I am one with the levee and the levee with me

AM - An easy 3 this morning.

PM - Added an easy 7 tonight. 

AM - Swung by Coach Eyestone's office this morning to make sure I had the dates right for the tryouts, since I've messed that up before. He mentioned that the winning times in the December race are usually high-8:40s, something that I think could be in reach. He also said that this race is really the deciding time trial for who makes the team, although if someone runs a great race in January, they always make sure to get that person on the team.

So I've got mixed feelings about that. It would be nice to win this race, but I don't think I'll be able to go much under 8:50, if at all. My fitness just isn't there yet. So in that sense, I figure that by January I should be able to run closer to 8:40, but I don't know if that's enough to "turn heads," as Eyestone put it. I'm thinking that my best bet will be to train through next week's race, no taper, and try to peak as much as I can for January.

Anyway, afterwards I went to the outdoor track for a workout. I wanted a mile-pace workout today, and it was tougher than I expected. I planned 2 x (4x400) with 1:30 rest between reps and 3:00 between the sets. I wanted the first four to start at about 67 and work down to 65, then the next set to start at 65 and, if I could, work down to 62 or 63 for the last one, or just maintain 65s if I couldn't drop time. 

I started at 68.00, then 66.7, 65.5, and 65.4. After the 4th I was already feeling beat. 

I took the 3:00 rest and got started on the next set. #5 was 65.5 and was difficult. Then 66.2 and 66.7 and I was considering not doing the last one. I knew 65 was out of the question, and 66 would be painful, but I decided the mental benefit of finishing the workout would outweigh the added stress of completing a workout that was a little over my head, so I dove into the last one. 67.1. It was painful.

Overall average of 66.39.

I definitely need to work on my speed. I've got more work to do on my aerobic conditioning, but that speed needs to be there. Based on today's workout, I think I'm in 4:23-4:25 mile shape, and I need to be in 4:15 shape.

Anyway, it was a difficult workout, my body is now in pain, and I think I'll take things a little more easy until the race. Maybe a tempo run on Saturday and something easy but fast on Monday.  

AM - 10 miles easy. Been having some twinges in the calves, so I opted out of anything fast.

PM - 5 miles easy 

AM - 4 miles easy.

PM - I needed to do something fast today, and had planned a low-stress tempo but a series of events kept me from it earlier in the evening. I swung by the indoor track a little after midnight to see if anyone would let me in, and as luck would have it, one of the student janitors did, bless her heart. I warmed up about a mile when an authority figure showed up and kicked me out. Apparently if you get permission from the coaches, though, you can train any time you want. I'll have to see if I can talk one of the coaches into it.... that would be awesome!

Anyway, I hit the street in my shorts and T-shirt and decided to do a quick and easy tempo, something up-pace just to get my legs moving and keep them from going stale. I ran up Canyon Road about 2 miles and turned around to tempo it back to my car. It was freezing, but it felt great to get into the rythm of it. My legs felt great. I don't know my pace, but it was downhill, so I'd be a little surprised if it was slower than 5:20. I used the downhill to get a good turnover rate going in my legs, picturing the race in my mind. I'm a big believer in visualization, and I tend to think through races repeatedly before they actually happen. My racing skills are a little rusty, so if I go through it in my mind, it gets me ready for the real thing.

I measured the route with gmap-pedometer and found it to be about 1.92 miles..... meaning that my pace was about 5:55/mile. I've always believed this tool before, but I have a hard time stomaching that number - I swear up and down I was doing at least 5:25 pace the whole way. Maybe because of the cold and dark I felt like I was going faster. Anyway, not really a big deal, but to my OCD it is. It's driving me crazy.

AM - Easy run this morning. Meant to go 4 but the call of the bathroom brought me back just a little early. VPBs aren't as easy on the side of State Street.

PM - Added an easy 7. 

Did an easy 5 miles tonight. No run this morning, I feel like my body wants to rest. Did a 200m pickup at race pace to shake things out, but otherwise I ran about 7:30 pace.

It's race day!!!!!!!!! 

I  ran the qualifier for the track team today and ran okay. I ran slower than I had anticipated, but there are positive things to take away from it. One is that I didn't finish last. I've increased my streak of not finishing last to 7. 

Second is that I pr'd by 13 seconds over my January race earlier this year. I've got lots of time til outdoor track, so that's a great sign.

Third, I broke 9:00. Reaching a lap to go in 8:02, I was in danger of not doing it, but I managed to dip under. 

See? There are lots of positives. The one big negative is that my race probably wasn't good enough to make the team. Speaking with Coach Eyestone last week, he made it sound like high 8:50s usually isn't good enough, so I'm expecting that, given my age (I'm not that old... only 22) and everything, I'll be running unattached this year.

He was positive when I talked to him, though. He was pleased that I went out towards the front and hung on okay, but the way he talked, it was clear he was trying not to get my hopes up. So my last hope is that I can shave off a good 15 seconds in January's meet, and maybe I'll be able to impress enough to squeeze my way on.

Anyway, the race was different than I expected. I didn't think any of the top guys would be in it, but the winner ran 8:24. I went into the race with the idea of hitting a 4:40 first mile, and then holding on as best I could to the end.

It's funny, I latched on to a chase pack of 2 or 3 guys who pulled me through in 4:43, and I really felt pretty good. Last year I went through in close to the same pace and it wiped me out, but this time I felt okay. It was a little quick, but I was still relaxed. The first four laps were pretty consistently in 56-57, but then we hit a 58 and I tried to go around one of the guys who had dropped back to me. I underestimated how tired he was, though, because he surged to keep ahead, and so I tucked in behind him. With 4 laps to go, some guy went flying by me on my right, and my little chase pack got strung out. The other guys latched on to this guy, and I sort of let them go. I can't remember how tired I was at that point, but I wonder if I could have focused on them better, and hung on to the pace for another lap or two.

Anyway, once my buddies got away from me, I immediately slowed to 5:00 pace. Aaron Robison went by me, and I tried to just not get gapped by too much. I thought I heard some guys behind me, so I focused on keeping position. With a lap to go (8:02), I opened up a little and saw the gap on Robison start to close. I sprinted hard going into the final straitaway, but he was out of reach. My 57 final lap was a little weak, I typically have a stronger finish than that.

My favorite thing about this race was that I got out with some of the faster guys and gave myself a chance. I can live with knowing that I just didn't have it today running like that. I've always been a come-from-behind runner, and I'm trying to break out of that mentality. You don't win races that way. So in that sense, this was great practice for getting out fast.

As far as I can remember, my splits went something like this:

56, 56, 56, 57, 58 (4:43), 60, 60, 61, 57 

So I'll give it one more run in January. I believe that a month of consistent high mileage and good workouts could get me down there, but it's a long shot. Maybe it's time to start thinking about Ogden.

1st run: 6 miles easy

2nd run: 5 miles easy

AM - 10 easy miles down the river trail. It was great running in the snow, there is something about it that I love. At least at the beginning of the winter.

AM - 8 miles down the river trail. I still feel a little sluggish from the race, and my quad has been aching for the last 10 days or so at recovery pace. I think it's coming from the hip, but it's so dull it's hard to pinpoint. I'm trying to stretch and roll it out, but I can't tell if it's helping yet. At least it isn't getting worse - it's more of an irritation than anything.

PM - At first I planned on running 4 miles, but then decided I might as well do 5. Then I ran into Sasha running with his kids and added another one with them, so a total of 6 miles and change for this run. Relaxed pace throughout, and a good start for the week. 

AM - Easy 4 miles this morning.

PM - Took a break from studying to swing by the indoor track for a workout. I did 2x2miles with 5:00 rest between.

I planned to run them in 5:15 pace, but I felt a little sluggish on the first one. Mile splits of 5:18 and 5:21 after running the first laps at 5:10 pace. I took a quick bathroom break between the reps and that seemed to do the trick. I was planning anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes' rest depending on how I felt, and 3 minutes probably would have been adequate. 10:39 total time.

Anyway, the second rep felt great... I got a few laps into it expecting to start hurting, but I felt stronger the further I went. The laps fluctuated between 1:03 (5:15 pace) and 1:05 (5:25 pace) because I'm terrible at pacing myself. They say to do tempo work at a comfortably hard pace, and I think I tend to fall under the "comfortable" side a bit too much. The point of this workout was to push me out of that 5:25 - 5:30 pace comfort zone I get so used to. 5:15 pace was easily sustainable, I'm not sure why I kept slipping back.

A final lap in :59 closed this one out at 10:34 (5:20, 5:14 mile splits), and I felt good, better than expected. I'm pleased with the workout, the next one of these I'll have to cut the rest down, but I liked this workout. Average pace: 5:18.25
 

AM - 4 easy miles in the freezing cold. I love winter.

I just saw that yesterday I ran my 2000th mile of the year. Cool.

PM - Added 7 miles, although my left knee was acting up a bit. I ran at about 8:00 pace and it felt a little swollen. This usually happens once or twice a year, so I'm not too worried. I put some ice on it when I got home.... hopefully it will be better in a day or two.

AM - 3 easy miles this morning. The knee is still swollen but this wasn't as uncomfortable as last night.

PM - Added an easy 7. About 7:40 pace.

AM - 3 easy miles. Both knees were swollen this morning. Maybe it's time to get new shoes. Yesterday I counted more than 600 miles on them, but it seems like I just bought them. President Hinkcley said a house and a car were worthy objects to indebt yourself for, I wonder what he'd say about running shoes....

PM - After my last final, I had a little time to head to the indoor track for some speed work. I averaged 4 hours of sleep per night the last three nights and finals have beat me up pretty good, plus I hadn't eaten anything except some sausage burritos in the morning, but the workout went alright. I planned 3x1000m at 8:40 3k pace w/ 2:00 rests.

After a 12 minute warmup, I launched into the first one, finishing in 2:55.5. The second one started to hurt, but I finished in 2:54.6. The last one was very painful, but I manged a 2:55.0. So 8:45.1 total time.

This workout hurt more than I expected, I'm not sure if that's because I'm not in as good of shape as I thought or because I was tired. It's hard to tell. Either way, I was reasonably pleased with the effort.

AM - Easy 10 miles down the river trail.

PM - Added a gentle 5 up Canyon Rd. 

AM - Easy 4 miles. It's definitely time for some new shoes, my arches were killing me. I should have noticed this earlier, but I hadn't been keeping track of my shoe mileage, and I thought the pain in my arches was from speed workouts and races. 

PM - Added an easy 8. I enjoyed this run quite a bit - I didn't get out until about 1 am and the roads were free of just about any cars. I ran up Canyon Rd and ran in the middle of the road since there were no cars and the sidewalks were buried. Very relaxing.