A clydesdale no more!

My kids wanted to have a New Year's eve party with their friends so I had 5 teen age boys and 5 kids between 6 and 9 at my house last night.  It was a mad house but I think they had a good time.  Had to get in a few miles to burn off all of the sugar I had yesterday.  When I got home Gracie was dressed and ready to go running.  She wanted to run to the store to get eggs but it was too far so we decided to ride bikes instead.  We had a good time.  Sometimes I forget how important it is to spend one on one time with each kid.

Drove to Bountiful Blvd to get in a few miles before meeting the club.  Got a little later start that I would have liked so I could only get in 6 miles instead of the planned 8.  Bountiful Blvd is rolling hills but a couple of the hills are pretty steep.  It is a good route with the varied terrain.  Ran the same out and back route plus a little bit again with Jim and a slightly faster pace.  Added a little more at the end to get the mileage over 13.  Legs good other than a weird twinge I got in my knee during the last half of the run.

I really did plan to get in a good run this morning but I got a late start and with the kids going back to school today I had to be home early.  My legs didn't feel right for some reason.  There was a lot of soreness and they were not moving the way they should.  While passing through the road construction I wasn't paying attention and stepped on the edge of the road and rolled my ankle.  The pain seemed pretty bad at the time but after a couple of minutes I was able to start running again and without too much trouble. 

I just realized that this is my last week before Ogden training starts.  I will try to enjoy my last week of unstructured running.  Fortunately Huans mentioned that registration was filling up fast because it looks like I registered just before it filled up. 

My legs were still sore this morning.  It hit me during the second mile that my shoes are approaching 600 miles which explains why my legs are starting to act up.  I really need to pay closer attention to the miles on my shoes.  After 3 miles I thought I would try a few quicker miles to see if it would wake my legs up.  Ran the next 4 at: 7:00, 6:50, 6:40, 6:40.  Each mile felt better and the 6:40 miles felt just as good as the 7:00 mile.  

Ran 3 relatively flat miles then 1.5 miles up Eagle Ridge drive.  It is a 700 foot gain in elevation over the 1.5 miles.  It's a lot of work going up and too steep to run efficiently coming down.  It is a great workout, though.  Still no new shoes.  Hopefully I will have time to get them this afternoon.

Nice and easy recovery run.

Got to eat lunch at the cool kid's table today.  I've never been invited to hang out with the cool kids before.  Seriously, Teena, Kathie and Smooth are some of the nicest people I have met.  Thanks for letting me crash the party.

Brrrrrrrrr (is that enough r's).  I don't think that a normal person would be outside voluntarily when it is 5 degrees.  Everything felt good and I felt like I was moving well but looking at the splits now my pace was all over the place.  My throat is a little sore and I am not sure if it is the start of a cold or if it is from running in the gunky for the past couple of weeks.

Didn't sleep well last night because I had a sore throat.  Felt alright when I was heading out the door so figured the run should be fine.  Drove to Bountiful Blvd to get in some miles before the club run.  Started out and did not feel great.  Didn't have a lot of energy and even though the temps were higher than yesterday, it seemed colder.  Saw Kathie coming the other way about 0.3 before my turnaround.  After the turnaround I kept trying to figure out how far ahead of me she was but could never see her.  Our pace probably wasn't that much different.  Finally saw her with 1/2 mile to the park and didn't catch up with her until the top of the last hill.  Tacked on another mile but had enough time for 2 and should have run the extra mile.  I stood around too long and my body started to get very cold.  Ran 4.5 miles with the club and felt a little better than the first 8.  Ended up cutting the run a couple of miles short which will be the last time that I can do that.  Ogden training starts Monday (I think).

My fingers have finally warmed up and I can type.  I heard on the radio while I was running that we have the worst air in the nation right now.  Made me think that running in this air while getting over a cold was a really bad idea.  Hopefully not too much damage was done.  Felt alright during the run although not quite 100%.

Drove to Bountiful Blvd to get above the inversion.  It was nice and clear up there.  Being above the inversion you could really see how bad the air is.  It looked like there was a lid over the valley keeping all of the bad air in.  Felt pretty good during the run but reviewing my splits afterward I'm a little disappointed.  They were about 20 seconds per mile slower than I thought they would be.  My brain has been feeling a little funny the past couple of days so I'm guessing that I am not quite over the cold yet.

Nice and easy recovery run.

Thought I should make an attempt at putting in a proper effort.  I typically get a little lazy and run slower than I should.  The pace felt really good.  It was not exhausting but I did have to constantly remind myself to keep up the effort.  Averaged 7:20/mile which is just about the right pace for a general aerobic run.  

Recovery run.  Felt really good.

Drove up to Bountiful Blvd so that I could run in breathable air.  It took a few miles for my legs to warm up.  They felt pretty dead for the first 5 miles.  I especially noticed it during the downhill sections.  Stopped at my car after 8 miles to drop some hand warmers in my gloves because my hands were starting to freeze.  Ran 3 more before meeting the club and felt really good during this stretch.  Ran 4.5 with Lora.  Started out around 8:00/mile and finished close to 7:00/mile.  Really started to feel good towards the end of the run.  The easy part of the day is over.  Now it's off to birthday parties, soccer games, gymnastics and who knows what else.

Was up most of the night with a sick kid.  Think I got about 3 hours of sleep.  Looked out the window to see what is hopefully an air scrubbing snow storm.  The roads were pretty slick so the pace was a little slow.  About half way into the run I started getting an intense burning in my stomach.  Stopped for a couple of minutes hoping things would settle down.  The feeling passed and I was able to finish the run although I did back off the pace.  Hopefully it is just sympathy pains.  

The run started in the freezing rain which was going sideways because of the wind.  After 4 miles it turned into the biggest snowflakes that I have ever seen.  Everything calmed down during the last 4 miles with only a slight rainfall.  I had a really hard time getting into the run today.  My breathing was not labored and my legs were not tired but I didn't feel like I could push at all.  Felt like I slept through the whole run.  When I got home my clothes were soaked and felt very heavy so out of curiosity I weighed them and they were 4 pounds.  

Good thing I don't wear a watch during recovery runs because I would hate to know how slow I was running today.  My right hip is really bothering me.  Probably just adjusting to the change in how my miles are distributed.  Perfect weather for running this morning.

Another run in a snow storm.  It was only a light snowfall but it accumulated enough that it was slippery in certain spots.  Hip was only sore for the first 1/4 mile then felt fine once it warmed up.  I don't think that I pushed myself as hard as I should have.  I often felt myself getting lazy and had to remind myself to pick up the pace.

It took a couple of days but kid #2 got hit with the stomach bug last night.  Why does it always happen in the middle of the night?  Slept a little better than last time but was still up every couple of hours.  Nice and easy recovery run in the wind.  Hoping the weather makes a turn for the better for all of you running Painters .Looks like you may need scuba gear.

Got a late start which meant that I headed out just as the snow really started to fall.  I didn't put my Garmin on the charger correctly and it gave me the "low battery" warning when I turned it on.  The scheduled called for a 17 miler and I do not have a good 17 mile course committed to memory.  I knew Lagoon was 9 miles away so i thought I would just head out there and turn around just before getting there.  I miscalculated and ended up going a little long.  The weather was very strange.  It was either a blizzard, blowing snow sideways or completely clear.  Felt decent during the run but didn't really push the pace.

Started with 3 easy miles to warm up.  I felt very heavy during the warm up and did not think that the planned 4 mile tempo run was going to go well.  Started the tempo run and felt surprisingly good.  The first 2 miles did not take near as much effort as I thought they would.  Splits were 6:25, 6:26.  The next 2 miles were a lot more difficult.  I was really working the last mile to hold the pace.  Splits for miles 3 and 4 were 6:26, 6:25.  Very strange how easy the first 2 felt and how difficult the last 2 miles were.  Finished with 2 easy miles to cool down.

Had to start early this morning because I have to go to a breakfast at Ashton's school because he is the math department's student of the month.  Pretty uneventful run.  Highlights were: light snowfall (again); almost hit by a car whose passenger proceeded to lecture me about wearing all black even though I had a reflective vest that covered my entire torso; almost falling on the ice; smell of fresh donuts at Dick's bakery. 

Nice and easy recovery run.

Headed out the door and turned on the auto pilot for 11 miles.  Felt very comfortable during the run.

Easy recovery run.  Let the pace for one of the miles get away from me.

Another long run without a watch. I swear I am losing my mind.  Drove to Bountiful Blvd and once I got there I realized I did not have my Garmin with me.  I've run this road enough in the past month that I know where all of the mile markers are so not too big of a deal.  My feet were really slappy at the start of the run and it took 3 miles before I started to feel comfortable.  Got into a groove and the miles were going by quick.  At mile 9 I was almost hit by a truck again.  I know I have said that before but I was probably 2 inches from getting hit.  I was watching a truck approach a stop sign.  His windshield was completely covered with frost which was my first red flag.  A car was coming the other way so I assumed that he would stop to wait for that car and I started to cross in front of him.  Instead of waiting for the other car, he decided to ignore the stop sign and hit the gas.  Thanks to my cat like reflexes I was able to sprint out of his way.  I honestly can't believe that he didn't hit me.  I need to go back to being the overly cautious person.  Met up with Lora for the last 5 miles.  She pretty much floats up the hills so it helped keep the pace honest on the uphill sections.