A clydesdale no more!

Warmed up with 3 easy miles then ran 3 miles at tempo pace (6:30/mile).  Finished with 3 more easy miles.  My left hamstring was more sore today than it has been for awhile.  I considered not doing the tempo miles but after the warm up it seemed to loosen up and felt alright.  The tempo miles were a little more work than I expected but I'm not too concerned.

Total Time: 1:07:35 (7:31/mile) 

I sure hope the weather clears up this weekend for the race.  Another morning run in the rain/snow.  I get to venture beyond the neighborhood loop on Wednesdays and it was a nice change of scenery.  I think that in the summer I am going to start running in the mountains on Wednesdays.  Got a little later start than I planned so I had to cut the run 1.5 miles short so I would be home in time for the kids.  Felt a little yucky at the start of the run (due to last night's dinner) but felt much better once I warmed up.  My left hamstring is still bothering me but feels better than it did yesterday.

Nothing exciting, just miles.  Considered just running 6 because I didn't feel great when I started.  After the first lap, I felt a lot better and decided to complete the run as planned.  There is a 50% chance of showers on Saturday.  Could be an interesting race.

Short and easy run. I was feeling peppy and the first 2 laps were at a decent clip. Decided to back off the pace for the last 2 laps. Ran the last 1/2 miles at 1/2 marathon pace just to get a feel for it and it didn't feel good. My legs felt a little heavy and it aggravated my hamstring.

Total Time: 51:28 (7:21/mile)

I just realized I have no idea how to get to the bus pickup for Striders.  Anybody willing to offer advice?  I think that Eden is just north of Pineview.  I plan on coming over Trappers Loop then heading east of Pineview.  If I continue to follow that road around the reservoir will I be able to the buses easily?

As I was leaving for the race I had the feeling that I was forgetting something.  Thought that as long as I had shoes, shorts and singlet I was fine.  As I pulled up to the bus pickup I realized that it was my watch that I forgot.  Oh well, what are you going to do.  I also realized that I didn't have a bag for the clothing drop.  I rummaged through my car and found my daughter's Hannah Montana back pack so at least I had something to put my clothes in (I'm sure I looked real cool).  I ran 1/2 mile before getting on the bus just to see how my legs felt.  After being dropped off at the starting line I ran 2 more miles with Cody, Jon, Logan and Clyde.  Met a lot of other bloggers at the start (Clay, Kim, Tom, Jossee).  I knew Tom and I were planning on running a similar pace so I was hoping to stay close to him so I could get mile splits.  First mile was in 6:00 and second mile was 6:13 (I think).  At this point my hamstring started to flare up and Tom started to pull away.  He was gaining about 2 seconds per mile on me.  After mile 5, Tom had a 14 second lead on me but I was starting to make up a little ground on him.  I think that I caught up to him somewhere around mile 7.  He said we were averaging 6:14/mile at that point.  This is also where the course gets ugly.  The downhill turned into rolling hills and we now had a pretty good headwind.  The headwind continued from here to the end of the race and was a real factor.  It also seemed to get colder at this point.  I wished that I would have kept the long sleeve shirt on.  My hamstring was getting worse and the taylor's bunion on my right foot was really bothering me.  I considered just backing off the pace and coasting in but decided to just keep plugging along until the end.  I was caught in no-mans land for the last half of the race which made the wind that much more difficult.  Ended up finishing in 1:24:10 (or something close to that).  Not too far off of a PR but considering the course and conditions, it was a PR effort.  There were times that I felt I could have pushed harder but there were also times that I felt really spent.  I guess that means that it was a good effort.  It was cool to see the huge group of bloggers cooling down.  I opted not to join them since my leg and foot were causing me grief and I have a marathon next week.

Took it very easy today just to get a feel where my legs are.  Everything feels really good except my hamstring.  It is not as sore as I thought it would be but it does bother me.  I'm still trying to decide how much running I want to do this week leading up to UVM.  I don't know if I should do a traditional taper or train through it (9 miler's everyday with one 12 miler).

Total Time: 55:30 (7:56/mile) 

It felt a little colder this morning.  Will it ever warm up?  Ran 3 comfortably paced miles then ran 2 miles at marathon pace.  Felt alright but the faster pace aggravated my hamstring.  Ran 4 more easy paced miles and felt good.  I have to try to convince myself that if my leg starts to be a problem on Saturday that it is alright to back off the pace and just put in the miles.  Ogden is the main goal this spring so I shouldn't compromise that race by being foolish this week.

My daughters turn 6 today.  Happy Birthday Emma and Gracie!  We are going to take them to dinner at Tepanyaki tonight.  Should be a lot of fun.

I've decided to run lower miles this week leading up to the marathon.  The original plan was to train through it but looking at things long term, it will be better for me to back off a little for the rest of the week.  Was hit with a little sleet during the run and it was painful.  

I got dressed to go running and started to walk out the door and something was telling me not to run today.  My leg was bothering me while I was sleeping so I decided to give it one complete day off.  Sometimes I get so caught up in how many miles I should be running, I forget to let my body rest.  I know that taking today off was the right decision.

I got a decent night's sleep which was the first in quite awhile. Ran 4+ laps around the neighborhood. I'm starting to get more used to it and it does not seem quite as boring as it used to. My hamstring ached during the run, especially on the hills. I think that it is a little bit better than it has been so taking yesterday off seemed to help. I decided to stay in Provo tonight because of the early start of the race tomorrow. I would have to leave my house at 3:30 a.m. to get there in time for the bus ride to the start and I don't want to wake up that early.

Total Time: 53:13 (7:30/mile)

Utah Valley Marathon

After finding out about this race and realizing that it came on the same day as a scheduled 21 miler, I decided to give it a try.  Since it was an inaugural event, I knew that you can expect some glitches.  The organization was great.  My only complaint would be that there were a few spots that the course was not marked as well as it should have been.  Even though I planned to run this as a training run, I have a real hard time not putting in a full effort.  There were only 100 people entered in the marathon so I thought that I had a good chance of placing in my age division so my main goal was to go home with a plaque.  I caught the first bus up to the start with 9 other people.  It was so much more comfortable than the usual bus ride to the start.  It was a lot colder than I thought it would be so I put on a long sleeve shirt under my singlet.  In last week’s half marathon, I opted to run with just a singlet under similar conditions and regretted it.  

The first part of the race is run down Provo canyon and I imagine it is very beautiful.  Unfortunately it was pitch black and I couldn’t see a thing.  Splits coming down the canyon were:
Mile 1: 6:17 – Ran the first quarter mile in front with Dane and knew that it was going to be too fast.  Was caught and passed by a couple of fast looking dudes (found out later that one of them was Steve).
Mile 2: 6:46 – Right were I want to be.  Settled into fifth place.
Mile 3: 6:42 – Passed by 4 more runners and was sitting in ninth.  I kept telling myself to run my own race and not to worry about the runners ahead of me.  Most of the guys ahead of me seemed like they were younger so my hopes of an age division place where still intact.
Mile 4: 6:38 – Just letting the terrain dictate the pace.
Mile 5: 6:48 – After exiting the canyon we came up on an intersection and two of the runners ahead of me stopped to try and figure out which way to go.  I started to worry that this was going to be an issue for the rest of the race.

The next section of the race is run through town.  This is the urban portion of the race:
Mile 6: 7:03 – A little climb here (I think) or I just fell asleep.  I was hanging behind a group of 3 runners.
Mile 7: 6:43 – Right on pace.  I surged a few times to wake up my legs and catch the runners ahead but every time that I caught them, they would pull away.  Decided to stop trying to play games and just run.
Mile 8: 6:44
Mile 9: 7:10
Mile 10: 7:06 – Somewhere during the tenth mile six runners ahead of me made a wrong turn.  It was on a loop section so running the wrong way didn’t have an impact on the distance, just the route that was run.  I think that they ran a tougher route because of a nasty uphill that they had to tackle.  Me and 2 other runners were pointed in the right direction.  These two guys decided to make a pit stop and I moved ahead of them.
Mile 11: 6:53 – This is where I passed the runners going the wrong way.  I’m not sure if they knew that they were going the wrong way.
Mile 12: 7:25 (but really 6:25) – Passed another runner and could tell that he was struggling.  Unfortunately at the end of this mile, I had to make a pit stop.  This was incredibly frustrating and it always hits me around mile 12 or 13.  I forgot to turn the auto pause off on my Garmin so I am guessing that it cost me 1 minute based on what my watch said at the end and what my official time was.
Mile 13: 6:37 – A little faster because of the frustration from the pit stop.  This also included a 5 second stop when I was trying to figure out if I was going the right way.

At this point we made our way onto the Provo River trail and started running along the river for several miles. There were a couple of drawbacks to this section.  First, the winding nature of the trail doesn’t allow you to see anybody ahead of you or behind you so you have no idea were you are or if you are on the right track.  The other problem that I had was that there were a few underpasses that I was too tall for and had to watch my head.  I also didn’t like the short but quick drops and rises.
Mile 14: 6:45
Mile 15: 6:54
Mile 16: 6:53
Mile 17: 6:19 – Not sure if this is right.  I don’t remember going faster here but I think that I remember my Garmin losing it’s signal.
Mile 18: 6:53 – This is another point in which I felt lost.  We dumped out of the trail and into a parking lot.  I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to continue on the trail or go on the road.  Luckily I guessed right.  As I approached the 18 mile marker I downed a GU a little too fast and started dry heaving.

The next portion of the race are on the worst section of any marathon that I have run. This section consists of running between Utah Lake and the Provo airport on a washed out dirt road with major ruts and exposed rocks.  Finding decent footing was impossible and easily cost 20 seconds per mile.
Mile 19: 7:10
Mile 20: 7:16
Mile 21: 7:17
Mile 22: 7:06

We are now back on the city streets and I have made the decision to just coast in to the finish.  I can’t see the runners ahead of me and there is nobody even close to me from behind.  Thinking that I am locked into sixth place and a decent placing in my age division, I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize my preparation for the Ogden marathon.  The remaining miles are run through neighborhoods.  There were a lot of turns and looping around the neighborhoods to make up the distance.
Mile 23: 7:19
Mile 24: 7:10
Mile 25: 7:07
Mile 26: 7:07
Mile 26;2: 6:15/mile pace

Final time was 3:02:30.  I was hoping to get under 3 hours but considering my struggles on the dirt road and the pit stop, I’m not horribly disappointed.  I went back to the hotel to shower and check out and grab some breakfast.  Returned to the race to check out the results.  Much to my dismay, I was fourth in my age group.  I was so upset.  I took sixth overall which means that 3 of the 5 guys that beat me were in the 35-39 age division. Technically, I was the first runner to cross the finish line that ran the loop through miles 10 and 11 the right way so I will take that as my moral victory.

Aside from the terrible section by the lake and a couple points of confusion on the course I think that it was a great race and will be a great event for years to come.

I had to get out and see how my legs were doing. Took it extremely easy - definitely the slowest athat I have run in a very long. My hamstring was killing me at the start and I almost didn't make it to the top of the street. It felt a lot better after it warmed up and I was able to finish the run. I have very little soreness aside from the hamstring. It seems that mother nature finally looked at the calendar. I was able to run in shorts and a short sleeve shirt and stilled worked up a good sweat.

 I just heard that there was no double dipping in the awards yesterday so I think that I should have received a plaque.  I saw my name listed as fourth in my AG on the printout so made the assumption I wasn't going to get anything and didn't stick around for the ceremony.  I guess that I need to contact Hyrum and see if I can still pick it up.
 

Legs feel better today.  I'm still feeling the post marathon burn.  The hamstring feels a lot better today than it did yesterday.  It's still a little cool in the morning so I had to wear a long sleeve shirt but I think that I will be able to wear shorts from now on.  I'm going to keep all my runs easy this week then get in a couple of good weeks of training before Ogden.

Total Time: 59:49 (8:33/mile) 

Very windy this morning.  The good thing about running the neighborhood loop is that I was able to alternate from headwind to tailwind frequently.  The temperature was just right but started to cool down quite a bit towards the end of the run.  I guess a storm is making it's way in.  Legs are feeling a lot better and are almost back to normal.

Total Time: 1:11:55 (7:59/mile)
 

I thought that I was done with the winter running gear but it was 25 degrees this morning.  I ran the NSL/Orchard drive loop and it was nice to venture away from the neighborhood.  The pace is still slow.  My hamstring was a little more sore towards the end of the run but I think that it is getting better.

Total Time: 1:37:54 (8:09/mile) 

Legs are almost fully recovered.  A little soreness on the back of my left leg (from top to bottom) but nothing significant.  Temps are still cold but will hopefully be warming up.

Total Time: 1:12:21 (8:02/mile) 

I felt really good this morning.  I was up late so I didn't get as much sleep as  I would have liked but my legs felt especially snappy during the run.  I still held back because this week is all about recovery.  

Total Time: 1:08:22 (7:36/mile) 

Perfect temperature but it is windy.  I feel bad for everybody running the marathon today.  I guess they should be around the seventh mile right now.  I've decided to change the direction that I run the neighborhood loop every lap or every other lap.  This will break up the monotony and also help avoid injury.  I think that making so many left hand turns was starting to cause issues with my legs.  My plan was to go 15 miles this morning but one of my daughters is sick and she called me at mile 9.  I guess she needs her daddy more than her daddy needs the miles.  I'll try to get out tomorrow for the 15.

Total Time: 1:14:39 (7:51/mile) 

WINDY!  Not much else to say.  Mostly a crosswind but when I turned into the wind it felt like I wasn't moving at all.  Fortunately, I only had to run into the wind for a couple of 1/2 mile stretches.  I felt really good at the beginning of the run but my legs started to tighten up towards the end.  

Total Time: 1:57:11 (7:49/mile) 

All the wind that we've had blew in a lot of cold air.  Went outside then had to go back in to re-dress.  Felt pretty good during the run except my hamstring started to burn towards the end of the run.  I'm going to start icing it to see if that will help alleviate some of the pain.  I guess the approach of ignoring it and hoping it takes care of itself isn't really working.  I wore my FRB jacket during the run and when I got home and took it off a gallon of sweat came pouring out of the sleeves (I know, that is gross).  It is probably good for warm up and cool down but not for longer runs.

Total Time: 1:18:42 (7:43/mile) 

Warmed up with 3 miles then attempted 4 miles at tempo pace.  First 2 miles were painfully slow.  The effort was way too hard for how slow the pace was (6:42/mile).  The next 2 miles were a little under 6:30 and felt a lot better.  This pace is definitely hard on the hamstring.  Cooled down with a few miles at an easy pace.  

Total Time: 1:15:54 (7:35/mile) 

It was windy again.  Hopefully it will blow in some warm air.  Kept the pace easy and I felt good for the first 12 but started to wear down towards the end.  It was encouraging to feel that good for most of the run.

Total Time: 1:49:30 (7:49/mile) 

Felt like I was just going through the motions this morning.  I felt good physically but just couldn't get into the run mentally.  Finished the run in the freezing rain.  This weather is getting ridiculous.  

AM - 6 miles

Easy recovery run. I have a few aches and pains that I think taking it easy today will take care of. I will try to hit the treadmill for a few super easy miles this afternoon. Still cold but it is starting to smell like warmer weather. I can't explain it but it just had that warmer weather feel even though it was cold.

PM - 4 miles

My girls had a play date with a friend from school so I decided to take advantage of the free time and put in a few more easy miles.  I suffered from the usual side stitch that I get when I run in the afternoon.  My body just isn't used to running in the afternoon.  Pace felt a lot smoother than it has lately and my hamstring didn't hurt at all. 

I knew that there was no way that I would survive 20 miles around the neighborhood so I extended the loop a little.  I first started by running to 7-11 to get some Gatorade and the 1.5 mile return while holding 2 big bottles wasn't very comfortable.  I then ran a 4 mile loop that extended through the adjacent neighborhood and returned home for a drink and to check on the kids.  I ran another 3 or 4 mile loop in another direction.  I continued this pattern a few times running a loop that was 3-4 miles and returning home to make sure that everything was alright.  Fortunately, the kids were tired and stayed asleep the entire run.  I kept the pace pretty easy (7:40-8:00 / mile depending on the terrain).  I live near the Front Runner stop in Woods Cross and they are getting ready for the free ride day today.  They have a few port-o-potties set up and there is something about the smell of them that reminds me of races.  Every time that I would run by, memories of past races would come back.

I was only planning on 20 miles but extended it to 20.8 so that I would have 90 miles for the past 7 days.  This is a weekly pr for me even though it is artificially high because I had to move my long run last week from Saturday to Sunday. 

Total Time: 2:43:00 (7:50/mile) 

I was hoping to get in 10 miles this morning but I didn't get a chance to get out.  Instead of no running I took the kids to the park and ran around the park while they played.  I felt better during this run than I have in a very long time.  I was planning on keeping the pace slow but ended up running closes to 7:00 pace the entire run.  The effort was easy.

Total Time: 35:50 (7:10/mile) 

Of course I followed up yesterday's great run with a terrible run.  Seems like that's always the case.  My energy level was very low and I felt kind of yucky all over.  My feet are especially causing me concern.  They are really hurting and I'm not sure if it is just a normal ache or if it is something that I should be concerned about.

Very windy but at least it was warm.  During yesterday's run, both feet were bothering me but today it is just the left foot.  It is right on the ball of the foot and it is killing me.  It felt better as the run progressed so I'm not too concerned.  Because of this, I think that I'm going to back off the miles.  

As much as I hate to do this, I am taking today off.   My foot is really bothering me and it needs a rest.  I could run and push through the pain but I think taking today off is the best decision.