Everything Counts

15.19 miles easy.  Met up with Ken and Ben and got in an easy morning run.  We did the first 10 miles on the trails then a bit down on the roads.  Great run to start off the week.

8.2 miles easy.  Met up with Ken and Bret on the Riverdale Parkway.  The headlamps were out in full force this morning as it seems to stay noticeably darker each week.  The pace was somewhat brisk for an easy run.  It was also noticeably cooler this morning.

FARTLEK WORKOUT

I did a few sets of fartleks on the base perimeter road.  I set my garmin to autolap every 0.25 miles.  The goal was to alternate every 0.25 miles between goal sea-level 5k pace and marathon pace.  I wanted to do a 2-mile set and a 3-mile set with 3 minutes rest in between.

First Set Splits: 81 72 86 69 83 68 82 69 Total 2-mile time 10:10

Second set was into the canyon headwind and after a mile it proved to be too hard of an effort. So I only did one mile and then jogged three minutes until the road curved and the wind became a cross wind.  Then I did a third set of two miles.  So not as I planned but the headwind was rough.  It took a herculean effort to hit 75 pace into that wind.

Second Set Splits: 88 74 88 75 Total 1-mile time 5:25

Third Set Splits: 74 85 73 85 69 83 70 84 Total 2-mile time 10:23

I wish I would've worn my flats, because it felt heavy running these in my trainers.  Oh well I suppose it was a better workout in trainers.

10 miles easy on the base perimeter road.  I felt pretty decent this morning, I think my legs are enjoying the cut in mileage this week.  But next week it will be back to hitting higher mileage.

6.14 miles easy around my neighborhood in South Weber. 

Well I wasn't expecting much out of this race.  I'm a horrible downhill runner and figured I wouldn't have much of a chance at winning.  But, I figured I'd try my best to not run with my normal arched back running form and try to get my shoulders and hips forward so as not to fight gravity.  But that didn't last long, I run faster getting forward like that but it's so uncomfortable I can't sustain it for much longer than 400 meters at a time, and I end up leaning back again and slowing down.  It was funny after the race my wife said, "Don't get offended by this but yours and Ken's downhill form is night and day.  You just look awful!" 

It was a decent field through four runners.  It was Ken, Teren, Jon Kotter, and me. The race got started and I dashed to the lead.  I led for about a half mile until we hit a steep stretch.  The other three gained 10 meters on me on this steep section.  Then it flattened out a bit again and I zoomed back to the front.  I was in 1st at the mile with a 4:22 split.

Right then my stomach really started rumbling and I had GI problems the rest of the way.  In case anyone is wondering, having GI problems and running a fast, jarring downhill race don't mesh well.  I had two choices, slow down or mess my shorts.  I opted for the former.

The other three guys put 30, yes 30 seconds on me almost immediately in the next mile.  I was 4:40 for mile two and Ken told me after he was 4:12.  My stomach was really hurting and I was looking for somewhere to stop for a potty break.  Nowhere looked good yet so I kept trying to run as fast as I could under the conditions.  Mile 3 was 4:37.

During the next mile there was a port a potty a few yards off the road and I had to stop and use it.  I don't know how long I was in there but I figure it was about a minute looking at my split for that mile.  Afterward I was able to run a bit faster now, at least until the last half mile when my stomach started hurting again.  Miles 4 and 5 were 5:28 and 4:21.

So I finished in 4th and immediately ran into the trees to find a secret bathroom.  Jon ended up winning, with Ken 2nd and Teren 3rd.