BS Rools

Run along the trail, dodging dogs, kids, bikes, afternoon runs are not easy along the trail on a weekend.  Legs ok after yesterday. 

Morning run, full moon, 57 degrees, does not get much better.  Legs seem recovered from Saturday long run.  Did a couple of short hill repeats. 

Lunch time run with Brett and Diana. 

1 mile warmup

5 X 1/2 mile repeats -- 6:12 pace converted pace from treadmill pace of 9.9 speed at .5% include.

1 an 1/2 mile cool down. 

Good effort, I thought I was done on the 3rd repeat.  I read an article on Mantra's RW, no guts not glory was mine when ready to quit. 

B of BS Rools out. 

Nice morning run, legs a little tired from yesterday, overall, very nice morning run along the river trail to Gardner village and back home.  Changed my route this moring, newscast indicated an escapted inmate from the youth detention center may be along the river parkway a few miles north of my house.  Who cares about socks?  I changed the type of socks I have been wearing, big difference, more cushioned sock has really helped on leg fatigue. 

Early morning run, legs a little tired, easy short day on friday.  1/2 marathon on saturday. 

Very happy with the race today, best time in the half marathon for two years, not counting the Provo River 1/2.  

Mile 2 -  15:02  - Did not log the first mile and the mile was mismarked.

Mile 3 - 7:08

I am not good with the Chrono.  But, stuck to race plan.  Try and get 6 minutes under 8 minute mile pace by mile 7.  Almost right to the second.  Gained another 30 seconds the last 6.1.    This may seem like an odd race plan, but, I felt I could hold on to 8 minutes miles the last half if I could gain some time on the easy part of the course.  

Syliva also won her division as the winner of her divsion placed in Masters. 

I am very happy with the 7:29 pace overall considering 3 weeks ago at the Canyonlands 1/2 I was 5 minutes 30 seconds slower. 

Sasha likely has a comparison for the two courses on difficulty.  I would also wonder if the course was certified given the first mile marker in the wrong place. 

Mantra during the race, have some guts.  Finished ahead of a runner who beat me at a 15K about for weeks ago by 4 minutes.  It seems some of my harder workouts are starting to result in some improvement.

Another running friend, Colleen Southwick, won her division also, tough as nails for her age, she won her division and St.George last year. 

I now need to develop a race plan for the Salt Lake Marathon in a couple of weeks. 

B of BS Rools out.

Nice, fresh air after the rain, easy run along the river trail and how.  Legs somewhat sore from yesterday's race. 

Nice morning, legs feeling pretty good, weights at lunch, maybe another two miles easy.  The race on saturday tells me I need more leg strengh on the hills, the 3rd rolling hill, mile 9 or so, my legs were giving up.   I plan on doing hill repeats, either tomorrow or on wednesday. 

Weight   circuit workout at lunch, leg stretching. *Note, I have been lifting upper body weights the last 6 weeks, it seems to have made a difference in my running posture. 

Cold and windy morning, I still have a chill from the run.  Forgot my pepper spray this morning. Although I have only used it twice in 9 years, (on two dogs), it is nice to always have on runs very early in the morning. 

1 mile warmup and cooldown.   5k race pace,  21:30,   6:56 pace per mile

Treadmill run, conversion chart

Circuit- leg weights -

This was likely a 95% race pace effort.  Good.  Took Sasha,s advice, run this tempo run at least once a week and try to lengthen out the run further each week. 

Nice morning, ran ahead of the coming storm, legs sore from the run and leg weights yesterday.  Ran along the river trail 4 miles north and back home.  I did not see another runner or person during the run.  It often surprises me, beautiful time to run, where are the runners. 

Treadmill, 8 min mile pace.   Upper body circuit weights, good stretching.  Starting to get in taper mode. 

Girl Scout fund raiser, running friend is the organizer, Diana Wright, Salt Lake Track Club supports the race, timing, measuring.  Although not certified, the SLC Club used a wheel to measure the course, it felt correct. 

Anyway, started on the front line, only about 70 or 80 serious runners, the rest were there to support the Girl Scouts.  I went out at a 6:45 pace for the first mile.  The next 1/2 mile was into a cold wind with a short uphill before the turnaround.  I got out quick to get ahead of a couple of runner friends, let them try and catch me.  2nd mile right at 14 minutes even.  (7:15 pace, the toughest mile of the course.   Ran the last 1.1 in 7:30.  Happy with the effort, duplicated my treadmill 5K time trial earlier in the week to the exact second. 

It seems out of my always yearly goals, to break 20 minutes in the 5K may be within reach during the summer after the Salt Lake and Ogden marathons.  I may have a shot at breaking 20 minutes at the Magna 5K, mostly downhill course if the wind is not blowing strongly from the north again as last year.  I am excited about the tempo runs, hill workouts, and half mile repeat workouts.  

Sylvia took 2nd in her division by about 30 seconds,  25:55,  I expect she will be breaking 8 minute miles in the next few weeks as she always runs better when the weather warms up because of her asphma.  Fun, day, 12 mile run tomorrow with a few short repeats on tuesday.  Taper city for SL Marathon. 

B of BS Rools out.

Nice morning, real easy run, woodpeckers pecking, dogs runing, ducks a quacking, kind of a listen to nature day, stop and smell the roses. 

Early run, easy, nice morning, taper mode. 

Easy run with 6 x 200 yards at marathon pace.  Legs felt ok, shoes are on there last leg, 500+ miles.  The shoes may be going south.

B of BS Rools out

Easy, taper run, early morning, stuffed myself with pancakes after the run, the old carbo load. 

Last taper run, treadmill, 8:15 pace, HR 136

It hard to make an entry today, race did not turn out as desired or expected.  Myself, and two runner buddies, Brett and Frank, decided we were going to try and run just under and 3:30.  The race started fine, we moved up towards the front at the start and got off very smooth.  After the first 8 miles were were right on 8 minute miles.  On the way up the second up two uphill stretches, 15th to 20th East and the second 20th to 23rd East, my right hamstring really felt tight.  I decided to back off going up the hill catch back to them after we turned right on 23rd east.  After the turn I caught back up with them for a short time, the Cliff 3:30 pacing group caught us, the group was going at about a 7:45 pace, Frank and Brett went with the group.  My hamstring was starting to get tight.  I decided to back off the pace just a little and hopefully get past the issue.  At half way,  !:45 45.  The leg was not getting better.  At about mile 16, had to pull up and try to strech and massage the hamstring, pulled up again, 3 more times.  I finally took a long stop and did some longer streches.  At this point I could shuffle/run somewhat, stiff legged on the right leg.  Anyway, it was a beautiful day and I decided to jog/hobble in the finish and make lemonade of of a lemon run.  The last ten miles, I don't know the running pace because of the stops.  But, I did take the opportunity to visit with several runners, Indiana, Idaho, Provo, etc.  The most interesting runner was a young lady I named dynomite.  She look real fit, small of stature.  She stopped at every water stop and walked, I caught her while she was walking and encourged her (dynomite).  She really appreciated the words of encouragement. 

To make a long story short, maybe trying to run good marathon time is just not for me anymore, run them for fun, and race other distances.  It seems as I have got older I do much better at half marathons, 5Ks.

So much for the whining, I need to quickly get recovered for the Ogden marathon, I am going to break 3:30 and have fun.  I will call the phsical therapist on monday.

Syliva ran a 1:53 int he half marathon, improved her Striders half marathon time by 3 minutes, she is on the upswing. 

No miles today, spent part the day surfing the net about hamstring problems.  I hit on a couple of great articles to include exercises from Peak Performance.  It all makes sense and hit me to a tee.  Completed the exercises.  The legs seem ok except for the hamstring soreness.  It does not feel like a tear or anything serious and the leg handled the excercises fine.  I was surprised to see my running buddy Brett finished ahead of his prime rival who has beat him the last 6 marathons. 

Real interesting point in the article, slowinng down with hamstring fatigue.  This seeems to fit my situation, I am positive that an aggressive pursuit of the problem over the next four weeks should help for the Ogden marathon.   

Lastly, it was great to read the race lore of the top runners on the blog: Sasha, Steve, Chad, Bill, etc.  It is much like sitting around the camp fire.  Much can be learned by reading their comments.  (comment to go away with today, only recover for 200 meters, between 400 meter repeats to boost the body's ability to recover from latic acid, Sasha comment).  5 to 7 seconds per mile may make the difference between placing at St. George. 

Thanks for the comments of encouragement from Steve, Maria and Andy.

Easy run, test the hamstring, slight twitch, stretching and strengthing exercises helping.  A few more easy days of running before any hill work of speed work. 

Early morning run, trying to get some spirit back in my legs, some smooth patches during the run, some not so smooth.  Teadmill two miles at lunch, ran with an ipod for the first time, good for a treadmill.  I could still not use it outside. 

Big bruise from the hamstring pull just above my right knee on the back of the leg.  I am really concerned, two marathons in a row with a hamstring pull.  I hope all the excercises will help.  I really need a good warmup routine that only takes about 5 minutes. 

Tempo/threshold:  7:15 pace for three  miles and three miles easy.  Hamstrings still tight, but feeling better. 

I am not an Ipod person, first run with an Ipod.  I like the clarity of the music, but am somewhat irrated with the Beatles.  I have too many beatle songs, need more variety.  Anyway, back to the running, no trouble with the hamsstrings today.  Ran north to the Redwood Multipurpose center and home.  Nice even pace the whole run, 8:20 pace. 

I was quite amazed to see the quick recovery from the Salt Lake Marathon for some of the bloggers who ran the  Striders 30K.  Congrads.

6 miles - Gardner Village and home, great morning for weather.  Some leg fatigue.  It seems all the hamstring excercises are keeping the legs somewhat tired.  I am going to move to an every other day routine as the hammys did not bother me on the 15 miles yesterday. 

 Upper body weights, 5 min. excercise bike, 1 mile on the treadmill.

B of BS Rools out