy and low 50s with slightest of headwinds. The course starts up at Highland Park in Washington overlooking Corral Canyon and drops a TON the first three miles down to the Virgin River. After that you take the Virgin River Trail (paved parkway) all the way to Bloomington for the finish. So you drop about 550+ feet in first three miles and then hit the parkway which, although has soft rollers the whole way, drops another 150 feet over the last ten miles. The water on the parkway made for a slippery surface for those final ten miles, especially thru miles 6-10 it seemed; your foot would slip back just slightly on each step as you pushed off. The scenery, especially with the rain was fantastic as was the fresh smell of rain most of the way.

I was warming up and I saw a fast looking couple. The girl, eventually female winner, was sporting the same Brooks jacket as me. So I knew she was likely sponsored and fast, but her boyfriend also looked legit. Turns out he was my competition on the day. At the gun I took off at what I thought was a reasonable pace, but turns out it was a 4:49 and he was right on my tail drafting. He stuck with me for another half mile and then within 10-15 feet until mile two, but then I put a pretty good gap on him as I flew down the Cottonwood Wash on mile three! Mile 2 4:45 Mile 3 4:47.

Although the first few miles felt relatively ok cardio-wise they took their toll on my legs. I never did hit the paces I wanted for the rest of the race. I was hoping for 5:10s or so and just couldn't hit those on a consistent basis. The downhill fast start definitely slowed my later miles. My plan was to take it easy on those first few steep drops but that kid made me anxious I guess. So after I gapped him at mile three I felt dumb for having pushed the pace since it had tired my legs pretty good. But once the race was over and I found out I only beat him by 53 seconds, in hindsight maybe it was good I got the gap early. After the race he told me it was his first half marathon and that he's a 5k runner who lives in Phoenix. He's running the Payton Jordan Invite at Stanford next Saturday hoping for a 13:30 5k. I hope his legs recover in time from those screaming downhill miles!

Miles 4-13 were quite uneventful. I got too comfortable with my lead in mile 9 and started giving in to a slower pace, but luckily scolded myself after that slower split and got moving a tiny bit better to the finish. As I came into the park to finish, I gave my daughter Evelyn a high-five and seeing the clock and realizing I couldn't get under 1:07, just coasted in.

Splits: 4:49 4:45 4:47 5:12 5:14 5:17 5:05 5:11 5:21 5:12 5:14 5:17 5:17 and 5:06 pace for last tenth.

I'm pretty happy with the end result, but not with how I executed it. I would've liked those last ten miles to be quicker. But the slickness of the path also played a 1-2 second per mile role I think. It's certainly progress, but I still need to keep working; I got a ways to go still. I need more speed endurance to keep miles 9-13 faster, more builders I suppose in the next few weeks.

12 miles easy on Monday Funday route with one of our largest groups yet (9 guys), avg pace 7:23/mile. Both my hamstrings, but especially my left one are quite sore from Saturday's race.

10 miles easy from Smith's through Central Ogden with Denver, Dave, Matt, Ben, and Tim, avg pace 7:35/mile. My legs are still angry from Saturday's race.

AM: 10.1 miles easy on the parkway with Matt, Bret, and Dave, avg pace 7:26/mile. Legs feel a lot better today than yesterday, but are still heavy.

Looks like I'm running Ogden Marathon now...yikes. I'm not really in marathon shape and have a lack of quality long runs and aerobic builders, but I got offered a free entry through a friend at work whose neighbor sponsors the race and gets a handful of entries. So I couldn't turn it down. I won't be running any killer paces, but if I'm conservative maybe I can run a ok race. Plus it's my hometown so it's kind of fun. I just wish I had run more 20+ mile runs...

PM: 4.2 miles easy at lunch, avg pace 6:59/mile. Tired.

8.8 miles easy on parkway with Dave, Ben, Albert, and Jon, avg pace 7:38/mile. I think I was dehydrated from yesterday and felt it on the run today. I need to focus on drinking more fluids today.