| 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
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2849.65 | 560.34 | 253.53 | 108.84 | 3772.36 |
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| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 226.73 | Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 114.94 | Saucony Fastwich (Red) Miles: 88.45 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 59.51 | Saucony Fastwich (Green) Miles: 30.85 | Asics DS Racer Miles: 11.22 | Asics GT-2000 Miles: 339.58 | Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 293.99 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 321.20 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 381.81 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 292.74 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 351.52 | Barefoot Miles: 8.64 | Pearl Izumi EM Trail M2 Miles: 98.73 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 358.78 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 101.22 | Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 267.70 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.73 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.73 |
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AEROBIC BUILDER
We got an awesome group out this morning for an aerobic builder. I met up with Ken, Jace, Jon, Bryant, Hales, and Ben at the 21st street exit. We warmed up two miles and then did an 8-mile aerobic builder. During the first mile Ken told the story of when he and I met Mike Tyson in Las Vegas at Fat Burger and how he and Tyson had a bonding moment, thanks to my Coca-Cola Classic! After 5 miles there wasn't a ton of conversation, just a few comments here and there.
The pace was quite brisk, we averaged 5:36 for 8 miles. It was fun to run with everyone and it was a great start to 2013! Happy New Year's y'all!
My mileage for 2012 ended up being 2611 miles. In 2011 it was 2067 miles. So I increased my mileage by just over 25%. My goal for 2013 is going to be 3200 miles. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 10.73 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.30 |
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AM: 8.3 miles easy on base perimeter road. The middle miles into the canyon wind were crazy cold! My eyes kept trying to freeze shut. Coming back the opposite direction though wasn't too bad.
PM: 5 miles easy. |
| Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 13.30 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.03 | 2.47 | 3.00 | 0.75 | 10.25 |
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10K FARTLEK
I did the same workout as two weeks ago: 10k fartlek on the treadmill. I wasn't going to attempt a fast workout outside in 6 degrees with wind! Two weeks ago I ran 32:45 and it felt easy, today I ran 32:23 and it felt pretty tough. Here's the splits:
1.25 miles 6:08 (4:55 pace)
1 mile 5:51
1 mile 4:50
0.75 miles 4:21 (5:48 pace)
0.75 miles 3:35 (4:47 pace)
0.5 miles 2:52 (5:46 pace)
0.5 miles 2:24 (4:48 pace)
0.22 miles 1:14 (5:36 pace)
0.25 miles 1:07 (4:28 pace)
Total 6.22 miles 32:23 (5:13 pace) |
| Saucony Fastwich (Red) Miles: 10.25 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.30 |
| 7.3 miles easy. I ran on the South side of base to avoid the canyon wind as much as possible. I felt pretty tired, I think I need more sleep. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 7.30 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 21.10 | 0.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 23.10 |
| 150 minute run or 23.1 miles up in Ogden Valley with Ken, Bryant, and Jon. Bryant wanted to get out of the smog, so we traded off a few degrees in temp for cleaner air. It was 0 degrees when we started the run. Toward the end I did a two-mile pickup 5:19 and 5:09. Glad to get this one in even if it wasn't the most pleasant of runs. |
| Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 23.10 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.11 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.11 |
| 10.11 miles easy. I just flat out didn't want to run in the cold again, so I ran on the indoor track at the gym. It got really crowded at one point with slow airmen, so I did three miles in the middle on the treamill. Once the crowd thinned, I hopped back on the track. So seven miles indoor track and three on the mill. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 10.11 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.63 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.63 |
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AM: AEROBIC BUILDER
I met Ken at Flying J again on 21st Street. I never thought 23 degrees could feel like paradise, but it was great this morning to have a warmer temp! Two mile warmup followed by eight miles in 5:29 average (5:29 also happened to be the median and mode today too for you stat geeks) and a small cooldown after.
PM: 5 miles semi-easy, probably should've gone a bit easier. Oh well. |
| Saucony Fastwich (Green) Miles: 10.63 | Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 5.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.10 |
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10.1 miles easy on base perimeter road. My iPod shuffle actually worked today so I was able to listen to some tunes this morning. A few of the songs that were enjoyable this morning: U2's "Bad" got me started, "While We Were Hunting Rabbits" by Matthew Good, song from Inception's soundtrack composed by Hans Zimmer, "Hang" by Matchbox Twenty, "Million Voices" by Wyclef, and "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" by The Postal Service finished out the run.
My weight this morning is the lowest it's been for a morning weigh in since 2005! Hopefully I can keep it down.
After my run this morning by buddy at work showed me a national map showing air pollution and a list of the five worst cities in the nation for the day. 1-5 were Logan, Ogden, Provo, SLC, and Brigham! Yeah, go Utah!
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| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 10.10 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.72 | 0.00 | 6.00 | 0.00 | 11.72 |
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PROGRESSIVE TEMPO
I ran a loop around the base and did a 6-mile progressive tempo on the second half. The plan was to start at 5:28 and drop 5 seconds per mile down to 5:03. Actual splits were: 5:23 5:20 5:15 5:08 5:06 4:54 (5:11 avg). The last 2.5 miles were slightly aided (maybe 30 feet per mile). The middle four miles were easier than I anticipated. The first mile is always hard for me to get the blood pumping and the last mile was a task picking it up.
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| Saucony Fastwich (Red) Miles: 11.72 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
| 5 miles easy on my treadmill. I was exhausted from shoveling two feet of snow off my driveway and just didn't feel like going any further than five miles. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 10.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 18.00 |
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BIG WORKOUT
I wanted to get a quality workout in this morning and that wasn't going to happen on the roads. So I headed to the gym on base. The plan was to do 2x5 miles and 1x3 miles with 1 mile in between each. I did the fast miles on the treadmill and the recovery jogs on the indoor track to mix things up.
5 miles (5:30 5:28 5:24 5:23 5:19 or 5:25 avg.)
5 miles (5:27 5:24 5:21 5:19 5:15 or 5:21 avg.)
3 miles (5:19 5:16 5:10 or 5:15 avg.)
This was easily the most boring 18-miler I've ever done. I hate the treadmill, but it sure serves a purpose on days like today when I want to still get a good workout in. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 18.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.00 |
| 9 miles easy. I told myself last night if the temp was above 0 I would go outside, if not I would hit up the gym. Temp was -4 (feels like -14), so I went to the gym. 5 miles on indoor track and 4 miles on treadmill. |
| Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 9.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 6.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
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AM: AEROBIC BUILDER
I met up with Bryant at Flying J on 21st Street and did a 6-mile aerobic builder. The roads weren't completely clear and a few spots had questionable footing, but mostly it was safe to run fast. I averaged 5:22 for the six miles. It wasn't too cold out running; what was cold was driving to work after the run in my car with no heat!
PM: 5 miles easy |
| Saucony Fastwich (Green) Miles: 10.00 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.00 |
| 7 miles easy on the base perimeter road. I got started late for several reasons and only had time for 7 miles before work. I hadn't run on the perimeter road since before the storm last week and hence wasn't aware how slippery it still is. Solid ice in some spots, but I managed. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 7.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.00 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 7.00 |
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PRIMER REPEATS
I did a light workout to get primed for the race Saturday. I did 2 by 1.5 miles in 7:40 (5:07 pace) with 0.5 jog at 7:00 pace for rest in between. It felt pretty good. I had to get this in super early due to an early morning meeting at work. I hate when work gets in the way of workouts...what's up with that?! |
| Saucony Fastwich (Red) Miles: 7.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 |
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| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Race: |
St George Half (13.1 Miles) 01:08:13, Place overall: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.75 | 0.00 | 13.10 | 0.00 | 18.85 |
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St. George Half Marathon
Warmed up from the hotel with Bryant and Ken. During the warmup I felt a little sluggish, but felt pretty good on my strides. I got one last visit to the potty and was ready to roll. The weather was a bit chilly at first but after a few miles it felt fine.
The gun went on and Ken and I ran side by side in front for the first straightaway. After the turn he dropped back a bit and Holt got up on my side. After 400 meters it was really just Holt and me, which was surprising; I thought more people would challenge for the lead early on. But, judging from everyone's times, they started conservatively and it paid off as many people had great times today.
Mile 1 split 5:14. Dave and I were just rolling side by side with a tiny bit of chatting but not much. Ben was biking alongside us and he and Dave struck up a light conversation as well.
Mile 2 5:17. This was some gradual uphill; nothing bad though. I was still just feeling out the race and getting into a rhythm. Dave was still alongside me.
Mile 3 5:11. This mile was some downhill followed by some up and then a bit more down. I think Dave dropped back at some point during this mile. I was starting to roll and ready to increase the pace.
Mile 4 5:03. Feeling good and just rolling along. Ben keeps telling me to continue to open the lead up.
Mile 5 5:05. The hills start on this portion. The lead bike takes a wrong turn, but I knew the right way and ignored them.
Mile 6 5:19. There was some decent uphill on this section. It's all uphill but it's not steep; just a grind. But I felt good and just tried to maintain a good pace. Toward the end of this mile I thought I may need to stop for a pit stop, but was hoping to hold it.
Mile 7 5:18. This mile contains the steepest portion of the course, but I attacked it and kept the pace under 5:20. My stomach is really starting to churn though and I feel like it cost me a few seconds on this mile and the next two.
Mile 8 5:04. Some good downhill followed by a good flat section. I wasn't laboring at all and I didn't even feel like I was racing on this mile, yet I couldn't go faster with my stomach churning. This mile should've been like 4:55. It was that good of a stretch of down and flat.
Mile 9 5:07. I know by now that I'm going to have to stop for a potty break, but the helicopter is overhead and flying low and watching me! I'll wait until it goes away. Also the lead biker is a girl so I will wait until she goes around a curve.
Mile 10 5:42. There's a really good spot behind a bush right off the paved trail and the lead biker is out of sight. I pull off the side and take care of business. I am now only running with one glove ;-) Ben timed my stop and had it at 25 seconds. It was worth stopping because I couldn't run faster than 5:20 at this point without the stop.
Mile 11 5:03. I am really feeling good and feel like I have a ton left in the tank.
Mile 12 5:00. I've made the turn and am heading toward the finish. I can't believe how easy the pace is feeling.
Mile 13 4:55. I'm really rolling. Ben can tell I'm not laboring much and yells at me "come on! start working!"
Finish 4:35 pace for the last bit. I realize I just missed going under 1:08 and the pit stop cost me that 1:07, but you gotta do what you gotta do (my "moving time" on my garmin report was 1:07:43, which would have been a 1 second PR). I finish and feel like I left quite a bit on the course. I felt so good. I felt like I could've kept rolling. The mile splits are from my garmin and my garmin had the race at 13.19, so add a about 2 seconds per mile to get about what the actual splits were on the mile markers.
Overall, I am happy with the result. It's a new non-aided PR by two minutes on a very honest course with some good uphill portions. Before the race Ben said I had 1:07:30 in me and I didn't really believe him. But now I think maybe I could've come close to that with a quicker start. But this is a confidence builder and I am excited for the new year.
Bryant was second and we were hoping Ken would finish third for a 1-2-3 sweep for our training group, but he didn't quite have it.
It was great to hang out after with everyone: Ben, Scott, Bryant, Jon, Spencer, Ken, Matt. And I met more of the Utah county crew: Brandon and Mike.
Congrats to everyone who ran. It was so good to come down and get out of the cold and haze. St. George did a great job of putting this race on and Aaron Metler is to be commended as the race director: job well done!
Here's the garmin data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/264368349 |
| Saucony Fastwich (Red) Miles: 15.85 | Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 3.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.07 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.07 |
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9 miles easy with Ken in Ogden.
Single digits and haze! It's so nice to be back! My legs felt pretty decent this morning; there's no soreness, just a tad of fatigue. I'll see how they are feeling tomorrow morning and decide whether I can do my aerobic builder tomorrow or if I need to push it back to Wednesday. |
| Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 9.07 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.22 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.22 |
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AM: AEROBIC BUILDER
I decided my legs felt up to getting back to business as usual, and that means an aerobic builder on Tuesdays. With it being 5 degrees outside, I headed to the gym and did the workout on the treadmill. I averaged 5:21 pace for 8 miles.
PM: 5 miles easy on the base perimeter road. It's still cold in the afternoon and the road is still covered in ice...yeah! |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.00 | Asics DS Racer Miles: 11.22 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| AM: No run. I got violently ill last night with some sort of flu bug or food poisoning or something. It was a long, miserable night (I lost 5 pounds overnight). I feel a bit better this morning, but I feel very weak and dehydrated. I don't have an appetite, but I will try to get some food and especially water down and see if I can get out for a really easy run this evening. | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.50 |
| 9.5 miles easy. I feel really fatigued and low on energy from being sick, but I was able to slug out 9.5 easy miles. I definitely didn't have any where near the energy needed to get in my weekly Thursday hard workout. Hopefully I can get my energy levels back before Saturday's long run. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 9.50 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.00 |
| 8 miles easy around South Weber. It was cold, wet, and icy, but I was still able to hold a decent pace. I feel like I'm almost fully recovered from my mid-week stomach virus. I'm looking forward to a good long run tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. |
| Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 8.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 18.55 | 4.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 22.55 |
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LONG RUN
I met up with Jed, Ken, and Bryant for a 2.5 hour run. Jed was only planning on 10 miles, so we headed out on a 10-mile loop. Three miles in I simply had no energy and felt so weak. I was thinking I was going to be lucky to make it 10 miles. I figured my energy was still low from being sick. But, after awhile I got going. It never felt great, but I got the whole workout in. Bryant and Ken stopped at 16 miles and then Ken drove 6.5 miles out and picked me up after I finished. I threw in a 4-mile pickup at 5:27-ish average. I wanted to average 5:20 but the first two miles were into a headwind and were slower, once I turned and it was a crosswind I easily managed 5:20 pace for the last two. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 22.55 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
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After shoveling my driveway tonight, I feel like yesterday's long run may not have been the best idea. I was so wasted today trying to shovel. My energy was way low. Oh well, I will take tomorrow easy and see how I feel by Tuesday. | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.00 |
| 11 miles easy on base. I still feel kind of wiped out from being sick last week. |
| Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 11.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 6.50 | 3.50 | 0.00 | 17.00 |
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AM: AEROBIC BUILDER & SHORT TEMPO
Well it snowed a ton again! I am so done with this! Anyway Ken met me at the the gym since an aerobic builder wasn't going to happen outside. We warmed up two miles on the track and then hit the treadmills to get the workout in. I was planning on doing 8-10 miles at 5:20-5:25 average pace. But, 6.5 miles in I had to...you guessed it...use the restroom. So I had 6.5 miles at a 5:22 average. Then after a quick break I decided to finish with a tempo effort since aerobic builder pace would feel too easy after a break and for only another 3.5 miles. So, I did a 3.5 mile tempo at 5:05 average to finish up. 1 mile cooldown on the track after. It was a good workout and I'm happy to get it in.
PM: 4 miles easy |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.00 | Saucony Fastwich (Red) Miles: 13.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| 10 miles easy on base. I was pretty fatigued from yesterday's workout. The snow shoveling workout that is! Ok, the actually running workout played a role too. So, I just went really easy this morning. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 10.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.22 | 10.22 |
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1,000 METER REPEATS
Even though I woke up and there wasn't new snow on my driveway and the temperature was nice, I went to the gym to run 1,000 meter repeats on the treadmill. It's nice out there this morning, but still a little too slick to attempt running 4:40 pace on. So I warmed up two miles on the track with some strides and then got on a treadmill. I did 10 x 1,000 meters at 2:53.5 or 4:39 pace with 1:30 rest. After I cooled down two more miles on the track. It was a great workout, but now I need to find a way to run that pace for 10,000 meters without taking a 90 second rest 9 times during it ;-) |
| Saucony Fastwich (Green) Miles: 10.22 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.00 |
| 7 miles easy on base perimeter road. The weather was pretty pleasant this morning with the exception of the wind, but hey I'll take this in early Feb! |
| Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 7.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.50 | 16.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18.50 |
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QUALITY LONG RUN
I got up at 4:30 am and got ready to head out. I drove to the Dee and from there ran 18.5 miles to Ben's house. Ben then drove me back to the Dee and we watched the Strider's Winter Circuit 5k race. The run wasn't as good as I had planned/hoped. I realized early on that Thursday took more out of my legs than I had originally thought. I planned to do 5:35-5:40 pace after a 2 mile warmup. But that wasn't in my legs today, so I settled on a 5:49 average for 16 miles. Still a good, quality run and I suppose it gets the job done still.
The race was strong in talent, but the guys mostly just did it as a workout so it wasn't as fun to watch as it could have been. But, I don't blame them; if I ran a tough hilly race with nothing on the line I'd use it as a workout too. Steve won in just over 17 minutes followed by Hales and then Bryant. My sister did awesome and broke 22 minutes after only three weeks of running (she's been off for 10 weeks with a stress fracture). |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 18.50 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.17 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.17 |
| 12.17 miles easy on the base perimeter road. It was extremely foggy, but it wasn't too cold. Also, the roads were very clear, so what more can you ask for in Feb? I ran in my new shoes, Asics GT-2000 (my prize for winning St George Half - well my prize took care of 5/6 of the shoes, I still had to pay $20), and I like them, although they don't seem much different than the Asics 2170s I used to have. We'll see if the durability is any better; I love Asics but they seem to last the least amount of time out of any brand I have worn. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 12.17 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.04 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.04 |
| 12.04 miles easy. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 12.04 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 17.03 | 5.35 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 22.38 |
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LONG RUN
Got up early and was supposed to meet Ken on base. After waiting 10 minutes I called him and woke him up...oops. He said sorry and that he would meet me 8 miles into the run on the other side of base. So I headed out. Those first 8 miles were dark, foggy, and lonely. Then I met Ken and he joined me for the rest of the run, which was nice. We threw in a 5.35 mile pickup toward the end of the run and I averaged 5:27 pace for that stretch. I'm glad to have gotten this run in, I was kind of dreading it. I wanted to run about 23.5 miles this morning but ran out of time and had to get into work. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 22.38 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.14 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.14 |
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AM: 7.5 miles easy before work. I may try to get in a few more miles at lunchtime.
Lunch: 5.64 miles easy. The sun was shining! I repeat the sun was shining. I can't remember the last time I ran in Northern Utah and the sun was shining! |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 7.50 | Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 5.64 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.68 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.68 |
| 5.68 miles easy around South Weber. It was 41 when I started and probably 25 with high winds and heavy snow when I finished. It's crazy how fast the weather changes. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 5.68 |
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| | Race: |
SLC Track Club Winter 10k (6.21 Miles) 00:31:46, Place overall: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.23 | 0.00 | 6.22 | 0.00 | 12.45 |
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Well I decided at 8:00 this morning that I would head down and run the SLC Winter 10k. It's part of the USATF circuit now, and I wanted to run it. But, I wasn't going to run it if the weather was bad and the roads were slick. So, I waited until this morning to make the call. It didn't snow last night and wasn't this morning at 8:00, so I headed down.
The drive was under clear skies, but once I registered it starting snowing pretty heavily. I was hoping that it wouldn't stick to the roads. I ran into Albert and he and I warmed up 3 miles together. Heading east wasn't too bad, but turning around and heading west was into a nice headwind with snow blowing in your face. This is going to be fun I thought sarcastically.
At the starting line the snow was beginning to stick to the roads and I wasn't too happy with that. I decided that if it got slick, I wasn't going to chance a slip and fall. So, I was going to run easy if it got slick. Luckily, after the first tenth or so it was pretty clear.
The race started and I dashed out to the lead. Jake was alongside and from the sound of footsteps I figured another 4-5 guys were with us. I took the first mile somewhat easy to get a little warmed up. I had only done one half-hearted stride before the race, so an easier first mile was in order. I came through in 5:08.
At the mile I picked up the pace and I didn't hear footsteps coming with me. Second mile was 4:55. I kept it rolling for the third mile and started dreading the turnaround where the headwind would be in store for me. Mile three was 4:56.
At the turn, I almost started laughing at how much of a difference it was running into the wind. I looked over and saw Jake about to make the turn and figured I had 10-15 seconds maybe on him, though it was hard to say for sure.
The pace immediately got slower but the effort still felt right. Mile 4 was 5:15. I thought that might be a little too slow, so I picked up just a tad. I figured Jake would have to run 5:00 flat or faster into the wind to catch me, and if he did that then he definitely deserved to win. So, I settled on about a 5:10 pace. Mile 5 was 5:09.
Now I just had 1.21 miles to go. I was tempted to look back and see how much of a lead I had, but I avoided that temptation and just kept trying to roll along. Mile 6 was 5:08. At mile 6 I figured I better turn and look and make sure no one was coming up on me. With the strong headwind I wouldn't be able to hear if someone was coming and I didn't want to get caught off guard. So I looked and I didn't see anyone close. I was relieved no one was close, but I wish I hadn't of looked back, because once I saw my lead I allowed myself to coast in. I finished the last .21 at 5:22 pace.
Once I crossed the line the race organizers told me I had tied the course record. Dang! Why did I coast in? Oh well. It was a good race and I felt surprisingly good running into the wind. Jake finished second and Matt third - a one-two-three sweep for the blog!
Afterward I cooled down with everyone and during the cooldown I felt a weird pain shoot through my lower leg about 1.5 miles in. So I stopped and rubbed it out a bit and turned around while the others went a tad further.
I'm glad I got up and raced despite the bad conditions. It was fun. My 10k PR of 29:57 is starting to get scared and it should be if I can make it down to sea level for a flat or track 10k! |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 3.00 | Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 9.45 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 17.27 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 17.27 |
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AM: 12.27 miles easy on the base perimeter road. It was pretty cold running into the canyon wind for first half of the run, but the second half was fantastic. I felt pretty good this morning (must be that gallon of ice cream I downed over the weekend). It's getting lighter earlier too and that is nice; less time having to run with my headlamp on.
Lunch: 5 more easy miles on base perimeter road. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.00 | Asics GT-2000 Miles: 12.27 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.00 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.00 |
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AEROBIC BUILDER
I met Ken, Hales, and Bryant at 5:45 to do an aerobic builder. We warmed up two miles and then got into the builder. Hales and I went a bit quicker than Ken and Bryant and didn't see them again until the last mile on the way back. We averaged 5:24/mile for 8 miles. We cooled down one mile afterward and then I drove to work in my heater-less car...brrr. |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 11.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.73 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.73 |
| 10.73 miles easy. I drove into Ogden to meet Bret and Jon at 5:30 am. Jon has had achilles problems for several weeks now and he went 5.5 miles with us. Bret and I went back out after Jon left and got another 5+ miles in. The pace was just nice and easy. At one point we were running toward a young kid in downtown Ogden and kind of startled him and he clenched his fist ready to strike (until he realized we weren't threatening him). It was kind of funny, though had he actually struck, it may not have been. This is a typical scenario for running in downtown Ogden...gotta love it. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 10.73 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.66 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 14.66 |
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AM: MILE REPEATS
I actually ran these in my own neighborhood from my house rather than on base. Luckily the canyon wind was pretty calm this morning, which very unusual for South Weber. And 32 degrees felt like paradise! I found a relatively flat loop that was about 1.25 miles and just did the repeats there with a 2-minute jog in between for rest. I did 5xmile. Splits were 4:58 4:56 4:52 4:51 4:50.
PM: 5.33 miles easy on the base perimeter road after work. Just getting ready now to head to the "Purple Palace" to see Weber vs. Montana in basketball; it's a big game for the Wildcats. |
| Saucony Fastwich (Red) Miles: 9.33 | Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 5.33 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.35 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.35 |
| 6.35 miles easy. I hit the snooze button a few too many times this morning, so I had to go a little shorter and faster than I planned. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 6.35 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.27 | 16.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.27 |
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LONG RUN
I drove to the Dee Events Center and started my long run there so that toward the end I could watch the Strider's Winter Circuit 10k as I finished up. I warmed up two miles and during that stretch ran into Paul Pilkington (Current Weber State distance coach and former 2:12 marathoner and LA Marathon winner http://articles.latimes.com/1994-03-07/sports/sp-31105_1_los-angeles-marathon). Paul was an assistant coach while I was at Weber. He asked what I had coming up and I told him PHX marathon in two weeks. He then asked what I was doing this morning and I said 20 miles with 16 around 5:45 pace. He got wide-eyed a bit and I said is that too much. He said yeah I never went more than 15 miles two weeks out. So, I should probably listen to a 2:12 marathoner and coach right? Well....I'm stubborn. I did my 20 miles still!
After the warm up I did 16 miles at a 5:42 pace and then ran the last hellacious 1.5 miles of the 10k with my sister McKenzie. She did awesome, ran a 44:11 on that difficult course off of 25 miles a week and six weeks back from a stress fracture.
Oh and this was my first time ever breaking 80 miles in a week! |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 20.27 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.06 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.06 |
| 12.06 miles easy. I met up with Bret and Bryant at the 21st Street Pond in Ogden. It was nice to sleep in a bit later and get the entire run done without a headlamp! We just ran around downtown and West Ogden at a leisurely pace. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 12.06 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.00 | 6.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
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AEROBIC BUILDER
This was my last scheduled aerobic builder before the marathon next weekend. My goal this week is to keep overall volume relatively high and keep "hard workout" paces the same, but to cut the volume of the hard workouts. So today instead of 8 miles fast I cut it down to 6 miles. I did the run with Bryant and Hales and was grateful for the company. We ended up with a 5:20 average for the 6 miles. |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 10.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 |
| 6 miles easy around South Weber. I got up kind of late and had to be to a conference early, so only 6 this morning. I will see if I can find time to get in a few more miles this evening. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| 12 miles easy for the day. It was a pretty busy day, but I managed to get in some decent miles (as opposed to yesterday). |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.00 | Asics GT-2000 Miles: 8.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 4.00 | 1.00 | 10.00 |
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LIGHT WORKOUT
This is my last workout before the marathon. I will do a mile or two at goal marathon pace next week but everything else will be just easy miles. I wanted to get in a decent effort today, but not overdo anything. The goal today was maintain fitness, not improve fitness. I ended up doing 2 by 2-miles at 10:10 and 2 by 0.5 miles at 2:20. I jogged a mile after each 2-mile rep and then rested 2 minutes in between the 0.5 miles reps. |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 10.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
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| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 10.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.00 |
| 9 miles easy. I met up with Ken, Bryant, and Bret to do 9 miles easy in Ogden. A nice, warm 15 degrees with a strong canyon wind at the start...when do I get to Phoenix? The bad news is I woke up with a sore throat yesterday morning and again this morning. Bad timing for a cold to hit, hopefully I can kick it before Saturday. I'm pounding the Zinc lozenges and vitamin C. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 9.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.00 |
| 8 miles. 6 miles easy and 2 miles in 10:36. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 8.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.00 |
| 7 miles easy. I ran to the Las Vegas Strip and then along the Strip to Walgreen's, went in, bought more zinc lozenges, and then headed back to the hotel. I felt extremely drained, but it was great to do a morning run in decent temps. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 7.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Scheduled off day. I got in a great 2-hour nap, very nice. | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.75 | 0.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.00 |
| 3 miles easy. Just a nice easy run here in Mesa to get the legs ready for tomorrow. I threw in some strides at MP. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 3.00 |
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| | Race: |
Phoenix Marathon (26.22 Miles) 02:27:13, Place overall: 3 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 26.44 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 26.44 |
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Well, there are probably only a few people out there who will understand when I say that although it was a 2-mnute PR in the marathon, it was a disappointing day. For those who just want a quick summary here it is: great through 15, stomach bugs at 15, stomach causes me to slow down 16 to 18, potty stop at 18, legs never get going again. I feel like it's the same old story and I am sick of writing it.
Here's a longer version for those that are bored and have nothing else to do:
In the week leading up to the race I had all sorts of stuff go wrong that could've hampered my performance: I had a cold, my right glut hurt very badly after Tuesday's workout and drive (it hurt just walking), and Wednesday's run in Vegas was energy-less and my slowest run in probably 1.5 years. But in the end, on Saturday morning none of these things were still a problem and I had high hopes for the day.
I met up with Spencer at the buses and we ran into Dave. It was nice to be amongst familiar faces on the bus and up at the starting area. I had a productive visit to the bathroom and another not-as-productive visit to a secret bathroom and then it was go time. Oh, one other note was that I had a gel in the back pocket of my shorts and it somehow broke open and gel went all over my shorts and behind. It was pretty sticky and annoying. I told Dave and Spencer I hoped that was my only case of bad luck for the day, but turns out it was an omen.
The gun went off and I ran in a pack with Dave, Jake, and Peter. One guy in green took the lead and I asked Jake if he recognized him, he didn't. The first mile was slow and just sort of a warm up, but it felt harder than it should have. After two miles or so we caught the leader and after that it was Jake, Peter, and me running together for the next several miles. I felt sluggish early on but after the hills I felt great and thought it was going to be a good one. Along the way Jake's dad and Andrea provided him support and he was a class act and shared his gatorade every time, which was in a very easy to drink out of bottle. So, kudos to Jake for that, it was appreciated.
Heading into the half I celebrated (prematurely) that it was my first marathon getting through the half without a potty stop. Then I said "knock on wood" but obviously there was no wood to knock on and I had cursed myself! We were 1:11:17 give or take a few seconds at the half...perfect for my assault on 2:23. I picked up mile 14, wanting to get the pace under 5:20. But by mile 15 my stomach started churning and by 16 it was slowing me down to around 5:30 pace. Jake and Peter noticed my slowing and sped up a few seconds creating about a 6-7 second gap that was held until I stopped at 18 to take the potty break. I was stopped for about a minute according to my watch and then I was off again.
But stopping after 18 miles of pounding your legs means you don't get them back. They're gone and you just have to hold on for dear life. I managed one more mile near 5:30 and then the bleeding started. It's the same thing that happens every marathon with me, potty break, one more decent mile, and then 20 seconds slower per mile than before and it slowly gets slower.
By 22 I was just in stay alive and moving mode. My legs just couldn't move properly. It was like a fast shuffle as opposed to a running stride. I was certain Dave was going to catch me and I wouldn't be able to do anything about it but give him a high five and send him on his way. The fear of being passed was the only thing keeping me moving at a respectable pace.
I held on for third place after running 26.44 miles. I was pretty dehydrated at the end, which was my fault more so than the weather's. Sure it was hot and I am used to running in the teens, but I stopped taking water and nutrition after my pit stop. That probably wasn't smart, but for some reason at the time I thought I could manage 8 more miles without anything.
So after the race I was covered in salt and my clothes were very salt-stained. I pounded a few waters, powerades, cokes, and a chocolate milk and 30 minutes later could walk again without much difficulty.
The race was extremely well organized and the after race festivities were great. My family loved it as spectators. The course was a good one, not super fast, but definitely faster than a flat, honest course. On a good day you could really get rolling on this course.
You can check out my splits here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/280119498
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| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 26.44 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.00 |
| 4 miles very easy. My legs aren't too sore, but they are weak and fatigued. |
| Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 4.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.31 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.31 |
| 6.31 miles easy on the base perimeter road. My legs feel quite a bit better today than yesterday, but they are still a little weak and wobbly. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 6.31 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.06 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.06 |
| 8.06 miles easy. I met Ferrier and Ken at the 21st St. Pond and we were actually able to run on the parkway this morning. There were a few spots with snow and ice still, but the vast majority of the path is clear. My legs felt pretty good through 7 miles, then some fatigue set in and I was ready to be done at 8 miles. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 8.06 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 |
| 6 miles easy. I'm itching to get training again, but I'll play it smart and keep this whole week easy. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.13 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.13 |
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8.13 miles easy. I met up with Ferrier and Bryant at the Weber Track for an easy run in the light rain. The temperature was pretty decent when it wasn't raining hard. My legs are not sore at all anymore, but they still don't have a lot of spunk in them.
Tomorrow I am only running 10 miles and I will do it on the Strider's 10-miler course. My sister is running and I told her I would pace her. I figured it'll help her out and it will force me to keep this whole week at an easy pace. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 8.13 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.50 |
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12.5 miles easy. I paced my sister McKenzie on the Strider's WRC 10-miler today. She did awesome! I talked her into aiming for sub-1:12 and she didn't think that was doable. But she reluctantly agreed. I plugged 1:12 into the course tool here on the blog and wrote down the splits she'd need, since pace varies by almost two minutes a mile on this course.
We were off and she went out FAST, probably too fast. But she was pushing the pace, not me. We were almost two minutes up on 1:12 pace halfway through. Then the hill section hit and she kept questioning if she could keep going. I kept trying to keep her motivated and told her to keep plugging away at it. She stayed strong and although we lost some time on the hills she was still in position to hit the sub 1:12 with three miles to go. She lost a little more time on miles 8 and 9 and got passed by a girl dropping her to 5th place. With one mile to go she needed a 7:15 to get under 1:12. I lied and told her she needed sub-7:00 to get her going...I know mean of me. She got moving and closed the gap on 4th place but couldn't quite get her. She finished 5th in 1:11:20 and was 12 minutes faster than two years ago when she ran this course. She was way happy and the run was great for me, just over 7:00 pace. My legs felt great and I think I'm ready to get back to training again next week. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 12.50 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 16.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.00 |
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AM: 12 miles easy. We had a great group this morning; I met up with Ken, Ferrier, Bryant, and Jace for a run on the Riverdale Parkway at 5:45. The weather was pretty comfortable this morning and the parkway is nice and clear now. Another week or so and it will even be ready for tempo efforts I think.
PM: 4 miles easy on the base perimeter road. I was going to throw in some strides at the end but on the first one my hip oddly started hurting with the faster pace. I'm not sure where that came from, it hasn't hurt at all at anytime that I can remember. I will have to keep an eye on that. I can't feel it at all when running slower than 6:00 pace. We'll see if I can manage aerobic building pace tomorrow or if it will impede me. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 16.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.00 | 9.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
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AEROBIC BUILDER: FARTLEK
This morning was an early one. I met Bryant at 21st Street Flying J at 5:15 AM to do an aerobic builder. Bryant is flying out to Orlando this morning so we had to do it earlier than usual. We did the workout fartlek-style alternating miles between 5:40 and 5:15 pace. Actual splits were: 5:37 5:14 5:39 5:13 5:37 5:15 5:41 5:08 5:40
I am happy with the workout, it's my first hard workout since the marathon and I could tell cardio-wise it'd been awhile since I'd gone hard. My legs felt good, fresh. I had a pain in my left hip yesterday afternoon that I was worried about. It didn't seem to bother me this morning, though when I ran the 5:08 mile it felt like it was close to the pace where it was going to start bothering me a bit. We'll see what happens and I will keep a close eye on it. |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| 12 miles easy. I met up with Ferrier, Hales, and Ken for a run through downtown and central Ogden. We kept a pretty brisk pace, but it felt pretty good. Beautiful morning and great company for a run. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.25 | 15.00 |
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AM: 3/4 MILE REPEATS
Well for the first time in quite awhile I wasn't able to hit the workout I wrote up for myself. It probably has to do with trying to hit times I was hitting a month ago, or in other words I essentially underestimated the loss of fitness after a two-week taper and one-week recovery. But, the workout was still decent and I'll take it. The goal was 8 by 0.75 miles in 3:36 (4:48 pace) with a 2-minute jog for rest. After the first two were harder than I thought they'd be I changed the rest to 2-minute inactive rest. Then after falling off pace on the 5th and 6th intervals I dropped the distance down to 0.5 and did three more repeats. So, total distance was still same but instead of 8x0.75 it ended up being 6x0.75 and 3x0.5. I finished off the workout with 2x200 meters to get some fast turnover.
Splits:
6x0.75 - 3:38 3:37 3:38 3:36 3:41 3:42
3x0.5 - 2:23 2:22 2:22
2x200 meters - 29.25 and 28.5
PM: Shakeout run. 4.47 miles pushing the kids in the double stroller and running with Amy.
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.47 | Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 10.53 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.65 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.65 |
| 8.65 miles easy. I met up with Ken in South Ogden (maybe I can slowly get these guys to meet me further south over time). We looped down to the Nature Park loop and then out by the toll road and back along Combe. Awesome weather this morning. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 8.65 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.50 | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18.50 |
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QUALITY LONG RUN
We had a great group this morning and great weather. I met up with Ken, Hales, Jace, and Steve for a long run. We warmed up four miles (I guess 6:18 and 6:00 count as warmup?) and then did 13 miles at a 5:41-42 average. Total pace for the 18.5 miles was 5:55. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 18.50 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 17.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 17.25 |
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AM: 12 miles easy with Ken and Ferrier on the Riverdale Parkway.
Lunch: 5.25 miles easy on base perimeter road. |
| Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 5.25 | Asics GT-2000 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.42 | 0.00 | 5.50 | 0.00 | 10.92 |
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TEMPO RUN
I had a good workout this morning. We had a good crew this morning for a hard workout: Ken, Jace, Hales, and Bryant. We met at the Dee Events Center parking lot and headed to South Ogden toward our old "college tempo loop". We warmed up just over 3 miles including strides and a half mile at 6:00 pace. We are started the workout together, but everyone ended up doing something different in the end. I did 5.5 miles in 28:34 or 5:11 average pace. |
| Saucony Fastwich (Red) Miles: 10.92 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.25 |
| 12.25 miles easy with Ken on the base perimeter road. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 12.25 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 14.00 |
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AM: I planned on running 20x400 meters this morning, but with STRONG winds and snow I decided to move the workout to later in the day. So, instead I did a quick 4 miles easy out in the weather and called it good.
Lunch: 400 METER REPEATS
I did 20 by 400 meters in 1:09 average (4:36 mile pace). I did a cut down on the rest after every four repeats. So rest was 1:30 for first four, then 1:25, 1:20, 1:15, and 1:10 for the last four. I thought this workout would feel a lot easier than it did. It wasn't super hard, but I thought it'd be rather easy and it wasn't.
I wanted to compare it to previous 400 workouts I've done recently, but then realized looking back at my log that I haven't done 400 repeats since I did 31 of them on my birthday last May! I used to do 400s all the time. I will have to make sure I don't go 10 months before doing them again this time around. |
| Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 4.00 | Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 10.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.32 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.32 |
| 9.32 miles easy. I ran from my house and looped into Uintah and back. I got caught in some fierce wind and snow the last two miles, but before that it was a pleasant run. |
| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 9.32 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 18.78 | 4.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 22.78 |
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LONG RUN
I met up with Ken at 5:00 am to get our long run started. He had to be home by 7:30 for kid duty. Ken ran the first two hours with me and then I added on another half hour for a total of 2:30. I did a tempo from 18 to 22, the splits were 5:42 (uphill) 5:18 (downhill) 5:22 (rolling hills) and 5:16 (rolling hills). I feel pretty good about this run.
This is a new weekly mileage lifetime PR for me too! Pretty soon I may even hit a 90-mile week, which not too long ago sounded ridiculous to me. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 22.78 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 18.35 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18.35 |
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AM: 13.1 miles easy. I ran on the base perimeter road this morning and the first 5 miles into the canyon wind was brutally cold. But coming back I felt like I was flying despite an easy effort due to the tailwind. Great run to start the week.
Lunch: 5.25 miles easy on base perimeter. Still windy, but not nearly as cold. |
| Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 5.25 | Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 13.10 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.82 | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.82 |
|
AEROBIC BUILDER: REPEATS
I met up with Jace (nye.fastrunningblog.com) at 5:45 at Flying J on 21st Street to do our workout. The plan was to run 4-mile repeats at aerobic builder pace. The goal was 3 repeats if we could swing it, but at least two and then see where we stand on the third. We did a decent warmup with two strides and then got started. The first set went well without any hiccups. Unfortunately, my stomach hated me this morning and was mean to me and we had to stop during the second set and again right after the second set was over. My stomach was still hurting and Jace said he was ok with only doing two miles for the third set. So, we settled on two miles and I wasn't sure my stomach would even allow me to do that; it was really a bad day (my stomach still feels sick, hopefully I'm not actually getting sick). So, overall ten miles of aerobic building pace. It didn't go extremely smoothly but still got the job done and I think we'll both benefit from the workout immensely.
Splits:
4-miles: 525 520 519 519
3:30 rest
4-miles: 520 520 518 521
about 5:00-ish rest
2-miles: 528 527 (slight uphill on these two)
Funny sidenote: I keep my car key and my emergency toilet paper both in my back zipper pocket. Well, when we got back to the cars I realized my key was missing. So Jace had to drive me back out to try and find it, luckily I had a pretty good idea (it must've fallen out when I pulled the toilet paper out of the pocket) of where it might be. I mean I basically had an X marks the spot, well not quite an X but you get the idea. We found it very easily; which was a relief. |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 13.82 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.36 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.36 |
|
AM: 8.25 miles easy on the base perimeter road.
PM: 4.11 miles easy running with Amy and pushing kids in double jogging stroller. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.11 | Asics GT-2000 Miles: 8.25 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.41 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.96 | 10.37 |
|
2,400 METER REPEATS
I had a really solid workout this morning. I ran these on the perimeter road on the East side of base hoping the canyon wind would be mostly only a crosswind. But it ended up still being either mostly a headwind or tailwind on the first two so I ran the last two back toward the South to ensure only crosswind. So, numbers one and two were opposites of each other on the same stretch of road. The first one was with tailwind and the second with headwind. Three and four were mostly crosswind. All were flat except the fourth was flat with a 50 meter downhill section. I took 2:30 jogging rest in between each at around 8:00-8:15 pace. My goal was to average 4:55 on these.
Splits:
1- 7:17 (4:53 pace)
2- 7:38 (5:07 pace)
3- 7:17 (4:53 pace)
4- 7:12 (4:50 pace)
As you can see the wind really slowed number two down. The first one felt the easiest and that was because the tailwind helped me more than I realized. But the effort on the last three all felt similar. |
| Saucony Fastwich (Red) Miles: 10.38 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.00 |
| 7 miles easy on the base perimeter. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 7.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.00 |
|
QUALITY LONG RUN
I met up with Bryant and Jace at Smith's on 12th Street, dropped a car off and then drove to the trailhead on 29th Street. We ran the trails from there to Rainbow Gardens then up the other side and continued on trails/canal dirt road until Weber High School and then made our way back South again to 12th Street. We had a good push for 12 miles and it ended up being sort of a progression run though we didn't plan it that way, Bryant just felt good and pushed the pace and Jace and I were ok with that. Splits for 12 miles of quality: 6:06 5:56 5:57 5:47 5:40 5:42 (switched from trail to road here) 5:21 5:36 5:32 5:27 5:29 and 5:19.
Ben van Beekum drove by us at the end and stopped and chatted with us at the finish of the run at Smith's. He's doing well and trying to get back running again after his surgery. We're excited to hopefully get him back running with us here soon!
Beautiful weather this morning for a run! And perfectly clear trails in March! You gotta love that. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 20.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.31 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.31 |
| AM: 8.2 miles easy on base perimeter road. I was pretty tired, I need to focus more this week on getting sleep. Lunch: 6.11 miles easy on base perimeter. Felt better than this morning energy-wise. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 6.11 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 8.20 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.85 | 4.00 | 5.00 | 1.00 | 14.85 |
|
BIG WORKOUT: 4-3-2-1 BREAKDOWN
I met up with Ken and Jace at the 21st Street Pond for a hard workout. The goal was to hit 10 miles total: 4 miles at 5:20 3 miles at 5:10 2 miles at 5:00 and 1 mile at 4:50. Ken planned on sitting out one mile in each set. We got started and the 4 miles felt harder than it should and I figured I was in for a long morning, but after that the rest of the workout felt great. The rest was mostly a slow jog. Here are the actual splits:
4 miles: 21:24 (5:24 5:24 5:20 5:15) - 4:30 rest
3 miles: 15:19 (5:06 5:09 5:03) - 3:30 rest
2 miles: 10:04 (5:03 5:01) - 2:30 rest
1 mile: 4:44
The good news is I nailed this workout and felt great doing it, and I didn't have to stop at all for GI issues.
The bad news is my knee HURTS. It has been sore since after Saturday's long run. I told myself yesterday that if it still hurt this morning I would still do the workout but promise myself to take Wednesday off. So, if anyone sees a running entry on this blog tomorrow be sure to get on my case. |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 14.85 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| No running today (and maybe not tomorrow). My knee is more sore than I'd like to admit. I will do a good core workout later this evening. Anyone have any strength exercises they would suggest that don't involve bending the knee alot? | |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
|
Probably going to take another day off. My knee is still sore/swollen, but it feels better than yesterday. It kills me to skip two days of training (at least, if not more), but the long-term view is more important here.
If the knee feels better I will try an easy run tomorrow and if all goes well then I may still try to run the half marathon on Saturday, we'll see. | |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.43 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.43 |
|
3.43 miles easy. Just testing out the knee to see if I should attempt racing tomorrow. It felt much better, but it's still a little inflamed. I am leaning toward running tomorrow, we'll see how it feels when I wake up. It didn't hurt today, but I could still feel it a little bit. No pain, just minor discomfort.
Besides I don't run on Sundays and Monday will almost be impossible to squeeze a run in (I just found out yesterday I have to go to Dayton, OH for work next week and have a 6 AM flight out of SLC). So, even if it's sore after tomorrow I will have at least two days off again. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 3.43 |
| |
| |
| | Race: |
Strider's WRC Half Marathon (13.1 Miles) 01:07:53, Place overall: 2 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.00 | 0.00 | 13.10 | 0.00 | 15.10 |
|
STRIDER'S WRC HALF MARATHON
Well I went back and forth yesterday on whether I should race or not. My knee has been pretty sore all week and I had missed the last few days of training. My wife, Amy, advised against running as did Bam via my comment section yesterday (Steve on the same comment section said to go for it) and I told Amy that was the correct and sound advice. It's the advice I'd give someone if they asked me, but for some reason I couldn't take the smart and conservative advice. I guess I learned to race through injuries in college and it's stuck with me (I ran a whole cross country season with a stress fracture once). So, I took the risk and ran this morning. It wasn't my best effort, but it was still pretty solid and the knee held up pretty good. The quad did tighten up a bit above the knee in the second half, but nothing I couldn't run through.
I met up with Brett Hales and Bryant at Rainbow Gardens and we carpooled up to the race from there. We met up with Ken and Steve and got on the buses and were on our way. Once to the top the lines for the port-a-potties were long so we ran up to the campground 3/4 miles up the road and use the facilities there. Knee didn't hurt at all on the warm-up...good news.
The gun went off and Bryant, Jace, Brett and I formed the lead pack with Ken and Steve forming their own little chase pack. By the mile I had gapped the others just slightly and kept a small gap through mile 5 of so, though it was only about 10 seconds or so. My 5k split was 15:48. Around mile 5 I heard footsteps and looked down at my watch, I was running about 5:03 pace, so whoever was coming was running sub-5. By mile 6 Bryant caught up to me and we ran together until 8.5 or so before he started to pull away. My 10k split was 31:36 (so another 15:48 5k).
My legs felt really heavy and fatigued. It's always weird when your breathing is fine, but your legs just won't cooperate. I was battling the best I could but I kept bleeding time. Around 11.5 I heard footsteps again and knew Hales was gaining on me. Brett passed me at like 12.4 but I didn't let him get more than 5 meters on me and with .25 to go I kicked hard. He didn't really want any part of kicking and just kind of let me go. So, Bryant was first with a 1:07:38 give or take 3 seconds, I was second with a 1:07:53, Brett 3rd in 1:08:02, Jace 4th in 1:08:15, Ken 5th in 1:11 and Steve 6th in 1:13 (old Weber teammates taking the top 6 spots).
My knee is a little sore but actually not as bad as I thought it would be (we'll see how tomorow feels). This was over two minutes faster than I ran last year when I won this race, so great improvement. Here are my times and splits from the last three years running this race:
| Mile |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
| 1 |
511 |
514 |
503 |
| 2 |
512 |
518 |
507 |
| 3 |
514 |
518 |
507 |
| 4 |
520 |
512 |
503 |
| 5 |
525 |
521 |
507 |
| 6 |
530 |
523 |
505 |
| 7 |
525 |
520 |
506 |
| 8 |
539 |
516 |
507 |
| 9 |
549 |
529 |
519 |
| 10 |
547 |
526 |
516 |
| 11 |
559 |
535 |
528 |
| 12 |
552 |
534 |
526 |
| 13 |
543 |
525 |
516 |
| 13.1 |
35 |
33 |
27 |
| Final |
1:12:39 |
1:10:24 |
1:07:53 |
1:05:xx next year??? |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 15.10 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
|
No run. Resting my knee in hopes of nipping this in the bud for good. I don't this morning's flight helped my cause at all. It felt worse after the flight than in the morning. I wore a compresssion sleeve for the flight and most of the day in hopes of preventing further swelling from flying.
PM core workout at hotel in Dayton. | |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
|
No run, resting my knee. I woke up and my knee still is not ready for a run. I am not going to run until I feel zero discomfort walking around and doing regular activities. Ice and compression sleeve throughout the day.
PM core workout in hotel room. | |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
|
No run, resting my knee. This is the best my knee has felt in 1.5 weeks. But, I don't want to rush anything. I am going to exercise some discipline and forego at least one more day of training to allow the knee to heal. Ice and compression sleeve almost 24/7!
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.16 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.16 |
|
5.16 miles easy in downtown Columbus, OH. My knee felt good when I woke up. I couldn't feel any pain or discomfort at all, so I decided to test it out on an easy run. I was shooting for 5 miles. I could feel it a bit once I got going and throughout the whole run, but it was never painful or even uncomfortable. My breathing felt way heavy for only missing the last 4 days! My knee felt ok still after the run.
PM I flew home today and wore the compression sleeve the whole day to avoid swelling from flying. Just like on the way out the flight set the knee pain back slightly, but not too much. If it feels ok in the morning I will attempt another run. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.16 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.50 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 7.00 |
| 7 miles. My knee felt about the same this morning as it did yesterday morning, which is good news considering I ran yesterday. So, it was able to handle 5 miles easy without a setback. Today I went 7 miles and I wanted to test it out at faster paces, so I did a progression run and kept dropping to pace to see how it would respond. If it hurt at any point I would back off. It didn't hurt at all during the run and I got down to sub-5:00 for the last half mile. The real test though will be how it feels tomorrow after a bit more of a push. I will keep it iced and compressed most of today. Hopefully it will not suffer a setback and I can resume normal training again next week...fingers crossed (I feel like my fitness has taken a nose dive!) |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 7.00 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.07 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.07 |
| 9.07 miles easy. I met Bryant and Ken to run an easy run this morning. My knee is holding up ok, but I didn't feel comfortable pushing it much further than this. I think with taking tomorrow off it may be ready for normal training next week; I hope so at least. If I can get a regular week of training in, I may still race SLC next weekend. If not, I may just use the race as a hard effort. It all depends on how my knee holds up. I feel like I've lost a lot of fitness, but hopefully I can get some of it back next week. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 9.07 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| 10 miles easy with Ken and Bret on the parkway. I thought maybe I was completely out of the woods with my knee this morning. When I woke up I could bend my knee 100% without any pain or discomfort. But once I got running I could barely notice it again. So, still not completely gone. I will have to remain cautious this week. I think SLC Half is slipping away, it's looking like it may just be a workout now instead of a race. I had it marked as a race I really wanted to run well at and PR, but what can you do? |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 10.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.30 | 0.00 | 2.50 | 0.50 | 8.30 |
|
LIGHT INTERVALS
Yesterday I considered taking today off to rest my knee, but it didn't hurt at all yesterday and felt great this morning. So, I went ahead and ran. Mentally, I really needed a bit of speed to convince myself that I haven't lost too much fitness, so I went with a light load of half mile reps. I promised myself that if I felt anything at all in my knee I would immediately quit the session. Luckily, no pain ever came up and the knee felt good (95% I'd say). I did 6 half-mile reps with a half mile jog in between. Splits 229 228 224 224 220 213 |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 8.30 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.73 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.73 |
| 9.73 miles easy with Hales and Ken on the parkway. My knee responded somewhat well to the speed yesterday, as it wasn't too bad this morning. So, that's good news. The bad news is that while it's not getting worse, it's also not getting better. It is still just a little sore after runs, but then after icing and compression it feels good the next morning and ready for a run. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 9.73 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.50 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 7.50 |
|
LIGHT TEMPO
I did a light tempo run on the base perimeter road. 3 miles. The first two were uphill with tailwind and the last one was downhill with headwind: 5:16 5:02 5:09. Knee still about the same. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 7.50 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| No run today. My knee has felt substantially better, but I figured I'd give it one more day to make sure it's healed up for the race tomorrow (and the beating and setback it'll likely experience tomorrow). | |
|
| | Race: |
Salt Lake Half Marathon (13.109 Miles) 01:07:13, Place overall: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.00 | 0.00 | 13.10 | 0.00 | 15.10 |
|
SALT LAKE HALF MARATHON
Last week I thought for sure I wouldn't be able to run this race hard. But, my knee held up this week and I got at least a decent amount of running in and it never was painful. So, I decided to give the race a shot.
Going in I figured 3rd place and 1:08-low would be a fair goal. I knew both Brett and Jake were running and figured it'd be a tall task to beat one or both of them. My plan was to race hard and stay with those two as long as I could and if I fell off pace substantially I would switch to workout mode and try to hold on for 3rd. I know, that's bad to plan to lose, but it may have worked to my favor psychologically as I didn't put any pressure or expectations on myself.
I met my mom, Brett, and Bryant at the park and ride and we took two cars down. We dropped one off at the finish and then all drove up to the starting line. This was a great move, because it was freezing after the race and we were able to immediately get on warm clothes and sit in a warm car. I was also able to get my knee sleeve and ice packs on quickly after the race too.
Saw lots of great runners at the start and exchanged pleasantries. We are lucky to have so many great, classy guys running in Utah. There was a nice tribute and moment of silence to those killed or injured at Boston too.
The race got started and Jake took it out hard. I went with him for the first 1.5 miles or so and then he gapped me a bit. By mile three he had about 10-15 seconds on me or so. Miles 1-3 were 4:51 4:59 4:54 (garmin splits; actual were slower as the course measured 13.3 miles).
Around 3.5-4 miles I started thinking how this was playing out just like last year. Brad Osguthorpe gapped me about the same distance by this point in the race last year. And I thought about how I'm a poor downhill runner and the gap got even larger in this next section last year. So, something just clicked in my head and I thought, I can't lose ground here. I got try to work back up to Jake. So, I concentrated as much as I could on my downhill form and getting my shoulders in front of my hips and letting gravity do it's thing.
So I leaned forward and ran as hard as I could without overdoing it and Jake started coming back to me somewhat quickly. Within a minute or two I had caught back up. Then I decided well why slow down now? So I kept the downhill form and kept moving hard. I think I gapped him slightly here. We turned into Sugarhouse park and I ran hard and fast down the first hill into the hairpin turn section. Miles 4-5 4:43 4:49
I tried to maintain my lead through the hilly section at the park and then back up heading East. These next few sections were hilly and a bit slower but the effort still felt right. I knew Jake was still just right on me so I tried to just keep my rhythm. I also knew that Brett had to be lurking back there close too as I saw him on the quick hairpin turn not far back either. Miles 6-8 5:15 5:14 5:18.
Now the hills were over and there would be some decent downhill. Which there was, but the wind was blowing from the North and we turned into it on Highland and it got a bit cold. Not much had changed though as these miles went by (at least it didn't feel like it; I don't have eyes in the back of my head so it's hard to say for sure) Jake was still just barely behind me and who knew where Brett, the silent assassin, was? Miles 9-11 5:02 5:13 5:02
Now one last turn and a very long straightaway to the finish. I snuck a peak back on the turn and saw Jake maybe 10 seconds back with Brett right on him. I thought I better not fade at all or first will quickly turn into 3rd! I tried to keep a good pace for mile 12 knowing I had a fast final mile and kick in me if I needed it. If one of them caught me I should be in better position to kick since they will have been working harder than me in the previous mile. After mile 12 though I realized it was too slow, so I picked up 13 and figured a 5:10 here would win the race. Miles 12-13 5:18 5:04
As I got to the park I knew I had the win, but could I go sub-1:07? I thought I could for sure. I tried to run hard to the finish, but it wasn't 0.1 away it was 0.3 away! So, as I kept running and time kept ticking I still couldn't see the finish. Finally I saw it and realized no way was I going under 1:07, so I coasted in after that point. Last 0.3 miles in 1:34 or 5:16 pace.
I broke the tape in 1:07:13 for PR and first place! Brett wasn't far back at 1:07:26 and then Jake right behind him. A very close finish for the top three. It was one of those races where all three of us deserved to win, as we all put in solid efforts.
After two minutes I was freezing so we went and got changed and got in a warm car and stayed there for the next 45 minutes until my Mom was done. Cold, wet day, but I am thrilled with how I ran.
A month ago I had this race in my mind as one I wanted to go after the win and get a PR. But after the last two weeks I gave up on both of those goals. And yet I still accomplished both; I was very blessed today and thankful for how well I ran.
My knee is sore. Which makes me kind of sad/frustrated. I thought maybe I was out of the woods with it. But I will keep icing it like a crazy man and we'll see how it feels next week.
Congrats to Brett and Jake! I respect them both as great people and runners. Congrats to Bryant for winning the full and Ken for winning the 5k too! And congrats to everyone else who ran.
Garmin Data: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/300606064 |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 15.10 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.60 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.60 |
| 9.6 miles easy on the base perimeter road. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 9.60 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.06 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.06 |
| 11.06 miles easy on the Riverdale parkway with Bryant, Jace, and even....wait for it....Ben! A bit colder out this morning. Pace was very easy. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 11.06 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.63 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.00 | 9.63 |
|
MILES & QUARTERS
I met Bryant at the 21st Street Pond to do a light hard workout to keep our fitness sharp. We did three by one mile and four by a quarter mile. Splits: 4:55 4:53 4:51 then 4:00 rest and 1:09 1:05 1:05 1:04
We saw Coach Hislop at the end and had a good chat with him. He was about to start his 8-mile walk. It's always good to see Coach, he made me the runner I am today.
Oh and I forgot to mention I think one of the homeless men who sleeps near the pond yanked my UA earwarmer that I took off after the second interval and set on a sign. It was gone and nowhere to be seen when we finished. If I see a homeless man wearing it later on, I will certainly just let him keep it, it'd be funny to see though! Now I need to buy a new earwarmer though! |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 9.63 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.70 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.70 |
| 11.7 miles on a loop around base, nice morning. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 11.70 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.35 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.35 |
| 5.35 miles easy pushing the kids in the double jogger and running with Amy. I threw in four strides at the end to get some turnover. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.35 |
| |
| |
| | Race: |
Thanksgiving Point Half (13.109 Miles) 01:14:59, Place overall: 3 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.64 | 13.11 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.75 |
|
THANKSGIVING POINT HALF MARATHON
Well not a lot went right in the race, but hey it happens; they can't all be great. After two miles it was a three-man race between Jace Nye, Jon Kotter, and me. We stayed together through 7-8 miles or so and then I had to pull off for a pit stop. My stomach was acting up all morning and it didn't quit once the race started. After the stop I tried to get back in the race. I timed the gap at one minute and tried to increase my pace. I knew I'd really have to get moving. So, I increased my pace, or so I thought, but actually I was still running the same pace as before my stop. At mile 9 I timed the gap at one minute still and threw in the towel after that. My legs were heavy from last week and I didn't want to crank the finish hard with no promise of an increase in place. So I coasted in from mile 9 on and my legs were more than happy to slow down.
The bathroom stop was annoying and yes I was still perfectly in the race for first when I stopped, but in all honesty I don't think I would've had the legs today to beat Jace and Jon even without a stop. My legs really were a lot heavier and fatigued than I thought they'd be. I think 3rd was in the cards from the get-go. At least this way I got to rest my legs for four miles instead of battling for 10-13 and then taking third anyway. Jace and Jon both ran very well and deserved 1st and 2nd. Great guys and it was fun to run with them. We talked quite a bit throughout those first 7-8 miles...good times.
The best news is my knee didn't really bother me at all and still feels pretty decent. I'll take that good news, third place, and $150 bucks anyday!
For those that haven't raced this course, throw it on next year's calendar. It's a beautiful course and it's challenging. The organization is A+, as is the hospitality. Kendall, hats off to you for directed yet another great race!
Splits (I stopped my watch for the pit stop without realizing I had and so I can't remember exactly where it was at; I will look once I transfer my garmin data to connect.): 532 524 508 519 530 525 514 528 528 550 550 602 601 536pace for last 0.1 |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 3.64 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 13.11 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.17 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.17 |
| 6.17 miles easy around my neighborhood at 4:30 am before I have to leave for the airport. I was hoping to run more in the evening but we didn't get to our hotel in Ohio until 10 pm due to delays. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 6.17 |
| |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.48 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.48 |
|
6 miles easy near the hotel in Dayton in the early morning. The time change is killing me.
7.48 miles easy at Englewood Metropark on some trails. We were lucky to get out of meetings a tad early today so I talked my co-worker into heading to the park to run on some trails. Beautiful trails with a nice variety. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 6.00 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 7.48 |
| |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.16 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 0.00 | 16.16 |
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AM: AEROBIC BUILDER: FARTLEK
I ran an aerobic builder on the roads near the hotel. It's hard to get the body moving 5 minutes after waking up at what is 3:00 am in the time zone I'm used to, but it turned out ok. The goal was to alternate 5:40/5:10 every mile for eight miles. Actuals: 5:42 5:06 5:33 5:09 5:39 5:07 5:42 5:06
PM: 4.71 miles easy at the Metropark again. Just had enough time for a quick run before I had to drive my co-worker to Cincy to fly out (he got to leave a day earlier than the rest of us).
|
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 11.45 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 4.71 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.00 |
|
7 miles easy. It's getting harder every morning to wake up and run out here in Ohio. I'm just so tired. I hit snooze way too many times and only ended up with enough time for 7 miles before our meetings.
Again I wanted to run in the evening but we were in meetings until 5:30 and then had to drive to Cincy in rush hour traffic and didn't get to our hotel until 7:00 and by then I was too hungry and just didn't get back out for a run. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 7.00 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.43 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.43 |
| 7.43 miles easy. I got back into town around 3 and went running with Amy and pushing the kids for four miles and then I tacked on a few more after. My mileage is certainly not where I'd like it to be for Ogden coming up, but oh well. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 7.43 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.00 |
|
LONG RUN
I met up with Bryant, Jace, and Brad Osguthorpe in Morgan for a long run. It was good to see Brad; I don't think I've seen him in a year or so. He's very much still in good shape! We ended up with 8 miles of pretty good quality: 5:52 5:44 5:41 5:34 5:33 5:31 5:27 5:15 |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 20.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.03 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.03 |
| 12.03 miles easy on the Riverdale Parkway with Ken, Bryant, and Bret. The good news is that the weather was warm; the bad news is that with the warm weather come the bugs on the parkway! |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 12.03 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.25 | 7.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.45 |
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AM: AEROBIC BUILDER
We had a great group out this morning: Ken, Bryant, Jace, Bret and even Sariah wanted to join us though she'd be running a different pace. We met at the Riverdale parkway and warmed up two miles and then went into the workout. Jace is racing Saturday so he only wanted 6 miles, so the goal was at least 6 miles though Bryant and I were considering 8 if we felt good. The pace was spot on the whole time and everyone finished the 6 miles on pace, it was pretty cool to have a group of five guys run 6 miles at 5:18 average pace all together the whole way. At six miles Bryant kept going on for 8, I stopped for a potty break and the others called it good at six miles. After my pit stop I figured I'd do either two more miles or as far as I could get without having to stop again as my stomach was bugging me. I did another 1.2 miles in 5:18 pace but then had to stop again and at that point just called it good at 7.2 total miles.
Splits: 5:21 5:16 5:19 5:19 5:18 5:17 5:18
PM: 4.95 miles easy with Amy and while pushing the double jogger. Nice evening with a little wind. Amy had us run up the monster hill in the neighborhood and pushing the double jogger up it really works your calves! |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.95 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 11.50 |
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| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.74 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.74 |
|
AM: 8.74 miles easy. I met Ben and Jon in North Ogden for a nice, easy morning run. It was beautiful out there just after the rainfall. Great to see those two back out running and training again after being on the injury reserve for a few months now.
Update on my knee. I stopped mentioned my knee as I'm sure people were sick of hearing about it daily. But, it feels great now. I think the inflammation is gone, but I am still icing it and treating it as though it's not gone just for safety precautions.
Update on training and Ogden Marathon. I decided I'm going to do a very minimal taper (at least compared to what I've done in the past) that will start this Saturday. Two reasons for this: I feel like I've over-tapered in the past and also I want to somewhat "train through" Ogden. I want to still do well there, but with my lack of volume in April my hopes aren't as high and I don't want Ogden to slow down my training too much for Duluth in June. But don't get me wrong I will still race it hard and try my best, I just am not going to back off as much leading into the race.
Lunchtime: 5 miles easy on the base perimeter road. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 5.00 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 8.74 |
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| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.84 | 12.04 |
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200 METER REPEATS
I met up with Brett, Bryant, and Sariah to do some 200 meter repeats at the 21st Street Pond. They were kind enough to humor me and do a birthday workout with me of 32 200-meter repeats for me turning 32 today. We wanted to keep them easy though since we have the marathon next week so we aimed for 35 seconds and did a 200-meter jog for rest at 6:50 pace.
The problem is I lost track very early on with the count. I forgot my watch had autolapped twice already after the warmup during some strides (and after I had switched it to kilometers and a 0.2 kilometer autolap) before we started. So later in the workout I thought I could just subtract two (for the two mile warmup) and then divide by two to get our count. But really I needed to subtract four and then divide by two because of those strides. So long story short we only did 31 thinking we'd done 32. But we did do two strides (about 100 meters each) before we started, so we'll count it.
We averaged 34.97 seconds for the 31 reps, so right where we wanted it. I also planned to do the 32nd one in 32 seconds, but turns out it was the actually on the 31st and I did it in 31 seconds. So the whole 32 thing didn't really pan out...haha. But that's all right. A good workout with good company this morning. |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 12.04 |
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| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.43 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.43 |
|
5.43 miles easy. So I decided to run on the trails after work. I really needed to get more sleep, so I figured I'd run in the afternoon. I planned on just doing an easy 8 miles or so on the Bonneville Shoreline, but when I got to Adam's Canyon I got the irrestible urge to run up it. It's super steep but not real long (I climbed 925 feet on the run). Unfortunately toward the top on the really steep part I was about to pass a hiker who stepped to the side to let me by and instead of watching my footing I was thanking him and my left foot slipped off a rock and I face-planted on the rocky trail. My right leg to the brunt of the fall and it got cut up pretty good. So after that I headed back down to get to my car to clean the cuts. By the time I got back it was starting to bruise and it's a bit sore now. So, long story short I had to cut the run short and before the top of the trail. How embarrassing though to eat it right in front of that dude! At least he was kind enough not to laugh!
Hopefully it's just bruised and will heal in the next few days. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.43 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.39 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.39 |
| 13.39 miles easy. 90-minute run with Bryant and Brett as the three us begin to wind down a tad for Ogden next week. My leg feels sore from the fall yesterday, but only in the sense it's bruised. It's nothing that hampers my running at all, so that's good. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 13.39 |
| |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| 10 miles easy with Ben and Ken on the Riverdale Parkway. Ken had Ben and me laughing hard the first two miles with his stories of his time spent last week in the backwoods of Kentucky! Ken has quite the Southern accent, he sounded just like a character out of the tv show Justified. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 10.00 |
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| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.43 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.43 |
| I met up with Ken at the Wal Mart Grocery in South Ogden. We did 3 miles easy, a 3-mile pickup (5:26 5:26 5:19) and then a 3.43 mile cooldown. The weather was perfect, couldn't ask for better. This is the best time of year for running weather-wise, allergy-wise not so much, but I can trade that off for the nice weather. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 9.43 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 |
| 6 miles easy on the base perimeter road. Legs still feeling a tad heavy, but they should be good to go by Saturday. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 6.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
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Schedule rest day. Well the marathon is almost here. For anyone interested I believe you can track my race via the following link:
http://www.racemyrace.com/hosted/ogden_full.php?rid=161&rrid=23678
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| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.65 | 0.40 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.05 |
|
Last shakeout before the marathon tomorrow morning! Legs are feeling pretty decent. I got ten hours of sleep last night too! So I should be rested and ready. Weather forecast isn't looking too good (rain and a little head-ish wind), but we'll deal with whatever gets thrown at us (besides no way it'll be worse than UVM last year right?)
I don't have any specific time or place goals. I just want to get out and run hard and go off of what pace "feels" right. I have been super strict on my diet the last few days and will continue that today, so hopefully I can avoid the pit stop too.
It should be an exciting race with several fast runners; making the podium is going to take a pretty good time. Good luck to everyone that's running and I hope to see several of you up there. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 3.05 |
| |
| |
| | Race: |
Ogden Marathon (26.22 Miles) 02:39:23, Place overall: 6 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.50 | 26.22 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 26.72 |
|
What a miserable day all around. Bad, bad day for me. I will write more later but to head off the main questions, no I didn't have stomach issues nor a pit stop. Yes, I did try my best. I don't know even now what the problem was. I stopped for like 10 seconds to tie my shoe just after mile 8 and then just never got back in a groove. By mile 10 my legs felt like they did at mile 20 at Phoenix Marathon. Clearly a very bad sign. By mile 15 my legs were really hurting and my energy levels were like zero. It was weird. I feel grateful I was just able to finish because it was sure looking like I was in trouble of not finishing.
Ok, here's a more detailed report:
I was very proud of my efforts to keep a very strict eye on my nutrition in the days leading up to the race so as to avoid GI issues. I cut out all dairy, sugar, soda, and anything even close to resembling greasy or spicy food. I tried to eat well all week but really buckled down starting Wednesday night. I think was the main (maybe only) positive part of the race today as I avoided stopping for a pit stop or even having an upset stomach for the first time ever in a marathon. So, I will try to replicate what I ate in future races.
This morning I may have skimmed too much on breakfast though in efforts to avoid GI issues and that may have factored into the low energy levels. I went with the all liquid breakfast of Gatorade, Clif Shot Blocks, and a Honey Stinger gel. It may not sound like much, but it was still like 400 calories. I don't know, maybe I needed more. I'm open to thoughts on that.
I met up with Bryant and rode up on the bus with him and also with some family. The starting area was a miserable place! It was a swampy, muddy mess, not to mention cold. Unfortunately, even with being on the last bus we still had to wait 1.5 hours for the start, which is just too much to be sitting in the cold and rain.
The gun went off and I found myself in the lead with Jason Holt, which surprised me since I don't feel like the pace was too fast by any means. By mile 4 Bryant and Brett finally caught up to us and the four of us ran together for a bit. The first 8 miles were straight into a headwind (5-7 mph) and they were very rainy. During mile 8 I stopped to tie my shoe (which somehow came undone despite a double knot and being tucked under the cross laces). I told the others I was going to speed up for about 100 meters and then pull over to tie it. I was only stopped for about 10 seconds, but man did Bryant take advantage of that! He took off and dropped the other two at that point.
I tried to work back up to Brett, who had dropped to third in that quick surge, but tried to do it slowly. I figured I could get back to him in a mile or so, as the pace wasn't difficult. But somewhere in here I just hit a wall, I know way early to be hitting walls! But, I just got zapped of enregy. So, I took out my Clif Shot Blocks and took one at mile 9. At mile 11 I got my first Honey Stinger down with my first water too. I went with the drink when you're thirsty strategy today, which worked fine I think, especially with the cool weather.
I was still maintaining what I'd consider a decent pace for the rollers, but it was feeling way harder than it should have and my legs were just tired. I came through the half in 1:13:30, which was slower than I would've liked. By mile 15 Justin caught me and asked how I was feeling. I told him I felt fine cardio-wise, but that my legs were just dead. He said he felt so-so and then dropped me. I thought Justin ran a great race for where he's at in his training.
Around this time I thought to myself, "Something is not right. I don't know what's going on but no way should I feel this tired, stiff, and low on energy. I run faster than this and further than this every Saturday! What is going on? I don't feel sick or anything, but something is seriously not right!"
Once I entered the canyon I was really bleeding time and I started wondering if I was going to make it to the finish. It was very early to be bleeding that much time, so I was concerned. During mile 19 I was feeling sorry for myself and I had had a rock in my shoe since mile 12 and I thought oh who cares anymore! I'm stopping to get this rock out! So I stopped and took my shoe off and emptied the rock. Then I just stared into space for like 15 seconds wondering how this had happened. This was a crictical point in whether I was going to finish or not. The temptation was there to stop, but I made the mental decision to keep going no matter what unless my health was at jeopardy, which is wasn't. So, I put my shoe back on and started trotting along again. I looked down at my pace and saw that I was still in the 6:30s. So, I yelled at myself in my mind, "Start running like a man you pansy!"
That helped for one mile as I managed a 6:06. I was like "Yes, that's more like it!" Funny how before the race if you told me I was going to be happy with a 6:06 mile 20 I would've said you're out of your mind. But I was really happy with that effort at this point. But tiredness set back in and I slipped back to 6:20s and 6:30s again. Every step was a huge effort. But I tried to keep plugging along.
During mile 23 I gave into the sore legs and fatigue and walked a few times, not for long but I did have some walking stretches. This was the second critical point where it would've been easy to throw in the towel. But I yelled at myself again to get running! I knew if I walked too much more my legs weren't going to get going again. From this point on I was somehow able to manage 6:20s for the rest of the way. It was a death march, but I just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
Finally I finished in just under 2:40, which really surprised me actually. At mile 23 I was doing some math and thought there was no way I was going to salvage the 2:30s.
My family was very concerned and then I finally came down the final stretch and they cheered for me like I was winning the race, which made me kind of emotional because it was so hard for me to finish the race. I almost felt more proud right then of my effort than I have felt in other marathons, obviously not because of my result but because I refused to quit and put up with some of the most painful miles of my life.
I was so thrilled to here how well Bryant ran! When you train with someone so much like that and know all the hard work they've put in it's great to see them suceed. I honestly thought under good conditions today Bryant could break 2:20. But the weather didn't cooperate and in this rain and wind 2:23 is a very very solid effort!
I thought Brett also gave a great effort in his marathon debut! We'll miss Brett a lot as he is moving to SLC on Memorial Day. It will be a huge blow to the Ogden training group! But we wish him well.
Splits:
5:26 5:28 5:18 5:24 5:26 5:31 5:30 5:39 5:31 5:37 5:49 5:47 5:48 (1:13:30 half)
5:42 6:10 6:01 6:35 6:39 7:32 6:06 6:22 6:34 7:15 6:27 6:28 6:25 and 6:16 pace for last bit (I guess that makes a sad 1:25:53 2nd half)
I should note that I'm not super upset or mad with this result. It didn't go well at all but that can happen. It was bad and I'm just going to move on. I will take the positives out of it (Nutrition and perserverance) and use those to build on the future. Sometimes you just can't dwell on the bad ones, you just have to let them go. So my head is up and I'm ready to get rolling again. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 26.72 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.27 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.27 |
| 6.27 miles easy on the Riverdale Parkway with Ken, Jon, Bret, and Bryant. I wasn't happy that it was raining! But it was nice to get the legs moving. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 6.27 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.79 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.79 |
| 8.79 miles easy on the Riverdale Parkway with Ben, Ken, Jon, and Bryant. It was a very pleasant run with nice, cool weather. A lot of laughing on the run this morning, good times. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 8.79 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| 10 miles easy on Ogden parkway with Ken, Jon, Bret, and Bryant. |
| Asics GT-2000 Miles: 10.00 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.24 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.24 |
| 8.24 miles easy with Bryant and Albert in South Ogden. I think the other guys were planning a quality workout today. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 8.24 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.36 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.36 |
|
AM: 9.03 miles easy on the Parkway and in West Haven. We had another decent group this morning with Ken, Jon, Bret, and Albert. Long trail run tomorrow morning with the guys, should be fun.
Lunchtime: 4.33 miles easy on base. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.33 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 9.03 |
| |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.50 | 1.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 15.50 |
|
Long trail run with the guys. It was a beautiful morning for a run. We had a great group out this morning. We started the run with Brett, Bryant, Ken, Albert, and Ben. The first mile was up Beus Canyon and we gained 530 feet in that first mile, so it was a slow split of 10:10. After that it was mostly down with some rolling up and down until Rainbow Gardens at the mouth of Ogden Canyon. There Jon and Taylor joined us, but Bryant and Brett left us (turned around to get home earlier)
We then climbed back up to the canal trail and from there to North Ogden. Ben was behind a bit by this point and we were running to his house. But his wife needed to leave by 8:15 for work and I didn't think Ben was going to make it in time so Ken and I did an unplanned pickup to try to make it for him to watch his kids until he got there so his wife could leave for work. So we ran a 5:34 (mostly flat) 4:47 (downhill about 150 feet of drop) and a 5:08 (little less downhill about 100 feet of drop).
We got there with one minute to spare. I knock on the door and Ben answers! He cut down early and took a shorter route. So the pickup ended up being unnecessary, but it felt good to get the legs moving that fast! After providing us with a drink and a powerbar, Ben drove us back to our cars. It was a good run, but I was pretty tired through most of it. It will be nice to have a rest day tomorrow. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 15.50 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.11 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.11 |
|
AM: 9.74 miles easy with Jace and Jon out in Mariott-Slaterville and West Haven. Nice, pleasant weather this morning. Jace showed me a trick he uses to keep his laces tied in races after he read my race report for Ogden.
PM: 4.37 miles easy around good ol' South Weber.
|
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.37 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 9.74 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.71 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 14.71 |
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AM: TEMPO RUN
We had a good-sized group this morning with Ken, Jon, Taylor, Albert, and Bret. We met at the Dee Events Center parking lot and headed into South Ogden for a tempo run. We did a 3.2 mile warmup that included a half-mile at 5:50 pace and three strides. We then did our tempo on our "tempo loop" from college days.
Everyone basically ended up doing their own variation of a tempo run/workout. I did 5 miles in 25:45 (5:11 5:11 5:09 5:11 5:02). Ken ran the first 1.5 miles or so before falling back a bit, he ended up doing a 3-2-1 breakdown. Bret did 2 by 2 miles in 5:20s. Taylor, Albert, and Jon all did 3.5-4 miles in the 5:40s. So, it was a solid workout all around for everyone, and we got it in just before the rain started to drizzle.
I'm happy with this morning's workout. I haven't had very many runs (or races) since SLC Half in April that have been solid. Thanksgiving Point and Ogden were both disappointments and I haven't had any stellar workouts lately either, so the confidence needed a bit of a boost and I got that today.
PM: 4.03 miles easy listening to AWOLNATION, The Killers, and Imagine Dragons. I was tempted to just put "Not Your Fault" on repeat the whole time...good stuff. |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 10.68 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 4.03 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.00 |
| 9 miles easy with Jon, Taylor, Bryant, Albert, and Ken. I felt pretty fatigued this morning on the run, so I think I will avoid a double today. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 9.00 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.47 | 12.72 |
|
AM: INTERVALS
Bryant, Jace, and I met up at the 21st Street Pond to do some fast intervals. It's been awhile since we've done "fast" paces, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But the plan I wrote up beforehand was 3-4 sets of 800M/400M/200M/1,000M, which is essentially 4.5-6 miles worth of speed.
The first interval (800 meters) was an absolute shock to the system! All three of us were breathing loud. I was like, "Yikes, maybe we should've warmed up a bit more!" But, we got used to the speed after the first few intervals and ended up with a solid workout. It was hard and took a great effort each time, but the rest is sufficient enough to repeat the pain on the next interval. Rest was 2min/1.5min/1min/3min.
Here was how it turned out:
| |
Goal Time |
Goal Pace |
Set 1 |
Set 2 |
Set 3 |
| 800 M |
2:20 |
4:40 |
2:21 |
2:19 |
2:20 |
| 400 M |
1:05 |
4:20 |
1:04 |
1:06 |
1:05 |
| 200 M |
0:31 |
4:04 |
0:30 |
0:30 |
0:30 |
| 1,000 M |
3:00 |
4:48 |
3:04 |
2:58 |
2:55 |
The 200 intervals were like manna from heaven! Only 30 seconds of pain sandwiched with two and a half minutes of rest! This workout was harder than I anticipated, but that's to be expected when you haven't gone this fast for over a month.
PM: 3.71 miles super easy pushing my girls in the stroller. I was going to run with Amy, hence the stroller, but her back still hurts her so she immediately called off her run. But since the girls were all strapped in and ready to go I still pushed them so Amy could get a break too. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 3.71 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 9.01 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.37 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.37 |
| 9.37 miles easy on the South Weber/Uintah loop. My legs are definitely TIRED from yesterday and the higher mileage this week. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 9.37 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.93 | 4.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 18.93 |
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LONG RUN w/AEROBIC BUILDER
I met up with Jon, Albert, Ben, and Jason Holt for a long run at 21st Street Pond. I wanted to get a long run in with some good quality mixed in. I thought about shooting for a 4-3-2-1, but once I got going on the 4-mile pickup I realized my legs were still recovering from Thursday so instead I did a 4-mile pickup and then a 2-mile pickup.
We warmed up three miles and then Jason and I started the 4-mile pickup. We were on our own the rest of the run as the other guys turned around at 6 miles. Jason and I ran the first 4-mile pickup at 5:41 5:25 5:27 5:24. Then after a 1.5 mile rest (and two pit stops for me - my stomach was really hurting this morning) we did a 2-mile pickup in 5:13 5:06. After that we called it good and just ran easy the rest of the run. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 18.93 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.10 |
| 8.1 miles at a snail's pace. I started getting sick Satruday night and I felt pretty crappy this morning; I just had nothing. Hopefully I can kick this by Saturday's race. I'm sick of getting sick a week out from races! |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 8.10 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Stayed home, slept a lot! No run. I still feel pretty horrible. | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.00 |
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AM: Still not feeling well. If I feel any better throughout the day I may attempt a 5-mile easy run or so. I really would've liked to stay home from work again to rest but I got too much going on.
PM: 7 miles easy. No watch, but I assume it was almost as slow as Monday. I still have extremely low energy levels and my throat hurts a bit when running. But hey this morning it felt like someone had taken razorblades to my throat and on the run it merely hurt a bit, so that's progress. If I don't feel well by Friday morning I will likely call off UV Half on Saturday. I don't see any value in running it while being this sick. But I got my fingers crossed that I will feel better by then. I am pumping in the zinc and vitamin C like an addict! |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 7.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.58 | 0.00 | 1.50 | 0.00 | 6.08 |
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I woke up feeling a bit better than the last two mornings, but I was still extremely stuffed up. The throat wasn't sore for the first time this week though, so that's good. I met up with Albert, Bryant, Ken, and Bret at 21st Pond. I wanted to test my energy levels to see if racing Saturday was/is feasible. We did a 3-mile warmup and then planned a 2-mile tempo. I wanted to hit 5:00 pace since we were running with tailwind and a very slight downhill. If I couldn't hit 5:00, that would be a good indicator that I just didn't the energy to race Saturday.
We started the tempo and I felt pretty sluggish but the pace was good. I took a wrong turn and had to stop dead in my tracks and turn around so that likely cost me a few seconds. My mile split was 4:52. But things got bad quickly after that and I felt really tired and fatigued, like the tank had gone from full to empty in a matter of seconds. So, I decided to stop at 1.5 miles. My 1.5 mile split was 7:27, so I was like 5:10 pace or so for that last 0.5. Afterward I was just done and had a hard time working up the energy to cooldown 1.5 miles.
It's pretty frustrating. I feel like I just can't get consistent training in, something keeps setting me back. I haven't decided what to do yet about Saturday. I know what I should do, but what I want/hope to do and what I should do aren't aligned! Anyway, I won't make a final decision until I see how I feel tomorrow morning. But, I know that had today been raceday, I would've had either a DNS, DNF, or 75-minute+ time. So, things really need to get better in the next 24 hours for me to have confidence I can race and have a decent showing. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 6.08 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
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5 miles easy on the base perimeter road with 3 strides at the end. Well I'm still on the mend and I think I'm about three days out from being over this nasty cold. I feel a bit better each day. The sore throat is completely gone and now it's a really just a stuffy nose and some occasional coughing. The energy seemed ok this morning but I kept the pace slow enough to keep my heart rate under 140 bpm; so, it's hard to say for sure running that easy. My resting heart rate is still up 4-5 bpm too this morning, but it was as high as 7-8 bpm above average early in the week. So, progress is coming. The question is, how much progress will I get in the next 24 hours.
Who am I kidding though, I'm pretty stubborn and it's very likely I'm going to race tomorrow come hell or high water! In the past I've run sick and/or injured and don't see why I should stop now. So, I'll likely give it a go tomorrow and just see what happens. If I run poorly, then I run poorly and I just move on. But if I run well it will be a confidence boost and it will serve as a good workout two weeks out from Duluth. I'll just have to be smart and if I feel really weak and fatigued in the race I will have to force myself to back off.
So as of now, that's my plan. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 5.00 |
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| | Race: |
Utah Valley Half Marathon (13.109 Miles) 01:10:12, Place overall: 4 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.80 | 0.00 | 13.11 | 0.00 | 16.91 |
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UTAH VALLEY HALF MARATHON
Well I knew this might not be a great race for me with how sick I've been all week. It's funny if you asked me Thursday to predict my time I would've said 1:15. But, this morning I convinced myself I could do 1:07. So it ended up being in between those two. But, I had to go in with confidence or else why even race? I decided I would run as if I were not sick and just see what happens. Worst case scenario I would fade and just get a decent workout out of it.
So, I went out with the mindset of trying to win the race. That was my goal before I got sick, so I still wanted to see if I could do it. I thought I could manage sub-5:00 pace for the first 8 miles or so (with the exception of mile 3) if I was feeling well. Well, I didn't get a single mile at sub-5:00 so I knew pretty early on I was maybe in for a rough one.
We started the race and I found myself in front solo for the first 1/4 mile or so. That really surprised me, considering the depth of the field. Then Nate Hornock came up alongside me and we chatted for 200 meters or so and then Jon Kotter showed up as well with Josh McCabe. Nate fell back before the mile mark and Jon, Josh and I formed the lead pack for the first 4 miles. During mile 5 on some really good downhill, Josh picked up the pace and he and Jon pulled away from despite me running 4:31 pace down that hill. I caught back up briefly on a slight uphill but only managed to stay with them for 200 meters or so and then just started to really "lose it". I felt really sapped of energy and slowed down subtantially.
I looked down at my watch and saw I was running 5:13 pace downhill. I shook my head is annoyance and thought to myself, "Surely I'm going to get passed here pretty soon if I don't get moving". I didn't get moving and I did get passed almost immediately after that by Jake. I was now running in the 5:20s and felt like garbage. Even though I was still in 4th place I was almost ready to step off the course, I really felt weak.
For the first time ever in a half marathon I took some form of fuel. I knew before the race that I might have low energy levels this morning, so I packed some clif shot blocks with me. I took two of those at this point, and I think it helped me finish the race. At least that combined with the slower pace helped me keep going despite feeling pretty awful.
Once we got out of the canyon I was just really holding on. I just tried to take it one mile at a time and remind myself that I do 8-mile tempos at this pace almost weekly no problem, so just try to keep moving.
I kept getting slower and feeling worse and I thought surely someone was going to pass me soon. That fear kind of kept me going. With two miles to go I glanced back and couldn't see anyone, which was a relief. The problem is it also takes away my fear and "need" to keep running hard, and mentally I just gave in a bit and slowed down even more. That's the problem with looking back and why you shouldn't do it!
So I finished up in 4th and still on the podium in just over 1:10. Just like everyone else I had like a ten second discrepancy on my watch time and official, but at this point it really doesn't matter.
So, it wasn't a wasted day, but man it wasn't pleasant. I kept wondering why I talked myself into running when I knew deep down it was going to be a struggle. But, now that it's over, I'm glad I did. It should serve as a great workout for Duluth in two weeks. Plus I think trying to run hard when you feel horrible is great practice mentally to stay tough and hopefully that will pay dividends in the future.
Splits: 509 505 518 504 500 513 521 523 525 527 537 530 539 54 (last .17) |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 16.91 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 16.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.50 |
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AM: 12 miles easy. I met up with Ken, Albert, and Bret at the Riverdale Parkway. We ran some single track trails just off the parkway that somehow we've never hit up before and they were crazy...tons of quick, steep ups and downs and just winding all over through a very forested area. We had no idea where the trail was going to come out and I joked that it'd come out in Narnia. It also appeared to be covered in a half inch of snow, but it was actually cotton and it didn't bode well for my allergies! Then we hit the parkway on the way back and finally looped Riverdale and ran at the Riverdale Park a bit.
I am still trying to get rid of this cold. Saturday didn't help. I felt worse yesterday than I did Thursday-Saturday of last week. I don't know if it was due to less sleep Friday night or the physical exertion of the race. But yesterday was pretty rough. Today though I feel ok again, about how I felt on Friday. So who knows maybe two more days of this cold (fingers crossed).
PM: 4.5 miles way easy pushing the girls in the double stroller. My little one Hannah loves it. She doesn't make a sound and barely moves, and then she almost always falls asleep. Only coughed twice on the run...progress! |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.50 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.53 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.53 |
| 10.53 miles easy with Jace out in Kaysville and Farmington. It was a nice change of scenary and Jace was kind enough to keep the pace slower for me. My legs were quite tired from yesterday's double. My nose is running like a faucet with my allergies combined with this lingering cold that I just can't shake! It's getting annoying; colds shouldn't last this long! |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 10.53 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.44 | 2.00 | 1.99 | 2.11 | 16.54 |
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AM: COMBO WORKOUT
I met up with Albert, Bret, Ken, Bryant, and Omar at the 21st Street Pond. We warmed up 3.25 miles and then started into the workout, everyone but Bryant; he just went easy again today.
We started with 2 miles at marathon pace. I ran 5:27 5:29. After that we did 3 by 1,000 meters with 1:30 rest. Ken and I both ran 3:02 3:02 3:00. Then we took 4 minutes and did 3200 meters at threshold pace. I ran 10:02. Finally we did 2 200 meter sprints uphill. Ken and I ran the first one is 31.0. Right before the second one we stepped aside for a biker who said "Thanks, I'm headed up the hill". Ken replied, "So are we. We'll catch up to you". To which the biker replied, "Yeah, good luck with that!" Ken and I looked at each other and I raised my eyebrows as if to say, "Let's go get her!" So, we sprinted after her and caught her after about 100 meters, passed her, and finished the 200 meters in 28.8! Which was a great uphill split!
Then we cooled down a few more miles. I'm pretty happy with the workout. I am feeling a bit better and I think the cold is almost gone. It's still lingering a bit, but it's almost gone.
PM: 4.6 miles easy pushing the kids in the double jogger again. |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 11.94 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.60 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.23 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.23 |
| 10.23 miles easy. I met up with Albert and Ken at the Dee and we ran straight uphill for the first two miles up to the top of Ogden and then ventured over into South Ogden/Upper Uintah and then looped back down lower. My legs are very tired, but my cold is almost, just almost gone. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 10.23 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.25 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.25 |
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PROGRESSIVE LONG RUN
Ken and I met at the 21st Street Pond to do a long-ish run. The plan was to run it as a progression run, cutting down the pace each mile. We started quite slow and just naturally got faster each mile. We stopped the progression at 13 miles and then cooled down the remaining 2.25 miles. Good morning for a run, nice and cool.
Splits: 734 657 640 632 621 610 608 559 549 538 530 523 520 |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 15.25 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| 13 miles easy with Jon and Ben in North Ogden and Pleasant View. Just a great run with lots of good conversation and a nice, easy pace. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 13.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.85 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 12.85 |
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MILE REPEATS
This morning was my last workout before Saturday's race (I will maybe do 1-2 miles at threshold Wednesday, but it won't be a workout really). I tried to keep this workout slower than what I would normally shoot for. I wanted the effort to be in the 5:05-5:10 range and I think I accomplished that. I did 5xmile with 2:00 jog at 7:00-7:30 pace for rest. Splits were 5:18 (uphill/headwind) 5:08(flat/crosswind) 4:57(downhill/crosswind) 4:55 (downhill/tailwind) 4:51 (downhill/tailwind for half flat/crosswind for half). The difference in splits was due more to terrain and wind than it was to effort. While the average this morning was 5:02 I think the effort was in that 5:05-5:10 range had they all been flat with no wind. So, I'll call it mission accomplished. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 12.85 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.47 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.47 |
| 7.47 miles easy on the north base perimeter loop. The pace was extremely easy and then I picked up the last 0.1 miles. I ran it in 20 seconds or 3:23 pace. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 7.47 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 0.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 8.00 |
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LIGHT WORKOUT
I met up with Bret, Bryant, and Ken at the Riverdale Parkway for an easy run with a super light workout thrown in. Ken and I did the workout and we did one mile at 5:05 and then two half miles at 2:31 and 2:30. All three pickups were slight uphill. The pace didn't feel as easy as I would like or as it's felt in the past, but maybe it was the uphill. Tons of bugs on the parkway these days, may need some running goggles. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 8.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
| 5 miles easy with Brad along the shore of Lake Superior. Super wet, windy,and a tad chilly. But the wind is blowing in the right direction as long as it doesn't shift. I'm excited for Saturday. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 5.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.26 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.26 |
| 4.26 miles easy and with some strides. Ran along the paved path along Lake Superior again with Brad, Bryant, and Jason. We're hoping for no rain and tailwind tomorrow! |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 4.26 |
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| | Race: |
USA Half Champs (13.109 Miles) 01:10:07, Place overall: 116 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.12 | 0.50 | 13.11 | 0.00 | 17.73 |
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USA HALF CHAMPS
Well this just simply didn't go as well as I had hoped. I knew going in that my fitness had declined some, but this was just frustrating. I really wanted to run well here and have a good showing, but it wasn't meant to be. I gave it my all though, so I can hold my head up high.
I wanted to get out at 5:05 for the first mile and try to ease into 5:00 pace. So, for my warmup I did 2.75 miles with 0.5 miles at 5:45 pace to get the heart rate up and I also did some strides. I made three visits to the porta potties and was ready to roll. I felt like it was going to be a good day. The tailwind we were hoping for (forcasted at 16 mph two hours before the race) simply didn't show up and it was rather calm.
The gun went off and the leaders just flew off the line! At the half mile point I was 20 seconds back from the lead and I thought "Oh man if I want to win this thing I have to move now!" but by the mile they were 45 seconds up! (I'm joking obviously about the winning thing). It was very impressive to see them pull away at 4:20 pace for the first mile. By mile two I could no longer see them. Anyway, I went out in 5:05 on the dot just as planned...perfect. The pace felt easier than I anticpated too, so I was quite pleased. Mile two I passed about 10 people and ran a 5:02. Mile three I passed a few morel, but not too many and ran another 5:02. I came through the 5k in 15:40...awesome.
Right around this time I felt the first pangs of GI distress. I told myself it would be fine and I would be ok and try some mind over matter thinking to get it to go away. Around 3.5 miles in Brad caught up to me and we both passed Jason around this point. Brad was looking good, we ran together for the next mile or so and then he started to pull away. He ended up with a negative split and ran 1:06:4x, not bad for his first real race of the year and four months off in the winter.
My stomach was still about the same and I was still trying to will it away. My pace started to slow and I kept fighting to get the pace back on. I was yo-yo-ing which is a bad sign that your pace is going to slow soon, but it also means you're fighting mentally to stay on it. Mile 4 was 5:09, so not as good as I wanted but still decent. Mile 5 had some uphill and I split a 5:12. Jason passed me again in mile 5. I once again tried to pick back up the pace and just follow him and some other guys. I did and I got the pace back a tad...Mile 6 5:08 and 10k split was 31:51. Now my stomach was really bugging and I knew I wasn't going to be able to will it away. I slowed a bit here and ran a 5:18 mile 7. I was able to pick it up a tad in the next stretch but not too much. I caught up to Jason one last time and almost right after I passed him the port a potty came up and I decided to stop then even though my pace was picking up, because the next one would be a mile minimum away.
So, I hopped in and made it reasonable quick and got back to the grind. I was passed by 25 people from 10k to mile 10 and 23 of them were while I was in the port a potty! It was a packed group of runners. When I came out I was in complete no-man's land. The next guys in front of me were 20 seconds ahead. I hit mile 8 in 5:50 (37 seconds of which was downtime so about 5:13 pace).
After my stop I really struggled. There weren't as many people to work with and I was toward the back of the race now, and my closest targets to catch were 20 seconds up. I tried to get back into the 5-teens, but I just couldn't. My pace kept slowing, I'd look at my watch, think unacceptable, attempt to speed up, and then look down to see I had barely sped up. It was really frustrating. I felt like I was moving well, but my watch said otherwise. I'd get passed and try to go with them and even passed some of the guys back, but my mental toughness couldn't hold out much longer over my physical fatigue.
I fought tooth and nail for every second though, not wanting to get completely embarrassed (running 116th and a 1:10 was already embarrassing enough I surely didn't want a 1:11 or 1:12)! It was a bigtime grind and struggle. But honestly I am way proud of my mental toughness during those last miles, because it very easily could've been so much worse. Several times I almost gave in to slower, more comfortable paces, but refused to let that happen and gave it my all (even though it was only 5:30 pace).
Anyway final miles were somewhat lonely and miles 9-13 were 5:24 5:30 5:30 5:28 5:26 and 5:07 for last tenth.
I honestly felt embarrassed coming down the finish line, there were only a handful of stragglers behind me. I tried hard to pick up that last tenth and salvage a 1:09:xx, but I couldn't get my legs to move faster than 5:07 pace.
Luckily, the race and the directors are such great hosts that the bad race is easier to put behind you. They put on a world-class race there and they were extremely hospitable. Awesome organization all around. We couldn't have asked for a better organized event.
So, I have some work to do. Yes, I had a pit stop and yes it was hard to get going again after it, but even without it I wouldn't have managed better than 1:08:xx. I have to face the fact that I've stopped doing some of the little things that I was doing earlier in the year and I've gone away from the training that was making me successful and I'm paying a price for it now. I need to re-focus my training on improving my weakness (aerobic fitness or marathon pace) and I need to get my weight back down to where it was in March.
I know I can run so much better than this, but I have to get back to what I was doing earlier in the year and I will. I expect too much out of myself to be satisfied with my performance yesterday (and in the last few races). |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 17.73 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 16.61 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.61 |
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AM: 12.11 miles easy on the base perimeter road.
PM: 4.5 miles easy in South Weber. It was extremely windy out there. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.50 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 12.11 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.12 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.12 |
| 8.12 miles easy with Bret and Jon on the Ogden Parkway. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 8.12 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.78 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.78 |
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BEN LOMOND PEAK TRAIL RUN
I met up with Bret, Ken, Bryant, Jon, and Albert (couldn't talk Ben into it) at 5:00 am at the North Ogden Divide. It was still a tiny bit dark for the first few miles but luckily the first 0.5-0.75 miles aren't rocky so we avoided any sprained ankles. This morning was perfect for the ascent. Once on the ridge you could see the 4/5 full moon to the west and the sun just about to rise over Powder Mountain to the East. It was also the calmest wind that I've experienced up on top.
We saw a big, big moose just hauling across the ridge about 200 meters in front of us. Fortunately, it wasn't running in our direction. It was a cool sight to see. Then on top we scared two mountain goats that were chilling at the very peak. They quickly ran down the west side once we approached the peak. No other hikers on the trail the whole time until the last half mile; we had the trail all to ourselves.
Overall, it was a great run. It's always one of my favorites every year. We ran it in 2:14, whereas last year we were 2:12, so just a tad slower. But, 8:30 pace for a mountian run ain't bad.
Here's a link to some video that Albert took during the run: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDsJA_Tm0KQ |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 15.78 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.26 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.26 |
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AM: 8.15 miles easy on the North Base Loop. My legs were kind of sore from yesterday's climb and more likely descent, so I kept it to a very very slow pace.
PM: 3.11 miles easy with half on grass at the park. |
| Barefoot Miles: 1.60 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 1.51 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 8.15 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.21 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.21 |
| 10.21 miles easy in Kaysville and Layton with Ken Jace and Jason. |
| Barefoot Miles: 1.41 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 8.80 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.02 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.02 |
| 15.02 miles easy with Bryant and Albert up in Morgan Valley. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 15.02 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 17.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 17.10 |
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AM 12 miles easy. I met up with Ken and Bret at the 21st Street Pond. We did two miles with Bret and then he did some mile repeats. Ken and I just went easy on the Parkway.
PM 5.1 miles easy with 3.5 of it barefoot on grass. |
| Barefoot Miles: 3.63 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 1.47 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.65 | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 16.90 |
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AM: AEROBIC BUILDER
I thought I was going to be flying solo this morning, but then Jace text me last night and said he'd join me if he didn't get called in to work. Lucky, for me he didn't get called in and I had a running partner this morning. We met at 21st Pond and warmed up three miles. Then we started the AB. The goal was to average 5:35 pace, since we both feel our fitness isn't where it was in the spring when these were a weekly staple in our training. It turned out pretty decent, we ran 7 miles at 5:33 avg. We passed Coach Hislop along the way who was out for a walk, but we didn't stop to talk since it was in the middle of our AB.
After we planned to jog 0.5 miles and then do 4x400 meters. We did the first one in 1:12, but then we ran into route difficulties. When I mapped the run online it showed a road going through an area, but it actually didn't go through there, so we had to search for another way and it took up some time. By the time we found a way through (if we didn't find one we would've had to add another 2-3 miles to the run), too much time had passed so we bagged the last three 400s.
I'm happy to get this in and have Jace there to run it with me. I need to get back to doing these weekly. Jace and I discusssed how these are a necessary evil for us, since we aren't as predisposed to distance/endurance as most other distance runners. We can take any amount of pain you want to throw at us for 5 minutes, but we hate the slow, gradual pain for an extended period of time.
PM: 3.2 miles easy |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 13.70 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 3.20 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.56 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.56 |
| 10.56 miles easy. I'm in Orem for the week for Amy's family's reunion. So I got the pleasure of running with Matt and Spencer from Matt's house in Lehi this morning. Good run with great company. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 10.56 |
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| | Race: |
Freedom Festival 5k (3.107 Miles) 00:15:46, Place overall: 3 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.66 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.11 | 8.77 |
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FREEDOM FESTIVAL 5K
Well this went about as good as I can expect with where my current fitness is and with the mileage I've done this week leading into the race.
The race started and I was in about 6th or so for the first half mile. Then I pulled even with Brett hales and Jon nelson just before the mile. First mile was 4:53.
Then they gapped me on the second mile and I got passed too so I was fourth. Mile 2 4:59.
now you start the climb. The race has a net overall elevation gain. I passed the third place guy powering up the hill and then tried to finish strong. mile three was 5:15.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 8.77 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| 12 miles easy from Orem soccer fields up Provo Canyon and back. Then 2 miles barefoot on the grass. Nice and cool this morning. |
| Barefoot Miles: 2.00 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 10.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 3.00 | 3.50 | 0.00 | 18.00 |
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I had a good long run this morning with Brad Osguthorpe. We met at the mouth of Provo Canyon and ran an easy 8 miles up into South Fork. Then did three miles at marathon pace 5:45 5:24 and 5:30 and then dropped the pace even more for another 3.5 5:17 5:07 5:08 and 5:03 for last half mile. We were going to do eight miles of tempo but Brad had to use the bathroom after 6.5. That's right Brad had to stop not Riley!
Good run and temps this morning. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 18.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 18.33 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18.33 |
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AM: 11 miles easy on the parkway with Bret, Jon, Albert, and Ben.
Lunch: 4.33 miles easy. I did the last tenth at 3:12 pace. I've been doing a fast tenth at the end of a run about once a week and this was my fastest yet. I think I'm getting my speed back slowly.
PM: 3 miles easy with Amy and while pushing kids in stroller.
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 3.00 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 15.33 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.75 | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.75 |
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AEROBIC BUILDER
I met up with Jace for another AB. We did the same route as last week (minus the detour on the cooldown) and our goal was to average about 5 seconds faster than last week (5:33 avg for 7 miles last week). We did a pretty good job: 7 miles at 5:28 average. The pace is coming back a bit. Now we need to extend this to 8-10 miles and keep the same pace and then speed it up again, until we get to 10 miles at 5:20. It will take some time, but we'll get back there again.
My morning weigh-in was the lowest it's been since March 29, which is also encouraging. I know weight can fluctuate a lot, so I don't put much stock in a single day's weigh in. But, it's still nice to see a lower number. I keep track of real weight progress with weekly averages. |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 12.75 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| 15 miles easy from 21st Pond with Ken, Ben, Bret, Bryant, and Jon. Great crew this morning and good times. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 15.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.73 | 0.00 | 2.00 | 1.00 | 10.73 |
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LIGHT INTERVALS
I met up with Albert, Jace, and Bret at the pond for a light workout. After a 4-mile warmup we did 2 x 1.5 miles. Goal was to run 5:10 for the first mile and then drop the last 0.5 to 5:00 pace.
Split 1 - 7:37 (5:07, 2:30)
3 minutes rest
Split 2 - 7:31 (5:04, 2:27)
These felt easier than I anticipated, especially coming off a 15-mile run yesterday. I feel like I could've easily done another and even a fourth if necessary.
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| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 10.73 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.20 |
| 6.2 miles easy in South Weber. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 6.20 |
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| | Race: |
Bryce Canyon Half Marathon (13.109 Miles) 01:06:15, Place overall: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.77 | 0.00 | 13.11 | 0.00 | 16.88 |
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BRYCE CANYON HALF MARATHON
So, I didn't decide until Thursday night that I was going to race this. I knew I wanted to race this weekend, I just wasn't quite sure where. I thought I'd do Bryce if I could get someone to head down with me, but I didn't have any takers until Thursday Bret said he'd come with me. This was Bret's first half marathon as a post-collegiate runner and he did well (3rd Place 1:11:50).
So Bret and I headed down Friday afternoon, checked into an old, run-down motel in Panguitch and then went to packet pickup.
At the starting line I realized I would likely win the race. I didn't really see anyone I knew, except for Jason Nance, who ran for Weber the last few years, but has chosen to forego his senior year. Sure enough after a half mile it thinned out quickly. I promised myself I would take the first two miles very, very conservatively. The race starts at 7600 feet and the first two miles are flat. I had no intention of going out too quickly at 7600 feet and paying for it the rest of the race. So, two miles in I was about 10 seconds back from Jason, but right where I wanted to be. Mile 1 5:26 Mile 2 5:28
After two miles the course drops substantially. This is a very aided course, albeit at high elevation. Mile three is easily the quickest and steepest. Right when the downhill started I quickened my pace as planned and flew down mile three. I passed Jason very quickly and just went right on by. Mile 3 4:34
Miles 4-7 are all very decent downhill, although not as steep as mile three. I am not a very good downhill runner, due to my form (arched back). So, I just tried to focus here on getting my shoulders forward and not working against gravity. Mile 4 4:45 Mile 5 4:46 Mile 6 4:48 Mile 7 4:57
Here the race flattens out a bit and even has a minor uphill (how dare they!). I tried to keep the effort up on this stretch. I knew if I could manage decent splits for these next two miles, I'd get some good downhill again after these. Mile 8 5:06 Mile 9 5:07
I knew at this point I had the race in the bag and it was now only a matter of how fast could I finish. The next two miles are still good downhill and I kept the rhythm going. Mile 10 5:03 Mile 11 5:05.
Two miles to go and my legs were aching some from the pounding downhill. Luckily for my legs the course flattens out again to the finish. I kept a good effort here, but let up a bit mentally, which cost me a 1:05:xx. My only regret is not pushing these miles a bit more. But when you have the race in the bag sometimes it's easy to let up a tad. Mile 12 5:13 Mile 13 5:13 and 5:04 for last tenth. Final time of 1:06:15.
I am pretty happy with this effort. It's a PR for me, although it's quite aided. The race starts at 7600 feet and finishes at 5800 feet. So it has a lot of drop to help your pace. But I was happy I still managed pretty decent splits on the flat sections at 6,000+ feet.
I don't think this is my best effort of the year, even though it's my fastest. I still think St. George, Strider's, and SLC halves were more impressive. But this is way better than I've been running since April, so I will certainly take it. I'm also glad I didn't get sucked into a faster pace those first two miles and was able to stick to my race plan (high 5:20s is fast enough for flat miles at 7600 feet).
I was happy for Bret to take third. He trains with us a lot but rarely races, so it was good to get him out in a race.
My legs are going to be sore, I'm certain. So, I may have to take a few easy days at the start of next week. But, after that it'll be back to the grind. I've started my Aerobic Builders again and I've gotten my weight down to 151-ish, so I'm getting back on track and hope I can surpass my spring fitness in a few more weeks.
Oh two more notes. This is the most mileage I've ever had in a week I've raced a half marathon. Also, today I surpassed my total miles last year of 5:30 or faster pace. So, that shows that my quality of training has been much, much better this year.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 16.88 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.50 |
| 9.5 miles easy. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 9.50 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
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AM: 6.5 miles easy.
PM: 5.5 miles easy. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 5.50 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 6.50 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.25 |
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AM: 8.75 miles easy.
PM: 4.5 miles easy. Very hot. Very humid here in Ohio. Legs still don't have bounce in them since Saturdays race. I'm hoping they'll feel well enough for a workout tomorrow but not that may not happen. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 13.25 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.05 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.05 |
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 10.05 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.25 |
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6.25 miles easy in South Weber. I got home late last night from my work trip and it was a tough week of running in Ohio! Good to be home. I've felt pretty sore, fatigued, and tired all week from the half last weekend. Add to that the two-hour time change (running at 3:00 am MST) and the hottest, most humid week they've had all year back there and it turned out to just be a flat week.
I planned on hitting 85 miles this week, but there's no way that was going to happen. Every morning (and afternoon) that I left the hotel to run, I always turned back earlier than planned soaked, tired, and with no energy. Yesterday's Aerobic Builder was a disgrace. So, I gave in and decided this would be an easy/recovery week.
Tomorrow's race could be either really bad if I still feel like blah. Or it could be really good with all the 7:30+ paced miles I've trudged through this week. I guess we'll see tomorrow.
On the positive side, my weigh in this morning was really good. Usually after work trips (or any trip) I come home up on weight for a few days, but it was down this time. So, the nutrition changes are helping. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 6.25 |
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| | Race: |
Draper Days 5k (3.107 Miles) 00:15:04, Place overall: 3 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.11 | 11.31 |
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DRAPER DAYS 5K
Pretty good race for me this morning. I feel like I'm gaining some of my lost fitness back. Spencer was awesome enough to pick up race packets for Ben and me and let us stay at his place last night. Thanks Spence! It was nice not having to wake up early and drive down.
My goal for the race was to run hard and really get after it. I really didn't know what to expect. I felt pretty horrible all week, so I figured it could be as good as 15:00 or as bad as 15:30. But I wanted to go hard after 15:00.
The first mile we got out pretty decent but not quite as fast as I wanted. I wanted 4:45-ish. I took the lead about 0.6 miles in and tried to quicken the pace a bit, but still only came through in like 4:53 (on garmin; according to mile mark 4:48). I was slightly in the lead but a good group was right there with me, about five of us I think.
In the second mile Jake threw in a surge and Josh, Tomy, and Teren went with him. I fell back about two seconds or so. But then I focused on getting my shoulders forward and caught right back up. At the turn Josh and I were side by side leading with me on the outside. We came up to a turn where there had been some construction and there was a temporary stop sign about five feet away from the curb. Apparently Josh thought we had to round that so he turned very wide and with me being on his shoulder I didn't really have a choice but to turn even wider. Meanwhile Teren and Jake took the inside of the stop sign and gained a few feet on us. I was kind of annoyed at Josh, but oh well. I don't blame Teren or Jake at all, that's the same path I would have taken had Josh not been in my way. So, now I was in like 4th just like that and I never caught back up to Teren, he and Josh pulled away from me a bit right before mile 2 and Jake fell back just a tad. Mile two was 4:43.
Mile three has some decent uphill and I was just trying to bear down and run hard to the finish, knowing that Jake was breathing down my neck. I couldn't make up ground on Josh and Teren though either. Mile three was 4:58 and then 4:34 pace for the last tenth. Finish time of 15:04.
I'm happy with this. It's the best flat 5k I've run since college. I had fun cooling down and hanging out with everyone afterward (Spencer, Ben, Scott, Jake, and Bryant - who was kind enough to handicap himself by running 10 miles in 60 minutes before the race!) |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 5.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.40 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 11.40 |
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HALF-MILE REPEATS
Did a lighter interval session to keep things sharp for Wednesday's half marathon. I met up with Ken, Ben, Jon, Bret, and Bryant at the pond. We warmed up 5 miles after which Bret and Bryant continued easy for a long run, while the rest of us did a workout.
Ken, Jon, and I did 6x0.5 miles with 1:45 jog for rest. Ben did one half mile and then five quarters. My splits were 2:25 2:23 2:26 2:24 2:25 and 2:21. Ken ran with me and Jon was only 3-4 seconds back on the first five and then only 1-2 seconds back on the last one, so that was a great workout for him. |
| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 11.40 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
| 5 miles easy. Looking forward to the race tomorrow. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 5.00 |
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| | Race: |
Des News Half Marathon (13.109 Miles) 01:06:25, Place overall: 2 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.73 | 0.00 | 13.11 | 0.00 | 20.84 |
| AM: DES NEWS HALF MARATHON
It was an early start to the day. I woke up at 2:30, got ready, and then met my Mom and Ben at the park n ride in South Weber. We caught the buses at Rice Eccles and got to the starting line with 1.5 hours to spare (I hate how early they bus you up there and then make you wait). Did a 2-mile warmup with Ben and Josh and found a secret bathroom during this time too of course!
The race started and Brett, Fritz, and I came gunning out of the gates. First mile was 4:34 with a lot of downhill. After that Fritz fell back a bit and it was just Brett and me for the rest of the canyon. We ran virtually side by side up until just after mile 7. Then, I just hit a wall. I went from sub-5:00s to 5:1xs in no time. I think I still have some residual fatigue in my legs from Bryce. Miles 8-13.1 were a grind, I just didn't have any juice. Brett pulled away quite easily and the rest was pretty uneventful, just me plugging along at a slower pace running in and out of slow 10k runners. I really wanted to hit 1:05:xx, but I just didn't have it today.
But, the time was still decent and I can't complain about 2nd place either.
Splits: 434 448 454 (14:51 5k) 455 454 449 (29:57 at 10k) 449 509 502 514 517 516 527 and 535 pace for last bit.
It was awesome seeing so many friends and bloggers at the finish. Just about everyone was there...good times. The 10k had quite the deep field and I was a little jealous I wasn't part of that competitive beast, sounds like it was a battle.
PM: 4 miles easy pushing the kids in the jogger and running with Amy on the Riverdale Parkway. All in all a pretty productive mandatory furlough day from work.
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.00 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 16.84 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.15 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.15 |
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AM: 9.1 miles easy on North Base Loop. My legs weren't even close to being as sore as they were the day after Bryce. So, that is very good news. They actually felt somewhat decent this morning. Usually two days later is when they feel the most fatigued for me after a half so we'll see how they feel tomorrow.
PM: 4.05 miles easy pushing the girls in the jogger. Didn't feel as good this evening as I did this morning. Still not sore but very TIRED. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.05 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 9.10 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.42 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.42 |
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AM: 10.15 miles easy on the trails with Dave. It was a very enjoyable run at a nice, easy, and conversational pace. I wore my brand new trail shoes and they were very nice; no more rock bruises!
PM: 4.27 miles easy in South Weber. I ran the last 0.11 miles at 3:25 mile pace. It felt awesome; you eat up the ground so quickly at those speeds.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 4.27 | Pearl Izumi EM Trail M2 Miles: 10.15 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.70 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.70 |
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13.7 miles easy with Brett and Jace. Somehow Brett convinced Jace and me to drive to Midvale to run with him. We did some trail running in Dimple Dell (I guess that's what it's called). Now he owes us a Saturday run up North. Jace brought some of the spoils of his earlier 5k (chocolate milk delivered to his house for 13 weeks!) and shared with us after...delicious!
My legs were very tired and ready to call it a week. Now it's off to the Zoo and City Creek to celebrate my daughter Evelyn's 3rd birthday!
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| Pearl Izumi EM Trail M2 Miles: 13.70 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.25 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 19.25 |
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AM: AEROBIC BUILDER
I usually do these on Tuesdays, but I have to go to Ohio again in a couple hours for work for the week. And it's tough to get quality workouts in back there when I'm working, so I wanted to do this before I left.
Bret agreed to run with me, which turned out to be very nice and helpful. Bret ran the first five miles at my pace and then he took a short break and finished the last three miles at 6:00. I ended up averaging 5:27/mile for eight miles. It was really nice to have Bret there for the first five; these aren't fun to do solo. I thought this was a great effort for Bret too and his progress is coming along nicely. I am happy with my effort this morning too. It's about the same pace as two weeks ago only I extended it from 7 to 8 miles. Ideally, I will be doing these for 10 miles at 5:20 pace in a few weeks.
PM: 6.35 miles once we got checked into the hotel. Ran down to the Great Miami River Parkway.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 6.35 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 12.90 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.10 |
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11.1 miles easy and very early.
PM: 4 miles easy. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 4.00 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 11.10 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.21 | 10.96 |
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1,000 METER REPEATS
I wasn't able to do as many as I wanted but this was still ok. Goal was three sets of five reps with 1:05 rest between reps and 3:00 between sets. But crazy humidity and gi distress caused me to only do two sets. The humidity didn't slow me down or fatigue me as much as it just annoyed me. I was sopping wet and my shoes would squish out sweat out the sides with each step. That combined with a search for a bathroom after the tenth rep that took too long just caused me to call it early.
So I did two sets of five repeats or ten total 1,000s in an avg of 3:02 or like 4:52 pace.
Oh and I hate afternoon workouts now. I used to prefer them but now my stomach just struggles with them.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 10.96 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| 10 miles easy around the hotel early. Won't have chance to double today. Work and travel home today. Will be nice to run in the dry heat again. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 10.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.20 |
| 10.2 miles easy in South Ogden with Dave and Albert. It was a very pleasant morning with cool, dry temps! You gotta love that! |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 10.20 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 20.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.00 |
| LONG RUN We had a great long run this morning up in Morgan. Brad drove from Heber to meet Bryant, Ben, and me. Always great to see Brad. We need to drive up to meet him one of these weeks since he's driven down twice now to meet us in Morgan. We looped the Morgan Valley. It was kind of cool at the start and a little hot at the end, but for the most part perfect weather. We slowly worked the pace down to 6:00 pace by mile 6 and then held it around a 6:00 average the rest of the way on a very rolly, hilly course. It was a solid effort. Ben is looking good on the comeback trail. We had a stray dog run the first 6 miles with us and then it fell behind, unable to keep up. Ben said that if it had ran the whole 20 miles he would've taken it home with him. I need more of these long efforts at 6:00 pace or faster. I can't run a decent marathon unless I do these almost weekly. But this felt pretty good today. I would love to be able to run this route at 5:30 pace with relative ease; that would be when you know you're ready to hit a OTQ standard. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 20.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 17.14 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 17.14 |
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AM: 12.14 miles easy on the Riverdale Parkway with Ken, Dave, Bret, and Jon.
PM: 5 miles easy pushing the kids in the jogger and with Amy. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.00 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 12.14 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.10 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 17.10 |
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AM: AEROBIC BUILDER
We had a good group this morning with Jace, Ben, Jon, and Albert. Jace did seven miles with me; I went one more to make it eight miles at a 5:22 avg. PM: 4.1 miles easy around South Weber.
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| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 13.00 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.10 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.46 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.46 |
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9.46 miles easy with Dave and Ken. I had some tired legs this morning, but glad to still get some ok miles in.
PM: I jogged alongside Evelyn in her South Weber kids k race. She had a lot of fun and it was fun to watch her. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 9.46 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.60 | 6.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 19.60 |
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PROGRESSION LONG RUN
I met up with Jace way too early in the morning and got started on a progressive long run. The goal was to just start slow and increase in the pace each mile until we hit the low 5:00s. We both felt pretty sluggish the whole time, but it still ended up ok (but not great). Progression through 14 miles and then easy cool down after that. Splits 754 718 700 706 639 616 605 558 556 547 537 530 521 506 |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 19.60 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.45 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.45 |
| 8.45 miles easy. Another enjoyable "Furlough Friday" trail run with Dave. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Trail M2 Miles: 8.45 |
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| | Race: |
South Weber Days 10k (6.214 Miles) 00:31:07, Place overall: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.06 | 0.00 | 6.21 | 0.00 | 18.27 |
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AM: SOUTH WEBER DAYS 10K (RICHARD BOUCHARD MEMORIAL) I'm very happy with my race this morning. I didn't plan on running this fast, but I felt really good and went with it. This is a low key race in my neighborhood, but it's very well organized for a small city of 6,000 residents. The course is not an easy one. The first 5k has about 250 feet of climb and drop and the second 5k is mostly flat with one quick, very steep drop (about 0.05 long but very steep). I took the first mile out somewhat hard and was by myself within a tenth of a mile. So it was just me and the sheriff car. I tried to run behind the car to block the wind...haha. But it didn't work as well as I was hoping it would. First mile was 5:07 (mostly flat except last tenth is up). Mile two has a lot of uphill and is probably the most difficult mile. I ran it in 5:09, which was almost 20 seconds faster than I ran that mile last year. Mile three drops a ton and then turns around and comes right back up the same road. So the first half of the mile I was rolling 4:30 pace and the second half like 5:35-ish pace for a mile three split of 5:06. My first 5k was right around 15:52 I think. Now the course gets substantially easier. I was still recovering from the uphill push so mile four wasn't quite as fast as I had hoped for. Mile four 5:00. Now I was recovered and really getting in a groove. Mile five, which includes the quick, steep drop was 4:52. Now I just had 1.22 of flat terrain to the finish. I continued to push as I weaved in and out of slower 5k runners and managed a 4:51 mile six. Then I turned it on a bit more and averaged 4:30 pace for the last 0.22 (59 seconds for last 0.22). Final time of 31:07. Last year I was 32:13 and 32:4x the year before that. So, this was a really good time for me and it's actually my best 10k since college (minus 10k splits of downhill half marathons). So, I'm feeling good and the weight I've dropped is paying off. PM: 5.51 miles easy. My goal this week was to hit 90 miles for the first time ever. I came up short as of this morning and it just wasn't sitting well with me. So, I headed back out this evening to get the 90 mpw monkey off my back! Weekly mileage PR!
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 5.51 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 12.76 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 16.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.75 |
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AM: 11.7 miles easy with Ken, Dave, Bret, and Jace from 21st Pond up to Ogden Canyon and then back on Bird Song Trail and down 21st Street. Added a bit more around the pond too.
During mile one we crossed a bridge and I heard some scurrying under the bridge. I immediately thought we were going to encounter a troll. But it wasn't a troll, it was a skunk and it jumped out from under the bridge in attack mode and had Dave been 1-2 seconds slower, he would've been sprayed! Definitely the closest of three very close skunk encounters over the year...it's only a matter of time.
PM: 5.05 miles easy around south Weber.
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.05 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 11.70 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.70 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18.70 |
|
AM: AEROBIC BUILDER
I met Dave and Bret at 21st Street Pond for an aerobic builder. We all had different paces in mind so we were on our own after a 3-mile warmup. I ran 8 miles at a 5:17 average. I felt pretty good this morning, which is a good sign coming off of my highest mileage ever last week.
PM: 5.3 miles easy on base with the last tenth of a mile run at 3:33 pace. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 5.30 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 13.40 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| 10 miles easy with Dave on the base perimeter road. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 10.00 |
| |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.63 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 16.63 |
|
AM: MILE REPEATS
I met up with Bryant and Ken at the Dee and we warmed up three miles over into South Ogden to the "tempo loop" over there. Bryant has been sick and wasn't sure how well he'd do this morning so he ran the first one easier and Ken was shooting for 5:15, so I was on my own. I wanted to do 5-6 reps at 4:55 or faster with 2:00 jog for rest (ended up being 2:20 as I split the difference with Ken, so he'd get 2:00 rest). Bryant ended up doing the 2nd and 4th ones with me to help me out a bit with pace even though he didn't feel particularly fresh. My stomach started hurting a bit on the second one and got worse with time. By the end of the fourth I wasn't sure if I'd even finish the fifth one. But I did manage to do five reps at a 4:53 average. Splits 4:55 4:51 4:54 4:52 4:52 PM: 4.05 miles easy pushing girls in jogger and running with Amy. Too much smoke in the air, I don't like it!
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| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 12.58 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.05 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.08 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.08 |
| 10.08 miles easy with Ken on the trails on my final furlough Friday! |
| Pearl Izumi EM Trail M2 Miles: 10.08 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 12.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 20.00 |
| LONG RUN I met Ben and Jon at Ben's place at 6:30 and we drove up to Sardine Canyon to get a long run in. We didn't know what to expect since we've never run up there before, but Ben's wife runs there a lot and said it was a good run. So we dropped my car off in Brigham City and then drove about 6-7 miles up the canyon. The plan ended up being 2 mile warm-up, a good chunk at sub-6:00, 2 miles easy, 3-mile tempo, and then 1 mile easy. The warm up we did up a dirt road and then back down. It was a nice dirt road and it's tempting to head up there again sometime and just run on that road. Then we started the sub-6:00 portion of the run at mile 3. We had 3 miles downhill (which we were still trying to get warmed up on) and then we did 9 miles around Mantua Lake on a nice, flat dirt road. I really enjoyed the two laps of the Lake; it's very beautiful up there. Then we started down the canyon again with two easy miles. Finally we did 3 miles at tempo which was one really fast downhill mile, one gradual uphill mile, and then another downhill mile (though not as steep as the previous one). Finished up with one mile easy to round off the 20 miles. Splits: 12 miles at sub-6:00: 602 556 547 (downhill first three) 558 554 551 546 546 549 549 544 545 (9 flat miles around the lake) 3 mile tempo: 449 (steep downhill) 529 (gradual uphill) 505 (somewhat steep downhill) |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 20.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.26 | 6.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.26 |
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AEROBIC BUILDER: 2 X 3 MILES
I met up with Bryant, Ken, and Dave this morning for an aerobic builder. I wanted to scale it back a tad on quantity but not on pace. So, I did two by three miles. The goal was sub-5:20 pace.
First set: 5:18 5:14 5:17
Second set: 5:07 5:18 5:10
We got going a bit too fast on the second set then got back on pace and then got going too fast again. Oh well... |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 10.26 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.92 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.92 |
| 7.92 miles easy. I met up with Dave and Jason in Layton and we did an extremely hilly run and ran quite slowly. I planned on getting in 10 miles but my legs felt tired the whole run, so I settled on a shorter run. I may or may not go again this afternoon, we'll see. I'm ok with lower mileage this week; it's a planned cut week after a three-week buildup in mileage and it's also a race week. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 7.92 |
| |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.25 |
| 8.25 miles easy on the base perimeter road. My legs still feel very fatigued, but not as tight/stiff. Amy massaged them (it's great to have such a supportive wife) last night and that helped relieve the tightness. Looking back on it, maybe it wasn't wise to do my aerobic builder on Monday after Saturday's quality long run. I think I will need to keep the aerobic builder on Tuesdays to give my legs an additional day after a long run. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 8.25 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.00 |
| 7 miles easy. My legs are starting to come around a bit. They were still sluggish, but substantially better than yesterday. I should be ready to roll come Saturday. A weird thing happened during the run, some water droplets fell from the sky. Is that what they call rain in other parts of the country? |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 7.00 |
| |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.10 |
| 4.1 miles easy around South Weber with some strides in the last mile. |
| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 4.10 |
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| | Race: |
Top of Utah Half Marathon (13.109 Miles) 01:05:16, Place overall: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.25 | 0.00 | 13.11 | 0.00 | 17.36 |
|
TOP OF UTAH HALF MARATHON YES! I am so excited with my race today. All year I feel like I've been on the brink of a breakthrough race, but haven't quite been able to capture it. Then, I had the lull in May and June where I was struggling and not running well, and now to come back two months later even stronger feels great! PRE-RACE I felt strangely and weirdly very calm last night and this morning. Nerves were non-existent. I knew I had put in the work and I knew I was going to reap the reward today. I didn't know that I would win, I knew that would take a monster effort, but I knew that sub-1:06 was there for the taking. I dropped my girls off at my sister's (who was so awesome to watch them overnight for me while Amy is out of town) and Spencer and I met Ben at his place and carpooled up. We all split a hotel at Travelodge and Bryant met up with us later and stayed with us as well. This morning we all got up and drove to the buses. Once we began our warmup, I knew ten steps in that my legs were ready. They had been fatigued most of the week, but I took proper precautions to get some life back in them and those first few steps of the warmup were the freshest my legs have felt in a long, long time. RACE The gun went off and I found myself kind of in the lead (if a half-step counts) for the first tenth or two. It seemed that despite the deep field, no one wanted to lead. So, I was content with a slower first mile or two. I feel I run better when I don't force it and let it come to me. But then like 1-2 minutes in Jake threw in surge as if to say, "C'mon guys let get this thing rolling!" So, Jake had about 4-5 seconds on Jacob Howell, Bryant, and me at the mile. Howell and Bryant then made their way up to just behind Jake and I was content to stay back a bit and continue to ease into it as much as I could without letting them get too big of a gap on me. By mile two the gap was still in the 5 second range and I wasn't too worried about it since there were still 11 miles to go. Around 2.5 miles in my legs were warmed up and ready to go. So, on the next downhill I got my shoulders forward and looked down at the ground to force myself to keep them forward and within a half mile I caught up to and passed Howell and Bryant. Just after mile three I think I finally got back up to Jake and then took a 2-3 step lead on him. Miles 1-3 4:55, 4:53, 4:53 I thought maybe I could gain a small lead on Jake after passing him, but he wasn't going to let me off that easily. He stayed right on me for the next couple of miles. I was tempted at times to throw in a surge to test him, but thought better of it as we weren't even half way yet. Just after mile 6 we hit some headwind and I turned and said to Jake, "It's blowing the wrong way!" I thought last year it showed up as early as mile 5, but maybe I was wrong last year. Anyway, right after I said that within the next minute the wind shifted and we got some tailwind around mile 6.5. During this stretch Jake pulled up beside me and looked like he may try for the lead. But instead we stayed side by side to mile 7 and the turn onto Hollow Road. The tailwind lasted about 1.5 miles from 6.5 to 8-ish. Miles 4-8 4:50, 4:47, 4:52, 4:50, 4:51 The tailwind subsided and the road seems flat at this point, but it's actually still a very slight downhill. I had gotten another couple seconds on Jake again after the turn at mile 7 and during mile 9 his footsteps got a lot louder behind me. I looked at my pace and saw 5:xx. I thought, "Oh man, I'm slowing and he's gaining. I have to try and keep these as close to 5:00 as possible". I made a mental effort to pick it up, but it didn't really show up much in the splits. We turned off Hollow Rd. and I still only had mere seconds of a lead. I kept thinking, "C'mon Jake, just fall back!" It was a absolute battle out there today! Running on the highway here I tried to just stay in a good rhythm. I feel I'm a very good uphill runner and decided I would try to win the race in miles 11-12. But, then during mile 10 the footsteps got a bit softer and I knew I was gapping him a bit. I turned at 10.5 to the uphill section and unleashed what I had left. I was going to really get after this section and try to put the race to bed before the final mile. I was extremely pleased with my splits in this section! Just after mile 12 my watch beeped and I looked down and it had lost satellite reception strangely. Up to this point my garmin was about 0.1 ahead of the actual markers (which seems typical for halves; a properly measured half usually shows up around 13.15-13.19 on my garmin). So, I don't know my mile 13 split, but it felt fast. I will do some calculations later and come up with my best guess. But running down to the finish seemed to take forever. UPDATE: I think it was about 4:58 for mile 13. Splits 9-12 5:03 5:05 5:06 5:10 With about a quarter to go I glanced back just to make sure I wasn't getting snuck up on and then knew I had it. I came through the finish chute and allowed myself a little more emotion than normal for a win. I was so thrilled with win and even more so with the clock! 
After I waited for Jake to cross the line and congratulated him. I couldn't have run this fast without Jake pushing me to the limit today. I thought he ran a fantastic race and it took an absolute monster effort to beat him today. He couldn't have been a more gracious runner-up and I appreciated that...thanks Jake. Shortly after the finish, the race director apologized about not having the tape ready for me to break through when I came in. I wasn't worried about it, but she went and got it out of their box and asked me to cross the line again and pretend like it was me finishing the first time...haha it was kind of awkward. This race tells me that I am right there on the cusp of OTQ via the half marathon route. I just need to stay hungry for success, keep my weight down, and not get away from the recipe that has gotten me this far. Thanks to everyone who was there today for your congratulations and kind words. It all means a lot to me and I love our Utah running community. So, many class acts out there this morning! Utah is getting some crazy depth in distance running and it's fun to be a part of it.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 17.36 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Off day (as usual). My legs feel pretty decent after sleeping in my compression sleeves. Here is a link to the Herald Journal's article on the race yesterday:
http://news.hjnews.com/allaccess/article_879ec108-0d1e-11e3-97c4-0019bb2963f4.html
And a few photos of the race also from the Herald...
And this is one of Jake, Coyle, and me getting our awards; this one courtesy of Ben.
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 16.15 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.15 |
| 11.7 miles easy from 21st St Pond with Dave, Ben, and Bret. We threw in a different route than usual out into North Ogden and back through DDO. My legs feel a bit fatigued, but overall not too bad. Retired a few pairs of shoes and broke in a new pair this morning. They feel really good.
4.45 miles easy. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.45 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 11.70 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| 15 miles easy with Ken, Dave, Bret, and Jon (for the first 5 miles). We ran from the Riverdale Parkway into Roy, along the rail trail into West Haven, up through West Ogden, and back along the Riverdale Parkway again. I was feeling extremely sluggish today and tried to keep Ken from pushing the pace; he got a few 6:30s in there, but I got a lot more 6:50s (so we'll call it a draw).
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| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 15.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.30 |
| 9.3 miles easy on the East side of base. Finished on the track with a 200 Meter pickup in 28.1 seconds. My legs felt pretty sluggish for 7 miles then loosened up a bit and I felt better toward the end.
NOTE: Everyone should consider running The Classic 10k or 5k on Sept 7 in Layton. There will be cash prizes and you can get $10 off with the code "HNRCLASSIC10". Ken and Janae Richardson are managing the race now and are looking to really make it a big event each year in the state, maybe even adding it to the circuit next year if they can get enough people out this year. Those of you training for St. George can use the 5k or 10k as a tempo at the end of a long run to simulate a fast finish for the marathon. So sign up today! http://runtheclassic.eventbrite.com/?discount=HNRCLASSIC10
2nd NOTE: A group of Weber/Davis runners are planning a long run on Labor Day morning on the Huntsville Marathon course up in Monte Cristo to get some downhill MP in before St. George. Anyone is welcome to join. We'll likely run 20+ miles with a good chunk at MP. Comment or message me if you want to come. Here's the most likely route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=6061992Â
PM: 4 miles easy
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.00 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 9.30 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.30 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.30 |
| AEROBIC BUILDER
We had an awesome turnout this morning for the aerobic builder: Ken, Jason, Dave, Ben, Bryant, Bret, and me. Bryant and I ran together and did a 5:14 average for 8 miles. Bryant and I were surprisingly conversational on the run, which is also a great sign that this is a manageable pace for long distances.
WARNING: If you don't want to read a long ramble about my history of aerobic builders over the last year stop reading now. It's probably quite boring for most people.
I've looked back over my training for the last year or so and these aerobic builders have really taken me to the next level. After a disappointing St. George Marathon last year, I took a hard look at my training and realized I didn't have any marathon-specific training at all. I had several interval sessions and quite a few 4-mile tempos at HMP, but basically nothing at MP (or even at like a tinman pace).
So, I came up with the idea that I had to have at least one run a week where I was building aerobic endurance. I wanted to start with something that I knew I could easily handle and go from there. I started the aerobic builders on 23 Oct 12 with 7 miles at 5:56 pace (and that also included a break at the turnaround at 3.5 miles; which now I do them without stops).
I gradually dropped the pace by 2-5 seconds a week. By 8 Jan 13, the week before St. George Half, I was down to 8 miles at 5:26. By 19 Feb, the last one before Phoenix Marathon, I was down to 5:20 pace.
After Phoenix I kind of went away from the aerobic builders a bit and I had some good races in April off of what was likely residual fitness and then by the time May rolled around I was really struggling and kind of back to the level I was running at last year. I only did two builders between Phoenix Marathon in early March and USA Half in late June. I ran poorly at USA's and it did not sit well with me at all!
In July I started back with the aerobic builders, again starting from a place I knew I could handle and have been doing them almost weekly since. I have now jumped my fitness to the best half-marathon (and hopefully) marathon shape in my life (I even think I could get a 10k PR if I attempted it at sea level).
Here is a table of my recent builders since USA half and these are all on the exact same course. Miles 1, 7, and 8 are slight uphills. Miles 2 and 3 are slight down. Miles 4-6 are pretty flat, but mile 5 has a pedestrian bridge that goes over I-15 and really sucks your pace. But, for the most part this is about as flat of a 13-mile loop you can get in Utah.
| Date |
Mile 1 |
Mile 2 |
Mile 3 |
Mile 4 |
Mile 5 |
Mile 6 |
Mile 7 |
Mile 8 |
Average |
| 2-Jul |
5:38 |
5:33 |
5:32 |
5:32 |
5:35 |
5:31 |
5:32 |
N/A |
5:33 |
| 9-Jul |
5:31 |
5:29 |
5:27 |
5:27 |
5:32 |
5:23 |
5:26 |
N/A |
5:27 |
| 29-Jul |
5:30 |
5:23 |
5:26 |
5:22 |
5:32 |
5:27 |
5:29 |
5:21 |
5:26 |
| 6-Aug |
5:26 |
5:22 |
5:21 |
5:17 |
5:25 |
5:20 |
5:25 |
5:17 |
5:21 |
| 13-Aug |
5:20 |
5:14 |
5:17 |
5:17 |
5:21 |
5:16 |
5:13 |
5:15 |
5:16 |
| 29-Aug |
5:17 |
5:13 |
5:17 |
5:13 |
5:16 |
5:12 |
5:14 |
5:10 |
5:14 |
| Avg |
5:27 |
5:22 |
5:23 |
5:21 |
5:26 |
5:21 |
5:23 |
5:15 |
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As you can see I try to challeng my fitness each time out. The body has an amazing ability to adapt. If you continue to challenge it, it can usually continue to respond with results.
Sorry for the long post, but I thought maybe this could help some runners to see. The thought of weekly 8-mile runs at MP can sound daunting, but if you start with something you can handle and go from there, I think these are very beneficial (and really I need to start extending these to 10 miles at the same pace and then continue to drop the pace after that).
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| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 13.30 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.25 |
| AM: 9 miles easy on the trails with Dave.
PM: 6.25 miles easy in South Weber = hot out!
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| Pearl Izumi EM Trail M2 Miles: 9.00 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 6.25 |
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| | Race: |
Hooper Tomato Days 5k (3.07 Miles) 00:14:38, Place overall: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.93 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.07 | 17.00 |
| HOOPER TOMATO DAYS 5K
This is a great, low-key 5k that is flat as a pancake. Â There are very few turns and so it's great to run a fast time on an honest course. Only problem is it's 3.07 instead of 3.1. Â I met up with Ben and Dave and we drove out together. Â We met Ken out there who said he was going to race while pushing his kids in his jogger. Â But when we got there he didn't have his kids and Ben said, "I knew you would do this. Â Tell me you're pushing kids and then show up ready to race for reals!" Â So the race was on between those two. Â Fun to watch. Â We also saw Steve there and the five of us warmed up 4 miles and some change.
The race got off and I took the lead right off the bat and really got after it. Â My first mile was 4:36 and I felt ok. Â I continued to feel pretty decent through 1.5 miles. Â At that point you turn north and there was some headwind (well that explains why 4:36 didn't feel too bad on mile one). Â I tried to keep in the 4:40s, but I was slowing for sure. Â Mile 2 was like 4:48. Â Mile 3 I was way out in front and I had to battle that little voice in my head telling me it was ok to slow down. Â I managed a 4:52 for mile 3, which I'm not too happy about, but oh well. Â That sometimes comes with racing solo up front. Â Final time was 14:37 on my watch but 14:38 chip.
Had it been the full 5k I figure I would have been 14:48-49. Â So, I'm very happy with the effort and feel like with some competition I could have gone faster. Â After I used my $50 and we all headed to Warren's for a well-earned breakfast. Â Another great time out with the guys!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/368157071
PM: 6.4 miles easy on the trails. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 3.07 | Pearl Izumi EM Trail M2 Miles: 6.40 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 7.53 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 11.00 | 3.15 | 0.00 | 23.65 |
| LONG RUN
We had a great group out this morning for a long run down Monte Cristo into Huntsville. Â We met up at Rainbow Gardens and from there piled into Ben's Van. Â We had Ken, Ben, Bryant, Dave, Jon, and Jason. Â Albert was the hero of the day and woke up early to drive us to the top and drop us off. Â He's had some plantar's and hasn't been able to run with us lately, but was awesome to drive us today.
The run drops like 1800 feet in the first ten miles and then like 400 more feet over the last ten miles.  So, it's easy to keep a good pace early on in the run. We warmed up three miles and then ran in the 5:40s for awhile.  Bryant and I wanted to kind of do the run in a progression, but instead of every mile, we dropped the pace every five miles and then held steady for five miles.  So from 4-8 we were 543 543 536 535 539.  Mile 9 we stopped during the middle of to get water and take gels so it was a bit slower as we wanted to warm back into it with a 541.
Now the terrain levels off (although still a minor aide, it's basically the first few miles of Ogden Marathon or Strider's Half)Â and we were ready for the real meat of the run. Â Miles 10-14 522 527 525 517 515.
Now we hit the section with the least amount of elevation drop (it appears flat but it's still down hill, kind of like miles 8-10 at TOU Half).  Here we wanted to finish up with a good 4-mile push.  Unfortunately my stomach started its shenanigans and I was able to hold off stopping for most of this section, but with 0.85 to go I just had to stop for a secret bathroom. These miles were 505 512 500 and 0.15 at 449 pace before the stop.  It's too bad my stomach couldn't hold out, I think we could've dropped a sub-5:00 on that last one.  Bryant did finish that mile while I stopped in like 506 and said he thinks he could've gone sub-5:00 had I not stopped and had we finished it together.
All in all I thought it was a really good run. Â 20.25 miles at a 5:42 average which includes warm up and cool down. Â So, I'll take it. Â I think I still could use some more endurance though, and I have a month to work on that. Â The other guys all ran well too and I think everyone was sub-6:00 or close overall for the run. Â It's fun running with these guys. Â It was crazy humid this morning for Utah! Â 88% But we avoided rain the entire run!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/369458486#
pm: 3.4 mile shakeout run. Legs were TIRED. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 3.40 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 20.25 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.80 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.80 |
| 10.5 miles easy with Ben and Dave. I felt like garbage the whole time, but just grinded it out. It was nice to have good company at least. This would've been an awful solo run.
PM: 4.3 miles easy. I told Dave this morning I thought this afternoon's double would feel better than this morning's run. During the first mile I thought I had made a liar of myself, but after that my legs loosened up quite a bit and I actually beat the 7:00 guy the rest of the run.
|
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.30 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 10.50 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.90 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.90 |
| 10.9 miles easy. Today was just as slow as yesterday, but the legs felt much better.
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 10.90 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.90 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 17.90 |
| AEROBIC BUILDER
We had another decent-sized group this moring with Bret, Jace, Bryant, Dave, and Jon. It was dark early in the run and we were on the parkway with headlamps. All of the sudden we heard an animal charging us from out of the bushes. My first thought was skunk, but then it made a ferocious sound that only a large blood-thirsty animal could make. I flashed my headlamp at the huge beast and saw not one, but two sets of eyes glowing in the headlamp. Both creatures were charging but then retreated once I shined them pretty good with my light. Turns out it was two small cats, on of which was a kitten...haha. It scared the crap out of all of us though and I said, "Well, no need to warmup anymore more, our heartrates are plenty elevated". It was pretty funny looking back on it. We all thought for sure we were going to be attacked. And in our defense it really did sound like a much larger animal than two small cats when it charged and "roared" at us.
On to the run itself. Bryant and I ran together again. We weren't sure how our legs would respond from high mileage and still feeling sluggish from Monday's long run. But it turned out pretty dang good actually. 8 miles at a 5:11 average. They all felt really good and in the aerobic range, except for the last one. Bryant picked that one up to a 5:04 and it was slight uphill into headwind. I think we left the "aerobic" range on that one, but otherwise all the 5:10-5:13s we threw down felt pretty aerobic. So, I'm thrilled with it.
PM: 5 miles easy around South Weber. I've seen the same dime on the road the last 7-8 easy runs I've done in South Weber and today I finally worked up the energy to bend over and pick it up. It's been there for weeks, if I didn't pick it up how much longer would it have stayed there?
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| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 12.90 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.55 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.55 |
| 7.55 miles easy with Ben in North Ogden.
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| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 7.55 |
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| | Race: |
The Classic 10k (6.214 Miles) 00:31:54, Place overall: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.05 | 6.21 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.26 |
| LAYTON CLASSIC 10K
My only goal for this race was to win. I wasn't worried about time this morning and I was still undecided on if I was going to race Alta Downhill Dash tonight or just jog it, so I just wanted a "comfortable" win. At the start it was pretty clear that Ben, Dave, James, and I were going to be the front runners this morning. The race started and I just went out nice and relaxed. I ran with Ben for the first mile and we split a 5:08. The course really climbs a lot in miles two and three. I just tried to keep the pace/effort at MP and ran these miles in 5:21 and 5:33. At the halfway point the course starts to drop and you have some fast downhill miles. My lead was pretty good so I didn't push these miles too much. Miles four and five were 5:06 and 4:57. Right after mile five my watch lost satellite reception (a bad habit my watch is forming - losing reception with a mile to go. The same thing happened at TOU Half with a mile to go...weird). So I only have the split for the last 1.21 which was 5:51, which is 4:50 pace (which seems about right - I had 5k runners to pass and I think I ran the last mile the fastest). Final time of 31:54.
After I cooled down two miles and then immediately jetted out of there to get ready to head to West Jordan for a baptism. After the baptism I ate a lot of food. I did this on purpose to help make the decision not to race Alta easier. I really don't want a setback in my marathon training next week due to sore legs. So, I decided to just take Alta extremely easy. So I wore trainers and I ran with my brother Jared and his girlfriend Delia. It was enjoyable to run a bit easier and to take in the views of that beautiful canyon. I am sad that race is ending, it's the best value you can get. You get a great meal afterward and the prizes, even age group prizes are fantastic. I won first in my age group with a 35-minute downhill 8k...haha. I guess it helps when you're the only person in the race in your age group! All in all a great day.
Standard Examiner article on the Classic Race http://www.standard.net/stories/2013/09/07/runners-hit-classic-heart-health
And a few photos from the Standard:
 
And this last one was taken by Andrea and posted online by Jake. Thanks guys:
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 6.00 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 10.05 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 18.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18.10 |
| AM: 12 miles easy on the Riverdale Parkway with Ken, Jason, Bret, Dave, and Bryant.
PM: 6.1 miles easy in South Weber with Amy and while pushing girls in the double jogger (my girls are growing I can tell!)
Just registered for Boston...dang that's a lot of money!
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 6.10 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.85 | 9.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 19.35 |
| AM: AEROBIC BUILDER
Another solid crew this morning for the builder: Ben, Dave, Jason, and Jon. I finally extended this workout to a longer distance. I added an extra 1.5 miles to the usual loop while the other guys did the regular 8. They were kind enough to wait a few minutes at the end for me. So, I did 9.5 miles at a 5:15 avg. I am pretty happy with the workout. The pace was about 4 seconds per mile slower than last week, but 1.5 miles further and it was a solo effort. So, I'll take it. I think even with the slower pace, this is more specific to marathon training than last week's 8 miles at 5:11.
PM: 5.05 miles easy around the neighborhood.
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.05 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 14.30 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.75 |
| 10.75 miles easy.
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| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 10.75 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.88 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 11.88 |
| MILE REPEATS
I came down with a bit of a headcold last night (just trying to be like Matt!), so I didn't want to try and kill this workout. Instead I wanted a good effort that wouldn't wear my body down too much. So, I figured I would run about the same pace as I did for this workout a month ago (4:53 avg for 5 reps).
I met up with Jason and Dave and we ran these around the pond. The first three reps I felt sluggish and tired, but I actually felt quite brilliant on the last two. I picked up the last 1/4 mile of the final one too. Splits: 4:54 4:52 4:53 4:49 4:44 (4:51 avg)
I will try to get a lot of sleep over the next few days and see if I can get rid of this cold quickly. The timing is much better though with the cold this time. This is my third cold of the year and the other two were one week out from Phoenix Marathon and one week out from Utah Valley Half. So, it's nice to have plenty of time this time around to get rid of this before St. George.
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| Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 6.15 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 5.73 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.50 |
| 10.5 miles easy with Jon, Dave, and Ben.
PM: No second run. I kept thinking I would get out, but then decided with the headcold, it's probably best to just do the one run today with the big long run tomorrow morning with Bryant. I originally wanted 100 miles this week, but now with my cold I have adjusted down to 90-95 range. Which is fine. No need to jump mileage so quickly. I feel like I've built my mileage up wisely adding 5-10 miles per week per cycle.
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| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 10.50 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.00 | 20.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 22.10 |
| LONG RUN
Bryant and I did the same long run as on Labor Day, except we added two miles by turning around at mile 7 and running uphill for one mile to simulate Veyo Hill. We did only 1-mile warm up and then started rolling. We did the first 20 miles at 5:35 average. Then we cooled down the rest of the way to the car. Total mileage was 22.1 at 5:39 average.
I think this is the best week of training I've had, maybe ever. My highest mileage ever is 92 and that's what I hit this week. Plus I hit several MP miles and a good mile repeats workout. So, I'm very happy with where my training is at and feeling very confident heading into St. George that the marathon breakthrough I've waited for is there for the taking.
I think I'll try to get out for a 2-mile shakeout tonight, we'll see though.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 22.10 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 17.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 17.00 |
| AM: 12 miles easy with Dave and Bret into North Ogden from 21st Pond. My legs felt a lot better than I anticipated after Saturday's long run.
Lunchtime: 5 miles easy with Dave on the base perimeter road.
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.00 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.80 | 9.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.30 |
| AEROBIC BUILDER
Another solid outing with the guys. Jason, Ken, Bret, Dave, Jon, and Ben all showed up for an aerobic builder. Three mile warmup including three strides and then we were off. I did the same route as last week. I did 9.5 miles in 49:08 or a 5:10 average. I felt pretty decent. The last two miles into the Southern headwind were a bit tougher, but other than that it felt pretty solid. The guys all seemed to have pretty good workouts as well. Ken had his best builder in almost a year or so with a 5:31 average for 8 miles. So maybe we can get him rolling again.
Oh and I forgot to mention I passed my yearly mileage from all of last year today! So new yearly mileage PR!
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 14.30 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.25 |
| AM: 10.25 miles easy with Ben and Ken up the Ogden Parkway to the canal trail, back down to Monroe, back to parkway, and finishing up with a loop of the pond.
I keep going back and forth on what to do with workouts between now and STG. Part of me wants to just lock into what I plan to run at STG (5:10-5:15 downhill or 5:20-5:25 flat) and not go faster than that from here on out. The other part of me wants to sneak in another faster workout tomorrow. The problem is that 5:20-5:25 pace flat doesn't feel too difficult (a good thing) after hitting my recent aerobic builders, but only hitting that pace makes me feel like I'm backing off too much and losing fitness. Man I hate the last few weeks before the marathon. I also can't decide how hard and long to go this Saturday...taper decisions.
PM: 3 miles easy.
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| Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 13.25 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.35 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 2.00 | 11.35 |
| 2-MILE REPEATS
I met up with the guys (Ken, Ben, Jason, and Bret) at the Riverdale Parkway to do a workout. It was substantially colder this morning than it's been since maybe April? I warmed up with arm sleeves and I wore gloves for the whole run. The plan was to do 3x2-miles in a progressive manner. The plan was to run the second mile in each rep five seconds faster than the first miles, and to run the next rep ten seconds faster than the previous one. I don't know if it was the cold, running against the flow of the river (so slight uphill UPDATE: I looked up the elevation and you gain 35 feet over this 2-mile stretch, so reps 1 and 3 slight up and rep 2 down), or the fact that I wore trainers instead of flats, but that first rep was slow and it felt hard. Luckily I got going a lot better on the second and third reps.
Splits:
#1 - Plan was 5:10/5:05 for 10:15; Actual 5:15/5:08 for 10:23
#2 - Plan 5:05/5:00 for 10:05; Actual 5:01/4:59 for 10:01
#3 - Plan 5:00/4:55 or faster for 9:55 or faster; Actual 4:57/4:53 for 9:51
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 11.35 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.65 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.65 |
| 10.5 miles on Upper Upper Pipe as the guys at Weber called it. I always argued it should just be Upper Pipe. Lots of climbing the first two miles and then nice long gradual down. I got out at 10:30 and it was a beautiful late morning temperature to run in.
pm 4.15 miles easy with Dave from my place.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Trail M2 Miles: 10.50 | Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 4.15 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.00 | 6.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.00 |
| LONG RUN
Ken, Dave, Ben, Jason and I drove up to Sardine Canyon and Mantua to run our long run. We warmed up two miles and then did a 3-mile MP push down to the lake. I wanted to simulate STG pace as best I could. So I started somewhat conservative and then warmed into the pace by mile two, which is what I'd like to do in two weeks. This first 3-mile felt very EASY. I was surprised, but very happy, with how easy this felt even with 10 MPH headwinds. 5:19 5:04 5:04
Then we did two laps around the lake in the 6:20-6:30 range. Once we got back on the highway we did another 3-mile push to finish the run. First two miles were good downhill and then the last mile was uphill, similar to the hills in the miles after Veyo (not as steep as Veyo, but still good uphill). Once again I tried to simulate MP and not go any faster (though I was tempted). 5:16 5:02 5:26. The 5:02 was really good downhill and felt easy. The 5:26 may have been a tad fast for the uphill for MP, but it was close enough.
This run was encouraging in that running 5:0x pace downhill into stiff winds felt very easy. The question will be can my legs/GI system hold up at that pace, because I'm certain my cardio won't have a problem.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 20.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| 12 miles easy with Dave from 21st Pond out into Riverdale on the Parkway and back. Quite chilly this morning; I brought gloves but opted not to wear them...huge mistake!
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.40 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.40 |
| AEROBIC BUILDER: 2x4-MILES
I met up with Ben, Bret, Dave, and Jason at 21st Pond for the weekly builder. The plan today was only eight miles and to break it into two sets of four miles. On paper this sounds easier, but in practice I actually prefer not to stop (throws me out of my rhythm). I ended up with a 5:10 average on the first set (which is the quicker half of the route: slight tailwind and slight downhill) and a 5:13 average for the second set (slight uphill and slight headwind). The effort was quite a bit more on the second set than the first even though it was slower.
The other guys all seemed to have very good runs this morning. They are getting quicker with each week and looking great.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 13.40 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.50 |
| 6.25 miles easy.
4.25 miles easy at lunchtime.
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.25 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 6.25 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.60 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 11.60 |
| 2X3-MILE FARTLEK
Dave, Ben, and I met up at 21st to do our last "full" hard workout before STG. The plan was two sets of a 3-mile fartlek. I wanted to alternate pace each half mile between 5:30 and 5:00 (so 2:45 and 2:30).
1st Set: 2:47, 2:31, 2:48, 2:28, 2:46, 2:28 = 15:48
2nd Set: 2:43, 2:29, 2:46, 2:27, 2:45, 2:28 = 15:40
The workout felt pretty decent. The goal of the workout is to make MP effort feel easier. You try to trick your body into thinking MP isn't too bad and that in fact it can recover from a fast push at MP.
The countdown to STG is on! I'm super excited.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 11.60 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.50 |
| 7.5 miles easy.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 7.50 |
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| | Race: |
STG Tune-up 5K (3.11 Miles) 00:15:12, Place overall: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.89 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.11 | 13.00 |
| 2ND ANNUAL STG TUNE-UP 5K
We had a great group out this morning, meeting at Lee's Market in No. Ogden. Ben, Jon, Bryant, Jason, Dave, and Jace all showed up. After a 5-mile warmup we did the 5k push. Same course as last year (Pleasant View 5k course). I didn't want to push all-out (unlike last year where I gave it my all). Instead I wanted a good push, but wanted to ease off the pedal on the downhill so as not to take a chance at hurting/pulling anything. Most the guys didn't even know they were in for an impromtu 5k, but everyone was game.
With taking it easier and wearing trainers instead of flats, I figured 5:00 pace would be a fair pace. The first mile is mostly flat with a few quick, steep gullies where you go down and right back up. It's also a dirt canal road. I got out in 4:54 (4:51 last year ). After this I was all alone and looked back and didn't see the other guys and wondered if this was a joke and I was the only one running hard.
Second mile had lots of downhill. I hit 4:39 last year, but I wasn't willing to go that fast today. I ran 4:45 today. Last mile has some uphill, a flat section, and then downhill to the finish. I ran 5:02 (last year was like 4:56 I think). Then I got to the finish and it was short 3.07, so I just kept running until my watch hit 3.11. 15:12 this year vs. 14:55 last year. But last year I was a man on a mission to break 15:00, today I didn't really care and just wanted a good push. I didn't feel too tired at all at the end today.
I thought the effort was just about right. The time may seem fast, but it's a good net downhill, so it really wasn't as fast as it looks. I got a good effort in without taking any chances by running "all-out". Bryant and Jason came in together in the 15:40s, followed by Ben, Dave, Jace, and then Jon.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/382464244
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 13.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.70 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.70 |
| I met up with Dave, Bret, Jon, Albert, and Ken at 21st Pond for an easy run. I threw in 2 miles at MP in the middle to get that pace locked in. I felt good.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 9.70 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.55 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.55 |
| 7.55 miles easy with Dave, Albert, and Bob. Looks like I'm being put on furlough again. This time indefinitely. Yes, thank you congress for being so stubborn (where is sarcastic font when you need it). Too bad, this is happening the week of a marathon. If it were any other week, I could get a ton of good mileage in...sigh.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 7.55 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.25 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.25 |
| 6.25 miles easy with two half-mile pickups at MP. I got to sleep in today, which is the first in quite awhile. Then I got up and ran around South Weber. The wind was blowing from three directions this morning, which is annoying. The run felt good and the pickups felt decent.
Leaving tonight for St George. I'm excited about the opportunity to race Saturday at what I consider to be the main event of Utah road racing. I am very optimistic that I will have an excellent race. I've averaged about 20 mpw more in this cycle than any other marathon cycle I've ever done. My weight 3-4 pounds less than at PHX, 5-6 less than Ogden, and 6-7 less than STG last year. I've also logged a very high quantity of sub-5:20 miles. So, I need to remember all this and be confident that Saturday will be a day to remember.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 6.25 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.75 |
| 3.75 miles easy followed by 9-holes of poorly executed golf! |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 3.75 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.15 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 2.15 |
| 2.15 easy breezy. It's go time! |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 2.15 |
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| | Race: |
St. George Marathon (26.22 Miles) 02:22:56, Place overall: 7 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.78 | 26.22 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 27.00 |
| ST GEORGE MARATHON
PRE-RACE
Where to begin? St. George is a special race for me. My parents have been running it for years. This was my Mom's 25th STG. Everyone in my family has run STG at least once or at least tried (my sister started the race last year with a stress fracture and couldn't quite make it through). As kids we looked forward to October every year to go on vacation to St. George and watch Mom and Dad run. So, I have really wanted to run well at STG. Last year during the awards ceremony when I placed 10th and finished lower and slower than I wanted to I promised myself I would come back in 2013 and break 2:20. I have worked all year to get my body ready and trained to follow through on that promise.
My A-Goal was 2:17:59. My B-Goal was 2:19:59. My C-Goal was 2:23:59. I would be elated with A, happy with B, and be ok, but a little frustrated with C. In my mind, with my fitness level, training, and the course profile of STG anything above 2:20 just can't be considered a huge success. I understand my PR coming in was 2:27, but that 2:27 at PHX in my view is equal to about 2:23 at STG. I think STG is that much faster. So, with 2:20 I was only asking for about a three-minute "effort" PR.
My main concern was clearly stomach issues. I've had them in every marathon except for my very poor Ogden race this year. But, since I didn't have stomach issues at Ogden I decided to follow the same nutrition plan I did for that race. The goal was lots of carbohydrates Thurs-Fri with the biggest meals being Thursday dinner and Friday lunch. Friday's meals included pancakes, oatmeal, turkey sandwich, Gatorade, rice, chicken, two CLIF bars and French Bread. Dinner was early with a late snack. Breakfast Saturday morning was a CLIF Bar, a Powerade Gel, and some Gatorade.
I met Bryant, Jason, and Ben at the buses and we ran into the St. George crew and all of us rode up on the same bus. It was a fun bus ride with a lot of good company. Clyde convinced me I had to hit 10 miles in 40:00 or I had wasted the excellent weather conditions. I think we joked about going after course records, apparantly Bryant didn't realized those were jokes!
At the start line I saw so many friends. I love seeing everyone and having a reunion of sorts before and after races. We have a special running community here in Utah. I jogged easy for a couple minutes, no more than a half mile with a few strides. I visited the potty three times just to be sure. I was ready to roll. My legs felt good from the taper and I felt very confident.
RACE
The gun went off and I eased my way into a pace. Nobody took the pace out very fast. After 100 meters or so Iain picked it up a tad and some people got about 10-15 feet on me, but after the mile I had got up to the lead pack. Mile 1 5:32. The second mile is slightly uphill and Fritz and Bryant started to pull away a bit from the rest of the leaders and I decided to go with them since it wasn't a blistering pace by any means. Mile 2 5:33.
I had gotten the start I wanted. I wanted to ease into a pace but not get too far behind the leaders. I got my pace and I didn't have any gap, perfect start. During mile three the three of us started to pull away a tad and the pace quickened, but I was ok with that. I planned on 5:05-5:15 for miles 3-7. Mile 3 5:08
During mile four Bryant quickened the pace a bit more and Fritz followed. I chose to not follow, even though the pace felt very easy and comfortable. I had planned on running 1:11/1:07-1:08 and I was not going to let anyone else dictate a faster pace. I wasn't sure what others would do but I was set on running my race. Bryant and Fritz I could tell were headed for 1:09-1:10 half and I didn't want that. I was confident I could catch them on the second half if I stuck to my 1:11 and saved some legs for the second half (had my pacing gone as planned I would've been dead wrong about Bryant coming back). Mile 4 5:06
I was now running solo, but I was ok with that. I couldn't hear anyone behind me and I felt like top three was looking pretty good. I enjoyed the early sunrise and nice cool temps and just tried to lock into a good steady rhythm. Mile 5 5:12 Mile 6 5:03.
During mile 7 I heard footsteps and breathing and wondered who was coming up on me. My guess was Kotter, but turns out it was Jason Holt. He said, "Hey buddy, let's work this hill." I thought wow he's running a gutsy pace, but hey it'll be nice to run with someone. Around this time my stomach started hurting, but I tried to ignore it and pretend it wasn't happening. Maybe I could will it away. We grabbed our bottles at mile 7, mine was watered-down Gatorade. I took maybe 2 ounces and dropped it. Mile 7 5:09
Now we were hitting Veyo Hill. Jason pulled ahead of me a bit as I slowed a bit to keep my stomach from getting too upset, hoping it will pass. Halfway through the hill Jason starts to feel it and I pass him back. I gap him a bit and try to get back into a good pace, but the stomach just isn't allowing it. I know a stop is imminent. That's ok, I planned on having one stop. I mean, let's be realistic that's just Riley Cook's reality when it comes to marathons. At least it was early and likely early enough that I could get my legs/pace back. I figured I would stop at the next aid station at mile 9. Mile 8 5:52 Mile 9 5:45.
I hop in the port a potty and 9 and it almost tips over! It was on a slant to begin with, but the wind was blowing in the direction that would help it to tip and once I got in it almost went down. It scared me pretty good. It almost tipped again when I stood up to leave. I get out after maybe 45 seconds and count my new place. I had fallen from 3rd to 9th. Crap! But the good news is that 4-8 were all running together and were only 15 seconds up on me. Jason was now 3rd and had a good 40 second gap, but I train with him and know his fitness well, without any further hiccups I could run Jason down. In the past after stops I have sort of panicked and tried to immediately make up lost ground. Now, being a little more seasoned, I decided to slowly work my way back into pace. The group gapped me another five seconds during my first mile back and had about 20 seconds on me. Mile 10 6:20 (probably about 5:35 running time).
Now I was getting my legs back and during Mile 11 I started making ground on the group. Mile 11 5:40. Matt had fallen off the group and I passed him first. I gave him some encouragement and moved on by. About a half mile later I passed Zak who had also fallen a bit back. I wished him well I kept moving. Then Kotter took a pit stop up ahead. I was back into 5th place. Mile 12 5:32.
Iain was gaining ground on Jason and I was gaining ground on Iain. I think I can catch them in the next three miles. Mile 13 5:18. Half marathon split just under 1:12, not sure the exact seconds. But it is basically the exact pace I planned minus the time for the stop. I keep making up ground during Mile 14 and I can now see Fritz again. Maybe I can still get 2nd? Mile 14 5:19.
Mile 15 drops ALOT and I leaned forward and let gravity do it's thing. I was now only five seconds back of Iain and Jason. I can pass them by the end of the mile and I'm back in the top 3. But, then very suddenly my stomach hits and I have to slow down or else suffer being the victim of embarassing internet photos. Luckily the aid station is only 30 seconds away. I'm three seconds away from 3rd place but I have to stop AGAIN, COME ON GIVE ME BREAK! Mile 15 5:05 (was headed for a 4:55 until I slowed for the stomach).
The stop is relatively quick and I come out to find I have fallen from the cusp of 3rd place again to 8th! ARGH! Once again I have to take a mile to ease back into pace. The group ahead have strung out a bit, but they all gain another 5-10 seconds on my first mile back from the stop. Mile 16 5:59 (probably around 5:14 running time; this mile should be 4:5x).
I get a tiny bit of pace back and set my sights on Metler who is in 7th. I can also see Jason ahead of him, who's fallen back to 6th. These two definitely look catchable. The others maybe, it depends on how well I get my legs back. Mile 17 5:20 Mile 18 5:20.
During 19 my stomach is back again! I am starting to feel sorry for myself and this is a good time to feel sorry for yourself as you hit the last major hill. I remember thinking, "Well this race is a disaster. I really really wanted a good one today". The little devil shows up on my shoulder and says, "Hey if you drop out now you can save your legs from soreness and get back into training immediately on Monday for Big Sur". I tell the devil that we both know I can't stop and I keep plugging along. Mile 19 5:42
There is supposed to be an aid station at mile 19 right? Where's my port a potty? I gotta go. I decide to go off the side of the road. I do so, use my gloves and then hop back on the road with another 45 seconds gone...poof!
I see Scott and he says sorry about the stop and I say it's my third time. He knows this; he's seen me yo-yo-ing in front of him. He catches up to me and we hit the aid station about a half mile past 19 and get our bottles. I have a gel attached to it. It may upset my stomach but hey it can't get much worse and I may need the energy so I take it.
Scott passes me a bit after running on my shoulder. Almost a mile has passed since the stop and my legs are starting to come back after easing back into it yet again. Mile 20 6:04 (probably 5:20 running time).
I don't remember the exact split at mile 20 but I do remember doing the math and thinking if I run 32:xx for the last 10k I can still hit 2:22. Really? After all that's happened 2:22 is still within reach? I also remember telling Jason before the race that the last 10k drops as much or more than Des News 10k. This is doable; I can run 32:xx. Quit being a baby, quit thinking of how everything has gone wrong, quit feeling sorry for yourself and expecting Scott to feel sorry for you too, and just run the rest of the race like a man and hold your head up high for doing the best you could. So, I get my shoulders forward and I go.
I pass Scott quite quickly and set my sights on Jason, who is up maybe a minute. Mile 21 5:08. That's solid, I'm on pace. I can hit 32:xx! Mile 22 5:13. Not bad, that mile has a tiny bit of uphill so the effort is still there. Jason is coming back very quickly. I pass him during 23 and try to encourage him. Mile 23 5:10. Still doing it, 2:22 is still there! Mile 24 5:07. No wall today baby! This is what it's like to finish a marathon strong? I like it! I set my sights on Metler. I've gained about a minute in the last 4 miles and I think maybe just maybe I can get him, but he's still got a minute or so on me with two miles to go. Well let's give it a try!
I see Ed Eyestone with about 1.5 miles to go he tells me I am down by almost exactly a minute. That was both encouraging and discouraging. I knew I was gaining on him, but real esatate was running out. That's a lot to make up in 1.5 miles. The terrain flattens a bit and I slow a bit. Mile 25 5:20. It's not enough to pass Metler; I know it's not. I try to keep going strong though. Mile 26 5:24. I see my family and it's a nice boost. I see the clock and know I have to "get on my horse" to get under 2:23. I push hard the last bit at 5:03 pace and look up at the clock as I cross the line 2:22.5x, last 10k in 32:26.
I talk to Zak and Jon and find out Bryant ran 2:mother freaking 15! Wow. I was very happy for him. He was not going to be denied. What an inspiring performance. I see Scott cross the line. We embrace and then we see Mike come across in 2:25. Fantastic! Then I see Jason. Yes, he held on for a big PR.
And right behind him is Ben! Ben freaking Van Beekum made the comeback complete with a 2:26! I hug Ben and tear up with joy for him. He's been through alot and I knew this PR meant the world to him. I told him on Friday he was going to run 2:26.37. He said he wouldn't make a liar out of me and he didn't! Ben's performance made me forget all about my struggles and made my day!
Holt is right behind Ben! Is that a PR! What a race for that guy! Logan sub-2:30! Clyde a 2:33! Just fantastic performances everywhere you look!
It was a great day to run and to be able to run with so many stellar runners was a day never to forget. It wasn't what I wanted or hoped for, but I did my best with the hand I was dealt. I will get that sub-2:20 soon! I won't be denied! Thanks to everyone for your support! I respect you all so much. Sorry for the novel...
NOTE: photos are from the Spectrum Newspaper!
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 27.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 |
| 6 miles easy on the Riverdale Parkway with Ken, Jon, and Albert. My legs don't feel too bad at all, but certainly there is still some muscle damage. I will keep things easy this week. My weight wasn't as bad as I anticipated after all the junk I ate the last two days after the race.
Here's a comparison of my race last year versus this year. More than half of the difference was in the last 10k (I subtracted out the stop in both years to get a better comparison). The miles with smallest difference were mostly those in which I stopped or the mile just before the stop (even though I subtracted out the time for the stop).
| Mile |
2013 |
2012 |
Difference |
|
1
|
532 |
540 |
8 |
| 2 |
533 |
540 |
7 |
| 3 |
508 |
514 |
6 |
| 4 |
506 |
521 |
15 |
| 5 |
512 |
525 |
13 |
| 6 |
503 |
514 |
11 |
| 7 |
509 |
516 |
7 |
| 8 |
552 |
607 |
15 |
| 9 |
545 |
554 |
9 |
| 10 |
535 |
536 |
1 |
| 11 |
540 |
549 |
9 |
| 12 |
532 |
544 |
12 |
| 13 |
518 |
538 |
20 |
| 14 |
519 |
536 |
17 |
| 15 |
505 |
522 |
17 |
| 16 |
514 |
519 |
5 |
| 17 |
520 |
532 |
12 |
| 18 |
520 |
531 |
11 |
| 19 |
542 |
548 |
6 |
| 20 |
520 |
537 |
17 |
| 21 |
508 |
535 |
27 |
| 22 |
513 |
553 |
40 |
| 23 |
510 |
554 |
44 |
| 24 |
507 |
552 |
45 |
| 25 |
520 |
611 |
51 |
| 26 |
524 |
601 |
37 |
|
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 6.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.50 |
| AM: 8.25 miles easy and early with Dave and my brother Denver (who ran the first five with us). I feel pretty good, even like I could get back to normal training. But, I'll stay on the safe side and go easy for the whole week.
Lunchtime: 4.25 more miles easy with Dave at lunch on the base perimeter road.
|
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.25 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 8.25 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.70 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.70 |
| AM: 10.35 miles easy on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail with Ken, Albert, Bob, and Bret. It was an extremely peaceful run with the darkness, cool air, and headlamps. My legs feel totally normal. I'm trying to stay cautious though and overcome the temptation for a push tomorrow.
I was checking the elite entries to Big Sur today and it's stacked! A few of the top Americans are Ian Burrell and Sergio Reyes. Last year a 1:04 won the race and 1:10 took 8th (the last podium spot). This year there's two guys with 1:01 PRs, four guys with 1:02, two 1:03, one 1:04, and a handful of 1:05-1:06 guys. Lots of Kenyans and Morrocans. I'm looking at maybe 10th with a near perfect race for me. That's ok. I don't need to finish on the podium, I just need a huge non-aided PR! Should be a fun race and hopefully the excellent competition can pull me along.
PM: 4.35 miles. I felt like a million bucks and the pace got faster as I went, so I just rolled with it. The light rain was annoying at first, but then it was invigorating.
|
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.35 | Pearl Izumi EM Trail M2 Miles: 10.35 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.30 | 0.00 | 4.00 | 0.00 | 10.30 |
| MILE REPEATS
I wanted to get a light interval session in, just to see how the legs are feeling and to get them primed to resume normal training next week. I didn't want to do anything too taxing, so I asked Ken if he wanted me to pace him on some mile repeats. He thought four at 5:10 would be a good target. We ended up running 5:11 5:11 5:08 and 5:03.
My legs felt pretty good, but the effort was tougher than what 5:10 should feel like. And that's to be expected after a taper, marathon, and recovery. But, I'm hoping that by priming the legs a bit this week, they'll be more up to the task of regular training again next week. I know I can't just resume the paces where I left off on my marathon buildup, but I'd like to get back to them somewhat quickly and then try to expand my fitness before Big Sur.
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 10.30 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.50 |
| 11.5 miles easy with Ken, Dave, Bret, and Bob (for part of it). We ran the North Ogden loop from 21st Pond. It was pretty humid this morning, but not too cold running.
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 11.50 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Amy and I met Dave and drove up to run Trapper's Loop. We warmed up two miles then ran five miles up to Snow Basin and then I paced Dave on a 5-mile downhill tempo. The goal was 5:20 pace to get him ready for Snow Canyon Half. Amy is also running that race, so she did the same tempo. Dave and I ran 532 520 505 505 521. Amy also ran very well averaging like 6:1xs for her 5 miles.
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 14.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 18.15 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18.15 |
| AM: 12 miles at a moderate pace with Ken, Bret, and Jon. We mostly hit the 6:05-6:20 range, but dipped below 6:00 toward the end.
PM: 6.15 miles easy around South Weber.
|
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 6.15 | Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 12.00 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.80 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 17.80 |
| AM: AEROBIC BUILDER
I met up with Dave and Albert at 21st Street Pond for an aerobic builder. My thoughts going in were 9.5 miles at 5:20. But I got off to a faster start than planned and kept rolling with it. Once I got to the T in the road where you turn left for 9.5 or right for 8, I had a choice. I could slow down a bit and get the 9.5 or keep pace and hit 8 (I knew I wasn't quite ready for 9.5 at 5:11 pace). So, I decided I wanted to keep rolling at 5:10s. I ended up with 8 miles in 41:28 (5:11 avg).
Mile 5 has a pedestrian bridge that goes up and over I-15. That mile is a very good indicator of effort. Usually if the effort is about right, I only lose 3-4 seconds on that mile. If I am over-reaching a bit, I will lose more. Today I lost 7 seconds on that mile. That seems about right. I knew that 5:11 pace was a tad quicker than I was ready for today, but I got through it. I need to show more patience though early on in my post-marathon training. This ended up just fine, but really the 9.5 miles at 5:20 would've been more marathon-specific and what I was aiming for.
PM: 4.3 miles easy around South Weber.
|
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.30 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 13.50 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.70 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.70 |
| 10.7 miles easy with Ken, Dave, Bret, Albert, and Jon. We ran through Ogden on Adams Ave. to South Ogden, to Washington Terrace, and finally back to Ogden down by the tracks. It was the coldest day yet this morning.
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 10.70 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.60 | 0.00 | 6.00 | 0.00 | 16.60 |
| AM: 2-MILE REPEATS
I met up with Albert, Bret, and Ken at Smith's on Harrison and we warmed up along Glassman and over to the tempo loop (making a stop at Starbuck's for the most convenient runner's bathroom). We did a few strides and then got into the repeats on the loop. I wanted to average 10:00.
#1 9:59 (5:00/4:59)
#2 9:57 (4:57/5:00)
#3 9:56 (4:57/4:59)
Then we all met back up and cooled down back the same way we came. All in all in was a decent workout for me. I hit about exactly what I wanted to and while it was hard, it wasn't super difficult. So, just about the right effort this morning. It was challenging mentally to get the second half of each rep on pace; I found myself slowing after the mile and having to re-focus to get back on pace.
PM: 4.25 miles easy around South Weber with 4x8-second hill sprints on 1900 East.
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 12.35 | Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 4.25 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| 10 miles easy from my house through South Weber, crossing into Uintah, hitting the trail along the tracks, to 89, and back home.
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 10.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.20 | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.20 |
| LONG RUN - STEP PROGRESSION
I met up with my I-pod Shuffle at 21st Pond for a long run. I had mapped out a beautiful, mostly flat 20-mile loop. I planned on running it progression-style. The plan was three-mile warm up, followed by five miles at 6:00 pace, five miles at 5:40 pace, five miles stepping down five seconds per mile from 5:30 pace to finish with 5:10 for mile 18, and finish up with a two-mile cool-down.
Miles 4-8: Goal 6:00 avg - Actual (6:09, 5:57, 5:55, 5:54, 5:47)
Miles 9-13: Goal 5:40 avg - Actual (5:44, 5:36, 5:33, 5:37, 5:37)
Miles 14-18 Goal 5:30, 5:25, 5:20, 5:15, 5:10 - Actual (5:27, 5:22, 5:17, 5:10, 5:03)
Cardio-wise this run felt fantastic. Leg-wise I got a bit tired toward the end, mostly in the cooldown actually. But I'm very pleased with where my endurance is at. This is the best endurance I think I've ever had. Speed could use a little work, but I haven't really focused on speed, so that's ok. You don't need super crazy speed for the half and the full.
Look at this beautiful route. 20 miles and less than 200 feet total climb and drop the whole way...about as flat as you can get a 20-loop in Utah:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/392493810
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 20.20 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 18.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18.00 |
| AM: 12 miles easy on the same route as last Monday with Bret, Ken, Dave, Jon, Bryant, and Albert. Bryant shared with us his split for Veyo at STG...5:11! Wow. I told him that was a gutsy pace for that hill that early in the race. What a performance!
Lunchtime: 6 miles easy with Dave on the base perimeter road.
|
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 6.00 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 12.00 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.50 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.50 |
| AEROBIC BUILDER
This morning's crew consisted of Ken, Dave, Albert, and me. We ran the normal warm-up and route with the exception of the last two miles. We switched up the ending of the route to avoid traffic. It adds about 15-20 feet more of a climb in mile 7, but it's probably safer.
I ran almost the exact time I ran last week 41:32 for 8 miles or 5:11 avg (last week was 41:28). I just never felt "on" today. It felt harder than usual the entire time. I still hit decent splits but they weren't coming naturally, I had to kind of force the issue a bit.
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 16.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.30 |
| 12 miles easy with Bryant, Bret, Albert, Jon, Jace, and Bob. We ran on the Riverdale Parkway to West Ogden to Central Ogden and back to the parkway. There was at least a 5-7 degree difference down by the river as opposed to everywhere else. 4.3 more miles at lunch with Dave. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.30 | Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 12.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.37 | 0.00 | 3.73 | 16.10 |
| 600 METER REPEATS
I met up at the pond with Dave, Ben, Bret, and Albert for some fast VO2 Max reps. My goal was 12 reps at 4:20-4:30 pace with 1:30 rest (so splits between 1:36-1:40). We warmed up and then did 600 meters at MP to get the blood flowing followed by a few strides. Then I started the workout and it was TOUGH! I got out too quickly on the first one and paid the price the rest of the workout. I was breathing like a donkey in labor after five reps and wasn't sure how many more I could do. I stopped looking at the watch and just ran as hard as I could for five more and called it at ten. I think the other guys enjoyed seeing me in pain!
Splits: 1- 1:34.2 or 4:15 pace
2- 1:38.4 (4:26)
3- 1:36.2 (4:20)
4- 1:39.7 (4:30)
5- 1:36.9 (4:22)
6- 1:40.0 (4:30)
7- 1:40.4 (4:32)
8- 1:39.9 (4:30)
9- 1:40.2 (4:31)
10- 1:41.2 (4:34) AVG 1:38.7 or about 4:27 pace
PM: 5 more easy miles around South Weber
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 6.32 | Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 5.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.70 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.70 |
| 11.7 miles easy from my house into Uintah and back with Dave. It was a beautiful late morning to run. Now I'm off to golf, which could get ugly!
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 11.70 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 17.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.00 |
| LONG RUN
Jon, Albert and I met up early at Lee's Market to get the long run rolling. After 4.5 miles we swung back by Lee's and picked up Dave and Ben. We kept the pace easy almost the whole run. Toward the end we did a tiny progression and hit three sub-6:00 miles at 5:49 5:30 and 5:24. My legs were still feeling Thursday's speed workout, so I didn't want to get too fancy this morning.
The bad news is I left my headlamp on my car on accident after the run and then drove home and lost it somewhere on I-15 I suppose. Sigh. I love that headlamp! Now I have to find a replacement and quickly. Sigh.
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 20.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 19.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 19.50 |
| 12 miles easy from the pond with Ken, Bret, Bryant, and Dave. 7.5 more miles at lunch on base in the wind. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 7.50 | Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 12.00 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.60 | 5.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 17.60 |
| AEROBIC BUILDER 3-2-1
My plan this morning was to do 4-3-2-1, but 38 degrees and pouring rain was not cooperative weather. When you're warming up and the topic of conversation is how you in particular severely under dressed for the cold, that's a bad omen.
By the time we finished the warm up my clothes weighed an extra five pounds and my shoes and socks were drenched. I wore shorts and I just could never get moving the whole run. It felt like I had taken an ice bath and then got out and tried to do a workout. On the first set it was very clear I wasn't going to be hitting my goal paces. So, rather than just completely throwing in the towel I adjusted to 3-2-1 and slowed the paces down by 10-15 seconds more than I originally planned. I did 3 miles in 16:18, 3 min jog, 2 miles in 10:20, 2 min jog, and then 1 mile in 4:57.
The 3-mile cool down was completely miserable! The good thing was I had a warm car to get into immediately after, oh wait I take that back the heat in my car doesn't work! Yeah...I'm still cold even now!
PM: 5 miles easy in South Weber
|
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 5.00 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 17.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 17.25 |
| 12 miles easy on the Riverdale parkway with Ken, Jon, Dave, Bryant, and Bret. Without rain 37 degrees actually felt decent. 5.25 more miles easy at lunch. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 17.25 |
| |
|
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.05 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 12.05 |
| MILE REPEATS
I met Ben and Dave at the pond. They ran my warm-up with me and then did a few strides and a couple more miles while I got into my workout. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to get this workout in or not. After Tuesday's run, my calves were incredibly tight, like worse than at the end a marathon tight. I had a hard time walking even without pain. I got a massage that afternoon from Sariah and then kept compression on the calves for the next 48 hours straight basically. So, this morning I wasn't going to attempt a workout unless my calves felt ok. They felt decent warming up so I decided to give it a go. I stayed in trainers as opposed to lighter shoes to help the calves from tightening up. If at any point they got tight again I was going to call off the workout.
The first rep went fine, slower than I wanted, but the calves felt ok. So I continued the workout and in the end did five reps with 2:30 rest. On the last one my right calf tightened up pretty good, but for the most part I think I got through it just fine.
The workout was slower than I wanted. That could be due to the recent calf tightness, wearing trainers, being in the middle of my highest volume week ever, or just plain wimpiness on my part. Maybe all combined, who knows. But even though it wasn't a great workout it was adequate and good enough to keep the train moving forward.
Splits:
1- 4:54
2- 4:54
3- 4:55
4- 4:54
5- 4:52
Now I get to stay home and play stay-at-home dad. Amy and Evelyn were both up until 3:30 am with flu-like symptoms. This definitely throws a wrench in our weekend plans. Amy was going to race Snow Canyon Half and I was going to pace Ben and Dave on the half too. But, now it's questionable if Amy can run and it's also unlikely we'd leave our sick kids with her Aunt to watch over the weekend. So, Snow may be a no-go now, we should know for sure by the end of the day. I am holding out hope that at least Amy can run, even if I don't run and stay on kid-duty. She's worked too hard to have to skip this race. Hopefully she can get tons of rest, fluids, and calories today and still salvage a race out of it.
|
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 12.05 |
| |
| |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.00 |
| 7 miles easy in St George from my hotel over to Ben and Dave's and back. Didn't get out until 9 pm. I got pretty sick yesterday and wasn't sure I was going to be able to run at all today. We had also called off the trip down here since our whole family had gotten sick. So I slept in and felt ok when I got up. Amy was also feeling better so we packed up and drove down. I didn't get around to running until late. Felt like garbage most the run, still weak from being sick. Amy is going to still race while I watch the kids tomorrow, then I will try to get a decent run in later in the day. I had planned my first 100-mile week this week, but that'll have to wait now. I have plenty more chances to do it. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 7.00 |
| |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.00 | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| AM: I had several duties this morning for the Snow Canyon Half: babysitter, bus driver, elite bag drop, cheerleader, and photographer (didn't do as well at this as I should of due to duty number one). I dropped Amy, Ben, and Dave at the start line and then cheered at a few spots. Everyone did great! Fun to watch. After awards they all went to get lunch and I started a run in 70 degrees and bright sunshine. It was hot! It was a climb too out of Snow Canyon up past Bluff and up on top of Red Cliff Parkway I think the name is. One mile at 8% grade climb and I rolled a 6:30. I was happy with that. I got dehydrated later in the run and the sun drained me. So I ended up with just 13 miles. I may head back out later tonight. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 13.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| 12 miles easy on what's becoming our Monday route with Albert, Ben, and Jon. I think it was the coldest morning yet, but when dressed properly it's not bad at all. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.55 | 6.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 17.55 |
| AEROBIC BUILDER: PROGRESSION We had a decent crew for a cold builder this morning. It had snowed lightly up until right when we started. My goal this morning was to do 8 miles progressing from 5:25 to 4:57 dropping four seconds per mile. Things went according to plan for the most part. The pedestrian bridge in mile five was snowy and slick so I slowed way down there. The last two miles were tough but felt good mentally to be hitting those splits. Splits: 5:26, 5:20, 5:16, 5:10, 5:24 (5:09 besides slowing on bridge), 5:05, 5:01, 4:57 I really needed a solid run like this to restore my fragile confidence after last week's sub-par workouts. 4.3 more easy miles at lunch with Dave. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.30 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.10 |
| 10.1 miles on the Riverdale Parkway with Bret, Albert, and Dave. The pace was very easy, but I was still very sluggish from yesterday's builder. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 10.10 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.85 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.21 | 12.06 |
| 1,000 METER REPS I met Jon, Albert, and Jason at the pond and warmed up 3.25 miles together to include strides. Then we got into our workouts, with basically everyone doing something different. Jon did 400s, Albert did a 5-mile tempo, and Jason and I did 1000s. My goal was to average 3:02-3:03 pace or basically 4:52 pace for ten reps. I ran them around the pond which is just over a mile long. So not all reps are equal. The backside of the pond loop is ever so slightly uphill and into a slight headwind, while the front side has opposite conditions. So some reps were almost all in good or bad conditions and some were about half and half. But the effort was basically the same for the reps except I picked the last one up a bit. Rest was 75 seconds. Splits: 3:03.7 2:59.7 3:02.1 2:59.7 2:57.3 3:02.7 2:58.5 2:59.0 3:02.3 and 2:50.8 for a 2:59.5 avg or 4:48-4:49 pace. I am really happy with the workout and not just the pace. The pace was good, but it's been awhile since I felt this good hitting a workout. I felt I could've held pace for 15 reps. Hopefully this bodes well for Big Sur. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 5.60 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.10 |
| 10.1 miles easy on the trails from Rainbow Gardens with Ken, Dave, Bret, Steve, and Albert. The temps were awesome at 48 degrees. Hello shorts and t-shirt weather, I didn't think I'd see you in the morning again until 2014!
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| Pearl Izumi EM Trail M2 Miles: 10.10 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.10 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 15.10 |
| 15.1 miles with Steve, Dave, Ben, and Ken from Steve's house in Hooper. We threw in a three-mile tempo in the middle. I ran 14:42. After we put down two gallons of chocolate milk in no time. And Steve was kind enough to make us breakfast burritos. Awesome morning. Thanks again Steve. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 15.10 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| 12 miles easy from the 21st pond with Dave, Jon, Ken, and Bret.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.85 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 10.85 |
| 800 PRIMER REPS Today I just wanted to get in a light, easy primer workout. I met Albert and Jason at the pond and we ended up doing six 800s. I wanted to keep them around 2:25-2:27, just enough for a good stimulus but easy enough to not tax my body. Splits 2:27 2:24 2:25 2:24 2:25 2:24 | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.10 |
| AM: 5 miles easy around South Weber
PM: 4.1 miles easy on the base perimeter road on base.
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.10 | Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 5.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.25 |
| 8.25 miles easy with Bryant, Jason, Jon, Albert, and Bret. We found a new path that took us on a journey through Ogden. We hit all the highlights: Historic 25th Street (once home of bootleggers and ladies of the night), The Enchanted Round-a-bout, and the Pet Cemetery with the life-sized statue of Tiffany the dog (its hard to believe she's been gone 25 years). What more could you ask for. For those that like reading Amazon has "Once a Runner" kindle book for $1.99 today and you can add the audio for an additional $0.99. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 8.25 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.10 |
| 4.1 miles easy in some light snow flurries. Afterward went and watched NCAA mountain regional meet at the golf course just down my street. It was fun times. Met up with Bryant, Jason, and Bret. Then I also ran into Matt and Zak. Lots of fast runners spectating fast runners. They changed the course from previous years that Weber hosted and made it more spectator-friendly and also flatter and faster. They skip the hilly section now. I was blown away from the times because the leader was barely under 20 minutes at four miles, yet finished well under 30. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 4.10 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.15 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.15 |
| 4.15 miles in Pacific Grove on the course around the turnaround point. Beautiful area right along the ocean. I feel pretty good. When they picked me up at the airport they drove the course for me on the way to the hotel, and man it looks extremely challenging. It's rolling hills the entire time with basically no flat sections. Looks like it will be very difficult to get into any rhythm. I can see why "only" 1:04 won the race last year. The field is way stacked. I think eight guys with sub-1:03 PRs. I will get to rub shoulders with them tonight at the elite dinner (which I hope serves food that won't upset my stomach tomorrow). I'm really not sure what my goal is. I guess its just run hard! I don't feel as confident as I did a few months ago, but my training has still been ok. So I'll give it my all tomorrow and see where it falls. It should be fun, and hey its sunny here with no snow!! |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 4.15 |
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| | Race: |
Big Sur Half Marathon (13.109 Miles) 01:07:53, Place overall: 13 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.95 | 0.00 | 13.11 | 0.00 | 22.06 |
| BIG SUR HALF MARATHON Well, I am unsure what to think of this performance. I know I'm upset with it but not sure how upset I should be. It's certainly not a fast course and nowhere near a PR course. It's rolling hills the entire time. You are never running flat. It was also windy once you got out on the coast. I was really mad with my time until I saw some of the struggles of the faster guys. It seemed like if you had a good day and a group to work with today you were roughly a minute back of your PR. If you had a bad day and were running solo you were 2-3 minutes off your PR. The field was ridiculously stacked, with like eight guys with 1:03 or faster PRs. I was ranked 13th with my 1:05:16 and finished 13th. The race takes very good care of the elites. They fed us last night and have another dinner set up tonight. It was interesting to listen to some of the faster guys at dinner. I sat at a table with Ben Bruce, Ian Burrell, Sergio Reyes, David Laney, and Fernando Cabado. Yeah I lost to all of them in the race. They shuttled us to the elite warm up area an hour before the race. I warmed up about 45 minutes before the start with Ian Burrell and Jeremy Freed. After I got a few bathroom visits in and then did some strides and was ready to go. Temps were 55 degrees, overcast, and typical early morning ocean fog and humidity. Wind was somewhat calm at the start and so I was very surprised to turn at 8 into a strong headwind. The race got off on time to the second and the field went out fast, likely high 4:30s. I let them go and ran by myself in 4:59. I was in like 20th at the mile. I kept the same pace in mile two although it's a tougher mile that drops down into a tunnel and then climbs back out on the other side (like running an overpass only you go down under a road first and then up). Mile 2 was also 4:59 (splits are Garmin which measured course very long in 13.33). Mile three I tried to just keep rolling at the same pace. I finally passed the first woman in mile three! She was the winner today in 1:11 and also won Grandma's Marathon in June in 2:26. I also moved up to 13th place where I would stay the rest of the race, running the whole race solo. Mile 3 4:57. Mile four has the beast hill that gains 100 feet. I was gaining on Laney and wanted to try and catch him on the hill, thinking he would be tired from going out too fast. So I pushed the pace on the hill and hit a 5:06 split. Coming down in mile five I hit 4:49. Now we hit the out and back section on the coast. You have to stay to one side of the road. This is where the Garmin really got off from the mile markers, which makes me wonder if it was certified using the full road. Because it is extremely curvy. I had closed the gap to like ten seconds on Laney but stopped making ground here. We were basically running the same pace from here until almost the end. These were very lonely miles. Laney was the only runner I could see. Miles 6-8 were 5:01 5:05 5:08. At 8 you do a 180-degree turn and are hit hard with some wind. My pace dropped ten seconds per mile immediately. Nothing happened really from 9-12. Laney stayed 15-20 seconds up and I chased. We seemed to slow on the same sections as the gap remained very even. Miles 9-12 5:19 5:07 (I tried to surge back to pace here but this mile was HARD with the wind and hills) 5:14 5:16. Doing math with a mile to go I got pretty depressed, especially with my watch being almost a quarter mile ahead of the mile markers. I was broke mentally and somewhat physically. But I tried to salvage what would technically still be an un-aided PR. Mile 13 was 5:14 and the last 0.33 I ran in 1:35 for a 1:07.53. I knew I wasn't in top shape coming in. It's something I can just sense even if workouts still look ok. Maybe it's cumulative fatigue. But I still thought I could break 1:07 here despite the tough course. Oh well, it was fun and certainly one of the most scenic races I'll ever run. There was a lot of talk this weekend about the course record going down. It's "only" 1:02.3x. But with a couple 1:01 guys in the field it held again. The elite coordinators say every year people think they can beat what they perceive as a weak record and every year it stands. I can understand why. Results: Jacob Chemtai 1:02:44 Nelson Oyugi 1:02:50 Aissa Dghoughi 1:03:20 Fernando Cabado 1:03:25 Benson Cheruiyot 1:03:37 Ian Burrell 1:03:57 Ben Bruce 1:03:58 Stephen Furst 1:04:27 Geofrey Terer 1:04:39 (out of the money!) Sergio Reyes 1:05:52 Jeremy Freed 1:06:41 David Laney 1:07:27 Me....1:07:53 PM: 4.5 mile shakeout, first two by myself then ran into Ben Bruce and did the rest with him. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 4.50 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 17.56 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.20 |
| 8.2 easy miles with Ben on some trails along the beach and over by Pebble Beach Golf Course. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 8.20 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.00 |
| 11 miles easy on the Riverdale Parkway and through Ogden with Dave, Steve, Bryant, Jason, and Ken. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 11.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.50 |
| AM: 7.5 miles easy at lunch with Dave on base.
PM: 8 more easy miles with Dave after work on the Rail Trail.
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 8.00 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 7.50 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.25 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.25 |
| LIGHT AEROBIC BUILDER We had one of our best groups in awhile for a builder. Dave, Ben, Bryant, Steve, Albert, and Bret all met up at the pond. I wasn't ready for regular aerobic builder speeds, so I ran with the guys. The goal pace was 5:40. Ben and I ended up right on 5:40 average but with a decent negative split in the second half. | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
| 5 miles easy. My left achilles is swollen and sore. It's been hurting for 2.5 weeks or so now, but I try not to acknowledge minor aches and pain in hopes they will go away. But, this can't really be ignored much longer I'm afraid. The first two miles were painful.
So I iced this morning in a bucket. My 3-year old saw me doing it and now she has a "sore foot from running so far. I need to ice too". So she dabbed her foot in some cold water as well, and the good news is hers is better already! Wish I could say the same for mine.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 5.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| No run, only icing. | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| 12 miles easy with Jon. The Achilles felt pretty decent actually. The real test will be how it feels the rest of today and tomorrow morning. If it hurts I will just have to take another day or two off. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 12.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.90 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.90 |
| AEROBIC BUILDER We had another solid crew for a builder this morning with Jason, Dave, Bryant, and Albert. I planned on 8 miles at 5:25 avg, but I got out quicker than planned and just rolled with it. I did a 5:16 avg for 8 miles and it felt really good. Achilles felt good during the run, but a touch tight right after. It feels ok again now, but I will keep icing and stretching etc to heal it properly. Dave and Jason had their best builder pace ever today. Watch out for those guys next year. | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.05 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.05 |
| 10.05 miles easy with Dave and Bryant on the Riverdale Parkway and into central Ogden. My Achilles was a bit more sore this morning after yesterdays push, but it warmed up after 3-4 miles and felt fine after that. |
| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 10.05 |
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| | Race: |
Turkey Leg 5k (3.107 Miles) 00:14:49, Place overall: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.11 | 8.61 |
| TURKEY LEG 5K
Well this is my final race of the year. It's a medium-sized (500-600) in Farmington. My goal was to break 15:00 and gain some confidence back in the process, as Big Sur really took a big bite out of my confidence. But after driving the course with Amy last night I realized it was a lot more hilly than I anticipated, so I wussed out on trying for 15:00 and made a new goal of 15:30. I even toyed with the idea of just running fast enough to win and get a workout. But running slower than I'm capable of in a race of any size is really hard for me to do, it's not really in my DNA.
So I decided to go out hard and push hard the whole way unless my achilles acted up. The race started five minutes late and I was immediately out in front solo. I refused to look at my watch until the mile split. I just ran hard on the slight downhill and the watch beeped at the mile in 4:37. Not bad at all, faster than I thought I was running.
Now you gained about 100 feet in a slow grind in mile two. Again I refused to look at the watch and just wanted to attack the hills. It certainly got my heart rate up and my breathing was labored. But I got to the top and hit the split in 5:06.
Now some downhill to start mile three, if I can hit around 4:40 for the last mile I think I can break 15, which was way better than I thought I could do. So I ran the downhill hard and ran the last mini loop as hard as I could. I felt surprisingly good and hit a 4:38 last mile. I kicked somewhat hard, not a sprint but certainly I picked it up substantially and ran the last .11 in 28 seconds or like 4:10 pace. My final time on my watch was 14:50, though I stopped it a tad late, so maybe official time will be 14:49. I don't know I haven't seen any results yet. Edit: results finally posted (three days later) and it is officially 14:49.
The race director handed me my $50 VISA Card right when I finished. Now that's a prompt award ceremony! I waited for Amy to finish and SHE WON THE WOMEN'S RACE in 19:26! I can't believe how far along her fitness has come and that's a great time for her on a harder course.
After Amy and I cooled down with Bryant and his wife Lisa who live near the course and had jogged over to watch. Overall a pretty good morning and a great last race of the year. It's nice to finish with a good time after taking that hit to my confidence with my slow Big Sur performance. Now time to stuff my face! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Course map and elevation:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/409741472
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 5.50 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 3.11 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| 10 miles easy on the trails with Ben, Ken, and Bryant. It was a great early morning run on the trails with great conversation and a nice, easy pace.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Trail M2 Miles: 10.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.25 | 3.00 | 3.00 | 0.75 | 20.00 |
| LONG RUN: BEN VAN BEEKUM SPECIAL (3-2-1-0.5-0.25)
I met up with the crew at the pond at 8:45 for a 20-mile run with a 3-mile breakdown. Ben introduced this workout to us last year and I proposed it for today's run. It's not as difficult as your typical 3-mile breakdown, as you have ample rest (one to one distance-wise).
We warmed up 3.5 miles and then did the start of the breakdown. Steve only planned on doing 15 miles with a 3-mile pickup, but he felt good and liked the idea of the workout so he decided to go the full length.
Splits:
3 miles (goal 5:15 avg): 5:08 5:12 5:06
2 miles (goal 5:05 avg): 5:01 5:01
1 mile (goal 4:55): 4:50
1/2 mile (goal 2:20): 2:16
1/4 mile (goal 1:06): 1:04
Ben was tearing it up today (as was Steve actually) and on the last 1/4 mile he went with me and stayed with me. I was very impressed, we ran 64.3 which is a new 400 meter PR for him! haha.
After Ken took an ice bath in the Ogden River up to his waist for 7 minutes...crazy dude! Then we headed to Wal-Mart for chocolate milk and donuts for Albert's birthday. All in all a great run for the crew.
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| Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 20.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.00 |
| 8 miles easy in my neighborhood very early before heading to the airport. Very, unseasonably warm weather this morning. |
| Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 8.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.00 | 1.00 | 6.00 | 0.00 | 18.00 |
| AM: TEMPO
I attempted (and somewhat failed) a tempo run this morning. I wanted to go 5-6 miles at 5:05 pace. But with this being my first night in the Eastern Time Zone and the travel still in my legs, I just didn't have it this morning. I ended up with 4 miles: 5:03 5:04 5:06 5:09. Some nice reverse progression. Oh well, I should be acclimated to the new time zone here shortly.
PM: We took a break for dinner and I wasn't too hungry so I got a second run in on the hotel treadmill. I felt substantially better than this morning and got another 9 miles in with the last 3 at 5:36 5:17 and 5:00.
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 9.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.00 |
| 9 miles easy from the hotel. Relatively warm weather out here, but quite foggy.
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 6.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 17.00 |
| AM: AEROBIC BUILDER (PROGRESSION)
I did an 8-mile AB on the hotel treadmill at a 1% incline, since I haven't found a suitable route for fast, safe running yet (the roads around the hotel are narrow with no shoulder or sidewalk). Splits were: 525 525 521 518 514 512 505 500.
PM: Got another break and snuck in a quick run before meeting back up. 6 miles easy outside.
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| Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 6.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.00 |
| 8 miles easy. It's getting harder to wake up each morning and I hit snooze a few too many times to run any further than this.
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.10 |
| 9.1 miles easy on some slippery, icy roads. I couldn't get up early enough to run further; I tried, but failed.
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.05 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.05 |
| 14.05 miles easy out on the slick roads. Drivers around here don't like to move an inch toward the double yellow line to give runners space. It's move off the road or risk getting hit by their side mirror. Drives me nuts, they have the entire road with no oncoming traffic. Move over a bit!
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.35 | 12.35 |
| 1,000 METER REPS
The plan today was 5-7 1,000 meter repeats at 2:55 with 2:00 jog for rest. I found a good loop that was dry and low traffic. It's 1500 meters or so per loop, so I just ran the workout on the loop. So it ended up being a 500 meter jog for rest or like 2:20-2:30. So the rest ended up being a little more than planned but each rep was the same, which was nice. I ended up doing seven reps with a 2:55 average. Splits: 252.1 2:56.1 2:58.3 (had to slow a tad at one point to move off road for a bus to pass) 2:55.0 2:55.1 2:54.5 2:53.3
It was cold and windy, but it worked out just fine. I'm happy with it, especially considering how tired I was when I woke up.
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 20.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.00 |
| AM: 11.8 miles easy on what's becoming my go-to route here in Indy.
Lunctime: Got a bit longer lunch so we could do laundry, so in between the wash and dry cycles I got another 8.2 miles in on the treadmill.
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 18.00 |
| AM: 8 miles easy. We started work an hour earlier this morning so this was all I could squeeze in.
PM: TEMPO RUN PROGRESSION
I was lucky enough to sneak in another run before everyone headed to dinner together. My plan today was 5 miles progressing from 5:10 down to 4:55. But I ran this on the treadmill and it maxes out at 5:00. So I ramped the incline instead to increase effort. So here it was:
Mile one 5:10 1% incline
Mile two 5:05 1% incline
Mile three 5:00 1% incline
Mile four 5:00 2% incline
Mile five 5:00 3% incline
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.50 |
| 11.5 miles easy
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.15 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.15 |
| 14.15 miles easy, running in a winter wonderland. It's nice to get out before the plows after a few inches of snow has fallen. I love how bright it is; no headlamp needed.
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| 12 miles easy
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.00 | 6.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| AEROBIC BUILDER
I ran an 8-mile AB on the hotel treadmill this morning, since the roads are still a bit slick. I ran with a 1% incline and finished the 8 miles in 41:30. The first 5 miles at 5:15 pace then 5:10, 5:05, and 5:00 for the last three.
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 16.65 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.65 |
| 10.65 miles easy. I planned on running more, but I ran more slowly than planned due to slick roads and surfaces. At one point during the run I saw something come zooming out of the woods in my peripheral vision and look over and see a coyote hauling down the other side of the road. Kind of startling at first, but also kind of cool (if only it would've howled at the full moon).
6 more easy miles in the afternoon during a short break to allow everyone to get out of the conf room for a bit. After 2.5 weeks in that room for 12 hours a day you get pretty sick of it. | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.47 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.73 | 10.20 |
| 600 METER REPS
Well this morning's workout was decent but not quite as fast as I was hoping for. The weather was warm, 45 degrees, but it was windy (20 mph). The wind made me want to bag the workout, but I decided to do it anyway. I warmed up and was really warm with a jacket on, so I swung back to the hotel and changed into a long sleeve instead. Then I did the reps on the road just outside the hotel. There's a U-shaped road that I did them on. So each rep had roughly 50% headwind and 50% tailwind. I ran ten reps with 1:30 jog for rest. I didn't look at my watch at all during the reps, so that my body would adjust the effort in the wind. If I saw slower paces due to the wind I may have tried to pick it up and get the effort too high. I averaged 1:42.4 for the ten reps or like 4:37-38 pace.
Last time I did 10x600 I averaged 1:38.7, so this was slower. But, I was too hunched over and anaerobic last time to jog, let alone walk during the 1:30 rest. I also got slower as I went last time, and I had sore calves for awhile after. Today, I easily was able to jog the rest. I easily could've done more reps and I got stronger as I went. I also am hoping this one won't be as taxing on the calves. Finally, this morning's was in a very windy environment. So, although it wasn't super fast today, it was adequate and we'll keep on moving forward from here!
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 |
| 6 easy miles way too early in the morning before heading to the airport. I get to go home finally! | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.75 |
| 12.75 miles easy in the snow with Dave and Jace. It's so much nicer to run with good company than flying solo every morning.
I'm glad to be home from Indiana. I didn't get as much running in over the last three weeks as I would have liked. But I did the best I could given the time constraints. And hey, I only gained 2-3 pounds after three weaks of eating out for every meal. That's a score in my book; I feared the scale would be much higher. I do need to cut 4-5 pounds before USA Half though in Jan if I want any chance at a sub 1:06. So I got some work to do.
In other news, Pearl Izumi all but cut their local sponsored team. So, I've been looking for a new sponsor. After considering a few potential deals, I settled on Brooks I.D. (Inspire Daily) Elite program. So as of Jan 1st I will be running for Brooks. I'm super excited for this opportunity! Brooks is a very solid running brand with awesome shoes and apparel! 2014 is going to be awesome! So as the Brooks slogan says, "Run Happy"!
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 18.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18.30 |
| 12.2 miles easy with Dave, Ken, Jon, and Bret in Ogden. The roads were treacherous with black ice everywhere. Somehow we got through the run with no one falling, despite several close calls. It's so nice to be back home and able to run with the guys. 12 miles goes by soooo much faster with good company than it does running solo.
6.1 more miles in the afternoon with Jace and Dave in East Layton, down in the gully.
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.70 | 0.00 | 4.00 | 1.00 | 12.70 |
| THRESHOLD REPS 2-2-1
I met up with Jason, Dave, and Albert at Smith's on Harrison and we warmed up on Glassman Way over to the South Ogden tempo loop. The plan was 3x2-mile. But, we found out very early on that it was going to be tough to hit times with the wind. There was an 18 mph wind from the north. So, the first mile of the reps was fast with tailwind and then the second mile was a death march into the wind to finish.
First rep I ran 4:50/5:03 for a 9:54. The wind seemed to get worse in the second rep as the gap from the first mile to second got even larger 4:48/5:06 for another 9:54. I didn't have the fortitude today to do another rep into that nasty wind plus Jason was on a time crunch. So, we decided to cut the third rep to a mile. It was wind-aided and I ran a 4:35.
I'm pretty happy with this workout. I feel like I'm slowly gaining fitness.
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.10 |
| 12.1 easy miles at 4:45 am with the UCC (Utah County Crew). Matt, Mike, and Zak were kind enough to let me join them on their run. Nice run, cold temps, great conversation, and a shooting star sighting (or was that Santa's sleigh)? | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| AEROBIC BUILDER I met up with the UCC again: Mike, Matt, and Zak. We warmed up three miles with strides on Murdock in Orem and heading north from there. Then we all did different lengths of quality. I did 8 miles at a 5:13 avg. It was nice to have people to meet in the morning again as it makes it a lot easier to get out the door. Thanks to those guys for letting me crash their run for the second straight day. | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.05 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.05 |
| 12.05 miles easy in the late morning. It was deceptively cold out. I noticed on the run today that I acknowledge the presence of others on the road differently based on age. Old folks out walking get a full-hand wave and a verbal "good morning". People my parents age get a full-hand wave and a verbal "hi". People in the ballpark of my age get a very lazy two-finger wave. Teenagers get a head nod. And little kids get the open and close wave with my kids voice "hi". | |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.45 | 14.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.45 |
| LONG RUN: STEP PROGRESSION
We had a great group this morning early at 6:00 am for a long run: Ken, Steve, Jason, Albert and me. The plan was to run 3 warm up 5 at 6:00 avg 5 at 5:40 avg and 5 progressing from 5:40 down to whatever you can hold.
We hit the first step at 5:54 avg for 5 miles
Then Steve and I hit the second step a bit quick at 5:33 avg for 5 miles
Then Steve ran one more mile with me over the last step. He had a great run! I struggled a bit on this last section and think it was some leftover fatigue from Thursday's AB. Splits were 5:30, 5:25, 5:23, 5:25 and then I just called off the last mile. My legs were done. I waited for Steve to finish (only 45 seconds back!) and then we jogged the last 3.5 miles back to the cars.
Overall a great run. I did this workout in October and ran a bit better, especially the last five miles. But, I have not done many long runs lately, my weight is up almost five pounds, and I had some fatigue from Thursday, so this is still very adequate overall. I was very impressed with Steve though, watch out for that guy this next year!
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 16.65 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 16.65 |
| AM: 10 miles easy in Ogden with Bret, Jon, Ken, and Jace. My legs were feeling the heavy load from last week, so I think I will push my workout back to Wednesday instead of tomorrow. Last week was high volume and a lot of quality, so I need to make sure I let it sink in and improve my fitness. The timing was good for a big week. This week I'd like to maintain high volume and get another really good workout in, which may not happen if I try tomorrow, so Wednesday it is.
Also, I began "Operation: lose a few pounds before Houston" yesterday. If I stay around 153, then there's no way sub-1:06 is going to happen. But if I can get back to 150-ish I think there's a chance I have a race to remember.
PM: 6.65 miles easy in South Weber.
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 17.65 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 17.65 |
| AM: 12.1 miles easy in South Ogden with Bret and Ken. It was a pleasant morning; reasonably "warm" for December at 27 degrees. Toward the end we saw my Mom drive by, she slowed down and offered us "fuel" for the run in the form of McDonald's breakfast.
PM: 5.55 miles easy in South Weber.
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2849.65 | 560.34 | 253.53 | 108.84 | 3772.36 |
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| Saucony Progrid Guide 5 Miles: 226.73 | Mizuno Wave Alchemy Miles: 114.94 | Saucony Fastwich (Red) Miles: 88.45 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 59.51 | Saucony Fastwich (Green) Miles: 30.85 | Asics DS Racer Miles: 11.22 | Asics GT-2000 Miles: 339.58 | Saucony Fastwich 6 Miles: 293.99 | Adidas Supernova Sequence Miles: 321.20 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 381.81 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 292.74 | Asics GT-2000 (Yellow) Miles: 351.52 | Barefoot Miles: 8.64 | Pearl Izumi EM Trail M2 Miles: 98.73 | Pearl Izumi EM Road M3 Miles: 358.78 | Pearl Izumi EM Road N1 Miles: 101.22 | Pearl Izumi EM Road H3 Miles: 267.70 |
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