Joe's Running Blog

Great way to start off the New Year. Got on the treadmill--it was 23 degrees below zero this morning, so I figured the treadmill would have to suffice. Only 6 miles, but I'm pleased with it and it's much better than what I've been doing lately. Got on the bathroom scale this morning also, and though I'm definitely not pleased with the numbers, it's a starting point and that's all I needed. I don't necessarily believe in resolutions, but rather goals, and one of them definitely is to get under 135 lbs. I know I'll race and feel better if that's where I'm at or under. The soft plan right now is to shoot for a spring/summer marathon, possibly Des News, and see what happens. I'm helping a friend Nate Wilcox break 3:30 in the marathon at Ogden, and I'll be running that with him to help him reach his goal. Best to all for a great 2008!

Good run today. Nothing special, just got in a decent run on the treadmill while watching "Coach Carter". As I was getting my shoes on, I noticed the incline on the treadmill was set at 2%. AnnMarie indicated to me she had to raise it to get some of Myles' cars from underneath. No problem. However, when I began running, I forgot the incline was set, and I thought to myself "I'm not surprised I feel a little sluggish, but this is crazy!" Usually I run one minue at 7:30/mile pace, then pick it up to somewhere in the 6:50 to 6:40 range for a mile or two. Anyhow, I felt so "sluggish" that I left it at 7:30 for over 6 minutes, before I remembered the incline was set! So I dropped the incline to zero, and at every mile thereafter I would increase the speed. Finally on the last mile I increased the incline at 1/4 mile increments, finishing at 4%. I was working a little, but it was one of those good feelings of hard work. Three days in a row of running, and 4 out of the 5 days. Played basketball this morning at 6 a.m, in what was possibly my worst game ever on record--which would mean it was pretty bad, since not many of my games are on record. I think I shot 1 for 10, and would probably have trouble hitting water if I fell outta boat. Oh well, it was some decent sprint cardio early in the morning. I'll try to go again tomorrow morning. out.

First semi-hard workout of the new year. AnnMarie is down in Ogden for a doctor check-up, so I figured I'd feed Myles breakfast then hop on the treadmill while he played with his cars and/or watched a video--"Signing Times w/Alex & Leah". I'm certain I'll have those videos memorized in their entirety if I put enough miles in on the treadmill. Anyhow, I wanted to do something with some hill intervals in it, and I wanted to get between 6-10 miles. Started out at 7:30 pace for a couple minutes, then down to 6:55. I realize that isn't too fast, but considering I'm at 6300 feet elevation, and the treadmill is in the same room as our fireplace, I can tell my body is working hard to keep cool, and not to mention I'm packing around a couple extra pounds. Anyhow, down to 6:40 after 2 miles, then 6:30 after 4. So at 6 miles, I start playing with the incline. One minute at 1%, one minute level. One minute at 2%, one minute level. So on, up to 6%. And I cranked the speed to 6:25-6:22/mile. Then finished up with one last mile at 6:15 pace. Good workout, my lungs and legs were feeling it, but it felt good to work hard for over 50 minutes. If I'm lucky enough, I'll maybe get in 3 more miles tonight. 

Another good tm run this morning. At first I thought it might be a short run, as my hamstrings were quite sore/tight, probably from yesterday's incline workout and also playing basketball yesterday afternoon. Anyhow, after a 2 minute warm up at 7:30 pace, I put the pace at 6:50 for a few miles, then began what I suppose is a "step-down" run. Every mile, I increased the pace 8 seconds per mile. I finished at 6 minute pace for the last mile, which in and of itself isn't that tough, but in the boiler room of a den in which the treadmill is in, I found myself working quite hard to not only keep cool but keep the pace. At exactly 10 miles, I hit stop and straddled the belt of the tm. No cool down, no jogging. It felt great. Wife made waffles, eggs, and bacon for "brunch" since it's after 11 a.m. Tomorrow will definitely be a recovery day.

Every tree, shrub and vertical structure is frosted and coated with snow, we had snow and wind all through the night. However, it's surprisingly warm for January in Cokeville, so I may even venture out for tomorrow's run.

Nice recovery 5 on the tm. Again, the treadmill room is absolutely sweltering, so I've enlisted the help of the spray bottle for/from the ironing board to keep me somewhere short of melting. Saturday's run indicated that I'm woefully out of shape, as I was wiped out for the rest of the day. Took yesterday off, and with a somewhat rough day at work, I only wanted to get in 5-6 miles. On a somewhat unrelated note, it looks like our home in North Ogden will either rent or sell shortly. We're excited about those prospects--mostly because then we won't have two house payments! I hope it works out.

Another 5 on the treadmill, in the cooker of a room with the fireplace blazing. Watched part of "Where the Red Fern Grows". Not your typical training movie, but it does have special meaning to where I currently live. The main character in the movie "Billy Coleman" is played by Stewart Petersen, who lives here in Cokeville. He was in a handful of other movies, and for those LDS bloggers on here, you will recognize him from a couple church videos. Anyhow, he's a great guy and I teach two of his daughters at school. Check out the movie, if it doesn't motivate you to have a pet, it will make you cry because the two dogs in the movie die.

To answer wheakory's question, I'm not sure if I'm going to shoot for my same fitness level I previously held. I hope things work out where I can--there are loads of guys in their early to mid 30s who are competing just fine, I don't see why I can't be one of them. Or at least try.

Finally! A chance to run outside today. I realize neither of those previous two fragments were complete sentences, please forgive me. The temperatures in Cokeville soared into the 20s today, allowing me an opportunity to venture outside for my run. My goal was to make it to the top of "Big Hill", which is directly east of Cokeville. If any of you out there have travelled through Cokeville en route to either Jackson or Yellowstone, Big Hill is the well...big hill due east of the Flying J. Can't miss it. There's a radio tower up there, a shooting range on the south side of the hill, and a county dump on the east side. Anyhow, I didn't feel like running in foot-deep snow, so I turned around at the dump and then went out on the Smith's Fork road for a ways until it was time to turn around. 45 minutes total, and a further reminder of how woefully out of shape I currently am. I feel...fat. I know I've gained a couple pounds, but I just feel like a meatball out there, rolling along. Anyhow, that's the run, in a nutshell.

Decent run on the 'mill today. My motivation to run wasn't all that great to begin with, but I forced myself into a run and, as always, was glad I did. However, some bad news to report on the treadmill; yet further evidence I need to lose weight. I believe the deck of the treadmill has a fatal crack in it; therefore, when I land on the tm, it "gives" or "sags" significantly, stretching the belt and causing untold further damage. I don't know if nordictrack will replace the deck, I won this tm at St. George 2005 Marathon. If they won't, I don't think I'll go for a replacement deck; I'm not sure what I'll do. Brave the elements and go outside, I suppose. Anyhow, glad to get the run in the books.

Bad news on the 'mill front. The deck is officially gonzo, so I layered up and braved the cold. And lemme tell ya, it's COLD here in Cokeville. And slick, and I get weird looks from people driving. Only got 4 1/2 miles in, but it was a solid pace the entire way, and for once I didn't feel like a meatball like I have for the past two months or so. I don't know if Nordictrack will replace the deck or not, if they don't, then we'll probably take some money from when we sell our home and get a nice one. We have used this one often, so we figure it's a worthwhile investment. Out.

With the mill on the fritz, I happened upon a bit of luck. I guess the town hall here in Cokeville has two heavy duty treadmills in the basement of the senior center. Yee haw. With any luck, I would have the place to myself. I finally made it over there about 5 this evening, and hopped on one of the treadmills. Nice toy. Unfortunately, it was steaming hot in there, seemingly almost as hot as our den room where our own mill was recently laid to rest. Anyhow, I decided to do a mini-fartlek workout. Basically, I did 5x1 minute hard with one minute recovery. The last one was a 2 minute effort, so I felt good about it and even survived. Maybe I'm not a meatball after all.

Early morning basketball, and the mileage entry is an estimate, but I'm gonna count it as something. Too bad I can't count the elbow I took to the chest as something, too. I'm told I have a new nickname--"fetch". Our team rebounds it, someone hucks it down the court, and I fetch it. I actually scored a few buckets this morning, and definitely got a good workout.

The previous meatball comments made about myself were not intended to draw sympathy or warm fuzzies from anyone, though I appreciate the encouraging words from those who commented. But trust me, I've got a ways to go before I'm back to where I was even last spring. But I'll get there, of that I know. I think I'm going to run the Casper marathon, June 8th, in Casper, Wyoming. Don't know why exactly, but I think it will be a good one. Definitely low key, and winnable. I don't even think there are any prizes to speak of, but it will be one in which my family and friends can come watch. Should be fun. My plans are still to pace my friend Nate Wilcox in the Ogden Marathon, he's trying to break 3:30. I believe if he stays injury-free and keeps training smartly, he'll smash 3:30.

Stacy, if you read this, I commented on your blog last night, but I believe it was on your entry for 1/14/08.  Thanks, Joe.

Solid workout today, probably the best of 2008 for me. Decided to give the treadmills at the senior center another workout, and despite the heat and boredom of no tv, I hopped on and after 5 min of warm up, and did alternating 2 min hard @11 mph, 1 min recovery @ 8 mph. The pace for those is 5:27 and 7:30, respectively. The first two hards were exactly that--hard. But after that, my heart rate fell into a predictable rthythm and on the last two, I increased the pace a little. Nothing too spectacular, but a good step in the right direction. Makes me wonder how the heck in college we would do 15X1000 meters at 2:58-3:00 with 60 seconds rest. Those were what we called "come to Jesus" workouts. We were on our knees, begging for mercy. out.

Great run today. Ran from AnnMarie's parents' house in Layton, as that is where she is staying until it's time to go into the hospital for delivery of child #2. We're not due until the end of Feb, but I don't think we'll make it that far. anyhow, decided to hook up with nate Wilcox, who lives just off Gordon Ave at about 3400 west or so, so I decided to run out to his place, and then run with him for 60 more minutes. It's just under 5 miles to his place from where I started, and after a little warming up, I kicked it into cruise control and picked up the tempo a little. Total run was just a hair over 90 minutes. After breakfast, went to Cabela's in Lehi with Myles and Nate and probably walked another 5K in that place. It's huge! Great store. 

Early morning basketball, I seem to be playing a little better now. I wouldn't go so far as to say the Jazz will be calling anytime soon, but rather, I don't feel like a liability as much anymore. I get in a good workout and treat it as such--as soon as my team has the ball, I'm off and running. I'm going to call it max vo2 miles, cuz well, it doesn't fit into any of the other categories. Works for me, probably not for the purists out there.

Ran on the senior center treadmills this evening, 6 miles. Feeling a little beat up from the long run on saturday, as well as the basketball this morning, but I'm glad I went 6 instead of 5. More of a mental battle than anything, but one that I won anyhow.

It's been a rough week for running. After getting kneed in the calf while playing ball last Tuesday, it hurt to even walk, let alone run. I managed 4 miles last Thursday, and all I've done since then and today was 45 minutes of basketball saturday night. Aargh!

anyhow, I got on the treadmill after school and got in a solid 5 miles. Tomorrow is my night class in Afton, so I'll have to play ball early in the morning if I want to get any exercise in.

Early morning basketball. I know it's not true max vo2 training, but it's definitely a workout. Plus, we won two of the three games we played.

Okay, okay, it's been too long, and people have hassled me too much, I'm finally back, again. February was a tough running month, what with the arrival of baby boy Sullivan Roy Wilson and near-constant sub-zero temperatures then entire month. March was so-so, some weeks would be good, and others were about 10-15 miles per week. Not sure I want to put that out there for everyone to analyze and dissect. But what the heck, right? We're all runners on here, and we all go through the peaks and valleys of a runner.

My immediate goal is go get my carcass ready for Casper Marathon on June 8. I think I can do well at it if I have 5-6 more solid weeks of training like most of April has been, so hopefully I can get my butt out the door each morning for a decent run, and then keep adding some runs in the evenings. I've been going on some hard-day workouts with the Cokeville track team, and I'm reminded of how far out of sprint shape I am. Ouch.

Anyhow, this morning was a solid 7 miles, 10 minutes with the boys distance runners and the rest on my own. I'm hoping to add some evening runs to get my daily mileage over 10/day.

Only time for 5 miles this morning, started with the team, and finished by myself. Thought we had faculty meeting at 7:15, so I cut my run short so AnnMarie could get in a couple miles, and that's about all she had time for. I get to school, and no faculty meeting. Bummer. I REALLY need to get in another run tonight, especially since tomorrow I'll only have the chance to run once, due to my night class in Afton I must attend. Out.

Met my goal of getting in another run, though it was only four miles and not without some drama. I didn't get out the door until about 9:20, so it was plenty dark and I decided I'd better gear up with a headlamp and reflective vest. I ventured east until main street intersects Hwy 30, then turned around and headed out west to the "west side" to my two mile mark, then turn around again and head for home. Basically, my four mile loop. On my way back into town with about 1 mile to go, I see a car approaching from the south--behind me. I move over to the west side of the road, so I'm clear on the other side of the road from the vehicle. As the car approaches, I glance over my shoulder to check where the car is, and much to my surprise/dismay/fear it is no less than four feet clear of me and approaching fast. I jump into the barrow pit, and let out a phrase that rhymes with firetruck. No luck in catching a license plate i.d, all I could do was hope for a train to pass through town soon enough to block this car from crossing the tracks and escaping my wrath. No luck with the train, so the best I could do is finish my run and recount to AnnMarie what had happened. My guess is it was probably some high school punks--probably students of mine, but if I find out who it is, they'll have a broken windshield and tires flattened--but just on the bottom side. Too much drama for 4 measly miles.

5.5 miles this morning, started out with the team and finished on my own. No cars to run me off the road like last night, just a boring morning run. It's supposed to rain/snow sometime today, so I'm glad I got the run in. AnnMarie got hers in, I'm still working on getting her signed up on the blog.

Ran to the top of "Big Hill" and back. Tough and steep incline, and lots of Wyoming wind. One of those runs you're glad when you're done. Actually, I can't think of a run that I'm NOT glad when I'm done.

Airport and back run. Cool crisp run, had to hustle because AnnMarie graduates this afternoon from Weber State with her Bachelor's of Nursing. So is she now a bachelor? I hope not. I'm proud of her and all the hard work she's put into it, it seems like she's been going to school for quite some time. Woo hoo!

Ran to the "west side" with AnnMarie. I let her set the pace, and toward the end of the  run she commented we/she probably started off too fast. Busy day today, we will be excavating for our home, moving lots and lots of dirt, but also burning some deadfall, and cleaning up lots of schtick that's on the property we're building on here in Cokeville. My sister & brother-in-law, brother and sister-in-law are also in town with their kids to help out. Hopefully we can get done what we need to.

Ran with the team for 10 minutes, then on my own for the rest. Decided to check out the poison creek road, and besides the coyotes howling like made, it was a pleasant run. We got most of the "dirty work" done for the footings and foundation, am hoping to have the footings done early this week and the foundation going by the end of the week. It's coming along, and having some family in town helped out too. I'm hoping to get another run in tonight, 5 or 6 miles would be nice. It's going to be tough to juggle work, building a home, and running for the next month, but I think I can do it if I drag my carcass outta bed in the morning and run in the evening instead of watch a movie with my wife while eating ice cream and/or cookies.

No run today. Woke up with a nasty sore throat and just overall feeling of garbage. In the evening, a bunch of community members gathered at the house two doors down from us to clean up what was left from a house-destroying fire on 4-26-08. So I hope the running gods will bless me for doing a good deed for my neighbor.

6 miles in the morning, it was fairly pleasant--almost 40 degrees, and apart from Montezuma's Revenge plaguing me for a couple miles, I enjoyed the run. Am definitely concerned about the marathon coming up, and my current level of fitness, which isn't much.

Helped finish the clean up on the burned-down house two doors down, what a mess! At least they'll be able to rebuild a new home soon. Out.

Solid airport run. Didn't get a lot of sleep last night, and I'm fairly tired as I write this, but it was a good run to get done for the day. Looks like more rain to come, but I will try to squeeze in another run this evening.

Missed yesterday's run, but made it out the door early for a combo road/trail run. Headed out Smith's Fork Hwy until the Pine Creek turn off, then turned around and stayed on SFH until it met up with the Sheep Trail Road. No jokes about anything to do with sheep. There are NO sheep on the sheep trail road! Anyhow, the STR is a mean, uphill bugger that taxes me everytime I run it. Turned east and headed for the landfill, and saw probably 100-150 deer just getting up for their morning cup o' joe. Cruised the downhill from the landfill, and cruised back home. Solid run with good results, I hope. Casper marathon is way too close, and I need to get a couple good long runs in before then.

I summoned the courage to attempt a "hard" workout, one that was tied to a watch, a distance, and a standard. I decided to try 4x1 mile with anywhere from a 1/2 mile to full mile jog recovery. The wind picked up early in the afternoon and really howled for most of the afternoon and into the evening. Finally about 8:15 it calmed down enough, and I made it out the door to see just how far out of shape I really was. Jogged a 1/2 mile warm up, then took off toward the east, running on main street here in Cokeville. I definitely get some strange looks, running on Sunday in a largely LDS community where everyone knows everyone. Oh well, come June 8th it will only matter if I'm in shape or not, it won't matter which days I trained on. Others may disagree...

Anyhow, back to my sluggish workout: My goal was to run 5:20s or better, which at 6300 feet is worth more than a few seconds. After a few feeble attempts at stretching, I took off.  I felt like I was sprinting, and when I approached the 1/4 mile mark, I was a bit dismayed to see 1:22. Too slow. WAY too slow. I attempted to pick up the pace, and apart from the taste of pennies in my mouth and my head feeling like it was going to explode, I felt great. Time at 1 mile: 5:19. Whew, maybe I can salvage this after all. 5:19 for the second, 5:16 for the 3rd, and 5:15 for the last. I seemed to get stronger as the workout wore on. Make no mistake, I was working my tail off, and I can feel the "new fat" that Sasha eloquently described last summer. But with each good workout, with each run, I get a little closer to being in better shape. I think one of my strengths is that my body responds quickly to stress, so the plan is to do the same workout in 7-10 days and see where I'm at after 4 repeats of one mile, and keep going if I can.

woke up yesterday to 2 inches of snow, and it seems that snow is enough of a motivation-killer that I don't make it out the door. Oh well, I'll probably regret it the last 6 miles of the Casper Marathon...

This morning held no new snow, just the chill from 25 degrees. Total of 5 miles on the Smith's Fork Hwy. Need to get another run in tonight.

Made it out for another run, headed to the west side. Felt like a "runner", not just a meatball rolling along like I have for months. Excited for the O-town marathon this weekend, I'll be helping my friend Nate Wilcox in his attempt to break 3:30. Should be fun, if only a bit warm.

I don't know if I should call today's miles "easy", but they definitely were slow enough that if anyone saw me running, they would probably say it looked like I was taking it easy. I pushed Myles in the jogging stroller, and between one flat/low wheel and my overall fatigue, it was a grueling 6 miles. Glad to have it done.

Tough time getting outta bed this morning, but I managed to get 5 miles in, out to the west side and back. Nothing too exciting, but glad to get something done. Hoping to get another run in tonight. Heading to Provo early tomorrow morning to watch two of my former high school athletes run in the state championships--George Barlow and Angela Baker of Weber High. They'll be in the 1600 tomorrow morning. I hope they end their high school careers with fast races; George will be continuing at BYU this fall and Angela at UVSC/UVU. I'm proud of them.

No running today, but I watched George Barlow and Angela Baker--both from Weber High--run in the finals of the 1600 meter run at the Utah State 5A championships. They both did well, Angela clocked 5:20 and George 4:22. I'm proud of them both and was glad I got a final chance to watch them perform. Drove clear out to Vernon to look at some trusses/rafters for our garage we're planning for as we build our new home here in Cokeville. I found the trusses on KSL.com classifieds, and if you haven't been to Vernon, it's way the hay bales west of Eagle Mountain. Way west. Like almost Wendover-west. anyhow, I think the trusses will work, and the price is right, too.

Marathon tomorrow, hoping Nate can break 3:30.

Ran O-town Marathon today with Nate Wilcox. Like the other entries on the blog, I felt the temp would be a factor. Not cold enough at the starting line. Gave me flashbacks to Chicago Marathon last October. Anyhow, it was a different feeling, knowing I wouldn't be running for myself, but rather as a one-man peloton or "sherpa", as Nate would call it. Turns out that Eric Randall--one of my former student-athletes, and Steven Sessions, husband of one of my former student-athletes, ran with nate and myself for several miles. Eric would be ahead of us by 7 miles and went on to a fantastic race of 3:27. Steven, in his first marathon, looked great and was with Eric for several miles afther they pulled away from nate/me, then I saw Steven again at 16 or so miles. He indicated his achilles were in serious pain, and I tried to ease him down the canyon and escort him to the finish. He made it in 3:54. Back to Nate's race...

By 1/2 way, we were only 2:30 down from 3 hours, 30 min, but I could sense that it would be a battle of survival the last 10 or so miles. We continued on at about 8:30 or so from 14-19 miles, then the struggle began. Steven and nate's stride continued to deteriorate, but they kept a positive attitude and kept pushing. By the time we got out of the canyon, we were slowing significantly and feeling the effects of the heat. Steven began to pull ahead a little, I stayed with Nate and encouraged him home. He finished in 3:56, not what he was shooting for, but not a bad time either. I was proud of him for sticking it out and keeping a positive outlook for what was basically a too-hot day to run a marathon. It was a different experience running in the middle of the pack, but I'd do it again if I was asked.

No running today, I'm more sore than I thought I'd be, but I suppose that's going to happen when a person runs for four hours, no matter the pace. An interesting thought came to me since the marathon: does a person experience more muscle trauma running a 4 hour marathon or 2:30? I don't have a concrete answer.

Easy morning run. My legs are still quite sore from Saturday, so today was an easy run.

Ran past the airport and back. The last 5 minutes were definitely a reminder of the marathon I ran on saturday. I'm stoked for Casper, though I know I'm not in as good of shape as I'd like to be.

Easy run this morning in the chilling rain. Need to get another run in tonight. Nothing special about today's run. 

Solid run this morning out on the west side. Cloudy, foggy, but no rain, so it made for nice running weather. I can still feel the effects of the Ogden Marathon in my legs, which isn't surprising when I consider I was out there for nearly 4 hours, regardless of the pace. I think I might be okay for Casper, as long as my legs are rested. The plan for here on out is 40-50 minute runs with one or two 60-70 minute runs.

Okay, following Paul Petersen's lead, I'm going to enter my "cross-training" workout, and even though I didn't run today, I got one heck of a workout. We're working on our new home, and today's menu included putting up four window wells. While that may not seem like much of a workout, my task included using the hammer drill to bore holes for the anchor bolts which hold the window wells. If any of you have used a hammer drill, they're nice to have around. If you've used a hammer drill with a 1/2" drill bit, you know that it's WORK. Anyhow, by the end of the day, I was beat like a rented mule.

Ran to the mouth of Pine Creek Resort and back this morning. It felt good to get in a long solid run, and it was even nice that I had a brand new iPOD from good friend Nate Wilcox. He paid us a surprise visit Friday, and bore gifts. Not of frankincense and myrhh, but of a much more usable form. In return, I granted unto him 4 seedling Colorado Blue Spruce trees. He is a tree lover like AnnMarie and I, so I know he'll value them. Anyhow, today has been more work at the house, yes on Sunday, but it needs to be done. Backfill, move some scrap metal, knock down that ratty barn-shed, and stockpile more topsoil to put on top of the fill dirt we need to haul in.

Bummer that I missed both Monday and Tuesday's run. Monday rained the entire day, and though there are those who would not let a little water slow down a run, I decided to call it part of my taper for Casper marathon and not run. Additionally, Myles has not been sleeping through the night very well, and I've woke up several times with him to try to get him to go back to sleep. Finally, we decided it would be better for me to sleep with him in his bed than have him continually try to come in and sleep with AnnMarie and me. There is no such thing as sound sleep when sharing a twin-sized bed with a two year old, so both Monday morning and Tuesday morning I woke up feeling on the verge of having a cold. so no run.

However, this morning proved relatively uneventful, and I made it out the door for 7.5 miles. Ran down to check on the bonfire we started last night on our property where we're building, then out towards the airport. Felt pretty good, I sure liked cruising with the tunes from my new iPOD from Nate Wilcox.