Clyde's Comeback!

I had to bend the circle a little. I decided to switch my Friday and Saturday workouts because of travel. Guys I live a bend but don't break policy. 

I went out 9 miles and then back the same way. Around Middleton and up along the GS circle  until the trail that goes up to the new overpass and then from there I took the road up to Grapevine until I was at 9 miles.

Out in 1:13:06 - Back in 1:01:56

This is a very hilly run up and down the whole way with a total ascent of 400ft on the way out and then the same descent on the way back. Anyways it was a good run. I was out to the turn-around before the sun came up and the desert is just amazing that early in the morning. It really changes from heaven to hell in about 2 hours...

I hit some kind of tempo pace effort on the last 5 but not much faster than 6 min pace. During the last mile I did my strides.

(White Cumulus 458.1) 

6 mile brisk hike up and back to Calf Creek. This weekend was just a killer (youth conference with the young men and young women). We drove over 600 miles from Friday afternoon to Saturday afternoon to the Castle Valley play and to Torrey and back home the long way to hit Calf Creek. I worried all week that time and energy would become a factor later in the week and it did. Friday night we didn't get in until actually 12:30 a.m Saturday morning and then we had to leave by 8 a.m. So there just wasn't time to run in the morning. Then after a long day of hiking and driving I got home and my diaphragm is really tight. So tight that it's hard to breath just sitting at home. So long story short I'm a slacker today and will have to cut the week short by 10 miles. It's really not a big deal but for some reason it just bugs me to death. Hopefully next week when I have to take the scouts to the lake I can get through my mileage... I'm worried about that one too.  BUMMER!

4 easy miles this morning to try and work off a little of the weekend. Big workout tonight with the guys. 

(Blue Cumulus-461.05) 

16 miles tonight with the guys. Big workout with a 4 mile warm-up, 8 miles at Tinman tempo, 4 miles cool-down. All in a really good rain storm. Once the rain started we started herding frogs. They were all over the trail- Aaron even stepped on one and smashed guts everywhere.

Anyways the run was good. I left my garmin in the car because of the rain but Logan and Dave had theirs so my splits were right between theirs. The diaphragm started to tighten up on the last two miles... but everything else did too.

(New Landreth-16) 

12 miles this morning. I was sick last night and didn't fall to sleep until after 11:30 p.m and then the alarm went off at 4 a.m. So not much sleep to fuel the fire- but the hours I did sleep were solid R.E.M. I was out in the heat way too much on Monday. I started getting sick and the rest of  the day had classic heat exhaustion symptoms. Then I went out running last night and sent things into a tailspin. Luckily it's been rainy so the temps are down. 

When I woke I still had an upset stomach but was scared to not go out. Once out- I just kind of went back to sleep and ran a little double loop up around G.S. I'm really stressed right now about some family drama and I think it's also effecting my health and running.

(Red Stratus-461) 

A few people have asked about my blog title: To start with I really do love kids. But not children who are disrespectful to adults and just plain brats. Here is a few things I've thought might help any of us with children:

1. Most likely no one but you is going to think your child is "that" cute. So if you child is constantly getting into trouble someone else isn't going to be thinking how cute your child is. They are more likely to be thinking of how nice it would be to smack your kid across the mouth.

2. If your child or children are constantly sassing adults, teachers, friends and your letting it happen. Your peers will loose respect for you as a person.

3. Don't ever be accused of giving your child everything but discipline.

4. There are a lot better options than "Time out". Because our countries children are getting more and more disobedient and "time out" seems to be the only thing parents will do.  Have your child write sentences about the event.... This isn't the only solution but one I'll throw out there. It really gets under kids skin and they will hate it... so most likely they will stop doing what ever it was that got them there to begin with.

 Anyways I just need to vent and this is kind of my journal too. If your "put off" by reading this. I'm sorry, and by all means this isn't a blast at any of my running friends children. To this point I think your all doing a good job with your kids and Mik'L and I love hanging with you and them.  

6 easy miles this afternoon up around GS. It is muggy and hot but not like frying hot like it can be. I think I have a small flu or something making me have an upset stomach. Plus the diaphragm is semi- tight. 6x100 barefoot strides on the grass in new GS park after the run. 

(Blue Stratus-434.9)  

16 miles tonight with Logan at the DC. Big Workout: 3 mile warm up, 2 miles a Tinman tempo, 7x1 mile repeats w/ 200m recovery, 3 mile cool down. This was a bear!

The mile course was back and forth or up and down the trail down to Bloomington from the freeway bridge. My garmin shows only about a 20ft difference between the top and bottom side on all of the miles. So I'd say there is less than a 1% grade maybe like .5%- however on all the miles back up we hit a good headwind, and then on the 7th mile back down  the wind changed and we had it there too.  

Mile times were; 1. 5:15-down and getting out maybe a little too quick for the first one, 2. 5:32-back up and realizing this is going to be work coming back up against this wind, 3. 5:23, 4. 5:34, 5. 5:23-just trying to survive, 6. 5:25-maybe my best one- back up the river here and against a heavy wind, 7. 5:15- this one could have been faster but the wind switched on us and plus I was spent.   

I was really pumped after this workout. I did a lot better than I had planned on doing coming into the workout. Really glad to have this one in the bank!

(SS-164.5) 

12 mile morning run. Up at 3 a.m sharp to get this one in. After finishing the big workout last night after 9 p.m and then getting home and packing for this weekend I was luck to maybe get in 4 hours of sleep last night. These short turn arounds suck. 

Now I'm off to Lake Powell with the scouts for the weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to stay on track while down there.

(White Cumulus- 470.1) 

No time to run down here at the lake. Plus I didn't have any transportation across the lake so I could run.  

15 mile run Friday morning from the Stateline boat ramp up around the camping grounds and then down over the bridge by the dam by Page and back. 57 min out and 52 back. Just way too busy to run on these scout camps. Plus my body is trashed from all the activities. 

(New Landreth -31) 

No running today. No time really. By the time I got home from the scout camp to Lake Powell my body was soo sore and trashed that a run was out of the question. I guess I've got my 2 weeks of service in the last couple weeks and now I can get back to some better training.  Kind of fun, kind of long weekend. 

I can't believe Paddy won the PGA! Although you've got to give him credit for sinking 3 really tough putts to close it out. 2 majors in one year... Tiger please come back!

My body is just boot camp trashed. It seems that last year after my Lake Powell trip with the scouts that I was pretty "waxed". I'm not sure why? Gainer back flips off the house boat, mad crashes on the wake board, extreme downhill long jumping, and winning the Sumo UFC Wrestling Celebrity death match tournament (twice) and some of the guys are like 250lbs and I'm the smallest one. Anyways I'm sore in places I haven't been sore for a long time. The last two weeks I've had to drop my whole weekend of running for youth activities... I hope that the blessing of service will make up for the missed training and that my body will rebound from the war I've put it through. 

17.1 mile big workout this morning with Logan at the DC. 4 mile warm up, 9 mile Tinman tempo (5:57 avg), 4.1 mile cool down. I was up at 3:30 a.m and running by 4 so we could get this one done. This extreme early morning stuff sucks but it feels soo good to be done with the workout and to not have to sit and worry about it all day. 

No high lights this morning. It was very dark and hard to see the trail in most places. I stayed with Logan until just after mile 4 of the tempo and then he picked it up and I just stayed with the goal pace. The hamstrings were really tight coming into the workout but didn't really bother me during- I hope they will stay loose the rest of the day.

(Black Stratus- 47.1) 

5 easy miles this afternoon out in the sun- sounds like fun!

(Blue Cumulus- 466.05) 

12.2 mile run this morning. Slept in until 5 a.m and then got out and got the run in just in time to get to work. It wasn't as cool out today as it was yesterday morning. I'm looking forward to fall- big time! I really tried to relax today and focus on some smooth form. I need a good recovery day before tomorrows 1000m workout at the track. 

(Landreth- 360.7) 

5.8 miles on the treadmill this afternoon. I wasn't in the mood to hit the heat. Plus I wanted to listen to some sick 80's jams like this one from Van Halen- "I'll wait"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vdcLhW5AQc&feature=related 

15 of the very  worst miles ever this morning. I felt like today was going to be  trouble and it turned out to be worse than I'd planned for. Up at 3:30 a.m and at the  track running by 4 a.m with Logan and Dave. We started off with 3 miles of warm-up in GS and then 2 miles at Tinman tempo pace. Both of these felt strained but doable-  however I really feared the track. Now we start the 1000's- 3:17 on the first one (slower than any of the ones I did two weeks ago). 3:17 on the second, 3:18 on the third and starting to fall apart. Then 3:29 on the forth and it hurt like @#$% the whole time. I actually got really worried after the first lap and backed off but it still hurt. After I finished I told the guys to keep going and I'd just go run out on the road up into GS. So I went out 3.5 miles and then back. I hit a total of 3 potty stops this morning- but that wasn't the only or main problem. On the last two miles coming back to the HS I was dizzy and running all over the road, and most importantly both hamstrings and calves had knots in them and the legs were hurting worse than at the end of a marathon. 

I'm trying to figure out what was going on. Basically I feel that maybe these two big workouts a week might be too much. I'm just not recovering from them. In fact today I think I'm still not recovered from the mile workout Logan and I did last Wednesday night. I know that these harder/ speed type workouts are working and getting me faster, but I also feel like I'm one workout away from injury...

So I'm not sure what I'll do from here on out. For now I'm just going to try and run very easy the rest of the week. Then go see April  for a massage on Saturday- then let that sink in over the weekend and I'll try the Tinman workout on Monday and play it by ear.  Thank goodness I don't have to run the rest of the day. I plan on resting all day long and trying to get caught up on what I figure is a weeks worth of sleep I've got behind on over the last two weeks. That could be a factor too. 

(Red Stratus- 476) 

12 mile run this morning. I slept in until 6 and didn't get out until 6:30 a.m and it felt great. Not to say that I felt totally fine after being so jacked yesterday but I felt way better. Actually I had some kind of 24-hour bug yesterday and spent much of the day asleep with medication working it's magic. 

Today was nice though. I went over into GS and the back up over the hill to the powerline trail and up to the water tank- up the road a little and then back around industrial and the long way home to make it 12 miles. What a nice morning out in the desert. I really need to get out there more. It's just relaxing and helps me be not so stressed about running and racing. Also not that summer is over by any means- but I could kind of see fall coming as the sun was coming up over the horizon this morning. We still have months of heat but it's nice to be on the downward slop of the beast.

(Blue Cumulus- 478.05) 

8 miles tonight with the running club. Out and back from the store. I tried to keep the pace nice and slow to help recover but Abraham Lincoln was feeling frisky and kept trying to push things. It's nice out in this town after the sun goes down for the day.

(Landreth 368.7) 

9.25 mile run this morning. Up over the hill into GS and around Middleton the long way. Good to be out in the desert again as the sun was coming up. Two more runs this  week and I can go see April and get this hamstring worked out. It's really, really tight and also just leads to early heavy legs during every run. The calves are feeling better though- so I guess you win some and lose some every day. 

(Red Stratus 485.25) 

5.75 miles this afternoon on the treadmill. I wasn't sure of how many to do because the plan was for 5 this afternoon but the weekly goal was for 110 and I was one mile back so I evened it off leaving the solo 20 mile run tomorrow morning.

I warmed up very slow for two songs on the treadmill and then just worked through it. Felt better than I though it would going in. Glad it's done and now I can rest up for the morning run.

(Blue Stratus 440.4) 

20 miles with Dave and Logan. Up at 2:40 a.m to meet and be running by 3:15 a.m. We don't do this to win the popular vote and get fan mail. Those guys had a x-country meet today and needed to be done early- I just wanted to run with them rather than alone. We started at the store and ran out 10 miles up the Gunlock road and then back. We hit a avg of 7:06 for the run- miles 16, 17, 18, and 19 were at Tinman tempo pace- with the fastest one being at 5:46. The whole course is very rolling/ challenging to hold any type of fast pace. So this was a pretty good finishing effort. 

I got home and planned to shower and sleep until my 10 a.m massage with April... But Mik'L was pumped to watch the Tevoed Olympic with me. So at 6 a.m on Saturday morning when most Americans are happy to be in bed. We were on the couch watching Phelps and everyone else in Beijing. Classic morning at the Behunin house. Now Mik'L is making her world famous Pancakes.

(Black Stratus 67.1) 

Just got back from my massage with April. Oh man I feel like I just was in a street fight. She said my hamstrings couldn't have been any tighter and cautioned that I may need to cut back and rest a little... Hopefully the rest of today and Sunday will provide some quality R&R for the system.  

16 mile Big Workout this morning. 3 mile warm-up and then 2 mile, 1 mile, 2 mile, 1 mile, 2 mile at LT pace with a 2 min rest/ jog for recovery in between repeats and finished with a 5 mile cool-down. 

I ran a lone today. I actually spaced calling the guys last night and figured it would all work out anyways. So I went to the DS at 6 a.m and ran the 3 mile warm-up north bound. Then started the tempo miles on our regular Tinman course. The splits went like this:

2 miles- 5:39, 5:40- really hard to get things going today.

1 mile- 5:30 

2 miles- 5:31, 5:34- feeling o.k but not great on the last three miles

1 mile- 5:59- through the turns of the parking lot and then uphill most of this mile

2 mile- 5:48, 5:49- Really not in the zone but running o.k for just being weird.

I developed a massive blister on my left foot's little toe somewhere in the middle of the tempo miles. It's been years since I had a blister of any significants. I know I run a lot but I've really never got any blisters and this one really hurts. It's like as big as the toe it's self. So anyways that started hurting during the tempo miles and really hurting during the cool-down. Also during the cool-down the diaphragm got really tight. Hopefully this is just a day in and day out type of tight. 

Glad to have did the workout. I was trying to talk myself out of it all day yesterday and even this morning. I'm going to stay on schedule this week with my training as if I was going to run TOU half on Saturday. The if we do end up going up it will work out and if we don't I'll run some kind of 13.1 mile tempo thing on Saturday where ever we end up going or not going...

(Black Stratus- 83.1) 

12.2 mile morning run up around new overpass and through Washington. Tried to stay loose and let the hamstring recover from yesterday's big workout. However by the time I got home it was pretty tight. Spent some additional time stretching it out when I got home. Saw James H. out taking care of business this morning. Seeing him got me thinking that there are a lot of people out running lately. The other morning when Dave, Logan and I did the 20 we saw people everywhere out running. I guess they are all finally getting ready for the marathon. Not to say that James hasn't been training because I know he's been working hard all year- but some of these people around town can train for a month and a half and then still go out and have a "with in reason" good experience on marathon day. 

(New Landreth 43.2) 

5 miles this afternoon around the old school GS loop. It was hot out but the wind helped cool me off after I started to perspire. Plus the run was pretty short. I had a really monumental thought during this little run. My form is pretty jacked up. I think my fitness/ endurance are pretty good. Speed is hit and miss, but efficient/ smooth running is really my biggest weakness right now. On my Monday's workout during the last 2 mile tempo segment I was laboring to hit 5:48 pace and while I was running and trying to increase the pace I could feel my body all over the place running like I had size 14 feet. It does me no good to run 100+ miles a week and to do these killer workouts if I'm running like a clown. I remember somewhere around this time last year I found this really smooth, and efficient stride that seemed effortless and it was the key to why I ran as good as I did at the STGM. Then I was so jacked up after the marathon I lost it and really haven't ran the same since. Today I started to feel what I was looking for- don't ask me why it's taken all summer to get here but it has. I need to spend the next 6 weeks really "feeling the flow" so that I can hold a quality pace during the marathon.

(Blue Stratus 445.4) 

Well yesterday we spilled the beans to a lot of you in one way or another but I guess I better put it up on here too. WE ARE HAVING A BABY! I'm guessing it's a boy and he'll run a 4:10 HS mile and have a marathon PR of 2:13. He'll also have stunning good looks (and brains too) along with a good guy personality. All joking aside we are sill early and Mik'L isn't due until around the first week of March. After years of waiting we can finally become parents and we both are very excited. 

8 mile morning run up around GS and home the long way through Middleton with Mik'L along side on her  bike. It was nice having her along to give me water and sing hymns along the way... j/k we don't live in Provo.

The hamstring is going to be a bigger test than I originally thought. I had April work it out for almost an hour on Saturday and it's back to being just as sore again. I'm not sure what it's story is but I'd like it to go away soon.

(Landreth 376.7) 

5 miles around the GS loop. Other than the left hamstring that is really tight everything else is feeling really good and welcoming the lessor miles this week.

(White Cumulus 475.1) 

10 miles this morning up into GS and back. It felt cooler this morning during the run, like really, really nice. So when I got home at 6:10 a.m I checked and it said 66 degrees. Wow that's the first time I've seen it in the 60's since like April or at least May. I was loving it. The run felt pretty good. I was kind of slow getting going and hit 5 miles in 39:50- and 10 miles at 1:13:32. So I was able to pick it up a little. Now off to work!

(New Landreth- 53.2) 

I'm trying to keep this week a recovery/ taper week even though I'm not officially racing. It seems my hamstring is feeling just a little better every day with the low intensity and miles. So this afternoon after work I wasn't going to do anything but got board around the house and opted for a mountain bike ride for some cross training.

Ugh... 13.25 miles later I finished it up. I went up to the city creek trail that runs around the rim above Dixie Red Hills golf course and weaves around up there everywhere... then I made it over to the running store. When I got there I was a just over 7 miles and it had been 1:01:45 since I left the house. Grueling! It was 104 degrees when I left the house and I was out of water before I even got to the dirt. Anyways I grabbed some water at the store and just took the road back home up over skyline dr. Good workout = 3.3 miles of running.  

8 mile run this morning. GS out and back in 1:00:50. So that is about 1 min faster than I did the first 7 miles of my bike ride yesterday. I'm still dazed at some of the place I went on those trails- crazy stuff. 

Just a good roll this morning. No real highlights or drama. I'd say the left hamstring is around 70% of normal. Thats an improvement from around 60% last Saturday and also Monday after the big workout. I'll really test it tomorrow when I try t let it go down the course as part of a 20 miler in the morning. I should have a really good idea of what I'm dealing with after that.

(blue Stratus 453.4) 

21 miles this morning. Very, very good workout. Finally!

Met up with some of the STG running club and we did the 20 miles from above the store down. I did the first 10 at a brisk but not hard pace and then tried to hammer the second 10 miles down to the store. After I did one mile to cool down. Total avg for the 20 miles was 5:47 and the cool down mile was on it's own thing. 1:55:47 total for the 20 miles (last year on this workout I was 1:59:40 or something). 

First 10 miles in 1:02:20 or so I didn't keep these on separate times so I don't have the split breakdown for each ten miles. I wanted to just run nice and smooth here and kind of warm up and prepare for the second half of the workout. First mile was in 6:13 (way fast) and it just stayed fast all day. Even the Veyo hill was still in warm up mode and it was in 7:13 way faster than last year when I did this workout. 

Second 10 miles in 53:27 or something like that. I just was feeling very good. Even the hamstring that was hurting still hurt but I was able to focus on the run and just deal with the pain.

1. 5:38- this mile was 10- 15 seconds slow because of a water break and length was weird. So I ran around a 5:25 pace effort on this mile.

2. 5:05

3. 5:16

4. 5:16

5. 5:30- found my half empty water bottle here

6. 5:33- up the Winchester Hill

7. 5:12

8. 5:04

9. 5:32- lost focus and slide off pace a little

10. 5:18- could have pushed this mile under 5:10 but I was already way ahead of my goal so I was happy to just bring it in. 

Like I said I didn't have the garmin set for two different times (each 10 mile split) so I didn't have my second 10 mile avg. But from what Mik'L and I figured in the car I hit the last 10 miles at an avg of 5:19 pace or so... the math could be off. Not bad... even with the first mile that should have been at least a 5:25 if not faster but my water and gu were a little farther down the course like .15 of it was done as my first (10 mile). Then got going on the fast portion after the stop. 

Anyways I'm pumped about this workout. I did it last year and it gave me a lot of confidence going into STGM. I've been wanting to hit it again but have been worried about "how I'd do" since I've raced so poor all summer. This gives me a big boost to know I'm on schedule or close to it. I also had 98 road kills today of other people who were out running the course. That made if fun to be running down so many people the whole time.

(Speedstar's 185.5) 

12.2 mile run this morning around the overpass. I was up fairly early and it was still hot out. There was some cloud cover last night and it was dry and hot out as I ran in the dark this morning. My legs were fairly heavy and sore this morning from the hard run on Saturday, but that was to be expected. Hopefully with a couple at easy pace I'll be able to shake them all out. 

(New Landreth-65.4) 

 6 easy miles tonight. Olive Garden was sitting way heavy in the tummy. I also saw a family of raccoons right by the golf course. 

(Blue Stratus 459.4) 

12.3 miles this morning. Up to overpass but kind of did an out and back instead of the regular loop. My legs have some serious delayed soreness from last Saturday. Monday they felt worse than Sunday, Monday night was worse than that morning and Tuesday morning was the worst so far. The calves are rock hard. I tried the stick on them last night and it hurt just to touch them, let alone to actually roll them out. Anyways looking forward to when things feel better. 

(Landreth- 389) 

2 mile run tonight. I thought the schedule said to do 12 this morning and 8 tonight so this morning I did 12 and then looked at it during lunch and saw that it was (10 morning and 4 evening) oops. So I just did a pathetic 2 miles tonight. It was kind of good because now the delayed soreness has moved up to the quads and it's for real. Ouch!

(Blue Cumulus- 480) 

16 mile big workout this morning. 5 mile warm up, 7 miles at MP, 4 miles cool down. We met up early and it was way dark out on the trail. At times we all were stumbling around because of unseen bumps and dips on the river trail. I asked the guys if we could do a 5 mile warm up instead of a 5 mile cool down. I wanted to make sure I was really warmed up this morning. The legs have been extra heavy and tight this week from last weeks workout and so I was a little apprehensive coming into todays speed stuff.  

7 miles at MP was interesting. I went out way fast hitting 5:30's (5:26, 5:34) on the first two miles and just trying to keep Logan in view. Then I realize I was going too fast for the workout and tried to relax and run to pace and did so all but the 6th mile. There I really struggled and hit a 5:55 but then Dave came up and got me going again and was able to avg 5:43 pace for the 7 miles or 7 miles in 40:04. My quads got really tight and heavy when we were by the DC- which makes sense that the 6th mile was so slow. Then I was able to work though it a little and bring the last mile back down to pace.

Nice cool down with the guys as the sun was starting to come up. I really enjoy running with the guys early in the morning. It gives us time to talk about life and stuff. Good workout overall. Really glad it's over.

(White Cumulus- 491.1) 

5.3 miles up the Middleton trail to the power line and then over just a tad. It's a good thing that tonight's miles were scheduled to be very easy because thats all the effort I wanted to give. Nice to be out on the trail. The construction guys have made a mess of things right here at the entrance... hopefully they don't keep going out.

(Red Stratus- 490.5)  

12.3 mile run this morning. Same run as Tuesday. I felt like poo today. Most of the time I'm sore and stiff for the first 3 miles or so and then finally get warmed up. Today I never crossed the line- I was stiff and slow the whole time. Getting through the rest of today and this week will be a challenge. 

(New Landreth- 77.7) 

7.5 mile run up around one of my many, many GS loops. Right smack in the middle of the heat. When I left it was 108 and when I got home it was 110... I just wanted to get it over with and get as long as recovery as possible before tomorrow mornings 18 miles. This run was pretty good considering the heat. I took some water and did the wet hat and tank top thing. Thats the last afternoon run for the week and it feels soo good to have it over with. I'm getting so sick of the heat- it's starting to drive me crazy!

(Blue Stratus- 466.9) 

17.5 mile run this morning. Out into the heart of Washington Fields and back. Saw James H. out with his headlamp running in the dark. I knew it was one of the Holt's but couldn't tell which one until I was right by him. I didn't set the alarm this morning because I wasn't going to go for sure. The legs were feeling trashed and so I went to bed and left it up to chance if I got up or not. If I got up before the sun came up I'd go running- if I didn't then maybe just a sort little run and call it a rest day- well I woke up at 4 a.m and could not go back to sleep. So I went out for this longer run. It ended up being pretty good trip. I just kept the pace "relaxi taxi" and pushed through it. I saw a heard of 10+ deer out in the fields. Most of them were babies which is cool. My stomach was really on edge this morning from the Ihop last night (Colorado Omlete with bacon, shredded beef, cheese, peppers, salsa... and 3 apple crisp buttermilk pancakes). After having the stomach drama for much of the run I had to ask myself:

Clyde- Why doest thou this? "I know not". Whilst thou ever learn? "The temptation is strong and makest me weak in the flesh". If thou wilt continue to be stalwart in your labors thou may reap a small reward!

Also wore the heart rate. I did last night for the first time in over a year. Yesterday afternoons run in the heat I had an avg of 147 bpm. This morning I put it on and while sitting on the couch before the run I had 39 bpm and if I would have laid down I could have dropped it to 38 or 37. The avg bpm on the run this morning was 128.  

(Black Stratus- 100.5) 

6.5 miles on the bike today = 1.6 miles of easy running.  

16.5 miles this morning as part of a Big Workout. We met up early with a bunch of people to ride up the course. Thanks for driving again Mike! Dave, Logan and I were going to do this workout: 4 mile warm up, 10x2 min @ 5:30 pace w/ 1min recovery, 3 mile Tinman tempo and then the rest at cool down (ended up being 3.5 miles). 

It was cool, and very dark up were we started. There were falling stars everywhere and I'm sorry to admit that I didn't keep a roadkill count this week. The 4 mile warm up went by super fast as it always dose when there are hard miles to follow. Then we started the 10x2 min section.  I didn't start and stop and restart the watch during each of these legs however we were rolling. With some (1 min recoveries) mixed in we still hit mile splits of 5:15, 5:09, 5:29, 5:31 and so on. I'm guessing that the 5:30 pace effort turned into 4:20-4:40 pace through the downhill. Going into this workout I thought "this should be easy- it's not a big deal". Wow! It was a workout. We kept it more true on the Tinman tempo and then very slow on the cool down as we licked our wounds back to the park. 

Good workout to have in the bank. I was pretty sore going in and very sore coming out so now it's time to try and get recovered before a good thrashing on Monday.

(SS- 202) 

The last day of August 2008. Wow this year has flown by so far. Here we are one month away from the STGM again! It seems like I was just here last year at this time. What a year it's been so far- as far as running goes. So far this year I've spent more time running, getting ready to run, and trying to recover from running than any other time in my life. I've logged more miles per week on avg by far than in the past and as of late have completed 5 weeks of a 10 week Big workout schedule. So for my efforts where am I? That's the million dollar question. So far in races this year I've never ran to a satisfactory level. So I really don't have a bench mark to know where my fitness is. Last Saturday was the closets look I've had so far in 2008 when I ran a "workout" 20 miler down the STG course. I was able to run harder and more energized than last year during a similar workout... but like I said it was a workout and not a real race. 

With the stress of family and life I really don't know where my running will go after the STGM in a little over a month. It seems this lifestyle of constantly being sore, tired, and hungry is taking it's toll on me and I'm taking a toll on others around me. So this could be my last real race... Unless things fall apart there like other races this year and I'll have to try something else to hang my hat on.

For now I'm just going to focus on enjoying September. Staying positive and happy around the house. I've got one more month of hard training and this could be it so I might as well enjoy it while it lasts. Yesterday was one of those days. I had a good run in great weather conditions early in the morning with the guys. Then enjoyed the opening weekend of college football to the fullest.

So for now I need to keep my family happy. Get my legs together- in doing that I need to find a good solution for my nagging hamstring and then be fully recovered by race day. I also need to stick to the workouts that the circle of trust has planned unless injury says otherwise. Then in the meantime I need to try and decide where we go from here?