Elite Jogging For Dummies

The kids pretty much kept us up from about 1-4 am so when the alarm went off at 5:40 I just wasn't feeling the run.  I brought my gear to work and ran at lunch.  I basically ran up to fourth avenue and did the usual Avenues loop I have been doing lately. It was a beautiful day to run. The long stretch up 4th Ave was a pain as usual. The descent down Memory Grove was great.

Workout at East High with the Black Sheep.  After a short warm up, we ran 800m of speed changes. the actual workout was 8 x 800m at Yasso pace.  I have no idea what my marathon goal pace would be at the moment, so I basically shot for ~2:45 per interval.  The results were: 2:49, 2:48; 2:46; 2:45; 2:44; 2:43; 2:43; 2:39.  If I were to do the math, I think these probably average out to around  2:45, but that doesn't say much about my consistency from one rep to the next.  Then a mile cooldown to finish things off.

 Yesterday I started to have a new breed of knee pain that is different than what I have been dealing with the last few months, and is noticeable when I walk more than when I run. It's on the inside of the left knee. I have a massage scheduled for tomorrow and maybe Mark can help me diagnose the problem. 
 

No running today--I did get a massage at 6:30 am from Mark.  He worked for an hour and a half just on my left leg and I think it helped loosen things up.

I took it easy today to see how my knee would respond after yesterday's rest and massage. It did great, no pain at all.  I think I can run another 7 or so tomorrow for another little test. If everything still feels ok, I think I will race the Chasing Tale 5k on Saturday at Wheeler Farm.  It would just be for the fun of running a few miles hard -- I don't expect much considering that, at best, I would be racing on the fumes of training completed long, long ago.

The knee held up very well on this run. I headed out toward This is the Place and turned around at the gate.  I added a couple of pickups.  The run was good enough to convince me it would be alright to race the Chasing Tail 5k. 

Having not raced since August (a triathlon), having not really trained since September 2008, and coming off of a series of knee injuries -- I think it is safe to say that I had pretty low expectations going into this race.  But I am glad I was motivated enough at least to get to the starting line.  It's easy to decide every week that racing is a bad idea when you feel injured and/or undertrained.  

This race seemed like a good way to at least check in with the racing world.   The course is absolutely beautiful -- 2 big loops around Wheeler Farm, primarily on dirt roads and wide trails.  The race was also a big event for walkers and their dogs, being a fundraiser for Therapy Animals of Utah.  

I headed over with Josh Steffen and my brother, JD.  Weather was great, absolutely ideal, in fact. We did a warm up over the course for a few miles -- around and over various farm animals, tractors, ponds, bridges, etc.  The course has a few short climbs, but nothing significant.  The real obstacle would prove to be navigating around walkers and their dogs.

At the starting line, I checked in with Bill Cobbler and a few other folks. I saw Fiddy up there as well.  I knew he had been running well and I thought it would be a fun to watch him race Josh.  From the start, I did have a chance to watch that for a few minutes, but it wasn't long before they dropped me -- out of sight.

With those guys firmly ahead, the only person nearby was Craig Green, and I ran behind him 20-30 meters most of the race. He looked strong and I doubted if I would be able to muster enough to catch him.  

The first mile was 5:35, which covered 2/3 of the first loop around the farm's perimiter. The second mile was 5:39.  At some point in this second mile I started to overtake some of the walkers and their dogs.  Since it's a charity event, I am glad so many people are out to support the worthy cause. I do wish that the race directors did a better job of making sure that racers would not have to do a slalom around people and pets.  It was sort of silly at a few points. Anyway, I was still having fun and that was the important part.  Mile 3 was 5:49, and I think this reflected my fancy footwork around humans and canines.

 I was still in fourth place right up until I could see the finish line. I was feeling pretty spent but at that point I decided that maybe, just maybe, I could kick and pass Craig.  I kicked, and did.  It was a nice way to move into 3rd overall, but sort of a weak tactic as well. I should have made it more of a race during the race itself.  

All things considered, I'm very satisfied with my performance today.   I averaged sub  5:40 on a dirt path route and my knee felt very good.  No complaints.

The field was about 200 people. Josh won in 16 minutes and change.  Fiddy was second in about 16:30, I believe (but will need to check).  

JD had a great race, running a 40 second PR notwithstanding all of the obstacles this race presented that didn't favor fast times.  I saw him at the finish and he looked great.

I was fortunate to get more sleep than usual last night -- assisted in part by getting up later than I had planned.  I ran the U/Avenues/Memory Grove loop. It was 36 degrees, still warm enough for shorts but cold enough for headband and gloves (and shirt).  I wore the Speedstars, which feel very cushy compared with the Hyperspeeds. It's nice to rotate them around. Total run time was 1:02. 

I had an early meeting so I couldn't run the entire Black Sheep workout, but since they were meeting up at Popperton Park, I got in some early miles by running up to meet the group. From there, we ran west on 11th Avenue easy. At I Street, we started doing one minute on/one minute off all the way down 11th , around the horseshoe at Memory Grove and over to the Capitol.  The group was doing stairs at the Capitol, but that's something my knee won't tolerate and it was time to head back toward home anyway, which I did with a few others headed the same way back to Popperton.  Then ran home from 11th and Virginia.

No running this morning. Instead, I got a massage from Mark at 6:30 am.  It was certainly more painful than running but I think it was helpful. 

This was a very therapeutic run.  My dad passed away on Thursday after battling pancreatic cancer for seven months and I took the day off to be with family and make arrangements for him.  In the cool mid-morning air I ran up Red Butte Canyon and on the Shoreline trail.  My dad was an avid painter of imagined landscapes and I felt like I was running in one of his paintings.  The colors of the mountains, the dense blue sky, and the contours of the ridgelines allowed me to see the world as I imagined he saw it in his paintings. 

 My dad was the sole reason that I became a runner.  He coached and encouraged me throughout my childhood and followed my running closely as an adult.  I enjoyed his company in my thoughts on this run.  I am so thankful to have had such a great dad to inspire me in so many ways. I miss you Dad!!

Group run from Foothill Starbucks.  Nice to run and chat with some friends. 

I didn't log many miles today, but I did a lot of climbing. I headed up to the meadow on the BST and then straight up the mountain to the peak overlooking the meadow and the valley.  In less than a mile, I covered at least 1200 feet vertical. I have done this 4 or 5 times over the years and I was glad that I had the fitness to run to the top. After wandering around a bit, I headed north along a ridge, dipping briefly into the upper south side of City Creek Canyon and then up to the 8 way intersection and the return to the meadow via the BST.  This four mile run took an hour!

Workout with the Black Sheep at East High.  My buddy Derick coached and packaged it as an A-B-C, 1-2-3 run.

After the customary warm up and speed changes:

Set A: 1 x 400m (81);  2 x 200m (36,35); 3 x 100m (15,14,14)

Set B: 1 x 800m (2:45); 1 x 400m (77); 3 x 200m (34,34,34)

Set C: 1 x 800 (73); 2 x 200m (34,34); 3 x 100m (14,13,11)

 The last 100m was the fastest that I have run in a long time and it actually felt good. I had a jogging start into it so I can't say that I could run like that out of blocks, but I did have a sense of having retained some top end speed.  Also, I always run much better and harder on the last interval.

Then we ran a mile cooldown on the track.  I am a little sore in the hamstrings from the short bursts but  it was a valuable workout, particularly given that I'm not running anything long right now.

My legs were a little hammered from yesterday's speedy session but I managed to share the discomfort with Josh and Megan on an easy out and back run to This is the Place Monument. 

I ran the U/Federal Heights/Avenues loop. It was a chilly 29F outside, but I warmed up quickly.  I wouldn't mind this for running weather for the foreseeable future, minus the inversion of course.

Three easy miles at ~6am from Foothill Sbux followed by 8 additional miles with a larger crew at 6:30 after circling back to pick them up. 

The fresh snow made for an enjoyable change of scenery and a not as enjoyable change of footing.  I ran the U/Avenues/Memory Grove loop.  At the bottom of Memory Grove, I slipped on some ice while turning a corner and hit the pavement pretty hard, landing on my left side.  Feeling no worse for the wear, I walked for a minute and then ran again with no problems. I noticed my knee was a little skinned up when I got home, though. 

Workout with the Black Sheep at Sugarhouse Park.  We ran a warm up loop around the park and then did 2 more loops running 1 minute on/1 minute off.  Then we played a game, fox and the hound, where we would give a big head start to someone, the "fox" and then all of us "hounds" would try to catch up to them. That was fun,but painful. Cool down lap with Josh & Burke at the end.

Since I am planning to do the Cold Turkey 6K run tomorrow, I thought I would run most of the course.  I headed down 4th Ave, and then up to the Capitol and north to the starting line on Gravity Hill. Speaking of Gravity Hill, as I have said before, I think there is no doubt which way is the uphill direction, and it is the direction (north) that the race starts. The fact that it continues for a mile up City Creek Canyon reminds me that this race is a gut-wrencher. 

 I did have some residual knee pain today, but nothing too bad. Just keeping an eye on it. It's been really pretty good for the last couple of weeks and I don't want to get in trouble with it again.

This is my second race in three weeks, which is more than I raced all summer. This is my second attempt at this particular race, and I was slower (as anticipated). But the point was just to run hard and have a good time, not to get too preoccupied with the result. By the way, there isn't much that is fun about 6k, except that it is over relatively quickly and there is a brief feeling that you have accomplished something by running through a few barriers of pain that seemed insurmountable before the gun went off.

I ran to the race from my house with JD. We ran into Adam RW and did a nice conversational warm up with him. It's been a while since we chatted.

The start heads up toward City Creek Canyon from the Capitol and then turns around just before the one mile mark in the canyon. From there,it's a downhill screamer into memory grove.

After leading the pack from the start for the first ten feet, I settled into the top 10 and focused on tracking down a couple of runners ahead of me. The ones wearing basketball shorts were first, then the ones wearing tights, and finally, one or two wearing running shorts.

The climb up City Creek was difficult as expected. I had a nice little race going on with a guy who passed me early and then I caught him and managed to keep him at bay for the rest of the race, but it took effort. The race down Memory Grove was fun, perhaps because I am very familiar with the area and can break it up into very small parts to help manage the effort. I don't have my watch with me to give my splits, but I can say that I hoped to average sub-5 minutes for the last mile down the canyon, but didn't. I ran 5:08, which isn't bad.

Adam finished 30 seconds or so ahead of me, Josh won and so did Megan. She was just 30 seconds behind me and one of these days she is going to cruise past me in a race. More power to her. JD had a great race, running what I am sure is 6k PR.

Then we had some cool down to return home. Nice Thanksgiving morning. Much to be thankful for.

I ran the Avenues/Memory Grove loop, pushing Jack (now 30+ pounds) in the jogger.  We had an extended field trip in City Creek Canyon, saw a fish in the creek, and checked out a few little trails. After that Jack didn't want to get back in the stroller and a loud struggle (mostly Jack) ensued. I won, but barely.

Out and back from Foothill Sbux to the firehouse on 11th Ave, with a Bonneville golf course addition on the return. 

Avenues/U/Federal Heights loop.  Nice brisk morning.