Chasing my Dreams

Ran really easy with Tom for the first five miles or so. I wasn't able to poop much beforehand, so I ended up having to poop on the run. I stopped at the Innovation Campus porta potty for that, then went down to the Canyon Rd Trail for a little extra mileage. I also tried to pick the pace up a little the last few miles, but it was pretty challenging because the legs were pretty locked into the slower pace. 

Didn't sleep the best last night as it was really really hot in my room.

Last truly taxing effort before the marathon. This was also my longish run for the week. Things felt good at the beginning, but it was hard to get the legs rolling. I got water about 7 to 7.5 miles in. As I was going up the stadium hill after that, a poop hit me, so I ended up having to put off my fast part a mile so that I could poop at Lunstrom park (the bathrooms must open June 1st). After that I did approximately the last 7 miles at a tempo effort. I was about 5:55s on those parts, and that was with some pretty good rolling uphills too. Quarter mile jog cooldown afterwards.

Haha all the ragnar vans looked at me like I was crazy this morning.

Ran really early because I had to be at work at 8. Things were pretty slow moving at first between it being early, the uphills, and the wind was pretty bad initially. I as happy with my effort up the long hill and then really everything after that. My legs didn't have any aches, but my feet are feeling yesterday a little. I thought I had to poop, so I did make a brief stop at a porta potty, but I could tell there wasn't anything coming out so I quickly got back on my way. 6:42 average

Went out for a fairly controlled and relatively easy effort to get the legs going after the weekend. 6:48ish average. Felt pretty relaxed. The legs did feel a little tired on the uphills though. 

Tom texted me saying his calf was tight and he was going to wait until tonight to run, so I ended up sleeping another hour and a half or so. Did 4 easy miles waking up and getting the legs going, then did 3 miles at marathon pace: going 5:58, 6:03, 6:00, and then a little over a mile cooldown back home. It took me about a mile to lock into that marathon pace, but once I did it felt really comfortable, and even easier than when we did it in the downhill a couple of weeks ago. My right IT band is a little tight though, so hopefully I can get that loosened up by Saturday. The fitness is there and the hay is in the barn, now time to take 'er easy and let 'er rip come Saturday morning.

Ran over to the Canyon Road trail and ran that today. I discovered it is slightly shorter than I thought it was. Aerobically things felt really easy today, but I could not get my legs moving. They just felt really sluggish. I rolled my IT bands a lot yesterday becuase they've been tight, so I don't know if that had anything to do with it. It also just be the weird way in which my body responds to rest, but I need the rest to be ready for Saturday. I was able to pick things up a little bit the last mile and a half or so. 6:50 average.

Super windy this morning, so the first mile uphill and into the wind was pretty killer. Other than that the run wasn't too bad. Things are still a little warm for my liking. I thought my left foot might hurt a little, but my right foot ended up hurting just a little bit. I think I'm going to try and wear different shoes to work todaya nd see if that makes a difference. 6:54 average, but 6:45s after that first mile.

Got up early and ran an easy shakeout over to the cross country course and a little bit on it, then back. Ended up shaking out a second poop in the process. Took care of that, then did a couple of strides. The strides weren't crazy quick, but relaxed. My feet were a little achy at first, but things are feeling good.

Well as Meb would say, I don't know if I exactly earned my PhD in the marathon today, but I think I can at least say I earned my masters. Tom and I did a mile easy warmup and some drills to get the legs warmed up and moving. The temperatures at the start were perfect. I honestly couldn't have really asked for a better first half. Things felt good and I was nailing the splits. The rolling uphills didn't really slow me down either, and by the end of those I had passed everyone except the leaders basically. (I also got to compete against some Kenyans today, I've never done that before) I went through the half in 1:20:10, which was about as perfect as it could get. At that point my quads started to feel the downhill and I didn't feel great for the next 3 miles or so. I was also annoyed because I was planning on fruit at mile 15, but the aid station didn't have any. After that I was able to get a second wind until about mile 21 or so, and then my legs started to really tighten up. I had to walk through some of the aid stations, and it was pretty hard to keep chugging along. I also had some minor cramping in my calfs, which hasn't really ever happened before. I definitely had 2:40 fitness in me if my legs had held up. 

Take aways of the day: I need to improve my form and running economy, as well as do more strength training. I feel like that may have contributed to my cramping at the end. I could also tell that my feet were fairly duck footed again. I'm motivated to give the marathon a go next year with some added fitness, and hopefully a much stronger body.

Stiffness and soreness much worse than it was last night. Staisr are actually giving me a hard time today, while yesterday they weren't too bad.

Walked up to the cemetary and around there to give my legs a little bit of movement. It's going to take a few days to get them semi back to normal.

Being on my feet and walking around at work was probably good for my legs today. When I got home I did a little bit of strength work. This evening I biked up to Green Canyon, hiked a little over a mile straight up the moutain, tried not to die coming back down the mountain, and biked back home. Going up was a solid cardio effort, and overall it was probably a good day for my legs.

Hiked Dry Canyon today. It was a much better grade, and super pretty. I was hoping to make it to the peak, but new it wasn't very likely with the snow on the tops due to the rain this morning. I made it up to 7500 feet before the snow forced me to turn around. I like going up, but coming down isn't ever fun. 

Went out for an hour bike ride in the evening. The low impact I feel was good for my legs. I went out through Smithfield and back. I was happy to get in some good aerobic efforts. 

Got up early and drove down to Fernwood to run with the high school team and test my legs post marathon. Rob wanted me to run with some of his young up and comers. The kid I ran with did the full loop for the first time ever. I mostly kind of just talked at him, but hopefully it was helpful. My legs were decent, but my calves are definitely still sore, and my butt was a little tight as well. Some of this may also be from my cross training over the last few days. It was good to be back running. I also broke out my new Altra Trail shoes. 54:30 was the time for the day

Today was a relaxed, thoughtless run out through a little bit of Hooper. My lower legs were tight and sore for the first mile or so, but after that they didn't feel too bad, at least it wasn't noticeable. I was just running by feel, but it ended up being a little faster than I had intended. 6:50 average

Easy miles on the small road this morning. M legs were feeling kind of sluggish and I couldn't get them going for quite a few miles. I ended up having to stop and poop at one point. I also stopped with three miles to go and talked with Tracy Fifield for a few minutes. Overall the legs just still feel tired. I also was running with a random chip on my shoulder today, and I have no idea why.

Went and tried out my newfound discovery of the shoreline trail south of Logan Canyon, starting from Dry Canyon. I was fairly pleased with it, I would definitely go back and run it on a weekly basis probably. The only downside is the trial is narrow so your legs are constantly in contact with the weeds and brush. There are some pretty good blimbs at certain points. The legs felt pretty good, in the first mile the top of my left knee hurt briefly, but quickly went away. 

Decided to scout out Green Canyon this morning. My watch freaked out I guess at the beginning, so I had to run in some cirles at the end of the run to get the actual full 10 miles. It's a nice gradual climb all the way up, and I wasn't going super fast, but my heart rate was still up. There are a lot of curves in the trail, which makes it hard to get rolling super fast as well. Dodging the mountain bikers was also a bit of a pain as well. My legs felt good, other than some slight pain in the left knee going down. 

It was a sluggish start, and for soe reasonm since I haven't ran hard on the roads for a while, I for some reason felt like I had to prove to myself that I am still fit. I pushed fairly hard up the long hill and then let the big downhill really get my legs going. I rolled with the faster pace for another 2.5 miles after the downhill, running right around 6:07 pace. Took it easy the last three quarters of a mile. I felt my left knee once about a mile in, but then nothing. My legs started to feel all of the climbing I've done by the end of my fast section today though.

That first mile with the stadium hill was really slow today. I used to be able to fly up that thing, granted that was also in the afternoons. I don't really care though, because that mile wakes up my body. Overall my legs just felt tired today, which is probably a combination of trails, a harder effort yesterday, and the fact that I moved 2500 pounds worth of bookshelves yesterday at work. Luckily it was a l ittle cooler this morning and I was in the shade for most of the run. I did feel the left knee a little still, but not really anything to worry about at this point.

Started running pretty early this morning with Tom. We ran the river trail in the canyon out a little over three miles, then turned around and came back. It wasn't super fast, but a nice start to the morning. From there I kept running out of the canyon, along the canyon road trail, then back to my apartment to grab water, and then kept rolling out and back on 12th east. I held a pretty good pace once off the river trail: 6:30s for the most part. I picked things up a little the last two miles. It's been hard to get the legs going this week it seems like at least. Some minor pain in my left knee in the second half of the run, I'm wondering if the trails have something to do with it. 6:55 average for the whole run, mostly due to an extremely slow start on the trails.

After two and a half miles or so I was able to really lock into the mid 6:30s pace and roll with that the rest of the run. My legs felt a little tired from yesterdays effort, but I didn't have any knee issues. I kept getting rocks in my shoes, but otherwise it wasn't a bad run at all.

It was a trails morning with Tom. We ran a little over three miles up Green Canyon, not going crazy fast, and then back down. I then crossed the street and ran the shoreline trail almost over to Logan Canyon and then back to my car. My glutes and calves were tight the first mile or so, but after that I felt fine for the rest of the run. I also realized I don't hate that portion of the shoreline trail like I thought I did.

My legs were still asleep when I started this morning. I ran the first four or so miles with Tom just waking up the legs. Then I started fartleks. I paused them briefly because I ran into Austin Costley on the canyon Rd trail. I ran with him for a few minutes. The fartleks were good moderate effort for me

Ran a classic West Point loop. I ran by feel, and I would have guessed that I was going about ten seconds faster per mile than I actually was. It took my legs a bit the first mile to feel normal, they are used to climbing a hill first thing. My legs felt fine for the most part, although I did feel my left knee a bit. Aerobically it felt a bit harder than it should have, which I'm thinking is probably from not getting enough sleep over the last two days. 

Met up with the high school team this morning on the trails. Did a short little warmup that was pretty casual. I wanted to go hard today, but unfortunately I had to do it by myself. I tried to run mostly by feel. I felt good going out, and hit the gate at 22:10. Ultimately the story of the way back was the uphills were hard, especially in the mile after HPH. I came back in 24:08, making my time 46:18. This was almost a minute and a half faster than the Syracuse Record, so Rob said he'll call mine the alumni record. I did two really slow and easy miles up the other way on the trail afterwards to cool down.

It was really hard to get out of bed and get going this morning. I took things pretty easy, and decided to explore the eastbound path that connects the bluff path to the old rail path. I wasn't the biggest fan, but it was okay for a recovery run. Coming back my left knee hurt a little, and then while elevating after the run, the outside of both of my knees hurt pretty good. 6:55 average, and my legs didn't have much juice today.