Everything Counts

AEROBIC BUILDER

I met Bryant, Jon, and Hales at 21st Pond for a long run.  We headed west and ran out in West Haven and north from there.  The run was flat and the weather was great.  We had some great conversation along the way.

3 mile warm up

13 miles at 5:48 avg.

1.22 mile cooldown

9 miles easy on base perimeter road.

AEROBIC BUILDER

I met Ken, Hales, and Jace at the parkway to get in another early Tues morning aerobic builder.  Jace asked what pace we were shooting for and I said 5:45 avg, to which he responded, "Well I know the way back if I don't keep up."

Then during the warmup Ken told a good big foot story and afterward Jace responded with, "What was the pace again? 5:45? I can handle that, I'm not falling behind after that story!" It was pretty funny.

We ended up hitting 8 miles at a 5:43 avg.

10.5 miles easy on the base perimeter.  The weather was perfect this morning, too bad it won't hold up for too much longer.

1,000 METER REPEATS

Once again I got up early to head to base to do 1,000 meter repeats with 60 seconds rest.  I was dreading this workout.  I told Ben yesterday how I was dreading it because I wanted to do the workout faster than last time (3:04 avg), but last time was really solid and to beat it would take a hurculean effort.

The weather turned out great.  It got super foggy halfway through, but that was kind of a nice change of scenary.  Also, on the 5th one I looked up and saw a fox about 10 feet in front of me on the pathway.  It caught me offguard and I almost came to a complete stop before yelling at the fox and scaring the crap out of it; it immediately took off.

Splits: 3:02.8 3:01.6 3:02.1 3:01.5 3:02.5 3:01.4 3:00.8 2:59.9 2:59.1 2:57.1 (3:00.9 Avg or 4:52-ish pace)

I am super happy with this workout and glad it is over.  It definitely wasn't easy.

7.2 miles easy.  Didn't wake up as early as I should have so this was all I had time for before work.

For the run today we met at Ken's house. The plan was to run 140 minutes easy. The group this time was Ken, Jon, Bret F and me. Bret only wanted to go an hour so we headed out South for 30 minutes came back and dropped him off then headed north. It was a good run. We had a lot of variety as far as running surface went. We ran on paved roads, single track trails, gravel pathways, wood chip path, dirt road, some grass, and we even went through a cave/tunnel.

We went no breakfast, no gels, and no water for the run, so by the end we were starving and Ken and Janae were nice enough to prepare us breakfast after at Ken's house. Great run!

AM: 10 miles easy on the base perimeter road.  It was colder this morning, but with the right clothing you can still stay nice and warm.  Overall, it was a pretty good run this morning.

Lunch: I ran another 5 miles easy on the treadmill in the base gym.  I planned on working through lunch, but ended up getting my charts done early.  So, I found my pair of clean running clothes in the trunk for emergencies and got another run in.  Now I have to remember to put a new emergency pair in there.

AEROBIC BUILDER

I met up with Ken, Jace, and Jon at the Dee Events Center parking lot for a slippery aerobic builder. We figured the Riverdale Parkway would be too dangerous to run on fast in the dark after a snowfall, so we hit some roads. It was still pretty slick in spots and we had a few near falls, but in the end we made it safely.

The plan was 2 miles warmup and then 8 miles at 5:45 average.  But during the middle of the run we cut across on a pathway instead of running on the highway and it was super slick and we had no choice but to slow down for 0.5 miles, hence the 7.5 miles of faster pace rather than 8 miles.

Average pace for 7.5 miles was 5:39.

9 miles easy on the north base loop.  It was warmer this morning, which was nice.

MILE REPEATS

I met up with Ken at the base pond early this morning for some mile repeats.  The plan was to keep the rest time short, we settled on 75 seconds.  We looped the pond for the repeats.  The first half is rolling hills (for those who have run Thanksgiving Point Half, think the golf course section of that race) and the second half coming back is flat but into the wind.  So, I think today's intervals were about 5 seconds slower than a flat mile.

We had a hard time getting going on the first one, but after that I settled into pace.  Ken just simply didn't have it today (we all have those bad days) and so I was on my own after the first one. 

Splits: 5:09 5:02 4:57 5:02 5:02 5:00 (5:02 average)

Afterward I was telling Ken how these sounded a lot easier than they actually were.  It was a tough workout with the hills and wind, but I am pretty happy with it.

8.15 miles easy.  I had the day off so I met Ben out in North Ogden for an easy run.  It was good to run with him again; it's been about 4-5 weeks.  The weather was perfect this morning.

AEROBIC BUILDER

I met up with Jon, Bryant, and Albert at the 21st Street Pond at 7 this morning.  Luckily out west there, the roads were clear of snow and we were able to get a good run in.  We did a 3-mile slow warmup followed by the aerobic builder. 

Albert did the first 2 miles of the aerobic builder then turned back.  Bryant did five miles then took three off and then did three more with us.  Jon did 11 miles and I did 13.

It ended up being 5:40 average pace for me for 13 miles.  It was a good run and I am super proud of how well Jon is coming along.  If he decides to actually race this year, watch out! We'll have another player in the game.

AEROBIC BUILDER

I usually do my aerobic builders on Tuesdays with the guys.  But, with 2-4 inches of snow forecast overnight, I figured I better get this in today or it may not happen.  Unfortunately I made that decision too late to notify the other guys. 

It was super windy out and I am getting sick of these strong southern winds.  I did 2 mile warmup and then 8 miles at 5:37 average pace.

AM: 9.02 miles easy.  I met up with Jon, Ferrier, and Bryant at the Riverdale Parkway for an easy run (Ben was going to come but slept in).  It was supposed to snow 2-4 inches up our way, but that ended up being wrong...no snow overnight.  The parkway was mostly dry with a few ice patches, but mostly safe to run on.  Ferrier and I discussed apocalyptic scenarios and some popular post-apocalyptic media (Walking Dead and the book I'm reading One Second After). 

Jon mentioned this morning that he joined the blog.  So head over to his page (JonCarr) and give him a welcome...you're sure to see fast races out of him this year.

8 miles easy.  Early morning run on base in the COLD! 

10K FARTLEK

My plan was originally to do 1,000 repeats again.  But with the extreme cold, wind, and darkness I decided it wasn't worth the risk trying to run 4:44 pace outside.  So, I went to plan B which was a treadmill workout.  This 10k fartlek was a workout we did when I was in college and I always liked it.  In the end, it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be when I wrote it up.  That's likely due to running it on a treadmill instead of outdoors.  It wasn't nearly as hard of an effort as the last three weeks of thursday hard workouts.  Here's how the 10k fartlek brokedown:

1.25 miles at 5:00 pace

1 mile at 6:00 pace

1 mile at 4:55 pace

0.75 miles at 5:53 pace

0.75 miles at 4:50 pace

0.5 miles at 5:46 pace

0.5 miles at 4:43 pace

0.22 miles at 5:33 pace

0.25 miles at 4:20 pace

Total 10k time 32:45

After I finished I got a great comment from a guy behind me on an elliptical who said, "My man, you run like the $6 million man!  I thought you were going to burn that motor out."  I laughed and informed him that the treadmill could still go another 0.5 MPH faster than I got it up to.

10 miles on the base perimeter road.  I threw in two faster miles in the middle.  They really had no purpose other than I was curious how my legs would feel after yesterday's workout.  They felt pretty decent, a bit heavy but not bad.  I ran those two miles in 5:22/5:15.  The weather was still cold but not as bad as the last few days.

Today we started our run at my house. Ken, Ben, Jon, and Bryant came over. Ben ran the first 7.5 with us then turned back; he's still trying to gradually ramp back up. We ran all over the place: South Weber, Uintah, South Ogden, Ogden, and Washington Terrace. It was a LONG run. At one point in Uintah we had to stop for a train crossing and I swear that train was two miles long...it took forever to pass by. Overall the pace was moderate 22.75 miles in 2:30.

Halfway into the week and I finally logged some miles!  It's been pretty crazy around here with a newborn and compound that with the holidays and it's been hard to get time for a run. 

PM: I snuck in 4 easy miles on the treadmill before dinner

PM2: After I got Evelyn in bed and Amy was set with Hannah (our newborn) I ran in a winter wonderland at 8:40 pm.  I didn't have my watch, which was good because it was slow in the slick snow.  I mapped it online after and it was 7.72 miles.

I also got some cross-training in, if you count shoveling my driveway three times today.

AEROBIC BUILDER

Well this is the end of a crazy week for me.  Yesterday I woke up with a really sore throat and this morning it was even worse.  I contemplated texted Jon and telling him I wasn't going to make it.  But, I figured I'd give it a try and if it hurt too bad breathing in the cold air, I would just call it early.

I met Jon and Bryant at Smith and Edwards at 8.  Luckily, once again the roads out west were suitable for running fast and not slick or ice-covered.  Jon is coming off of being sick as is Bryant and I am sick so we kind of said hey let's start the builder at 6:00 pace and go from there.  The first few miles felt hard and my body felt fatigued.  Once we got going I felt stronger and in the end I averaged 5:46 pace for 13 miles.  But, they weren't consistent at all.  We were in the 5:55-6:00 range for first 4-5 miles and I was pretty fast my last two miles.

At the end of the run, Bryant looked like an old man with his frost-covered hair.  Jon checked his phone and it was 2 degrees when we finished.  Brrr.

10 miles easy with Jon, Bret, and Bryant.  It was still pretty slick in a lot of spots so the pace was pretty easy.  We met at 21st Street Pond and ran around West Ogden.