Everything Counts

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!

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.

10.75 miles easy.

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.

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.

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.