Joe's Running Blog

Didn't get a run in yesterday, which put me in a foul mood for most of the day, coupled with the fact we are in the middle of tiling our kitchen floor, which has REALLY put me in a foul mood. Anyway, I won't go into too much detail, other than to say I hope the people who buy our home don't look too closely at the tile. Ran 80 minutes with Casey Snider, another one of my former athletes who walked on the track/cross country team at Utah State. He is hoping to make the traveling team this fall, and I think he can do it. He broke 5 minutes maybe 3-4 times in high school, so what he's doing now is pretty remarkable. We ran on the trail at the base of Ben Lomond Peak, it was nice. Now...back to the bloody tiling.

50 minutes on the canal east with Gracy the dog. My folks are in town for a few days, so I took the border collie. Gracy certainly started faster than I like to that early in the morning, but after a few miles we were stride for stride, if it's possible to be "in stride" with a pooch. Decided the tile would be coming up on saturday and we'd start over. Went fishing with my Dad after the run, so I suppose that counts as more cross training, doesn't it? Standing in waist-high swift moving water is certainly a workout, isn't it?

Did part of a Daniels "T" workout today on the track. Cut the workout short a little to get ready in time for AnnMarie's triathlon in Hyrum. Did 3.25 miles at "T" pace in a stiff breeze, I wanted to be under 5:20 pace for the entire distance, and ended up 17:19, which I don't think I could have cut any closer if I tried. Took 3 minutes rest, then had time only for one more mile before I hdeaded home. 5:08, then changed shoes and headed home. Update on the tile: decided to tear up the un-uniform tile and re-set it. Yeah, not fun. Yeah, a lot of work. My pops and I spent Saturday afternoon scraping up the tiles and mortar, and that DEFINITELY counts as some sort of cross training.

66 minutes in Cokeville on the sheep trail--no jokes about the name of the trail, please. Gracy the dog went with me and did quite well the entire time. 4x120 strides on the grass at Cokeville High's football field. Felt pretty good the entire time. Myles is going with Grandpa & Grandma Wilson until Wednesday or Thursday, so I can finish the bloody kitchen tile while AnnMarie is at Girls Camp Tues-Fri.

Ran on the streets and trails of North Ogden, finished up with 1.5 miles at roughly marathon pace coming from the trail east of home. Nothing special, felt pretty good. Will do the Daniels "T" workout tomorrow.

Daniels "T" workout on the track with Casey Snider. Jogged there via the bathroom at Barker Parker in Pleasant View. The plan was 15-20 minutes at "T" pace, 10 minute jog, then 15-20 at "T" pace. First set was 13 laps (3.25 miles), switching off leads with Casey. He had the option to sit out any given lap, then run 1, 2, or 3 with me. Anyhow, so here's how it went: 1st mile 5:20, 2 miles 10:37, 3 miles 15:51, 17:08 for 3.25. Took off on a jog, and decided to do 3.5 for the final set. 1st lap: 82! I thought for sure it was faster than that, but I realize as well I'm just flat-out getting old and it takes a couple laps to warm up. 1600 in 5:19, 10:33 for 2 miles, 16:26 for 5K (didn't get 3 miles), but 18:14 for total, last mile in 5:03, last lap in 70. Yes, I was a little anaerobic on the last lap, but I didn't really care. I could smell the barn and wanted to blow out a little of the cobwebs. Today was a good confidence builder, I can't help but think this pace will feel like cake when Chicago rolls around. AnnMarie's gone to girls camp, Myles is with his grandparents, heck I have the entire house to myself...and the tile that needs grouted, and the doors that need hung/painted, lawn that needs mowed, etc. Yeah, I've got plenty to do.

40 minutes in Pleasant View and North Ogden. Definitely feeling yesterday's workout AND kneeling for 4 1/2 hours grouting and cleaning grout on the tile in the kitchen. My knees are hammered. Will plan on getting some more miles in this evening.

Trail run with Nick Fisher and Casey Snider. We started on the new Snowbasin road, and headed uphill toward Snowbasin resort. Once we got near the resort, we were a little above it and worked our way over to Green Pond trail, then down icebox to Wheeler canyon trailhead. Probably one of the most scenic and flat-out beautiful trails I've ever been on, even if it was fairly rocky in places. Saw two skunks, nearly ran over one about 15 minutes into the run, then we must have seen his cousin or something a few minutes later. Needless to say, we surged at those points, as they were fairly close to the trail. Really close. After the run, I drove to Rawlins, WY to meet my parents and pick up Myles. Had a heck of a time staying awake and alert, but made it home and even have some time to put some finishing touches on the kitchen before the vice-president returns from girls' camp. Planning on 20 miles on saturday, I need this run.

Easy 6 on the treadmill. One mile at 7:30 pace, 4 at 7:00 pace, the last one at 6:40 pace. Watched 42 minutes of "Open Season". Too hot to go outside, but I couldn't go this morning, with AnnMarie still at girls camp and just me/Myles at home. Hope I feel good for tomorrow's run.

Great run this morning, I was hoping to get a good distance run in, and I felt like I got it. Met with Nick, Casey, Corbin Talley and his davis high cross country team at Causey Reservoir. The plan was to run the trail at Causey, which would be 5 miles, then Casey and I would run back to our cars parked at Eden Park, which would give us between 21 and 22 miles. Nick would only be running the trail part with us, as he's only been training a month. I don't know exactly how long the trail is, people say it's 2.5 miles, but it took us 21-plus minutes to get to the end of it, and no way were we going 8 minute pace. Interesting side note about the trail, if you ever want to see one of nature's finest displays, hike or run this trail the last two weeks in September or first week in October. Kokanee salmon migrate up the tributary which feeds causey reservoir to spawn (that means give birth and die to city folks), and there are literally thousands of salmon. the trail naturally meets up with the stream, and a blind person could see all the salmon. It's quite a sight. Anyhow...

So 40 minutes with the Davis High crew and Nick, then Casey and I took off for the rest of the run. Casey admitted to staying out late the previous couple nights, and unfortunately I wasn't in a very charitable mood, and had been good-naturedly ribbing him on the ride up to causey and on the trail portion that I was going to abuse him on the remaining part of the run. Well, his week and the pace finally caught up to him about 1 hour 25 minutes into the run, so I told him I'd see him back in Eden. I wanted to push myself into that zone where we all get to the last few miles of a marathon. Where our mind and body alike say "enough already". I got there with about 15 minutes to go, and attempted to keep 6 minute pace and a decent stride going. It hurt for sure, but it was one of my goals for the run, and I was fortunate to get the last 5 miles just under 6 minute pace. 2:17 for the entire run, came home, ate and slept for a couple hours. I feel okay now, will try to get to bed tonight at a decent time. Casey struggled home the last 10 miles, and admitted afterword that he needs to treat his body better if he's going to push it like we did. He'll be just fine at Utah State, I don't know if I've met a harder worker than this guy.

Trail run today. 1st 25 minutes were all uphill, I went on the access road being used to construct the new water tower at the base of Ben Lomond Peak in North Ogden. Headed east on the power line trail once I made it to the water tower, then home on 3100 north. I wasn't moving very fast, I can still feel yesterday's 20 plus miler, but I'll be okay. Stayed out a little late last night at the Weber County redneck bonanza, aka the Demolition Derby, but hey, I suppose we all have a little redneck in us.

Hard workout today, Daniels "T" workout. 8x1 mile @ threshold pace with 30 seconds rest. Decided I'd better do this one on the track at Weber High, and I even conned Casey Snider into doing some of it with me. Didn't know how much he'd be doing, but hoped for 2 out of 4 laps from him. My goal pace was to be under 5:20, and figured it would be a bonus if it felt easy.

1st one: 5:18, then 5:17, 5:16, 5:15, 5:17, 5:15, and 5:03. For the last one, Casey ran the 1st, 3rd and 4th laps with me, we were 77 on the first lap, 78 on the second, 77 on the third, and 71? on the last. I think that adds up to 5:03, or at least pretty close to it. Did the entire workout feel easy? No, it did not. I was a little fatigued from Saturday's run, but I think my fitness is at a decent level. We'll see how GSL 1/2 goes this weekend. It's off to Cokeville this afternoon for some high-altitude living and training.

65 minutes in Cokeville, most of it with Nathan. It sure is nice to have 55-60 degree weather for running. Short entry, gotta jet.

65 minutes again with nathan, a little slower than yesterday. Went out on the Poison Creek trail/road, then back through town and out on the Smith's Fork road for a mile or so. Felt pretty sluggish and tired, but glad to have it over with.

50 minutes in Cokeville with Nathan. Felt okay, not great. Spent the rest of the day in Afton in meetings for new teachers. 

Rest today. Traveled to North Ogden from Cokeville, hope to get a good night's sleep.

I don't know why I keep doing this race.  I had debated doing the xTerra trail run Friday night and then the Peak Performance 5K saturday morning, but figured I'd better show my face at a circuit race and wear the SLRC uniform a couple times this summer. I slept okay--not great--and made it to the registration in plenty of time. When I saw Paul Peterson, Pat Smyth, Teren, Dennis, I really felt like I should have done the trail race/5K combo instead. But I knew my training had been solid, and figured 5:20s would be very reasonable.

For some reason, I feel like something just isn't right. My hamstrings have been hurting for over a month now, and a race situation just exacerbates it. I don't mean to make excuses--Teren, Pat, Paul, Dennis, Sasha and many others ran great. Rather, I know I'm in better shape than 1:13, and I can't figure out why just six years ago I ran 1:08:08 on this very course and ran that day thinking "Who wants to go faster?  Who?" I don't buy that it's all in my head--my training is solid and I feel fairly fit most days, I feel something biomechanical is not right. I am going to spend some time and money getting checked out by my physical therapist, I trust her and feel she can get me back on track again.

Anyhow...the race. Teren took off like a scalded dog, Pat and Paul went with him, and I thought out loud there would be some road kill before 10 miles. I didn't think 5:20s would make ME road kill, but it did and Dennis pulled away at 8. Sasha dropped off at 6, and I was able to keep Dennis in range, and finally when we got to the island I changed rthythm and caught up to him and ran in with him. Overall, I was disappointed with how things turned out, I don't know what else to do other than to get checked out with the P.T. and see what she says.

I was amazed on the bus ride back to the start to see Bill and Sasha running back to the start. They both look fit, I'll bet Bill doesn't have more than 2% body fat. The guy looks FIT, like a gunny sack full of deer antlers.

Easy run with Morgan Hancock, one of my former athletes. He's going to attempt to walk on at Weber State, so we ran together for a few miles this morning. I'm sore, and in a somewhat sour mood after yesterday's debacle. Why are my hamstrings so freakin' sore?! Nobody needs to respond to that, I just felt like venting a little.