A clydesdale no more!

AM 

Ran the Davis Blvd loop and felt really good. What a great morning for a run. I wore shorts and a long sleeve shirt. Not the normal attire for the middle of November.

Total Time: 1:15:08 (7:31/mile)

PM 

Not sure how to count the afternoon miles.  Went to the Utah Heart Clinic for a stress echo exam.  Showed up, had the ultrasound then hopped on the treadmill.  You start out walking on a slight incline then every 3 minutes it speeds up and the incline increases.  There are 7 stages to the test and they said that they have never had anybody finish all 7 stages.  I took it as a challenge.  You have to get your heart rate to 166 bpm and they wanted me to go a little longer because they knew my heart rate would recover quickly and they had to do another ultrasound while the heart rate was elevated.  The first few stages were really easy.  I think that it wasn't until the third or fourth stage when I actually started jogging.   Once I hit the 6th stage my heart rate hit 166 and they asked if I wanted to keep going.  I said that I wanted to finish the test if it was alright with them.  During the 7th stage, my legs started to get tired and I could start to feel the effort.  They were curious to see what the program would do after the 7th stage.  Hit 21 minutes and nothing exciting happened so they had me stop at 21:07.  My heart rate got up to 183 bpm.  I think that I could have gone for another 2 minutes if we had the time.  Considering that the people who usually take this test aren't in very good shape I guess that it isn't a great accomplishment but I will take whatever victories that I can.

The test revealed that everything is perfect with my heart so I have nothing to worry about.  The discomfort is most likely due to inflammation in the chest cavity.  At least I now know that my heart is in good shape.

I was a little sleepy as I headed out the door today.  I also got started a few minutes late so I cut the run short so that my wife could get to work on time.  First few miles took a little more effort than it should have but I felt better as the run progressed.  My knees are a little achy which I think is due to the cold front moving in.

Man, is it cold.  Two days ago I was wearing shorts and today I got frostbite on my fingers.  I ran the course for tomorrow's turkey trot just to get a feel for how the race is going to be.  Between the cold and the course elevation, it will probably be a little slow.  The first mile should be fast but then the next 2 miles are slightly uphill.  Felt decent today except for my frozen hands.

Total Time: 1:09:09 (7:41/mile) 

“Warmed up” by running from home to the South Davis Rec Center (3 miles).  It was very cold.  Hung out inside the rec center until 15 minutes before the race.  Went outside and ran ¼ mile just to get warmed up again and decide how much clothing that I wanted to wear.  The sun had come out and it warmed up a little.  Decided to go with shorts, long sleeve under armour, my fastrunningblog t-shirt and one pair of gloves.  Lined up and noticed a few high school aged kids that looked like trouble.  My plan was to run 5:40, 6:15, 6:15 because miles 2 and 3 are slightly uphill.  The race started and once we hit the main road after a dangerous, winding start littered with loose gravel I settled into 6th place behind a bunch of younger runners.  Moved up to fifth place after ½ mile then into fourth place just before the 1 mile marker.  I really didn’t feel that great and knew that my split was going to be slower than I wanted.  First mile came in at 5:51 and I felt sluggish.  During the second mile, the first and second place runners were moving really well and third place felt just out of reach.  I continued to plug along and crossed the 2 mile marker in 6:15.  It was right on target but didn’t feel very fast.  At the 2.5 mile marker, I started getting the pukey feeling and could hear a runner closing in on me.  I started having the negative thoughts and did my best to fight them off.  Tried to push a little harder but just couldn’t hit the next gear.  I knew that if I could make it to 400 North in 4th place then I could probably hold off the runner behind me because it is just ¼ mile of downhill to the finish.  Ran the third mile 6:14 then cruised through the last 0.1 at 4:59/mile pace.  Finished in 18:47, which was good enough for 4th place overall and the first old dude.  I got beat by a kid from Box Elder High, a kid from Viewmont High and another young guy who said he is going to walk on to USU’s XC team.  While my finish time is almost exactly what I expected it to be, I am a little disappointed in my effort.  I struggled during the second mile mentally and still need to work on fighting the negative thoughts during races.  I won a bag, a t-shirt, a couple of Jamba Juice certificates and a Jamba Juice cup for winning my age division. 

I think that I ran too hard after my last 5k so I decided to take it very easy today.  

Total Time: 1:03:49 (7:58/mile) 

Ran up to the rec center to meet up with the South Davis Road Runners.  I'm still on my own pace wise but I think that I will keep going just to be part of the group.  The planned run was either a 3+ or 5+ mile loop.  I ran the 5+ mile loop and a pretty easy pace.  As I was heading back I noticed a couple of runners from the group ahead of me so I tried to catch up with them.  They were holding a decent pace so I couldn't catch them until the very end of the run.  I want to start building my Saturday mileage back up so I took the long way home to get the run up to 14 for the day.  Felt really good during the run except my hands froze.
 

Total Time: 1:45:54 (7:34/mile)