Hurt so good.

Great early morning run. Was planning on doing a tempo with some intervals after but with these quick turn arounds on runs from late run last night to morning my legs were pretty tired. So anyway I will incorporate a workout into my long run on Saturday.

Easy run with fellow crew member Dave at the Ogden Parkway. Headed south into riverdale, sortof a chilly morning for the first half of the run but the last half felt awesome.

avg pace 7:05 min/miles

Good paced run up in North Ogden. Ran the Half with Jon Heslop and both of us went out @ 6 min pace and held conversation the whole entire run. We ended up crossing the finish at the same time and split the $100 cash prize. Race was pretty tough for the most part. In the first 4 miles there was over 1500 feet in climbing. Why? Good question! It was brutal but fun at the same time to run a race in my own back yard.

Cooled down with Jon and Taylor Monson

Ran on the TM while my little guy was napping. Watched some of the London Marathon from this year.

just beat the 7 min guy today

avg pace 6:56 min/miles

1 mile warm

workout

5X2 mile starting @ Marathon pace then working down to Half Goal pace

splits

1st set- 5:36 avg

2nd  set- 5:29 avg

3rd set 5:23 avg

4th set- 5:16 avg

5th set- 5:10 avg

Recovery was quarter mile jog in between sets 

Made it out running after work today. Decided to drive up to some trails and just take it easy for my run, my legs were pretty tired from yesterdays workout so some soft trails did wonders. I had about 3 miles left on my run and it started to down poor. I tell ya there is nothing like running in the rain in the mountains. It smelt awesome and it was sort of relaxing hearing the rain and that my feet hitting the ground. Pure joy! Glad to be healthy and running this time of the year.

2 mile warm 

5X1 mile with .25 rest

splits were 5:08; 5:06; 5:03; 5:00; 4:52

2.05 cool

splits felt good and not taxing at all. Goal was to feel comfortable around that 5 min range. I feel that the deposit is in the bank for the half next week but the nice thing is that I know I have a good solid 5 weeks to set myself up for a great marathon in the middle of June.

P.M.

2 miles easy, why not?

Recovery day. Nothing fancy, just putting in the work.

avg pace 7:05 min/miles

Due to time constrants today I was finally lucky to get out for a quick run. Plan was to do 15 miles today. 10 miles easy then the last 5 miles @ Marathon Pace or however I felt.

I was feeling pretty good today

First 10 miles were @ 6:24 min/miles

then 5 mile tempo

splits- 5:31; 5:31; 5:34; 5:09; 5:01. Last 2 miles were clearly aided but it felt good to open up and roll with it.

1.50 mile cool back home. Planning a double tonight, hopefully I can sneak in some more easy miles

Easy run on the TM before work! It's race week! Beyond excited! 

Tempo Run

3 mile warm with 100m strides

5 mile tempo

splits- 5:06; 5:16; 5:13; 5:09; 5:08

2.10 cool

Feeling really confident after today. Feeling great vibes for Saturday!

P.M.

4.10 miles @ 7:30 min/miles. Solid shakeout

Easy run on the Canal Rd in North ogden 

avg pace 7:12 min.miles

Taking tomorrow off of running going to enjoy a day of rest.

2 mile warm 

3X400 @ 75 pace w/400 cool

1 mile cool.

Feeling ready to go. I can honestly say that I am feeling really good for this race. I havent felt this great for a long time. No stress with school, no injuries, workouts have been great! Ready to roll!

Well what a great day at the Ogden Half Marathon. Leading up to this Half in the last couple of weeks I have started to feel really good and felt like I was on a major upswing in my fitness level. So going into this race I had alot of confidence based off of workouts and times that were being hit.Before I get started I want to wish Scott Keate and Riley Cook the best of recovery while they are on the road to recovery and getting their health back to normal, just wasnt the same without ya there today Scottie and Riley Freaking Cook! With that said.....

I ended up riding driving up with my family and Spencer and Bret to the start of the half. Spencer, Bret and I did a 2 mile warm to the secret bathrooms and back I dropped my bag off and did some strides and just felt great and ready to run. 

As the gun went off the Matt, Brett, and I went immediately to the front. I took the lead for the first 2 miles, Matt tucked behind and then around mile 3 he offered to take the lead so I tucked behind him for the next mile. Mile 4 came up and we now were running side by side and by now I started to get my legs underneath me and I knew that for me to win the race I needed to hit some hard miles in the canyon. I told my wife the night before that I didnt know if I could win if Matt Poulsen was with me in the canyon because he is such a strong downhill runner and I had flash backs of him slowly pulling away from me in the Snow Canyon Half. Well now reading Matts blog I know he wasnt feeling 100%, and he hit a solid 20 miler last weekend which he was still recovering from. So I know that he will be back stronger then ever. Great guy! Look up to the Utah County Crew, great classy guys and just glad to be running with them and keeping up in races.

Around mile 4 I started pushing the pace and wanted to use that surge and roll it into the canyon and hold close to 5 min/pace as possible. Matt came with me and held til mile 5 then I could hear footsteps getter farther away. Even though I was running solo I didnt feel comfortable in the lead. So I pushed the pace as hard and as long as I could. I soon hit the Ogden Parkway and knew that I had a chance to hold off Matt and Bret if I could just get to mile 11.5. I hit mile 11.5 and took my first look back and didnt see anyone. Thats when the stress sort of went away and I rolled into the finish with a new honest PR of 1:08:54(not counting snow canyon).

I honestly dont think that I could run this race any better and probably wouldnt have paced it any different. I still need to figure out how to hold the last 3 miles. I feel I can hit 10 miles pretty hard and hold but seem to have a difficult time holding the last 3 miles where I am losing anywhere between 10 to 20 seconds per mile. 

With that said I am grateful for my health. Matt Poulsen is a great class act! My Ogden Crew is one of the best supportive, motivating group of guys I could ask to run with. Overall support from my family is Awesome and wouldnt be able to get any type of run in without my wifes permission. Love her! 

Great company today with Spencer! Thanks for the awesome photos Riley! Definitely a second job. Great runs in the Marathon by Fritz, Steve, Bryant, Jace, Justin, Jason and everyone else.

splits from todays race. 5:21; 5:22; 5:26; 5:09; 4:54; 5:03; 5:10; 5:07; 5:01; 5:11; 5:25; 5:24; 5:34; 41s for last .10

recovery trail run up in north ogden with Bret, Jon, and Albert. Quads are pretty sore but managed to hold up fine on todays run. Probably no fast stuff til Saturday.

easy run on the TM while Grady was napping

P.M.

5.85 miles with my neighbor. Easy, easy pace around 8:00 min/miles

legs are coming around but I still have some good tenderness going on.

Ran from my sons Baseball game on the canal rd in North Ogden. Still feeling pretty heavy from Saturday. Hopeflly things will shake up in the next couple of days.

Legs are feeling a ton better today then last night. Just heaviness now and all the soreness is gone. 

#hurtsogood

A.M.

8.40 miles easy. Cut run short due to some bowel issues. Will double tonight before heading down to the Utah County Crews neck of the woods.

Headed down Friday night to Draper to sleep at Spencer Simpson's place. Got up at the butt crack of dawn and headed to the Orem Soccer fields to meet up with the Awesome group above! Most of us car pooled in Scott Keate's van and headed to the start of the UVM course. 

Run was 3 mile warm 

15 mile progressive tempo 

splits- 558; 554; 603; 553; 553; 542; 550; 547; 537; 539; 537; 524; 516; 516; 519

2.10 cool back to Orem Soccer fields

Run went better then expected. With the first 2 miles I could feel some residual fatigue from the half in Ogden but as I got deeper into the tempo the legs responded and workout went excellent. It was great to have an awesome group of guys for the tempo, went way quick, and dont think I wouldve finished an effort like today solo.

Met with Jon and Ken from Lee's Market in North Ogden. We headed south to the Ogden Parkway then ran to the Ogden Canyon, headed up on the Bonneville Shoreline trail back into North Ogden. 

Finished the run with some Darigold Refuel and a doughnut. Thinking about heading back and sitting in the river by the Market water felt extra cold this morning, legs need to be re-energized.

avg pace 7:04 min/miles

Progression easy run before heading off to work. 
Started @ 7:30 pace and ended @ 6:41 pace

3.55 mile warm with 4X100 meter strides

12X400 with 60 second rest

3.05 cool

Pushed back my tempo run til Saturday. I think the mileage and the last couple of workouts caught up to me a little. Just wasnt feeling it today. Should be okay by Saturday though.

Easy 9.10 miles after work on the canal rd up in north Ogden

3 more miles on the TM before bed.

Easy run on the TM while Grady was napping. 

headed out to ths sun to mow the lawn, should be a party....

Met up with Jon at my place after deciding not to go do the Mantua run. Plan from my place was to do a 20 miler out and back with a 4-5 mile tempo around 13 miles in. 

Morning was bad for me. Yesterday I got a stomach bug that came late afternoon and spent most of the night on the toilet and it seemed to linger in to the morning. After going 4 times before my run and 2 times within 3 miles I cut the run and headed home. Not worth suffering a 20 miler, rather would have it quality. So most likely will try again tomorrow or Monday. But I definitely feel it's necessary to get this last long run within the next two days.