BS Rools

Early morning run.  I tried to give it a pretty good effort, 1:09 for 8 miles.  I just can not seem to get going in the morning.  8:37 pace.  Beautiful morning, nice to get out in the early day.  I plan on doing a few 100 stride outs at lunch.

4 x 1/10th miles strides, 6:55 pace, mixed with slow jogs. 

AirZoomElite6 - 589

 AirZoomElitePink - 286

Treadmill run, lunch time,  nice easy tempo run, 7:41 pace,  38:24, treadmil; cpmversion. 

5k in Murray, may be hot on the 4th, hope to avg somewhere close to 7 min pace. 

I really need to follow the Kenyans, 2 tempo runs per week.  I can force myself on the treadmill to do it, it seems tougher mentally out side to hold the pace.   I am still waiting for the Devine Miss M to sign and give the lift. 

AZ6 - 595

Murray 5k, happy with the effort, not so much the time,  my time was 30 seconds faster than the heart of holiday and the Art Festival race 2 weeks ago.  There was no doubt that this was going to be a hot race. 812 runners for a 5k is a fairly large group.  Myself and Syvlia warmed up for about a mile.  We lined up about 3 row back to avoid the walkers and really slow runners, good decision based on the crowd.  I had said to myself before the race to go out at about a 6:45 pace.  I did not catch my first mile split, the second mile 14:16 total, 7:08 pace.  Ended up at 7:10 pace.  The last mile of the race has the most incline, only gave back a few seconds. 

I was surprised to get 1st, top runners in the division must have ran other races today.  Sylvia had a very good race and continues to knock time of her 5K, 25:30.  She was 4th in her division today.  3 of the betters runners we see at races showed up in the division today. I expect if Sylvia's time keeps improving she can give the second and third place women a race for it. 

Prize drawing:  Sylvia won a family tent (heavy) and I won a DVD player that has HD.  We also got two dinners to the Spagetti factory with our entry. 

I recognized other bloggers today, Chad and Breanna. 

Early morning run, 5 miles south along the river trail, no runners, no walkers, just me and the 4 deer this morning, 9:05 avg pace.   Lunch time run on the treadmill, 8:15 pace for two miles.  Circuit weights, upper body. 

Signed us up for the Greek Festival 5K today, rather than the Alta Peruvian.  The Alta run kind of scares the crap out of us with the steep down hill.  One slip and you would be ragged torn up.   

Easy 5 mile run this morning, 4:45 am.  Nice and cool in the morning.  Cut the run short to not get too wore out to do a treadmill workout at lunch.

Treadmill conversion Workout - Pace converted based on conversion chart

Each 1/4 mile followed by a walk until heart rate reaches 120 and then run easy for a 1/4 mile at 8:25 pace and then begin the next 1/4 mile repeat.  As the weeks progress, reduce the recovery and rest time.

1 mile warmup at 8:25 pace

7 times 1/4 mile, at 6: 12 pace -  93 seconds - recovery sesson walk and easy run between

Last repeat = 1/2 mile at 6:12 pace - 3 minutes 6 seconds, followed by recovery walk

Summary, felt good about the effort and ability to run a 1/2 mile for the last repeat at the same pace.  I plan on progressing this workout to shorter recovery periods and all 1/2 mile repeats over the next two months.  Hopefully, this will help drop my 5K time to give me a shot a breaking 21 minutes (one of my goals for the year) .

B of BS Rools out

Started the run later than I wanted, starting to get hot, took our dog Sammy, standard poodle, for the first three miles.  She ran great the first two and then was running out of gas.  We dropped her off at home and headed out for the last 7 miles.  Sylvia was feeling great today and was throwing in a few pickups.  I don't know if she was doing this to rub it in or what.  I kept up on a couple of them, she kicked my butt on the others.  No superhero powers for me, could not run two hard days in a row.  But, we finished the run, heat and all.  We ran into George Adams, former long time president of the SLC track club and talked to him for a few minutes.  He is recovering from plantar faciitis.  We have had some good battles in races over the last 10 years.  

It was good to see Sylvia getting faster and more endurance.  I expect her to have a very good St. George Marathon this year and have a shot at placing in the top ten in her division again.  Placing in the top ten in a division at St. George is a big deal to most runners as you get a nice rock plaque and it is really tough to place based on all the runners from around the country.  I expect that I would need at least a 3:15 to sneak into the top ten.  I have some work to do.

B of BS Rools out.  (one of my better training weeks this year)

Run along the Jordan River, to 4100 south bridge and home.  Avg pace per garmin, 8:57.  Nice recovery run.  I am trying to decide what workouts to do this week with an 18 miler next saturday.  If I run city creek on tuesday, hopefully recover and complete an interval workout on thursday or a tempo run.  I find as that I have got older that 3 days seems to be the optimal recovery time.  The issue, this limits certain workouts.  I am leaning towards using the city creek run as the interval workout with hills, pick my spots to do some fartlek with thursday as a long tempo run.  My concern, half marathon on 21 July, Bryce, the long tempo run may be of more value than the intervals.  

Reading this blog back, sounds like babble, yada, yada, yada,

Morning run, smoked three packs of cigarettes during the run, smoke from Oregon and Utah fires.  I don't know if it was smart to even run this morning.  Took it slow and easy, 8:45 pace.  Three miles on the teadmill at lunch 7:55 pace.  Upper body circuit weights.  I ordered a book on core strength for endurance.  "Core Performance Endurance"    Mark Verstegaen. 

Day off, felt like my body needed a rest.  City creek in the morning with Diana, Colleen, Tony and maybe Sheldon.  It will be tough and fun at the same time. 

Utah State Capital, easy first mile to the start of City Creek Canyon.  Started with Diana, Colleen and Tony.  This was Diana's first time up City Creek this year.  Colleen held back and ran with Di, Tony turned around at about 2 miles up the canyon (never found out why).  Found myself running alone up the canyon at about 1/2 mile going up.  I decided to push the pace going up.  Waited for about 4 minutes at the 3 and 1/2 mile marker for Di and Colleen.  We ran half Di's pace and half Colleen's pace on the way down.

Avg. pace 8:33, sounds slow, but, some of the steep parts going up kill the pace.  Garmin says 900 feet elevation gain in 3.5 miles. 

Anyway, happy with the uphill effort.  I am going to run more at lunch today, treadmill. 

1 mile on the treadmill at lunch, 8:20 pace.  Leg weights. 

B of BS Rools out.

Early morning run, legs felt good today considering City Creek hills yesterday and leg weights.  It was a hot muggy morning, like running in Texas.  I may do a few 1/4 repeats at lunch.  It has been interesting reading some of the blogs for "new runners".  We were all there at some point.  It seems like a long road in the beginning.  As I told one of my kids about college, (same for running) time will pass whether you go to college or not, don't think about how long it will take to get in shape, one day at a time. 

It has also been interesting to read blogs on some of the great young runners.  This state really has some talent. 

Lunch time short run, 2 x 1/4 mile at 6:10 pace, 1.5 easy miles. 

Tempo run treadmill, conversion chart pace:  7:11,  35:53 for five miles.  I know this is not fast, but, I am happy with the effort given my last 5K on the 4th of July was at a 7:17 pace.  Treadmills are easier because they hold the pace for you.

I read the tinman and am going to run these runs at least twice per week and try and make them one miler longer each week. 

Mine and Sylvia's long run did not go as planned.  Sylvia had a bad tooth ache last night and took some medication.  So, I ran the 18 miles as the lonely long distance runner.  2:39:15 at a 8:50 pace.  This week was one of my tougher running weeks of the year with City Creek Canyon, 5 mile tempo run, 18 miler for total of 61 miles this week.  I am starting to feel better about my conditioning, keepup the tinman, ladders next tuesday morning, 1/2 marathon at Bryce next saturday. 

Easy run, hot, hot, hot,  96 degrees.  I decided to complete a short run in the heat, hopefully to better aclemate.  No fun, but, may help in a few hot races to come over the next few weeks.   Garmin,  8:40 pace to the turnaround water fountain and 8:40 pace back home.  Legs were heavy, either from the heat or the long run yesterday.

Early morning run along the Jordan River, North to 4100 So and back home.  Forgot the Garmin this morning, pace seemed about an 8:45.   I may run a few more miles later in the day.   Sylvia has a tooth ached, hopefully she can get into the Dentist today.  She has not run for 4 days and feels like a slug.  Also, she is grouchy from not running. 

Ran 2 miles in the heat, 4 p.m., trying to get use to the heat.  Tough to get going.  8:51 pace. 

Sylvia is no longer grouchy, got out and ran 7 miles. All is well in BS run land. 

Run after work, 92 degrees. Ran the first 6 miles 8:25 pace and last 2 miles in 9 min miles.  I long for 50 degree weather.  Nothing special about the run from a running perspective.  The Murray police are watching for grafftie crud duds, no luck catching them, the cops can't run that fast.  Once in while we see rookies from the police force running on the parkway, many of them really struggle.  I don't know how some of them would catch the bad guys. 

B of BS Rools Out. 

Early run, tried a new pair of shoes today, may wear them in the race on saturday.  The felt good. 

Lunch time, short run, treadmill,  1/2 mile warmup, 2 miles at 6:45 pace, 1/2 mile a 8 min. mile pace.  I may have been able to push past 2 miles at the 6:45 pace, did not want to push it too much, may trash my legs for the Bryce 1/2 marathon on saturday.  I was very happy with the two mile effort. 

B of BS Rools out. 

Easy run, along the river trail 2 miles and back home, no run tomorrow, taper for saturday.

Upper body weights at lunch, getting some medium guns back, maybe 22 caliber.  That is about as high as I want, no extra weight needed for running.

Took the dog Sammy for a walk, she was itching to run, she thought we were going for a run.  Ran two 100 pickups with her at about 6 min. mile pace.  She loved it and was happy to walk home after that. 

B of BS Rools out

First time running this race, drove the course the night before to get a plan.  No plan, go for it.  The race within a race:

Running friends Colleen and Harry, Colleen is in the 55-59 (won her age division at St. George last year) and Harry is 71 and likely World Class in his divisioin.   My last race with these two, they both beat me at the Holiday 5k by over 1 minute.  The night before the race, Colleen kind of said her goal was to beat me or stay close.  She is amazing, so is Harry.  Collen ran a 1:38 and Harry a 1:40. 

I spend much of the night before visulizing a good smooth race.  No guts no glory.  I had decided to try an be at 7 minute miles at the end of the big downhills, ends about 5 and 1/2 miles. 

1.  The race start was perfect, me and Sylvia warmed up with a half mile jog, we stayed at Ruby's Inn.  We started about three or four rows back.  The starting gun went off 5 times, the starter was trying to be funny.  Not so funny, some of the front runners stopped, thinking it was a false start.  Luckily, no one went down. 

2.  The first mile seemed to be a slight downhill followed by about 3/4 mile uphill at a 1 percent grade before the big downhill miles. 

3.  The steep downhill, does anyone run this very well?  Just tryed to stay smooth and not pound the quads.  A did not get my Garmin working correctly, did not know the time or the splits.  At mile 6, Collen pulled up along side me and said we were on 7 min. miles. (42 minutes).  Shortly after mile 6, next water stop, Colleen stopped, I quickly drank and moved along.  I expected Colleen to soon pull up along side and pass me, I never seen her again.  After the race she told me that she had pounded the downhill and walked thru every water stop.  She still set a PR at 1:38 something.  Great for her.

4.  Harry, great, great, veteran runner at 71, this was his first half marathon in 15 years and he ran a 1:40 something when he is only training for 5Ks.  Amazing.  (Harry ran a 34:24 at Des News 10k when he was 50 years old.)  The race organizers had him in the 65 and over division.  (I really wonder about respect for older runners by race organizers and some younger runners.)  By the time they got to Harry's division 9/10ths of the crowd had left.  What a shame, he deserved as much applause as anyone in the race. 

5.  Back to the race, my legs were about done at mile 6, pounded the downhill pretty well to get on 7 minute miles.

6.  The remaining race was hanging on, not letting the legs say no.  Legs starting feeling better at about 7.5 miles, the mile from 6.5 to 7.5 felt like my slowest mile recovering from the severe downhill. 

7.  Hung on, averaged 7:18 pace for the half marathon, 7:17 was my pace the Murray 5k a couple of weeks ago.  Very happy with the hang on effort the last 7 miles.  (Talked to the first place runner in my division, he just moved to Salt Lake the last month from South Africa)  I am going to need to get much faster to have a chance staying with him.  He passed me at mile 8 and was cruising. 

Road Kill Report: End of the Big Downhills: Had 2 runners pass me and passed 8, positive road kill 6 runners.  Commando points 6. 

Sylvia, she ran her best half marathon with a 1:50:26, 2nd in her division.  (8:27) pace.  Great race for her.  Sylvia got beat by a relation to John Cahill.  Sylvia hung with her the first 6 miles trading the lead back and forth.  Trying to beat her likley cost Syliva some time overall.   

Legs felt today like we had ran a marathon, not a half marathon.  

This course is tough to compare to other half marathon courses.  The legs tell me it was darn tough, the elevation drop tells me it was easier than the Prove Half, Stiders Half or Hobble Creek.  I will be able to compare, we are running both Provo Half and Hobble Creek. 

Good luck to all the bloggers running the DesNews Marathon or 10K. 

Last note, the winner of the race, Hoby Call, won a free entry into the St. George Marathon and did not seem happy with the entry.  He set a course record at the Half. 

Run 1 mile up an ATV  trail from Ruby's Inn.  Slow recovery run.  I seen 6 antelope on the trail.  It felt great to run with the smell of pines and 55 degrees.  It was great. 

Easy recovery run, 9 min. mile pace. Felt good to get out an run.  I hope it helps the legs recover from the 1/2 marathon.   

Early morning run, wanted to get done to go watch the Des News Marathon runners on Foothill.  Easy run.  Made it up to foothill in time to see the two first place runners, black guys from?  The third and fourth place runners were running together, the top blogger Sasha and someone else.  They had a good 4 minute lead on the next runner.  I expect Sasha took 3rd or 4th and was in the money.  Carol Cannibilis was the first women by a mile. 

The people you meet and when:  A story - when I was in the active duty Navy back in 1970, we were ported in Subic Bay - Phillipines, the ship was next to another destroyer and we had to cross her brow to go onto the pier.  As I saluted the flag and requested permission to come aboard, I was saluting a long time childhood friend I did not know was even in the Navy.  Today I had another one of those experiences.  I parked on a small side street off Foot Hill waiting for a couple of my running friends to pass.  A large Victory motorcylce parked next to me.  The person the got off was another child hood friend I had not seen for 39 years, his son was in 5th place behind Sasha running the marathon.  I don't know the son's first name, last name is Olsen.  I took his son's picture and talked about old times a little.   You never know where you will meet someone. 

Lastly, my long time running buddy, Brett, appeared, I ran with him about 1/4 of a mile and talked, Frank another running buddy had pulled over sick, upchucking, at mile 6.  Brett did not know if he had kept going or not.  The first words out of Brett, he hates the new DesNews course, way too much down hill.  

I got a good picture of Sasha and Brett.  Look forward to reading the race reports. 

Early morning run, about 9 min mile pace.  Did some strength yoga with Sylvia last night.  I really need some consistent core work.  My house got toilet papered last night.  Sylvia caught the two neighbor boys last night and they ran like heck.   They must of used a dozen rolls of bum fada.  I sure the parents will not be too happy given the price of toilet paper.  So, 10 minutes after my run this morning was getting toilet paper off the tree.  We have a globe willow, could not get it all.  Boys will be boys.  I have still not fully recovered from the Bryce Half Marathon last saturday.  The down hill really pounds the legs.  The race had a 1800 foot elevation drop.  The DesNews marathon had a 3200 foot elevation drop.  This all sounds great for a fast time, but, my experience tells me that this severe of a drop costs more time than it saves with the pounding on the quads which slows you down when you hit the flat or rolling hills. 

Lunch time run, 2 miles at 8 min. mile pace.  Upper body circuit weights.  Attempt to get my weekly mileage to avg. 60 for the next 8 or 9 weeks along with speed work. 

Nice easy run, humid 65 degress.  Legs seem almost back to normal.  Ran along the parkway to the Freedom Shrine at 45th south.  After work run while Sylvia went home teaching, 6 miles. Nothing exciting to report, it is hot and muggy, my dog Sammy pooped out and didn't want to go running with me, I lost both big toe nails from the Ogden Marathon.  Whats the good news:  everyday is a new adventure, the previous day is always history.

B of BS Rools out.  I may need to change the BS Rools thing, runners may get the wrong impression unless they read my profile. 

Crazy day:  I could not get out of bed this morning to run.  OK, run a tempo run on the treadmill at lunch, no can do, runner on the treadmill.  Jump in the truck and hussle to the state capitol,  ran up to City Creek Canyon (1 mile) and up 3 and 1/2 miles.  It was hot and humid, slow going up and down.  It was bike day, crazy bikers going 50 miles an hour down the canyon, or it seemed like it as has my hat was blown off by the wind from the passing bike. 

I guess, all us runners get upset when plans go crazy. 

Run with Sylvia and our dog Sammy.  Sammy was a poop butt today, she was ready to stop after 2 miles.  Humid day, easy run.  Sylvia has not completely recovered from the half marathon last saturday.  Many bikers, runners and dog walkers on the trail today.  We got a later start than I would have liked.  The earlier the start, less bike and foot traffic. 

Early morning run, 5 a.m. start, avg. pace 8:45, ran North along the river to 33rd south and back south to 82nd south and back home.  Attempted to keep an even pace, even the last few miles when tired.  I really worked on a " tired smooth mode".  It was sucessful about half the time during the last few miles.  My miles have been consistent this year, but, tempo runs have been lacking.  Since I can't seem to muster up a good tempo run unless it is a half marathon race, that may be the answer.  My two half marathons this year, Striders in Eden 1:38 and Bryce 1:35, have been a 7:30 and 7:18 pace. It will be interesting to see what I an do at Provo and Hobble creek.  Since I am in "my what can I do different mind set", I am going to try a group  workout on tuesday.  Although the runners are much faster, maybe pulling along in the back can get me motivated as serve as the needed speed workout each week.   

We had my dad's birthday party at our hourse yesterday.  It was fun.  My two girls and their husbands are really into working out, both cardio and weights.  My youngest daughter is now running 2 and 1/2 miles a day.  I got my girls a few years ago to run a 5K, they both went out to fast and said never again.  Two of Sylvia's boys have ran the St. George marathon with us.  Being a good role model does have an influence. 

B of BS Rools out

I'm being followed by a moon shadow.  Great morning, full beautiful moon.  Cat Stevens and the moon were guiding the way.  Mornings like this running are special, wow, what a beautiful morning. 

Legs felt surprising good after the long run yesterday.  Odd thing, when I take my vitamins with 100% grape juice, they really seem to make a difference in how I feel the next morning. 

Lunch time run, treadmill, 2 miles and upper body weights.  Their were a couple of full "oons", but not the Cat Stevens type.

The hills are alive.  Ran a hill / track workout this morning with, I think they are called Black Sheep, bunch.  Sounds like a group of outlaws in the Old West.  Anyway, Chad said hello right away, Colleen and Harry were also there.  We started with about a 1 mile warmup around Sugarhouse park.

4 x Approx. 1 minute hill repeats with a recovery jog back to the bottom.  

Jogged to the Highland High track -

Each of the following is followed by a 200 meter recovery jog and then go again.

800, 600,600, 800, 600,600,600, (I had my Garmin, but, was excited about the workout I did not get the laps recorded).  I heard from a couple of the runners near me that the 800 were in about 3:20.  I don't know about the 600s.  The last two 600s getting tired, hung on to two men runners to get thru it and had good staying power. 

A couple of thoughts about the workout - I feel alive after the workout, it was fun.

The great runners at the front of the pack made it look easy.   Funny thing, Colleen said I made it look easy, I guess it is all in the eyes of the beholder because it was not easy.  I would like to run a few more miles today, but, will not likely get the chance because of my work schedule and family birthday party tonight.