Elite Jogging For Dummies

Ye 'ol U/Avenues loop.

Black sheep workout and oh the pain! Straley led us on this awful rampage through the hills of the avenues (one block over hard, then one block up hard, then one block over easy).  I can't remember how many intervals we did, but they hurt.  Is it bad when your left arm has shooting pain for 1/2 hour after a VO2 max workout?

Please see Monday's blog entry for run description.

For the second week in a row I made the choice (wise or otherwise) to join Josh for a Big Workout.  Josh had a 6 mile tempo planned.  I thought I would run 4 at tempo pace, out of concern at a sudden increase in both mileage and intensity.  We ran a 4 mile warmup over to Foothill and 21st East and then started the tempo. It was enjoyable, I held ~6 min pace throughout. Josh added a couple of extra while I began my cooldown.  Then we re-grouped and ran towards home on 15th East, through the U.  

I don't feel completely clobbered, which is good. I do realize that this run was longer than my weekend "long runs" have been for quite a while. It's nice to be out there pushing the pace a bit, in between long easy sections.

Wow, it was a long night keeping the kids settled and I did not sleep well. I woke up very late, 7:30, and only had time for a short run.  I did an abbreviated version of my normal route. It was surprisingly warm out, and then it started snowing just as I finished.

From Foothill village, I ran 3 miles with a group of four, then we circled back and picked up some more.  We ran about another ten, then headed back to Foothill again.

U/Avenues/Memory Grove Loop.  Listened to an interview with Richard Dawkins.

Black Sheep workout at Sugarhouse Park.  I was responsible for designing the workout. After a warmup loop, we used the light poles along the roadside in the park (there are 23 of them) to run intervals of varying lengths, with the longest being just less than a half mile. This was effective to the extent that everyone was breathing heavily with their hands on their knees at the end.

U/Avenues/Memory Grove Loop. I do think about running other routes, but this one is just so good and requires very little fighting against traffic that it's  superb default loop.  I ran it in 1:07 today.

Big Workout with Josh, though it almost didn't happen. Strike 1: It was snowing when I woke up. Strike 2: Josh was a little late meeting me and I had already turned toward home to send him a text and then go run on my own.  But then he arrived out of nowhere and I had no way to politely excuse myself from the workout.

 We warmed up 3 miles to the intersection of Guardsman and Sunnyside, then ran 2 Tinman miles to Sugarhouse Park (6:00/5:56).  After jogging a bit in the park we ran 6 x 1000 m.  We ran 4 of these in the park, two of them on the way back towards home. The paces varied along with the terrain, from the relatively quick (5:34 pace) to the not so quick (6:07 pace on the return on 15th East).  Most were in the 5:45 -5:50 range and those times were fine for me, the effort felt right. It was a bit of a blizzard but not too bad, I can't really blame the weather for anything. 

 I felt pretty good about the workout, I think the long intervals are very valuable and it is actually fun to feel like I am training again.  Legs feel pretty good other than some ongoing aggravation with my heel (PF).  Trying not to increase mileage and intensity too much at the same time.  Mostly succeeding.

U/Avenues Loop minus the Ensign extension. I'm sure that makes total sense to everyone, right?

I ran 3.5 from Foothill Sbux w/Lori and then hooked up with the rest of the gang for a big loop that went north and then south. Ended up running around Sugarhouse Park for the third time in the week, headed back to Foothill via the country club neighborhoods and 2300 E.

Out the door at 6am, I ran over to Foothill and met up with Casey and Derrick. We ran back north and those guys turned around at 11th Ave and Virginia. I completed my usual loop from there.  The run ended up being twelve miles, which isn't so bad for a Monday in February.

Workout with the Black Sheep. We met at Foothill and ran "Stan's Hill Workout"--which basically involves running every hill above Wasatch Blvd between 1300 So. and 1700 So. multiple times at top speed.  

U/Avenues loop.

Met up with Josh and ran a Big Workout.  We warmed up 3 miles to Sunnyside/Guardsman and then began a 2 mile Tinman tempo run, up 9th South and then south on 21st East.  I missed the split on the first mile (prob 6:10 or so with the little climb on 9th So.) and 5:55 for mile 2. Then some rest to 21st South, followed by 4 x 1 mile with ~3 minutes rest between. My watch had my splits as 5:47; 5:44; 5:38; 5:44.  Josh was several seconds faster on a couple of these. By the start of the third mile interval we were at 3300 South. We had to symmetricize some of the recovery portions to optimize terrain gradient.  That's right, we symmetricized.  Then we had a long, long cool down home. 

U/Avenues loop.

Met up with an early group at Foothill for three miles and then ran another 12 with a group that started big (10-12 runners) and slimmed down as everyone tailored their run to different distances.  Our route, an out and back, took us nearly to the Capitol before turning around.  I felt decent, not great.  My heel was giving me some problems. Enough problems that, after the run, I went out and bought a Strassberg sock and a foot roller designed for PF.  I hope these will help a bit.

AM: 8.5 miles over the U/Avenues loop (w/Ensign extension)

PM: Ran home from work 3.5

Black Sheep workout. It was cold! We met at Foothill Sbux and ran a needed warm up, followed by several sets of hills, taking us up to Donner Way, then more hills in Donner Park, then more hills in This is the Place, then finally more hills in and near Bonneville Golf Course.  All this was followed by a generous 2 mile cooldown.

AM: 5 miles at 5:20 am, then into work by 7am.

 PM: I ran home from work via a 4 mile route.

Big Workout with Josh, or as we termed it this morning in honor of the snow and crappy road conditions, "Death by Plow."  

We ran the usual 3 mile warm up over to Guardsman/Sunnyside. Then 2 miles at Tinman pace (6:15/5:49). Then a little rest before running 5 x 1 mile.  We tried to do these to avoid sloppy roads, with mixed success.  The bottom line is we went as far south as 2700 South and 2300 E. and as far west as 700 East, 1300 E.  That is, we ended up at Liberty Park for the final interval. 

Our pace was generally slow, given that we had jump puddles, evade cars, run on sidewalks, etc. I think the miles were: 6:00 (included gully), 5:50, 5:49; 5:59 and 5:50.  The last mile was tough. Tough enough that we decided to bail on a potential interval #6.

The snow and slop on the streets heavily taxed the moisture transferring properties in my socks. They weighed about a pound each by the time I got home!

U/Avenues loop.  A planned evening run didn't pan out.

From Foothill Sbux: 3 miles w/a group of 2, then 8 miles with a group of 12, then 5 miles with a group of 5.

No running, but I did go swimming up at Steiner for the first time in at least six months.  I got there right before closing and probably swam 500 meters or so. I didn't really keep track, just tried to find my form. It was sort of there.