Everything Counts

LONG RUN

We had a great group out this morning for a long run down Monte Cristo into Huntsville.  We met up at Rainbow Gardens and from there piled into Ben's Van.  We had Ken, Ben, Bryant, Dave, Jon, and Jason.  Albert was the hero of the day and woke up early to drive us to the top and drop us off.  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) and we were ready for the real meat of the run.  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.  20.25 miles at a 5:42 average which includes warm up and cool down.  So, I'll take it.  I think I still could use some more endurance though, and I have a month to work on that.  The other guys all ran well too and I think everyone was sub-6:00 or close overall for the run.  It's fun running with these guys.  It was crazy humid this morning for Utah!  88% But we avoided rain the entire run!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/369458486#

pm: 3.4 mile shakeout run. Legs were TIRED.

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.

10.9 miles easy.  Today was just as slow as yesterday, but the legs felt much better.

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?

7.55 miles easy with Ben in North Ogden.

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: