track fan

1:17:58 - nice run, almost the same run as last Thursday - up Wasatch Drive and back on trail by Heritage Park -- I added on a little at the end (a extra uphill section) ... felt pretty good at the end, but I have to say, I felt pretty sad and slow on the way out!  Nice day for a run, still tights weather, but the sun was out and it was pretty.  I saw 4 other runners today -- the first time I have ever run into that many people on this run.  Only one said "good morning" back to me ... sad, this happens to me a lot here in SLC - almost everywhere I have ever visited runners say "hi" to eachother - but when I say it here people just ignore me ...

Happy Day Bloggers.

10 x 150m hill repeats (~25 wu and cd, 1:11:49). Pretty good run - this is my 4th week of these and I have gone farther (and faster - though I mainly focus on strength and form) every week. I took the first 3 a little too fast and my legs were really burning the last 10-20 meters of the last ones -- but I pysch'd myself out and kept saying, "you are running the last 150 meters of a race, you're legs are burning, what do you do?? Gut it out!" Also, I read an article a few weeks ago about how patients who are having painful procedures can increase their pain threshold by counting out loud, it might be a placebo effect, but I swear it has helped me on some of my more painful runs (I did not actually throw-up today, but there were some moments where I did feel sort of sick to my stomach).

It was misting rain (and about 35F), but I could tell it was Spring -- like seeing an old friend I was so happy to see the porta potty's are back at Poppington Park!!

Run warm and safe bloggers

1:10:32 - relatively easy run up to 11th and then through Memory Grove Park and back up to my house.  Lots of elevation gains and losses - but I adore the trail down City Creek Canyon to Memory Grove Park, very idyllic. 

I was happy my "running upill" muscles were not sore today, either I did not run hard enough yesterday or I am stronger after a month of doing them!  I am pretty tired though, I have had a few 12-13 hour days this week and it is really catching up with me.  I actually left work at my usual bedtime two nights in a row this week!  I have not done that more than a couple times since I was working on my dissertation, and I was much younger then!

Have a happy day bloggers - it does look like Spring today!

1:23:34

WOW!  60` steady state run (actually 61:10 because I was not paying attention) - 5 x 1.5 laps (plus approximately 1/2 mile or 3:55).  This was incredible. I started off feeling like I was running a little on the slowish side, and then without even meaning to, I just kept it up. I felt better than last week, even though this weeks workout was 10 mins more.  My lap splits were 11:37 (7:44 pace), 11:31 (7:40), 11:24 (7:36), 11:26 (7:37), 11:13 (7:28).  I felt great at the end and had a really nice lap cool down!

53:17, usual Saturday run to Liberty Park.  There were a bunch of  people there today ... it looked like there was either a race earlier in the day, or a bunch of people getting ready for one fairly soon (I saw some folks with a wheel there yesterday measuring a course of some kind).  Lots of kids -- they would speed up and pass me and then stop and walk.  After about 1/2 of mile of this I just had to get away from them so I just sped up so they couldn't do it any more ... kind of embarrassing to do that, but seriously it was kind of annoying!  And hey, I have to take my "winnings" where I can find them.

 
Some great performances out there today bloggers, congratulations!
 

1:52:30 -- holy smokes how did that happen? I think all you bloggers with your great runs yesterday inspired me ... same run as last week, but almost 6 mins faster. Ran down to Sugarhouse with Dean (28:11) then ran 5 laps on the road by myself (11:53, 11:50, 11:24, 11:23, 11:28 -- lap pace of 8:03 - 8:29) - and then a brisk 26:13 home -- negative split of almost 2 minutes - uphill!

I was amazed at how good I felt today. I have a confession to make, I had a root beer float yesterday (I hardly ever eat sweets) -- I thought for sure I put on 5 bls because of it ... and I thought for sure I would "pay" today ... hmmmmm, maybe I am on to something here ;-).

Happy Sunday Bloggers.

63:38 - easy run from Poppington Park up City Creek Canyon and back -- I say easy in that it was slow ... but I have to say my legs felt clunky (a scientific term) and dead the whole time.  It did not get better as the run progressed, but at least it did not get worse either.  I hope this was just a "shake out" from Sunday's run and having yesterday off ... tomorrow is my first day back at the track and I hope I have a little more pep by then.

Happy Tuesday Bloggers.

"cruise interval workout" (pace: 5 mile to 10K race pace)

8 x 1000 w/200 recovery

4:33 (7:16), 4:39 (7:27), 4:33 (7:16), 4:32 (7:15), 4:34 (7:16), 4:33 (7:16) , 4:30 (7:12), 4:29 (7:12).

Time in parentheses are approximate mile times. The 4:39 was in part due to the fact I had to dodge a couple of women who decided that walking side-by-side in lane 1 would be a good idea ... I actually had to pass them twice far out in lane 2 almost in lane 3.

I have mixed feelings about this workout. My sea-level pace should have been 4:25 - 4:31, my goal was to shoot for about 4:35 for the first few and then see what I could do. They were much harder than I had anticipated. Compared to last September (the last time I had done this workout) they were a little slower at first (by about 2-3 seconds) and about the same for the last 2 - the main difference from September was I only did 6 then and 8 today. My schedule called for 6 - 8; I had told myself that I needed to do 7, and then threw the last one in because of my split on the 7th -- it is scary how I can mess with my own head like that ;-). I guess it was an improvement of sorts, but not like I had hoped based on other workouts of late.  I thought I had adjusted to the altitude by now and could pretty much run my sea-level paces by now ... maybe it doesn't work that way.  One thing is for sure, being back at the track took some getting used to!

Happy mid-week bloggers - stay dry and warm today!

1:12:57 (probably a little longer than 8).   Ran to Liberty Park and did 3 laps on the outside of the park in the grass.  Yesterday I woke up and my knee hurt -- it actually got better after I walked around and rolled on my foam roller and a tennis ball.  I did not feel it at all on my run (well a tiny bit on the corners of the track, but really not bad).  Well, as the day progressed yesterday it got worse and worse, especially when I would get up from sitting.   I did some stretching last night and am pretty sure it is a "tracking" problem of my patella caused by really tight adductors.  I have had adductor problems in the past - and I could really feel them when I did some isolated stretching last night.  My "test" to see if I could forgo stretching in lieu of the foam roller has failed!  So, now I will stretch and use a foam roller.   I am actually on my way to get some ART treatment today - even though after a night of stretching, icing and NSAIDS my knee feels better today.  It is not a good time in training to get injured (if it ever is!).

The sunshine is nice today!  enjoy your day bloggers.
 

1:19:46 - easy run up to Wasatch Drive and back from my office - included a 5 x 2` fartlek with 1` recovery.  Legs felt a little "cluncky" again today -- but I am just very grateful that my knee is feeling better.  The ART guy was really good - maybe even better than my Nashville practitioner.

 Have a good weekend bloggers.

53:17 - usual run to Liberty Park with two inner loops on the grass.  It was packed there today bloggers.  I could not help feel a little intruded upon -- you know it was not very long ago that I had this park all to myself, now there are people all over "my" path ;-).  Just kidding, it was a beautiful day to be out - who could blame people from being inspired to get outside and burn off some of that winter layer? 

2:00:05 (closer to 14.25 actually - I took a wrong turn!).   I have been looking forward to my first flat run in so long ... I ran with Dean for a couple of miles then by myself for the rest of the run.  I took a little detour at about 6.5 miles because I couldn't remember which path to follow ... I doubt it added more than 2-3 mins to my run.  After the turn around (right after what I will forever think about as Brent and Sylvies part of the trail) I was not feeling very good.  I was pretty sure that 8:25 pace felt comfortable on the way out, but was worried it might not be a great pace for 14 miles.  With 2 miles to go I was sure that I was running a painful 10 min pace -- well, much to my suprise I negative split by 2 mins (no wonder I was hurting the last mile!).  I was pretty happy.

Such a beautiful day -- truly, I think Spring is here!! I hope you all had a wonderful Sunday.

1:04:15 - easy run with Anna on 1500S to Highland High and around the neighborhood there.

A little dusty but a nice day today, luckily I did not hear that it was a red air day (because the wind is blowing up so much dirt and dust) before my run! 

In my ongoing quest towards minimalist shoes -- I got my new Nike Air Zoom Hayward+3's yesterday!  I LOVE these shoes, no achilles or PF pain today!  Very exciting.  The goal is to have these be my most "stablizing" shoes within 6 months/year. 

Happy Day Bloggers!

1:23:18 - 4 x 2000 w/400 recovery (kept recovery around 2:45), very windy on the backstretch.  I meant to keep these around 9:20 (which would be 7:28 pace) since that would be an altitude adjusted pace (around 15K race pace).  But I hit every 1/4 consistently faster - so I just "went with it" -- 9:16, 9:15, 9:16, 9:14

Not quite my "best" 2k workout in my 4 years of doing these  - but the last time I did this workout was before my 10K PR and I had been doing many more faster workouts then.  In general this pace was easier for me than last weeks workout - I think it is because I have run this pace more often during this build-up cycle and I am not used to the 10K pace as much.

All and all, I feel pretty good!

Interesting weather -- yesterday I was in shorts with sunburned arms from Sunday - today I am back in tights!!  

Happy Days bloggers. 

1:09:11  - probably a little longer than 7.5 - ran up Virginia to 11th and then down through the capital and back.  Lots of hills.   My legs were tired today.  I tried to run as slowly as possible without walking ;-).

1:24:29 - jog to Liberty Park + 3 laps on grass around the perimeter of the park + 5 x 2` w/1` recovery and then home.  Probably a little longer than 9.5 ... my legs were really tired until about 4 miles into the run, and then they got tired again after the pickups.  Next week will be less speed and more miles.

Happy weekend bloggers, I am on my way to Deer Valley to teach at a workshop.   

56:54  -- 3.5 laps (around 1.6-1.7 miles/lap) around Deer Valley.  Pretty windy (on the uphills, of course) -- but warm (48F) and beautiful.  Still some deep snow in parts here, but lots of melting going on!

Happy weekend (I have a long day ahead of me up here)!

First of all -- congratulations bloggers on your great races yesterday!!

And to Deena Kaster,  Magdalena Lewy-Boulet and Blake Russell - what an amazing race.  I had picked 1st and 3rd correctly, but I had Kate O'Neill for 2nd -- what an amazing PR for Lewy-Boulet (nearly 12 mins faster than her qualifying time!).

1:36:17 (8:01 average)

Wow ... what a windy day.  We got a late start because I had to work until noon, and then we drove from Park City to the Jordan River Parkway for our run.  The wind was about 10 mph with gusts up to 24 mph (according to weather underground).  

Today's run was a 3rds progression run.  I was supposed to run the first 4 miles at an easy pace, with the middle 4 miles moderately hard and then the last 4 miles were supposed to be at marathon pace or slightly faster (about steady state pace).  I don't know what got into me, my 4 mile splits were 34:27 (8:36 ave pace), 32:02 (8:00 ave pace) and 30:46 (7:41 ave pace).  With the wind I really could not judge my pace well, and think I ran most of this run much faster than I was supposed to ... but, I finished strong (Dean said he had a hard time catching me  -- he ran 14), so I hope it wasn't "too" much harder than I should have.

It really tested my mental fortitude - I had to really concentrate the whole way (at one point the wind actually blew me sideways off of the path).  Plus, I was pretty mentally beat today - the weekend was not very relaxing - despite a really nice suite!

Hope you all are enjoying your Sunday! 

1:13:11 -- very very easy run.  My legs were tired from Sunday ... and I got a weird pain in my quad near the end of my run.  I am hoping it is a transient thing and icing and stretching will help.  Last week was my highest mileage I have had (ever) and I had many quality workouts too, so this week I am trying to focus on keeping up the mileage while stepping back a bit with the speed stuff. 

Happy Tuesday Bloggers!

1:41:23 - ran to Liberty Park and then ran 5 laps on the outside of the Park on the grass (I think the perimeter is 1.7 miles around). Concentrated on keeping it really easy (15:13, 14:42, 14:54, 14:28, 14:44). Negative split the way home (even though it is uphill!) 13:50, 13:28.

1:23:23 - ran from Sunnyside Park to Sugarhouse Park (~2 miles) then did 4 x 1.4 hilly loops then back.  Tried to keep the pace pretty slow, but consistent (even on the hills).  Felt pretty good!  Tomorrow I will most likely throw in some strides to remind myself what speed feels like, but my legs are recovering nicely from last week ...

Funny thing about this run - I had it ALL - started with the sun peeking out, then it started to rain, then sleet, then blowing big flakes of snow, finally, the sun was peeking out again!!  All of this in 80 mins!!!

Stay dry bloggers.

1:24:19 -- this might have been 10 - I was running a little faster than I had intended because I have meetings all day and had to get out in between a bunch of stuff.  Threw in 10 x 100m strides (:25) in the run, just to remember what faster leg turnover felt like!

Felt ok ... legs are a little tired today.  I have had a problem with my left quad all week.  I worked it over last night with "the stick" and the foam roller (and my elbow), today it still hurts - but it might be because I "bruised" it ... I am going to see the ART guy this afternoon.

Have a wonder Friday bloggers!

55:07 -- slightly longer than 6 mile long recovery run (jog), what a slow and rather uncomfortable run. I am tired -- I am not sure if it is the fact that I have run 2 of my longest weeks ever or because it is such a beautiful day and I have to work, but I was really tired. I do have to say, nothing says tired like a day you have to work when you would rather be on a hike or even doing yardwork!

Enjoy the beautiful day!!

1:51:57 (probably a little longer than 13, by map my run it is about 13.3).  Felt much better today than yesterday -- probably because I got a good night sleep.  Ran to Sugarhouse Park and then ran 5 x 1.4 hilly laps.  The last long uphill home was pretty tough, mainly because I ran a couple of the laps faster than I had intended (they weren't really "hard", but I meant to take it much easier today), to my suprise I still negative split the last 3+ miles (downhill out 27:39, uphill back 26:14) - lap splits: 11:57, 11:42, 11:16 (whoops), 11:31, 11:35.  Was hoping for around 12 +/- 10secs for each - but I just went on how I was feeling.  

I am relieved because although I have to work today, I can do it from home (and get laundry and housework done too!).

Happy Sunday bloggers.
 

62:57 -- Well it wasn't pretty today.  I felt like I was running in someone elses legs (and they weren't fast -- more like someone elses ham hocks really).   But I got it done.

Happy Tuesday bloggers. 

Ok -- first of all MichelleL is extremely sweet and supportive, secondly, I overestimated my fitness today.  I got up at 4:30 to meet Michelle for a "tempo/pace test" for my upcoming race. I overestimated my fitness level and was not able to keep the pace for 5 miles. After a couple mile warm-up we started out pretty slow (7:45, felt fast to me) and then tried out 7:30 (still felt fast), I wanted to stop at 3 miles, but Michelle kept me going for another mile (7:35) but I just did not have it go more than 4 miles. I wanted to -- but it just felt bad.

It was really nice to meet Michelle (though embarassing to be such a wimp), so the morning was not a total loss.

I think this probably just tells me that I need to readjust my expectations for my race ... it is disappointing, but the way it is. I guess I won't quite my day job anytime soon!!

Keep dry bloggers ...