BS Rools

Easy run, from home to Redwood Multi purpose center and home.  80% of the trail snow packed, avg. pace 8:45   Ran in the La Femme shoes, good shoes.  *Note, the avg pace is somewhat higher because of the trail running conditions, packed snow with each foot planting and takeoff with movement. 

Nice start for the year. 

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Awoke to the sounds on silence, no garfunkle, beat the alarm.  First thought out of bed, how darn cold is it this morning.  The weather forecast is often not accurate for tempature.  It tends to be about 5 degrees colder down on the river trail.  Anyway, bundled up like a transient looking for a home and headed out the door.  Although there was a crescent moon shining thru the high foggy clouds, icy spots on the trail were hiding.  In order to stay biffing free, stayed on the packed snow for the run.  As I ran, what is great about this morning?  Many things, just could not think, too cold.   

Plan on adding a few miles at lunch, striders or some hill repeats.  Much chatter on the blog this weekend, everyone hyped up in support of racers and looking forward to a great 2008 runner year.   Lunch time treadmill, started at 1% incline, 7.2 speed, increased incline every quarter, left at the same speed, to 4.5 incline for the last quarter.   Easy mile cooldown.

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Early morning, decided to run on the road this morning.  Run was ok, but, I now remember what a constant concern runners have for cars.  Be careful all you Mad Max Road Runners.  I will be back on the trail after this morning's experience.  Ran in the La Femme shoes again this morning.  Good shoes and no one can see the color of them in the dark.

Lunch treadmill run,  12 x 100 yard striders, 6:36 treadmill adjusted pace. The rest easy miles.

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Ugly betty miles, easy, nice morning, warmer, legs in a funk. 

Maybe too many miles this week, run some more at lunch.

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Snowy run, looked like mother nature was ready to unload a foot of snow.  Headed out the door in a rush, really only snowed about an inch or two, wet snow.  Ran into Cody, one of the top runners on the blog.  Cody, asked if we should run together. Well, I was almost home.  Would like to run with him, it would be an easy run for him and an threshold run for me.  See if we can hook up next time he is down on the parkway. 

Normally, on saturdays, me and Sylvie run  together.  She is still healing from tweeking her hammy during our run last week on the snow/ice.

Did a weight workout while Sylvie rode the excercise spinning bike for an hour.  We watched Boune Conspiracy while working out.  I think we may buy a treadmill for next winter.  We just wonder sometimes, so cold, bad footing, are we really getting a good run sometimes?

*Note, jumped to 75 miles this week, back down to 70 for a few weeks, too large a jump from averaging 67 miles a week the last 10 weeks.  My legs have been a little more tired than normal, likely increasing miles this week.   I thinking 70 to 80 per week will be my upper limit by the time St.George hits.  Not too concerned about the SLC Track Club and Striders series, use those as good hard training runs getting ready for Ogden marathon and other races to come.  I do not expect age 50+ PRs in those races, do hope for age 50+ PRs in later races.

I ran my first marathon in 1982 and started running in 1981, age 57 now, keep running as long as possible. Over the years, all kinds of injuries, 4 stress fractures, 3 hamstring pulls, 1 hip flexor, 1 plantar faciitis, 4 or 6 IT Band, 2 calf pulls, and a few others.  I guess injuries will happen when your trying to improve, pushing, but, they also just happen. 

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Odd Run today.  Decided, from reading the dark horse's blog, to give the Olympic Oval running track a try today.  When I got there, the only people were about 100 Army reservists doing a PT, there were in the process of doing pushups and situps.  Interesting, kind of deja vue, I was in the Naval Reserve, CPO, for 22 years.  Well, ran about 8 laps and the Army guys had moved to the track to get ready for their 2 mile run.  When I came around the track they split like the red sea to let me go thru, I gave them all high fives on both sides, just like in some races.  It was pretty cool.  As I came around the next lap they were ready to start the 2 mile timed run.  About 30 yards after I passed them, the leader said go.  I wondered if their would be a real runner in the group.  Sure enough, a young Army guy was quickly at my side, decided to stay with him as long as possible.  To my surprise, when we came around, after the about 7 something laps, the young Army guy had a about a ten second win on me.  He ran a 13:00 flat and I ran a 13:10.  I was pretty pooped.   The Army guys doing the timing were real supportive yelling at me and yelling my finishing time.  So, I ran a sort of race today with Army guys and girls.  I took a couple of minute break and then started running around the track.  Lapped well over half of the troops. I was going to stop at 40 laps, about 12 miles, but, a couple of runners hit the track when I was at about 30 lapes, ran 20 laps with them at an 8 minute mile pace.  I slowed down a bit to run with them.  Good running chatter with them.  I kind of lost track of the laps, either ran 50, 51 or 52. 

It was nice to run 8 minute miles again without snow, ice, wind and 20 lbs of extra clothes. I really thought I was getting slower and slower. 

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Monday morning came without no warning of what was to be, O' monday morning.  The mamas and the papas were not runners.  But they knew about mondays.  Bloggers, have a great running week.  Treadmill, 8:25 pace converted.  Switched between two treadmills to lessen impact or repeated steps.  Legs a little tired from yesterday.  There is likely no way I could have ran outside this morning without real risk of biffing. The parkway is a sheet of ice, the streets around my area have no shoulder and are icy.  I hope conditions improve today. 

I long for the summer days.   

Lunch time, 10 minutes warmup on excercise bike, 1 mile on treadmill with 4 striders at 6:36 pace.   It is interesting how you can force you self to pick up the pace on tired legs.  Cool down, stretching. 

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Early morning, no sun shine, no walkers, no bikers, no dogs, no other runners, just me the lone morning runner in the dark trodding along a snow packed trail dodging ice patches.  I know it was not colder than other recent morning runs, but, the legs were saying what the heck are you doing running out here.  I need a vacation.

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Treadmill run this morning, started at 8 min pace and gradually, every lap moved to 7:13 pace (converted treadmill pace)  for the last 8 miles.  Picked up the pace the last 1/2 mile to 6:50 pace.

Very happy with the effort, total time for the 10 miles 1:13:00.  *Personal note, this run was with no taper, no warm up miles, straight out of the shoot.  It seems the increase in miles is starting to payoff with more speed endurance.  May run a few easy miles at lunch.  Lunch time, 2.25 miles, stretching.

Last note, don't know what category to put miles in, somewhat between threshold and marathon pace miles. 

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Good News!!!!!  I will not need to carry Sylvie's gym bag at Moab, I am in the Moab Half Marathon.  I better get training.

Early morning, baby stepped the run thru ice patches along the parkway.

Lunch time, ate a pizza while I ran, 1.75 miles on the treadmill with 4 x 100 yeard striders at 6:36 pace.  It was an imaginary pizza. 

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Nice morning for a runner, upper 20's this morning.  Ran part of my run on the road this morning to avoid ice on the parkway.  Funny thing, it seems everyone trains different when they have a goal, getting into Moab Half now gives me a goal, lose 4 pounds by then, no more Jelly Bellies, cookies or icing from the inside out at night.  The blog is getting to be like a bunch of simblings, joust, battle and makeup like it never happened.  Good thing, cause the blog has been way fun.

Lunch time run, eating a pastrami cheeseburger from Apollos, while running on the treadmill, 3 miles easy in 23:40.  The eating was imaginary. 

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Easy run saturday morning, had to run early as we are baby sitting our of our grand kids all weekend.  Holy Cow, I am hungry, I could eat a horse.  Enough with the WW.   We need food to run, lots of calories.  We are generally taking about non-runners here?  I hope they become runners and don't need WW. 

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Early run, skiff of snow on the trail made the morning a pretty sight.  Footing was still steady and careful as she goes.  It is hard to get a true sense of fitness this time of year when the conditions slow your down.  Some runners have mentioned how slow they feel, me too.  May run a few more miles this afternoon.

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Dreadmill, treadmill, what a morning.  My ipod went out 1/2 lap into the warmup mile.  Oh boy, had to depend on my own concentration without music for 10 miles and I can be pretty boring sometimes trying to entertain myself.  The treadmill is an interesting animal.  I gradually increased the pace to 8.4 speed and ran that pace for the last 9 miles.  (Total time for the ten miles 1:11:52, about 1 min. 8 seconds faster than last week).  7:10 treadmill converted pace for the last 9 miles.  Happy with the tempo run.   Ran the last 1/4 at 6 min. mile pace.  Thoughts about concentration, my legs felt about done a 14 laps, I just told myself to hang on until 20 laps, then another goal and another goal, made it the 10 miles.  

I am still not quite sure if I am doing the Tinman tempo runs at the right pace.  My 5K race pace is about 6:54 and running 7:10 pace for 9 mile tempo?  Just does not seem to make sense some times.  I remember Lybi saying how can you run a half marathon, it was downhill Hobblecreek, at the same pace as a 5K.  Good question?  Maybe these old legs know only one fast pace.  Anyway, so much for the rambling.  I plan on doing some type of hill workout later in the week. 

Lunch time run, excercise bike 5 minutes to loosen up and 2 miles at 8:10 pace on the treadmill.

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Body be good run this morning.  Nice to get out with John Denver, throw out the watch, move to the country and eat peaches.  Well, wrong time of the year.  it actually felt like there was hope for spring. 

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Tired of the yada yada yada,  Ran 8 miles on the the treadmill this morning, avg. pace 7:50 with 6 x 100 yard strideouts at 6:19 pace.   Ran 1 mile easy cool down.  I am now happy with the treadmill, I got to run outside at lunch.  Ran with long time running buddy Brett, talked the whole way about work stuff.  We don't get a chance to run together much because of the project I am on and his hearings.  Ran accross Redwood Road by the Northwest Multi-Purpose center and to the Rose Park Golf course.  I was not that cold with the wind blocks.  Very happy to get a 15 mile day in during the week.

happy b of bs rools out

Nice to hear from MichelleL today and always nice to hear from my everyday bloggers. 

Cold, cold, fingers still tingling.  Odd run this morning, in the dark.  I though that I could here something following me, like stalking me during a section of the parkway.  It was likely just my imagination.  But, later on, a fox darted accross the trail right..  It seems from all the years running in the dark that nothing would phase me.  Anyway, back to the running business.  Legs felt much better today than expected after yesterday.  It seems that the my legs have generally acclimated to the increase in mileage.  Don't know what all this means, but, I remember Jody mentioned ugly miles, the fewer ugly miles the better.  Will likely run a few miles at lunch and lift weights. 

Lunch time, 2 miles 8:15 pace,  hamstring ball excercises, quad, hip, hammy an calf stretches. 

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Grinder, Grinder, Grinder, workout.  Treadmill:  

1/2 mile easy 8:15 pace, .5% incline - 1.5 miles at 8:15 pace, 3.0% incline

Rest - 1/4 mile easy 8:15 pace, l5% incline - 1.75 miles at 8:15 pace, 4% incline

Rest - 1/4 easy 8:15 pace. .5% incline - 1/4 at threshold pace 6:04 with .5% incline

Rest - 1/4 easy 8:15 pace - 1 mile at 6:40 pace, .5% incline - 1/8 easy, 1/8 at 6:40 pace, etc.

One of those days, almost took a day off, glad I did the workout.  No doubt, with Gwen, IPOD. 

Gool luck to all the fast running chickas and fast duddas at Painters.

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Body be Good Miles - Ran the first three miles with Sylvie and Sammy.  We dropped Sammy off at home and ran another 5.2 miles.  Cold south wind today.  Running north was great.  Legs somewhat tired from the workout yesterday.  It seems hill workouts tire the legs more.  Sylvie's Hammy was much better today and she had a good run. 

Good to have another 70 mile week.  The challenge will be to keep the 70 weeks with races during the week.  I may need to change my running pattern. 

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Body be Good Miles.  Great to read the race reports and comments.  No doubt, with Gwen, the blog will help make us all better runners and members of the running community.    Personally, has not translated into improved race times, but, have raised by weekly average miles over the last three months from 50 to 70.  I would not have attempted such a challenge without coaching comments from Sasha (kind of ) Paul, Coach Holt, Kory, Tom, Mike and a few others.  A shout out also goes to Chad and the tuesday Blacksheep, get back to those workouts when the weather gets better.

B of BS Rools out,  have a great training week.

Snow is still coming down.  Sylvie bought me a new pull over head cover.  I put it to good use today.  Plowed thru 8 inches of snow.  Seen no other runners.  Checked my garmin, 10 minute miles plowing thur the snow.  Spring, Spring, spring, where art thou spring.  Fun to read all the blogging comments for painters.  May try a few more miles with Sylive later in the day if the snow stops.

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Treadmill tempo workout this morning.  Right away, my legs were a little tired from the snow plow run yesterday.  Broke the workout into three segments:  (all segments at .5% incline)

Segment 1 - 1/2 mile easy warmup 8 min pace (increased the treadmill gradually until at a 7 min. mile pace at 1/2 mile - ran 4.5 miles tempo with last mile increasing the pace each lap until at 6:40 pace the last lap.   Total 5 miles - Full Recovery

Segment 2 - 1/2 mile easy warmup 8 min pace (increased the treadmill gradually until at a 7 min. mile pace) ran 2.5 miles at 8.7 speed with the last 3 laps increasing the speed to 8.8, 8.9 and 9.0.

Segment 3 - 7:30 pace for two miles with the last two laps at 8.7 speed. 

Conclusion:  Total (4.5 and 2.5 at tempo pace for a total of 7 miles)  2 miles at avg. 7:30 marathon pace and 1 mile easy at 8 min. mile avg. pace. 

*Note, this is all guess work, I have no idea what my tempo pace or marathon pace is right now.  Last race was St.George marathon and averaged 7:42 pace.  Funny mental thing,  whenever I started dragging today, kicked up the pace a notch and thought about the commando points that I have been awarded and will hopefully use in a future race.  Anything to get thru a workout. 

Lunch time, treadmill run 4 miles at 8:15 pace, body be good miles.

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Body be good miles, adventure run around Murray streets as the parkway was in bad shape. First few miles were slow as she goes and then legs starting feeling better. 

Lunch time run, treadmill, 3 miles at 8 min pace, .5% incline.  Legs a little road weary. 

Completed hamstring ball excercises, roll stretches, quad stretches.  

Nothing exciting unusual today, no Holy Cows, no WOWs, no super chicks, no Gwen and no Harry Carry. 

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Legs be Good run, nice morning, not as cold, cloud cover made lite so bright.

Lunch time:  circuit upper body weights, hip stretches, quad stretches, calf stretches.  2.75 miles with 8 striders at 6:40 converted treadmill pace.  Fighting a little cold.

OJ is my favorite color for few days.

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Lunch time run with Colleen.  We ran around the south side of the airport frontage road and over to the Wing Point golf course.  Good to run with her again.  Go Jazz , Go Mike. 

It was nice to get outside with the temp. above 10 degrees.

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Before race:  Walking in the SaltAir builing, met James and his brother.  Me and Sylvie got our race numbers and yelled hi to the darkhorse.  The darkhorse looked like all business, had his game face on early.  On the other hand, James was ready to run up the Oquirrh mountains.  We saw Sasha walk in looking very regal.  We stopped and talked to George Adams for a few minutes, form President of the SLC Track Club for several years.  No one seems to be in much of a talking mood before races. 

Pre Race Warmup:  Me and Sylvie walked out to the frontage road course.  Right away we could see that passing runners and staying safe would cost a few seconds or more off the race times.  The road had two 2-foot dry running lanes for most of the race, opened up in some spots.  This made it tricky to try and pass runners at times.  Two young girls almost got knocked down at the start, they were running side by side in one of the lanes starting at the front of the race.  It took about 1/2 to get in a good running groove where passing was less of an issue. 

Half way point or about, out and back course, the leaders were coming back, Sasha was in third, last year's winner was kicking butt again.  As we turned around the cone, passing and the running lanes became an issue again for about 1/2 mile as runners were going out and coming back.  I got stuck behind two runners longer than I would have liked, when I finally passed them, one lady runner started holding on to me, she did really well and finished 4 seconds behind.  (She was only 30 years younger than me, I did not tell her she got geezered).

The last 1/2 mile, I started to try and reel in a couple of runners, did not catch them, but almost, and likely helped my time.  Did not kick as much as normal at the finish because of the safety issue with the road.

Quickly, went back on the course to run Sylvie in, seen Jody looking strong coming in, yelled at her, she was in a zone, ran Slyvie in until she started her finishing kick. 

Race perspective, improved on same race last year 1 minute 37 seconds.  7 seconds off my best 5K since turning 50.  The best shape I have been in, this time of year, since I turned 50.  Bottom line: feel very well about mileage base, need to keep working on tempo runs and speed workouts.  (One other minor comment, have been not feeling well with a cold for a few days, energy lower than normal, don't know what this means race time as it happens to all runners.)

After race talkie, talkie:  Great, Jody ran a PR, met her and Paula, very nice WOWs.  We talked to Sasha for a minute, visited with several runners while waiting for the awards.   

Maria (without Carey) was by running buddy, pushing me forward going north and my para-sailing coach running south.   I could almost hear Roger Petersen singing, instead, I sang the only two lines of the song I know.  It was good no one was on the trail to hear me.  It is pretty bad when even Clint Eastwood has better pipes.  I seen no wagons to paint on the trail.

Lunch time treadmill:  8 miles to make a 20 mile day.  Davey got on one of the treadmills just before me, that got me motivated to not stop before him, good thing he did 7 miles, I only had 1 mile left.  Avg pace 7:45 with last mile at a 7:19 pace.   Very happy to get a 20 mile day with the weather outside.  I always remind myself when staying in bed seems good, run now or you may deal with unhappy weather later in the day.    

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Thank goodness for great winter running gear and shoes.  All us WOWs are almost worn out with winter, but, we keep trudging, knowing that a PR or placing in our age division will not come without extraordinary effort.  Every morning when I think about staying in bed, did the guy who beat my last saturday to win the age division stay in bed, I think not, so we dress, get it together mentally and head out the door.   The interesting part of this morning mental game, once we are out the door, we are just running and enjoying the experience.  Our bodies have learned from hundreds of past runs, we just put it in automatic if we choose. 

Lunch time, treadmill, 4 miles at 8 min pace.  Legs a little road weary. 

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Treadmill, early morning, 8 min. minutes, one potty stop at 2.5 miles.  Last mile at 7:20 pace.

Nothing to report - uneventful dreadmill run.

Nooner Run - treadmill - 2.25 miles with 8 x 100 yrd striders at 6:31 pace,  1% incline.

Upper body circuit weights,  hamstring ball excercises, gabbing with Joe, Teri and Mann.  I don't know if gabbing counts as working out.  But, when I am asked the same questions about running almost everyday it seems like a workout to keep responding thoughtfully. 

1.  Doesn't running outside burn your lungs

2.  How far is that marathon anyway.

3.  If I ran that far I would die.

I am sure there are many more.  But, what is interesting, the same people keep asking me the questions.  I try to encourage them to run, give it a try.  Positive side, over the years, have converted 4 joggers at work into marathon runners.  Once a runner buddy, always a running buddy, cannot have too many running buddies.

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Body be Good Miles - Run around the streets of Murray this morning, decided to hit the snow covered trail on the parkway for a couple of miles.  Well, biffed it, tripped over a stick in the dark.  Caught myself fairly well. Laying on the snowy trail picked up the stick, it had teeth marks.  Well, I knew right away who left the stick on the trail, that black lab who runners with his owner always carrying a big stick.  Go figure.  Another crazy winter running adventure.

Body Be Good Miles - Treadmill, no tree break, right knee a little sore from the biffing on the dog stick.  3.5 miles  at 8 min pace.

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