Elite Jogging For Dummies

The Other Half Half Marathon. The point of our trip to Moab for this race was for my wife Heather to run. She was awesome, finishing in 2:04, just a scant 15 weeks after giving birth to our baby Jack. She ran with our friend (and fellow blogger) Helen. They finsihed together and looked very strong on this tough course. I am extremely proud of my wife and impressed with her accomplishment. She has showed a lot of determination and toughness in getting back into running shape. I hope she continues to stay motivated. This is probably her fifth half-marathon and (pr 1:49, I believe) and I think she has many speedier times ahead. Go Heather!!

Since I'm still in 'easy' mode after St. George, my expecations for this race were pretty low. I'm proud to say I met them. My own plan was all over the map until the gun went off. It went something like this: try to run it as a marathon pace tempo workout. Do that until my calf gives, and if it doesn't give, then just keep going. If the calf locks up, drop back and take it easy at no risk of injury. I figured that, at least, it would be a good test of where my recovery is at since the marathon. The start was cold, probably 30 degrees. We also had some headwind, not to mention some very nasty hills between 7 and 10. It's not a fast course.

At the start I ran into Brad Anderson, a fellow Black Sheep. He doesn't race often, but he is very fit and I looked forward to running with him today. We ran the first couple of miles together with Nathan Hornok. I was still kind of feeling out my condition in those early miles and didn't go with them when they pulled away at about 5k. Nathan said he wanted to run 1:15-1:16 which was not in my plan at all today. From 5k to 10k, I was just kind of coasting, still feeling things out. I picked it up from 10k to the 10 mile mark, eventually catching Brad. I thought he might go with me, but the course was taking a toll. I tried to take advantage of my downhill training where appropriate and just held on for a decent finish. Legs felt fine. No calf problems of any significance. A good day for this kind of race.

Finishing order: 1) Ewen North in 1:12. He's a brit, lives in Boulder, former Adams State runner. This was a course record by nearly three minutes; 2) Nate Hornok in 1:16:06. Great work. 3) Bernie Boettcher in 1:17:38: Age 43 and 3 time winner on the course. 4) yours truly; 5) Brad Anderson, Black Sheep and masters winner; 1:19:09. This is my best recollection of the finishing times..

Oh, I ran a couple of warm up miles and another mile at the end. This course is gorgeous and, in my opinion, beats the Canyonlands Half Marathon (same race organizers) for sheer beauty. It is at least a couple of minutes slower, howver. The finish at the Sorrell Ranch can't be beat.

Easy run from 15/15. I have a little bit of residual soreness in the quads, but nothing very significant.  Calves feel fine. I spent a few minutes on the foam roller when I got home to smooth out the IT bands, quads, and glutes. 

Black Sheep workout at Sugarhouse Park. It was my turn to coach. For better or worse, I had no stomach for a track workout or anything that required a lot of well-defined parameters. So I decided we would do a fartlek workout where everyone in the group would have a turn to choose the next leg. There were about 18 or so people.  Each person could take their choice of intensities; mild, medium and spicy (like salsa . . . or Indian food) and mix it up to their liking with a point to point run or a run by time, etc.   It worked well and we had a fun time. 

A meandering run this morning where I took lots of turns on an old route not taken previously--breaks things up a bit.  The mile down Memory Grove was great; fall colors still in action and just enough light to see them.  7:29 pace for the run.

Run from Radda at 6am. It was dark the entire run. This would ordinarily be fine, but we did the canal section which was really, really dark. The footing wasn't so great, but we all survived. The mansion tour was enjoyable, as we were cracking jokes about the spooky setting. . . .a couple of the gigantic, castle-like houses were lit in such a way that they looked a bit like they might belong to Count Dracula. Did not encounter any actual vampires, to my knowledge. However, while crossing a soccer field behind an elementary school, a golden retriever appeared out of nowhere and scared Aimee Larkin pretty good. Her greatest fears while running are dogs, vagrants, and flashers.

On the return part of our loop I ran 6 strides of about 150-200m each, at 90% intensity to work on the form. I want to feel lighter when running. I need to get forward my lean and push off just right. I saw some pictures from St. George and was doing a lot of heel-striking. That could have just been the downhill, but it is something to be conscious about.

From home up Memory Grove to the 1.5 mile mark in City Creek Canyon.  On the return, I ran into Heather and my friend Karen, (in town from Austin TX).  They were heading up City Creek with Jack in the baby jogger.  Heather handed Jack off to me and I ran home with him. No problem, except carrying the stroller up the 4th Ave stairs was kind of a drag.  Beautiful morning to run. 

PM: took a page from Sasha's book and ran over to Mark and Sarah's house for desert. .50

Cucina loop on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  Out the door at about 7:15 am, plenty of light on the trail. The weather was great as well.  There is still some very nice color as the scrub oak is now fully turning.  Average pace: a blinding 8:56.  The climbing and a few random stops along the way explain that.