Everything Counts

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.