Elite Jogging For Dummies

After unwinding (and unpacking) after getting home from the cabin, I managed to squeeze in a little run from home up toward City Creek. I ran into Adam Wende on the way and reversed course and ran back toward Popperton where his car was parked. It was good to catch up with him and hear about his training. 

Though I didn't get out the door as early as I would have liked, I did manage to run over 10 miles-- which was the goal.  Around 6 miles into it the snow started to fall fairly hard and I thought I was going to end up soaked, but it didn't last very long.  Easy pace today, slow. 

Started easy from home, ran downtown, around Temple Square, up 1st Ave to 600 E.  I started my tempo run after these three easy miles, heading toward Liberty Park.  First mile was 5:59, second mile--in the park--was 6:05. I was asleep, not paying attention, etc.  Third mile in 5:54, fourth mile in 5:48.  I decided to tack on another .5, which I backed off the pace a bit, and ran in 3 minutes.  The second mile is always toughest for me--early enough to feel like I've got a ways to go, and late enough that I can project the feeling of fatigue.  I'll try to work on that more.  After the tempo run, I finished the loop around Liberty Park and returned home through the Avenues.  I ran into Brad Phippen who was out doing a fartlek run and I talked with him for a moment.  He'll be in Moab, with a sub 1:20 goal. 

Half mile on my own, then 6 miles with Josh & Megan, and then 3 more miles with Josh, then a half mile on my own. Lots of deer out this morning. One was standing in the middle of the road in Federal Heights.  This prompted Josh told some crazy story about a guy he knew whose grandfather kept a deer as a pet.  The end of the story wasn't pretty, and basically highlights the risks of being a deer around people. 

Arrived at Radda at about 5:40, ran 2.25 by myself and then joined the group at 6am.  Several of us ran the canal route, which was surprisingly clear of snow and ice.  It was nice to be on that road again.  On the return, Lisa M. and I ran 2 spicy miles on Wander Lane from Blue Spruce to the Mafia House.  Total of 9.2 with the group.

PM: Ran home from work, 2.6 mile route.
 

Easy 11th Ave. loop.  Fairly warm out this morning.

Striders Winter Series 10K.  It was one of those mornings where it was very difficult to figure out what kind of race it was going to be.  Jack was up much of the night crying and I didn't sleep well and I woke up pretty tired. The weather looked like it could be good, but wind was a threat.  I had a decent warm up, five miles on part of the course,  saw the monster hill that greets you at mile 4.5.  Just had to race it to see how it would go.

The leaders in this race included basically the same group as at the 5k: Jon, Cody, Ben V. Tim Wight, and me.  We started together and then those guys pulled ahead in a fairly close pack.  Mile 1 in 5:38.  I perceived that the pace seemed a little aggressive, so I just sat back 20-40 meters to see how things would develop.  Mile 2 in 5:12, that seemed quick, even given the big descent.  Mile 3 split was 5:38. Just after mile 3 the lead group slowed noticeably.  I didn't really make a move so much as they all sort of slowed down and I kept my pace (maybe added a little bit) and took the lead. There were a few attacks from Ben and Tim that I recall. I didn't think about all this very much. I knew that the race would sort itself out on the hill.  Mile 4 in 5:48.  On the hill, Tim was putting in a good fight.  Close to the mile 5 mark I could hear he was having some issues and I just tried to keep running my race.  Mile 5 in 6:29 (it's a big hill).  I couldn't hear any footsteps at this point. The hill continues until about mile 5.75.  I couldn't hear any footsteps at this point either. Mile 6 split in 6:29 as well ( that was a surprise, I thought it would have been a little quicker).  Then just tried to keep it up through the finish.  I feel I did a better job today than a couple of weeks ago in the 5k as far as having a good balance between executing a race plan and responding to the realities of the race as it unfolded. 

It was a great showing for the FRB Racing team with a 1-2-3 finish.  I'm excited for Jon and Cody, both of whom had great races.  Also congrats to Andy, Brent, Sylvie, Dee and any others I missed. We were fortunate to have very good racing conditions today.

Cooled down on the course after the race, ran in Heather's cousin Annette, for a total of 3 additional miles.

Once I got home, Heather and I headed to Delta for the Snow Goose Festival. We saw some geese, but the weather was mostly bad.  We found a great shop that sells rocks and minerals, however. We bought a piece of tiffany stone and a piece of honeycomb calcite.