Elite Jogging For Dummies

AM:  I slept in until 6:15 because it's a holiday.  Then I ran 11 miles on a loop route, most of it on the trail. I ran from home up to the bottom of Dry Creek Canyon and then south on Shoreline Trail (with Red Butte up and back detour) over to the mouth of Emigration, where I added a bit before turning around to head back via my standard TitP route to home.  This run helped to work out some kinks. I brought my iPod, which I rarely do these days, and listened to The National.

PM:  Heather and I drove with Jack up to the Eden valley. We visited the Monastery in Huntsville (bought some honey) and then drove over to Eden and parked at Red Moose Lodge.  From there we ran a four mile out and back on the neighborhood roads around Eden. It was nice, Jack enjoyed being pushed and looking at horses and other signs of rural (well, semi rural) life.

For the past few weeks, I have been looking ahead to this workout on the training calendar with a feeling of dread. The plan called for a total of ten miles at marathon pace (~6 min), broken up in four intervals as a descending ladder.  The intervals are: 4 miles/3 miles/2 miles/1 mile with a 2 minute recovery between intervals.

I warmed up two miles over to Steiner Aquatic Center and started the first interval, four miles.  The first mile was dominated by a steady gradual climb up 900 South and I focused on the effort, rather than the pace. First mile in 6:15.  Then some flat and a nice gradual descent down 20th E.  I started to feel better, the next two miles were 6:04 and 5:46.  I continued the brisk pace until the last mile brought me to the steep climb out of the gully on 20th East and slowed things down, but not too bad, 6:02.

After two minutes of easy jogging, I started the second interval, 3 miles. These were all flat miles, 6:01, 5:54, 5:54.

 Another two minutes of jogging and I was thinking just three more miles at pace to go--I can hang on.  5:54, 6:02.

The last interval, one mile, was brutal. I was running north on 15th East which includes some challenging climbs. I ran 6:18, but the effort was much harder than that.  

After that, I ran 3 miles easy back home through the U. 

 This is the most marathon specific workout I have done so far, and I knew it would be tough. It didn't disappoint.  I chose a good course with plenty of variability in terrain.  On the flats I was able to hold 6 minutes or faster just fine, which is probably the best barometer for me on this workout.
 

Met up with Josh & Megan on 3rd Ave at 5:47 (I was late). We ran an eleven mile adventure loop out to my old neighborhood and back. Pace was not as easy as I would have liked, but it felt ok overall. Wore my neon yellow gloves this morning again because it was kind of chilly, but really ideal for running.

PM: I ran home from work. I took a new route, running west from my office toward 300 West, then by the Salt Palace, Delta Center, Triad Center, and then east on 200 N., to N. Temple up to Memory Grove, then 4th Ave to home. I liked this route, downtown is flat--which is nice for the second run.

Drove to Holladay and ran with that crew, eleven miles total. I ran easy with Derrick and Casey while Johanna, Aimee, et al. blazed ahead. I felt fine, just no reason to rush this morning. Planning to race the half m at Spanish Fork this weekend so no workout today.

 PM: I ran home from work. Once again, I headed west before heading north and then east.  Downtown is a ghost town after 5pm, so it's actually quite relaxing to be running around here at 6:30-7pm. The only hassle is the traffic lights.
 

I ran an extended U/Ensign Elem loop this morning. Great weather, 50 degrees.  I just took it easy and tried to focus on keeping my form loose.  I've got a few tight spots in my upper hamstring and glute, but nothing too serious. 

This was the second time I've run the Spanish Fork Half Marathon, last year was the first.  It's not a fast course compared to the usual downhill Utah screamer. It's got a lot of flat with some substantial rollers and a couple of attention-getting  climbs. In short, a very honest course-perhaps even a little too honest. The course is also beautiful, tracing the rural farm roads that flank Spanish Fork. 

I had a variety of goals today, some were met, others not.  Last year I placed second in 1:17:45 and I wanted to beat that time and also beat Chris Rogers' winning time from last year of 1:16:08.  From what I knew about the field, I also thought I would have a good chance to win the race this year, so that was a possibility as well.  Most importantly, I wanted to do all of this without running so hard that I would have any substantial recovery time.

Well, Sasha decided to come run and that got in the way of winning the race, but on every other score I'm satisifed. 

I ran what added up to 4 miles of warm up before the start, a bit on the course, a bit not.

We started fairly conservatively and then Sasha gradually took off, building a one minute lead that I couldn't make a dent in and, since this isn't a goal race, I saw no reason to kill myself to do so. So he jogged it in to victory in 1:13:55.

Other than running with James for the first mile or so, I ran entirely on my own. This was good for a training run because it forced me to run within myself and observe my race closely as it developed. 

Here are my splits:

1-5:52

2-5:58

3-5:50

4-5:55

5-5:45

6-5:59 (climbing)

7-5:59 (climbing again)

8-5:27 (rolling downhill)

9-5:39

10-5:52

11-5:41

12-5:46

13-5:35

I cooled down for four miles, mostly chatting with Holly Hagerman, who had won the 5k outright. I gave her a little blog pitch. Hopefully she'll at least lurk a bit :)

Five easy miles pushing Jack up to Fort Douglas and back.

I didn't have a lot of real soreness from Saturday's race, which is a good thing. I do have plenty of general fatigue in the legs, though, and I felt that this morning. I ran very slowly on the Golf Course loop, adding a little extra up Emigration Canyon. Total of 11.25 miles. A massage is sounding good about now.

 PM:  I ran home from work, via the 3.75 mile westside route.
 

AM: I had a chance to stretch out a little bit last night and I felt better running this morning. However, I didn't have enough in my legs to run a full workout. So I did some fartlek on the Shoreline Trail and up in Red Butte Canyon, eleven miles total. The surges felt good, but the run was mostly easy pace. I'll shoot to run the workout on Thursday. PM: Drove to Liberty Park

PM: After letting my car sit in the parking garage at work for two days, I drove up to Liberty Park at about 6:30 and ran 4 miles, bobbing and weaving through the park and nearby neighborhoods. The sky looked like it was going to dump buckets of rain, but it ended up not happening. . . at least while I was running.

AM: I met up with Josh and Megan at 5:30. I had an early meeting so I had to run a little earlier today. We did a nice loop around the U, Federal Heights, Ensign, and over to the Capitol. Nice temperatures, though a little muggy. Eleven miles for the run, ~ 1:30.

By the way, I watched Sammy Wanjiru win the Olympic marathon on the NBC Olympics site the other night. They have an encore video that is about an hour and a half long. Wanjiru is 5' 4" and 112 pounds. The runner from Ethiopia who took third appeared to be about half a foot shorter. I had to ask myself ... if that is the ideal size profile, what business do I have thinking the marathon is the event for me? I should probably be throwing the shot put or something.

 PM:  I ran home from work, via the west downtown route. The AST Dew Extreme Sports ExtremeExtravaganzapalooza is going on by the Delta Center and I got to see, well, hear mostly, some supercross bikes flying through the course.  That mixed things up at the end of the day. Four miles total.

Met up with Josh at 5:30 this morning for the workout. We warmed up two miles, heading up to the U. The plan was ten miles of tempo, gradually accelerating from Tinman pace, to marathon pace, and beyond. We ran the same route I did last Tuesday, only this week there were no 2 minute jogging breaks between sets to provide any relief--just ten miles of running. We started the tempo near the VA. The first mile had a little descent and then some climbing up 900 South, past Guardsman. I was concerned when the first split was 6:23, as it seemed we were working harder than this. The second mile smoothed out a bit and had a little descent on 20th E., 6:10. That's right on Tinman pace. We continued the nice descent for mile three, 5:50--but it still seemed we were working pretty hard. Mile four was flat and then we had to climb out of the gully, 6:06. Mile 5 was flat again on 20th E, heading south between 27th So and 33rd South, 6:04. So, five miles in ~30:33.

We picked things up in the second half, which was encouraging. We ran out to 3900 South and our 180 degree turnaround, 5:53 for mile 6. We're now heading north. Mile 7 was 5:46, just 5k to go. 5:50 for mile 8. Then 5:53 for mile 9. The last mile was tough, as it includes a nasty climb up 15th East, but managed a 5:50 which shows a little surge at the end to finish the workout. Total of 29:12 for the last five miles.  Finished the ten miles in 59:45, so we managed to break an hour. Then we jogged back home, four miles easy.

I can't say I felt "fresh" for this workout in the least. My legs are pretty tired and I'm looking forward to not running this afternoon and running easy tomorrow. The important thing, of course, is that the workout is done. Josh is running super strong, by the way. He'll do great at SGM.

Out the door at about 6am this morning for an easy nine mile run around the U, Ensign, Memory Grove. The temperatures were cool, but nice for running. 

PM: I ran three miles with Heather and Jack before going out to dinner to celebrate Heather's birthday.

Josh and I drove up to Foothill Sbux and met up with a big group of runners for a 5:30 am start. Most of the group ran an 8 mile loop.  After circling back to Foothill, Josh, Lisa and I headed up Emigration Canyon with a few of Lisa's friends. We ran up just past the Sun and Moon Cafe, nearly to the turnaround at Pinecrest. We took it very easy the whole run and there were many stops along the way. On the way down the canyon, the pace got mildly spicy, but we never cracked 6:30 pace for very long. We had a few surges in there which felt good, but that was about it. Overall, Josh, Lisa and I all finished feeling pretty good and no worse for the wear after this run.

Twelve miles this morning, via the U/Federal Heights loop with a major uphill detour to the Morris Meadow for a loop around the meadow, before heading down to finish the run via Memory Grove and 4th Ave. Slow today, but steady enough to feel like I was actually running.

 PM: I ran home from work, via the west downtown route.

I ran a little workout this morning. I headed out the door at about 5:35 and warmed up four miles to the U, Ft. Douglas, and This is the Place. At TiTP, I started the workout, 7 x 3 minutes at CV pace. For me, that pace should be around 5:30-5:35 per interval. I ran 2 minutes easy between intervals.

The first one--starting at the bottom of TiTP was uphill into a major headwind blowing out of Emigration Canyon; 6:21 pace and it felt hard. Second had some downhill by the golfcourse, heading onto Wasatch, 5:21 pace . Third was flattish with a little rise on Wasatch, 5:36 pace. Fourth was still on Wasatch, heading toward Foothill Boulevard, 5:25 pace. Fifth one, past Christine Brimley's water fountain on Foothill, heading toward the footbridges, very slight uphill with a headwind, 5:38. Sixth one, heading back north from the footbridge, slight downhill, 5:17. Seventh one, back up on to Wasatch Boulevard, 5:17 again. Then a five and a half mile cooldown back to the house.

I felt pretty good about the workout overall, even though it seemed to go by very quickly. I wore a new pair of Asics flats (the Hyperspeed) that I am considering racing in at SGM. Overall, they felt light and quick but I wonder about wearing them over 26 miles. I'm fine wearing flats on the half M, but haven't worn them on the marathon. I have always worn the Asics DS Trainer instead. I think I will use these new shoes a couple of more times in workouts to get more information from my body and then I can make up my mind.

 PM: I ran home from work, 2.6 mile version.

Easy run with  Josh and Megan, around the U/Federal Heights/Avenues/Capitol etc.  I don't know why I call it "easy" as it was actually really slow and hard! 

Workout with Josh this morning. We met up on South Temple and ran up through the Avenues to the U, Fort Douglas, then over to TitP, and headed up into Emigration Canyon.  Our plan was to run a seven mile tempo, with five of the miles being downhill to get a little taste of St. George.I thought it would be pretty good if we could keep 5:30-5:35 on the downhill miles.

After two miles of easy running up the canyon (just past Ruth's Diner), we started the uphill portion of our tempo run. The first two miles, up the canyon with a little headwind, were tough but felt workmanlike.  First mile was 6:19, second mile 6:25. Not bad, all things considered.  Then we made the turnaround to head back down the canyon. 

We both knew the first mile after the turn would be tough because we would have to change gears quickly, and we were right!  Mile 3 was 5:31.  The fourth mile still felt a little rough, but improved slightly, 5:30.  We eventually settled into a better groove, mile 5 was 5:24. We were about a mile from the mouth of the canyon at this point and we just kept on rolling down, 5:19 for mile six. For the last mile, we headed out of the canyon and through the lower parking lot at TitP, then made a right turn into Research Park, 5:15 for mile seven. We picked it up a little bit there at the end, but it didn't feel like we were pushing too hard. 

Then we had about four miles of cooldown back to the house for a total of 17 for the morning.

I got to bed a little late (11:40) and slept a little late this morning (6:15).  So I ran nine easy miles on the ol' Avenues/U/Federal Heights/Ensign/Memory Grove loop. 

 Tonight we're planning to drive to Moab. My buddy Sam is running a 50 miler in Moab tomorrow and we're going to make sure he gets enough to eat and drink when he is done.

We left Salt Lake for Moab at close to 6 pm last night.  It took a long time to get down here, having stopped in Helper for 40 minutes to feed Jack and get a bite to eat for ourselves. We didn't eat very well, just sandwiches etc. Arrived in Moab at 10:30 pm.  Sam and Kelli and their daughter, Samantha, were already asleep.  Sam got up at 3:45 to head out to catch the bus to run the 50 miler today.  His race started at 6am. So, as we speak, at 10:45 am, he has been running for 4.5 hours and probably has another 4-6 hours to go.  They have a massive climb in the beginning and then the last half is fairly flat. I can't wait to hear his report.

For myself, my plan was to head out for 18 miles, the last "long" run before SGM.  The house where we're staying is out near the road that heads up to the Slickrock Trail.  So, I ran out on the Mill Creek road, heading south, wondering how far I could go before running out of road. Turns out I could have gone a lot farther than I did. I had lots of company on the road since there was a 100 mile supported bike ride on the same road. I saw a couple of people that I know out there on the road.  

The run itself was fun. The road out had a nice little uphill grade that was easy, but still a climb.  I finished the first nine miles in about 1:10.  Then I turned around and had a nice cruise.  The pace was faster but still easy. The last few miles were in the 6:20 range, with mile 18 in 6:04.  

Overall, I think this was a pretty quality run, not just because of the distance, but because I kept the effort more consistent over the distance than I have in my last couple of long runs. Ok, so time to start a little taper action.  

Hope the TOU runners had good races, I look forward to the reports. 

Out the door at 5:45. I grabbed a hat before I left because the sky looked like it could rain. Indeed, about half way through my run, a little rain started to fall. But the bigger deal was the wind, lots and lots of wind. It was pretty brutal running toward City Creek canyon. The run was overall at easy pace, but I also added 8 x 100m strides to get some leg turnover. I felt ok, but a little heavy from the weekend and the long drive. 

Yesterday we hiked out to Delicate Arch at Arches NP, three miles round trip.  I carried Jack in the toddler pack. He did really well, not as much fuss as when we have hiked in the past.  It was a good time.

Easy run this morning, but with some climbing.  I headed up to the Shoreline Trail at the mouth of Dry Creek and ran south on the trail, up into (and then down) Red Butte, then continued south to the site of the new Natural History Museum. It's a mess up there, although they did add a new little section of trail to get around some of the work. But it hardly makes up for the giant imposition the new building will create, considering it's right in the middle of the trail. Farewell open space! Oh well, we can always make more of it. Oh, wait, no we can't.

I ran the last real workout on the schedule this morning, 4 x 4 minutes at CV pace with 15 miles total running.  I warmed up over to TiTP, then up to the golf course. I started the first interval and ran for about a minute before realizing I had not hit the split on my watch, so I stopped for a second to fix my watch and then started the first interval from scratch.  Pace was 5:29 on semi-rolling terrain on Wasatch Blvd. I felt like I was working pretty hard. On the second interval, I tried to relax a bit, but thinking it didn't make it happen.  Pace was, again 5:29.  On the third interval, I turned from Wasatch and headed along Foothill toward the footbridges.  This one has a little up, a little down, a little flat, and then a little more up again into a little Parley's Canyon headwind.  Pace was 5:35.  After jogging down to the end of the first footbridge, I turned around to start the last interval, retracing essentially what I had done on #3, although I had the benefit of a little more downhill. Pace was 5:25.  I then ran easy back home via the same route I took on the way out.

 My overall impression of this workout?  Eh.  It was good to get the miles, but I figured I would feel all speedy and snappy and it just wasn't there. I was legitimately working to keep pace. I will say that 4 minutes at CV pace feels a lot different than 3 minutes at CV pace. Add another minute and you're pretty much doing mile repeats.
 

AM:  I ran 8.10 miles on the U/Avenues loop, easy pace.
 

PM: I ran home from work, 2.25 mile version.  

AM: I ran 7 miles via a modified Federal Heights/Ensign Elem. loop.  I set my alarm last night for 5:30 pm, so that wasn't very helpful. I woke up at 6:30, glad I didn't have a long run planned.   I added 8 x ~ 100m strides during the run.

Since Mark O. is out of the massage world with an injury for the time being, I had a massage at noon over at the Eagle Gate College, right by my office. It's $30 for 50 minutes. The guy I have gone to is pretty good and it's a great deal.

PM: three easy miles, from home out and back to the gate up Memory Grove. Nice and easy, felt good.

I slept in until about 6:40 am and that made me feel pretty lazy. But since I only had 15 miles on the schedule, I figured I could indulge.

For this run, I traveled the same route as my Wednesday workout, out to the footbridge at Parley's canyon and back. After the turnaround, I did some progression miles, picking up the pace from 7min, to 6:45, to 6:30.  This generally felt pretty good. It was nice to feel my legs turning over, but I'm to that point now where I have no idea how I am possibly going to run as fast as I plan to run in the marathon. Oh well, as they say, the hay is in the barn. 

Eight easy miles over the U/Federal Heights/Avenues loop. For the first couple of miles I was stuck wondering how I'm ever going to drag my body through 26 miles at the end of the week, but fortunately I loosened up a bit after a while.  This taper is making me a little anxious ... I think I preferred running > 90 mpw. 

Yesterday morning I received word that my oldest friend, Ryan Jensen, whom I have known since kindergarten, had taken a serious downturn in his fight against an invasive bladder cancer.  I have seen him as recently as May and, although not completely well, he was relatively strong and was able to do almost whatever he wanted to do.  That has all changed in the past couple of weeks. He has been moved to a hospice near his home in Portland. 

So I booked a ticket and, along with my high school buddy Frank, we flew up to Portland last night at 6:50pm. We arrived at the hospice at about 8:30. Ryan was mostly asleep, but had a few lucid minutes where we could engage him.  He is so gaunt it is hard to believe it is my friend. His body has been ravaged with this disease.  I could see traces of the friend I have known, but it is not easy.  Still, there was no where else I would rather have been. We spent time catching up with Ryan's dad and one of his Portland friends.

When it became clear Ryan needed to continue to rest for the night, we headed off to bed.  The hospice has a guest room that we stayed in and that was ideal--it definitely beat staying in some faceless freeway motel.  This hospice, by the way, is an amazing environment.  They care greatly for the patient, but the grounds and warm interior also provide a lot of support for families and friends. A very peaceful place.

Although we were only going to be in town for a short time, I decided I would get up early and get in a run--try to clear my head a bit and process this experience.  I headed out a bit after 6am in the warm Portland morning under partly cloudy skies.  I ran a couple of miles around a neighborhood and stumbled on a nearby high school that had a nice track. I wanted to move my legs a little bit and I thought the repetition of the track might give me some focus. I ran 2 x 1 mile--5:23 and 5:25.  Then some jogging and back to the hospice.

 Ryan was still sleeping after I showered so Frank and I spent some time wandering around the facility, talking.  When Ryan woke up we got to have some very good quality time with him.  The pain management slows the mind considerably, but we were able to communicate, just keeping things light. Ryan's wife and his dad came over and we spent a few more minutes with them. Then, too soon, it was time for Frank and I to head back to the airport to come back to Salt Lake.  I had a moment alone with Ryan and shared a thought or two with my old friend.  His parting words were "I'll see you. . . " as if it were nothing at all.