Artichoke's Running Blog (Ken Spence)

3 mile test run on the TM.  27:25.  Some pain at 1.5, but not real bad, like Saturday.  Just enough to let me know it's there.  Need to decide about  extended time off after testing it out this week.  Will try the next couple of days and see if it worsens.  Ran well last week until Saturday, so if that happens again, I guess it's resting and/or the stationary bike for the month of December.

4 miles on TM in 36:30.  Progression from 10:00 min. pace to 8:30 pace.  Still feeling it some after 2.5.  Still not like Saturday.

3 TM miles after work.  Very easy starting out at 10:00 pace and increasing throughout to about 7:40 pace at the end.  Hamstring is still bugging me, but ran through it to see how it responded afterwards.  Somewhat sore all evening after icing.  Will try an easy 8 miler for Saturday's run, but if it grabs me like last week, I guess I'll be off the rest of the month and do some cross training on the bike.

8 mile solo run this morning.  Wrapped hamstring tight and had no real issues.  Just a hint.  Pace was extremely slow overall, around 10:00 min. pace.  Somewhat encouraging run.

5 miles at 6:15 p.m.  Used Icy Hot, stretched, and wrapped the hamstring before I ran.  No real problems tonight, but an extremely slow pace.  I can just begin to feel something not right still when I try to pick up the pace even a bit.  Still need to be careful.

4 miles easy again, like last night.  6:20 p.m.  To real issues.   Heading to St. George Wednesday and Thursday on business, but hope to get a run in along the Virgin River trail sometime, if I can get the people I'm with to cooperate on the schedule a bit.

4 miles on Virgin River / Mayor's Loop in St. George.  34 degrees down in the river bottom.  Easy running.  Hamstring not too bad.  Dark for first mile.  Few runners out.

4 very slow miles this morning at 5:00 a.m.  Didn't push anything.  Hamstring okay at that pace.

8 miles with Tina at 9:00 a.m.  Middle Canyon route to above gas line and back home direct.  Fairly slow going up.  Careful coming down.  Hamstring okay, but had it tightly wrapped.  Icy roads in spots.  7 miles in 1:04:12.  8 miles in about 1:12:30.  Felt good and had a decent week.  Still feel like I need to be very careful.  Tina slowed down for me a lot today, but it was good to be back running with her.

5 easy miles at 5:00 a.m.  Can't seem to get my turn over going any faster, but feeling much better.  Plan to take it easy through the month and just be grateful that I'm able to get out and put in some miles each day. Feel like I'm making some progress with the hamstring issue. 

4 miles at 5:10 a.m. in 39:10.  Skyline route out and back.  Easy running.  Felt okay. 37 degrees.

4 TM miles in 36:20 at 5:10 a.m.  Woke up to 6-7 inches of fresh snow and unplowed roads, so I wimped and hit the TM.  Not even a hint of an issue with the hamstring today.  Progression run starting at 10:00 min. pace and ending at 8:00 min. pace.

5 TM miles at 5:00 a.m.  43:59.  Progression run from 10:00 pace to 7:45 pace.  Best I've felt in weeks.  18 degrees out this morning with icy roads, so very happy to be on the mill.

4 TM miles at 5:00 a.m.  36:20.  Easy running. 

10 miles in 1:28:10 with Tina on the Smelter Road hills.  9:00 a.m.  Light skiff of snow, but no real problems.  32 degrees with a light but cold breeze at times.  A very encouraging run, but felt a bit out of shape on the steeper hills.  I usually run this hill about once a week, but it's been a while.  Just a hint of the hamstring at 8-9 miles.  Tightly wrapped, did okay.  32 miles for the week.

5 easy miles on the TM.  5:00 a.m.   Hamstring just a bit sore from Saturday, but okay throughout the run.

4 TM easy miles at 5:10 a.m.  Snow covered streets this morning.

5 TM miles at 5:00 a.m.  Slow at 47 minutes.  More snow overnight.  I guess 5,000 ft. is the breaking point.  We're only getting rain in SLC when I got to work.  Hamstring doing better, as long as I keep it wrapped up and don't push the pace too much.  Last day at the office until January 4th.

10 miler with Tina at 8:00 a.m.  200 West loop down to Pine Canyon road and Droubay road coming back.  Uphills were killing me.  I'm really feeling out of shape.  It's pretty tought to stay up with Tina right now.  7:30 to 7:45 pace on the early portion.  A lot slower coming up. 35 degrees with fog rolling in and out.  With my chocolate lab, Savannah, for the last .6 mile loop.  Talk about being out of shape!  I was practically dragging her most of the way!

4 miles in 36:13 with Tina at 8:00 a.m.  30 degrees and foggy again.  Fog cleared up toward the mouth of Middle Canyon but then we turned around and went right back down into the yuck.  No run tomorrow or Sunday.  3 decent weeks.  Hamstring doing much better, but there is still something there that tells me to be very careful.  Merry Christmas!

6 miles in 52:42.   8:47 pace.  With Tina at 8:00 a.m.  Cold, but clear morning.  Good to have the fog gone.  30-35 degrees.  Tempo pace for a mile or so.  Hamstring feeling pretty much normal. Two other runners out on the route today.

5 miles easy at 9:00 a.m. solo on my standard route on Skyline to the gate and back.  Cold, but sunny day.  

4 miles easy at 8:45 a.m.  Light rain and gusty south winds.  Southwest quadrant loop to Main and Vine, down Vine to C&G, and zig-zag back home into the wind.  A bit sluggish.

5 TM miles in 46:30.  Progression run from 10:00 min. pace to 8:20 pace.  Plugged into the I-pod today.  I don't normally do that, but too much TM drives me nuts.  Should have put on the spikes and hit the road this morning.  It's only going to get colder the next few days. Saturday's low is supposed to be zero with a high of 19 degrees. BuRRRR!!!!

4 TM miles.  35:41.  Progression from 10:00 min. pace finishing at about 7:45 pace.  Tina and I wussed on the long run today.  6 or 8 inches of snow on the roads, and nothing plowed this morning.  Roads are very slick out here.  13 degrees.  Maybe tomorrow with spikes.  We'll see.  Met with Pat and Michelle last night to plan Boston trip for April.  It will be here before we know it.