Go slow to go fast.

Easy 4 miles - 7:45 pace - 320' vert.  Just ran up table mesa and back.  Already itching to run faster and longer.

And then this....http://ryanwburch.blogspot.com/2011/02/final-race-before-fun-on-slickrock.html

Crap.  He had to do that, and put all this pressure on me!  Fortunately I know he's joking, and that he and I are both well aware that he is likely to obliterate me in a 55K race despite the fact that I beat him at the line in a 5K last month.  But hey, at least now I have a little extra motivation.  And while I cannot claim to have much hope that I'm going to blow by Ryan in the final miles of the race, I'm sure it will be fun trying!  My guess is that I'm going to let him and just about everyone else go ahead early on in the up hills because I will likely need to go slower at first to keep my HR in the range I want it in.  And then just hope after 25 miles I have conserved enough energy and quad strength to blast the down hills all out and catch a few people.

Cool interview with Nan published today on Runner's World

Felt the desire to get some turn over going today.  It's hard to just go slow all the time when you're accustomed to going faster a couple days a week, and Nan convinced me it would be a good day to do a really light easy workout.

So I did an easy run with a number of 45 second strides mixed in just to make sure my legs and heart don't forget their job.

The strides felt surprisingly easy even at a fairly decent pace, which is always nice.  They were so short though, that any pace probably would have felt easy.

Ran with Steve this morning which was great.  He's also doing Moab this weekend, fun to chat about that and other stuff.

paces for the 45 second intervals: 5:16, 5:17, 5:21, 4:11, 4:10, 4:16, 4:18 - I'm enjoying how a quicker pace has become pretty comfortable now after close to 3 months of consistent speed work.  Those paces would have felt really awkward for any amount of time a few months ago.

totals: 7.5 miles - 59:30 - 7:57/avg - 570' vertical - HR 139 avg 

4 slow recovery miles.  Flat.  Slow.  The end.

4 easy miles up Table Mesa and back.  32 min. 320' vert.

Legs starting to feel pretty fresh.  I'm guessing they will be itching to move come Saturday. 

Some easy shakeout miles...last little jaunt before the race tomorrow.  I'm looking forward to actually running again tomorrow...I'm kind of bored with these little 4 mile warm up jogs that end before they begin.  

But todays was a little more interesting because after a mile of like 9:30 pace waking up, Brendan Trimboli caught up with me from behind, so it woke me up and we ran the dirt road loop together in a more normal 7:30 ish pace before I headed the .5 to home.  He's a cool kid, and I imagine we'll run more often this year as we live a few blocks away from each other.

Also, I broke out some new shoes that came yesterday in the mail from shopnewbalance.com that I got for 39 dollars including shipping.  They're pretty nice, I'm pleased.  I really like how soft and comfortable the uppers are.  It's the first pair of road flats I've ever worn.   The heal to toe drop ratio is almost identical to the mt101's, very minimal .  Which is still more than the zero I would like, but good enough.  Plus, I get to stay in the Christmas spirit year round with these beauties!

Great Race!  Loved the event.  Survived the wind, and just enjoyed being out there running through the slick rock.  

Here's a brief race report and pics.  Probably more to follow later.