Runnin Bubbas

AM:  Group run with Matt Reed and Mike.  Easy 10 miles.  Picked it up to some MP during the middle.  I wanted to do some tempo, but Matt and Mike held off to do it tomorrow.  Looking forward to the push.  My legs felt refresh this morning.  I think this cold has turned me into a zombie.  How can you get used to this cold?  Fog was cool today.  Glad to start out the week on some decent roads instead of the TM.  

PM:  5 easy miles on the dread mill...Left quad still has some tenderness...dont really understand what from?  we shall test it tomorrow, I will know if I need to back off... 

Lunch:  Amazing how important recovery is to working out.  I honestly feel if I would have met the group this morning at 5 to do mile repeats I would have a major left quad injury as we speak.  I have been really listening to my body a lot the last few months and working through pain barriers as I improve my fitness levels all at the same time.  I still felt very tender this morning as I got ready to meet the group.  I texted Matt and said I am just going to back off and do a workout on my own.  I still did not feel good around 8:30 so I decided to wait til lunch time and do a good workout.  

Started out and did the first little over 5 miles at 7:15 pace.  The last part of this warm up was a really long hill I like to incorporate in a loop I do.  Then I decided to do 4 miles tempo.  Did the tempo in 23:42(5:56avg.)  I honestly felt really tired and heavy.  At the end though I felt it was a good effort.  I did a little revovery for a 1/2 mile and then did the next 3 miles at just over MP(6:40avg) and then did a mile CD.  I was really pleased with this workout.  Good pacing throughout.  My quad does not feel tender or sore at all which is a great sign.  I feel like this was an excellent deposit workout for PHX.   

PM:  Ran from office to home 2.37miles(7:45avg.) easy shake out run.  Love where my fitness level is and enjoying the journey... 

Day OFF:  First weekday I have taken off since I can remember.  Had a ton of work to do and then spent the rest of the day and night with my boys.  We had a fun time doing a lot of great activities.  It was fun to go to the Jazz Game.  Looking forward to the long milage tomorrow.  

AM:  I have been a head case the past two days in getting up early to run with the group because I cannot seem to sleep well.  I knew I was going to do a double today so I wanted to get enough rest.  Did a walk in park run today around the Draper perimeter that I have made. A really good rolling loop.  12.12 miles(7:35avg.)  Felt very relaxed the entire run.  Never felt like I even was doing a run.  Very fun workout.  

Lunch:  Draper Double.  Got to run with my buddy Ben Martinson who is currently training for the SLC Marathon.  He did a great job today pacing the way for me.  47 degrees outside and after running the morning run just 3 hours earlier, I felt like I could not pass up the weather opportunity so we took off.  15 mph head winds during points of the run were the only negative to this run.  Last two miles I picked it up to 6:50 pace which felt great considering the double.  Hoping this calm/warmth before the storm keeps going and the storm comes Sunday and Monday.  Fingers crossed... :) 

AM:  Easy run.  Was going to meet up with Mike, but I felt I was getting sick with my throat hurting and sore.  I waited a little and ran inside even though I didnt want to do so.  I felt decent.  My right upper calf was tight but I think it will work itself out over the day.  Looking forward to the LR tomorrow.  

Afternoon:  Was trying for 2 days to put together some kind of group or partner to run a LR today.  Finally Reed was able to say he could run with me at about 10:30 Friday night.  We planned for 2 in the afternoon which gave us both some time to prep.  My run Friday was pretty sluggish and I felt heavy and slow probably from the double on Thursday still I went in with the feeling of some anxiety thinking I would struggle on this MP simulation LR.  I knew whatever I did that I needed to suck it up mentally and just not think about the pain barriers and push through the workout the best I could.  Reed is automatic at 6:30 pace so I knew I had a good running partner today to pace me through the workout.  

I told Reed I wanted to do 20 miles with the first 10 @7:30 pace and the second 10 @6:30 pace.  Either way I wanted to just stick to a comfortable plan that would simulate MP.  The course we set out to do was a 10 mile loop from Reed's house that is an honest course with the first 5 incline and last 5 decline.  

We started out feeling really comfortable and only took about 1/4 mile before we settled into pace mode so this made me think that I was feeling good from the get go and that we should just run whatever pace felt comfortable.  Reed would rattle off the splits to me as I could not get my stupid watch to work...again!  I felt very comfortable at 4 miles averaging 7:01 pace which to me I felt was suppose to be just a nice WU heading into the second 5 miles of this loop.  We hit the 5 mile mark and I felt like we should pick it up to MP and work on pace mode.  Reed looked and felt great.  WE settled into 6:30 pace with ease.  As we neared the 8 mile mark, I felt even better and we crusied into the 10 mile mark around 6:20 pace.  We were around 1:08 for the half way point which I thought was perfect considering the snowfall was brutal with head winds and my shoes were already sopping wet and about 10 lbs heavier.  After a quick bathroom break, we head back out to do the next 10 miles.  

I told Reed at about 1/2 mile into the next 10 miles that I wanted to take 11-14 a little easier(about 7:20 pace avg.) and then MP the last 5-6 miles of the LR.  He thought that was a great idea and suggested that he thought this was the better format than what I was planning.  I told Reed that I felt this was going much better than planned and that I wanted to just run comfortably and focus on MP.  The course was not the same simulation as PHX, but considering the planning and the two 10k's going on this Sat. I didn't have much choice but to luckily convince Reed not to run 20 miles on a dumb TM.  Don't know how people go further than 10 miles on a TM anyway. 

We got a quick water break at mile 14 in Alpine and then started up quickly into MP.  At about 17 miles we were cruising @6:25 pace and I told Reed I could feel my left hammy flaring up.  I didn't try to think about it too much.  Reed was doing an excellent job helping me break down the pacing walls.  Two times during this 6 mile stretch I wanted to ease back, but I sucked it up and tried to go back and forth with Reed taking the lead then I would take the lead.  The last 2 miles were definitely the toughest. I was feeling really tired but still felt very strong during the whole run.  I just tried to focus on not thinking about the run and just relax through the pace.  

We averaged about 6:54 pace for the total run which for me was a successful LR.  I was very pleased with the workout.  I got about 11-12 miles of great MP running during this long run and feel like it was a perfect workout for PHX.  Almost 83 miles for the week and that is the most I have done in my life for a week.  Very excited in my progress and fortunate enough to have great running buddies that are crazy to brave the elements and help me get better.  The elements sucked today, but I know that alone will make race days easier down the road.  

Did a 3 mile CD after I got home.  First mile was 10:38, hahaha, seriously that was all I could do though.  My legs felt like bricks.  Don't know why as the marathon training is very new to me.  Glad to be done for the week. :)