Clyde's Comeback!

Tempo Tuesday... or at least a poor attempt. It was 80 F when I walked outside just after 5 a.m. I knew today would be hard. Temps this summer have been pretty mild and I'm just not use to running in hotter conditions. Durning the 3 mile warm up I was sweaty and kind of just wanted to bag doing tempo. But the warm up came and went and next thing I knew we were underway.

5:44 first mile. Still finishing off the conversation and getting into it.

5:24

5:21

.5 5:23

at mile 3.5 I started gagging and also didn't know if the guys were still coming. So I stopped and waited. While catching my breath. Soon after Logan came up the trail and I jumped back in with him. Hit the last 1.5 miles at like a 5:45 avg. Just couldn't get going again.

I don't know what to think about this effort. Not good by any means. But better than sleeping in like I was tempted to do. Still really having a hard time getting the body to want to go back into "race" gear. I'd struggle to race a half right now... So is the DesNews half in a few weeks a good idea? Hmm...

5.1 miles on the treadmill this afternoon. Way too hot outside.. 107F! ):

Over to the DC and back. Up at 4:20 and bugged to see the temp at 85 F. That's what I hate about this time of year. The hot days are one thing. But the hot morings just suck. Yesterday was hot and then it clouded up in the afternoon- locking in the heat. So as I ran into a slight breeze this morning it felt like a blow dryer in my face. Mouth got dry in like a mile. The run really wasn't that great. Tight hip too. FML

5 miles on the treadmill this evening. Feet feel tired. I started working at the running store on Wednesday mornings and am not use to standing all day... Plus I wore some old racing flats to work and by the time I left I was soo ready to be off my feet.

DC loop with a couple before. Ran into Steven Abraham Lincoln Hooper Pope Abercrombie and Fitch down by the Dr. Free clinic. He decided to loop back with me for a few miles. No watch but pace was honest somewhere between 6:30-7:00. Temps were a little cooler this morning and it felt lots better even at 74 F. Both the hip and hammy are getting tight. Need to spend some time with them both today.

Ran the Steven Abraham Lincoln Hooper Pope Abercrombie and Fitch spectacular annual 4th of July run today... Kind of. There are fires up on the regular course so today it was out on the Utah Hill 14 mile loop. It sounded horrible yesterday but ended up not being that bad. After I extended out and around the Bloomington Circle and back to square it off at 18. Haydo kept the pace honest and we hit a 6:58 avg. Not too bad for dirt and some hard climbs. It was warm and I did a fair amount of sweating. But after we crested the final climb there was a nice breeze that actually felt really good all the way back to the cars.

Long run on the marathon training loop.

11 mile warm up @ 7:00 pace... ended up catching the 7 min guy right at the 11 mile mark. Spent the first 4 miles or so in a daze. Kind of seeing stars and almost blacking out. I must have been somewhat out of it. Becaue earlier I scared the shiz out of myself and thought I saw the white lady sitting there looking at me... truely was scared stiff. Oh boy... lol

Only took one Gu and drink at mile 8. It was 80 F and very humid. I was a sweaty pig early and often. And eventually started to cramp up even with the salt pills I'd taken before the run.
 

10 mile tempo at 5:48 avg or  in 58:14

After the 11 mile warm up I wanted to hit some kind of tempo/  workout. Even though I felt trashed. Quads were even sore from the run yesterday out on Utah Hill. I thought I'd just run as hard and smooth as I could to finish off the last 10 miles of a 21 mlie run. Started to die at around mile 6 and hit a 5:55 there. Thought about pulling the plug but pressed on. Hit mile 7 at 5:42 and got some confidence back to finish under a 5:50 avg.

Not a crazy awesome workout but fairly solid with the hot temps and longer run yesterday. Glad to get through the whole thing without wussing out. :)

.10 cool down back over to the car

Ice loop and DC mix. Hot and humid.... but what else is new? Legs were heavy, quads pretty sore and the hip wasn't as good as it could be. But I'm not complaining- just stating the facts of the morning.

150 lbs after the run. I don't know how it's possible but I think I'm gaining weight while hitting 100 mile weeks. FHU

4 miles on the machine tonight. #almostpukedbroccoli

A half hearted tempo today. The guys are out of town so I was solo. Wasn't into it at all. Quads are still sore. Hip and hammy tight. And stomach was pretty bad- 4 star morning if you know what I mean. Anyways I didn't wear tempo shoes... took off and just ran while I thought about doing any tempo at all. Next thing I knew I was over by the freeway and had gone 5 miles. So from the freeway I decided to try tempoing the Mayors loop counter clockwise.

2.5 miles at 5:32 avg. Once I got up to River road I was done. hit like a 5:32, 5:29, 5:33 for the .5

I don't know. Wuss status for sure. My tempos are a joke. I hope it's the heat and humidity that's making it so tough to put together a solid tempo... and not me being just flake city. Because I seriously was trashed once I got to River Road and dripping wet... wanted to lay down on the sidewalk and just die.

Anyways hopefully later in the week I can try it again and do better. Ran a extended 5 mile cool down around the Stone Cliff loop.

147 lbs after the run

4.5 on the treadmill tonight

Cluster of Silkwood/LV/B-hills. Just a run. Nothing special. 7:04 avg. Getting burned out on the hotness. Time to head out of town or something.

146.5 lbs

4 miles on the tm tonight

Tempo ish workout. Warmed up out to Stucki and then did the winter tempo loop. Had zero expectations as I feel trashed (flirting with the over training zone) and it was 83 F and humid when I left the house just before 5 a.m (and only down to 81 F when I got back just before 7 a.m). Like it sucks. FACT

5 mile tempo at 5:45 avg. Had no goal other than to make it through 5 miles of some kind of push. Never looked at the watch. Just ran. Didn't ever redline but it wasn't comfortable either. Basically 20 seconds a mile slower than I was through the winter on this loop. But it's basically 50 degrees hotter now- which is proving to be a BIG factor.

After that I did 1.3 miles back across the road section and over to where you get back on the trail as kind of a recovery pace. Like 6:15 ish.

Then one mile at 5:17

Then a recovery mile down to River Road at 6:20ish

And then one last hard mile basically all uphill from the river up past the gas station in 5:26

Then a mileish cool down to finish.

Nothing amazing thats for sure. But I told myself to just do it today. Don't ditch out early or get too worked up over the hot conditions. Just get through the workout and take it for what it is.

148lbs (not bad considering I packed it on with like 8 slices of pizza and a bread twist at pizza factory last night...):

4.2 miles up at Brian Head. It had rained hard and there was a chill in the air with some fog. It was amazing. Other than I couldn't breath because it's 10,000ft and I live at 2,600 ft. temps were amazing though. Loved it!!!!!!!

8.2 miles at noon. 55 F man I could live here. The altitude didn't bother me as bad as last night but I still was SLOW.

4.3 more miles at 4:30 p.m and temps were high at 61 F. Oh it feels soo good. But at this elevation I got sun burned on my chest and shoulders in like half hour.

One of the top ten for sure or maybe even top 5 worst runs EVER! Ran from Brian Head condo to Panguitch lake. I felt sickly-ish all day. Maybe altitude sicknes or something. Dizzy, light headed, totally drained of energy. Just did not want to run- AT ALL! Finally left the condo at 4:30 p.m because Doug was also up here and was gonna drive over and go fishing at the lake. So I sent Myler with him and I ran over. The condo sits at 9,710 ft and in the first 3.9 miles I climbed up to 10,640 ft or so. Felt good that I kept the pace under 9 min miles on the first 2 steep miles then hit like 7:30's up to where it starts to drop. Didn't run any of the downhill hard or fast. First I felt crappy and couldn't... and I didn't want my quads to get jacked skrewing up any potential workouts next week. So fastest mile was like 6:15 and most were just under 6:30 pace or so. Had the shirt off again and got fried on the back and shoulders. Ugh... could this run get any crappier? Yes!!!!!! Stomach started to bug bad around 11 miles into it and forced a road side stop. Anyways I finally go to the boat ramp and found Doug's truck. Waited there for about 35 min's before the spotted me and came to pick me up. Just laied there in the back of the truck and wanted to die for awhile. dehydrated, dizzy, trashed, sick to stomach. FML for sure. 7:06 avg for the run. Kind of forced this run. Most likely would have been better off just bagging running today. But wanted to hit that 100 mile week... because it looks good on paper:). I guess...

DC loop. Hot, humid and wet. The altitude sickness I thought I had seems to be something else. Really having a hard time both physically and mentally. Hoping it only lasts a few days... timewilltell.

7 miles tonight. First afternoon run outside this summer... I'm not sure I even did one last year for that matter. It was only 101 F and did the middle B-hills loop with the secret st at the end. Wasn't too bad all things considered. EZ pace. Stopped for water at the GC cooler.

Maybe the worst tempo of my career:) Warmed up out to Staheli farm then planned on a 7 mile tempo down to around River roadish. I struggled from the very first step. Breathing was hard, rhythm was robotic, dizzy, weak, and no coordination. Stayed with the guys to around mile 2.5 or so. Then they slowly ran away. I wanted to just be done. But kept trying to work through it even though the times were rediculously slow. So the positives is that I stuck out the whole 7 mile tempo on a 84 degree-humid morning. The negatives are that I have issues and the pace was too slow to even blog. It seems that over the last 4 weeks I've progressivly gotten way slower each week. WTF?

143 lbs after- only thing that was positive. finally got weight down.

missingsomething, imnotright, struggling, ithurts

4.7 mile on the treadmill tonight. Still feeling pretty rough. Not exactly sure what's the matter with me. But I was able to get a good sweat going on the machine while jamming to Rage Against the Machine.

But ended the run with this groovy tune from years back. I hadn't heard it in years but in the last few days it keeps randomly coming up on my shuffle. It has a calming but fun feel. Makes me feel good.. and helped put Halen to sleep the other night up in Brian Head. Plus the video is great and I'm not even into skateboards.

Enjoy- West Coast by Coconut Records

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0TQ97TCTKY

Sorry this is random but I haven't shared any videos in a long time. I know my taste in music is old skool but this breaks away from the typical 80's junk:).

#makesmesmile

Out and back over to the DC and up to the corner. Temps were a little cooler today at 77 F and it wasn't as muggy so it felt like a completly different world. Crazy what a few degrees will do. Body felt so so. No real pain in the hip or hammy. But the echos in my head, dizziness, weakness and nausea were all there... and after mile 9 it was pretty bad. Really hoping this dosen't last very much longer... racing Desnews half next week is almost out of the question now. Idk. Guess we will see.

On the bright side Logan told me that it's just he and I at the running store this moring at the running store. So it might get a little crazy. PARTY. Might order Jimmy Jons and try on shoes for ourselves:)

143 lbs after the run. All the suddon I feel skinny and little-

4.7 more on the treadmill this evening.

Over to the DC and back. Temps were cooler again today like 75 F at 5 a.m when I left the house and dropped to 72 F for the low. Felt fantastic. Coolair on the bare chest almost feels like I'm stealing something. The sunrise was amazing too... made me want to be out on a boat at Powell at daybreak with glass to play on:).  Ran past Stephen Abraham Lincoln Hooper Pope as he was rocking out a tempo. My run was so so. Still battling the sick symptoms I've had for almost a week. If anyone has any aid or advice about low serotonin levels.... dropping antidepresant pills cold turky and the withdrawl efects... I'd be greatful. As this it totally unlike ANYTHING I've ever delt with. Scary, painful, physically draining, mentally deflating... IDK. It's been one week today since I stopped taking the pills and the withdrawl symptoms have been KILLER in every way. ineedhelp

4.5 miles tonight. Felt like I had a fever all day. So I totally wrote off running tonight. Then at around 4 took some Tylonal and was ready to call it a day. But one hour later I felt pretty good so I decided to go out. The run went great for 2 miles. By 3 miles I felt pretty rough. By mile 4 I was ready to vomit up the Tylonal. So did another half mile and gagged for a while in the parking lot. 100+ degrees and full sun as well.

DC loop. Nothing fancy. Temps were pretty nice again. Thankful for that.

3 more miles outside this evening. 104 F

And for the record I hate that Pre didn't medal in Germany. And I wish I could re-write the ending of Without Limits.

Marathon training loop with the Circle minus Log (as in Logan and not a tree) and the addition of James. Kept it super chill through the first 8 miles. Then got a drink and GU. For the remainder of the run we kept it honest but not hard. Pace was between 6:15-6:35ish on in. Ended with a 6:50 avg for the run. Felt much better today than I have all week prior. Although not amazing. Only had a dizzy light headed spell around mile 18 and it only lasted for about a mile. So much better than it has been and hope it will continue to progress.

Off the subject. I listened to Neil Young's "old man" on the drive over to the DC before the run. And at 4:40 a.m hearing him master the guitar it made me really want to learn how to pick on one... AND a banjo as well. I also fell victum to advertising and bought the new Gillete proglide flexball razor. WOW is all I can say. Best shave of my life. Totallyworththecash

Little shake out/ gauge/ question and answer/ mini tempo workout thing. I am registered for the Dnews half on Thursday. But have ZERO confidence in actually RACING. So  I just wanted to see what the body had in it after feeling sickly all last week without going into the tank too much.

Wamred up all around B-hills and ended up at mile 7 up by the two churchs on Brigham road. Decided to tempo from there down and around the park and back over by the house. Just get in three miles and see how things felt doing it.

Went 5:34, 5:36, 5:32- First mile could have been much faster because theres some good downhill but I just tried to really stay smooth. Second mile is the hardest on paper and times show it. Third has some mild climbing, some flat and mild down.

Anyways in the end I was happy to feel a lot better than last week. But still have Zero confidence in really racing up in SLC. But I'm already registered and already have other plans while being up there. So maybe I'll just do it as a glorified workout.

2.2 cool down

7 miles on the treadmill this afternoon before going to see April.

Joined Log and Stephen for Tuesday tempos. Only I just planned on doing the warm up with them. Then I cut back through the fields and met them at River Road to re-join for the cool down. Temps were CRAZY nice. 66 F!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Felt like Heaven. Best morning all summer- and in July nonetheless. Not very often do I say I wish I was doing my tempo. But today I really wish I would have been doing some kind of workout. It really doesn't get any better than today in the summer. Sometimes in October (like in 2011) it's 75 F or so... Anyways as you can tell I LOVED it and needed it. Legs felt like rail road ties after April worked the shiz out of them last night. I expected it. Slow and EZ this morning @ a 7:20 avg.

B-hills and secret st. Tried extra hard to keep this slow and ez. Another super awesome morning. 72 F. I honestly think I passed Mitt Romney riding a scooter through B-hills. He gave me a patriotic/ presidential, smug grin as he passed. His hair was perfect and untampered by the wind. #what #itcouldhappen

I have ZERO expectations for the race tomorrwo. All I know is I'll control what I can. Get there early... get a good warm up in... lots of pre potty stops. Then see what happens. Main goal is to stay on the bus the entire time and not decided to jump off early.

#wewillsee #timewilltell

Well... Honestly I'm pretty happy with this considering on paper the time looks slow. But for as sick and messed up as I have been the last two week and the lack of real workouts and downhill running. Today was a positive step. You have to race often to race well... I always say. So call it a glorified workout or whatever. But I was happy to run some good miles 1-8 and then keep working and not give in after that.

I was pretty upset when I was driving from Draper up to the bus pick-up. It was 3:30 a.m and the temp read 86F... you have got to be kidding me? Thats one of the reasons I wanted to do this race was to get out of the heat. And it turned out to be hotter than any workout so far this year in the STG. FML for sure on that one.

I got on the first bus leaving and had plenty of time for 3.5 really solid trips to the potty and 4.5 miles of running warm up. It was hot though and no warm up was really needed. Finished with the warm up in time to top off with a good drink and take a gu. Good thing because I forgot to take a second and I think it really hurt me after mile 8.

Anyways the race started on time. Smile. From the gun about 7 guys took off HARD. Then a few others were up there and even a chick. Justin, Steve and I took the first mile pretty smooth. It felt like I was holding back and still hit a 5:06 mile. I don't want to know what the lead pack hit. I was in around 12th place in the first mile but quickly slid into about 6th.

Worked through the canyon trying to run the tangents as close as possible and trying to dodge the headwind in any way possible. I hate wind. I just pounds my spirits. Both while running or in every other part of life. But splits seemed to be coming off pretty good and I didn't focus too much on it. Took water at ever aid station and put most of it on my head.

As we came out of the canyon at around mile 6 my breathing was way too hard. heart rate was too high and I had no balance.... or feel for what was happening. I tried to relax and Justin came up to me. At the time I was in 4th then to 5th behind Justin. Anyways I thought he'd just blow by as I was just kind of chillin and trying to find some rhythm. And for the next two miles or so I was able to just sit there with him. That was nice. I got some positive mojo back and felt like I might be able to really work the ending miles... Well between mile 9-10 I lost the confidence and Justin had pulled up on me by about 50 seconds. Mile 11 was no better as he was now about 65 seconds up and I looked back to see no one. So I just thought "5th it is". And kind of gave up the chase. Time or place were never a goal today. So I'm ok with both.

Hope to progress from this. Get some real workouts to fall down in the STG and maybe run another half in a month with some real "racing" goals.

Cooled down with Justin for 2.8 around the park. Then did some more getting back to the car.

The worst part of the day came during the cool down when my stomach really started to rumble. Since then I've been on the throne more than 15 time with lots of blood mixed in and coming out. Sorry it's gross but there's no pretty way to talk about it. Had crazy bad stomach cramping/ sick symptoms all day. I feel horrible. Like maybe worst post race stomach issues ever. Even worse than Hobble in 07. And that was bad before, during, and after.  So another FML there.

Had the course @ 13.17 and I hit ALL the tangents. FYI

Ran south to the Porter Rockwell trail then over to the Draper park until I was out 6 miles. Then back. There was a house on fire up on the hill and it made for lots of trucks and service vehicles screaming up and down the roads. Then tons of people going up to look. And lots of ash in the air. I saw a snake on the trail too. Snakes are so so so so so so creepy. I was on high alert the rest of the run- I hate snakes. Just took it super EZ. 7:14 avg for the run. I felt  pretty good overall in the legs. But around mile 9 my stomach started to be really queezy again. From there to the finish it was smooth, ez, and shallow breaths. Need to get a couple solid meals in today to try and settle things down. Rio here I come:)

Justin picked me up in Draper and we drove down to AF to join some Utah county boys. I'm bad with names but... Matt Poulsen and co. Their plan was to do a warm up. Which ended up being 6 miles. Then do a 3 mile tempo. Then 6 miles at like 6:20 pace. Then another 3 mile tempo. Justin and I didn't know about doing any tempo but after the warm up I couldn't not try. So we started the tempo with Matt and (other little fast dude). About 1.5 into it my quads were really feeling the soreness from Thurdays race and I decided to back off. Justin came up and we ran together to finish off the 3 mile tempo in a 5:33 avg. Then we started the 6:20 miles and both of us decided we wanted no part of the last 3 mile tempo so we just ran the last 11 miles at a 6:22 avg and hit 20.

It was a good morning. Good to go out and meet some new guys. I think we started with about 8 in the group. Got in some really good miles and a lot better than if I'd have gone solo. Then the group went to the Sev (7-11) for a post run slurpee. My fav.

Thanks for the run guys! And thanks to Justin for driving me down there and back. Plus temps were nice and cool compared to Thursday morning. Legs are pretty sloppy though and quads are sore. Glad tomorrow is a day off.

Out and back over to the DC and up to the corner. Overcast and smelled of rain but no luck. Pretty humid... ok very humid. Over all the legs felt pretty good for a Monday. Both hammies are super sore so I'll have to spend some time on the sawhorse. But quads feel much better than on Saturday.

Thoughts- I think I have the opposite of the rainy day blues. More like I wish it would rain so so so bad. It's so dry and we haven't had any real rain since... I don't know when. wouldlovemesomerain

Also I hate. I mean I HATE fireworks. It seems since the 4th of July they've been going off here and there. Such a stupid waste of money... for anyone. FACT. Plus in these crazy dry conditions I don't know why it's even allowed. It's not if but when a big fire will start from them. In fact I think that big one up above Hobble Creek was started by teens this weekend. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

And last I'm just sorry, sad, and puzzled at the events of the weekend here in STG. Guess in some ways we never really know why things happen. My heart goes out to the Lusk family in loosing thier wife and mom. But I don't know them. I also hope the best for Dave and Ally and their family. As Ally was there. Running with Terri. Had to hold her friend and neighbor as she basically died. So tragic. It's just bouncing around in my brain over and over. Everyone be safer out there.... last summer it was Braydon on the bike. Now Terri out running. This hits home... hard.

144lbs after the run this morning. 79 F at the start and finish of the run.

7 more miles tonight. It was overcast and only 97 F so I decided to take advantage of the cold front:). Legs felt like junk though. Heavy and slow. Glad I didn't have a watch because it would have been painful to watch it.

DC loop. Nothing special today. Legs were so heavy last night that I had no plans to do the tempo today... but forgot to tell Loggie. Oops. Sorry ):

Legs were again pretty heavy and slow. I didn't get a chance to work over the hammies on the sawhorse yesterday and now even that right hammy (which really never hurts) is knotted up. So working that out is a must today.  76F when I left at 7:20 a.m.

7 miles this afternoon. It said it was only 100f. I decided running was doable. Headed out and the first couple felt fine. But it was FULL sun. And as I pushed through every mile... I slowly started to tank. BAD. Felt super sick in the end. Cramping, bad stomach, dizzy, ect. This is the kind of afternoon run I've tried to avoid. They do more damage than good. I'll feel the effects for days.

Struggled to sleep at all last night. Even though I was dead, trashed, or whatever you want to call it. Just felt like I'd crossed the "line" on the run yesterday afternoon and now I was paying the piper. So when the alarm went off this morning I wanted soooo bad to bag it. Rest. Recover. Drink. Drink. And whatever else I could do to get something back. But I couldn't... just made myself get out. Pushed out a run. It felt slow and painful. The watch said it was a 7:07 avg but it felt WAY slower than that. I need some mojo back. #inafunk

144lbs

Decided to join Stephen and the club over at the DC since I didn't tempo on Tuesday.  Left the house at 5 a.m and it was 81F and muggysih. Warmed up over to the DC and did a little more with the club after that for a total of 5.5 miles warm up.

5 mile tempo basically around the Mayors loop from the DC up to river road and around. I felt fantastic for .25 and then... Reality set in and I felt normal tempo shiz. My quads are cramping up sooooo fast lately. They just feel horrible/ flat/ dead WAY too fast into workouts. Guess I'll blame it on the heat. IDK.  Ended up finishing the 5 miles at 5:36 avg. Nothing great. But happy to push something out.

4.3 mile cool down after. really started to feel weak, dizzy and super sour stomach on the way back. It's been a week since DesNews half and my stomach still wont settle. Maybe I'm pregnant... crazier things have happened?

PM. 3.5 on the treadmill