Use it or Lose it

Evening run to City Creek & back.  Evy was running too, and that made it quite fun.  Kept a good pace on the hills coming back home.  

Went for a nice 3-4 mile hike with my daughter at the top of city creek canyon. 

Planned to run directly up into city creek canyon today, but discovered there was a freedom fest 1/2 marathon running from Emigration Canyon, along 11th Avenue, and then culminating at the Capital.  I ended up running by a lady named Shannon who was in the race, and I decided to run with her to the Capital, then yelled "GO SHANNON, GO!" when she took off sprinting near the finish line.  Then I turned around and ran back to city creek, ran up to the 1 mile marker, then ran back home.  It was nice running up city creek because my friend Mary (who I haven't seen in a couple years) biked past me, recognized me, then biked along side me and talked, while I pushed the pace to keep up with her. 

So ends my first week back running after a 6+ week layoff.  No sciatica nerve pain while sleeping, sitting, walking, etc., anymore.  Still feel it a bit in my right glute while running, especially the first couple miles of a run.  My endurance seems fine, but it is hard to run at a decent pace because the glute pain increases if I lengthen my stride.  I've had to run the first 1/2 of my runs really really slow even though they are downhill.  I can run uphill without as much pain (due to using a shorter stride uphill?), and since the second 1/2 of my runs are mostly uphill, I've been pushing a lot harder on these sections with fartleks and tempo running to try to improve my fitness level to what it was a couple months ago.

Don't know what to do about the upcoming Deseret News 10K.  I'll probably still run it, but it will be darn hard to get a good time because I'll have to run those downhill miles at the beginning a lot slower than I'd like.   

Evening run with Evy, 3 mile loop to City Creek gate and back. 

Good run this morning to and from the capital building turnaround.  Was able to pick up the downhill pace better without feeling the sciatica pain, and ran at a good tempo pace for part of the run.  Benchmark time 48:49 (21:40 downhill to turnaround, 28:09 uphill coming home). Ran against a pretty stiff wind the last 1/2 mile. 

Feeling small twinges of sciatica pain in glute while not running.  It is not severe, but I'm just aware of it being present.

Ran a little past the 1 mile marker in City Creek then back home.  Kept an easy pace.  Finished up at 11:30 -  it was getting pretty warm out by then, but it is probably good for be to acclimate to the warmer weather!   I've been very busy this week with a sick kid.  It is now Saturday morning, and I'm finally posting Friday's run!  Now I need to get some chores done around the house, then head out (or stay in) for today's run.

Had a busy day and didn't get out for a run until 5 this afternoon.  Went about a mile up city creek. Most of the run went pretty well, but it was pretty hot (90's), and and I kind of ran out of steam on the return route along 12th avenue towards home.  I figured it was a good day to just go slow and try to aclimate to the warmer conditions. 

Morning run to Capital & back.  (4.6 miles) 

Have not been very motivated to do any speedwork - I think the heat has sucked a lot of the motivation out of me!  (Also, I normally do speedwork on the TM, but have had ZERO inclination to get on my TM lately since running outside is so much nicer - even if it does feel like an oven!!)  Anyhow, I started out this morning just planning to get the miles done, but then about a mile from home I decided to try to finish the run under 50 minutes.  I had to really hustle to do that, and made it by 3 seconds.  So, I'm going to count that 1 mile as fast!

On the good news front, the sciatica pain seems to be staying away - I hope it continues that way! 

21:57/28:00/59:57 (7:30 am & HOT!)

I got a 2fer today!  Evening run with Evy to City Creek gate and back = 3 more miles, and it was much much cooler out this evening!  :)

Ran 2 miles at the flat soccer field track (one mile at 9:20, which is not super speedy, but not slow either).  Then ran 3 more miles to City Creek and back. (Finished my run at 9:30 am; it was pretty hot by then - I really need to get out much earlier when it is cooler!)

Ran 2 miles at the soccer field track (AP 10:02), decided it was too hot (86 with the sun blazing away), so I came home to my trusty treadmill that I haven't been on in over two months.  Ran 4 more miles (AP 10:20), then finished with one more very slow mile that was punctuated with several interruptions.  I kind of had a mental block at getting back on my treadmill after so long, but it went fine, and it was super nice not running under the relentless sun!

Just a short run this morning before heading to work.  Ran four 1/4 mile reps at 6.5 mph, 1.5% incline, with an easier pace the rest of time.

Had to get to work early, so just a short run to City Creek gate and back.  Left earlier than usual and it felt refreshingly cooler than my previous runs.  I threw in 5 to 6 faster strides to get my legs used to turning over faster.  

Des News 10K on Saturday - sure wish I hadn't missed over 6 weeks of training!  I "think" I'm signed up for it . . . I filled out the entry form at the Salt Lake Running Company on Saturday, and they needed check or cash, so I gave them cash since I didn't have a check with me.  They said I would not receive a receipt, then stapled my money to my entry form and just slid it into a big manilla envelope with all the other entry forms, and then put the manilla envelope on the counter and walked off to help another customer.  Hum, doesn't seem very secure, but I guess I'll find out when I pick up my race packet . . .

Okay, please, nobody laugh at my woefully short running distance today!! Still trying to figure out pacing, so I ran a quick mile downhill to the salt gate and a slow jog back up to my house. It was a nice morning for running; I wish could've gone further. The air seemed nice and spicy sweet after yesterday's thunderstorms!

8 am; 8:20/12:40/21:00 total

D Day!  Well, a lot of good and bad about today's running of the deseret news 10K! 

Went to bed late, but woke up feeling refreshed and ready to go.  Drove to the university, and then did a slow 1/2 mile jog to the race start.  It was quite exciting to see the other people warming up and doing fast strides - some of those people (probably other FRB'ers) were flying really really really FAST!!  It's exciting and fun to see people run that fast!!

I started about 1/3 of the way back in the line, which was about right.   I was pretty annoyed because I couldn't get my watch to start after I crossed the starting mat.  I normally hear a small beep when I start the timer, but didn't.  I actually pulled to the side of the road right after I crossed the starting mat and fiddled with my watch for a few seconds trying to get it to work, but it was way too dark out, I wasn't wearing my glasses, and I just couldn't see well enough in the dark to figure out what was wrong with the darn watch.  Decided I better just start running instead of spending more time trying to figure it out.  By the time it was light enough for me to see my watch, I could see that I was in the entirely wrong mode!  (This never happened to me before, and I felt pretty stupid. . . ) 

I went into this 10K hoping my body would somehow remember how to run at a quick pace, but not too surprisingly it didn't!  I didn't run easy, but I didn't run hard either.   I could've pushed harder, and should've pushed harder!  I never felt the urge to just quit and walk, which means I definitely ran too slow!!   I finally passed someone right before the finish line that I had been inching up on for a few blocks, and that at least made me feel better.  Unfortunately, I couldn't see the finish line clock either, so I still had no idea what my time was!  Grr!

I grabbed some water, and waited for the marathoners to come in.  It was quite exciting to see the 1st and 2nd place men come in. It was a quite close finish with the winner sprinting unbelieveably FAST the last 100 yards!  What a kick he had at the end!!  About 10 minutes later the 3rd place finisher came in, then I started seeing some FRB'ers finishing and looking very strong! Saw the first place female come in, with Allie about 10 seconds behind her.  Allie was running very well, and looked very strong!!  I watched a few more marathoners finish, then walked to the "26 mile marker" and cheered on more of the marathon runners from that location.  It was really awesome seeing all the strong runners finishing the marathon!!!  (I'm sure many of them were probably FRB'ers.)

Then I decided I'd better get rolling so I walked home, where one of my kids kindly gave me a ride back to where I left my car earlier.  Then I drove back to liberty park where, wearing my glasses, I could finally see the time posted for me.  It was was a slow 1:00:30.  Ouch!!  (I didn't think I would be running very fast, but did think I would be under 1 hour!!)

Well, even though I didn't run as fast as I would've liked to, I still had a very fun day watching the very fast 10K racers warming up, watching the fast marathoners finish, etc.  And, I am very very thankful I was able to run without pain or other injuries!!!  Now it is time to start planning how to redeem my slow time . . .

Evening run to the city creek gate and back. I felt fairly energetic and ran at a good pace, pushing it on the hill up to the city creek gate, and again on the hills back to 11th and 12th avenues. It was nice to run in the coolness of the evening.

8 am.  Ran at an easy pace, and went a little past the one mile marker in city creek canyon and back.  My muscles were just a titch sore and tight today.

8:30 am.  Ran a little past the 1 mile marker in city creek canyon and back home.  Nice day for running!

7:55 am.  Went up to picnic area 7 in city creek canyon and back home.  Nice and cool this morning, with the air spicy sweet after last night's thunderstorms! 

The fire authority started clear cutting up in city creek canyon this morning.  They want to cut a 100 foot wide fire break all along the road on the northwest side, and remove all canopy from overhanging the road.  A lot of people (including me) squawked about their plans last year, so they delayed it a year and are now doing 3 "test" sections that people can comment on.  They (the authoritys) say they want a fire break to protect any people up in the canyon in case a fire breaks out.  But, they don't seem to realize people go up into city creek canyon to get into the cool shade, and if they remove the cool shade, it will really detract from the niceness!  Go figure - it is a political thing I'm sure.  "they paved paradise, and put up a parking lot . . . put all the trees in a tree museum and charged the people a dollar and a half just to see them . . . don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got, 'till it's gone . . . " 

Sad day for sure.

7:40 a.m. Another nice run up to picnic area 7 in city creek canyon and back home. Sure enjoying the cooler running temps - hope they last a while!

Slow easy run to city creek, then about 3.25 miles up the canyon to where the road narrows, then back home.  I hadn't ran that far up city creek canyon in quite a while - it was very nice, and the air smelled so sweet!  :)