Go slow to go fast.

Super easy recovery run around CU campus, past Boulder High, and back home on the broadway trail.  Evening run in the dark around Boulder only crossing 1 intersection going right through the heart of boulder both directions...Boulder is kind of into trails apparently.  I like it here.

7.25 - 59:40 - 8:14 pace - HR: 132 avg  - Nice and really easy cruise around town...feeling pretty good.

Did a moderate workout with Nan and the Running Republic tonight.

I purposefully held back a notch on the repeats and it made it feel slightly easier than previous workouts, but it was still a solid effort...I don't think I was very far backed off when I look at the paces.  Nan was of course doing the same, not going all out, only she was a distance ahead on each one.  

 Here were my splits:

10 minutes at 5:50 pace, 3 minute slow, 4 X 2.5 minutes at these: 5:44, 5:40, 5:46, 5:53.

The coach said we should do half marathon pace on the 10 minute interval...oops.  I'm pretty certain 5:50 is not my current half marathon pace...probably more like 6:30-6:45 is a lot more realistic for that.  So perhaps I pushed that interval harder than I should have 2 days before a race.  Oh well...too late now.  It felt good and smooth, so I went with it.  I wasn't maxing my effort at least.

The 2.5 minute intervals felt relatively easy going at just a slightly faster pace but for much less time.  The last two were more uphill, the first two were slight down hill.  It was a pretty even and good feeling effort.

Hopefully the roads aren't icy on Thursday...its going to be friggin' cold, but as long as its not icy it should be alright for the race.

Looking forward to seeing how the last month or two of training will translate in a race.

wow...felt really stiff today in the left hip after yesterday's workout...guess I pushed it too hard after all.

Farmington Turkey Leg 5K

I think people were scared off by the chilly weather…but it turned out to be a gorgeous morning to be out for a 5K.  And fortunately the roads were almost entirely dry and ice free on the course.   Turned out to be a really fun race and as always a great way to start out Thanksgiving Day.  I’m filled with gratitude at the moment for many things.  My amazing wife and children that I am so blessed to be with topping the list, right along with the blessing of feeling fit and healthy and spiritually at peace, and having an abundance of good things in my life.

Nan and I were among the first to arrive at the race at about 8:20 – we were dressed in 4+ layers and we cruised the course for a warm up.  It was good to get a preview of the course.  The last 1/3 of a mile was on a snow/ice packed trail and we knew it was going to affect the pace at the end somewhat, but otherwise, the course was nice and dry.

But I knew the middle mile of pure uphill was going to be the crux for me today.  My goal after previewing the course and seeing what I was up against was to run 5:45 the first mile, then hold 6:00 pace for the uphill mile, and then hopefully 5:45 or under the last mile in order to squeeze in under 18 minutes.

Well…I couldn’t quite pull off the plan unfortunately. Everything was pretty close to right on except that middle mile.

I only held onto a 6:20 pace the middle mile and that extra 20 seconds is almost exactly what I missed my goal by.  I was actually auto-splitting my garmin at ½ mile increments because I wanted to see the splits in more detail.  So I was shooting for 3 minute half miles those middle 2, but I hit 3:10’s on both.  After that I was pretty sure it was going to be a long shot to pull off a sub 18, so I set a new goal of trying to real in the 3^rd place dude, who had been coming back to me the entire 2^nd mile, as he had gone out with Nan and the other leader, and was running big positive splits.

I reeled him in to within about 10 yards after the downhill, and held him there for the last ¾ mile, but once we hit the final ¼ he pulled out a stronger kick than me and ended up beating me by 20-30 yards, and about 10 seconds I think.

It was a really fun race though.  I suppose looking back I could have pushed myself harder.  Mentally I didn’t feel like I had a very deep dig in me today.  But I felt like I ran a really steady, even race.  I’m OK with it.  I think my biggest mistake in analyzing the week is that I probably worked out too hard on Tuesday.  Coach D told us to do 10 minutes at half marathon pace and I ended up doing it at 5K pace.  I think I would have had more in the tank today if I would have taken it more easy on Tuesday, because yesterday my butt muscle hurt pretty bad and I was a bit stiff.

Anyway, we had a fun time.  But…I wasn’t at puke level by the end of the race, so obviously I didn’t fulfill the purpose of the 5K…oh well…next time.

Here are my ½ mile splits from the race and totals for the day:

2:53:78, 2:57:54, 3:10:25, 3:09:69, 2:45:31, 3:00:96, 0:25 (4:47 pace the last .1)

18:21 total – 5:57 pace – avg HR: 167 – Max HR: 175 - 160' Ascent

I know I can push a lot harder than that, last 5K I tracked HR my heart rate maxed at 185, and averaged about 176 a year ago, and then I only ran 20:33.  Not sure what to make of that.  Does that just show I should be pushing it harder and running faster, or what?

10 miles on the day with the warm up and cool down. 

I love the days like this when I get to run and race with Nan.  Its fun.  Normally we have to switch off running/watching the kids.

Nan took 2^nd today in about 17:20. A high school runner dude beat her by just a little bit.

AAbout 2 mile point

 Pics taken by jun, thanks for posting jun.

Finishing

Did a workout with Nan and Allie this morning around the road loop in sugarhouse park.

 My motivation lacked a little bit since I was done with my once per year 5K and don't have any road racing plans looming.  But I got into it after we started and was able to outsprint Nan on all the 1 minute intervals...only to the proceed to suck major wind and get severely dropped on all th subsequent 3 minute intervals.  Allie and I kind of traded off on the 3 minute intervals...I would sometimes go ahead on the uphill and downhills and she would tend to either reel me in or gap me on the flats.

Here are my totals follow by the splits.  We did a 30 minute warmup, then a 10 min at half marathon pace, then 4 x 3 min fast, 1 min rest, 1 min hard with 15 pushups in between each set.

11.5 miles - 1:35 - 8:15 avg - 660' ascent/descent (thats kind of a hilly loop) 

10 min interval: 6:27 pace

3 min. interval paces: 6:08, 6:17, 6:26, 6:39 - we all seemed to get consistently slower each one of these, that's because on the early two we netted a down hill for 3 minutes, the last 3 minutes netted a 48 foot ascent.  Our effort was pretty even I think.

1 min interval paces: 5:16, 5:19, 5:00, 4:59 - the first two were uphill and the 2nd two were slight down hill.

That was a good feeling workout....nice to get the legs moving a little faster. 

Weekly review: 48 Miles - 3500' ascent