Hurt so good.

Easy on the TM.

avg pace 7:09 min/miles

Not much to say about this race.Very tough hilly course, not about time at all. 

 Going into the race I have had some high mileage weeks and I didnt back the mileage off at all. Tough workout on Wednesday followed by 2 hours of basketball that night, legs were just beat the rest of the week. 

Anyway started out conservative with Jon and once the climbs officially started he put the hurt on me bad. I kid you not, this kid is a mountain goat and would bet money on him anyday of the week! He just doesnt slow! After the first climb he put a gap of about 15 seconds on me. I would slowly work my way back to him, then another climb would come and he would do the same thing, just pull away. I caught him around mile 5 and we hit the last major climb and he again gapped me. Mentally I was going to give in and just screw it. Legs werent feeling to hot, and just didnt know how much more I wanted to hurt. Around mile 6.5 there is some screaming down, so I gave it one more go to attack Jon. I finally caught him and kept pushing that mile. I ended up with something around 5:20 for that split. Looked back and made a good gap on him. But that gap never got bigger he was there pushing the pace to the finish.

Gratefeul for Jons determination to keep fighting, it allowed me to run hard on heavy legs and push mentally through some of my weaknesses(hill running). We both finished better than last year. I was about 90 seconds faster, and Jon was about a minute.

Positive outcome- Got in a good push at 13 miles on heavy legs and can take the deposit for the week. Finished better than last years time definitely boost my confidence going into the Ogden Half next week. Last year I thought I was in great shape for Ogden. Even though this year my intervals and builders havent been as quick. I think the consistant 80+ mile weeks have bounced me back and has put me about 6 weeks ahead of my own personal schedule.

Grateful for health in my life! #hurtsogood #sogood #MIHSpencerSimpson

Not sure avg pace. I goofed the mileage on my GPS. But overall solid showing for a Monday Funday run. Pretty funny seeing some Crew mates the first mile all sore and stuff. But they losened up well and also no complaints about the beautiful morning! 61 degrees!!

Easy on the Riverdale Parkway heading east towards Weber Canyon.

Ran with Dave, Denver and Riley Freaking Cook, Matt and Tim

avg pace 7:19 min/miles

Met Riley, Dave, Albert, Denver and Matt at the crack of the morning at the pond. Matt and Denver did a 4 mile tempo so they went east and all of us went west.

Had a solid morning with a progressive long run. Legs at first felt the heaviest theyu have felt all week. But as the pace quickened the better they felt.

I managed to make it 13 miles with my last mile @528 and then did the last 4 miles at around 640-645 avg.

Feeling great improvements on my fitness. Hopefully the fitness will continue to increase into July for a solid marathon.

avg pace for the run 6:38 min/miles

P.M.

Was walking out for my double and then it started to dump rain. So I welcomed it with a mighty solute and hit the treadmill for 3 easy miles to make it 20 for the day.

Ugghh..... So tired this morning. Horrible night of sleep and just felt like I was sleep walking the entire run. 

Thankful for the Crew for being there today. Because if I was solo, I would most likely still be sleeping.

avg pace 7:18 min/miles

Decided since I had no work that I would sleep in and get my run in later in the morning. Nice day especially after the solid rain storm last night. Canal was nice and soft. 

avg pace 7:13 min/miles

Met up with a solid crew at Windsurfer beach for Rileys Birthday run. We ran to the start to the Ogden Half Marathon course. Did some strides and then attacked a tempo at various speeds for our up and coming races. 

I started my tempo and ran solo. My goal was a just a couple seconds slower than goal half pace which is 5:15 avg right now. Went out and felt relaxed the entire run, best I have felt so far this year. Splits were 5:18; 5:45 (hill on the west side of resevior)5:21; 5:19.

Cooled for a little over 2 miles

Nice and easy morning run. Had to get my 80 mile week goal on Strava. 

avg pace 6:55 min/miles, finally got the 7 min/guy today.

Taper week!!

Officially my "A" race of the year this weekend. Excited to see some work pay off!

Met with Ken, Riley, Jon and Denver from the pond. Headed out towards Harrisville then jumped to the east bench and hit the parkway on the way back.

avg pace 7:14 min/miles

Met at the 21st pond with Riley, Ken, Jon, Dave and Bret. Ran up to the Ogden Canyon on the Parkway. Coming back down each of us proceeded to do 2 miles at our goal race pace for Saturday. I went out a little quick but felt really good, hit 5:08; 5:07 split for 2 mile.

Hoping legs will feel this good on the parkway on Saturday. Mentally I just need to know that its less than 2 miles then the course flattens out again. Parkway has owned me in the past but not this year. Excited for Saturday.

Easy from Smiths with Dave, Riley and Denver. I hate tapering! Im going to go run again tonight, add a couple more miles. Legs feel better when they are moving anyway.

avg pace 7:22 min/miles

Day off

30 minute run with 1 mile at 5:20 pace

1.70 mile warm with 2X30 second strides

Race

Running isnt complicated. You train and build a base and make deposits over a training period and on race day you make a huge withdrawel and push your body to the limit for that day. Recover and do it again.

Went into the Ogden Half with some high hopes of running a sub 1:09 and to get as close to my time as last year. Even though we had a major flaw in the weather with the nasty rain and headwind I saw that as no excuse and still went for it.

This pretty much sums up the race right here. I set the pace for the first mile of 5:22. Ken came with me and took the lead on the 2nd mile with 5:28  with a good solid climb.  I took over mile 3 with 5:18 and never looked back. Kept pushing the pace and built a solid lead over the next 10 miles. Going into the last mile body shut down and could go no faster than 5:30 pace. Ken came charging back and beat me by 2 seconds. 

Happy for Ken for the win, he ran well and ran a smart race. Pretty ticked with my effort and the way I closed the last mile. This will be the last time I talk about this race, hopefully I can approve and finish strong in my next race whenever that will be.

Easy on the TM after work. Legs felt better the longer I ran, minimal soreness from Saturday's race. 

TM run again. Crazy day all around, glad its a recovery week and have no plans on mileage. Just grateful for any type of running today.

avg pace 7:13 min/miles

3 Amigos on the parkway for an easy run. Dave, Riley and I hit the Riverdale Parkway heading east. Nice out and back. Legs felt heavy but good today. Maybe a small tempo at the end of the week.

avg pace 7:24 min/miles

P.M.

3 miles easy on the TM. Way cool lightning storm outside! Thunder rattled the house!

Run with Dave, Denver and Riley.

Ran thru Ogden down to the Parkway and hit this glorious new trail that........wait for it! Thats right led to nowhere! So Good, Riley Cook, So good!

Also hit this magnificent round about and while I was running it I had a vision that I hit a 2:17 marathon and then when I left this place that was similar to Narnia the vision was gone! 

Fun easy run! Lefties for Besties!

avg pace 7:24 min/miles

Canal road in north Ogden before heading down south to mesquite for a couple of days.

Legs are feeling back to 100%.

No runs scheduled for the next week since I will be in vacation, any miles I get will be bonus miles.

Avg pace 6:41 min/miles

Was lucky to sneak out for an early run. Legs felt like blah for the majority of the run due to sitting 8 hours in a car yesterday.

Holiday traffic was horrible! Took us 2.5 hours to get to the point of the mountain in draper which usually takes 45 minutes from north Ogden. Traffic never let up the entire way. Brutal!

Last mile coming back into the condo I started dropping the pace every quarter mile and finished the last quarter at 4:48 pace. 5:33 for the mile

Came back and the 2 older boys were awake so I took them out for little over a mile.

Avg pace 6:42 min/miles