I am one with the levee and the levee with me

AM - Wow, perfect running weather today! I got in a relaxed 3 miles before work (20:20). I'm hoping for a good week of training and that the ankle holds up well. This week is really the test on whether or not it needs more time. 

PM - Ran the 7.3 route to Springville. One of the missionaries that was in the MTC with me recognized me at an intersection and we had a nice chat. I was impressed he recognized me since it's been 2 1/2 years since I've seen him, and I'm sure running atire looks a lot different on me than a suit and tie. Average pace for the run: 6:51 - things are still feeling good.

AM - Did the usual 3-mile run this morning. I'm trying to keep myself under control, but the legs are itching for speed and average pace was 6:44. I'll run home again from work today, I'll try for 7:00 pace and no faster.

PM - Ran the 7.3 mile route home at 6:50 pace... I guess without snow on the roads my training pace has picked up a little. Plus I needed a bathroom in the middle, so I hustled a little over the last mile or two to make it home. I hate stopping to use public bathrooms... nothing can beat using your own toilet.

AM - 6 easy miles before class. 41:58 total time.

Later AM - 4 more miles down the same route. I have to laugh every time I run down this trail because of the huge ice mountain that's been growing all winter. The guy who lives there must be doing it on purpose because he put up a bunch of signs to keep people away recently. One says, "Ice is dangerous. Keep off!" and another, "Please don't break the ice." But my favorite, and this kills me every time,  is the one that says "Danger, ice is radioactive." I need to take a picture for my blog.

Total time was 20:11.

AM - 3 easy miles (20:45). The legs are feeling pretty good and the ankle has gone from feeling tendinitis-ish to just feeling like a minor sprain. Tomorrow I'll probably try for a 2 or 3 quicker miles, just to test things out and get the legs back up to speed.

PM - 6.8 miles around Springville. I didn't have a destination in mind, I was just out running. Total time was 47:20.

I headed down the trail this morning in my flats to do a couple miles at tempo pace. The goal was to keep it at 5:30 - 5:40 pace since I was expecting my legs to feel pretty stale, plus I didn't want to stress them too much at this point. I ran a 2.5 mile warm-up and did some strides to loosen up. The strides felt stiff, but I loosened up pretty quick once I got into tempo pace.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the first half in 2:35. I passed Sasha and Jeff going the other way between the half and mile, which I hit in 5:12, and flipped a 180 and headed back. I eased off the pace a bit to around 5:30 - 5:33, but Sasha and Jeff joined in once I passed them. We sped up a little over the last half mile, maybe 5:20 pace or so, and finished with 10:38 as the final time. Second mile in 5:26.

That first mile got me pretty excited, it felt so good. I thought I had lost a lot during the swimming phase, but I think I'm still in pr range for 5k. If the Rex Lee run is measured correctly, given the slight hills it's got, I think I can dip under 16:00.

After the short tempo, I finished up with Sasha, Jeff, and Matt, who joined with us, for about 5.5 more miles.

Met with Sasha and the gang this morning, there was quite a group. We started out close to 9:00 pace and went down from there, I had the average pace at around 7:40. A very nice run, the weather was great, and it was great to meet some other members of the blog.