Chasing my Dreams

Hit the shoreline and highline trails with Tom. We probably had the first three miles int he dark with our headlights. Legs didn't feel super strong, so it was probably a good thing to hit the trails. I did another 2.5 miles after up and down Green Canyon. My feet didn't hurt today, so the shoes probably have been the issue since I wore different shoes today (my trail shoes)

Ran the causeway with Tracy and some of the Ogden Crew guys. Honestly the best I've felt and the best long run I've had in a long while. Makes me kind of excited for a marathon again. 6:21 average, I did through almost 14.5 with Tracy, and then he told me to do about a mile and a quarter hard and then cooldown the rest. I was able to run about 5:25 pace for that, which was nice considering how hard I'd been running previously. The causeway is long and buggy, but running with a group of five guys made it seem effortless. 

Easy run by myself in the cuse. Fasting yesterday messed up by bowels, so as I expected I had to poop around halfway. I felt much better after that. The legs were tired and a little stiff after Saturday. 6:50 average

Pretty blah kind of run just going through the motions. Feet were a little tight at first, but otherwise the legs got feeling better the longer I was on them. 7flat average. Part of the blahness was from it bing too hot to sleep in my apartment

Pace was all over the place today due to hills and Tom not being able to get his legs moving. The first couple of miles my left foot and ankle hurt on the outside like yesterday. I also had the new shoes foot ache the first two miles today. Otherwise things are tight, but still good .

Made an educated decision to hit the treadmill today due to all the smoke particles in the air. This pushed my running back a little because the ARC doesn't open until 6. I ran the half mile up there, then did 9 miles in 60 minutes on the Tready listening to Cities mag podcast. Then ran the half mile home. Other than just suffering on the hamster wheel, the foot and ankle story was basically exactly the same as yesterday.

6.8 miles averaging 6:47 pace. The first mile and a half I ran at medium effort because I was running a few minutes late for meeting Tom. I did four pretty easy miles with him. After the run I did a couple of strides in the parking lot. Basically the same story with my feet as the last two days, hopefully the shoes will break in here soon. The legs are feeling good, and it'll be interesting to see what I can do tomorrow over 10k.

Warmed up around 2.5 miles with Riley, Ben, and Tom. Things felt pretty good. Once the gun went off I found myself in no mans land pretty quickly, which I didn't really want, but ended up being the reality for the whole race. My quads didn't feel like they had the pop or the strength I wanted today, especially on the uphills. The first 5k had a lot more uphill than I was ready for, which slowed be down pretty good. I was high 17:30s to 17:40 through 5k, and then ended up feeling decent once the downhill came back. My legs did start to fail me at the end though. I did 2.7 miles of cooldown with Trace, and I honestly didn't feel too bad once I got going.

Easy miles with Tom to start off. The hamstrings and calves were a little sore and tired, but overall not bad at all. I did a few more miles after that, and picked the pace of a little. The run felt really long and boring today though, probably because I was struggling to get the miles I needed with my route. 

Had a hard time waking up the body and getting the bowels flowing the way I wanted before running. I felt decent once I got going, but I did have the poop pains. Since it was dark it was hard to spot porta potties, but I luckily the one I knew of was still there right when I really needed it. 6:46 average, so decent pace. It's pretty hard to guage pace when it's dark and you can't really anything. The feet gave me a little problem the first mile, but beyond that I was fine. The legs still feel a little tired, but overall pretty good. 

This workout ended up going a lot better than I had thought it would, especially now that I've had some time to analyze the metrics from it a little. I probably did 10 to 14 minutes of running to somewhat warm up, and then did 20 x 1minute on/off, basically completely by feel because it was dark. I did not feel very strong on the uphill parts, which shows me that is something I need to work on. For the most part my fast parts were between 5:20 and 5:40 pace, most of them around 5:30, and my off segments were actually a little faster than I had anticipated, most not dropping below 6:35 pace. I was consciously making sure I didn't slow down too much on those. My very last rep was uphill and I was starting to really feel it, so it ended up only being around 6 minute pace, but I also had taken the previous off segment slower as well. I had about two miles of an easy cooldown around 7 minute pace. The average heartrate for my run was 176, so I was definitely working. I wore the heart rate monitor for the first time, and it gave me a bunch more metrics. My vertical oscillation is kind of high considering how quick my cadence is, which tells me I probably need to hit the weight room and get a lot stronger in my core and hips, as well as work on better mechanics with my arms. 

Overall very happy, especially considering that 10k is probably lingering in my legs a little. 

I tried to pay attention to my effort today to keep things in control and get the recovery I needed. I can't run super slow on my own very easily though. I averaged 6:57 pace, with pretty consistent 6:50s, with the uphills being slower. I ran out to the no man land farm land, and it was extremely dark. I wished I had a headlamp. Average heartrate was 159.

Nice and relaxing miles this morning on the trails with some cooler weather and rain. I did almost get attack by some dogs roaming the woods in the dark while doing my 3 mile warmup. Did 6 miles with Tom on the shoreline and highline trails. The run was really exactly what I needed today. 7:20 average, 158 average heart rate

6:40 average. Did the first 7.5 by myself at a decent clip. Cooler morning, so perfect running weather. Did the rest of the run with Tom. Felt good, was mostly going for the time on the feet more than anything. Nothing was really hurting though. 

Tried to keep things pretty relaxed for my run this morning, but I was kind of surprised when I analyzed my watch data afterwards. My average heart rate was just over 160, not what I expected. My heart rate really shoots up those first few minutes though.. The legs felt pretty good for the most part, so it was just shaking out 48 hours of not running. 6:56 average. I'm not sure what to think of this heart rate stuff at this point.

Didn't get to bed quite as early as I was hoping to last night, but I was able to wake up fine this morning. I ended up reading my scriptures before running today because I thought the rain might die down a little over those 30 minutes. I don't think it did though. I didn't wear a light or anything reflective, which was probably a little dumb. I mixed it up by running the 3 mile workout loop, then the 6 mile loop. I ended up running half of a mile with the guy I pass all the time, his name is Sterling. He just likes to run, but it was good to meet him. He was huffing pretty good going 7 minute pace though. I had a few 6:20s mixed in today, with the majority of the rest around 6:40. I also learned that it is extremely difficult to see puddles in the dark. I of course was completely soaked by the end of the run. Things felt good though, probably because I find running in the rain energizing. 6:38 average

My original plan was to do a workout this morning since it was most likely going to be the only day without rain for the rest of the week. However, when my alarm went off, I was not feeling the best and decided to bag it then. I couldn't poop beforehand either. I just went out and put in some miles. The fact that I knew it was cool out helped motivate me to get out the door because that is my favourite kind of running weather. I did end up having to stop almost 8 miles in to take care of some business. 6:48 average. Saw some of the North Logan deer this morning as well, but they were surprised to see a human running in the dark. My legs were also a little stiff and sore today due to the fact that after my cool and rainy run yesterday I didn't stretch, roll, or take any prehab action.

My bed was still calling my name this morning. I felt good once I finally got out the door and running though. Getting up the motivation to do workouts by myself in the dark is challenging though, especially since I can't even see my watch. My route today had a lot of somewhat rolling hills, which I was honestly loving today, as it got me moving. 6:36 average feeling pretty good once I got going. My left ankle and shin were bothering me the first mile or so though. I did feel that my breathing was a little harder than normal today though.

Some slightly damp miles with the timex since the Garmin didn't want to find satellites. Enjoying the run, did a few miles on the Lundstrom park trail to give the legs a little break.

This run turned out better than I anticipated it would. It was a cool morning and I didn't start crazy fast. It took me a while to get going, plus the first half of the run is pretty hilly. After 6 miles or so I was able to start picking up the pace. Once I got done with the uphill I did 4.5 miles at a good effort, I was mostly running by feel on all that downhill, both the steep and gradual. I ended up throwing down a bunch of 5:40s. The last 4 miles were around 6:30s, just trying to recover. It was a kind of weird sensation though for my legs after almost five miles of fast running to still be moving at a decent pace but try to recover. Great effort. 6:28 average. Made up for the fact that I didn't get a workout in during the week. 

Weird weathered morning, I didn't know how to dress. The fact that the temperature is dropping while I'm running doesn't help. I hit the Lundstrom Park trail in the dark, then met up with Tom and did 5 slow miles with him. Pretty easy day overall. Haha Tom was complaining about how dark and cold it was. 6:50 average, things felt pretty good.

Not sure where the entry for this run went... but I don't want to type it all out again. Ran semi hard, 6:38ish average. Lots of introspection

My legs felt a bit sluggish this morning. 6:48 average. I just couldn't really get the stride to open up, but that's okay. I wasn't looking for anything crazy today

Really windy this morning, which wouldn't be that big of deal, but my legs didn't really have the energy to fight against it. I felt like my legs needed some Green Canyon loving to get them feeling back to normal, so I ran up past the cave aways from 16th, so like 2 miles of uphill. That seemed to give my legs what they needed, and then I felt great on all the downhill back. 6:53 average.

Probably overall ran harder than I should have this morning. Started 30 minutes later so that I could get my full 7 hours of sleep, plus I have time to do that on Fridays. The outside of my left calf was sore today, especially on the uphills, probably from yesterdays climb. I need to roll them really well later today. My breathing felt kind of hard too, especially the first couple of miles, I had a string of 3 6:30s in the middle of my run today, and I just let it happen because it didn't feel out of control. The gradual uphills in the end really got me though. 6:42 average. 

Random side note: the fact that I'm going to be standing for hours at the game tonight is not going to help what I want to do tomorrow morning in Mantua for my long run. 

Last nights football was crazy and didn't leave me as rested as I could have been for this run, but it ended up being a really good run anyways and it was well worth it. The progression concept didn't go exactly how I had envisioned in my head, so I ended up making some adjustments on the fly. The first 8 miles or so were around 6:40-45, and then when I started picking it up, it wasn't as gradual as intended. I went like 6:23 6:13 6:06 6:10 6:01 5:57 5:46. I had planned another mile of hard running, but since the whole run had been faster than planned and I was starting to feel the wheels go, I did the last three miles as a cool down between 6:35 and 6:40 pace. 6:27 average. The lower legs were still sore like yesterday, but otherwise things felt really good.