A Balance, Redefined

Well I'm still feeling pretty good after last week. I got up early to take care of the girls while Sandra actually got some sleep. Then I took Kaitlyn for a run around SH before going to a blessing for one of our friend's daughters.

Knee was a little tight today. However, two days after a "long" run I'm not too surprised. I may back off a little more this week again before going for the 40s. My run was a little late after a long day and that may have played into it. 

Extended commute run. It was still a little windy this morning but luckily I was headed into work with the wind. Last night was more rough. Knee still pretty tight and I took the run this morning VERY slow. After I set up some stuff around lab I'm going to stretch a little extra.

Knee about the same. Overall a good day though. Work was slow but I started off the day with news that both of my abstracts were accepted, so I will be heading back to New Orleans. This time to give both a talk and poster presentation at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting.

Kristen has been sleeping better and that has been helping a lot. The weather is crazy in that it was nearly 60 yesterday and there were probably 2-3 in of snow on the ground this morning. However, the run into work was much better than the run last night. Cold is better than freezing rain. Knee still a little achy. I just don't get what it wants...

Sleep was a little more interrupted than the last few nights, but still not too bad.
I got into work extra early to set up a few things. Then went for my run. My knee was feeling the best it has all week and I was tempted to add a few miles but stuck to my initial plan. I actually ended up running past Chad's house but no sightings...
 

Well Saturdays pay off again. I ended up sleeping in and totaled a little over 7hrs hours. It felt good. There were two wake-ups but neither were much. Last Sat I planned to run 7 days of 5 mi/d this week or if I was feeling good to run 10 on Sat to get my first 40 since STG. Well the majority of the week was rough but the last few days I've felt better. Kaitlyn asked me to take her on a run so I decided to go for the full distance. I think it was also her longest run with me. She did great the whole time and never got restless. Pushing the stroller for 10 miles wasn't too bad either. My knee of course is tight but I was expecting something.

I had the hardest time going to sleep last night. But since Kaitlyn was "singing" at the late church service we were able to sleep in some. I was happy to get the run in today as my knee was not that bad after the longer run yesterday. Also, I wanted to get something in before the weather turned bad. Avg. 7:32 HR 150

TM run while it was snowing out. The weather wasn't that bad but I didn't want my cold gear wet for tomorrow morning. I decided to try one quicker mile. It felt ok and it was nice to get my HR over 170 and actually break a sweat. 

Well the temps dropped a lot but luckily there was no road/sidewalk accumulation of snow. It looks like the worst of it was N and NE. (Sorry Jon I saw the 20ish something of snow you got, I hope you have snow shoes.) The run was super slow as I just went up Foothill toward the "flags" and then into work. The hour change has me dragging combined with getting back into this running thing. My knee of course is tight but with the increases in mileage and the one "hard" mile yesterday. The rest of this week will be easy and I'm only shooting for 44 at the most. Avg. 9:30 HR 137

Well I got nearly 7hrs of sleep last night with only one wake-up. It sure makes a difference. My knee feels surprisingly good between the one continued trickle upwards in mileage and starting to mix in a little more effort. That being said yesterday was closer to 10 min pace than MP and today was just over under 9 min pace but Sun was actually at 7:30 pace and I'll try for that again tomorrow morning. Avg. 8:42 HR 137

Same amount of time in bed as last night but with three wake-ups less sleep and less rest. In any case I still had a good run this morning. Now off to stretch before parent-teacher conferences and another full day of trying to write my next paper... Avg. 7:29 HR 152; I think this may have been my fastest run (at least for over 3 mi) since the marathon.

Woke up a little sore today. Last night seemed rougher with sleep. There were a few wake-ups and when I woke up 5 min before my alarm was supposed to go off I reset it for another hour. Then when I got into work I ran west and back. VERY slow especially on the way back up hill. Happy Friday all...Avg. 9:28 HR 134

Run with Eric at Jordon River. The course is nice and flat and we took it nice and easy. It is amazing how quickly time flies when you are in conversation. Before dinner we went for a family walk to enjoy the great day, I think it hit 60F. Of no surprise to me my knee is tight this evening. Overall, I'm happy with the week but still have a long way to go before I can even think about racing again. Avg. 8:07 HR 140

Still having troubles sleeping. Even independent of the baby wake-ups. I fell asleep a little easier than the night before but still took longer than I would have liked. Then again I woke up a few additional times. The strangest part is even with the sleep the way it has been I've been waking up about 30-45 min before my alarm clock. In any case I dragged myself out the door. It was much nicer than the last few mornings. Even with one less layer I was pretty warm by the end of the run. Took it very slow as I think I was still mostly asleep. Not to go make breakfast and then get the family up and fed before church. Avg. 8:52 HR 131

About the same as last night. However, I was just grumpy today. I'm feeling much better now. I had one of my best runs since the injury. The warm weather sure helps. My calf even just cramped up. I guess that is a good sign, means I'm finally working again. Hopefully I can sleep well tonight and get something done in lab now as well... Avg. 7:10 HR 164 I think the HR was skewed as my first mile was my slowest and was around 190!?! maybe shirt static.

I think last night was the worst sleep night since Kristen was born. I eventually just turned off my alarm clock as I didn't have anything set in the morning. Managed to stay in bed until just before 7am but with many wake-ups. The run in went ok, especially considering the "speed" last night. But the day just dragged. Tomorrow half the day will be meetings so hopefully I can recover some. Avg. 9:36 HR 152 still not sure about the high start HR affecting the average...

Overall today was pretty good. I had the two meeting but each ran over so I ended up getting home about an hour late. The sleep interruptions are playing with my mental state but I think things are getting better. Looking at it I actually think many nights I get more total sleep than I was a year ago. It is the being woken up every 2-3 hours that makes it rough. I took a slow run from home after bedtime. Maybe Kory was on to something as the HR was still way up. I did wet down the monitor but was still wearing synthetics. The real test will be to do a shirtless run on the treadmill with a different monitor. Avg. 7:53 HR 160

About the same as yesterday. However, instead of having half the day gone to meetings I was able to spend half the day with my daughter as I co-op at her school about once a month. It was fun. I did my run in the morning before school. Now just trying to do a little computer catch-up before bedtime. I have a personal deadline for one of my projects as Monday so it will be a busy weekend.The run was very slow. Part of the sleep issue, part of the morning issue, Avg. 9:17 HR no monitor...

Well today was a good day. Got in early after only one baby wake-up (two total wake-ups) and had three things done/started before I headed out for a run. Not sure if it was Jon mentioning trail races to Jeff, Chad mentioning the new routes or return to old routes, or just the fact that it was the FIRST DAY OF SPRING and awesome outside. But I scrapped my road run and headed up dry creek. It was slow going but worth it. The first two miles were at about 21 minutes (up) then things picked up a little but nothing too speedy. The first four miles I didn’t see anyone and it was great to have the sun cresting the mountain peaks and warming things up as I went. Avg. 9:11; HR 147

Wow! Two nights in a row of good sleep. This one was part planned and part mistake. First, Kristen only got up once. Second, I slept through my alarm. When I looked at the clock it was 1.5 hrs later than what I was planning. However, it was still early enough to jump outside and get the run in. I got back a little after breakfast was finishing up. Then I went to Mt. Olympus with my daughter for a short hike before going shopping. I did actually have to go into work. While there I caught a Black Widow spider! I saw it on the the back stairs in one of the buildings. First time I've ever seen one in the wild. Then finished off the day with about 1.5hrs of playing at the with Kaitlyn. Overall, I restful family day.

The run was up Foothill past suicide rock to the Einstein's near Millcreek. So the first 4.5 mi were mostly up (-2 downhill segments). Then I went west on 39th until I caught up with the SLC course and ran that backwards to SugarHouse. The second 4.5 mi were mostly down (-1 uphill segment). The first part down was very DOWN and I kept the same HR but dropped from ~8-8:30 to 6:10. After that I leveled off at 7:30-8. Then finished up toward home. Last 1.5 mi up. It is great when you can start and finish a run uphill and have more than half of a loop run up. Avg. 7:53 HR 149

Two nights of sleep in a row, I guess is the baby's limit. Last night was rough again. I'm going to take today off and step back on the mileage this week. I'm hovering around 1/2 mileage from before I got hurt but don't have plans of increasing more than 15 miles in the next 1-2 months. So after 2 months of steady growth I'll drop back just a little (mainly just by the day off)...

Despite a late night and not meeting my personal deadline I’m in a relatively good mood this morning. Just have to get to it and do what I can. I got in extra early to set up and get my run in. The first three miles were into the sleeting wind at about 36F. However, after turning around and having the wind to my back it was almost pleasant. I think I saw Chad this morning heading down Federal Heights as I was heading up (~6:45am) but I was half asleep and on the sidewalk. By the time I realized it was probably him he was gone. I didn’t think about pace and spent most of the run thinking about the writing and presentations I have this week but didn’t mind. I just liked getting a head start to the day. Avg. 8:57 HR 140

Opposite mood this morning. Definitely not a head start day. Reset my alarm for an extra hour sleep and then slugged into work with a commuter run toward SH then The U. The weather was better, about the same temp but without the sleet. That being said I was WAY over dressed. Avg. 9:02 HR 133

Just keeping my eyes dead ahead. I have to keep looking forward and maintain momentum. The previous few nights Sandra has taken 100% of baby wake-ups. Kristen is very anti-bottle and that has made things more convenient for me but so much harder on Sandra. That has to be the next parenting thing we work on with Kristen. Now 3-months we’ll let her cry more but until she’ll take the bottle the overall household stress if rough. Last night was particularly bad with Kristen waking for an hour every hour starting at 2am… By the third wake-up I gave it a try but wasn’t able to help much. Got into work an hour later than planned and then out the door for my run. I did see Chad today and confirmed the sighting this time by actually stopping to chat for a little. It was good to talk to him again. The conversation though brief really made me hungry for competition again. I just want to be able to run hard again every now and then. Avg. 8:47 HR 134

This was a full day so I’m just updating now. I got into work early via commute run. I had three meetings today as there was a visiting speaker who is a leader in the field of transcriptional biology (what I did my thesis work on). He presented seminars in the AM and PM and I presented to him in the early afternoon. Overall, a productive day in the thought department but no time for “real” work…

The commute run was fine but very slow. It was as cold as the day before but much windier. Avg. 9:19 HR 137

So far off to a good start. My daughter had a little fever yesterday but slept fine through the night. My younger daughter didn’t sleep as well as the night before but didn’t seem to be too bad. One additional wake-up but each of them were less than ½ an hour (I know easy for me to say as I slept through 2 of the 3…). I ran from lab today and decided to pick up the pace a little. As is my fashion when I’m breaking into new ground (or rebreaking into old ground) I like to stack the deck in my favor. So I did my City Creek overlook out and back and pushed the Firehouse mile. I now know I can still move my legs, about a minute slower than this time last year but it was still something. I hit that mile in 5:43 HR 179. It felt good but as far as being goal marathon pace it felt more like 5K effort… Avg. 7:31 HR 167

Just about 7hrs of sleep. That was nice.
The morning was a little slower as toward the end of the night Kristen started waking up frequently. Sandra took care of her though.
My plan was to run 10 miles ending at the East High track to see the finish of Bill's 5K. Then finish off with 2 miles home. I only got in 9.5 as those guys were flying. The leader came through just under 14 min. There was a little gap and then more or less solid from then on. Saw a bunch of faces I haven't seen in about 6 months or more. Actually got to talk to a few of them. Fiddy nearly broke 15 min. Really wish I was in racing shape and charging down that hill with them today but maybe next year. My knee is sore today between the one fast mile yesterday and my longest run since Oct today but not enough for drugs so that is a good sign. Avg 7:47 HR 153

Good start to the day. Up early to get my run in before breakfast and church. The temp was great. I actually had to stop and take off a layer (~53F). It was windy though. NOAA had listed 20mph with 33mph gusts. Fortunately I was only running into that for miles 3 and 4. The rest was tail or crosswind as I did a squarish run. A good sign is that my quads are more sore than my knee suggesting that it is my lack of fitness and not injury that kept me slow today. Now just to get fit again... Avg. 8:39 HR 136

Winter’s back and so am I.?.?... I still want to be cautious and my knee is still tight but this morning was the best run back. I got into work at 5:30 as I wanted to process 105 samples before my 8:45 lab meeting. I got them done and only had 45 min to run and shower. My plan was for 5 miles and I thought I should just do 4 instead. But having been up for awhile and “running” around lab I was already pretty awake. The fun part was that despite the great weather yesterday morning the rest of that day and last night were crazy and there were ~3in of snow yesterday and ~3in last night. It was still a little windy (19F windchill by the weather channel) but otherwise not too bad. In any case I started quicker than normal (recently) and didn’t let up. I did my usual to the FireHouse run but NOT the FireHouse mile. At the turnaround I wasn’t sure I was going to make it but then I decided I wanted to beat the 7min guy. It was going to be close as the last mile is mostly up. 7:08, 7:21, 6:37, 6:24, and 7:25. It was a race to the line but I did it. Avg. 6:59 no HR monitor…

Nothing special this morning. Though yesterday started out well. Work dragged as a typical Monday. There was an interesting talk on the lower campus and I ran into Josh S. and briefly spoke with him but otherwise... Today was about the same as last Tues for the run. Recovery/Commuter run. Good news is that even with picking up the pace some yesterday I was not any more sore this morning.
To address a comment Kory made earlier. Yes most of my mileage is hilly. For instance this run has the first 2-miles u130ft and d345ft (down to SH Park), the next 2-miles u214ft and d109ft (N on 13th), and the last 2-miles u540ft and d77ft. So really after mile 2 I am going up the rest of the way.
Keep looking ahead and now to get some typing for work done... Avg. 9:04 HR 146