A Balance, Redefined

Single: Another night with 8-hrs sleep! We weren’t even late to church this time. After church a little family time and then when Kaitlyn went down for her nap I went into lab for an hour and then my run from Popperton up City Creek and back. The rest of the day with family and then back to lab after dinner. Nothing special on the run, my legs feel good despite the continued high mileage. Yesterday officially marked the halfway point of my marathon program. Up to this point I’ve already run nearly as many miles as for my entire 18-wk program in ’01, ’02, ’03, and ’06. If I keep to plan I will run ~40% more miles than before TOU and ~25% more miles than the 18-wks leading up to Regionals my senior year in college. Mi: 12 Avg: 7:26 HR: 154

AM: Mi: Avg: HR:

PM: Mi: Avg: HR:

Asics DS-Trainer #1: 33 / / Asics DS-Trainer #2: 0 / / Saucony Rides #1: 12 / / Saucony Rides #2: 0 / / NB825: 455

Single: Mi: Avg: HR:

AM: 11:00 am easy run. Only 6-hrs of sleep last night, I think the news from Friday is wearing more heavily on me than I first thought. I’m just trying to regroup mentally and it does have a physical toll. I did get into work by 5:45am. Funny thing this morning. The deer came to me! There were three deer outside the loading dock of my building! This did turn into a tragedy though. When I did get out for my run a few hours later there was a dead deer right off Medical Dr. near the golf course and I can only assume it is one of the three I saw. Today I started my day in the lab and didn’t get out for my run when it was finally warming up ~30°F. I just did a Memory Grove out and back. Mi: 8-NB Avg: 7:43 HR: 142

PM: 7:15pm easy run. The rest of the day was more of the same. The mood around lab was almost tangible. If anyone has an independently wealthy relative (or is themselves independently wealthy) and they want to donate to diabetes and cardiovascular disease research give them my e-mail :’) All that being said my runs have taken on the added bonus of stress relief and it helps a lot. I did a figure eight SW from my house. It was a nice evening still around 30°F. Mi: 8-R1 Avg: 7:37 HR: 134

Asics DS-Trainer #1: 33 / / Asics DS-Trainer #2: 0 / / Saucony Rides #1: 20 / / Saucony Rides #2: 0 / / NB825: 463

Single: Mi: Avg: HR:

AM: 6:30 am easy run. Only 6-hrs of sleep again last night, I also woke up a few times so not that well rested. This morning I started my day with a run because I knew the day was going to be hectic, I’m glad I did as it is 4:45pm and I’m sitting down for the first time since I got back from my run… Much cooler this morning (~20°F), not that cold but it felt cold compared to the last few days. I decided to mix it up again and ran to SH from lab via the Olympic Torch 15th E and back 19th and Foothill. Mi: 8-R1 Avg: 8:05 HR: 143

PM: 7:20 pm easy run. The rest of the day went ok. The dust is starting to settle in lab and it looks like I will only loose one leg and not all my limbs to the budget crunch. Nice relaxing evening run. I went “old school” and did my “home loop” the run I did more or less everyday when we first moved here. Mi: 8-MB Avg: 7:41 HR: 129 (It is interesting to note that almost without fail, on the 2-a-days my evening pace is faster but HR slower).

Asics DS-Trainer #1: 33 / / Asics DS-Trainer #2: 0 / / Saucony Rides #1: 28 / / Saucony Rides #2: 0 / / NB825: 471

Single: 11:30am easy run. I managed 7-hrs of sleep last night. Got into work by 6:15am, did a bunch around lab and then had meetings from 8-11… The first meeting set things in order for the next few months. At least for now two projects are on hold. However, the remaining 4 projects MUST be done soon. I’m feeling better about the whole situation but it is still affecting me some. Finally got out the door at 11:30 to be met by a wonderful haze that almost blocked the valley view much less the mountains, yuck! To add to the “yuckiness” of the run the deer from Monday was still there. However, I did see a deer foraging despite the late day run (right across from the salt stock pile). The other thing was I saw was the most other runners out on a weekday since I’ve been running City Creek. It must have had to do with the late start. Mi: 12-R1 Avg: 7:43 HR: 139

AM: Mi: Avg: HR:

PM: Mi: Avg: HR:

Asics DS-Trainer #1: 33 / / Asics DS-Trainer #2: 0 / / Saucony Rides #1: 40 / / Saucony Rides #2: 0 / / NB825: 471

Single: 10:30am medium run. I managed 7-hrs of sleep again last night. Got into work by 6:00am, was immediately assailed by paperwork with the “new changes” and some accident follow-ups. Barely made it out for my run at 10:30am and made it back just in time for a meeting I had to attend. A little bit too close so I was pushing a little more than normal but not hard. Nothing too exciting for the run. I over dressed and that was about the highlight… Into Memory Grove and back. Definitely feeling the fatigue. My plan this week was to front load (taking a page from Bill Cobbler’s book) and do lower mileage today and tomorrow to be relatively rested for Saturday’s 15K. This has worked for the first two races of the series and is my plan for my build-up to Del Sol next week. Mi: 8-R1 Avg: 7:15 HR: 146

AM: Mi: Avg: HR:

PM: Mi: Avg: HR:

Asics DS-Trainer #1: 33 / / Asics DS-Trainer #2: 0 / / Saucony Rides #1: 48 / / Saucony Rides #2: 0 / / NB825: 471

Single: 11:30am easy run. The usual 7-hrs of sleep. Had a very mentally draining day. Still dealing with the stresses of the car accident… Ran with a couple guys that work in my building, we ran to the City Creek gate and back. I was into work by 5:30am and despite the accident stuff managed to have a decent day. I’m excited about tomorrow and plan on running 5:40 pace. We’ll see though as my head is definitely not on straight this week. During the run we saw 14 deer across from the cemetery on the way back to campus. Mi: 7-NB Avg: 8:32 HR: 135

Single: SLTC 15K. I started the day a little sluggish. When I got home yesterday I realized that do to the “stuff” I was dealing with at work I completely forgot to eat lunch. Also, I didn’t sleep well. I was in bed for 8-hrs but… All that being said I started out the day right. I met a new blogger Fiddy (James Moore), I gave him a ride to and from the race and really enjoyed our conversations throughout the time. We got to the race with plenty of time to warm-up. We did an FRB warmup with a good number of people ~3-miles at 8:22 pace. Then to the race. I spoke with James and Albert about going out at 5:40s and both sounded interested (at least until the gun went off). I stuck to plan and watched them go out at about 5:20. I hit mile 1 in 5:39, I was on my own the entire race and not feeling 100%. I was having to work a lot harder today to keep -5:40 pace than I had to keep 5:30 the race before… Miles two and three were both in 5:41. The turnaround was a rude awakening for me, there was a minor headwind but with how I was feeling it didn’t help in the motivation department. At about mile 4 I started to reel back in James but was not feeling “it” 5:37 (fastest of the race). Mile 5 was 5:38 from there on out things just didn’t work for me. I felt fine I just couldn’t convince my legs of that. Miles 6 and 7 were 5:45 and 5:49, yuck. My initial plan was to “take it easy” at 5:40 pace through mile 7 and then pour it on. However, my legs didn’t get that memo. Mile 7 was the slowest but the last two were not that much better,  5:42 and 5:46 with a 1:54 for the last 0.34. The good news is that despite not being there mentally or really feeling like I was racing today I still managed a 15K PR. The fact that this is only the second 15K I’ve run may have had something to do with that. But in all reality I’ve very happy with the time. With all the complaints I could add about the week I still managed to run 5:42 pace HR 182. Considering I was shooting for 5:40 pace I’m happy with it. The “funny” part is that I took the exact same place as my last 15K 2^nd age 7^th o.a. After the race there was a FRB-team plus cool-down of ~6 miles. The second half I ran with James. Avg. 8:15 HR 138. I then had to go into work to make up some missed time. Total for the day 19. Mi: 10-D1