Going With The Flow

PM - 5 laps around Liberty Park. My legs are feeling good again, probably because I took this morning off (had to be at the airport super early). I like traveling every once in a while, but it's good to be back in SLC!

Watch the celebration at the end of the steeplechase in the World Champs, around the 2:40 mark! So funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oftuz9YhkUw&feature=player_embedded#!

AM - Woke up at 6am and didn't feel like getting up, so slept another 40 minutes. So, I only had time for the horsepark loop. Not really that upset about it; sleep seemed more important! Plus, long run tomorrow is going to be LONG!!

I was surprised how chilly is was this morning - I almost wanted gloves. I don't want summer to go away and cold weather to come yet!

PM - 3.6 miles near Wolf Mountain ski area, easy. Going to run somewhere between 16-20 tomorrow. I've never run more than 17 before and can't decide how much to do! Any thoughts?

AM - Met up with Allie and Ken Richardson for a long run on the first part of the Ogden marathon course, then trails for the last 6 miles. 20.6 miles this morning!! I haven't run more than 17, so this was new territory. I felt great, considering the distance. The pace was super consistent - 7 min/mile +-6 seconds for the first 15. Then we hit the North Arm Trail for the last few which naturally slowed the pace a little but same effort level. Jake decided that Allie and I needed an extra 0.6 miles past 20 so he "accidently" took a wrong turn for a quarter mile. Overall great run, great company with average 7:03 pace. The run went by really fast - lots of conversation. Now I get to eat EVERYTHING!!!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/111537393

PM - Cruised around Huntsville bike paths 8-9 miles.

AM - Wow, slept 10.5 hours last night - I must've been tired! Another brisk morning in Huntsville. It took about a mile for my legs to loosen up (hamstrings felt especially tight), but felt better as the run continued. 5.6 miles ~7:35 pace on the quiet farm roads.

 PM - Mountain bike ride up Wheeler Canyon, East Fork to Middle Fork loop, and back down Wheeler Canyon this afternoon. 11 miles, 1400 ft. Nice ride, good to get a little workout without any pounding on the legs.

Tomorrow Jake and I are going to run the XTERRA National Champs course at Snowbasin. They just posted it yesterday, and it looks brutal! 1100 ft climb over 3 miles. I'm more worried about how my legs will handle that downhill. So we're going to check it out. Anyone else planning to run XTERRA?

AM - Ran the first half (6.6 miles) of the XTERRA National Champs course this morning up at Snowbasin. 8:40 pace - this run felt more like 8 miles! Definitely not what I would call easy. I was planning to run the entire course, but my back started to hurt. With all the back pain I have had in the last 6 months, I was not willing to irritate it again. So I stopped and Jake did the rest of the course without me (see his blog for elevation profile if interested). 

We really enjoyed being up in the Huntsville area - it's a nice quaint small town with lots of outdoor fun activities. We especially enjoyed the axe toss at the place we were staying! Here's a video (I'm not very good!) of my attempts. Jake was much better at it than me, seen here! Good times...

PM - 4.5 miles, horsepark loop. 7:45 pace - felt tired. I probably need one more day before the tempo workout. Spending the rest of the evening watching Friends on Nickelodeon! haha

AM - 9.2 miles around Millcreek this morning. Took a couple miles to get moving, but then eased into a nice pace. It was dark when I started, and I am not ashamed to admit that I'm afraid of the dark! It lightened up after about 20 minutes, but the amount of daylight is definitely shrinking.

This is a great post by Jenny Barringer-Simpson that won the 1500 at the World Champs this past weekend. Definitely motivating -

http://www.flotrack.org/blog/38345-Alchemy

PM - 1.5 miles around the block, just to loosen up. Wore my Saucony running skirt for the first time today and actually liked it. I'm not really the girly or trendy type but I have to say, it's pretty cute!

AM - 5.5 mile tempo run at Liberty Park. It was very windy!! Jake was nice enough to pace me this morning. The goal was marathon pace (6:20ish pace), but we ended up running a little faster with splits of 6:15, 6:13, 6:10, 6:13, 6:10, 6:13 (equiv for .5 mile). The pace didn't feel too hard, definitely not easy though! 2 mile warm-up and 1.5 mile cool-down. Glad that one is behind me!

This is a great excuse to not work too hard at your job - Tired brain can slow performance

PM - 2 miles, easy. Tired.

AM - 10.3 miles around Sugarhouse with Allie and Jake. 7:30 pace. Windy, but perfect temperature.

Jake and I are doing a long run (me 17-18, Jake 21-22) on Saturday at Jeremy Ranch Road on Saturday at 8am. Probably 7:30ish pace. Let me know if you want to join!

PM - 2 mile shake-out.

AM - Track workout. 2 x 200 then 8 x 400 w/ 200 jog between reps. 200s in 40, 42 and 400s in 83, 82, 81, 82, 81, 81, 80, 80. I hit my goal of a little faster than 5k pace (84 seconds for 400s). My legs were fatigued from the week, so I didn't push it too hard. Long run tomorrow is more important!

I haven't been sleeping well the last few days; I don't feel like I'm getting into that deep sleep - just lots of dreaming.

PM - 2 mile shakeout run. I got new Saucony Kinvaras today (had to go up to a size 10.5 - ouch) so I wanted to try them out. They feel good!

AM - 19 mile out-and-back run at Jeremy Ranch Road. This run is very challenging - so many steep ups and downs with about 950 ft elevation gain overall (at 6000 ft). Jake and I stayed at a comfortable pace the entire run (avg 7:19), mostly discussing whether I should go for the marathon OTQ this fall. This is about a 2 hour conversation, so the run went by pretty fast! I was planning to go 18, but after getting a little G2 at the 16 mile mark, I decided to go for one more mile. 

This is two weeks of long runs - 20.6 last week and 19 this week. My body handled both of them very well which is pretty exciting. I'm going to have so much more endurance at Long Beach Half in a few weeks that I had at TOU Half (where I PRed), so I'm definitely looking forward to that race. I'm 80% going for OTQ this fall.

We put our legs in the cold creek in Park City after the run - I can already tell that it helped a ton!

AM - 5.75 miles meandering through neighborhoods. Easy 7:45 pace. 

Anyone want to run an 8 mile tempo with me Tuesday morning at 6:20 pace at Liberty Park??

AM - 10 miles around Sugarhouse, a nice zigzag through all the neighborhoods. I haven't slept very well for about a week now and it's getting really frustrating!

This is me 2 years ago finishing a half marathon (I'm also at my highest weight here - I look gross!). Can you believe I can run 36 minutes faster than that now??

 PM - 2.2 miles, easy.

AM - Tempo Tuesday.  The alarm clock went off way too early this morning, but I finally was able to sleep well last night! :) Ran 2 mile warmup at 8:30 pace, then tempo.

Goal: 7-8 miles at 6:20-6:25 pace.
Actual: 7 miles average 6:22 pace (6:25, 6:21, 6:24, 6:22, 6:23, 6:21, 6:21). 

It was a long workout! I wanted to feel like I still had some left in the tank (mostly as a mental confidence booster), so I was content with 7 miles. Glad that's done for the week!

I did feel a little twinge in my hamstring during the run. I don't think it's anything to be overly concerned about, but I definitely need to massage and stick tonight.

PM - 1.8 miles around the block. REALLY excited that I only have to do easy horsepark loop in the morning.

AM - Horsepark loop 4.4 miles. I must've needed a recovery run b/c my average pace was 8:30! Felt good to go slower and not worry about pace. 

 Looks like it's another SNOW winter!! I just hope it waits to snow until after the trials.

PM - 5.6 miles easy, no watch.

AM - Horsepark loop again this morning, easy. Slept in 30 minutes accidentally, but still ran so I got to work a little late. Running is more important, right?

Just heard that Lance Armstrong is doing the XTERRA National Championship Triathlon at Snowbasin on 9/24. Pretty cool!

PM - Track Workout! 2-2-4-4-8-4-8-4-8-4-4 with 200m jog between reps. 200s in 41, 400s in ~1:22 (5:28 pace), 800s in ~2:49 (5:38 pace). Ran the 200s and thought this is not going to be fun. It turned out not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I'm still not a fan of track work though!

AM - Easy 5.3 miles around work 7:45-8 min pace. Tried to throw in some hills in the run since I don't do that very often. 

My parents got in from TN last night, and we are headed to Moab this afternoon. I'm so excited!

Was planning to run 3-4 in the afternoon yesterday, but there was a ridiculous storm down in Moab!!! Scary for driving too - we actually saw lightning strike the ground! Probably for the best in terms of the long run.

AM - Woke up around 6:30 to go out for the run and saw that it was still raining. Back to bed. Woke up again at 8am and got ready. My parents were going to come bike but it was still cold and gross outside. Ran on the roads (b/c all dirt roads were flooded) from Spanish Valley to Moab and back. Miles 7-17 was a LONG gradual uphill of 1100 ft with a headwind. I was getting discouraged by mile 16. But as soon as we turned around, it was a great 1.3% downhill gradient and finished the last 3 miles in 6:30, 6:17, and 6:04. 7:15 pace average for the 17 miles, 6:17 for the last 3.

PM - Hiking in Moab. Went on a 3 mile hike to Corona Arch which is BEAUTIFUL. Then experienced a little bit of Arches the touristy way, probably hiking about 2 miles there. So much fun!! And we get a hot tub tonight. Pics to come.

AM - Easy run in the morning 6.0 miles.

PM - Hiked the Delicate Arch 3.0 miles. It is AMAZING! Then went on a 2 mile guided hike through the Fiery Furnace. So much fun - lots of arches, slot canyons, etc.

AM - Meant to only run 12, but had to do some backtracking that added 1.5 miles so total 13.5 miles. Started off slow (uphill for 5 miles), ran around Ken's Lake and back into Spanish Valley. The last 4 miles was fun b/c it was about 2% downhill and fast. Picked it up to marathon 6:15 pace for about 30 minutes, which made me feel strong.

PM - Hiked 3 miles to Fisher Towers. Wow! They are so tall! Started to feel a little fatigued from all the activity and miles for the last few days. After eating lunch, we did some 4WDing on Onion Creek Road up to the Onion Creek Narrows for a 2 mile hike. Another great day. Drove back to SLC in the evening.

AM - Easy horsepark loop. 8:10 pace.

PM - 3.6 miles around Sugarhouse Park easy. Not looking forward to 6 x mile tomorrow morning...

AM - 5:20am came way too early this morning, especially for a workout! Drove up to Liberty Park and ran a 1.5 mile warmup at 9:30 pace (haha).

Workout was 6 x mile at 5:50-6 min pace (half marathon-ish pace) with a 0.4 jog in between. Ran the first mile way too fast, then made a modified goal to stay under 5:50 pace. Miles were 5:43, 5:47, 5:49, 5:45, 5:50. 5:49. I'm still not sure how I managed that. By the last two, I could feel the lactate build-up.

From now on, I think these kinds of workouts are going to have to be in the afternoon. It's too cold and dark and early to be moving that fast! I seem to get really cold after hard efforts (working hard to recover I guess), and today I had to crank up the heat in the car for 30 minutes so I wasn't shivering.

Interesting article about changing womens world records - http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/globetrotting/chi-running-leaders-shoot-the-sport-in-the-foot-20110920,0,7682022.column

AM - 4.4 miles horsepark loop at 9 min/mile. Seems like the harder and faster the workouts are, the slower and shorter the recovery runs. 

 Interesting read about caffeine. http://runningwritings.blogspot.com/2011/08/caffeine-and-running-effectiveness.html

PM - Easy 2.9 miles easy.

AM - 6 miles to Sugarhouse and back. 8:15 pace. 

Probably doing a longer run early tomorrow morning in SLC area - 15 miles total, 12 around 7:15 pace and 3 at 6:20 and below. Let me know if you want to join!

Also, my parents are still in town this weekend. I think they are a little burnt out on hiking from doing it the last 6 days, so I'm trying to think of other fun activities. Any ideas?

AM - 15.2 miles with Emily (ebates). We had a great run, started at Liberty Park, down 900E, up 2100S to Wasatch, across then down Sunnyside. I think this is similar to Allie's Sunnyside Down loop?? Fast finish with 3 miles around Liberty Park, 6:20, 6:16, 5:55. Average pace 6:52 (really good!). I was happy to be able to hit my half marathon pace on mile 15 for this run - gives me confidence that I have a lot more endurance than I had before TOU Half. :)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/116666104

I hit the exact mileage that I wanted to this week. A little cutback from 80 to 67, next week down to 60, then 50 for Long Beach Half!

PM - Went up to Brighton for a nice hike up Twin Lakes, 3 miles ~750 ft of elevation. Very pretty - colors are starting to change!

AM - Easy 6 miles around Millcreek area. 

PM - Bikd 3 miles to keep Jake company on his shake-out (also to prevent me from eating everything in the house in that 20 min period!). Today was a pretty lazy day. I felt tired the whole time, even took a short nap!

AM - 11.0 miles this morning, 8.5 with Jake. Never really got moving this morning, my legs were perfectly content with the 8 min pace.

*OktoberFAST 5K: We'll start the race at 9am on Saturday (Oct 1) at the Highland High School track. If you are planning to come, send me an email / private message w/ your name, age, and a seed time. We need to know how many people to expect. If we have a volunteer to start a timer, we can use my laptop and a stopwatch as a backup. If we don't have any volunteers, it might end up being more of a time trial (and I'll try to finish quickly and get the times for everyone behind me). Supposedly Saucony is sending us race bibs.

 If you are a skier, the Warren Miller Film Festival is coming to town (which is awesome!), and you get a free Canyons pass for going. Link here.

AM - Easy horsepark loop. Track workout this afternoon. 

FREE ICE CREAM at  Cold Stone Creamery tonight 5-8pm!

PM - Track workout. It was HOT outside! 2 mile warmup, 2x200 then 1600, 1200, 800, 400 at 5k pace with 400m jog in between reps. :40, :43, 5:37, 4:15, 2:49, 1:24. My times were slightly slower than goal pace, but I hit the effort level I was trying for which is most important. This was the last hard workout for a while (not including the race on Sat) which is pretty exciting! Now I get to taper and absorb the training.

AM - Another nice run around Millcreek with Jake. It's funny, we were proud to break the 8 min mile barrier at mile 2 this morning (usually it takes 3 miles). Didn't run much faster than 7:45 pace, though :) I felt pretty good this morning but expect to feel a little more tired by the afternoon from the workout yesterday. It's hard getting used to running in the dark!

My advice to all the St. George Marathoners this Saturday - BELIEVE IN YOUR TRAINING!

AM - 4 miles easy 8:15 pace. 

Thought this was interesting -  Comparison of Sedentary School-aged Children and Health

"Based on this systematic review of 232 studies, sedentary behaviour (assessed primarily through increased TV viewing) for more than 2 hours per day was associated with unfavourable body composition, decreased fitness,lowered scores for self-esteem and pro-social behaviour and decreased academic achievement in school-aged children and youth (5-17 years).  This was true for all study designs, across all countries, using both direct and indirect measurements, and regardless of participant sample size.  All studies examining risk factors for MS and CVD disease reported that increased sedentary time was associated with increased health risk; however, the included studies  examined a wide range of risk factors, and thus there was insufficient evidence to draw conclusions on the relationship for metabolic risk as a whole. "

PM - 2.5 miles. 4 x 200 on the grass at Sugarhouse to get the legs moving a little faster.

AM - Horsepark loop easy 8:10 pace. Feeling good for the Oktoberfast 5k tomorrow. It should be a fun time, if there are any last takers! 

GOOD LUCK ST. GEORGE MARATHONERS!