A clydesdale no more!

Focused on arms at Firehouse.  There were 3 half mile runs interspersed throughout the workout.  Amazing how hard it was to run with rubber arms. 

I knew that Tempo Tuesday was going to be put on hold this week because Shantell ran 20 yesterday and Tara is racing Des News tomorrow.  Still wanted to attempt some slightly quicker miles this morning so I stuck to the planned routine.  Drove to the LPT and warmed up 2 miles.  Wasn't positive if Kam was going to be there so I waited for a couple of minutes then started my tempo miles.  Decided that I wanted to run 4 miles at lactate threshold.  My plan was to hold 6:50/mile the entire run.  Not a punishing pace but definitely a good, solid effort.  Probably my true lactate threshold pace right now.  Hit every mile at 6:50.  Had to make some corrections during the second half of miles 3 and 4 as I started both of those a little too fast.  Cooled down with 2 easy miles.

Becky wanted to run the Handcart Days 1/2 marathon as a supported long run.  She wanted to run 8:20/mile so I went along for the ride.  I didn't sign up so I guess I technically bandited the race.  I didn't take any of the fluids along the course so I consider it just coincidentally running the same course at the same time as the race.  At least that is what I am telling myself so that I can maintain some integrity.  We maintained a steady effort the entire run and finished in 1:48:56 (8:19/mile).  The last few miles took a little more effort but it was a good run.  Since it is a small race and it seems everybody ran the Des News half, the winning men's time was 1:31.  I could have won this race again had I actually raced it.  Running with Becky was much more satisfying. 

A few less miles than I had hoped because I was too busy with work this morning.  Just ran at a nice and easy pace.

Level 1 testing at Firehouse.  Testing at this level is kind of a waste of time.  Included a one minute squat, one minute plank, demonstrated knowledge of the 3 arm combo on TRX, 20 medicine ball hop and reach, and a 0.6 mile run around the block.  Pushed it on the run and was very disappointed with my time (3:47 = 6:18/mile pace).  No way I was going that slow.  Mapped out the course on gmap-pedometer and it is actually 0.68 miles which would be a 5:34/mile pace.  Still not blazing speeds but at least it is reasonable for the effort I was putting in.  Not that it matters but at least I can feel a little better about myself. 

Paced the 1:40 group at Timpanogos along with Colin.  They made a last minute course change which made the course about 45 seconds slower.  The course is still 3 minutes faster than a flat course so 7:38/mile was a comfortable pace.  It was very warm at the bus loading area but nice and cool at the starting line.  I knew that the last few miles would be more work because of the heat.  It’s times like this that make me glad to be pacing and not racing.  The race started and it was incredibly congested.  Fought through the crowd for the first mile then settled in with a good group.  The pace felt good but I had a hard time locking into the right effort.  My body wanted to run slower so it took more concentration to hit the right pace.  We kept no more than a 20 second lead on our target pace for the first 9 miles.  From here to the end, we were right on target.  We had one runner from Houston that stayed with us the entire race.  She is preparing for the Pocatello marathon and wanted a good practice run on a course with similar elevation change and altitude.  Just before mile 10 we passed a guy who told us we were way ahead of 1:40 pace.  I told him that we were right on target and he disagreed again.  I tried to explain that we were 60 seconds ahead of even pace but that was intentional and were going to give that back on the flat section of the course.  Shouldn’t have bothered me because I understand his state of mind but I make it a point to stay very close to target pace from start to finish and knew we were pacing perfect.  It was warm and 8:00/mile pace started to be a lot of work.  We missed the tunnel at Country Road at mile 12 and ended up crossing a very busy street with no traffic control.    Looked at my watch and we were 2 seconds behind schedule.  Ended up having to push a little more during the last mile than I would have liked.  Ran stride for stride with the lady from Houston for the last 3 miles (I even asked her to carry the pacing sign since she was doing all the work) and crossed the finish line 2 seconds late (crap).   After the race, there were a lot of complaints about the course change.  While it was slower, I think the bigger issue was the heat and humidity we experienced once outside of the canyon. 

After the race, Becky wanted to get in a few more miles so she would be over 50 for the week.  We ran a nice and easy 3 miles.

Mile	Split	Target
1	7:31	7:42
2	7:35	7:40
3	7:36	7:40
4	7:17	7:33
5	7:06	7:15
6	7:38	7:10
7	7:12	7:29
8	7:32	7:19
9	7:46	7:47
10	7:44	7:42
11	7:57	7:56
12	8:04	7:56
13	8:00	8:01
13.1	1:02	0:50