Hurt so good.

Started at Rainbow with Bret, Riley, Jason and Denver. Headed up to the canal rd. Jason, Denver and I turned around at 3.60 before the canal turned into the BST. Riley and Bret kept going. Jason and I dropped down to the Ogden Parkway and ran 3 miles on that to make it a little over 10 for the day.

PM

3 miles easy then 1 hour of basketball. 

WORKOUT|WEDNESDAY

Met up with Riley and Matthew at Smiths for a workout. I had nothing really planned for this week and was just focusing on mileage. Riley was doing 20X1 minute, 10X30 seconds. So I decided I could do my 200 workout that I havent done for awhile, so thats what I did.

I ended up doing 30X200 with 200 meter active jog. Avg pace for the 30 reps was 33.3 second/avg.

2 mile cooldown around the hospital.

Riley ran well. Matthew did a great job with his workout. Also weather was on the spot. Felt great this morning.

PM

3.10 on treadmill 

7:06 min/miles

Snails pace run from Smiths solo. Slept in for an extra hour which felt great. Also was nice to run without a headlamp for the entire run. Plus the weather was fantastic, it really feels like Spring is here.

Legs were pretty tired today. Left hammy was giving some fits today but I think once I can roll it out I should be good to go.

Crazy fun run sort of with Riley and Bret started with us and ran 3.5 or so. We started from 12th street by the canyon ran the canal rd system past Weber High in Pleasant View, then climbed up into Pole Patch then hooked on to the BST. BST was clear for the first mile then the snow started coming. It just got deeper, and deeper. Riley and I trudged through knee deep snow for 2.5 miles and it just lit us up! Took us closed to 42 minutes to do that section. Also the closest I've came to saying the F word! Memorable for sure, fun not so much. Once we got off the mountain we were spent. Finished the last 4 miles strong. Definitly great marathon training with time on the feet.

Good to get another long run in! I will remember this one for quite some time.

Legs actually felt really good today. Not as much residual fatigue as I thought I would've had. Met Jon and his to brothers at Lee's market. Headed east to the canal where we ran into Roger Snow then Cody Watson. We made them join us, so we had a solid 6 guys today on our run. Weather was phenomenal, it was 50 degrees to start the run. Been spoiled the last week, hoping the weather sticks around. 

Recovery pace today 7:53 min/miles

Progression run with Ken and Riley. Felt great for the most part. Had some good splits going up the hills but still need to get quicker. 

Avg pace 6:34 min/miles

Met at Smith's off of Country Hills did the South Ogden recovery loop. Denver branched off around 4 miles and headed back. Riley and I kept going. 

At the end of the run we did 6X7 second hill sprints with full recovery. First one felt horrible, but the last 5 felt great.

Workout|Wednesday

Warmed up with Ken and Riley from Smith's to the Ogden track. 

Did 4X100 meter strides

Workout

5X2K and 4X400 with 400 active recovery

Plan was to go out around 5:18 pace since that was what I did 1K repeats a month ago.

Splits- 6:36;6:35;6:30;6:36;6:29 overall avg pace was roughly 5:11 min/miles

Did 4X400 pacing Ken on his last 2 reps of 2Ks

Went 79, 78, 76, 75.

Cooled a little over 2 miles back to Smith's.

So within a month I have successfully transitioned from 1K to 2K at the same pace and if not a little quicker. Great positive motivation! Love seeing slow fitness gains. Body is taking in the miles and workouts are feeling great. Have nothing to complain about.

AM

10 recovery miles with Matt and Jason around South Ogden. 

PM

3.10 easy on the TM

AM

10 rugged miles with Riley. Ran the first couple with Matt and Denver then they headed back. Riley and I proceeded up to the trails and then ended the run with 6X7 second hill sprints. 

WRC 10 mile

Showed up around 7am and warmed up for a little over 4 miles with Matt and Denver. Switched the shoes to flats and did some strides.

Beginning of the race I talked to Anthony a bit who ended up winning the race. As the gun went off we took it pretty chill and talked for the first mile. 2nd mile we started dropping the pace which we roughly hit around 5:04. The next mile Anthony got a little gap on me going up the hill by Mt. Ogden he maintained that gap for the next 2 miles. Now between miles 5-7 the gain is about 500 ft. My legs felt way heavy. Thinking due to the workout on Monday and 2K repeats on Wednesday. Anyway Anthony now had a little over a minute lead and maintained that to the finish. He ran a high 56 and did it pretty easily. I was a little over 58 minutes.

My time was slower than years past and I am okay with that. My mileage has been the highest and most consistent than ever before. Light at the end of the tunnel is Ogden Marathon. So I hope the training will transition to a great race. 

Course was a little longer than years past. Usually we started in the east parking and this time we were in the southeast corner comparing distance from years past it was .10 longer this year, but not a big deal.

Cooled down with Anthony and Matthew for a little over 4 miles.

Well that sucked! #daylighttheft sucked the life out me this morning. Met Riley, Matt, Denver and Ken and did our normal Monday route easy today. We had wind, we had rain, we had clear skies, It was just crazy weather this morning. 

Legs are feeling heavy from Saturday's race so I am glad that we took it super easy today.

Easy miles with Denver and Riley around South Ogden.

Riley and I ended our run with 8X7 second hill sprints.

Met Ken early at the pond. Riley was a no show which typically is not Riley. So I texted him, nothing. I called him, nothing. So now the drama queen in me was telling Ken dude maybe he is hurt? Accident? He has to drive highway 84 which has tons of deer, so I was like maybe he hit a deer? Ken being the calm one said, Ben, put yourself back together man! Non of that stuff you just said makes any sense! He then slapped me across the face and said come on you blockhead I bet he just slept in and will meet us at the end of the parkway. Well so we started warming up and wouldnt you know it, Kenneth was right, here comes Riley all fresh and rejuvenated because he got to sleep in, and he was just like whats up guys! Thanks for letting me sleep in today, now I am going to drop both ya'll on the tempo run.

And thats what he did! 

Workout

5.60 mile warm with 4X30 second accelerations

5 mile tempo @ 5:28 avg

1.50 mile cooldown

Workout didnt feel the best. Came out with 5:14 the first mile and felt fine, effort was right. Well effort stayed the same and just got somewhat slower the rest of the workout.

Glad to finish and gut this one out. Good days and bad days I guess.

PM

3.10 on the TM 

Recovery miles around South Ogden and Uintah.

AM

6.55 around the South Webes' before heading to Geezy. Going to do a shake out tonight when we get there. 

PM

Marathon simulator down South at the SandHollow Marathon with Riley and Ken. Plan was to slowly work are way naturally to 6:00 min/pace and hold it for the race. We took the first two miles easy then by mile 3 we were at 6:04. From there we just got in a zone and was rolling between 5:50-6:00 min/pace. Had a couple of slower miles between 18 and 19 due to a little over 300 ft climb. Since Riley and Ken have both won marathons they allowed me to finish 1st and welcomed me into the Marathon winners club. Honestly it was a great solid push today and great motivator for up and coming training. 

Simulator went as good as we all could've expected. Had no stomach issues the entire race. Was able to take in water, gels, and Gatorade. SandHollow was a great small town race. Race started on time, clearly marked course, beautiful scenery, challenging course and excellent food at the end of the race. I would definitely go do this race again as preparation for a solid Spring marathon. 

PM

3.01 mile shakeout in STG with Ken and Riley. 

Easy 12 today with a solid 7 guys today. Did a nice loop down into South Weber from Smith's

avg pace 7:39 min/miles

Ran the trails with Riley. Ken and Denver came and did a little. Tried out some new trail shoes and they worked perfectly. 

We did our normal Mt. Ogden Trail Tuesday route. Was raining hard when we started then it seemed to ease up and stayed mostly calm the rest of the way. Didnt see any other trail runners on the entire mountain, can't believe the rain scared them off. Pretty crazy to have a guy like myself that doesn't enjoy trail running so much to be on the mountain in a rain storm where the supossed dedicated trail runner was not even out there. They all should be ashamed of themselves ;)

Easy 10 miles with Matt and Denver then they split so I ran to Bues Park and did 10X7 second hill sprints on the South side of the park. 32 degrees this morning, hands were numb for almost the entire run. 

Workout|Thursday

Met Ken at 4:50 at Kneaders in Ogden. We dropped my car off and drove to 36th street where Riley was waiting. We ran south to Skyline which was 2.50 mile warm up.

Then we started into our workout. Plan was to hit tempo loop then start heading North to the Ogden Parkway and finish up the workout of the last 4 miles of the Ogden Marathon Course.

Workout was 6X3K with 1K active recovery. Going into the workout my plan was roughly 5:22 pace for the 3K and 6:38 pace for the active recovery.

Workout went well but the body settled in around 5:30-5:35 pace and active recovery was from 5:52 pace to where I finally figured it out towards the end and had around 6:50 pace for last set.

Here are my splits:

Workout distance 14.3 miles with 5:46 avg/mile.

Overall the workout went well. I faded a bit on the 5th set, felt pretty rough, headwind from the canyon and slight fatigue. Next time the workout is done I need to have more patience on the recovery portion. Went way to fast at the start which probably caused the fatigue towards the end.

Total mileage - 17.81 

PM

4.21 mile shakeout 

Slept in today. Only option today was the Treadmill. Overall it was recovery run. 

Avg pace 7:20 min/miles 

Fun trail run with Jason, Riley and Ken. Run started up in Mantua where Ken and I looped the lake the Riley and Jason joined in down Sardine Canyon. Took the south trail which eventually led to Perry Canyon. From there we ran to the snow line and which was roughly 1500 ft in climbing. We then dropped back down and made it a day. On the way back I caught a rock which sent me flying right into a tree! Hurt so good at first but eventually the pain went away and Jason and I laughed about it. Oh my Love for Trails!

Winter Wonderland with Ken and Denver. Winter came back today. For the most part temp wise wasnt bad but the pelletts of snow in the eyes were pretty terrible.

Using this week as a down week, before ramping up for the last 5 weeks of training for Ogden.

Easy 10er with Riley and Matt. Not a bad morning for a run. Finished up just as the fog started rolling in. I think we have reverted back to the end of January weather.

Pond Run. 

Met with Ken, Dave, Riley, Denver and Matt. Did the usual 4 mile warm up to the canyon and then tempo back down to the pond.

Workout was set as a progressive and to hit the last 2 miles at goal half pace. Unfortunetely didn't end that way for me. I hit the first 2 miles fine then justed started feeling uncomfortable, breathing was off, stomach was nauseous. Anyway it was definitly a frustrating workout.

Splits- 5:31; 5:26; 5:37; 5:41

2.40 mile cool

PM

Extra miles on the Treadmill. 3.11 in 22 flat. 7:06 avg 

Easy out and back on the Riverdale Parkway with Denver, Riley, Jason and Ken.