Everything Counts

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

400-METER REPS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1.5-MILE REPEATS

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

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

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

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