Bob's blog

Ran the striders 1/2 Marathon. The pace over the first 6 miles was totally doable. It felt like I could hold that pace for an entire marathon. At miles 7 and 8 I began to have breathing difficulties much like the ones I experienced in Houston. It could have been altitude or the slight cold I have or even allergies. Whatever the cause, the pace became too much for me to keep and I dropped back to the 5:30's. This felt much more comfortable. Finished with 5:21 avg pace.

My teammate, Paul, who I ran with most of the race was really prepared to keep a blistering pace. When I started into difficulty he didn't even skip a beat and kept on chugging. I think I saw a hint of a red cape with the letter "S" on it under his singlet.

At the awards ceremony I overheard another runner make a comment about the Wasatch runners: "those wasatch guys are animals...they win everything!" I think she was referring to Paul.

Ran on pipeline this morning. Just a stretch the legs out after the race run. Felt fine. Surprisingly little soreness remaining.

Ran 9 east miles with Mike on pipeline. The air was cold and the unbelieveably strong headwind made it colder. It was a fun run though. Bandy was in dog heaven...new snow ay elbow fork.

easy 4 in the AM. Had Dillon in the stroller and Bandy along for moral support. Nothing like trying to train with a child and a dog "helping."

Ran an easy 8 in the PM. Again, had the dog and the boy. Was a typical run until we ran into 5 deer sitting off the side of the road. We gave them a wide birth. Next (about 1 mile down the road) we ran into 2 coyotes. I got between the coyote I saw and my 10 month old son while my tenatious dog was barking in the opposite direction and pulling me away from the coyote (that I saw). I thought Bandy was pulling a turn and run away from danger move, but she was trying to go after the second coyote that I didn't see. Luckily I always keep her on leash as that coyote would have made short work of her. What a good dog.

Ran a tempo run this morning. Had to get up early and get it done...the wife has no mercy and I couldn't fathom attempting that run with a baby in a stroller and a dog.

Started out towards millcreek as a warm up. Headed south on wasatch and started tempo at the light on 45th. Kept it goind to the office park past 6200 S and turned around. Ended tempo at 4500 S light.

The beginning felt awkward and took a while to get in to the pace. The dog took just about 10 minutes then she was off to the races. I think she was ready for more coyotes. It felt better and better as I ran. Ended with 33:45. No splits. I actually wore my heart rate monitor and was puzzled. My max heart rate should be in the 190's but I couldn't get out of the 160's. I expected my tempo heart rate to be in the low to mid 170's. I expect that this means my legs are fatigued and not performing at their potential thus my heart is capable of more than my legs right now. Which makes sense. I have been building up my milage and intensity for 3 weeks now. It is time for an easy week.

Pipeline. Burch to rattle.

Ran to Ruth's diner and back. Took it easy until 12 miles then hit the tempo pace. Bonked at the end of the tempo...haven't eaten since yesterday afternoon...bad idea. Finished up in really bad form. Bandy wouldn't even look me in the eye. I could tell she was very disappointed.

Ran wasatch out to office park and back. Good recovery run.

No run...Dr. appt for Dillon. He is very sick.

Ran a tinman tempo today on pipeline trail. Paul inspired me to try this technique out.

I started out at Burch hollow and warmed up to church fork. At church I ran the tinman (low range of tempo...I think) out to the point (end of the pipeline trail) and back to church. My heart rate stayed in the range I wanted it to (158-164) and my mental attitude was positive all through the tempo. At the end of the run I felt energized. Bandy struggled with the pace. I actually had to let her off leash as I was dragging her.

Cooled down 1.5 miles back to burch.

Haven't blogged in a while. Although my training has been good (still increasing volume and intensity) I know it doesn't show. 

Ran a series of hill repeats with the goals of doing a VO2 max workout and testing Sasha's max heart rate calculator. I did a polar HR monitor fitness test which indicated that my VO2 max is 72 and max HR is 189. I didn't believe this because 2 years ago my max heart rate was 200.

I started the workout with a 2 mile warm up. At the end of the warm up I built into my 5k pace on a nearly flat stretch of the avenues and ended with 4:00 of hill climbing on a steep gradient. My HR was 184 at the end of this stretch. After doing this work I can attest that it came pretty close to maxing my HR.

The rest of the workout was on the steepest section of center st in the Lindsay Gardens cemetary. I split each repeat into .2 mile segments. Splits ranged from 1:04 to 1:06. Did 10 of them.

Cooled down 2 miles.

No run today. Life got in the way. Actually, the stomach flu got in the way. My son has it and now my wife has it. So if you consider viruses to be alive...life got in the way. 

Ran an easy zoo loop BV++. Legs felt heavy but strong. Completed the run in 1:10.

Am

easy 5 on wasatch/mile high dr. Took the dog and the boy. Made for a nice easy run.

PM Ran with Mike and Bandy on pipeline. Burch to rattle and back. Had some GI issues. 54 mins.

Ran a progressive 20 miler this morning. Started out easy on wasatch, again had some GI issues. Picked up the pace a bit towards the zoo. Ran on shoreline over to legacy bridge. Devine and co left quite a mess up there. Picked it up to marathon pace along the U and guardsman out to sugarhouse park. Continued on SL marathon course until 27th south. Built up to tempo from Tanner pk to Smith's marketplace on 33rd S. Cooled down home.

Legs felt good, better the faster I ran. 2:14 total. 

Easy 10 miler on the city loop. Legs feel good.

Ran 2 mile repeats today at liberty park.

Started out with a run down to the park and a loop around to warm up. Ran the first interval in 10:50. Legs felt like I was pedaling squares. The second felt much more fluid and was a 10:32. The third felt the best and was a 10:25. I didn't have time to run the 4th as I was already late to pick my son up at daycare. Heart rate hovered in the 160's for all of them. Low 160's on the first, high 160's on the last.

Ran a very rushed cool down and now my legs feel like garbage.

Ran an easy zoo loop bv++. The hills were the only thing that felt good on my legs. Its a good thing that run is mostly hills. The flats and downs were painful. I think the workouts over the past 3 days have taken their toll.

I feel like the sheathing aroung my right achilles tendon is swollen. It is painful when I am not running and loosens up after a massage. During a run it only hurts on the downhill portions. I am tempted to call this tendonitis. Any other diagnoses out there?