A Balance, Redefined

AM: Woke up early to beat the heat and get a run in before church. Just did an extended Parley's loop. Mi 8-R2 Avg. 10:11

PM: After a very full day got out the door again at 8:15pm. Got to see a great sunset to go with the sunrise I saw this morning. The wind was blowing very hard and I was coughing up dust balls... Home-Stadium loop. Mi 5-R2 Avg. 8:36 

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Saucony Rides #1: 406 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

AM: So far so good. Got into work early enough to get three things set-up and a run via the Stadium-SH to stop and say hi to the family during breakfast and back to lab before meeting. My legs feel much better than on Saturday. Mi 9-R1 Avg. 8:32

PM: More easy stuff. Earlier tonight, still over 90F. Thought I saw Albert but did not catch up with him to find out. Newish home loop. Mi 6-R1 Avg. 7:35

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Saucony Rides #1: 421 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

Single: I was a lump today. I could not get up. My alarm went off at normal time but it took me nearly 20 extra min to get ready. Finally into lab set one thing up and then out the door for an attempt at speedwork. My plan was 3x2mi at ~5:45-6 pace. I would be doing most of the fast miles downhill. After 1.5 mi warmup I started the first 2mi section and was surprised to see low 6s on the Garmin. This section is about 1/2mi before the firehouse and the second mile finished right before the turn up into City Creek.
6:06 and 5:56
There is more downhill with the second mile. Then recovered 1mi up City Creek. Turned back around and down into Memory Grove.
5:38 and 6:09
The first mile was a little overzealous with the downhill and then the second mile I hit the Memory Grove gate and turned to run up the backside of the pond and trail. With some off roading and uphill. I recovered 1mi up the ramp on the south side of the park and headed back toward the firehouse. I then turned around and ran almost the exact same mile 2 and then continued into the grove for mile 6 about the same as mile 4 but without the uphill portion.
5:51 and 5:46
Then went back up the ramp and cooldown the three miles back to lab. Saw Chad/Jack at about mile 11 I'm sure I was not looking pretty at that point. Overall, I was happy with the workout. The effort was reasonable especially considering how tired I was going into the workout. I want 90 for the week and that could probably explain the fatigue. Especially since these 4 days would have me on pace for a 105 mile week. Mi 13-T2 Avg. 8:12 

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Saucony Rides #1: 421 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

AM: Crazy busy work day and I just got another project added on to my plate. I've lost count of all the different projects I'm working on. I guess if I keep busy enough I won't realize how overworked I am :)... I had some other stuff going this morning so I ran from home a little later. Just toward SH and in the neighborhood to the south. Ran into this women who was going super fast. She passed me and I started running with her and chatting. It turned out she was doing a workout so we just ran about 1/2 a mile together and then I continued on. Mi 6.5-R1Avg. 9:18

PM: The day let up a little toward the end but tomorrow will actually be worse so we shall see... After bedtime went for a "home loop." When I first moved here this was one of my daily runs. I went a little faster than planned but still kept it in easy day mode. Mi 6.5-R1 Avg. 7:28

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 0 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Saucony Rides #3: 0 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

Single: Today was one of those days I just listened to my body. I knew that I had a lot of work today so I needed an early start but I was also exhausted so I decided on the extra hour of sleep instead of two runs today. Ended up working from ~6am-8pm minus 15min lunch and ~1hr  for dinner and a walk with the family. Out the door for my run at 8:15pm. It was starting to feel “nice” if 85+ is nice. I was completely unsure of what I wanted to do for my run. I wanted to start getting more speedwork in and decided on a completely made up workout. I’d been in contact with a former colleague of mine who is now working overseas and he sent me an article he wrote about training low and raising high. For this he means muscle glycogen. The idea is to glycogen deplete before a workout to force your muscle to better utilize other fuels. He had initially suggested a workout but I made this one up instead. One mile warmup, then two miles MP, then 1 mile recovery, then hit HH track for 4x800 with 400 rests, finally cooldown back home. I definitely felt the fatigue in my legs during the repeats but not sure if it was from glycogen depletion or just overall mental fatigue from the long day at work. Here is the breakdown.
SLC-MM 4&5, mile 4 is crazy fast but I took it easier 5:44 and 5:31
Then to the track.
2:47 (85 and 82)
2:44 (84 and 80)
2:43 (83 and 80)
2:38 (81 and 77)
I like that I maintained control and hit the second quarter faster each time but I would have liked to see them more in the “Yasso” range. But with the faster miles as warm-up and the nice finish I was happy. Mi 9-R3 Avg. 7:05

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 0 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Saucony Rides #3: 9 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

Single: Finally found some time to update my blog. This week was crazy trying to balance an increase in work, family, increase in mileage, and still stay somewhat in touch with some of you other bloggers. I was still have asleep when I went into work and grabbed my racing shorts so some people around The U got much more leg than they may have wanted on a Friday morning. The day was already “bad” by the time I went out and I decided to run 8 instead of the planned 6. It felt good to get up into City Creek and also it was nice to get the water break at the gate. The rest of the day went fine. Mi 8-T3 Avg. 8:40

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 8 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Saucony Rides #3: 9 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

Single: Got up at 4am to drive down to Provo. Kind of a race trial run. I had agreed to meet Michelle and whoever after Des and I’m glad I made the trip down. There was a good group, Michelle, Josse, Matt K, James B, Marri, and Tammy. The start was a good group and then after a water stop at about mile 6 we started to break up. The start was warm and it actually cooled off during the run which was nice. There was still some of the trail closed because of the fire, that we could see, but the smoke was not bothersome. We were able to go around the barricades on the way up but had to run on the street on the way down, which was not nice. The way up was mostly uphill to just before the dam. Then when we turned around Michelle and I were going to do some tempo work. We got a descent amount in but not as much as Michelle would have liked. Either way it was a good run. It was nice to finally meet Josse and Matt, catch back up with James a little, and get to know Michelle better. I didn’t get to talk with Marri and Tammy much until the end but it sounded like they had good runs. Back when I started training for marathons and was following Hal Higdon he suggested doing your 20-milers at the time you want to run your full marathon. So as far as that goes today was a near perfect workout, total 2:30.52. To finish it off we all jumped into the river and chilled for 15 minutes. Mi 20-T3 Avg. 7:31 total 2:30.52

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 28 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Saucony Rides #3: 9 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189