Elite Jogging For Dummies

Happy New Year all. One thing I'd like to do this year is get back to logging my miles.  I am now running semi-regularly and it's probably good to start keeping track, both for my benefit and the benefit of the dozen followers of my blog..  To keep it simple, I'm just going to log the miles and probably not say whole lot about the running unless something extraordinary happens. I know that will come as a great disappointment to my  hundreds of loyal blog readers.  The best I can do is to hope that you thousands of dedicated blog readers can somehow find some way to fill this gaping void in your life.  I know it seems like I am squandering the opportunity to reach my millions of slavishly loyal blog readers every day with my wit and wisdom, but sometimes in life you have to make the tough choices. In any case, I wish each and every one of the billions of fans of my blog a happy new year filled with the pure joy of running :)

30 minutes on the elliptical. core work.

Easy 6.5 from Foothill Sbux -- lots of talk about St. George Marathon 2012.

No running. Headed up to East Canyon early for some time on the SUP (stand up paddleboard). Beautiful morning. 

Park City trail run.  12 miles up and back on the Armstrong trail, up to mid-mountain, and then a couple more miles easy from the base. 

Easy from 9th/9th. 

For the first time in years I ran twice today -- though with very modest mileage!I ran 3 miles on the AM on the treadmill, waiting for the sprinkler guy.  Added another four miles at lunch, up Memory Grove in the heat.

Black Sheep workout at Miller Park. 3 x hill repeats on the road; 2 x ~ 700m intervals uphill on the trail; 5 x ~350 intervals uphill on the trail plus warm up and cool down.

Six on the treadmill

Easy miles on the Pipeline Trail in Millcreek Canyon.

Arrived East Canyon Reservoir at 5:40 am.  We had a group of 15 this morning -- all swimming except for yours truly, spent the morning on the paddle board. Watched the sun come up over the water, gorgeous.  Paddled 2.5 miles.

Next up, got dropped off at Little Dell Reservoir and  ran up Little Mountain and down Emigration Canyon, ending just below the zoo.  Pace was just under 7 min for most of the downhill section -- added two "spicy" miles starting at the Fire Station: 5:56 and 5:49.  These felt fine, but hey, they're downhill.  It got quite warm by the finish. A long morning, but a lot of fun.

Longer run for the first time in a long time -- took a tour of the east side of the SL Valley.  Felt better than expected, but took it very easy.  Running time 2:56.

no running -- rest after the long run.

Speed work at Highland track with the Black Sheep.  9 x ~750m. The awkward distance is part of the workout, John's "Penny Run."  Most splits in the range of 2:38/2:39

Six miles on the treadmill.

Three miles around the hood before heading to Colorado for the weekend with the family.

Eight miles on the rural roads of Glade Park, CO. 

A long-ish run on the rural roads of Glade Park, CO.  

Five miles on the treadmill.

Workout at East High with the Black Sheep.  Following a one mile warm up and 800 m of speed changes, the meat of the workout included 7 x 1200 m.  The first and last 200m of each of the 1200 was at ~44 seconds.  The 800s in between were at ~2:57.  Fairly consistent overall and it felt pretty good, though a little slower than where I would like to be. I would say that it projects a 3 hour marathon, or barely below.  

7.3 glorious miles on the treadmill.

8 miles on the mean streets of Holladay, UT.

Tour of upper millcreek from Olympus Hills center.

Grand tour of the east side of the SL valley with JD.  Great run.  Total time 2:54.

I may go run .10 just for the joy of seeing "70.0" for the week -- even though the number is a bit of an illusion because it includes two long runs in the last 7 days.

Five miles on the treadmill in the morning. I had planned to run at lunch or in the afternoon for a few more miles but then, suddenly, life got in the way. 

Black Sheep workout on the Highland HS track.  After a warmup around the park and 400m of speed changes, the workout was 10 x 800m; Yasso style.  Times for the first few were in the range of 2:57.  After that, pretty consistently 2:51-2:53.  

From Birch Hollow in Millcreek Canyon: 2 miles on the road up to Elbow Fork, and then back down the canyon to Church Fork before returning to Birch Hollow.

From 9th and 9th, a tour of the Liberty Park neighborhood.

Four miles easy around the mouth of Millcreek canyon.  Trying to keep it light; planning to race tomorrow.

First half marathon race since Canyonlands 2010. First race as a master. I have been ramping up into actual training in the last few weeks in a desperate attempt to assure myself I can finish St. George in a reasonable time, but it all feels a little too little too late for that. However, I am really enjoying running with some purpose and this race is evidence of that.

I nearly didn't run. The rain was pouring down hard when I woke up at 5am and there seemed to be no point in trying to pull some soaked heroics for a training race. I crawled back in bed and it felt nice. But the rain had stopped by 6 and with hope renewed I headed to the race.

The race starts at Mt. Dell golf course and the first four miles are a long steady climb to the top of Little Mountain before descending Emigration Canyon to research park and the finish. I did a 2.5 mile warmup making trips back and forth to my car for various nonessential reasons. When the race started, I headed out with a group of 10 or so, no one I knew. It was slow. I decided someone needed to do something to pick things, so why not me? In a wanton display of hubris, I made a strong move and gain 10m on the field quickly. I was alone foe a bit before getting caught by the eventual winner. We traded leads pulling up the hill. Then he separated and I never caught him. As I neared the top of Little Mountain I was caught again, by second place guy. That would be the last position change. The miles up to Little mountain were 7:04; 7:37, 7:02, 7:23. Slow but it's a rough way to start a race. I felt good and in control heading down Emigration, but never fast. Miles were 6:09,6:11,6:13,6:06,6:06,:6:08,6:09,6:03. Last mile was flat and tough, 6:18. In retrospect I was slower at the start of the descent than I should have been--it's the steepest downhill section. I seem to have forgotten I was racing. I like the tight range of the miles in the canyon, I could have run a couple more of those I think. Whether I can put effort like this together in a marathon is an open question. Marathon pace is probably 6:35-6:40 in all likelihood.

Great to see my little family at the finish--had fun cooling down with them, added another 2.6 of miscellaneous easy miles.

Millcreek Canyon: I headed up Rattlesnake Gulch to Pipeline, ran east to Birch Hollow, and back down the road. I ran at 10am and it was Labor Day, so tons of people on bikes and hiking on Pipeline.  Lots of stopping and dodging people, bikes and dogs; not used to that since I'm usually on the trail early in the morning.

No speedwork today; legs just not ready after racing (showing my lack of recovery ability and general lack of fitness).  I ran from home; still trying to find a route that isn't a long  downhill start and long uphill finish.  Headed on Wasatch to the Grandeur Peak trailhead, which is worth exploring much more (i've not run up that way before).  Ended up just under 7 miles for the run. Then I took the boys off to their first day of preschool (L) and Kindegarten (J). So proud of them!

4.5 on the treadmill in the morning. 4.5 at lunch. 4.5 x 2 = 9. 

Pipeline trail in Millcreek canyon from Birch Hollow to the top of Rattlesnake Gulch. Started at 6am -- it was dark, very dark for the first 3 miles. Sun started to make an appearance on the run back to birch hollow.

From Blue Star through upper Holladay.  Getting much cooler in the morning now!

Started at Foothill Sbux; out and back to 11th Avenue, picked up some company and then headed on a south loop to 4500 south before returning north through Holladay.  Long morning, but took it SO easy.  Total running time 3:11; but I never stopped my watch for the many, many breaks we took along the way.

From home, I ran down the hill to the mouth of Millcreek Canyon (about 1.5 miles) and up the canyon another 2.5, before turning around and heading back.  This is the first out and back I've done up the canyon road and it wasn't too bad. It's a climb for sure, and the descent has some drops that my body may not love but it is runnable and better than many of the options nearby.  

AM: Workout with the Black Sheep. Met at East High but Bill Cobler and the team were on the track so we headed to the U for some fartlek action. That was fun and then someone suggested heading to the U track, which was even more fun.  We ran 4 x 600m.  Times were: 2:05, 2:03, 2:01:1:53. Then a cool down back to the cars at East.

 PM:  2.75 miles out and back from my office through Marmalade Hill neighborhood via Quince Street.

AM1:  Four miles on the treadmill at home.

AM2: After driving to my office; Four miles out and back to Warm Springs Park before beginning work.

Tour of holladay from Blue Star -- easy easy pace.

Probably the last of the 20 milers before St. George.  Of the 4 I've done, this was probably the highest quality in terms of pace and terrain.  The route included 1560 feet of elevation gain. The pace was generally easy, but there were a couple of sub 7 minute miles tucked in there too; and some nice downhill pounding at the end. No leg soreness the next day, which was a nice outcome. 

Two miles on the Skyline High track while my boys cruised around on their bikes.  

Seven miles on the treadmill.  I'll just leave it at that.

Workout with the Black Sheep. From East HS, we ran the 1.89 miles up to the new track at the U of U -- 9 lanes of springy goodness.  On the track we ran a ladder: 400/800/1200/1600/1200/800/400, with 100m walking recoveries. Times were: 86s (400m)/2:53 (800m)/4:24 (1200m)/5:40(1600m)/4:15(1200)/2:42(800m)/74s (400m). 

 I felt a little sluggish in the first couple of intervals, but the mile seemed to kick things in gear.  The final 400 was about 92% effort -- legs felt good but breath felt a little short. Recovered 1.89 miles back to the car.

Eight miles on the treadmill -- 7:30 pace.

7 miles from FH Sbux, some socializing, and then another mile for kicks.

Some weekend commitments required that I do the last "longish" run before the marathon today.  Began at 5:15 am from Blue Star on 2300 E with two other crazies.  Ran 3.5 and picked up another crazy.  Two of the crazies split off at about mile 7, leaving two of us to fend for ourselves the rest of the run. I was not feeling great -- stomach was not in great shape and I was relieved to see that remodeling projects had resulted in some welcome portos on the street. Stomach calmed down a bit and I ran miles 13 and 14 at "spicy" pace: 6:16 and 6:24, which was not bad considering that both miles were long climbs.  

From the Lodge at Snowbird in Little Cottonwood Canyon, I ran four miles up the canyon, which included a couple of miles on the Alta Summer Road.  It was a long slow climb. Then I ran down, which was much easier. I decided to use the descent to work on a little bit of downhill effort, since I haven't done a great job preparing myself for that at SGM.  Splits were 6:02, 5:58, 5:53, 5:58.  It required very little aerobic effort, but did require some pounding on the legs, but they're fine today. 

Six miles on the treadmill. All caught up with "Breaking Bad" on Netflix. Not sure the treadmill runs will be quite as bearable.

Mini workout with the Black Sheep in the rain on the Highland HS track.  1.3 mi warm up around Sugarhouse Park, and then to the track for 3 sets of 2 x 400m, 1 x 800m. Set 1: 1:36:1:30/3:00; Set 2: 1:25/1:26; 2:54; Set 3: 1:24/1:24/2:47.  Ladies and Gentlemen, this concludes speedwork prior to the marathon.   I probably would have added a fourth set but it was really wet and getting cold and I didn't need to use my energy just to keep my body temp up. Hay is in the barn for better or worse! In keeping with recent workouts, my splits got faster and much easier after a couple of reps.  I don't know exactly what to take away from that except maybe one function of being a little older is it takes my body a little longer to adapt to harder effort.

A mile on the treadmill -- that's literally all I could squeeze in before rushing to the office.

Nice leisurely run from FH Sbux with a group of 4.  

Six miles from Blue Star.  Easy EZ e-z

We ran the Cucina loop on a beautiful fall morning. It was dark the entire climb up to the Shoreline Trail but no problems.  Lots of great colors and and awesome scone at Cucina awaiting at the end.  There is a ton of climbing in this run and one could say it's not an ideal pre-marathon week run, but I feel fine and it was great.

On the treadmill at the gym at work.

Six miles easy from FH Sbux up through the U of U.  Took a detour onto the U track and jogged 300m before running a single 800m interval, 2:43.  This felt fine, but I don't necessarily think I could have held pace for a mile -- perhaps.  I mention this because four years ago, on the Tuesday prior to running my last St. George, I ran two miles on the track, 5:18 and 5:21 and recall being totally unphased by the effort.  Well, it's not 2008 that's for sure!  My training in 2012 is what it is; incomplete but sufficient to try to test myself nevertheless.  It can only be for the fun of it; there are no other stakes for me.

Four miles up and around Liberty Park while I waited for my oil to get changed.

Two miles on the treadmill at work.  Spent much of last night tossing and turning in bed; this is why I stopped tapering in the past. I figured I've been running enough to keep the restlessness in check; but apparently not.  

St. George Marathon -- my fourth crack at this race and the first in four years.  A little bit of heaven, a little bit of hell--most of it around mile 18, but more on that in a moment.  Or just skip down to the part titled "the Race" and avoid all the self-indulgent jibber jabber.

For context, although this is light years from a PR performance for me, it's one that I am proud to own for a lot of reasons.  For starters, at this time last year, I was in the midst of a five month lay-off from running due to chronic plantar fasciitis that stubbornly refused to heal without giving up on running altogether and without, finally, the work of a gifted physical therapist.  I rode the bike, worked out on the elliptical, etc. I maintained something like a base--but not really a running base. Just sort of a general "fitness" base. The lay off and the PT were also good because it allowed me to address the wide range of biomechanical issues that had led me into so many injuries in the last couple of years; ankle, hamstring, knee.  Having refused to take a week off here or there to deal with injuries, and instead try to simply run through everything; I ended up with five months off. Not what I had set out for.

Last year around the beginning of November I started to run a few miles at a time--by spring, I could run 7-8 miles pain free and do so a few days a week.  That's all I really wanted after so much time off; just to be able to get in a decent run a few times a week and run socially with my friends.  On a lark one morning, I entered the St. George lottery just to see what would happen. To my surprise I got in. I didn't tell anyone for over a month as I considered whether I actually wanted to try to do this race. 

Slowly my mileage climbed so that I could run 10 miles easily, then 12 then 15.  At the beginning of August I finally committed (mentally and physically) to trying to run this race.  Boy was that an adjustment!  Suddenly, I had to transform my casual, social running schedule into actual training! Fortunately, my friend Lisa was in the same boat arriving late to training for this race, and it was great to have a training partner that was on the same page.  

I put in some miles, topping out at only 60 or so miles a week. I had wanted to reach 70; but you can only ramp up from 25 mpw  so quickly.   I ran a single half marathon, which was fine but unspectacular. I ran regular Tuesday track workouts that definitely helped with leg speed, but didn't help much with the marathon endurance. I ran a total of zero long tempo runs.  I strung together a few tempo miles. I did very little downhill specific training.  Running was a priority, but I had to make it fit with life.  We bought a house; kids in new schools, working insane hours, etc.  

A couple of times I looked back at my blogs from 2007-2008 to see my workouts and I wondered who that person was--did I not have a job?  Well, I doubt I'll be able to commit to training like that again any time soon.  And I don't necessarily want to. I'm happy to let those days stand for themselves and keep on forging a path so that running continues to fit in my life on terms that work.  And that is the attitude I brought to this race; it won't be perfect, but it will be honest.  After all, you can't fake the marathon.  

So my goals were necessarily modest this year because I had so little information upon which to base any conclusions.  First goal was to run 2:55 or faster; second goal was to run 3 hours; third goal was not end up in the medical tent trying to meet goals 1 and 2. 

Ok, so yeah, THE RACE. 

 First, I am continually impressed by how incredibly well organized this race is. They make every aspect of it seem easy and it makes so many other races look like amateur hour by comparison.  That is one of the things that has kept me coming back--it's just  really well done event.

The Start -- it was cool at the start, but not cool enough to assure me it wouldn't get hot once the sun came up (and it did). It was nice to see a few friendly faces in the corral -- folks I knew would blow the doors off this race.  Got to chat with eventual winner Fritz. What an amazing year for him, and to think it's been with less than 100% health.  Stoked for him.  Anyway, the whole scene reminded me of the old days.  I did my best to get things moving in the porta potty, to little success and I would pay for that later.   

Finally, it's time to get to the starting line and just like that we're running.   Here's how the miles went:

1.  6:32 -- nice and easy to start.  I did a nice job of running within myself and not getting caught up with any movement in the field in these first miles.
2. 6:43 --a little climbing, a little slower.  No problem.
3. 6:26 -- pace feels easy even though I have had very little running at that pace over distance in my "training."
4. 6:19 -- Hey, maybe I can run in the 2:30s after all?
5. 6:24 --body feels good, taking the first of 5 gels here.  
6. 6:11 -- there's no denying it; I am pretty amazing.
7. 6:13 --Veyo is in sight.  I will hold pace.
8. 7:07--Or not.  Just trying to calibrate my pace to the hill.  
9. 6:48--topping out on Veyo and starting to remember how long a marathon really is.
10. 6:34--I'm at ~1:05 for ten miles, firm 6:30 pace.  Feel good, but 6:30 takes a little more effort now.
11. 6:56 -- this is a tough mile, long steady climb to a cresting hill.  Resisting urge to try to speed up.
12. 6:33 --back near pace.
13. 6:20 --I am at ~1:25 for the half marathon.  That was sort of a wake up call. I was happy with the pace but also thinking, wait a minute -- do I really have the legs to run 2:50 or faster?
14. 6:25 --At the moment the answer is yes.
15. 6:18 --the big descents are here, but I'm chatting with a guy from Texas.  No effort to apply the gas pedal and accelerate -- just coasting.
16. 6:03 -- the last "fast" mile.  Will be a distant memory soon.
17. 6:20 --fiddling with sun glasses and eyeing the overpass in the distance that marks the boundary to hell.
18. 6:21 --surprised that I'm holding this pace, it won't last.  At the end of this mile is where I feel the wheels start to come off.  Lack of training beginning to reveal itself.
19. 7:04 --chips are cashed, I'm done. Wall is hit, I'm toasted, done.  It all happened so quickly.  Wow.
20. 6:44 --this is a steep descent, I should be cruising but can't get my legs to do, well, anything.
21. 6:39 --more prime downhill real estate being wasted.
22. 8:02 -- I head into the aid station and realize, very suddenly, that I should use the porta potty very quickly. I do so. It takes about 1:15.  I have never stopped at a porta potty during a marathon, ever.  The fact that I did so is evidence of both my body being a little unprepared and my willingness to put personal comfort over results.  Felt much better.
23. 6:56 --getting passed now by tons of runners.  I wondered when it would start happening, and this is where.  Right here.  I was passed by 23 runners in the last 7.5 miles. I passed three.  Stats don't lie.
24. 6:57 --setting myself up for the longest 2 miles ever.  On auto-pilot.  Trying to surge here and there to get my body to change gears but I only have one gear and it is the same one I've had since mile 19.
25. 7:13 --hmm, wouldn't it be great to be done right now? Yes, yes it would.  
26. 7:39 --the collapse is complete.  At least I am continuing forward momentum, I guess.  Glad to have the finish in sight.  1:36 for the last .2.  Got to see my wife and boys as I head to the finish line.  Glad to see 2:55 on the display.  Great to hear the crowd cheering; so glad to be done.