Hurt so good.

What a morning woke up early to look outside to see that it was dumping outside and the lightning was going crazy!! But by the time I started my drive up to Huntsville the rain had stopped so that was a good thing too. On the way up got in my race breakfast of a Rockstar Recovery and PowerBar.

Met Riley and ran into Albert. So the 3 of us warmed up together. Since the lines were so long for the bathrooms I showed Riley where the secret bathrooms were. Fantastic no line at all. Managed to sneek about 5K for warmup with 1 stride.

As the race got going the pack split pretty fast. Riley, Ken, Jake, Albert, Nate and Bret. Pace felt comfortable for the 1st and 2nd mile. Splits were 5:29; 5:18. After mile 2 I decided to push the pace a little bit to see how the legs would respond. My hope was that my legs responded well and I could've hit a zone hitting anywhere between 5:20- 5:25 splits. After a 5:09 mile my legs were heavy. From there my splits slowly got slower and found myself in no mans land around mile 7 after Ken had to hit the restroom and continued to do so until mile 10.

My ultimate goal was to catch Nate but he maintained the gap and I just couldn't get my legs moving under 5:30 pace. Overall it was definitely a harder effort then I would've liked but at the same part I have to remember the ultimate goal is St. George and this training will pay dividends for that race.(knock on wood).

Splits for 4-13.10

5:26; 5:45; 5:31; 5:45; 5:45; 5:47; 5:50; 5:45; 5:36; 5:49; :36 seconds for last .10

In the past for this race my splits were low 5:30s to high 5:30s, but as my 3 year old would tell me "It is what it is"

Plan for the next couple weeks is to nail out some 80 mile weeks(school permitting). Get some good hard long runs in and hope for the best.

Cooled down with Ken, Riley and Albert for 3 miles. Hung around got some awards and snagged a cool Camelbak bottle from the raffle and then Riley talked me into to 1 more mile to get over 20 for the morning. 

4.05 cool.

Congrats to everyone who ran today!!

Slept in an extra hour today which felt great! Met Riley at the 12th st Smith's. Drove up to Ken's to pick him up, then headed above Weber State to start our run.

Started on the upper trail and headed North towards Rainbow, once we got to Rainbow we crossed 12th st. And continued to head north on the canal rd. made it about 10.25 miles then turned down off the trail and headed back south on the roads.

Stopped around 13 miles to get a drink then Ken and Riley thought it would be funny to start throwing down sub 6, I didn't realize it until my breathing got quicker and I looked down at my Garmin. I was like what the crap is that all about.

So around 14 miles I through in a surge and Riley came with me, Was pretty fun, Riley gave me some tips for the downhill. Managed to drop down to 4:12 pace, but it was for less then .25 of a mile.

Great start to a Monday!!

8.75 miles solo this morning. Left from house and made my routine loop through pleasant view.

Avg pace 6:52 min/miles

Followed up my run with 600 meters in the pool. This swimming stuff is kicking my trash, but sefinitely good cross training.

Fartlek workout.

warmup for 1 mile then every other mile at goal marathon pace

splits, 5:27; 5:24; 5:21; 5:19; 5:13.

Workout felt good, felt relaxed during the hard stuff, legs feel like there back to 100% from Saturday's race.

avg pace 6:05 min/miles for overall workout.

Man what a interesting morning. First woke up went to start my car and no turnover. So Jon meets me at my house we run for 50 minutes or so. Then we tried to jump my car and still no Bueno.

Anyway come to find out my fuel pump went again. Twice in the last 6 months, so I skip class at Weber because I have no way of getting there. Get my car towed, went with the tow truck driver, which I now feel terrible because I didn't even get his name. Went to the mechanic shop, $800 dollars later my car is working.

Ran home from the mechanic shop because I was bored and didn't want to wait.

Avg pace for my entire run

Was 7:05 min/avg

Day off, big test with school coming up that I needed to study for. Plus just feel a little drained today.

2.05 warm up

6.20 mile race

For the most part this race felt okay for me. I definitely fell the day off from yesterday during my warm up. Crazy my body felt a little stiff and tight. Felt like I needed to warm for at least 4-5 miles to get things going but only had enough time for 2 miles.

I have always enjoyed the classic race. They are always on top of things, good shirts, good atmosphere. So in the years past I have done the 5K but this year I was debating back and forth on what I wanted to do. So in my best interest for training I thought a 10K would be more beneficial. Plus it was a wise decision with Jake running the 5K. ;)

Okay so for the race as the gun started I took off the line and quickly got out into the lead. Pace felt really good and honest for the most part, mostly downhill. Managed a 4:52 mile. Then I will say it again I need to start working on some hill repeats or something because I get on the hills and my pace immediately goes to marathon pace and that is it. So for mile 2 and 3 were all up hill I hit 5:22 and 5:44. Honestly felt like my heart was though the roof. Mile 4 slight uphill for a half mile and then drops downhill for most of the race. Mile 4 5:13, felt like I got my breathing back othe downhill and my body finally felt normal. Mile 5 was 5:01. From there The last mile was slight downhill mostly flat with an uphill finished. Mile 6 was 5:15, and last .20 was 60 seconds flat.

Overall it was an up and down race for me. I started feeling better as the race went on and I wonder if that had to do with the day off yesterday and with a short warm up. But hey I will take the WIN anyway of the week. First place prize was a year membership to golds gym. I don't know if I will use it or not but if I keep this swimming thing up maybe I will use it over the winter. In years past the overall winner received a free pair of shoes. Now that would have been nice, but my said that I dont need any more running shoes, and I need to get over my addiction on collecting them, she has I need to be addicted on getting rid of them if anything.

Well good fun at the races, good showing by the blog for the 10k. 1-2-3 Sweep!!

2.75 mile cool with Cam and Leslie.

Race shoes Adidas adizeropro. 6.20 miles

Easy run on the TM. Right hamstring is bugging again, rolled my leg on the foam roller but didn't seem to help. Hopefully nothing to serious. Just got to get though 2 more weeks of hard stuff then the taper begins!

Acg pace 6:40 min/miles

Eqsy run with Bret and Jon from my house. Hamstring is still bugging, pace was slow til it warmed up. Felt good towards the end of the run but immediately tightened up as soon as I was done.

Avg pace was 6:51 min/mile

Went straight to the pool after @WeberState did a pretty good workout for a beginner

50 kick

50 free

2x 25 sprint with fins

100 free

2x 25 sprint

200 free

50 dolphin kick

2x 50

200 cool.

Easy run with Jon and Cam from the end of Mt. Road in North Ogden.

I wanted a easy run today to give the hamstring a break, pace was relaxed on the trails. Pretty much 4.05 miles up the mountain and then turned back around. Pretty morning, nice and cool. 

Planning on another run today since I don't have to work until Sunday. Just found out also that my time got approved for the Boston Marathon, should be fun!! That means I have to train during the winter which is not so fun!!

avg pace on todays run 9:13 min/miles

Cut my run short due to tightness in the left calf. Think I have been compensating for the tightness in my right hamstring. 

Easy miles today on the Top of Utah Marathon course. Was fun to get some solid miles in with Ken Richardson. Good to see alot of runners from the blog.

Congrats to Jake who Won the marathon

Congrats to Steve Anderson who just proved to me that he is insane to run a marathon on a stress fracture.

Port a John award goes to Ken and I who officially used over 10+, Ken 8, Me-3.

Still a solid run, hit at least 15 miles at 6:10 or better. Nice to actually feel like I didnt run a marathon today.

 Overall running time without bathroom breaks was 2:42 with bathroom breaks we finished the Marathon distance in 2:49.

Easy miles on the TM. Hamstring is way tight today.

avg pace 7:20 min/miles

Hamstring is calling for an extra day off. Hamstring is tight, going to get a massage today and hopefully that will loosen it up. If so I might test it late tonight after work!! Other than that everything else feels great.

Swimming- worked on starts for most of the class, got some swimming in but not a lot.

Deciided to test the hamstring out since my legs were warm from swimming.

Actually felt really good!

Got in 50 minutes before Pharmacology started

Did the WRC 10K course

Avg pace 7:05 min miles

Best my hamstring has felt in a long time. Seriously don't know what the turn around has been in 2 days but it felt awesome today, legs were still a little heavy from Saturdays Marathon. But not heavy enough to skip a tempo run.

Splits on tempo were. 5:13, 5:25 5:28 5:18.

Good workout and nice weather.

I think the key with the hamstring is to do long warm ups in the cold, then hit the run hard. Did 4.5 for the warm about 1.5 miles farther than normal.

Just thinking out loud......

Avg pace today was 6:05 min/miles for entire run.

Man what a great morning, 2 days of no hamstring tightness which feels great! I actually feel like a runner again.

Woke up at 6:15 ran 8.30 miles with Jon. Immediately drove to Weber State and hit the pool.

Workout in the water was

100 warm

150 kick with fins

100 pull

100 swim with fins

8x 25 sprint

150 free

200 pull

8x25 pull w/ crunches

50 fly

100 free

200 my choice

200 cool

Jumped out of the water and dried off and went for a 35 min run. Managed 5.15 miles

Great day, I think the cross training his helping the hamstring a bit, just using different muscles it doesn't feel as tight any more.

Pace for both runs

7:16 min/miles

6:49 min/miles

Easy run on the TM. Pace for the majority of the run was 7:28 min/miles.

The last 20 minutes was @ 6:58 min miles with one mile at 6:30 pace

avg pace for today was 7:14 min/miles

3 days of no hamstring tightness!!

Great Saturday evening run! Met up with Riley, Ken and Scott Keate A.K.A the IRON HORSE! We all met up at Rainbow Gardens in Ogden and started our drive up to Monte Cristo. My wife was awesome enough to drive us to the top so we didn't have to drive back up to get our car. Seriously saved us at least an hour.

For this run I was a little worried on how my stomach would handle the evening miles instead of the morning. Overall it felt okay. A couple stops during the first 9 miles, and 1 stop about 3 miles into the tempo run.

For the workout the plan was to hit 10 miles at goal marathon pace, after a 9 mile warm up. Our warmup pace was roughly around 6:15 pace with the down hill but very relaxed. Started our tempo at mile marker 32. As I got going there wasn't the bounce in my legs that I was hoping forkust felt a little fatigued for some reason. We had a solid group for about 3 miles of the tempo then Ken hit the restroom, theI had to go about 2 minutes later. Ken eventually caught up and we ran about 2 miles together, then Ken was done. Stomach and Fatigue got to him. From there on out I ran the last 5 miles of the tempo solo. Pace felt relaxed and good, hit a couple of 6:00 min/miles due to the darkness and cars that were speeding up the canyon. Definitely got darker after then expected. But overall a great run. 7 miles of the tempo were sub 5:40 or better, so no complaints.

.90 mile cool in the dark, biggest part of this run was to see how the hamstring will hold, and again no tightness or pain. Ready to rock and roll for STG! I am super excited for this run, we should have a solid group of guys deep into the race which is a positive for all of us.

Congrats to Scott for receiving the "Iron Gut" award. No bathroom break!

Fartlek workout.

6 min warm

6 min @ 6:00 min/miles

6 min cool

8 min @ 5:57 min/miles

6 min cool

10 min @ 5:54 min/miles

6 min cool

12 min @ 5:40 min/miles

6 min cool

legs felt great, again no hamstring tightness.

avg pace for run 6:30 min/miles

8.55 miles early with Jon, legs felt a little heavier then I would have liked but probably due to the fact of yesterday's workout.

Normal recovery loop from Lee's Market in North Ogden

Swim

Did 500 meters in the water, not much today due to learning a few different swim techniques.

Immediately after swimming dried off and did 4.10 miles around Weber State.

Avg pace was 7:45 min/miles

Again good start to the day.

Hit the Canal Rd in North Ogden today. Was going to do my last hard tempo run today for STG but decided that I will do it tomorrow. Legs are a little heavy with the long run/tempo on Saturday plus my Fartlek workout on Monday.

Great run today though. Nice weather with a slight wind chill out of the North.

 avg pace 7:10 min/miles

Tempo run

So this is my last hard workout before STG next week. Was way excited to do this workout to see and compare on how I have improved from last year.

So the workout was a 5 mile tempo run.

3.50 warm

My splits from last year at this time were 5:20; 5:25; 5:28; 5:29; 5:18.

I as really motivated today to beat those splits.

Splits for today were 5:14; 5:18; 5:22; 5:28; 5:11.

Really stoked from today's results, I feel like all the training during the summer is coming around and I am peaking right on time.

.65 cool back to my house.

Went straight to Weber State and swam for 50 minutes.

Then hit the roads for 30 minutes.

Managed 4.30 miles @ 7:08 min/miles

Easy run on TM. Not much time today to run. Studying got the best of me.

The first annual tune up 5K for STG!

Talked to Riley Cook the night before and we wanted to do a low key 5K where we didn't want to pay any money. So we organized our own. I asked Riley what he wanted to call this race, he immediately stated the TUNE UP 5K for STG. So I went to the screen printers which happens to be my moms work and made some official race shirts. Pretty sweet, not going to lie.

Anyway showed up the next morning and distributed the goods which I hoped everyone enjoyed or got a kick out of it.

So we warmed up on the course backwards so we all knew where we were going. Riley earlier stated that he wanted to do a aided 5K that wouldn't leave him sore and we both thought that the PV5K was the course to do.

Okay we got to the start of the race and drew the official starting line into the dirt and we all started laughing because we were like this is probably the most competitive 5K going on in the state right now. Which probably deemed to be true.

Race

First mile for me was to try to hang with Riley and break 5. This mile is all on dirt mostly flat with a good little down and up hill about .75 miles in. Managed a 5:07.

2nd mile Riley had already established a good gap and my goal was to keep him in eyesight for as long as I could. Also this mile is mostly down so I was focusing more on my form and to stay relaxed hit 4:55 for this mile.

Mile 3 is rolling hills with a down hill to the finish. But the first part of the mile starts with a little climb and for me I am not the fastest climber, but not bad. But my pace immediately goes to marathon pace which I am fine with. But again it felt like dejavu because Bryant passed me othe hill this time just like Jon did earlier in the year. I got off the hill and mentally I thought I was done but actually felt okay. Once I snapped out of it the damage was done Brant established a gap I couldn't make up. Although I closed on him the race was just to short. 5:20 for mile 3.

25 seconds for the last .10

Great race for me especially in this type of setting to go out and break 15:50 in technically a training run is a huge motivator. Earlier in the year I was 16:02 in a race setting.

I think I am totally ready going into STG. The best advice I have been given since breaking 2:29 last year was from Paul Peterson. He stated, never look back and only move forward! I have taken that advice to heart!

STG is a great course and a great organized race and should be a lot of fun.

Overall results for today's race

1- Riley Cook 14:55

2- Bryant Jensen 15:37

3- Ben Van Beekum 15:47

4- Jon Heslop 16:08

Great day!