Clyde's Comeback!

New Years day run with the Circle and James. Met at Logans house at 6:30 a.m with a chilly 26F. Did Logan's favorite "riding dirty" loop run all over the world and then some. Went to bed last night feeling pretty crappy. Woke up about 2 a.m and felt like I got ran over by a garbage truck... 97 or so times. But for some reason I just didn't want to skip the run today so I left the alarm set. Woke about an hour early to take some cold meds. Never tried that pre run before.

Anyways the run was ok. No one wanted to go hard anyways. So that helped with the pace EZ all day. About mile 16 Dave said he wanted to start the new year off right and then his shirt came off... a mile or so later Logan pulled his... and I'm a sucker for peer preasure so mine came off too with James to follow. We got some good looks from passing cars on a Jan 1st morning running shirtless back to Logans house. Being sick I'm sure it was stupid.... but I can't do much of anything right as of late so- When in Rome. Isn't that what they say?

6 miles on the treadmill this morning. Today was the sickest I've felt. When I first got out of bed I decided that I'd just not run at all. But then after about 15 min's I thought a good sweat out indoors might help move the crap out of my system. Felt super yuck almost the entire run. Weight was 151 lbs before and 148 lbs after the 6 miles. So 3 lbs of sweat out and now I can add back 3 lbs of Nyquil.

P.M. 8 miles tonight. Middle B-hills loop extended through the Secret St and into LV. Felt good enough to go run... but pretty much like sh*& while running. Kept the pace honest but it felt like work for the first 3 miles. There was no way I'd have been able to do mile's tonight. Sick of being sick and feeling depressed. Maybe someone could just run me over tomorrow morning. Make it look like an accident:).

Just a funky morning. Woke like I wanted to feel good and start the day off better than some before. Headed out running but my hip hurt like CRAZY and the head cold is still there so I was pretty dizzy. So after only 1.2 out I just decided to turn around and come home. Got home and couldn't call totally off so I jumped on the treadmill after doing a few hip routine stuff. 4 miles on the machine actually felt pretty good. Hip was runnable and again it just felt good to sweat.

Did you know that a Phoenix obtains new life by arising from the ashes of it's predecessor?

P.M. 7 miles around the middle B-hills loop and Secret st finish. 6:37 avg. Hip hurts but I can't stop now.

DC run with the Circle and Stephen. We planned on running the STG half course but after only .5 into the run we'd already taken a different path... Steve's driving:(.  So the half route got all jacked up and we just ran the meat and potatos of it. Then extended back down into Bloomington for that loop and back. Felt pretty flat most of the run. Just been a battle all week with everything. But around mile 16 I was starting to feel antzy and just wanted the run to be done. So worked into a 6:14 on that mile. Then 5:25, 5:30, 5:25 to finish off the last three miles to 20. Did a short .6 cool down around the parking lot. Felt good to hurt myself on the closing miles. Needed that push. Might be kind of getting over the head cold sickness.

Ice loop right around daybreak. It was colder at 23F. Sleep was pathetic last night. Almost just went out for a run at 1 a.m. But then later in the early hours of the morning I did finally doze off. Woke up today and decided I needed to try and take control of the situation a little better. On some ends there's nothing I can do but on others maybe I can try and shift gears or something. Anything might help at this point. First thing was to try and have a better week running. Last week seemed labored almost everytime I got out and I basically hated even running... not even sure why. Because in the last two months that's been one of the only things that's kept me from checking into a mental hospital. 

Anyways this week I'm going to try really hard to be more positive. Hopefullly run better. No hip issues and just pound out some miles.

Sorry if your reading my blog and thinking "this guy is a freak". But this blog has been the only real journal I've ever kept. So I'm sure things sound jacked up on the outside and that I may be fishing for comments or something. But that's not the case. I apologies for anyone whos been turned off. It's just my blog... my journal. And eventually I'll be able to come back to it and read through things... hopefully by then I'll laugh at things. I've always been somewhat of a happy, positive person and in the last 6 months I've started to be really sad... maybe some kind of depression... I'm not sure. My issue. Not yours.

P.M. Middle B-hills extended through the Secret St. Had a little better day overall. Sun was out and was able to run in shorts and a T. That's worth a half smile maybe even like .84 or so of a smile.

Big boys tempo workout. Summer tempo loop modified. Circle of Trust with James. We took the warm up out about .8 longer so it ended up being 4.3 or so total. Then brought the full 8 miles of tempo all the way to River Road. Low of 25F. Started running at 5:00 a.m.

My mission today was simple: Make it to the bridge. The last two weeks I've had to stop early with stomach issues and then just gave up on the rest of the workout. Today I needed/ wanted this workout. Tried to treat it as much like a race as possible. Ate smart yesterday. Got to bed early. Tried to relax. Got up early enough to take care of all my business and just be in position to run as well as possible come tempo time.

Well the warm up went by fast like always and we were soon standing at the new starting line. Under the lights as it should be. Today I wanted the full workout so I decided to really work into the workout and not kill myself off early.

Ended with a 5:33 avg for the 8 miles or 44:25 total time.

Splits- 5:40, 5:49, 5:33, 5:34, 5:36, 5:39, 5:27, 5:18

Happy to finally finish off a solid effort and not cave in. Actually didn't have any stomach issues really. Other than some dry heaving durning the last .5 of so. But once I rounded the corner at mile 7 I knew I'd be able to finish. Effort felt very controlled until the last 1.5 or so. Then I did have to dig a little deeper. Kept it smooth at first and that helped at the end.

3.1 always on the run mile on the treadmill. Just a few to loosen up things from this morning. Felt pretty good overall and even let Lady Gaga sing me through the last .4 or so. #dowhatyouwantwithmybody

Reg ol DC loop with Stephen. Felt pretty stiff early on and the hip was kind of buggin. But as the run rolled out I felt strong. Happy to be making some progress. Pace was laxi taxi as we just chit chatted. Good for recovery. 30 F at 5:15 a.m. 147lbs after the run.

56.6 mile bike ride. Headed out just before 10 a.m. It was 36... freezing on a bike. Went over to ride the new parkway ribbon cutting ride with about 50 other cyclists. Not one of Clyde's favorite type of rides... slow, stop and go. Lots of wasting time... But I got through the hard parts and was able to ride pretty aggressive the last 27 miles or so. Felt really good to get out on the Venge. I think we willl work well together. This is only like the 3rd real ride on it. But things seemed to click today.

7 mile run after getting home from the ride. Took in good calories durning the ride so energy wasn't an issue. 6:45 avg for the run. Hip only hurt twice. Once as I leftt the cul de sac and once at about 1.3 miles into the run. Both were sharp pains but only for a second.

146 lbs after the ride and run.

Logan came over to run because he missed yesterday. Nothing fancy today. Just the ol DC loop. Legs were pretty flat and it was a lot like work getting around the loop this morning.

P.M. 8.3 total miles. Is there such a thing as a good failed workout? Ugh. Bad stomach issues tonight. I forgot just how bad eating Subway and doing speedwork mess with my body. My plan was to do three 1.5 mile sets. Warmed up for 3.45 kind of planning and mapping out how it'd boil out. Ended up planning a 1.45 mile speed section on the back side of Little Valley down to River Road. Then a .95 section to run back up to link and complete the loop. This may be too long but we'll see how it goes on future outings. Anyways heres how it went.

1. 7:13:** time for 1.44 distance or a 5:00 avg- hit the mile at 5:00 and kept it even.

2. 7:13:** time for 1.46 distance or a 4:58 avg- hit the mile at 4:56 and ended at the 4:58 avg.

So times are a little fast due to it being a net downhill but not crazy steep. Like a 1% grade for the most part.  A little steeper right at the start for like .15 but then so slight uphill at the end.

After the first one my stomach was rolling and I almost bagged anymore speed. But I jogged basically the mile back up to the top and it felt like I could try one more. It felt pretty good on the second set until about .90 into it. Then things just went crazy. I pushed through and about had a roadside right there in rush hour traffic on River Road at the finish. Had to find a port-a-potty in the construction even though I was only .5 away from home. 

1 mile total cool down.

Middle B-hills loop extended back around Coyote. 27 F out at daybreak. Took it easy and I felt like I'd struggle. But after a few miles the body warmed up and things felt pretty good.

145 lbs

I was brain-dead, locked out, numb, not up to speed

P.M. 6 miles this afternoon on the treadmill. It was sunny and 60 F outside but I was inside on the machine. Felt pretty good though. Blasting the music seems to clear my messed up head. Hip kind of bugged here and there. Hope it will loosen up for tomorrows long run. Last big run before "races" start next week. Hopefully we can stay on the right course tomorrow unlike last week.

Long run with the STG boys. Started at the DC and did an out and back 6 miles before coming back to the DC to join a bigger group... then running the STG half course in prep for next week. Pretty big group I'd say 20+ runners out on a cold (27 F) Jan morning. We were way chill for the most part all morning. After about mile 14 the pace did get slightly faster. I wanted to do a mini tempo of 3 miles on some of the closing miles of the race. So on the race course I tempoed miles 10,11,12 hitting 5:18, 5:22, 5:23 respectively. On the last mile in I started my cool down for 30 seconds or so but then Dave caught back up and wanted to keep rolling to the finish. So I hit the last mile in 5:47 even with the slow start. After that we did basically one more mile up to the corner cool down and back.

Pretty good end to a pretty hard week. Higher mileage with a couple goodish workouts and then Wednesday's big RUN, BIKE, RUN basically used a lot of any fuel in the tank for the rest of the week. Always fun to get out with the white Kenyans of So. Utah. Hope the rest of the days is just as good...

6:50 avg for the run

145lbs after

9.2 miles this morning. Went exploring and had some good ups and downs. Pace was all over the place too. From a 8:20 mile to a 5:37 not trying to push the pace... Slept like a baby last night from 9:20 to 11:30. Then after that I maybe got a combined 40 min's the rest of the night. Finally got up at 4:00 and did laundry for an hour before heading out on the run.

146 lbs after the run

7 mile run tonight. MIddle B-hills extended through the secret st. Temps were great and I wore just a short sleeve and short shorts. Worked up a sweat too but pace was pretty chill 6:45 avg for the run.

4.4 warm up

8 mile tempo

2.1 mile cool down

Tempo Tuesdays. The Circle of Trust + James. It was freezing today. Dave said it was 22 F as he got here... my hands felt it. Hit the warm up nice and chill. Didn't really want to do this workout... or really dip into the tank much before the weekend. But once we got going it felt good and I just went with it.

Total time of 43:56 for the 8 miles of tempo. 5:29 avg

Splits: 5:46, 5:36, 5:19, 5:27, 5:35, 5:25, 5:25, 5:18

Happy with the effort and results. I thought I ran it really good last week... and was almost 30 seconds overall faster today. Hope to rest up and have the legs show this weekend....

4 miles this evening on the treadmill. Just wanted to keep it loose and work up a sweat.
 

10.2 mile DC loop with LoGain. Pace was laxi taxi and I needed a good ez recovery run. Felt pretty spent this morning. A good sign. I hate going into a race feeling amazing and then feeling flat on race day. I'd much rather feel trashed in the days prior and  have my legs show up for the race.

22.2 mile bike ride this afternoon. Hit the full new airport loop with a little extension in LV at the end. Kept the pace honest if not hard. Felt good to get out and ride in the sun. 61F. The legs feel good but I can tell that I don't have the same biking legs I had last summer. 21.1 mph avg.

4 mile on the treadmill after the ride. Just enough to loosen things up and remind the legs that running is still the goal right now.

Middle B-hills and Secret St. The moon was amazing this moring as it has been the last few mornings. But today I just was in awe of it almost the whole run. And while running a long looking at the sky I saw the longest lasting falling star of my life. Must have fallen for like 5 seconds. It was awesome to see. The run was slow. No watch but I could tell I was basically crawling. Guess I should try to taper off a little and get ready for Saturday.... But it feels like racing is the farthest thing from my mind right now.
 

3.5 miles this evening. Ran outside in short sleeve and shorts and was warm. I think the high was 65 F today. Felt pretty trashed. It's been a while since I've felt this exhausted in life.

Got to run with Bennny boy this morning. He came over to the house and we ran over to the half course for a tour of the hilly section. Pretty nice morning out at 29 F. Just a good chatty pace. Felt pretty flat again but that's typical of race week. Slept like a prisoner awaiting execution last night.... so I'd like to get some better rest today or tonight. But that's just been really hard in life. Getting in bed is easy. Actually sleeping is a riddle I don't have the answer to right now.

5.75 mile warm up

13.1 mile race

3 mile cool down

Met Dave, Ben and a few others at the start for a good warm up. It was 23 F and felt pretty chilly. Dropped down to Man-o-war and back with some other stuff before the race. Got in some good potty stop and was ready about 10 min's to the gun. So that was nice.

Goal for the race was to break 1:13. That was it. I didn't really taper too much as to keep it more of a good workout in prep for PHX full marathon. So I'm happy with the results. Just wanted to run within myself and make it count without giving up when it got hard.

5:23 avg

Splits: 5:18, 5:23, 5:17, 5:22, 5:20, 5:40, 5:30, 5:14, 5:16, 5:24, 5:28, 5:27, 5:22, 5:10 pace for the .1

For the first 4 miles if didn't look at the watch to see the splits. And that turned out to be good. Because I would have gone mental and started to stress about going out too fast. But I just kept it smooth, and ran with Dave and a couple of his boys who were doing a tempo workout for the first 5 with us. That kind of stressed me out and I finally told them to get away from us. Sorry guys... nothing personal.

As we started the climbs in B-hills everyone slowed on the hills and between grabing a drink and Gu, gagging the gu down and the uphill my 6th mile split was really slow. And that did stress me out. I thought it is too early to be slowing down that bad. But then on the 7th mile up the last big hill the split was pretty good at a 5:30 and I relaxed again. From the top of the last big climb to the finish I tried to push out everything I had left in the tank. Right around mile 8 Steve S. came blazing by me and I was now in 5th. I tried the rest of the race to work back up to him and 4th pace (nelson i think). But I just couldn't close the gap. Didn't have the wheels on the last two miles. My hip never had any pain. That was good. But about mile 7 it did get really tight and that moved into the hammy on the left side too. That little hitch just wouldn't allow any faster turnover. But then again I'm happy with how the race turned out. Stomach was pretty solid and in a half that's great for me.

The sun end up coming out and by mile 6 or so I had taken off the hat, gloves and arm warmers. And by the end of the race it turned out to be a really nice day... just really chilly at the start. At the end we got to watch Myler run a half mile race and that was fun to see.

Ice loop early. It feels like the moon has been big for a month. And this morning it seemed to stay up high later in the morning than even last week. The run was ok at best. I felt super flat. No watch but I know it was slow. Seemed to take forever to finally get home. But it was good to get out and work the junk out of my stomach. No real soreness... just lack of pep.

P.M. 5.6 miles this afternoon. Felt pretty wore out and the hammy/ hip were both tight. Could of, should of, would have... maybe skipped this one. Oh well. Just took it slow and started to loosen up at the end. Went to massage envy this evening where a 60 year old lady had her way with me:). It wasn't even close to as effective as a trip to April. But we've had 3 gift cards that needed to be used up. It was a lot less painful than April though.

DC loop. Slept like crap again. When I finally got up out of bed at 6 a.m I felt horrible. Took like 20 min's to just get dressed and out the door. Really didn't want to run... at all. Hammy and hip are both still tight. But I pushed it out on the road. And after about 1.7 miles or so I started to feel much better. Ended up really enjoying the morning out. So never read a book or a day by it's cover.

6 miles this evening on the treadmill. For some reason it just seemed nicer to stay indoors and sweat it out. Even though I could have ran outside in shorts and a T. ??? Hip and hammy are starting to feel better- that's the other thing the treadmill was easier on them too.

DC loop with Logan. The temp at my house said 30 F but both of us were cold. Nothing real cool to talk abou today. Legs, hips and body are all starting to feel recovered from the race. Still might hold off on a workout of any kind until Saturday... unless I feel SUPA on Thursday afternoon.

80 min's on the trainer after the run. Good to get a spin in. It's all the ride I'll get today but was happy to do it. 20 mph avg.

P.M. 10.2 miles around the ol DC loop again. Same direction as this morning. I know I'm plain. Felt pretty wasted at mile 4 but by mile 9, 10 the legs were turning over pretty good and I felt better... maybe even festive in my short shorts and tee.

144 lbs at the end of the day and super hungry.

DC loop again. I did run it in reverse today so it's baisically a totally new loop:). Slept great until about 2 a.m then I was up the rest of the night. Sucks because I'm wasted and just want/need the sleep. When I finally got out of bed I had zero motivation or energy to run. But I got dressed and headed out. Started slow and felt better as I went. Hope to snap out of this "trashed" phase before the weekend's long run.

143 lbs after the run. The lowest I've been since HS. Either I'm getting into some really good shape or I'm killing myself off slow and steady.

P.M. 6 miles tonight on the treadmill. Couldn't get outside and do any type of workout. And to be honest I really wasn't in the mood. Hip and hammy are still pretty sore. So I kept it uptempo on the machine and hit a couple 5:40's in the middle. Which on the treadmill to me feels like 4:40 pace. Got a good sweat in before lifting my 5 lb weights. Getting buff:)

Middle B-hills with the Secret St and an LV finish. Legs are finally feeling like theres some life in them. But the hip was kind of too painful to say it was great. Hammy felt better though. 27 F.  I'm not sure why but I'm excited to do the long run tomorrow and be done this week.

P.M. 6 miles tonight. Inner B-hills and Secret St. Hip hurt like crazy tonight. It has hurt pretty good just throughout the day. But was killer on the run. I kept thinking it would loosen up but it did not. Kind of took the air out of my sail. Came back and spent some good time with the hip workouts and foam roller.

11 mile warm up

10 mile tempo

1.25 mile cool down

Met Logan at the DC to do my Marathon Training Loop or MTL. We kept the pace pretty chill on the warm up. Temps seemed to warm up a little quicker today and by mile 8 at my house we dropped some layers. Started the tempo wanting to just hit some progressive splits at just  under tinman pace. I've felt crazy dead all week and yesterdays bad hip left me feeling kind of unsure about anything today. But the hip felt good on the warm up (with the heat patch).

First 2 miles were 5:48, 5:42 and the last two miles were 5:25, 5:25. Those are the only splits I remember. Avg for the 10 miles was 5:34. After looking up the avg I accidently deleted the run and other splits. Oops. But this ended up being a very solid workout on some worked legs and system. Glad to have Logan there to hit a solid workout. He helped pull me through the middle miles and had he not been there I'd maybe have bagged it at mile 5. Last time I did this loop and workout I hit a 5:41 avg a few weeks ago.

Took my big dog Ears out to the Navajo trail. I didn't plan on doing any real running. Just wanted to get outside this afternoon and get some sun... and give the dog an outing. But we hit the trails and she was a gamer to do some slow running. So thats what we did. By the end her tounge was hanging on the ground... she's not in running shape. But she loved it and told me so with some big wet licks to clean my forehead from sweat.

Ice loop out early. It was freezing... felt that way anyways at 25 F. This loop seems to take forever and I'd say it was 15 miles if the gps didn't clock 10.7. Just feels soo much longer than that. Ran some junk out of the system and got the week going but it didn't really feel good. Hip actually was kind of buggin and I had to stop at mile 6 and work some issues out.

P.M. 7 miles tonight. Had Cafe Rio at lunch... it sat really bad for this run. Gagged a couple times and just wish I could have chucked it up. It would have felt better had it come out. Hip hurt at first then loosened up.

Tuesday morning Tempo.

4.4 mile warm up

8 mile tempo

2.1 cool down

Ran the normal loop with the Circle of Trust and James. It was freezing. Temps said 28F but my hands were ice the whole time... even still. Hip was super tight on the warm up. I slept horrible and just had a super uneasy feeling... But we warmed up- hit a potty stop and I decided in my heart to really hammer down today. In weeks past I've kind of tried to take it super easy at first and then hammer at the end. Today I wanted to start faster and see what happened at the end.

Finished in 43:10 for a new PR on the course. 5:24 avg

Splits: 5:35, 5:16, 5:15, 5:29, 5:33, 5:20, 5:27, 5:15

I worked pretty hard today. I don't think I could have worked any harder. Mad the 7th mile got lower. I really remember mentally not paying attention and that's why I slowed down. The only way I could run this course any faster is if it wasn't pitch black in darkness. I don't think I could ever give a harder effort. I just needed to unleash some built up stress. So the run was good for that. Hip was tight the whole time and it moved into that left hammy. But I don't think either slowed me down much in this 8 mile tempo... however had I been in a full marathon it'd take it's toll. So I've got to find a way to fix those issues.

144lbs after

P.M 5.5 miles on the treadmill this afternoon. Felt good to shake out the mornings run and get the junk out of my stomach.

10.2 mile Reg ol DC loop. Didn't know if anyone would show. They didn't. So it was just a solo loop in the darkness of the moring. Saw some deer by the restrooms at the DC. Had to "go" bad but the doors were all locked. What's the use of a restroom if the doors are always locked. FML. Pushed on up the trail like a pioneer  until I found a porta potty at a construction site. But then even after the stop I still had some stomach issues. Glad today was just EZ and recovery. Hoping to get on the Venge later today:).

40.6 mile bike ride. 20.7 mph avg. Out around the airport into Washington fields back down the river trail and then on to Sunriver. Around the southern parkway and a small tour of LV. Kept it uptempo most the ride. Not sure how my legs will handle any hard miles tomorrow after this. It felt windy here and there and I was working way too hard for the speed I was going. I know one thing and that's my legs are not in the riding shape they were in last summer.

6.5 mile run right off the bike. Headed out and the legs felt sloppy and slow. Hit the first mile in 7:01. I thought it would be like 9:00. Hit the next few at 6:20 and finished the run at a 6:32 avg. Not too bad considering the work on the bike. Think I'm ready for some food...

8.2 miles this morning. Middle B-hills with some extras in there. Woke just feeling WASTED. Legs were like pulsing with fatigue. Layed there in bed for over an hour before finally getting up and dressing for a run. Really was wasted and most the run was hard. Thinking about calling off the mile repeats this afternoon... unless I just snap out of it and feel amazing.

142.5 lbs after the run. New post HS low. I'm sure it was because of yesterdays big day... but nonetheless I'm not going to try and loose anymore weight.

8.1 miles tonight with Steve, Aaron, and Eric from DSC around the river loop and back. I had planned on doing mile repeats but I just felt trashed all day. And this little voice just kept saying... maybe it's not a good idea. Glad I listened. The run tonight felt pretty hard and we only hit a 6:50 avg. Hope some rest and a EZ day tomorrow will help get me ready for the long run on Saturday.

7 miles on the treadmill. It was raining all night and didn't stop this morning. I just didn't want to go out and get soaked. Plus i'm kind of liking the treadmill for some crazy reason. Kept the pace laxi taxi for some nice smooth sailing. Good recovery run. Feeling much better than either run yesterday.

Heard this song http://vimeo.com/54445063 this morning. Funny that the first time I heard this song Chad had posted it on here back in like 2007. "Road runner road runner."

5 more miles on the treadmill tonight. Felt pretty good.