Going With The Flow

AM - Short 3 mile jog around the block.

Then we headed up to the mountains for a beautiful ski tour. Started at Brighton and skinned up to Catherine's Pass. We had never been over this way before, so it was really fun to check out a new place. The area has great options for skiing - from mellow bowl skiing to steep couloirs. It will probably be one of our go-to spots in the future. After a couple laps of awesome skiing there, we headed to the top of Tuscarora via bootpack then traversed the ridge over to Wolverine Bowl. A couple laps there and a long route back to the car. Total of 6.6 miles and 3800 ft.

It was a very typical "Jake and Andrea Adventure Day" with Jake triggering a couple wet avalanches, us both making things way more difficult than they needed to be (the bootpack up steep terrain), me chickening out on a sketchy ice couloir, skiing with our skins on because we were too lazy to take them off, and a crazy trail fiasco back out to the car. Good times :)

AM - Horsepark loop 4.4 miles. I wore my compression shorts because my hamstrings have been tight recently. The shorts helped a lot - I'll probably wear them every day for a while.

PM - 5 miles around Sugarhouse Park + Murphy's neighborhood. 

AM - Shortened horsepark loop 4.1 miles.

PM - Original plan was 10-12 x 400m at 5k pace. I was a little nervous about running fast because of my recent tight hamstrings so modified a bit.

Ran a 2 mile warm-up with Redd and Jake. Ran 2 x mile in 6:00 average (HM + 5s) then 7 x 400 at 80.5s average (5k A++ goal pace) with 200m jog in between all reps. The mile repeats served as a transition into 5k pace so it wasn't such a shock to the hamstrings. Worked very well. I wanted to do 8 400s, but it would've taken a little more effort than what I was shooting for today. Good workout overall. Finished off with a 2 mile cooldown with the guys.

AM - JAKJAF Run, Kevin joined us today. SH Park-Tanner Park-Wasatch Blvd-1900E-SH Park. It's a very challenging run, especially when running with the fast guys and having a workout the night before. Great workout and I'm glad to get in a medium-long run during the week. 

So I went to an orthopaedic specialist during lunch about my chronic SI joint/back pain. After examination and imaging, he confirmed that it was SI joint dysfunction (although I do have a bone spur at the bottom of the joint and my L5 vertebrae is crooked, of course!). I was pretty sure that the SI joint was to blame, but I'm no doctor and wanted to make sure I didn't have any serious mechanical issues (stress fracture, disk rupture, etc). The treatment is basically focused around strengthening the deep abdominal muscles and adductors/abductors. I have been doing this on a regular basis, but the doctor said it wasn't enough :o( with the amount I'm running. No magic cure - bummer. If it's still as bad as ever in 4-6 weeks, he'll do injections into the joints.

AM - Easy 4 miles. 

PM - Workout with Allie. 2 mile warmup, then 8 x 200m w/ 200m jog recovery in average 38.5s. Felt strong - really nice to have company! Then we cooled down with Jake and Rob for a mile or so.

Here is a good Food Advisor that analyzes your nutritional status and provides you with information regarding the nutrients which may be found deficient in your diet as well as recommendations for which foods and recipes will help fulfill your nutritional needs.

I now have the pleasure of stuffing my mouth with a handful of spinach before every meal.

AM - 4.2 jog with the Birthday Guy! Jake is the big 28 today - make sure to wish him happy birthday!

I made a Wasatch and Beyond post with a slideshow of pictures from the last year. Lots of fun and adventures (and you can tell that he doesn't like to wear a shirt!) :)

AM - Provo City 5K. Warmed up 2.5 miles and then ran 5-6 strides. Didn't feel great but that doesn't mean anything before a race. Was really worried about the course being accurate because the marks were way off, but it turned out fine (just glad I had a Garmin on for mile splits).

The race started with about 15 kids that took off with Jake. Threw my pace off at first but then settled quickly into 5:30ish. The first mile had a little hill, and I hit the mile split at 5:32. Nice gradual downhill for the rest of the race. I maintained a solid pace through mile 2 in 5:25. It got hard at this point, so I was just trying to hang in there for the rest of the race. Mile 3 was 5:30. Final stretch might have been a tad long, but I'm not complaining. 0:41 for a total time of 17:08.

I feel really good about this time. Although the course is a net downhill, it is several seconds slower than a flat sea level. So I'm on the right track for that sub-17!

Ran a 5 mile cooldown with Redd and Jake. Probably should've made this a long run day, but the timing didn't really work out well with the other races, awards, etc. Not a big deal - will run a little more later today and am planning a group long run next weekend.

Hung out at the crazy Provo-inspried Cinco de Mayo after party, complete with bounce houses, face painting, french toast, etc. Lots of friends ran today and many new PRs - Emily Bates, BrandonD, Fritz (kinda), Rachelle, Allie-and-James relay duo, and lots more I'm sure. Fun times!