Elite Jogging For Dummies

No running today. However, Heather and I did take Jack snowshoeing on the Grandeur Peak trail in Millcreek. It was a beautiful day, very warm.  We hiked 4 miles. I'll call it 3 miles worth of easy running since it included a lot of climbing while carrying Jack in the pack on my back.   There are a lot of words that rhyme with Jack.

AM: 7.75 miles, out and back to the Harvard/Yale/Gilmer neighborhoods. Some nice real estate on this run.

 PM: Ran home from work, 2.25 miles.
 

Didn't get out of the door in time to catch up with the Black Sheep. Decided to run from home down to Liberty Park for a four mile marathon pace tempo run. As usual, warmed up three miles from home, through the Avenues, and over to 600 South and 600 East to start the tempo.  I ran conservatively in the first couple of miles, just observing everything going on with the body and the form, trying to get a gauge on where I'm at right now.  Miles were 6:09 and 6:12.  Having made it around the park once, I found a little more groove in the third mile, 5:58. In the last mile, I knew I was running faster but my pace was not terribly consistent. When I focused on what I was doing, I ran well. When I thought about how far I had to go or what my pace was, I slowed a little.  I had to concentrate on bringing my mind back to what my body was trying to do! Anyway, the last mile was 5:50--a little better.  It's been at least two months since I've run this kind of effort.

 So I  guess that's 6:09 pace for four miles on a flat course.  That's where I'm at right now, folks! I'll continue to focus on the base miles and the tempo runs to check the fitness and steady the mind. 

Hooked up with Josh and Megan at 5:45 am. We ran nine miles together, easy pace, around the U, back to the Avenues, around the horseshoe at the top of Memory Grove, over to the Capitol, and returned via 4th Avenue. I added another mile after we went by Josh & Megan's place.  I had to make a quick bio-stop but otherwise it was a good run at a nice even pace. 

I'm sure James Barnes would love the mileage total I've entered here.  Anyway, I was out the door at 5:30 but spent the first 20 minutes shoveling snow, so I started running about 5:50.  So even though the road conditions were poor and there was a lot of snow and ice, I still had time to get in a decent run.  I ran the St. Mary's/Golf Course loop.  

Ensign Elementary loop.  Much colder today, 16 degrees. But clear skies and the roads were only a little icy.  I went skiing yesterday afternoon and I'm still feeling that in my legs.  I'm planning to run the Striders series, 5k is tomorrow.  I view it as a workout. 

Striders Series 5k. I decided to run this race yesterday when Sasha encouraged me to take the comp to run the whole series. I was vaguely planning to run a couple of the races, but I had not anticipated starting this weekend. I ran this 5k last year and it's pretty painful so I knew it would just make a good workout, particularly because I haven't yet raced this year.

The race was much different than last year when we had a bunch of ringers in the race, Corbin, Bob, Paul, Sasha etc. To give you an idea of the difference in the field; I took 10th last year running just one second slower than this year. It's all about who shows up. On that note, I was glad to see Cody, Jon & Andy there. I imagine there were other bloggers as well, but I didn't get a chance to see/talk to any. I hope all had good races.

We started slow, in my opinion. Tim Wight was out front for the first mile. I kind of sat back and tried to figure out what kind of race this would be. At the top of the hill at 1.4 I made a move into first. Jon Allen surged and caught me briefly. He would do that several times on the descents. I held the lead from 1.5 until about 2.75 when Ben VanBeekum caught up to me. I made another move and again held the lead for another .10. He surged at about mile 3 and I didn't respond well. Jon caught up to me and put on a move, at which point I realized I actually did have a kick in me. I nearly caught Ben, who finished .06 ahead of me in 17:53.6.

I didn't come to the race expecting a win, and I didn't get one. Figure that out. I suppose I'm happy with the race considering I haven't been in a race mode so far in 2008. It did feel good to move the legs, however, and I look forward to subsequent races in the series. I think I can find a little more in the tank.