A clydesdale no more!

Easy run with a few striders thrown in for fun.  Felt and looked like a February run with the snow covered ground.  Still feeling a little blah but better than yesterday.

Started off with 3 easy miles then ran 3 at LT and finished with 3 easy miles.  I was going to run 5 LT miles but my achilles started to flare up so I called it good after 3.  Splits for the LT miles were: 6:27, 6:30, 6:25.  Still feel like my head is in a fog.  Not sure if I am a little sick or just overly tired.

Total Time: 1:08:05 (7:34/mile)

I am taking Jeff and Teena's advice and taking a couple of days off.  This is really difficult for me but I know it is the right thing to do.  Hopefully getting a good long run in St. George on Monday will make me feel better.  It is probably too early to say this but I think my hopes of getting revenge on the Ogden marathon course is going to have to wait.  I will still run the marathon but it will be slow.

Woke up, got some work done and headed out for a good 20 mile run.  I thought I was supposed to be on vacation.  We are staying right by where the Lake to Lake exchange was for the 5th leg so I thought I would start there and run legs 3 and 4 which would be close to 10 miles.  I thought the trail would take me most of the way but it ended after 1/4 mile.  I meandered through the neighborhoods and saw a bike route sign and followed it.  I thought it would lead to the trail but never did.  I ended up climbing the side of a mountain.  I really was not planning on running any hills today because they seem to aggravate the achilles.  Eventually saw the trail and remembered that was exactly where we stopped and took Jeremy's picture.  Jumped on the trail and followed it but took a wrong turn at a fork and ended up on the marathon course.  Decided to run up that until I hit 10 miles then turn and head back.  The course certainly is not as fun going uphill and having cars flying by you.  Felt pretty good going up.  I was running 8:20-8:30 and didn't feeling like I was pushing.  About the right LSD effort.  On the way back down I was running 7:20/mile.  I wasn't really pushing the pace at all and was running comfortably. Everything felt really good except for the achilles.  It either hurt really bad or I couldn't feel it at all.  I guess that is better than hurting all of the time.  Averaged 7:40/mile for the entire run and am happy with how I felt physically.  I haven't run many hills during this training cycle so I was concerned about my hill running ability.  This was a very hilly run (up and down) and I did fairly well.

 I promised the kids we would play racquetball after my run so of course they were ready as soon as I got back.  Played for 30 minutes then played in the pool for a couple of hours.  The diving pool is ice cold so I soaked my achilles for awhile. 

Total Time: 2:33:26 (7:40/mile)

Thought I would start at the same trailhead as Monday, only go the opposite direction.  I wanted try to follow the same route as when I ran L2L (leg 5).  Unfortunately, I am incredibly directionally challenged.  I felt like I was in the right place after a few miles but then realized that the road seemed to be going in a circle.  Sure enough, I passed a street that I had noticed earlier.  Since I had no idea where I was I decided to run the loop again (which was the loop that goes around the Bloomington Country Club) and head back to where I started.  I couldn't figure out which road to take to get out of the loop.  Saw a road that seemed to head out so I followed it but it didn't seem right.  Saw what appeared to be a map at the Bloomington baseball fields.  Luckily it was a map and I was able to figure out where I was and where I needed to go.  Passed the park where leg 5 hands off to leg 6 and started to feel more comfortable since everything looked familiar again.  Physically felt good for the first 8-10 miles but then the achilles started to get sore.  It is not bad but makes me feel weak which is mentally difficult to overcome.  If I put it out of my mind I can push a little harder.  The downhills definitely aggravate it and I ran more hills this week than I have in quite awhile.

My girls turn 8 today so what better way to celebrate than run two 8 milers.  I ate way too much junk yesterday during the drive home and I could feel it this morning.  I was really tired while driving so drank a lot of caffeine to keep myself awake.  I wanted a good run to burn off all of the junk that I ate and drank.  When I started the run I was only planning on running 8 miles.  I felt really good and averaged 7:00/mile during the first 6 miles.  I felt so good I decided to stretch the run out to 16 so I backed off the pace and ran around 7:20-7:30 for the next 6.  Since I wasn't planning on going long, I didn't take any fluids with me and I really paid for it the last 4 miles.  I was sooooo thirsty. The pace dropped and I shuffled along to complete the run.  Despite the crash at the end, it was a good run with virtually no achilles pain.

Total Time: 1:59:03 (7:23/mile)

After 2 MLR's in a row I thought it would be a good idea to rest the achilles.  I feel fine and am just being overly cautious.

Drove to the Farmington station of the LPT.  Warmed up with 3 miles at 7:55/mile then ran 12 miles at MP.  It was supposed to be 14 miles at MP but I hit the wall and cut it short.  The LPT is mostly flat with only minor elevation changes.  Running on flat terrain is definitely the best thing for my achilles.  The splits for the 12 MP miles were: 6:50, 6:49, 6:49, 6:50, 6:53, 6:49, 6:49, 6:56, 6:57, 6:58, 6:56, 6:55.  You can see from the splits where I started to struggle.  My form really fell apart and I was really forcing the pace.  I felt like my fitness level had dropped and this run confirmed that.it has.  On the bright side, I had absolutely zero achilles pain during the run and it feels alright now.  Cooled down with 2 miles at 7:30/mile and I really felt the effects of hitting the wall during the MP miles.  It was a good hard run and I love the light headed feeling you get after finishing a run like that.

Total Time: 2:01:30 (7:09/mile)

I'm taking a slight deviation from Pftiz's plan.  This is supposed to be a recovery week but I am just starting to feel good again and want to get in a couple of solid weeks of training before Ogden.  I missed last weeks VO2 max workout so instead of the scheduled 5X600 I opted for the 6X1,000.  Other than the slight breeze, the weather was perfect this morning.  During my warm up I got the low battery warning on my Garmin.  I cut the warm up short so I could make it through the workout before my Garmin died.  Starting earlier would also mean that I would only have one repeat into the wind.  I ran blind again so I could get better at running by feel.  My splits were all over the place but all faster than target pace (6:00/mile) so I can live with that.

Repeat	Split	Pace/Mile	Comment
1	3:42	5:55	Struggled to get going.
2	3:37	5:47	Felt good.  Very relaxed.
3	3:27	5:31	No idea how this was so fast.  Maybe Garmin error?
4	3:33	5:41	Legs feel good.  Breathing a little labored.
5	3:35	5:44	Legs starting to get heavy.  Fell asleep halfway through and forced myself to refocus.
6	3:41	5:54	All into the wind.  Took a lot of effort.

 I am very happy with the workout.  There was absolutely no achilles pain.  I think I may be in the clear.

I have a non-running related question.  My girls are going to be baptized later this month and they asked if I would do it.  I'm not sure that I should or could.  While I live my life the way I should and do not do anything that would prevent me from doing it, I only recently started going to church and only go to Sacrament meeting when I do go.  Do you think it would be more appropriate for the grandfather, who has much stronger beliefs, to do it?

Yucky weather again this morning.  Hopefully that will be the last of the wintery runs for awhile.  Nice and easy recovery run.  Other than feeling tired, everything felt really good.

Very uneventful run.  Ran out 7.5 miles, turned around and ran home.  Legs are tired but felt good.  My shoulders are extremely tight for some reason.

Total Time: 1:56:47 (7:47/mile)

Very tired this morning.  My legs felt really heavy.  I feel like I am starting to get a cold.  Hopefully it is just allergies.

Still fighting off a cold and even though I am winning the battle, I still feel a little groggy.  Warmed up with 3 miles then ran 4 miles at tempo pace. Splits were: 6:30, 6:27, 6:30, 6:28.  Pace felt alright except for the last mile which felt very forced and took too much effort.  My right leg felt weak throughout the run and I did not feel like I was getting a very good push off with it.  Still a good run and 100% pain free.

Total Time: 1:08:29 (7:37/mile)

The plan was to have a nice and relaxing run.  It was all about time on my feet.  Things did not go according to plan.  I wanted to get 10-12 in before the club run but I got a late start and only had an hour before the club was to meet.  I figured that if I pushed the pace a little I could get in 8 miles.  Started out slow then picked up the pace and ran the first 8 miles in 58:40 (7:20/mile).  Figured that I would take the last 10 slow and just run with the group.  Jeremy was there so I knew that the pace was not going to be slow.  He said he would run the full 10 with me which meant there would be no break.  Started out around 7:00/mile and it felt really good. It is amazing how much easier the pace feels when you are not alone.  Felt really good until mile 16 when I could feel the wall.  I forgot to bring my fuel belt so I only had Gatorade at the start and after 8 miles.  The last 2 miles were a struggle but the pace only slipped a little during the 17th mile.  The last 10 were run at a 7:10/mile pace.  It was a good hard run and I felt really good.  I think that I am going to have Chinese food for dinner tonight so I can at least pretend that I am hanging out with all of you in China town in Boston.

Total Time: 2:10:14 (7:14/mile)

Supposed to be a recovery run but since I am suffering from a major case of Boston envy I decided to run a mile at the pace of some of the people I know running today. So, here is what I did:

1	Kathie	8:44	Enjoying the reward of her first Boston.
2	Smooth	8:43	Had amazing dedication to her training plan.  Will be a great race.
3	Canyon	8:27	Just another marathon.
4	Teena	7:44	Hoping the leg cooperates.  She deserves a great experience.
5	Marc	7:29	Constantly improving.
6	Rhett	6:40	Will have a great run to make up for last year's experience.
7	Walter	5:59	How can you maintain this pace for 26.2?

Finished with an easy mile.  Shouldn't have run the 6:00 mile since I have a VO2 workout tomorrow.  The other miles were easy enough that I should be alright.

Total Time: 1:01:51 (7:44/mile)

I have not been looking forward to this workout and really had a hard time talking myself into it this morning.  The plan called for 6X1,200 m @ 5K pace with 400 m jog in between each.  Started with a 3 mile warm up.  Here is how it went:

Interval	Split	Pace	Comment
1	4:29	5:59	Felt like I was holding back
2	4:27	5:56	Still comfortable
3	4:28	5:57	Legs started to burn towards the end.
4	4:29	5:59	Feeling the effects of the shorter recovery.
5	4:30	6:00	This one was HARD.  Really had to work to keep the pace down.
6	4:22	5:49	Felt good and legs felt surprisingly strong. Slight gravitational assistance.

Finished with 2 cool down miles.  Since I have been running more VO2 max runs, 5k pace is starting to feel more natural.  This workout was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. 

Total Time: 1:23:39 (7:36/mile)

The run started with very tired and heavy legs.  Pace was pretty slow for the first few miles until my legs woke up.  Kept it at a comfortable pace until mile 10 when a came up on a guy doing sub 7 miles.  Stayed ahead of him for a couple of miles running 6:45/mile.  Backed off the pace after he started in another direction.  The quicker miles seemed to shake off the rust and the remaining miles felt good.  I just beat the storm as it started to rain as I was coming down my street.

Total Time: 1:50:13 (7:52/mile)

Today was one of those days where running felt like a chore.  It was cold, windy, rainy and I was incredibly tired.  Not exactly the recipe for a great run.  Other than a few strides I through in at the end of the run the pace was slow.

Total Time: 1:04:44 (8:05/mile)

Another cold and rainy day.  At .least there was no wind.  The gloomy atmosphere matched my emotions.  Just a nice and easy recovery run.  I needed the exercise to flush out some negative thoughts. 

Super busy day today.  Out the door at 5:30 for my last long run of this training cycle.  Kept the pace easy for a true LSD.  Ran on the LPT then extended it to Eagle Bay elementary to get the full distance.  Felt very good throughout the run.  Ran the last mile in 6:30 to get the feel for a quicker pace on tired legs.  Cannot believe how good it felt.

Total Time: 2:34:20 (7:43/mile)

Uneventful general aerobic run.  Ran a few striders at the end.  Everything feels good.

Total Time: 50:15 (7:11/mile)

Nice, leisurely run.  Perfect weather today so I just enjoyed being outside.  My Garmin appears to be dead so I have no idea what the pace was.  Don't know what I am going to do about the Garmin.  I have some aches and pains in my joints.  A storm must be coming in.

A cold, windy and rainy recovery run.  

Started typing how I was going to take today off because I have to shift my schedule around since I am running the SL Running Co. 5k on Saturday.  It didn't feel right so I headed out and did the easy 5.  It was cold and there was a layer of snow on my front yard so I had to dig out the winter running clothes.  Light snowfall to start that turned into a blizzard by the end of the run.  It stopped snowing as I finished the run.  This week seems too easy.  I know I need to trust the plan but I wonder if a 2 week taper would be better for me.

I really had to talk myself into running this morning.  I did not want to go.  I decided that I would let the scale make the decision for me.  Unfortunately, my weight was 2 pounds higher than I wanted it to be so I had to run.  The run wasn't too bad once I warmed up.