relentless forward progress

Solo today. Easy 1 mile loosener. 1 mile warmup, 9 mile mild progressive, 1 mile cooldown. 6:55 average for the run. 500 vert. Feeling good after heavier weekend. 

Fun run with the Tuesday group. 3 mile warm, 3 x 1 mile with 1/2 mile recoveries, 3 mile cooldown. Splits were 5:15, 5:14, 5:10. Had the Brooks rep come tonight. He showed us some clothing, bought pizza, and raffled a pair of shoes. Great guy, and it was a lot of fun. Mike Vick came tonight and threw down on the miles. It's cool to watch someone throw down 4:30's and make it look easy, inspiring. It was a fun night but I am spent. Time for some zzz's.

easy day :). needed.

AM -10 fun miles with Scott, Dan, Jody and Reed. We threw in a few fun miles in the middle. I was lumbering a bit towards the end. I think I ate too much junk yesterday haha.

Thanks for dragging me along today :). 

 PM - Easy late cruise out on the river loop to test out the new headlamp. So quiet and peaceful. The headlamp is sweet.

Easy recovery morning plus 1 hour of core work.

Fun trail race this morning put on by Runners Corner. Just a little 5k but I thought it would be good to go back and see if there was an improvement from last year. Turns out there was about 4 minutes improvement :). Ran a 2.5 mile warmup on single track.

I have an awful habit of going out too fast that I am trying to overcome. The plan was to go out conservative on the first uphill mile, pick people off on the second into the third, and hammer the downhill section at the end.

Looking at it now I probably went out a little too conservative but the hill climb at the start went well. I was in 12th going up the hill. I put a pretty good surge in about 3/4 up the hill and into the flat and passed 5 people. From the flat to the start of the single track I tried to stay fast but work on recovering from the hill push.

About 100 meters from the start of the single track I threw another surge in and passed the two immediately ahead of me to move into 5th. Came through the first mile in 8:29 (325 feet of gain).

From this point I was feeling pretty good and thought I may be able to push and catch the 4 in front on the downhill. Nope :). I ran it hard but they had built too much of a lead. I ended up running the rest of the race alone. So beautiful up there today! Came through mile 2 in 7:48 (220 feet of gain).

 As soon as the watch beeped for mile 2 I knew there one more hilly section but I could make up the oxygen on the downhill and took off. Felt strong and controlled though the rollers and I ran the last 3/4 mile of the race at around 5 pace. So fun to crush the downhill. Hit mile 3 in 5:49 and kicked it in to the finish.

 Finished behind Seth Wold, Brian Beckstead, and two guys that ran for UVU last year. Not bad for an old guy :). Second in my large age group (30-39), Brian was first.

 After the race Brian and a few of us ran a 6 mile section of trail 51 up to the rockpile and came down a section he calls Ireland. It rolls just perfect for a fun ride down after the 1300 foot climb to the rockpile. Fun morning!

PM- late night recovery run on the river loop. So nice out, this weather is crazy.

Had a great shirtless run after work today around Provo and on the river trail. Changed in the parking lot right after work and hit the lovers lane trail north to one of the upper roads. Then dropped down to the river trail and up to Timp park. Drank from the fountain and cruised at MP all the way back. Cooled down an easy one after getting back.

3.5 mile run, then did 4x 1/2 mile repeats with 1/2 mile recoveries up around the Provo temple. I am happy with the effort. Didn't focus on pace on the hills, just tried to keep a consistently hard effort almost all the way up and then finish them off hard through the crest of the hill. The group ran great today too, so fun to be able to help people. On the return trip I ran the university hill hard and increased the effort back to the store. Finished up tired and satisfied. 

45 minute recovery on the elliptical. Level 8 random, kept the HR at 120. 

AM - Fun early loop this morning in Lehi with Scott, Dan, Reed and Matt. I stayed late at work yesterday so I could skip out a few hours this morning and run :). A little light rain/snow but the temp was perfect. Some nice rollers in the middle and loved the slight downhill finish. Will get out again later tonight. 7:04 average for the run.

PM - Had to wait until almost 10:00, but I got out in the slight chill under the stars for the 6.2 easy loop around Spanish Fork. It feels good to close the day the way it began.

Ran to the gym and did some easy elliptical recovery hills. Pushed the last mile back home, 5:22.

Awesome run today down AF canyon from Tibble Fork res with Dan, Scott, Jody and Ryan. It was a fun cruiser, downhill pretty much the whole way. Two easy to start in the snow, 16 miles average under 6:25, and a mile to cool. So much fun! Thanks for the ride up Dan, and thanks for stashing water along the way Scott! Always a great time :). 

Easy run from work up the canyon to the fountain and back. Threw 6 30 second surges in on the way back. So nice out. Congrats to all of the Boston runners today!

Headed down to the park for some pace work. The park has a paved .49 loop that is perfect. Warmed up and then did 3 x 2mile with 1/2 mile recoveries. The 2 mile intervals were ran at marathon pace (6:30) down to half marathon pace (6:07). I was a little tired from yesterday so the last one felt a little harder than I thought it should but it went well, and I ran them too fast. 12:15, 12:09, 12:14. Total 12 mile run averaged 6:55 pace. 

Easy recovery day on the elliptical. Gearing up for a big weekend. Today is my Friday!

5am fun with Dan, Scott, Jody, Matt and Reed. Reed and I ran together today and put a few surges in. I stayed and did another four with a good 2 mile push. Shin feels wonky but the extra support in the shoe choice today helped.

PM - 6.2 recovery loop in Spanish Fork. Wore the HR strap to keep it honest. 7:20 pace, avg HR 137

Soldier Hollow to Vintage Park with the Sojourners group. First 10 on trail in 1:14:18. Second 10 with trail and pavement down the canyon in 1:03:52. Did a mile+ cool down at the end and then iced in the river. The whole thing went awesome. Ran the first 10 easy with some friends and then next 10 solo at a nice clip.

 I am feeling really good lately. I signed up for the Provo City Half in two weeks just so I have a gauge to see where I am at race wise. Took yesterday off. I rested well, stretched, and iced the shin and it felt pretty good today so I'll take it :).

It was hot after work and I was still a bit tired from Saturday so this didn't feel as easy as it should have. Oh well, got it done. 7:05 pace.

Out & back fartlek. Out in a very easy 38:40, back in 32:40. The way back was all fartlek at different paces and surges for various distances. I felt awesome on the way back and could have run it harder but I just reigned it back a little and enjoyed it.

4 x 1 mile repeats with 1/2 mile recoveries. 5:26, 5:25, 5:27, 5:14. The warmup went long because I was frantically searching for a restroom. Thank goodness for the Subway....

Recovery

Up and over the golf course and back home on a windy morning. The same wind that helped on the way up blasted me in the face on the way back :). Pickups are hard in the wind lol. Beautiful day though. 6:48 pace total.

Ran from my in laws in  Manti to Snow College Badger stadium and back. Planted a bottle last night on the way down. very steady state run. i felt excellent today. did a touchdown dance on the field and ran back in a headwind :). GUs at 8 and 13. cooled down with my wife, she was finishing up when i got back. Great run with the extra altitude.  6:56 avg.

Fun run that turned tempo. Easy warmup mile 7:29, 4 slightly uphill, 6:41, 6:39, 6:36, 6:31. The return splits were 6:17, 6:24, 6:16, 6:11, 5:57. Finished with a cool mile easy and called it a day. Saw Bill Hiatt at the water fountain and talked for a minute.

 April ends up being a PR month for me and everything feels peachy post injury. Very happy with this and excited to race the half this weekend.