track fan

Ok ... I am not sure I want to write a race report - it was ugly. I think I ran 50:22 (by my watch, the results show a 50:31 not that it matters). The course was tough, mentally I gave up before I even started. I did not run the hills sub 8, and actually I had a 9:08 mile in there (I hit 31:00 at mile 4 and 49:08 at mile 6, 7:45 average for the first 4 miles then a 8:52 and a 9:08, ouch) I was happy to finish, disappointed but I finished. I was 2nd in my age group (the first in the age group was 17 secs ahead of me, I wished I had known) and 96th overall. All I can say is that I would have never run that course that fast without it being a "race" so I guess it was worth getting up at 4:30AM for, though I am not sure ;-).

Happy Saturday Bloggers.

1:17:09  6 laps +1/2 mile in Sugarhouse Park.  Man, my legs are beat up, especially my quads - the severe downhill yesterday most likely.  I feel really old today ;-).  But, I put in my time ... most of my laps were around 11:45 - 11:50 (around 8:30 pace), I was suprised.  I ran two of them with Dean which was very pleasant, and sweet of him to run so slowly with me.

Tomorrow I am on my way to DC again ...

Happy week bloggers. 

58:14 - ran to Liberty Park did 2 laps on the grass on the perimeter of the park and back.  Tired but legs did not hurt as badly as they did yesterday.  

1:16:26 - 50` steady state run on Rock Creek Parkway. Was able to check splits for a couple of miles at the end, 7:40 at the end -- but was rolling uphill into the wind out and tailwind/slight downhill on the the way back so probably did not average much faster than 7:50.  Felt pretty good, legs were still a little sore starting out and on the steeper of the downhills - but these hills feel much easier than anything in Utah ;-).

Happy humpday bloggers.

1:23:16, 9.1 miles (Anna's garmin) from Poppington Park up City Creek Canyon and back.  Nice day, legs were a little tired from yesterdays run (and residual downhill pain from Saturday), but felt pretty good.  Very little sleep over the past few days with travel and meetings so I was happy to be out in the fresh air!

1:02:37.  8 x :25 hill repeats up near Wasatach Drive.  Felt pretty good, a little tired coming back up to my office, but all and all pretty good.

Happy Weekend Bloggers.

58:59 -- maybe a little longer, ran to Liberty Park then 2 laps on the outside of the park.  Ran around the neighborhood a bit to ensure 6.5 miles (since technically I think 2 laps + run to the park would only give me 6.4 miles) - I think I ran more then .1 of a mile, but not enough to count.

Beautiful day!
 

About 1:58/1:59 -  I had a little "watch problem" (I forgot to hit it at one point during the run -- about 7-8 mins into it I realized it).  Ran to Sugarhouse Park and ran 3.7 or so laps around the perimeter (in the grass) - it was GREAT to be able to do this again.  It zaps your legs (hills on the grass) but I like it much more than the pounding of the roads and it is a good workout.

Felt good, pretty happy!  Now I have to go pack, another trip.

Happy Sunday Bloggers. 

58:10, might have been a little shorter than 6.5 -- ran 2 outer loops at Liberty Park.  Today was one of "those" days.  I did not want to get up, I did not want to run.  And, it did not "get better" once I got out the door.  It seemed that except for the very easy downhill on the way to the park every step was a struggle of mind-over-matter.  

I love running on the grass (I think that most of my achilles problems have started once I moved here and don't run on the grass/flat trails as much), but man, I can tell I haven't done it in a while.  You don't realize how many little muscles you have in your feet and lower leg until you do some tough hilly miles on the grass!!  But, it is my belief that strengthening these stablizer muscles helps keep knee and ankle injuries at bay ... we shall see!

 I am glad tomorrow is a day off from running -- even though it most definately won't be a day off.  I am heading out of town, again ... I am giving a seminar here today and then another one tomorrow!!

Happy Monday bloggers.
 

1:19:15 --  Wow.  Great run on the Rilalto (sp?) trail here in Tucson.  Ran a 60` steady state run (+10 wu and cd) with Dean.  About 7:45 on the slight (very very slight) uphill out and about 7:30 (one 7:25) on the way back!!  Was hard the last mile, but I am very excited about how easy it felt for the first few miles.  I am sort of looking foward to checking out things on the track in the upcoming weeks!

Happy Running bloggers. 

52:10 -- probably closer to  5.8, but unfortunately not 6!  I was very happy about the run today.  It was a recovery day -- but I did not feel I needed it!!  I still ran nice and easy -- but was very happy at  how good I felt today.  Yea!

 have a good day bloggers!

1:25:37 -- probably a little longer than 9.5, but not quite 10.  12 x 1` w/2` recovery.

Office up Wasatch Drive to a bit further than 2100 S.  Snowing/sleeting, but perfect temperature!

Happy Friday Bloggers

56:28 (probably about 6.3 or so) - ran down to Liberty Park, ran 1 outer loop with Dean (hence why I know it was not 6 miles - because I am sure that 1.7 miles was faster than 9 min pace!).  Then one more by myself (after my bathroom break).  Felt ok ... a little tired today, but luckily I get my first day off from work in over two weeks so I am happy!!

Happy weekend bloggers. 

1:48:01(8:34 average) - 9 laps in Sugarhouse Park.  Pretty consistent today (12:18, 11:45, 11:13 (was racing some guy - I won), 11:47, 11:44, 11:42, 11:43, 11:41, 11:36) -- 8:47, 8:23, 8:00, 8:25, 8:22, 8:21, 8:22, 8:22, 8:20 pace.  Felt pretty good, despite a strong headwind up one of the hills -- and believe me it got old by the 2nd lap ;-).  Snowing through part of it, sunny and too (?) warm through parts. 

I hope all you bloggers are enjoying your Sunday.

 

1:20:13 -- Poppington Park to City Creek Canyon - nice and easy, it snowed, it "sunned" - we had it ALL!!

Ran into Adam on his way out (I had never met him before, but I knew he ran that way often from his lab and he was wearing a fastrunningblog shirt -- so I said, "Hi Adam!", he never missed a stride even though we had a short conversation it was great to meet him).

Have a good day bloggers.

10 x 150m hill repeats (on street just up from Poppington Park).  Pretty good -- I ran just about until I felt the lactic buildup in my legs (~50 secs for me) - the last two were really hard, but they were my fastest ...

A couple more weeks of these and then watch out track here I come ;-).

Happy Wednesday 

1:01:58 ... 2 laps around the outside of Liberty Park + some around the neighborhood.  Last week I ran a couple laps with Dean - I have always thought the outer loop (in the grass) was 1.7 miles (based on something I read on the internet).  Dean believes it is 1.6 (by feel -- just so you know I always think he underestimates any mileage we run together) - so when he runs 2 laps + to and from the house he calls that 6 miles (where by my count it would be 6.4 ... and sometimes I could stretch that into 6.5 ;-) ).  Anyway, now I can't call it 6.5 (because Dean spread the seed of doubt in my mind) -- so I have to add on miles!!

Easy recovery run ... felt really good (even though I believe it was more like 6.8 miles or so ;-)).

ran to Liberty Park and ran 4.5 loops (~ 6.5 miles) @ steady state pace (7:40 - 7:45/mile average, slowest lap was 11:15 fastest was 11:06).  First lap sucked because there was a street cleaner cleaning the road and the dust and fumes they kicked up were disgusting ... but, I was able to settle in after he stopped and the rest of the run was pretty good.  Not quite as good as my steady state run from last week, but this one was at altitude and I was by myself, so I am pretty satisfied ...

I am very glad it is Friday - I can't wait to get some sleep tonight, as usual the cummulative sleep deprivation is getting to me today.

Happy weekend bloggers.
 

55:13 ... easy run to Liberty Park, 2 laps on the grass (inside near the wood chip path, should be ~ 1.5 miles each lap).

We slept in this morning, part of me feels guilty about it, the other part is SO happy to have gotten more sleep than I have in many months.  I finally got a paper off yesterday that I have been working on for over a year.  It feels good to finally have it off my desk!

Happy weekend bloggers. 

2:00:56 ... ok, so I am not sure how long this run was. I ran 7 laps on the grass at Sugarhouse Park. I thought it was 1.7 miles each lap, but there is no way that can be right - "map my run" gives me about 1.88 - so I called it 1.85. Anyway - it was hard ... the grass was uneven and I can tell I have not done this type of thing for a while, good thing was the hills did not feel bad. I ran pretty well at the end of the run, but it took a while to warm up (17:05, 16:35, 16:34, 16:10, 16:13, 16:17, 16:10) (~8:44 - 9:14 pace). With runs like this (where I am not sure what the mileage is, and it is a hard course) the best I can do is compare with my previous runs -- and this comparison was pretty good - I ran the last 4 laps faster than I had run the same course in October - yippee (although it was probably cooler today which can make a big difference).

Very fun watching all the cute children look for their Easter eggs (the park was PACKED) ... nice weather for an Easter egg hunt and family fun!

Happy Easter Bloggers

1:04:17 - easy run from Poppington Park up City Creek Canyon.  Felt a little tired, but it was such a beautiful morning for a run!!

10 x 150m hill repeats - same as last week, but I added on a little mileage because I had the time today. (1:11:31 total time)

Still tough, but "better" than last week, consistently faster and I felt stronger after they were finished (my last one was my "best" one). Yipee - I am glad this workout is finished, I was dreading it this morning.  And, I have to say that my slog up from my house to Virginia and up to Poppington was horrid (it is an wicked hard 1.5 mile incline) -- I felt fat, slow and old (things that likely true, but I felt it more today ;-) ).

Happy Wednesday Bloggers.

1:22:18  Very easy run in the blowing snow.  Ran with Anna from our office to Wasatch Drive and back ... at some points we were literally blinded by the blowing snow.  The roads were nice and clear so I won't complain ... I will complain that since Anna has a Garmin and it measured 8.87 miles I now have to write 8.5 instead of the 9 that I would have guessed!!  Gadgetry, blast it!  Well, I will remark that now 2 hours after we finished our run it is not snowing, and the sun is even peeking out every once and a while ... this is not a whine, but a remark.

Run safe and enjoy bloggers. 

50` minute steady state run (4.5 laps x 1.5 miles/lap in Liberty Park). These are supposed to be just under LT pace -- "comfortably hard" (for me this is 7:35 - 7:47 pace). It is a difficult pace (for me) to dial in -- because they are actually at the slow end of tempo pace to 10 secs/mile slower than tempo run pace. I almost always find myself at tempo effort by the end of these runs, and I figure that is good ... but I don't want to run them too fast at the beginning (since the goal is to finish the workout and get the maximal benefit) ... so, today I decided to just try to feel comfortable, and run each 1.5 mile lap a little faster than the former (not easy for me as I am getting tired by 5 miles into it!). Even though the first 2 laps were on the slower end of the range I was pleasantly suprised with the overall progression. I could have done the last lap faster, but with about 1 mile to go I reminded myself that I still had 5-6 hard minutes left after I finished that lap, so I eased up a little.

Splits: 11:41 (7:47), 11:32 (7:41), 11:19 (7:32), 11:11 (7:27) + 5 mins

I am so glad it is Friday!! Have a nice weekend bloggers

56:02 - a little longer than 6 (including run to bathroom). What a great run -- after yesterdays game of "concentration" today was a real treat. The goal was to put in the miles, run really easy, and just enjoy. And it was wonderful. I did actually have to check myself a couple times (and slow down a bit) -- I tend to speed up when I am with myself (because I am not talking) and though it probably wouldn't have done any harm (I felt really good today) I really wanted to make sure it was an easy run.  The best part was that I know for sure that my run yesterday was the right pace -- because I could have run it again today (it would not have been pleasant mind you), my legs felt great.

Weather was strange, there was a stiff cold wind so into the wind was cold, but running with the wind was actually quite warm. I really like this Spring stuff!!

Happy running ...

1:58:03 ran to Sugarhouse Park (28:43) did 5 laps (12:06, 12:08, 12:01, 12:08, 12:07) and then home (27:46). The laps felt slow, but they really weren't (~8:40 or faster) -- I dread this run, because the run home has about 2.5 miles that are an uphill grind (much worse than the rollers of the park) ... I was really suprised I negative split by almost a minute ... hmmm.

It was 35 and rain/snow the whole time -- I was soaked within a mile! Very glad when the run was over!

Happy Sunday bloggers.