Elite Jogging For Dummies

Bonneville Golf Course loop. My watch says this route climbs 689 feet, and descends 663 feet. Since I started and finished at my house, my guess is the real number is somewhere in between. Nice fall morning, very light out now at 6:30 am.

Tried the Cucina loop on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail again with Sam this morning. It was blissfully uneventful; no lightning, skunks, or ice storms. The temperature was surprisingly warm.

Tried a different variation of my route to get to Bonneville golf course. Once there, I ran on a couple of fairways, which is great. Running across the driving range to the secret exit from the golf course is a little more treacherous because of all the golf balls, but it was light enough out that I could see them all fine. I did have to stop during the run more than I would have liked, i.e., bio break/cars etc. . ., but overall I hope I remember to try this route again another time.

Met up with a few of the Black Sheep at 15th/15th at 5:30 am. We ran an 8 mile loop up around Steiner, to Foothill, down 23rd East to the Country Club, and then zig zagged back through a couple of Sugarhouse neighborhoods. Most of the group headed back to the cars after 8; Aimee Larkin and I continued on for another 2.4. We averaged just under 7 min for the 10 miles.

At 9:00 am, I went to Cottonwood Complex to watch the youth USATF State Cross Country meet. My friend and neighbor Mark Oftedal's son Eli, age 9, was running in the Bantam race. I have wanted to watch him race for a while because he developing into quite a phenom. Today was no exception. He won the hilly and slippery 3000m race by at least 350m, maybe more, finishing in 11:31.

I also got to watch Sasha's 7 year old son Benjamin run in the same race. Benjamin had a cold, but looked very tough in hard conditions. It's clear he takes his performances very seriously. I believe he was about 15th; I'm sure Sasha will add some details as well. It was a lot of fun to watch these kids race.

From 15th/15th, a group of six ran towards Research Park, a few turned back at that point; Aimee Larkin and I continued on to HCI for the standard loop.

I had a massage and that seemed to loosen some things up. I should not have waited so long since the marathon to get on the table. It really does make a difference. It's painful, but it helps.

Black Sheep workout at Liberty Park. I divided the 1.47 mi loop into 4 segments of between .30 and .45 in length. After a one loop warm up, we ran 4 total loops of speedwork based on the marks. (I'm probably making it sound more complicated than it was).

On the first set, we ran the loop in 1/4 segments, stopping for full rest at the end of each segment. These were run at sub 5k pace. Josh Steffen and I were holding about 5min pace for the most part.

On the second set, we ran the loop in 1/2 segments, stopping for full rest at the end of the first interval. The group was supposed to run these at a fast 10k pace, but that never works as a guide and Josh and I held about 5:10 pace.

On the third set, we ran 3/4 of the loop, which is basically a mile and a small amount of change. Josh and I ran this mile in 5:17, and a couple of seconds for the remaining .01 of a mile. We jogged back to the start at the end of that one.

On the fourth set, we ran a full loop, 1.47mi. My total time was 7:50. I tried to catch my split at the mile, I think it was 5:15. So I guess I slowed a bit on the last .47. Most of the group came in at about 6min per mile pace.

Then a mile cooldown.

From home, I ran a loop that took me out to 13th So. and 2300 E. where I turned west, then zigzagged my way through the Harvard/Yale neighborhood back toward the U. This run felt decent, I think the massage really helped open some things up in my legs. Yesterday and today have both felt much better than anything I've done since the marathon.

No running; arrived NYC at 5:10 am (3:10 am SLC time), was in a daze most of the day, trying to shake off the jet lag. Heather and I are here for a few days, seeing some of the city and visiting with friends.

Heather and I went out for a short run this morning, just enough to move the legs for a few minutes, but it wasn't really satisfying. We're staying in Greenwich Village and we ran south from our hotel along 6th Ave (Avenue of the Americas) for about 1.5 miles. Frustrating with all of the stopping for people and cars. On the way back we did a few loops around Washington Square off of 5th Ave. and that's about .5 mi exactly. I ran a tempo-ish mile at about 6:20 pace. The weather is spectacular and has taken me totally off-guard. I brought all of this cold-weather running gear, but it's short sleeve running weather.

My friends tipped me off on a much better running route today. From our hotel, we ran west to the Hudson River park, where there is a pedestrian/bike path. Lots of runners down there. Once there, we ran north past the Chelsea piers, parallel with midtown Manhattan. Another gorgeous day. Not enough time to do anything long. This is just pure maintenance running, and could probably more accurately be described as sightseeing.

Going to try to run Central Park tomorrow morning.

Central Park. The sky was overcast and it was getting cooler when we started, and we were a little concerned it was finally going to get cold. But that was no problem at all on this run. I brought gloves and a vest, didn't need either.

Anyway, I easily rank Central Park on my short list of favorite runs. And all we did was run the perimeter; I didn't even get to taste any of the trails and paths that weave throughout the park. I don't know how long it would take to exhaust running in the park, but I think it would take a while. Here's what I liked: the fall colors are gorgeous, there are lots of runners out at all fitness levels, and there is virtually no vehicle traffic. There are also a few legitmate hills in the park that add some challenge. Also, you're far enough away from the city traffic that you can't really hear the metropolis that surrounds you.

Heather went out with me on this run and what I did was run out for a half mile or a mile and then run back to her for a moment to touch base and make sure I didn't lose her, and then just keep moving on. It essentially ended up as a kind of fartlek workout, I mixed up a lot of different paces on this run. The last two miles were pretty honest; 6:24 and 6:25. Everything else was a mix of easy and harder running. Mostly easy, though. We're not going to have time to run tomorrow, which is unfortunate. I wish we would not have bothered with running anywhere else at the start of our trip, but we had to do what was convenient. I hope I can get back to run more of the park at some point.

Two days off running, and it felt good to get out. I ran the Bonneville golf course loop. It's beautiful up there and running the fairways is great.

From Radda (2300 E.,3300 So.), I started with a group of five. A few turned back at mile 4, Brad Gale and I continued on to make an 8 mile loop. We ran the last mile in 6:02. I came across an interesting story about the Antarctica Ice Marathon I just finished reading "Endurance," the book about Shackleton's adventure in Antarctica and the thought of running this marathon is kind of interesting.

H-Rock loop with the friday Black Sheep crew. The run is very mellow, other than the 430 feet of climbing up 2100 So. to access the H-Rock.

Hooked up with a group of five at Foothill Village. We ran north through the golf course, the zoo, and the University over to the fire station on 11th Avenue, then back on a modified version of that route.

I ran an easy mile, then went out with Heather. We ran together for a short time, and then I headed up toward the Shoreline trail and she headed toward the University. I just wanted a short run to burn off some energy, but I did run the last couple of miles at 6 min pace.

Bonneville Golf Course loop, with 1900 E. and Steiner return route. I wore my HR belt today, something I have done very little this year. Average was 153. The first 5 miles were at a steady easy pace. The last three miles, I picked it up and averaged about 6:20. From the golf course on Wasatch, there is a nice descent down 1300 So. to 1900 E. that makes running north on 1900 E. feel much better.

Black Sheep workout. We started at Popperton Park (11th Ave and Virginia). We ran a one mile warm up. Starting from the firestation on 11th Ave., we did 2 minutes hard/2 minutes easy, running west, and then north down past the entrance to City Creek, and south to the Capitol. Easy jog down to Memory Grove. We did 4 hard sets of stairs between Memory Grove and 4th Ave. Then we did the Black Sheep classic "Over and Up," which means running easy on the flat numbered streets and running hard up the hilly lettered streets. The first few were not so bad. Josh and I were hanging in there, with Derick not far behind and the rest of the group a little bit back. By the time we were running between 9th and 10th Ave, I was getting anaerobic. Heart rate was up to 180. On the final stretch, between 10th and 11th Ave, I was wasted. My HR was 186 at the end of that long climb, and I think I only have a couple of beats to go beyond that for a maximum. It took a couple of minutes to catch my breath and jog it back to the finish. Kind of a brutal start to the morning, but fun.

From my house, a group of six of us ran the Bonneville Golf Course loop. It was a beautiful, warm morning and an enjoyable run.

I was too late out the door to hook up with the group, so I ran alone. First couple of miles were sluggish beyond belief. Thought a tempo mile might spice things up, it didn't. I struggled through it into the wind at 5:58. Thought a bio break might help, it didn't. Thought some downhill running might help, it didn't. Thought stopping at 6.5 miles might help, that did the trick. It's not as if I have been training hard, I can't really explain why I felt so sluggish today.

We're up at Bear Lake for at least part of the weekend. Thanksgiving was fun, but too many calories. Heather and I went out and ran on the dirt roads up and around the cabin this morning. Not much snow has accumulated, but we did run on the crunchy stuff for a while. I did some Rocky III style pull ups while waiting for Heather in a few spots. Also ran a couple of hard hill repeats, approx 45 seconds on a steep grade. I still feel a little worn down though my energy level is fine; both knees have been a bit stiff for the last couple of weeks and it's not getting much better so I need to figure out what's going on there.

Still up at Bear Lake. I went out alone this morning and ran a mix of dirt roads and pavement. The first 40 minutes felt decent, but nothing great. Started to get a little sluggish again, but I finally had a breakthrough as I ran a long flat stretch next to a field full of cows; I picked up the pace into the wind and ran a hard half mile. The last 30 minutes of the run were great. I finished in 1:10. It was a sunny, gorgeous 30 degrees.

15th & 15th run with a few of the Black Sheep. Ran hard in the middle up to HCI.

Black Sheep workout. Started at Steiner; ran an easy mile down to 1300 E. Then ran 2 x 800 on Guardsman. Ran over to the U and did the "Golden Mile" in 5:52. It was snowing and slick and I think we shaved a bit off (my watch said it was short by a tenth). Then we did three progressively longer hill repeats on the mall running through the middle of campus. The weather was a bit of a limitation, but we had a good time.

Woke up to several inches of snow at our house. So after shoveling snow, I thought it might be a good morning to put the gym membership that I won last spring to use for the first time. The gym is less than a block from work, so it's pretty convenient. I ran on the treadmill, which I do very, very infrequently.

Even with my iPod, I found that time passed very s l o w l y. I kept increasing the pace to make it a little more engaging. I ran mile 5 at 6:10 and then mile 6 at 5:58.

It was about 5 degrees this morning at 6am, I'm guessing. But I dressed right and ran up into City Creek where it was even colder, but fortunately no wind, which can be a killer on chilly days in the canyon.