track fan

1:19:42 - not a bad run to City Creek Canyon and back home.  Not bad considering that despite my pleading with him not to Dean gave me this horrible cold that he has had since we got home from San Diego.  I am really tired, and the hills were a little harder than usual because I couldn't catch my breath.  I am bummed because I was planning on going over to some friends house for some black-eye peas and collard greens (Southern good luck meal) today, and I just really don't feel well.  I will continue to take my vitamin C, zinc and rest ... hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.

Happy New Year everyone. 

48:32 - run to Liberty park 1 3/4 laps and back.  I debated on whether to run today or not -- I am working from home because I feel pretty bad.  My throat hurts so bad it kept me up last night.   But, I hardly ever miss a run unless I am bed ridden, so I got out and ran.  It was about 15F and sunny.  I did not feel too bad while I was running, except that the uphills were a little more difficult than usual (maybe because of the temp, maybe because I can't breath out of my nose).  Good news was that it wasn't uncomfortable, and I sure did get rid of a lot of phlegm when I stopped running - I think that is a good thing, I definately don't need any more ;-).

It is supposed to be pretty miserable here in the valley by Friday, high winds and rain/snow ... be careful everyone!

I have decided not to run today - my cold is much worse, and I have decided (after a heated discussion with Dean) that I would rather take a day off and have some good days of running - then not and having a few more days of mediocre running.  Dean and I always approach running while sick differently, he takes time off whenever he is sick.  I usually run through sickness (when I can) - my colds last longer, but I have always thought it was worth it.  But today, I feel so bad, that I really don't want to wear myself down anymore.  I hope that I can salvage some of the day and get some work done, this is not a good time to be sick (work-wise)!  In a couple of weeks I am going to U of Arizona to give a seminar there, and I am not done with my talk yet.

 Run safe, have fun!
 

ok ... I told myself that as soon as I could eat again, I could run again.  Well, yesterday I almost ate two meals (I did not finish dinner but ate 3/4 of it).  It is not that my stomach as been upset - it is that my throat has been hurting so badly that I haven't been able to swallow.  Anyway, I got out to run - hoping beyond hope that I could even do a long run.  ha ha.  I was so tired within 20 mins that I wasn't even sure I would be able to run home. 

Hoping that I am still on the mend, and have not set myself back even further ... I hate getting sick.  And this time was one of the worst ever.  I did not even go into work 2 days last week (and I NEVER miss work, I was back at work 1/2 time a week after having major surgery last year).  

 Stay healthy bloggers.
 

Yippeee.  I still coughed for 10 mins while waiting for the light to turn at 400S, but overall I felt much better on my run today.  I would not say I am "well" - but I have managed to eat almost 2 meals/day (though I still can't taste them at all) over the past 3 days, and I worked over 12 hours yesterday, so I feel like I can try to run again.  Greg and I decided that I would just take it day-by-day this week and pick up on Sunday where I left off.  I will be travelling almost every week for the next few weeks, so it might be a bit of a challange to stay healthy, but I am planning on trying my very best!!

Hope all is well in bloggersville.

easy miles, still sick.  Dean just went to the doctor and got an antibiotic ... I might have to get on some too ... I am giving a talk tomorrow, and then next week I will be in Tucson visiting U of Arizona and then to visit my coach (and the Mcmillan elite team) in Flagstaff. 

I just want to run my long run this weekend!

Take care bloggers. 

another easy run.  I actually felt pretty good while I was running (hence why I went for 6 miles) ... but after I stopped running I coughed so hard and for so long that I threw up - wow, what is up with that.  I am hoping the antibiotics I am getting this afternoon are going to help. 

More snow is on its way -- probably it will snow until I leave for the desert next week!

a little faster today - about 8:50 pace.  Tried to take it easy, if the antibiotics start working, and I get enough rest today, I am hoping to actually run a little long tomorrow and start getting back to where I was before I got sick.  

1:10:02 -- yes, for the first time in almost two weeks a run where I felt good at the end (I only coughed for about 5 mins at the end)!   I really wanted to run 80` or even 90`, but I decided to take a more conservative tact and move my schedule around for the week to allow another day or two of antibiotics to do their thing.  So, I will try to do my long run on Thursday while in Tucson - I am giving an invited seminar on Wednesday at the U of Arizona, but Thursday will have a little time to do a run - in warmer weather, flatter terrain, and lower elevation ... how cool is that!  On Thursday I am heading up to Flagstaff to see Greg McMillan and the McMillanelite team ... after a tremendous showing today at the USATF 1/2 marathon championships I am sure they will be in good spirits. 
 

56:47 - two laps around Liberty Park + 8 x 100m strides.  Felt ok ... a little tired at the end, but better than I have felt in two weeks.

1:19:42 -- pretty run up city creek canyon.  When I started it was cold, with a strong headwind.  Started snowing when I turned around (about 41 mins into the run up the canyon) -- nice tailwind on the way back, snowing pretty heavy.  Very beautiful, not peaceful because of the wind, but beautiful nonetheless.  

I am leaving for Tucson (nice balmy 50F), and then to Flagstaff 7000ft, and about the same weather as here.  I will be getting quite a few flora/fauna changes over the next few days!

Happy running everyone. 

1:28:52, very nice run here in Tucson, about 75% of it was on my favorite running surface (for training, probably not for racing) -- hard packed sand.  Pretty flat, very beautiful.  I am actually heading back home tonight - my plans ended up changing and my trip to Flagstaff has been postponed.

Happy Thursday Bloggers.

1:02:51 (probably more like 7 and 1/4) - ran to Liberty Park and then ran a 30 min steady state run (about 2 and 3/4 laps until I hit 30 mins) about 10 secs faster on each subsequent lap (about 8:10 to 7:50 pace).  Felt good. Ran pretty slowly home ... all and all pretty good run.

51:28 - probably closer to 6, but not quite.  While many of the bloggers were running painfully fast today - I was running painfully slow.  My legs were a little sore, and mainly I wanted to make sure today's run was more for recovery - as I am planning on 12 miles tomorrow.  It was nice down at Liberty Park, for the first time in 3 months I could run on the outside loop - the snow had melted for about 3/4 of the loop.  Since there is a new snow storm heading in tonight, I thought I would do some grass running while I could!  With my tight achilles and PF problems it is debatable whether or not running on the grass helps (since it works the tiny stablizer muscles on the foot and ankle) - but it slows me down and the surface is much more forgiving so it seems easier on my legs overall.

Hope all the racing bloggers had a good day - so far the results look great - congratulations!

1:44:14 - Ran to Sugarhouse Park (3.1 miles) with Dean and then did 6 laps with Anna, and she drove me home (which would make it closer to 11.6 miles I think).  Felt pretty good, fair amount of hills which got harder near the end, but we did run the last lap faster (around 8:35-8:44 pace/lap and then ran 8:26 on the last one) so I guess I ran about the pace I should have been running.   This week should get me back to about where I should of been before I got sick, so I am happy.

Hope all the racing bloggers have a nice recovery day!

 

Somewhere between 56 and 60 mins. Why so slow? Well, there is about 9 or 10" of snow on the ground and because of the holiday the plows are slow. Dean had an appointment this morning at 8:30 - so I got out at 7 to shovel out our cars. Within 2 hours there was another 2-3".  So, Liberty park was great (there are two guys who do nothing else but plow the street and sidewalks there!) - so I did two laps around the park. The run home was a disaster - even with my traction spikes on I could not run uphill without slipping. It was tough, the first mile back was just slick, but the last 1/2 mile was worse than just slick because there was more traffic. I saw two cars spin out, and since we all were sharing the road, I actually had to stop when cars came downhill, for fear they would hit me by accident - I did not turn off my watch, and that dear friends, is why I don't know how long it actually too for me to get home, and why it was so slow ;-)

It was an adventure and I am glad I got a run in, albeit a slow one!!

1:23:18 ... probably a little longer than 9, but not by much.  11th to City Creek Canyon and 2 miles up.  It was about 9F when I started this morning with a pretty strong headwind out and up the canyon -- it took 14 mins until I could feel the fingers on one of my hands!!  I even wore my Nike long sleeve jacket ($9.99 from Ross a couple years ago) - the only time I have worn a long sleeve jacket on a run longer than 5 miles was when I was visiting my brother in Minnesota a few year ago (it was -10F that day ... brrrrr).  I had just the right gear though, I stayed pretty toasty without overheating.  It was BEAUTIFUL today!!  I did almost trip on my way down the canyon, I was trying to figure out the deer/moose tracks coming up from the creek ... they sure do a lot of criss-crossing down the mountain!

Happy Wednesday bloggers.

1:05:54 Ran to Liberty Park as wu then ran a 35` steady state run (3 laps around the park) pace was a little slower than I had hoped (averaged about 8:15 running each one about 10 secs faster than the last) but I was running by feel and there was snow and ice on about 75% of the loop. With the snowfall that is expected over the next week (the radio yesterday said, "this weekend's snowfall will be reported in feet not inches") it should be interesting! Next week I will be in New Orleans - so my training should improve slightly (although sleep and eating will be a little dicey).

Have a happy day bloggers.

1:26:50 -- easy run up Virginia to 11th and then up 1+ miles up City Creek Canyon.  Legs were pretty tired.  Good news was I did not feel any worse at the end than I did at the beginning!

Happy Friday! 

54:40 -- debated whether or not to take my watch today - but I am a creature of habit and put it on just before I left the house. I was dreading this run, I think because while I was doing my core workout and weights this morning I was SO tired I could just tell the run was going to be a struggle. My goal was to run as slowly as possible and just get "time on my feet". It ended up being better than I thought. The sun was out, it was not cold (about 24F or so) and all and all I felt lucky to be out on such a beautiful day. It did not feel "good" (as I was tired) - but if I absolutely had to, I could have gone out and run the loop again - so I will count today as a success! Especially since there is a big storm coming in and we might not see much sun for the next few days - though we will see lots of snow!

Happy weekend bloggers - this weekend (and then for 3 more weekends)  Dean and I are in our "winter bliss" as Track and Field fans - yes, it is the start of the indoor track season -- and there are 2 hours of T&F on TV for 4 weekends!!

1:49:18l; 30:52 (from my house to Sugarhouse Park + .5 miles in the park), 6 x 1.5 mile hilly loops (12:47, 12:18, 12:41, 12:27, 12:38, 12:34).  Felt better than last week (probably because last week we ran the last 2 much harder than today).  I still have 2 more days of fairly long distance  before I get a day off, plus I am traveling again, so today was exactly the right amount - both pace and mileage. 

 Nice day weather-wise, on the warm side (40F), but still lots of snow so the park was full of snowboarders and sledders ...

56:55, 6 miles + 12 x 100m strides.  I was a whimp bloggers, I meant to do half of my 100 meter strides into the wind and the other half with a tail wind - but once I got my warm-up done (into the wind) I just couldn't do it -- so, I did 4 into the wind and the other 8 with a tailwind.  

Fell about a 1/2 mile from home, the ice is super slick today, probably because of the rain last night.  Luckily - I fell on my backside (which has a lot of cush) and not on my wrist (which is still sore from when I broke it in September).  I am pretty sore though, and not looking forward to sitting on my bruise for 4 hours to New Orleans.  

I would like to express my condolences to all the LDS bloggers for loss of a great man, President Hinckely.  

1:15:33.  Wow, what a run.  Ran down St. Charles Street in New Orleans - from the French Quarter to Audobon Park (through the Garden District).  Nice because more than 75% of it was on a dirt trail - well, actually it was on the muddy area between the trolley tracks, but much nicer than sidewalks ... after about 25 mins I saw other runners (once I hit the Garden District) so I knew I had found a good route.

Tough day.  My flight was WAY delayed yesterday, so I got into New Orleans really late (about 6 hours later than scheduled, after about 12 hours of travel time for a 4 hour flight).  They lost my luggage, but thankfully got it to me by 6AM so I could still go on a run before I had to get to a meeting (and give my talk in my suit instead of my jeans which physicians seem to warrant).  Did not get much sleep (probably about 3 - 4  hours) - but I survived the day (my talk went well) and got my run in, so it was a success!

Oh, it was very hot and humid on my run today ... and I did not have to worry about falling on my already painful/bruised hind area (from my slip on the ice yesterday).

Run well bloggers.

1:09:50.  15` wu 40` steady state run and then back to hotel.  Basically ran the same route as Tuesday - but I felt MUCH better.  I got 6 hours sleep both Tuesday and Wednesday, not easy to do when the days start early and end late.  I wanted to run a little further today, but I needed to wait until the sun came up (I did not feel comfortable running in New Orleans in the dark), and I had to catch my plane ... 

I can't wait to get back to my healthy eating - not too much vegetarian fare in NO, and what there was too rich for me, I need some vegetables!

Keep warm! 

1:35:15 - ran up through Federal Heights (from work) to 11th and up City Creek Canyon.  I listened to Anna on the way back and let her talk me into running on the "trail" for a bit on the way back to the office, snow up to our knees (she said it would be packed down ... I got to say "I told you so").  Interesting and definately a workout, but not quality running time.  Very pretty today ... the run was just "putting in the miles" and we did.

Happy Weekend bloggers.

54:28 - ran to Liberty Park.  I lost about 30 secs screaming at a car at an intersection today (yes, dumb I know) ... but let  me explain.  First, on my way to the park I was running in the street - the streets here in SLC are famous for how wide they are (Brigham Young made many of them wide enough turn oxcarts)  - the sidewalks are really slippery and the roads are nice and plowed.  Well, you would think, with wide streets, running against traffic and wearing bright road-worker green would make one safe enough to run in the street.  You would be wrong if you think that because some drivers actually TEXT while they are driving ... so this guy ran me off the road (missed hitting me by about 3 inches).  But wait - he is not the one I yelled at.  Later, as I was coming from the park (again going against traffic) at a crosswalk - WITH THE LIGHT - this guy was making a right-hand turn just as I got to the corner.  I had to slow down because there was about 5 inches of snow/ice leading to the sidewalk.  He doesn't even slow down - I wasn't sure if he was going to hit me or not ... so I stopped and yelled at him.  This did not make me feel any better, as a matter of fact I felt horribly guilty all the way home.  Even though technically I was "in the right" it really didn't help anyone (especially since it slowed my run down). 

So, there is my confession and one of the many reasons my time is so slow (the other being it was my recovery day, and I was tired anyway!).

Be careful out there bloggers!

1:39:54 - Very windy today (gusts of about 25mph).  I did two laps at Sugarhouse park by myself (12:46, 12:16) then 6 with Anna (11:59, 12:15, 13:47 (bathroom), 12:18, 12:09, 12:06, 11:56), fastest 1.4 mile loop was 8:31, slowest was my first one by myself 9:07.

I felt suprisingly even though I have this really weird pain in  my left leg (I think it is my IT band) that never got better on the run - though it did not get worse either so I just kept going.  I am going to have to use my foam roller more faithfully again it seems.

Still hasn't snowed again yet, but you can definately tell it is going to~
 

55:14 -- very very pretty today, a little slow because we had some snow last night, and by the time I was finishing up my run it was really coming down again. The big puffy flakes, I guess all tolled we have gotten about 3 inches so far. 

My legs were tired, but I really felt pretty good today. Even my sore leg was doing better (after I spent 15 mins on the foam roller this morning, crying like a baby).

1:19:16 -- 40 min steady state run on Wasatch Drive - most miles were too fast (and I paid).  Ok, I have a psychologic barrier at the end of the faster portion of this route.  This is the second time (the first time was the tempo run I ran here a few months ago) that I could not make it up the final hill at a fast pace.  Both times I felt really ill and had to catch my breath before I could finish the run.  I HATE this hill, I always feel like a loser.  So, my steady state run was really only 39:15!  I suck.  Anyway, I was supposed to run at about 7:50 - 8:00 min pace, I ran most of the them at 7:44 - 7:50 and then had a stupid 7:23 in there. Then ran the 2 miles uphill back to my office.  I am going to beat that hill one of these days!

I am still not sure if I will be doing the 10K on Saturday.  I just can't decide whether my head is in the right place - I know it will be way off my PR (since I am not even close to racing shape yet and have not done anything like 10K training for 2 years), and I have not raced at altitude yet, and I just don't know if I want to have such a slow race time. Anyway, it also depends on my sleep for the rest of the week, I am in the middle of grant reviews right now (I am off to the NIH next week) -- so my sleep time is limited and I am feeling a little run down.

Keep safe bloggers ...

about 4 miles + 12 x 150m strides w/1` recovery.  55:08.  Still a little tired. It is a tough week/month. Not enough sleep and too much stress. Pretty much resigned to run on Saturday (notice I did not say race ;-) ). Hope the sun comes out tomorrow afternoon (no way is it going to today - looks like another storm is on its way) and melts the road a bit!!

Glad all my Tennessee friends are ok ... feel really bad for the folks in Memphis and Jackson.

Easy run today, just to keep limber --

10K + 1 mile w/u 2 mile c/d

Nice race, small and well organized. I got to meet a bunch of bloggers!

I was apprehensive about this race, not only because I am not really in the best of shape, but it was my first race at altitude. Overall, I was pleased with it as a workout ... consistent and a solid effort. My goal was to go out at about 1/2 marathon - 10 mile effort and the run the last two miles at 10K pace ... I ended up running a little faster at the beginning and just holding on at the end. Splits were 7:32, 7:33, 7:35, 7:24, 7:22, 7:22, 1:29 ... slight headwind the first 3 miles, so pretty even pace ...

Good people, solid run, who could ask for more?

Happy weekend bloggers.

1:21:18 ... 6.5 laps in Sugarhouse Park + a little bit to the bathroom and parking lot - probably a little bit longer than 9 (but not by much) - according to Anna's garminwatchathingy we ran about 8:45-9:00 pace the whole way.  Felt good, and easy (even the hills).

I am leaving for DC really early in the morning tomorrow -- my blogging updates will be late ... but I will be running!

Have a good week bloggers.

about 54 mins -- it was dark and cold ... and I had to run to the airport soon after the run.  I had a nonstop flight to DC and so I grabbed a smoothy from the airport ... other than that, I had an english muffin and a boiled egg for breakfast.  Well, sometime about an hour into the flight I was very very sick.  I seem to have gotten food poisoning (from the smoothy?).  I was so sick Monday night, I am not even sure how I got from the airport to my hotel, I looked like a ghost.  I won't go into details, but Monday was a long night and I had no water (or anything) in my system by Tuesday morning. 

1:00 - run on the I-66 trail to Mt. Vernon trail + 11 x 1` w/ 1` recovery.  It was cold and wet (35F + rain), very slippery on parts of trail that ran on bridges.  I had wanted to do 12, but  I had a very long day Tuesday -- my meeting went from very early in the morning until very late at night (grant reviews) ... and my stomach was still queasy, so I did not eat much.  I had a power bar before I went to bed last night, and then another this morning ... and I felt much better this morning, I am pretty short on calories (and maybe still a little dehydrated).

Things are better here ... I hope all you bloggers are doing well.

Probably a little longer than 9, but not quite 9.5.  Ran out and back on the Rock Creek Parkway here in Maryland.  Everytime I run on this trail I am impressed just how beautiful it is!  Amazing to have such a nice commune with nature in the middle of the hustle and bustle of a major metropolis.  I ran by the LDS temple (I think it is in Bethesda, but I am not familiar enough with the delineage of the neighborhoods in suburban Maryland, so it could be more in the Chevy Chase area) - it is beautiful and I had never actually seen the backside before, only the view from the freeway.

Well, back to SLC!  Hope the snow did not ruin anyone's run yesterday.

1:14:11 -- hohum.  Today I had a 50` steady state run planned.  Well, I got in very very late last night (flight was delayed) and I had to get up super early because I had to teach this morning.  Basically, I felt really run down (and sick to my stomach) -- so, I decided to modify my "workout".  Anna and I ran the first couple miles fairly slow and then pushed the pace slightly (we ran around 8:05 - 8:20 pace) for about 5 miles or so.  I did not feel any worse at the end, so I think it was just about the right amount of work -- and all I could really hope for right now.  I am trying really hard to be thankful to be running at all ...

Be well bloggers!

53:16 - easy run to Liberty Park, 2 laps and home again.  Pretty chilly today -- but not too bad.  

Happy weekend bloggers. 

1:38:54 (8:48 average) -- 8 laps in Sugarhouse Park. Can you believe it, I am getting another cold. My throat hurt yesterday and I was coughing this morning ... it does not feel as bad as the one had last month, so I am hoping I can fight this one off ... bummer.

1:12:34 - 60` steady state run to Liberty Park, 4 laps, and then home.  Since I have a cold (not as bad as my last one, this one is in my nose and up) I just ran by feel, but did record my lap splits (need to put them in later) - basically the laps were 7:55 - 8:05 pace and it felt pretty easy (until the last 5 minutes).  I did have two stops - one bathroom break and one interview with channel 5 crew !  They wanted to talk to me about whether or not I felt the air quality affected my run.  I told them, "we don't have a treadmill, so it is run outside or not run ...".  Since I am coughing because of my cold anyway - and I was doing a steady state run - I don't know if I feel the red air or not; but is sure is ugly!

I am  not sure I am running the 15K this weekend, I don't feel horrible, but I do feel pretty run down.

Run safe bloggers.

50:14 - easy run from office up Emmigration Canyon and back.  Am coughing pretty badly, but still don't feel as bad as I sound. 

Happy Wednesday bloggers.

1:21:55 ran from Poppington Park up City Creek Canyon just past the mile 2 marker.  Had a hard time breathing, I am  not sure if it was my cold or the air quality (which felt worse today than the rest of the week despite the snowstorm) - or both.  Ended up coughing during my run (which is different).  I don't feel "horrible" - I am certainly functional - just not "great".

Happy running.

52:44  on the grass at Liberty Park - 12 x 150m strides.  Air quality was much better today, but I still ended up coughing a couple times on the run. 

To all the bloggers who are racing tomorrow: good luck!!!

1:03:37 - 2.5 laps on the outside perimeter of Liberty Park - nice, on the grass the whole time, I have MISSED these grassy runs.  I am actually hoping that I can run on the grass at Sugarhouse tomorrow too ..

probably about 7 1/4 miles (felt like I was running pretty steady 8:50 pace or faster). 

 
Can't wait to see how the bloggers did at the 15K, I missed you guys this morning. 

1:49:04 -- whew.  ran to Sugarhouse park (3.1 miles) did 4 loops and ran back.  Had a headwind both directions.  It was nice (about 50F) when I left, and except for the headwind was a perfect day.  By the time I was doing my last lap the clouds had come in and the wind was really blowing - my last 3 miles were uphill, into a stiff headwind with blowing rain/sleet.  Ouch.  I was freezing.  But, the good news was I  held on strong, on my own, and finished much faster than I started ... I am hoping the mental fortitude will help me with the two Ogden races I am planning to train on!

Happy Sunday bloggers. Congratulations to everyone on their awesome race yesterday!
 

1:07:51 -- maybe a little longer than 7.5, ran from Poppington Park up City Creek Canyon and back.  Turned around at about 35:xx and ran back a little hard -- nice 2.5 min negative split (a less uphill then up the canyon, but certainly not flat) -- felt pretty good.  I was suprised actually, since on the way to the canyon I was feeling a little sluggish and felt like I was working harder than I was warrented for my speed.  Still a little congested, but I am not coughing anymore - so I consider myself to be healed!

Hope all you bloggers get a chance to enjoy at least a little of what is a beautiful day here in Utah.

easy run around U + 12 x 1` w/2` recovery.  My legs felt a little like I might have run a little hard yesterday ... I am sure it won't make me any slower than I will be on Saturday ;-)

long meeting all day today, so I don't have time to write.  Happy Wednesday bloggers.

44:36 ... really sweet run.  My goal today was to run as slow as I needed to keep my heart rate low - basically, shake out my legs but not stress my cardiovascular system.  I did not use a heart rate monitor, but I use my breathing and generally by "feel".  The cool thing was both that I was able to do this (not as easy as it sounds, since I think most of us want to run fast when we can), but that it felt really good.  It wasn't like I was running a recovery run (when I need to run this slowly ;-) ) ... I am not sure if that makes sense or not, but I am happy about it. 

Happy running bloggers. 

31:55 - probably a little longer than 3.5, but not by much.  It did not feel nearly as smooth or "easy" as yesterday ... my body is tired, maybe not so much due to running, but affecting it just the same.

I have done a little thinking about the 10K tomorrow.  It is tough because I am supposed to run at 85%-90% 10K effort.  For the flat SLTC 10K estimating this was pretty easy - it is not as easy for a difficult course in probable suboptimal conditions (it might be raining and the air quality is horrible again).  So, I am proposing (in my head) to try to run equal "effort" the first and second half - probably meaning trying for 7:40-7:45 on the first half (which will be hard because it is downhill and this might feel too easy) and then just hope to hang on with sub 8 average for the second half.  This will enable me to hit my second goal (the primary being getting a solid training run with good effort over a hard course) which is to beat Sasha's prediction for me for this course based on my SLTC course time (49:00 mins) -- I don't have to beat by any set amount to reach this second goal ;-).

Happy running bloggers.

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.

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 ...

1:15:17 ... probably a little longer than 8, but not 8.5.  Felt ok, tried to run as slowly as possible.  Liberty park + 3 laps on the outside of the park on the grass.

1:18:24. Easy run from my office up to Wasatch Drive and back. I had to run later than usual because of meetings and whatnot this morning. I had a 5 x 2` min fartlek workout planned, but I decided not to do it. I have not had a "good" run all week and worse yet, feel really run down right now. I feel like I am walking a very fine line and did some probability modeling in my head and decided that the workout would not add that much benefit, but at this point could be what tips me over the wrong side of the line ... in hindsight I should have backed off the mileage last week, but I was feeling so good, that I thought I could back off the "intensity" and keep the mileage the same and still have a "recovery week". I guess 8 weeks of 50 or more miles with 3 "hard" days (including long run) isthe most I can handle (right now). It is hard to follow my brain (despite statistical evidence) and not my heart today -- after Wednesday's disappointment my gut reaction is to work even harder today; in reality, because of Wednesday (and my general fatigue this week) taking it easy is more conducive to maintaining whatever fitness I have developed. Besides, I have a VO2 max workout planned for next week that I don't want to compromise - that workout will have much more long term benefit than a 10 min fartlek workout. Sigh.

Weekend goal: NO work! I am going to work as late as I have to tonight so I can take the whole weekend off ... rest, eat well, and think positive thoughts, that is my work for the weekend.

Happy Friday Bloggers.

53:49 -- ran to Liberty Park did 2 inner laps on the grass.  I think the Marines were doing a fitness test in the park today.  As I got to the park I saw a group of guys running on the sidewalk, there was one guy who was behind this group of three, going a little slower than the rest, but he looked comfortable and had a good stride.  We were running pretty much in line with eachother (although I was running farther - about like lane 1 versus lane 10 if there were a lane 10).  The group ahead of him fell apart after about 800 meters, and "my" guy kept going the same pace.  After about a mile he was hurting - but the other guys had stopped and walked and couldn't even jog (even though a couple of them tried) so he passed them.  When there was about 400-600 to go I got onto the cinder track right next to him and picked up the pace -- told him to pick up his arms and we sprinted into the finish!  It was pretty cool - he was steady and patient and it paid off!

For the first time since last Sunday I felt pretty good today! yea.  My right quad is hurting bad (seems to hurt at the beginning of every run and then again after about 5-6 miles) -- probably similar to Michelle's "niggling".  Pinpoint pain though.  It did not hurt when I got up in the  morning, but after I stretched it hurt like crazy.  Despite this, I was a lot happier today with my run.  I think getting a full 7 hours of sleep helped a lot.

Today I am going to putter around the house and then we are meeting up with a friend of mine from work for an hour long dog walk and then dinner.  She is very funny, and interesting, she is a pediatric critical care physician (works with very very sick kids) and has a unique outlook on things.  It is going to be fun!

Happy weekend bloggers. 

2:06:30 - long 14, but not 14.5.  Ran to Sugarhouse park 27:14, 4 x 1.9 mile laps on grass on outside of park + .5 miles (to bathroom and back) and then long long painful uphill home (25:33).  Felt really bad the last uphill mile, probably because I must have been running too hard the first 2 miles uphill!  I tried to take it really really slow today -- my quad did not hurt!! yea!  But running on the grassy hills at the park just sucked all the energy out of my legs ... I was glad to get home!

55:28 - long 6.  Today is my usual day off, but because the race two weeks from yesterday this week is a little different.  I will have Friday off, with Wednesday an option day off depending on how I feel (I am hoping not to take it off but I will if this week is anything like last week).

Felt ok -- I was supposed to run between 40-50` felt pretty tired when I started so I was planning on doing 5 miles -- but then I started to feel better and ended up deciding to just do 6 - added on about .2 because of the change of heart (laps are different for the two runs so I ended up running the first lap in the outside loop and then one inside loop).

So -- can I just tell you how much fun it was yesterday to "watch" (via Let's Run) the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational.  WOW - a new American record in the woman's 10K - every one of the women's 3000 steeplechasers made the Olympic Trials Standard (3 making the Olympic A standard, and all of them making the USA Olympic Trials A standard).  On the men's side Bernard Lagat tearing it up again -- with an awesome run by Brent Vaughn for 2nd place in the 5000 (both of them making the Olympic A standard!).  Craig Mottram won the much anticipated 10,000 m race -- even after having to aqua jog for some time because of an injury.  I can't wait until June 27th -- when I can watch these on TV and not on Flotrack (though these guys are great to make this available) -- the livestream works great from my office (T2 line), but is a pain over the wireless at home.

Happy Monday bloggers.

1:14:01 - ran to Liberty park did 1.5 mile lap on the grass then did 10 x 1` w/1` recovery 1.5 mile lap cool down and then ran the 1.5 uphill home.  Felt really good at the start - the fartlek workout was good and legs were only moderately tired afterward.  I am getting pretty tired of these hill though bloggers ... cover ears while I whine for a moment!  I was actually thinking bad words on the way home ... these are not little rolling hills guys, but 200-300 ft gains, I am just tired of them.  Ok, I am done now ... it is beautiful to live in the foothills, and I am very lucky to have this amazingly beautiful place to live and run.

Have a good day bloggers. 

36:10.  Easy run on Bonneville Shoreline Trail in the rain -- beautiful, I had missed this run.  Hills were mercifully short and my legs felt pretty good today.  I am beginning to see some hope after all ... we will see how tomorrow goes!

Stay dry bloggers.
 

1:22:22.  Went to the track today, it was windy as all get-out.  Had a cross wind on the straightaways a head wind on the back turn and a tail wind on the first turn.  There were kids from the PE class all over the track and at least one lap I almost fell over a football - very exciting.  

The workout was not very good. I did  6 x 800 w/400 recovery slower than last November (3:31, 3:34, 3:33, 3:34, 3:36, 3:35).  It seemed that I lost 2 seconds on the second lap pretty consistently since I went through the first 200/400 at :53/1:46 every time ... after a 400 recovery after the last 800 I did 3x200 w/200 recovery (:52 every one) -- pretty odd that my 200s are about the same pace as when I run my 800s.  I would think that suggests that I really have not developed any leg speed what so ever in the past couple of years.  I wish I could say it is because that is not what I have been focused on ... but I am not sure.  I seem to be pretty good at the steady state (just at or below LT pace) - but I am just not very good at the AT pace workouts (tempo/5K pace). 

This workout would translate into a slightly slower than 22 min 5K right now -- how this is going to affect my 1/2 marathon is not at all clear ... but it is clear I have lost quite a bit of leg speed in the past couple years and need to get back to the track if I decided to run any 5-10K's anytime soon.

Have a good day bloggers.

30:26 ... easy run down to Liberty park and home.  My legs were a little dead from the day off yesterday - but they felt remarkably rested!

My Mom is visiting this weekend, so today we are going on a hike!

Happy Mother's Day Mom bloggers! 

1:52:14 ... got a late start because my Mom's plane left late this afternoon.  It was hot and windy.  I ran 6 x 1.7 mile laps on the grass at Liberty park, and then 2 inner 1.5 mile loops with the last two miles at 7:50 pace (1/2 marathon effort).  I am tired.  We were up late talking and singing (we had a BBQ and some friends of ours brought their guitars, drums and violin -- it was so fun!) - I think my Mom really enjoyed it!

47:04 -- probably a little longer than 5, though I tried to go really slowly.  Ran an easy run on the muddy Bonneville Shoreline trail ...

It was chilly when I started out today.  As usual, the wind was blowing at the track.

5 x 1000 w/200 recovery + 3 x 200 w/200 recovery @ cruise interval pace (about 10K to 1/2 marathon pace)

(4:30, 4:33, 4:34, 4:34, 4:31 + 49, 48, 49).  The first two were actually faster than the stated pace because I had to run out in lane 2 every lap for a couple meters - there was a class there and the students seemed oblivious to the fact that there were runners (there were some women doing 400s out there too) on the track and were laying around in lane 1!  Then in my final lap this guy decides to run in lane 1 with his dog! wow.

I guess I felt ok today - I have no speed in my legs at all - but I do seem to have ok stamina.  I am waiting and watching the weather - as it looks like my race this coming weekend might be a bust.  They might even have to cancel the race (but even if they don't I won't go if the forecast holds) - they are expecting record highs starting tomorrow and lasting through the weekend.  Lows about 77 and highs in the 100's -- this would not be good for a 1/2 marathon.  I am bummed, but ever hopeful that this wind that seems to follow me around at the track might blow the expected weather out ;-).

Happy Tuesday Bloggers.

 

43:52 - easy run to Liberty Park, one lap on grass and home.  It is "official" no race on Sunday for me.  My main focus now is to maintain fitness through the month of June (a heavy travel month for work - added benefit is that we will take a few days of vacation as well) ... I am looking towards either some shorter distance races this summer with a 1/2 in the fall (before a trip to Taiwan in October) -- or a half in July and them some shorter distance racing before October ... sigh. 

1:18:46

Good luck tomorrow bloggers.

56:43 - easy, sad run to Liberty Park and home. 

 
Great job bloggers -- and to my friend Anna who ran a 3:13:20 (I think she was 7th woman finisher)!!  I was disappointed I could not make it, things are tough here on the home front right now.

Tomorrow there is great track on ESPN -- the Adidas track classic (2-4PM).  Lot's of folks trying to get the Olympic Standard, will be very exciting. 

Rest on your laurels everyone!

1:56:09 ... ran to Sugarhouse park did 5 laps on the road and then ran home (29:05, 12:20, 11:47, 11:48, 11:50, 11:49, 27:28).  Amazingly consistent for how badly I feel when I am running right now.

Congratulations again bloggers!

52:20 - ran on the Shoreline trail up Dry Creek Canyon.  It has been almost 8 months since I have run this route!! wow.  It was harder than I remembered, and I took a "wrong" turn on the way back to my office, but I found my way back (just took an upper trail that dumped me out in a different spot). 

1:22:25.  Ran to Liberty park did 3.5 laps and came home.  This weather is my second least favorite (second to speed work in 90-100F), the temp was fine until I was soaked, in which case it was cold ;-).  Nice to be able to run, despite the fact that I am so bone tired I can't see straight (it has been a problem for a couple weeks now - and getting worse).

58:10 ... 

 bagged a workout today -- things are not going well.  I think a couple down weeks running how I feel might be in order.  This is just one more in a series of workouts that are not going as they should. Pretty depressing.  I am hoping things get back to normal after Spain.
 

55:52 - Liberty Park + 2 laps +run to bathroom.

1:39:46 -- ran to Liberty Park and did 5 laps around the perimeter on the grass and then home (somewhere between 11 and 11.5).

Have a nice couple of weeks bloggers. I might be able to log on while we are gone, but there is chance I won't be able to ... I will be running, but most likely no more than 6-7 miles a day. My goal is to take some down time, enjoy the trip and see if I feel better when I get back.

Take care!

44:47. After 20 hours of travelling we checked in to our hotel in Girona and went for a jog (it was about 3PM in Spain -- 7AM in SLC). Felt horrible at first (especially since I did not sleep on the plane, but did take an hour nap on the train from Barcelona) -- but felt pretty good after the first 20 mins. We went looking for a dirt trail we had run here a couple of years ago, but there were workmen blocking it ... so found went and discovered a couple of shorter trails and ran around the park. Very humid, but not really hot here right now (about high 50's low 60's).

1:07:01. Ran by myself today - Dean went to the conference in the afternoon -- I went a little later, but did not feel like spending the whole afternoon there. Rained all morning, so by the afternoon it was very humid, it is going to take a while to get used to the humidity again. We were able to stay up until 11PM the night we got into town (not easy as we both were pretty tired), and were able to sleep most of the night, or at least until 5AM Spain time (9PM SLC time).

Ran out to the outside of town and found a nice packed sand/dirt trail -- well muddy actually -- just did 30 mins out and then did a loop of the park on the way back to make sure I was out for more than an hour.

Tricky thing about this trip - as with our last visit here - is finding vegetarian food. Most resturaunts don't open until 10PM, so we end up eating a lot of the time in Tapas places - the selection for me consists of a Spanish appetizer sandwich called a bocatillo - the vegetrian options have either an omelet, potato, or cheese and tomato on a roll. When the conference folks go out to eat the places generally don't have any vegetarian entree's - so I usually end up with a salad and hopefully a side of a vegetable (they really don't eat a lot of vegetables here). Breakfast is the big meal, for me, lots of fruit, really good granola and yogurt. I should drop quite a few pounds on this trip!

I am still working this week, but looking forward to more sightseeing next week!

Funny thing, yesterday I was working and from outside my hotel window I heard a bunch of people talking. It took me a while to notice they were speaking English! I looked outside an there were about 30 people on bikes (very fit looking people) - a group that were doing a bike tour through Catalunya - well, they were introducting themselves in the group and about a 1/3 of them were from Park City!! pretty funny to come all this way only to run into a bunch of people from the same place as you. Later on I went and talked to a few of them - they were quite nice and someone even told me about a cool run they had done in the part of the city I had not been to yet ... it is a pretty tough climb but I will have to check it out sometime this week.

Hope all is well bloggers.

55:01 - ran 2.5 laps on the gravel path around the park (Parc de la Devesa) + 10 x :25 strides.

There were a group of people running pretty fast at the park today - they looked to be part of a running club. The 2 women in the group were running pretty quick, one of them about 3 stride lengths ahead of another one - probably the fittest running people I have seen here since the race we ran the last time we were here (though the cyclists yesterday were pretty fit too).

No matter how hard I try I can't sleep past 4AM here ... makes me feel very zombie like during the day! Probably just as I start getting used to the time here it will be time to go home.

Still cool, but humid. It is supposed to rain again today - dreary, but easier to work that way.

1:01:54

I found the best route today -- I followed the advice of the cyclists and ran up some hills past the Cathederal (1000 something AD !) and about 12 minutes from the center of the city is a series of trails that actually go over 100 km to different cities in Catalunya (including the fishing village we will be heading to on Saturday for the rest of our stay). The trails are pretty nice - almost roads. Today I climbed pretty high and could look down into the City of Girona - which lies in a valley surrounded by fairly high hills (I hesitate to call them mountains - but they are kind of low foothills that lead up to the Pyrenees (which are definately mountains and are still snow-capped).

Run well bloggers.

1:22:42

Ran a different route on 'my' trails today. This time I ended up running a little lower than yesterday - in the valley on a road that turned out to be a dirt road leading to some really old farm houses (some of them still habited, some of them abandoned). It was very nice, the earth smelled old out there, you could almost imagine seeing some of these farmhouses in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Yesterday the conference took a tour outside of Girona proper to some natural areas that were created from eruptions of a series of vocanos that surround the area. We saw a beechwood forest and some interesting geologic formations (many of the people here at the conference are geologists that use a certain type of statistical technique that Dean worked on for his dissertation). Then we went to a city that has been referred to in documents written in 1052 AD. The city is called Besalu, and as in many old cities in Spain once had a very large (relatively, it is estimated that there were about 2000 inhabitants of the city proper in the 14th century) population of Jews. These Jewish residents were forced to move into "Jewish quarters" (read, slums) in the late 12th and early 13th century until they were expelled from Spain (or killed) in the late 14th century. Most of these old cities have incredible Jewish quarters that are still preserved, including their ritual bathhouses. Usually these quarters are also attached to very very old Cathedrals and town squares. After our tour we had a dinner (there were about 45 of us total) at a very nice restaurant in the old city - it was my first real dinner in almost a week - they made me a very nice grilled vegetable platter (no starches). I am getting a little tired of potato sandwiches! Next week we will have a refrigerator and stove so we can cook our own meals.

Well, I am off to get some work done so I can relax next week. Have a good weekend bloggers. I might not be logging in next week - it is likely I won't have internet access again until we get back to Barcelona next Friday. Happy running.

42:51

Ran with Dean this morning - showed him the trail I had found ... it was a fun run, hot and humid but clear and the valley was beautiful.  Today we leave for el Port de la Selva, about an hour from Girona, 15-20 miles from France on the ocean. 

We are renting an apartment, so we can cook our own meals!  The town is very small (probably 3,000 year round residents) and the apartment is  up on a mountain about 1 mile from  the center of town and 1 mile to the Parc de Natural with tons of trails to run along the sea!

1:54:46

Pretty challenging uphill climb to get to the trails (but at sea level so easier than most of my runs in SLC).  The main trails are a little rocky, but pretty level (compared to runs like the Dry Creek trail) and wide - almost like roads (ones you would take cars other than your own on ;-) ). Beautiful!!  No matter what trail I chose I would run into some old (I mean pretty old, somewhere between 10th - 18th century) farmhouse or other ruin.  It was so fun I could not stop running, because I knew that just down the hill or around the mountain there would be something else to see!  I ran down to a pretty famous place called St. Baldirini that was a "county seat" from about 10th - 13th century.  The guidebook I got from the woman who owns our apartment was in Catalan so I can only understand about every 6th word or so (Catalan is a mixture of Spanish and French but just different enough from both to be difficult even if you are fluent in either of those languages, which I am not) - but I could find the dates and get a general drift of what they wrote.  Then I took some other paths for about 9 miles that were just plain fun - as I was finishing up my run I saw Dean (starting his) and so I ended up running a few miles with him, exploring.  Lots of hills!

54:50 - wanted to take it easy today because we are planning a hiking excursion this afternoon and it will be hilly!  Pretty much ran some of the same hills as yesterday, with some slight variations, it is so cool to be so close to the mountain paths!  Our apartment is right on the Mediterranean Sea (rocky, so not really a "beach" sea, but beautiful and clear so you can see right down into the bottom - and a wonderful blue-green color) where the Pyrenees meet. 

 
This afternoon we went up the the monastery of Sant Pere de Rodes - we took a cab up and planned on hiking around up there and then hiking back down - we could have hiked both ways but it would have meant skipping our run in the morning because it would have taken about 4 - 6 hours to hike both ways.  It is pretty impressive.  Parts of it date back to at least 878 AD, and it was upgraded up until the late 18th century.  The road leading up the monastery from the port was 8k of very serpentine road ... incredible that they could build this high up so very long ago!  And it was huge (some pictures can be found at http://www.cbrava.com/santpereuk.htm).

After touring the monastery itself we took a very treacherous hike up even higher to the point of the mountain where the Castle of San Salvador is located.  The tour of the castle is not "tourist" at all it is basically a very rocky steep narrow trail on the tip of a 3000 ft mountain!  The trail leading up to the Castle is about 3/4 of a mile, but not recommended for the average tourist (a picture at the monastery shows a cartoon person falling headfirst down  off of a mountain along with several languages warning of the difficulty of the trail and strong winds -- almost discouraged me from trying it!).  But, despite the slow going (it took us about 40 mins to climb up to the top), and the fact that "getting to the top" was not the end of the difficulty (since there were no paved walkways in or around the castle either) it was well worth it.  You basically just got to climb around the old ruins of a 13th century castle - that has not been maintained, updated or excavated at all, and the view from the very top of the mountain was amazing!  A strong wind was blowing a rain storm (it rained pretty much every morning and afternoon) in and we decided to climb down and not spend too much time up on the top (as it was actually kind of scary) - but enough to look around and find the old entry way into the castle.  Then we hiked back to the town, had dinner and hiked back to the apartment (about a 8 - 10 mile hike for the day).

On the way back we saw some "dolmens" which are rock dwellings dating from 3000 BC to 700 AD -- pretty incredible.  There were so many of these types of things wherever we ran and hiked that it was overwhelming sometimes.  Sometimes it was hard to tell how old these things were -- could be BC or could have just been abandoned in the late 18th century (or even in the 70's!). 

1:09:28 - found another cool trail past a working farm that was obviously incredibly old.

Today we just enjoyed the beach, took a hike nearer to the apartment along the sea (again a pretty tough climb along the rocks), went into town and got some fresh bread and dinner and then hiked back home. We are almost regulars at the local "supermercado" (4 row supermarket).

1:18:46

Last run in the Pyrenees ... I found yet another trail that climbed a pretty steep grade then dropped into a lush valley.  I saw a half-dozen old dolmens -- amazing!  They are really small rooms made of rock (can't stand inside) with smoke holes on the top.  It looked like where I was running was once a "village" of some sort each one about 600 meters from the other ... there must have been some sort of water source nearby (though I could not see anything from the trail).  Water was pretty hard to come by up on the tops of the mountains ... though the rain probably created some nice brooks from the tops of the mountains.

Pretty sad to be leaving - I have not had internet or phone access since Saturday, and it is pretty nice.  I did lose my wallet on the way from Girona (on the train?) -- so I had to spend a little money on Saturday making long distance calls to cancel my credit cards, but basically I have not used my cell phone at all.

Today we take the train back to Barcelona and we fly back to SLC on Friday.  We probably won't run on Friday, it is a really really long travel day (about 20 hours) and it really takes a lot out of you - I am not looking forward to it really.  We flew in though Atlanta (with the longest flight being 10/11 hours) - we are flying to NY this time, nice because there is a break in the two flights (8 hours to NY + 5 hours to SLC) - but still a really long day.  We leave at 10AM Barcelona time and arrive at 4AM Barcelona time.  Despite the fact that I am sad to leave the Sea (and 6 days of no work) - I am already back to worrying about all the work I have to do, and the everyday stuff!

 Happy running bloggers
 

probably longer than 6 - but not quite 6.5.  54:58 - wanted to run 2 laps on the outside perimeter of Liberty Park, but they are doing construction there, so I had to run part of it on the inside grass lanes.

Nice weather for a run, little sunshine but still nice and cool.  Even the hills weren't too bad.

1:44:48.  Ran to Sugarhouse Park + 4 laps on the road and back (29:08, 12:22, 12:10, 11:42, 11:44, 27:39).  Felt pretty good (especially since I ran 1.5 miles less than usual for this route!).

1:06:39.  Liberty Park + 2 inner grass laps + 10 x 100m strides (1` recovery).

Happy Monday bloggers. 

1:26:06.  Ran from my office to City Creek Canyon and back on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  Probably slightly longer than 9 miles, but not quite 9.5.  The trail part was hard (well, so were the hills up from Poppington Park!) - it has been a while since I have run on them.  Very pretty day today!

I have made an announcement - sort of - that some of you might have seen.  Dean and I will be moving to Tucson in October.  A completely unexpected turn of events from a professional standpoint - last January I was invited to give a talk at the University of Arizona.  Well, it was a suprise when a few days later they invited me to apply for a  position there - and they had an opening that was particularly suited for Dean as well.  We love living in Salt Lake, and I really like the people I work with, but my position is not a good fit for my background and interests.  So - we followed up on their invitation and after a lot of soul searching have decided to make the move.  I am going to miss Salt Lake City a lot - I really do love it here -- and, I will miss being close to my blogger friends (though I will now be closer to another set of blogger friends).

I will be trying to participate in a few local races before we leave -- and I hope I can spend some quality time with some of you before we actually move -- which I will remind you is not for another 4 months or so, so we have plenty of time!!

Have a nice day bloggers.

1:03:47.  Easy run up Dry Creek Canyon.  I had forgotten how much I enjoy these trail runs (especially downhill - the uphills are really hard!).

Today is my first day of doubles. I am giving my body one more chance to help me in my quest to IMPROVE my running! I want to add mileage but 55 mpw is the most my body (and my career) can take in singles - so I am going to add a couple of extra runs in the evening a couple days a week. I also seem to break down (mentally) when I get to the track so I am restructuring my training a bit to add more "fun" (ins and out) track workouts and adding more fartek and tempo training. Bad part of about doing this today is that I got about 2 hours of sleep last night, and feel pretty horrid overall. Stress does strange things to your body!

I am also admitting, publically, that I am also on a diet. I have lost 3-4 pounds and have about 3-4 more to go ... so far, it hasn't been too hard, I just have completely eliminated all snacks (even healthy ones) and am reducing my portions.

AM: 5.5 (49:29) - ran on BST towards Emmigration Canyon. Legs are feeling tired, probably because they are getting used to running the trails again. The short steep hills aren't bad, but the long steep grades are simply evil! I just keep thinking "stronger, faster".

PM: 3.5 (30:56) - ran same way as this morning, but almost a minute faster to the turn around. Legs felt good, but my body is pretty tired today (mainly the sleep/stress I think).

1:07:14.  This was a good run for me, it was longer than 7.5, but probably not more than 1/4 of a mile.  I ran to Liberty Park did a 1/2 lap on the outside on the grass and then moved to the inside loop when I hit the construction.  I did some of my Egoscue exercises this morning because I know it helps loosen up my lower back which in turn loosens up my pelvic muscles.  My right leg has been really sore lately ... mainly I am just tight.  Egoscue is a mixture between pilates, yoga and stretching - I don't do it more often because it takes so much time (almost 45 minutes to do my current menu) and I generally choose free weights and abs ... but I might have to rethink this.  

I wish I had more time ... watching the flocast video of Shalane Flanagan makes me want to do a lot more core and strength work ... http://track.flocasts.org/videos/coverage/view_video/249-workout-wednesday/64864-episode-7-shalane-f

Congratulations on all the great races bloggers -- and a special congrats to Kim on getting in SGM!!

1:49:23 - ouch! (54:03 out/ 55:23 back) We went to Jeremy Ranch Road today -- a little more than 6500ft elevation - no shade but a tad cooler because of the elevation gain.  Was probably about 85F but the sun was pretty strong.  Anyway, it is a dirt road about 7.5 miles long total, rolling hills but essentially downhill out and uphill back.  It is always a tough run, but really good for training.  Anyway, we drop water at 4 1/2 miles into the run (so we can get hit the water 2 times on the run).  Someone picked up our water!!  Not a good day to not have water - especially since we aren't really used to the heat yet (and at 6500 ft I get dehydrated a little easier).  Dean was smart and cut his run a little short to compensate.  I, being not as smart, did not.  I turned around at 1:04:05, probably a little bit past the 6 mile mark - at this point I did not feel too bad.  By 10 miles into it I was hurting.  I was so thirsty and hot ... I wasn't really afraid of serious illness (since it was only 12 miles), but I was starting to get stomach cramps ... luckily it was at this point I only had 1/2 mile to go ... Then I drank too much water too fast and threw up.  I feel much better now, though I still can't eat, I feel more hydrated and am back down to 4300 ft  ;-)   I guess we will have to hide our water better next time. 

Happy Sunday bloggers. 

56:21 ... slightly long 6 (includes detour to the restrooms!) Liberty Park + 2 laps on inside grass.

Still feeling a little sick from yesterdays run ... 

1:03:18  Since Brent and I did not meet up this morning I decided to work around the house this morning before I went to the airport (I had to leave at 8:30).  Now I am in Tampa (at the Southern Florida University/Moffitt Cancer Center) until Thursday.  After I got in this afternoon I waited until the sun went down and went for a run - hot and humid ... I had forgotten just how thick the humidity makes the air.  I did not find a pleasant place to run, I know there is a nice park around here with 7 miles of trails - but it is farther from my hotel than I had thought - I will have to try again on Thursday (I exchanged my Monday day of for Wednesday because of early meetings tomorrow).  Next week we will be at a conference in Davis, California -- lot's of trips this month.

Happy Tuesday bloggers.

1:19:58 - very nice run.  It rained most of the night (well poured would be a more appropriate description) - so it was pretty humid this morning.  My colleague that I am here with (actually he is a good friend as well, from my Vanderbilt days) gave me a ride to a cool park that I had heard had some nice trails.  It was great!!  the trails were dirt/sand with just a few ankle grabbers (tree roots mainly) - but over all a really nice running surface.  I was supposed to do 8 x 400 ins/outs (sprint the straights/ jog the curves) - I modified this workout for 'nontrack' and did 16 x :25 sprints with :50 recovery.  Much easier to do on a flat, sea-level run that on a hilly 4500 ft run ;-).

Today is a travel day -- and then I get one day at home and off to a conference -- I have to work on my talk on the plane today, I am actually getting a little stressed about it now, seeing that I don't have it fully developed yet and Monday is coming pretty quickly.

Have a good day bloggers.

AM: ~58 mins, ran very slowly -- after yesterdays workout and todays double I wanted to make sure my morning run is a recovery run ... felt really good!! I am excited, I feel that for the first time in almost 2 months I am getting back to form.

PM: 31:04, tough run on BST ... nice evening though.

 
My foot is upset ... I don't know what is going on but the arch on my opposite foot from my PF/achilles problem is very sore and swollen.  This is the second evening that it has basically swollen up enough that I can tell when I walk around, and it hurt on both runs today (not enough to make me stop running, but more than PF usually does - and that is quite a bit).  HMMMMMM ...

Anyway - no time to worry about it right now, I have to get ready for another trip tomorrow!  My talk is still not finished!
 

1:08:55.  A little shorter than 8 - but much more than 7.5.  Today was a really good run for me.  It was hot, especially in the sun, but I wanted to get a little bit out of my comfort zone and put a little pressure on the whole way. Ran to Liberty Park did slightly under 2 laps on the inside grass loop (13:11, 13:13 - a little faster than 8:47 pace) and then pushed the pace for 15  mins for 1+ a little loops (11:44, 7:49 pace about 1.7 miles).  Felt really good, I was not going top speed, and actually was shooting for 8:00 or so - just breathing a little hard, but not a struggle at any part of the run.  Pretty glad!

Foot hurt off and on ... need to ice it again before we get on the airplane!  I can't wait to run at sea level again - and it is flat flat flat there too.

Happy weekend bloggers -- congratulations to both the White and Blue WBR teams!!

Nice run around the UC Davis Arboretum - it was a 3.5 mile loop, I ran 3 loops and added on 15 mins to the Research Park area.  Pretty hot, but after Tampa and Jeremy Ranch Road it seemed a lot easier!  Nice to run at 52ft above sea level (there was a sign ;-) ). 

Our flight was overbooked yesterday so we got bumped to a later flight -- and did not get to our motel until 2AM (3AM Salt Lake time) - woke up at 8AM ... we have to register for the conference and I still have 9 slides to prepare before the opening mixer tonight!!  I spent 4 hours yesterday trying to convert some figures into postscript so I can put them in my presentation (I use a package called LaTex and I need postscript figures) .. ouch, and it is frustrating!!

Happy Sunday bloggers.