Going With The Flow

AM - Ran Jake's warmup and cooldown with him, 5.5 miles total. 

PM -  Went up to Snowbird with Jake and his dad for a nice tram ride and Oktoberfest activities. It was really nice to take the leisure way up to 11,000 ft instead of hiking (benefits of having family here!).

Ran 2.5 miles around the block before dinner. Jake's family dropped off their dogs at our place and are heading up to Jackson Hole. We debated calling in sick for the whole week so we could go with them, but that seemed a little much :o) At least we get pups for a week!

AM - 6.1 miles, to Sugarhouse and back. I was really frustrated that every bathroom was locked up this morning! It was 7am!

 TAPER WEEK! I love easy taper weeks!

PM - 2.6 miles easy around the block.

AM - After a mile of running, my right lower leg locked up on me again. So the shoe theory is incorrect, unfortunately. I sat around and stretched for 5 minutes or so and then was able to run again. Only 3 miles this morning. Maybe I need to stretch more before I go out and run - I'll try that and see how it goes. If it keeps happening, I'm going to have to take some time off before I cause major damage. This is the first time that I've been able to feel a residual dull pain after the run.

PM - Stretched before the run, and my leg felt fine after running a mile. So the short workout was on (despite the 95 degree temp). 2 x mile on 1% downhill gradient with mile recovery. Jake and I did this before Utah Valley and decided to copy it since we both had such great races there. 5:20, 5:15. Back in June these times were 5:30, 5:34 at 65 degrees. Hopefully this means I'll be faster at Top of Utah this weekend!

AM - Ran to Sugarhouse and back home. No leg cramp today! I realized that I accidently grabbed the pool key instead of the house key this morning! Luckily I was able to use my engineering skills (haha) to unlock the door and get inside. The dogs were going nuts barking the whole time - I'm sure my neighbors were really happy about that!

AM - Met Allie for 5 miles around Millcreek. 7:30 pace. Easy days today and tomorrow! I usually feel nervous before races, but TOU hasn't gotten me too anxious. Yet!

AM - Easy horsepark loop. 

My work is sending me to Lake Geneva, WI for most of next week. Luckily, Hamdog Alum on the blog lives within driving distance of where I'm staying, so I'll get to meet up with him to run! Between that and the 75 degree temperatures, I don't think it'll be too bad :o)

Goals for this race were to race equivalent or better than Utah Valley Half (1:17:54). I thought that this would be a good challenge, given that I have only been ramping up the mileage and workouts for 5 weeks or so (lot of cross training for 6 weeks for my back after UVH). I knew that the biggest factor would be endurance because I've only done 3 runs over 10 miles since May.

We got up to the race start and did the usual pre-race activities of stretching, bathrooms 3-4 times, warm-up, etc. Then the START.

I don't think the start truck realized how fast Jake and Paul are - the driver had to gun it to get out of the way! I realized after the first mile or so that my legs just didn't have it today. The effort felt hard no matter what pace I was going and my splits in the canyon were all over the place (5:37, 6:00, 5:44, 5:54, 5:37, 5:44, 5:47).

At this point, I really wished that I had someone close to me. I couldn't see anyone in front and couldn't hear cheering for anyone behind me either (at the finish the closest peron in front and behind were 3.5 and 1 minute, respectively). It didn't help that it was a little country road that would have been perfect for the nice 8 min/mile pace :o) Ran 8-10 in 5:56, 6:04, 6:09. I really thought these miles would be more downhill, but they felt flat compared to the canyon!

10-12 flat to uphill miles were as expected - slow and hard. I've always felt that hills should be at the beginning of a race, not the hardest part of the half! It was a good challenge, and I think the hill beat me (6:19, 6:35). Luckily I was able to turnover for the last 1.1 miles in 5:54, :32.

It was good to see that I PRed! Even if it was only 2 seconds, I worked hard for it. Temps were warm too, making the race a little more challenging. I felt amazing at UVH and felt tired here, so that seems to indicate that I'm in better shape. I just need to get in some more 13+ mile days under me and I'll be good to go!

Race recap from the Herald Journal.  

Award trophies were rocks with a running dude on the top. Jake's rock was 6 lbs and mine was only 3.8 lbs, so I feel a little gipped! Between those, my Stanley cup from UVH, and Jake's buffalo trophy from Antelope 50k we are finally starting to get some decorations in the condo!