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Utah Valley Half Marathon

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Location:

South Weber,UT,

Member Since:

May 09, 2012

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Personal Records:

800 Meters 1:50.14 (Track-BYU)

1500 Meters 3:42.07 (Track-Stanford) Likely the best race of my life; converts to a 3:59.85 Mile

5000 Meters 14:20 (Track-Stanford)

8000 Meters 23:53 (Cross Country-Pre Nationals Iowa)

10000 Meters 29:57 (Track-Stanford)

Half Marathon (Mesa-Phoenix Half) 1:05:11

Marathon (St George) 2:16:09

Short-Term Running Goals:

2017 Races:

Mesa-Phoenix Half - 3rd Place 1:05:11 PR

Ogden WRC 10-Miler - 1st Place 55:46

Provo City Half - 1st Place 1:06:33

Ogden Marathon - 2nd Place 2:25:46

Long-Term Running Goals:

My main goal is just to stay healthy.  I was injured every year in my college career except for one.  I would like to reverse that trend and always stay injury-free.

 

Personal:

I am a family man.  I am married to my beautiful wife Amy (who also ran at Weber and is quite the runner).  We have four beautiful daughters named Evelyn (6 years old), Hannah (4 year old), Nora (2 year old), and Iris (5 months).

Twitter handle: @RunnerRiley7

Instagram RunnerRiley7

I am supported by Brooks

I am a Generation Ucan elite athlete

Click to donate
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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Salomon Pro Wings 2 Lifetime Miles: 161.10
Brooks PureCadence 5 Lifetime Miles: 101.85
Brooks Adrenaline 17 Lifetime Miles: 161.85
Brooks Transcend 4 Lifetime Miles: 219.45
Brooks Ravenna 8 Lifetime Miles: 225.10
Brooks PureCadence 6 Lifetime Miles: 188.10
Brooks Launch 4 Lifetime Miles: 107.50
Brooks Glycerin 14 Lifetime Miles: 101.47
Brooks Hyperion Lifetime Miles: 92.13
Brooks Caldera Lifetime Miles: 31.10
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
303.5724.0019.119.07355.75
Brooks Ravenna 6 Miles: 25.50Brooks Adrenaline 15 Miles: 109.80Brooks Adrenaline ASR 10 GTX Miles: 110.00Brooks Racer ST5 Miles: 12.50Brooks Adrenaline (NYC) 15 Miles: 4.50Brooks Transcend 2 Miles: 43.30Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 51.10
Weight: 154.44
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
19.150.000.000.0019.15

AM: 15.15 miles easy, avg pace 7:01/mile. I met Ken at 5:10 and we did 2.5 miles before the other guys showed up at 5:30. We ran Monday Funday and then did three sets of up and downhill sprints. By the third set we finally got Ben moving faster than half marathon pace!

PM: 4 miles easy in South Weber, avg pace 6:55/mile. I went right after dinner, which made for an uncomfortable run. But, hey I got it in!

Brooks Ravenna 6 Miles: 4.00Brooks Adrenaline 15 Miles: 15.15
Weight: 155.60
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

12 miles easy mostly on the trails with Denver, Matt, Dave, Jon, and Ben, avg pace 8:05/mile.

Brooks Adrenaline ASR 10 GTX Miles: 12.00
Weight: 154.40
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.006.000.0017.00

TWO-MILE REPEATS

We had a big group out this morning for some lactate threshold work. After the warm up we kind of split into two groups. My plan was three reps of two miles at 10:06 (5:03 pace). This was an extension of the 1.5 mile reps I did last month. Same pace, overall distance, and rest, but each rep extended a half mile longer. I got out too quickly on both the first and second reps and paid the price for it on the third rep. But overall it was a great, successful workout.

Splits: 9:57.18 (4:57 5:00), 9:57.74 (4:56 5:01), 10:09.03 (5:02 5:06) I tried to keep that last mile on pace but I just couldn't. I was spent.

PM: 4.5 miles easy, avg pace 7:43/mile for first 4. I met Dave and Denver at Denver's house and I pushed Evie and Nora in the double jogger, while Dave pushed Hannah is a single jogger (Denver helped some too). The steeper hills were tough!

Then Evie wanted to practice for her kid's K so we ran 0.5 miles with her at 10:14/mile pace. Which I think is pretty good for a 4-year girl.

Brooks Racer ST5 Miles: 12.50Brooks Adrenaline (NYC) 15 Miles: 4.50
Weight: 155.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.000.000.0010.50

10.5 miles easy on a hilly route in East Layton with Dave and Denver, avg pace 7:35/mile. We were all pretty tired from yesterday's workout and second run pushing kids in joggers.

Brooks Transcend 2 Miles: 10.50
Weight: 152.60
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

12 miles easy on the BST trail with Bret and Ken, avg pace 8:04/mile. Matt and Tim joined us for the first four miles and we ran into Jon halfway through and he joined us for just over a mile. I felt surprisingly fresh despite being toward the end of my largest weekly volume of the year.

Brooks Adrenaline ASR 10 GTX Miles: 12.00
Weight: 155.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.0515.000.000.0020.05

LONG RUN - STEP PROGRESSION

Ben and I did a long run out West. 3-mile warmup, followed by 5 miles targeted at 6:00/mile, 5 miles targeted at 5:50/mile, and 5 miles targeted under 5:40/mile. Ben was with me thru mile 14 (11 into faster section) then I finished solo.

Splits for 15 middle miles: 6:04 5:56 6:01 5:59 5:54 5:46 5:47 5:50 5:44 5:46 5:34 5:36 5:34 5:32 5:30    Avg 5:46

I felt pretty tired throughout, but I guess that's to be expected, considering this is my highest weekly mileage this year and post-injury. I need more of these longer sustained efforts. These are what really help me get my endurance going.

Brooks Adrenaline 15 Miles: 20.05
Weight: 155.40
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
21.300.000.000.0021.30

AM: 16.6 miles with four sets of hill sprints at the end, avg pace 7:08/mile.

PM: 4.7 miles easy from my house, avg pace 6:58/mile.

Brooks Transcend 2 Miles: 4.70Brooks Adrenaline 15 Miles: 16.60
Weight: 155.20
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

10 miles easy on the trails with Ben, Matt, and Denver, avg pace 8:18/mile. My legs were TIRED.

Brooks Adrenaline ASR 10 GTX Miles: 10.00
Weight: 153.20
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.590.000.005.9614.55

1200-METER REPEATS

I met up with Ben, Jason, Jon, Ken, Denver, and Matt at Smiths. We warmed up over to tempo loop and then Denver and Matt just kept going easy while the rest of us got down to business. Goal today was eight 1200-meter reps at 4:51 pace with 2-minute jogging rest (I ended up with about 2:15 rest since we went off of Kens 2-minutes).

I was worried this may end up being an ugly workout. My legs have been very fatigued and tired all week. Also I woke up with a really dry mouth and felt dehydrated the whole run. But in the end it all worked out and I got a great workout in.

Splits: 3:36.6 3:37.0 3:35.3 3:37.5 3:35.1 3:35.1 3:36.3 3:34.3 for a 3:35.9 avg which is 4:49/mile pace.

Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 15.50
Weight: 155.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.150.000.000.0010.15

10.15 miles easy on the BST with Bret, avg pace 8:08/mile.

Brooks Adrenaline ASR 10 GTX Miles: 10.15
Weight: 155.00
Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.000.007.00

6 miles easy around my neighborhood, avg pace 6:46/mile. Then I did another mile with my kids to get ready for their kid's k next week.

I'm running UV Half tomorrow. I don't have high expectations, but I'd like to do well. Typically May and June are my worst racing months due to allergies, so I guess my goal is to run my best June Half or a June PR. My legs have felt heavy all week from the increase in volume last week and most of this week. But, they felt a bit better today and should be good to go tomorrow.

Brooks Transcend 2 Miles: 7.00
Weight: 0.00
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Race: Utah Valley Half Marathon (13.109 Miles) 01:06:49, Place overall: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.290.0013.110.0017.40

UTAH VALLEY HALF MARATHON

This is my second time running this half; the first time two years ago was miserable. I was sick and struggled the whole way. Today, was quite the opposite. I felt surprisingly good, despite heavy legs earlier in the week. I really enjoyed the race out there this morning. Temps were perfect, with the whole race being run before the sun hit me. There was also a noticeable tailwind for sections of the first half in the canyon, which was nice.

Before the race my stomach was not too happy, so I didn't get much of a warmup, only 1.4 miles which included a couple half-hearted strides. The field of competitors was loaded up front. Ryan Hall was in the race, but he ended up doing a fartlek of alternating 5:00 miles with 7:00 miles I think. 

At the gun I settled into second behind Brett Hales, who has an OTQ in the half earlier this year. After a tenth of a mile or so Ryan Hall passed me and settled in right behind Brett. After the mile Hall slowed down and I took over second place and stayed there the rest of the race.

I measured the gap from Hales to me a few times and despite some sub-5:00 miles in the middle, he was still increasing his lead. I ran strong the whole way though and actually negative split the course. I did some poor math in my head somehow and thought I could break 1:06 if I ran last four miles at 5:02 pace. So I really went after those miles and then with one mile to go and I did the math again and realized I wasn't really all that close afterall to 1:06 and I think that killed my spirit a bit and I let up the last mile a little.

But overall I'm happy with the result. I was second place in 1:06:49. Brett won in 1:05:44. There were a lot of other great performances out there today. Congrats to everyone that ran. Utah Valley puts on a great race and is very organized with great staff and volunteers. Thanks to all of them!

Garmin Splits: 5:10 5:05 5:15 5:04 4:52 4:53 5:03 4:57 5:01 5:04 5:12 4:57 5:08 and 4:50 pace for the leftover change.

Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 17.40
Weight: 0.00
Comments(11)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

10 recovery miles in Ogden with Denver, Jon, Matt, and Ben, avg pace 7:46/mile. Then I did some core and pushups at gym after; I've gotten lazy with my core and hopefully this will get me back on track.

Brooks Adrenaline 15 Miles: 10.00
Weight: 153.40
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.250.000.000.0011.25

11.25 miles on the lower East bench trails with Ben, Jon, Denver, and Manny, avg pace 7:54/mile.

Tomorrow we are running Ben Lomond peak at 5:00 am. If anyone wants to join us, you're welcome to. We'll have one group starting at 5:00 and another 10 minutes later. Should be just shy of 16 miles roundtrip. I'm excited.

Brooks Adrenaline ASR 10 GTX Miles: 11.25
Weight: 153.60
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.000.000.000.0016.00

BEN LOMOND PEAK FKT ATTEMPT

I woke up at 3:50 and got ready and headed out to meet Bret and Ken at the North Ogden Divide Trailhead. Ben and Jon had met 20 minutes earlier to get a head start on us, so that we would all end up at the summit around the same time. Ken ended up having to bail, and Jon had to turn around early to get home on time. So in the end only Ben, Bret, and I made the summit.

Bret had the FKT, or Strava CR, coming into the day, but I was convinced I had the fastest moving time (last time I ran it I stopped several times to wait for others). So Bret and I ran together and chatted most of the way up on a beautiful morning. We got within a mile of the summit before the sun crested to mountains to the East over the Ogden Valley.

Once we hit the steep section at the end Bret fell behind a bit and I went on to summit in 1:15:50, which is now the CR. It was 1:20 before and my personal best was 1:23 (but that included stops). Ben made the summit at almost the exact time as Bret, so the timing worked out great. We took a couple photos on top with Ben's GoPro and then headed back down. It was an awesome morning out there. Overall pace was 8:52/mile, as we took the descent rather easy.

Brooks Adrenaline ASR 10 GTX Miles: 16.00
Weight: 155.40
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.500.000.000.0011.50

AM 10.55 miles easy with Ben in South Ogden, avg pace 7:31/mile.

PM 0.95 miles running alongside Evelyn for her South Ogden Days Kids Race. She ran it in 10:00! She was awesome.

Brooks Ravenna 6 Miles: 11.50
Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

10 miles easy from the pond with Dave and Jon, avg pace 7:06/mile. It was good to have Dave out again, he's been out two weeks with calf injury. He's now listed day to day on the Ogden Crew injury report.

Brooks Transcend 2 Miles: 10.00
Weight: 154.80
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.500.000.000.0017.50

17.5 miles from Ben's house with Ben, Denver, and Jake, avg pace 7:58/mile. We ran on the Up N Over Trail up to the top of the North Ogden Divide, then back down, and along the BST under the shadow of Ben Lomond, and back to Ben's for a full loop. A lot of climbing today. It was a beautiful morning and felt pretty good.

Brooks Adrenaline ASR 10 GTX Miles: 17.50
Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.000.000.000.0015.00

15 miles easy with four sets of hill sprints at the end, avg pace 7:20/mile. Ran in Ogden with Matt and Denver.

Brooks Adrenaline 15 Miles: 15.00
Weight: 154.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.600.000.000.0010.60

10.6 miles on the lower trails in East Ogden with Ben and Jon, avg pace 7:47/mile.

Brooks Adrenaline ASR 10 GTX Miles: 10.60
Weight: 153.40
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.209.000.000.0014.20

AEROBIC BUILDER

I met Ken, Ben, and Jon at the pond to do a builder. 3-mile warm up with strides and then a 9-mile builder. Goal pace 5:16.

Splits: 513 519 512 513 516 511 515 515 515 for a total time of 47:13 or 5:15 average.

I felt pretty decent until the pedestrian bridge in mile five that goes up and over I-15. That put me in the LT zone instead of aerobic and it was hard to recover from that and get back to the "ease" of the aerobic zone. The last mile I was pretty gassed with heavy breathing.

Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 14.20
Weight: 153.80
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.100.000.000.0011.10

11.1 miles easy with Ben in South Ogden and Uintah, avg pace 7:35/mile.

Brooks Transcend 2 Miles: 11.10
Weight: 152.80
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

10 miles easy from my house with Ben and Jon, avg pace 7:02/mile.

Brooks Ravenna 6 Miles: 10.00
Weight: 155.00
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Race: Pleasant View 5k (3.107 Miles) 00:14:48, Place overall: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.890.000.003.1121.00

PLEASANT VIEW 5K

I picked up Ken at 4:30 and we headed out to Pleasant View. We met Jon and ran all over the area, signed up for the race, met Ben, and then warmed up some more. I did 14.3 miles for the warmup at 7:12/mile pace. Then we did the race. My legs were wanting to be done before we even started. They complained mightily on the pre-race strides. But once the race started they fell in line and did their job.

The first mile is on a dirt canal road and is basically flat with a couple steep, quick up and downs. I got out quite quickly in 4:44. Mile two is VERY aided. I ran that in 4:37. Mile three has a net drop, but two decent hills mixed in. Here is where my legs were just too heavy to run as quickly as I wanted them. I managed a 5:01. Then the last tenth is VERY aided again and I ran that at 4:27 pace to finish 1st place in 14:48.

After Ken, Ben, and I ran another 3.6 miles to make it 21 miles on the day. Then we collected our winnings and had a great pancake breakfast that came with the race. Pleasant View 5k is a wonderful, small-town race that provides good value. I had a fun time.

Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 4.00Brooks Adrenaline 15 Miles: 17.00
Weight: 154.40
Comments(11)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.000.000.000.0016.00

16 miles easy from the pond with Ben, Jon, and Ken, avg pace 7:06/mile. We did four sets of hill sprints at the end. This morning was probably the hottest to date.

Brooks Adrenaline 15 Miles: 16.00
Weight: 154.60
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.000.000.0010.50

10.5 miles easy on the trails with Ben, Ken, and Denver, avg pace 8:10/mile. Once again we managed to have Ken on the ground laughing during the run...good times. #ISlipped #ChickenSuit

Brooks Adrenaline ASR 10 GTX Miles: 10.50
Weight: 155.40
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
303.5724.0019.119.07355.75
Brooks Ravenna 6 Miles: 25.50Brooks Adrenaline 15 Miles: 109.80Brooks Adrenaline ASR 10 GTX Miles: 110.00Brooks Racer ST5 Miles: 12.50Brooks Adrenaline (NYC) 15 Miles: 4.50Brooks Transcend 2 Miles: 43.30Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 51.10
Weight: 154.44
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