Cheston's Running Blog

I guess it's time to get busy again. I always take a little time off during the holidays. It's a little reward to myself for a job well done and it recharges and motivates me for another year of hard training and dedication to the sport.

I hope to achieve personal greatness this year in my running.

I gained about 7 pounds because of my time off and over indulgence, but it's going to make it all that more fun having something to work off.

I've been sick for awhile so it's probably best that I haven't been running too much.

Sick as I was, I went out at midnight on new years day for a 5 mile run to welcome in the new year. I got a new headlamp for Christmas for running at night, and I wanted to try it out.

10 mile bike ride with the dog. The dog got so far behind that someone picked him up along the road, thinking someone had abandoned him. Luckly I showed up just as they were pulling off, or I wouldn't have a dog anymore.

I guess I better not allow the dog to run while I ride anymore. I live out in the middle of nowhere, so I'm sure it must be strange to see a dog running along side of the road all by himself.

8 mile run this morning. It was a nice and slow relaxed pace. I was just enjoying the nice day. I thought about what I want to accomplish this year in running and what I need to do to achieve it.

Did an additional 3 miles with the wife and kid, pushing the baby jogger.

I'm really impressed with the shoes I've been running in lately (Nike Vomero). I've logged 520 miles on them and there holding up really well.

8 easy miles. Twas a little windy and cold, but I prevailed. About 4 inches of snow on the ground this morning, it's kind of like running on grass.

There was this golden eagle that keep buzzing my dog, I thought he might end up being bird food. I called the dog back and he lived to see another day.

8 miles. Felt pretty good. Pushed the last mile.

I felt a lot better today than I have in a long time. I've been going through junk food detox since the holidays, so I'm trying to gain back a little fitness I lost. I've lost about 3 1/2 pounds in the last week in a half, so I'm headed in the right direction.

Did an easy 8 miles this morning with the dog. My average pace per mile was 7:49, nothing to brag about. I think I'll spend a few weeks just getting used to running everyday again, before I start working on the speed.

After the eight miler, I went out with my wife. She's to the point in her pregnancy that running is pretty uncomfortable, so she walks instead. I did 3 extra miles with her after my run. We weren't running, so I don't feel right about counting it as part of my weekly mileage.

Had some out of town work related training I had to do this morning, so I ended up having to run a lot earlier. I ran 8 miles at 5:00am, I was proud of myself.

Another 8 miles. I went out a little later today, got a little extra sleep. I felt pretty good, picked up the pace a little towards the end.

Wow,  Sweet updates, too bad there's no spell check for people like me. 

Another 8 miler.  It was a little warmer today, "the warm before the storm".  The head wind coming back was a killer.  Nothing too unusual or exciting to report about my run.  I'm am starting to feel a little lighter on my feet.  I'm slowly shedding off the holiday pounds.

4 miles in a snow blizzard after dark.  I was happy I went out, even if I didn't get in the whole 8.

Went to the  in-laws for the weekend in Antimony, it's always colder there than anywhere else.  It's about 6800 ft in elevation, so it always makes for a cold and challenging run.  I was happy with todays run, because it  meant that I ran everyday this week for the first time in awhile. 

It was so cold, that the sweat coming from underneath my winter hat, froze and stuck to my head all the way around.  When my nose finally started to defrost, it hurt for  awhile.  It was -8 degrees below 0!!!!  I guess if I can run in that, I can run in anything.  It did give me a little headache and slow me down a little, but everything else went well. 

8 miles this morning, felt pretty smooth and easy.  Pushed the pace the last two.  Man it's cold out here.  I'm going to SLC for the week for some training, so I wont update my blog for a few days.  I'm not to excited about running in the City, but I'll have to. 

Eight miles on a tread mill, better then running in the cold I guess.

Another 8 miles on a Hotels treadmill!!!

8 miles, treadmill.

Back home from SLC.  Glad to be away from all that pollution.  It was nice to run out on the road today.  I ran just before sunset, and watched a awesome sunset as I ran.  I did another 8 miles.  I picked it up the last 2.5 miles, it felt really good.  My body was sick of running on the tread mill. 

The dog was glad to be out running too, he had to wait on the chain until I got home.  He missed three runs, I think he feels a little guilty. 

8 miles after work today.  I pushed the last two.  I'm happy with this weeks running.  I'm not where I want to be on time, but I went out every day and ended up with 48 miles for the week.  I'm going to try and bump up the mileage 1 mile per day next week.

Hey, it looks like spell Check has been added!!  I couldn't get it to work when I clicked on it, I'm sure Sasha has it covered.  Nice updates, thanks!!

9 mile run after work today, it was dark by the time I was done.  I pushed the last 2.5 and felt pretty good.  It was surprisingly warm.

7:14 per mile average, man I'm out of shape. 

My wife went to the doctors today, and left me alone with  Macie (three years old).  It's my day off today, and I was really looking forward to sleeping in and running when I got a little warmer.  I decided I couldn't wait for my wife to get home, so I got out the baby jogger and did 9 miles.  It was pretty tough going up some of the hills pushing Macie.  I was ready to  be done by the time 9 miles rolled around. 

What a nice day today!!!!!  It was so nice, that I ran in shorts and a long sleeve shirt.  Today I felt pretty good, so I decided to do a little speed work. 

I did a total of 9 miles, with 3 mile of mile repeats in between.  I haven't done them for awhile, so I decided not to push it to hard the first time out. 

Mile 1 in 6:06

Mile 2 in 5:45

I wasn't planning on doing a third mile of mile repeats, so I decided to do just a nice relaxed pace and see what that got me.  I ended up doing the third mile repeat in 6:14 without any trouble at all.   

T'was a pretty good work out today, all in all I was pleased.  I just about killed the dog, he hasn't done speed for awhile either. 

What a great day for a run, what a bad run.  The weather was perfect, but the body didn't agree.  My legs felt like they were made of stone, man they were heavy.  I'm guessing my heavy legs had a lot to do with yesterdays speed work, of which I hadn't done for a long time. 

I felt like I was in warm up mode until the last two miles.  I was finally able to squeek out a 6:40 mile on mile 9.  I won't tell you what the rest of them were.  I'm guessing I'll feel better tomorrow after today's easy run.  What I really need is to get back into the habit of running at a set time every day again.  Before I was up everyday at 6:00 a.m. regardless and ready to go.  Now I sometimes run in the mornings, evenings, you name it.  This new schedule isn't letting my body adjust to a set pattern.  I'm sure once the baby is born, I won't have a choice.  I'll have to run before it gets up or not at all, and I don't want that. 

I was a little discouraged this morning because I skipped yesterday's run, but I'm sure in the long run it's going to help me.  I would have gone from 48 miles last week to 54 mile this week, which probably isn't too much.  Now my body we'll have a better rest.  I'll go from 48miles (last week), 45 miles (this week) and 54 miles (next week). 

This week I've really been concentrating on running faster miles, instead of just putting them in.  I feel that I accomplished my goal.  Today I did some tempo miles, and ended averaging a 9 miler a lot faster then I have in awhile (6:56 per mile).

Mile 1 (uphill, always my toughest) in 7:57

Mile 2 in 6:38 ( this mile is also uphill, I was very pleased with this pace)

Mile 3 slowed down a bit to catch breath    7:36

Mile 4 in  6:35 (uphill)

Mile 4.5 in 3:12

Mile 4.5-5.5 in 7:31

Mile 5.5 to 6.5 in 6:43

Mile 6.5 to 7.5 in 6:36

Mile 7.5 to 8.5 in 6:23

8.5 to 9 in 2:59

I'm happy with the week and feel pretty rested. I'll be ready for next week. 

Legs felt pretty fresh today.  Did an easy 9 miler.  Didn't go too fast, I have some speed planned for tomorrow.  My over pace for 9 miles was 7:21, nothering to brag about.

Mile 1 in 8:01

Mile 2 in 7:39

Mile 3 in 7:29

Mile 4 in 7:07

4 to 4.5 in 3:23

4.5 to 5.5 in 7:58

5.5 to 6.5 in 7:17

6.5 to 7.5 in 7:00

7.5 to 8.5 in 6:51

8.5 to 9 in 3:23. 

Like I said, nothing to get excited about, but I wasn't pushing too hard.  I did an additional 3 mile walk with my very pregnant wife, but I won't count those miles. 

9 miles today, 3 of which were speed.  I'm pretty happy with the speed results.  I'm still not going all out on the speed, just trying to break the body back in.

mile 1 in 5:59

Mile 2 in 5:42

Mile 3 in 5:33

My wife was involved in a accident today while I was at work.  I was notified that she had been in a head on with a semi, the front end of the vehicle was gone and nobody knew if she was ok.  I was pretty nervus.  She was picking the kids up from school, is pregnant, and had the neighbor kids with her.  I left work to the accident at about 90 miles an hour, only to pass her coming home about mid way.  It's amazing how things get worse when they get passed on from one person to another.  Everyone one was ok, thank the Lord.  There is about $5,000 in damage to the 4Runner, but it's only a vehilce and it's insured.  Come to find out, there wasn't even a semi involved. 

My wife is a little shook up, but fine.  The kids didn't even know they had been in an accident, thank God  for seatbelts. 

All in all a pretty eventfull day.

Took the 4Runner in for an estimate on the body work this morning.  We've decided to drive it until they get the parts in and are ready to work on it.  While waiting in Kanab for the estimate, I decided to go for a run.  I didn't have a lot of time, but it was a new place to run.  I ended up running on a dirt trial called "Squaws trail".  It was steep and fun.  It took me up a mountain and overlooked the city.  It was a little slow going, but worth it.