Clyde's Comeback!

DC/ River road loop. Nice and cool this morning (57F). I could be a real runner if I could run in temps like this every day. I was a little slow going after being pretty sick all day yesterday. Never really warmed up today as the pace was slow and EZ. However there was no soreness from the speed work yesterday morning... just some grogginess. 

5 miles this afternoon. It was only 95 F out (and I'm not saying that as a joke). I ran one mile up to drop some stuff off at a ward members house and then back to my house. Then I ran over to the park for a mile. I did two miles(4 big laps on the grass field) at the park in 5 fingers and then one more mile back home in the 5 fingers. It's been a while since I've did any barefoot running. I could tell my form was way out of whack. It's always nice to square things up.   

Around Stone Cliff and into B-hills then home. Another great morning with temps around 60 F. My calves were a little sore from running barefoot yesterday but they eventually worked themselves out. After the first couple miles the pace was under a 7 min avg... so not too bad. Time to start my mini taper for this weekends mock half marathon. I'm really actually pretty excited about it and am having real pre race jitters. Hoping for some good positive feedback from the legs.  

Out a little earlier today. It was kind of peaceful and dark running by myself. I did the DC/ River Road loop. Temps weren't as cool as the last couple days but not bad at all... 65 F. Legs felt pretty good. But yesterday my ankle started hurting for no reason and it was pretty sore today. I'd say a 6 out of 10. The only thing I can even think of that would be different from normal is the barefoot run I did the other day. Maybe that caused the soreness. I'll try to keep shoes on all day today- as walking around barefoot seems to stimulate the pain. If it aint one thing it's fifty as my granddad use to say. 

Trails half marathon in 1:12:54 a 5:34 avg at 13.11 miles 

Today we decided to reenact a race from 2007. The Trails half marathon from Gunlock to Ivans. In 2007 I ran a 1:14:33 to win the race on marathon pace effort. So the goal today was to run it faster than in 2007 but stay around MP effort and never go into the red lining half marathon push. 

So we measured out the course to straight up 13.1 miles, did 3 miles of warm up and then started the mock race. I had a drink sitting on the side of the road at mile 8. So I decided to go out fast enough to hit the times but EZ enough to feel controlled. The course is fairly tough as it rolls up and down basically the entire length. I figured today that it might be around 30 seconds to 1 min slower than the first half of STG.

Anyways up to the drink and GU I felt really smooth and knew I had something to give going into the bigger, longer hills at the end. Hit the 10 mile mark at 55:50 or so. Then really only had to work on the last climb (over a mile long pull into Ivans).

I was happy to see a big improvement from 2007 and felt like the effort was similar. Plus last night I was really sick and didn't get much sleep with a head cold, sore throat, and BAD runny nose. I was actually really surprised to run as good as I did today and am now home sick just like last night. It's like I had a little window to go run and the sickness is on both sides. And I don't feel an once of soreness. So I guess that's good too. 

4 mile cool down with all the guys to hit 20 for the day. Everyone ran pretty good today and I'm excited to see some big PR's from guys like Mike and James.  

Spent the majority of the weekend sick. This bad head cold and stuff moved in and it's taking it's time moving out. I feel a little better today but still packing around a heavy head. We took a family walk over to the park and around then back. By the time I was home I was kind of dizzy and ready to lay down. So we'll see what the day brings... wishing I can feel good and run this evening but it's not looking good. 

10.5 miles this afternoon = a very, very bad day. I started feeling a little better later in the day and got antsy to get some miles in. So about 4 p.m I went out to just try some. The goal was to go to mile 3 and see how things felt then take it from there. So three miles in and I felt pretty good. 4 miles in and still good. 5 miles in and good. 5.5 miles in and I start needing a potty stop. 5.7 miles in and I really need a stop. 6 miles in to the DC and I hit a port-a-potty. Wow that was close to very bad. So now I'm 5-6 miles from home basically any way you run it. I start back with the intentions of going all the way back for a total of 12 miles. I do pretty good up to about mile 9. Then it's over. It's the worst side ache of my life. The kind that will hurt for two days down the road. It actually forces me to stop and walk for about a quarter of a mile. I take the most direct line back to the house and basically just die once I get home. 

Long story short I wasn't better. I had too much Nyquil, DayQuil and every other type of medication in the system. Oh this one hurt... both the pride and the physical body.

After a bad run yesterday I was hesitant to even run today. But if this week isn't going to become a total flop I must get things going today. It was a great morning for a run. Cool (63 F) and cloudy so the sun was blocked for an extended time. I felt weak and frail but got through the run. The worst was that my side still hurt from last nights side ache as I worried it would. I hope it doesn't drag on and on like it does sometimes when this happens. This is the first time all summer (this year) I've had to deal with anything like this sickness. I'm just hoping to feel better each day but still grind out some mileage so I can kind of taper at the end of the week for the Red Rock Relay. Then hopefully have some legs to run it on. 

8 miles out and back into B-hills this afternoon. We enjoyed a none typical day here with the high only hitting 78 F. That always makes running better. I tried to relax and run without doing much. I just wanted smooth, flowing miles and didn't want to tax the system much. Still hit around a 7:03 avg for the run. 

3 mile warm up in 8:05 avg

8 miles at 6:03 avg

9.1 miles at 6:50 avg

Met Logan and Dave here at my house early for a workout. I wasn't planning on doing much with them as I wanted to just do a long run. But I was going to do the warm up with them and then see what happened. Their workout was to do 2 miles at brisk pace (6:20), 2 miles at Tinman pace, 2 miles at MP, and 2 miles at LT pace. I thought after the warm up that I'd go the first 4 miles with them and then work back into my long run pace. That's basically what happened. I stayed right there with them until mile four and then they picked it up. I didn't want to kill myself off for the long run so I didn't go much harder. But still ended the 8 tempo miles with a 6:03 avg. Logan and Dave must have turned south on River Road because I kept going straight down the river trail and never saw them again. After the 8 miles of tempo I took a GU and reset my watch. Then settled into a smooth but honest pace back home. I never looked at the watch until the last mile and realized that I'd been hitting a pretty solid effort... all things considered. I mean on fairly trashed legs, coming off being sick and after the tempo. Anyways I looped back down around the DC and then up around the Knolls park then one last loop around Jedora to get just over 20 miles for the day. 

Glad to have a nice long run in for the week. Now to rest up and only hit one-a-days from here on out so I can be fairly fresh for the Red Rock Relay this weekend. 

DC/ River road loop. I didn't want to run 3 miles this morning let alone over 10. But I just put my head down and pushed through. Feel pretty tired and wore down. Plus I got my leg assignments for the Red Rock Relay this weekend and just thinking about them makes me want to puke. Hope to rest up because I'll need it. 

I run leg #7 (5.7 miles), #19 (8.3 miles) and #36 (7.5 miles) all of which are rated "hard". So it's time to put on the work horse hat and clock in. Splits won't be fast at all because it will mostly all be uphill. Well my second leg is mostly flat but it is long and will be in the middle of the night.

Pushed Myler around the park loop. Just tried to the the belly in order before heading out to the relay. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Red Rock Relay.

First leg was supposed to be 5.7 but it ended up being 5.9 miles long. It started around Duck Creek and finished by Navajo Lake on Cedar Mountain. The leg was a beast. Around 800 ft of elevation climbing at 9,000+ feet above sea level. I'm just not conditioned to run at altitude so I struggled to breath and get anything rolling. On the step sections I felt I could have walked faster than trying to run. Hit this leg with a 6:40 avg.

2 miles warm up

1.3 miles cool down

2nd leg of the relay was from Newcastle to just before Enterprise. It was 8.3 miles long with some pretty good rollers, but it was fairly runnable. The only downfall was it was in the middle of the night and there was at least 5 but maybe 8 cattlegards in the road that were unmarked. This was very bad... I was hitting full stride and would basically have to slide to a stop before having to walk across each one. They at least should have laid some wood or mats down so you could run over them... and maybe marked it with a light or glow stick. Anyways I felt pretty good for this run. Even though before I left our van was attacked by a 50 year old handicap man who said we ran over his dog and he wanted money for it... Wow that was a trip! Hit a 5:54 avg for this leg and had 22 road kills.

3rd leg was 7.5 miles long from around Rockville up to the finish line by Zion NP in the town of Springdale. This leg was all uphill with the last 3 miles up through Springdale being really hard. Before this leg even started I was in a bad way. I had some stomach issues and had taken a record 30 trips to the porta potty during a relay. I was dizzy just walking around and while trying to run during the warm up I knew I was going to die. First of all I never run great in relays. Second the stomach issues were really, really bad. Third I had taken some No Doz and other alert aids before running the third leg to try and rally my system.... and I'd never taken them before to see how things would go. So I was jacked up and if bailing out would have been an option I would have taken it.

I started out just pushing along up a pretty good hill and then tried to relax one up the hill as it kind of leveled off for a half mile or so. Then once we hit the hills just before Springdale and all the way through that town I really started to struggle. BAD. Going into this leg our team had a 2 min lead over Mike Vicks team. He was also running this leg. So I knew I was jacked and I knew Mike was going to hunt me down but I wanted so bad to try to hold it together.... didn't happen. He caught me as we entered Springdale and didn't even try to go with him. Then on the miles up through town to the finish he just kept gaping me and ended up beating me by 2 mins. So I ended up running the leg in 46 mins (a 6:09 avg) and he ran it in 42 min's. I felt pretty pathetic about the whole deal. I think I could have ran the leg at least 2 min's faster had I not been so jacked... but Vick still ran an amazing 3rd leg. I was however surprised that I was even able to run a 6:09 avg being so sick and the leg it's self is pretty tough with lots of hills. And it was over 80 F by the time we started running so I was hot.

Anyways the relay was fun but very taxing. In a 40 hour time frame I got less than ONE hour of sleep. Even on relays I've done in the past I've gotten more rest than this one. But for some reason sleep just didn't happen. I always kind of stink in relays too. It was fun to run it with this team and we did somehow finish 3rd overall. In the end it was just what I wanted going into it. My goals was to run this relay to get a good workout in. And that's just what I got. Three legs at around Tinman effort but no lagging soreness to bother me the rest of the week.

DC/ River Road loop. Not sore but felt very robotic this morning. Never got things going. Weight is very low for early in the week. Hoping to kind of use the week to rest up, refuel, and get a little more motivated for the rest of the month.  

Inner B-hills loop this afternoon. Everything felt really good on this run. I felt smooth, rested and not sore at all. I'm sure it was all a front but I'll take it for the day. 

DC/ River Road loop. I'm lacking motivation this week. My mind is trying to talk me into an early taper and so I keep having to just push through the miles for at least one more week. Anyways it's hard to run when your not mentally into it. I slugged around the loop this morning. Ran into Steve O and it was good to see him out as it's been a while. 

Out early to run the Stone Cliff/DC loop with a few little extra parts. Nice running weather this morning with temps around 60 F. I couldn't get myself out the door last night for a run and thought I'd be in the same boat this morning. But things rolled along pretty good. I'm just pretty tired this week and still trying to get caught up on the sleep.

3 mile warm up 8 miles of "Brisk" pace 2 mile cool down Met up at my house for a big workout with boys. The calendar said we needed to hit 8 miles of MP. But at the start we decided to start with "brisk" pace and work faster as we went. So first couple miles were still conversational at 6:19 and 6:03. Then we worked down to a couple 5:43's. The last 4 miles felt really choppy and I couldn't get into a groove. I kept trying to force the pace but still couldn't get the wheels to roll. Hit 5, 6 in 5:38, 5:32 then by 7 I was mentally kind of done and hit a 5:49. Lucky for me the guys stopped at about 6.75 because there was a couple skunks in the trail. So I was able to catch back up. Then we started into the last mile and I hit a 5:29 on that one... so a 5:47 avg for the 8 tempo miles. Ok at best. I decided this morning I need to get recovered and rested before the big race. The last thing I want is to have the legs feel like that on race day. We are all excited to see these workouts winding down... only really one more left. Yay!

DC/ River Road loop. Boy I'm dragging through this week. Just haven't been in tune mentally or physically. One more run this week and maybe I can regroup this weekend and also get in to see April. Beautiful morning though. 

Did our last long run before STGM. We wanted 20 miles but miss calculated on the drive up so we only got 19... but when we finished we were fine with not doing anymore. Kept the pace laxi taxi all the way. Never pushed it to even Tinman effort. We did run up Winchester Hill a little faster than I wanted but everything else was well below the radar. Ended up hitting the 19 miles in 2:00:12 or a smooth 6:20 avg for the run. Felt ok but like the rest of this week I'm just not all there. Hoping to pull myself back together as I start into the taper next week. 

B-hills loop. Kept the pace uptempo but not all out. I want to drop the mileage a little this week but up the effort of each run. For a Monday I felt better than avg. Going to see April this evening but I'll get another run in before I go. 

PM. Middle B-hills loop. We had Cafe Rio at lunch and I had the Monday special of two chili relleno's with black beans and rice plus all the other cheese and sauce. It was yummy but when I ran again at a quarter to 4 there hadn't been enough time... Oh and it was a toasty 98 F. I was sick by mile 2 and in a bad way by mile 4. Dry heaving and spitting up a never ending supply of stringy yuck. I'm not sure I'll ever learn but today was a step in the right direction. I'm cleaning it up from here on out:)

I picked up another head cold last night. Lost track of how many times I've been sick this year. So anyways I spent then night sweating and dealing with horrible nose crap. Spent the day trying to get better and telling myself I'm still going to pull things together for a good race next week. But it's been pretty stressful. The last thing I wanted to do this week was fight off a sickness. By the evening I couldn't handle taking a zero for the day so I went out and ran. Labored the entire way and the run totally sucked. Came home and was well under 150 lbs... the body is pretty weak right now. 

Pretty sick today. After struggling through a run last night I decided that it may have done more harm than good. So no run today. Hopefully the extra rest will help get me feeling better. I'm a nervous mess right now. That could be aiding the sickness. Anyways it's a head cold, sinus, fever and I think it's mostly induced by bad allergies. 

DC/ River road loop. Fever was gone this morning and sinus area was less congested so I went out. I got a horrible nights rest though. Legs felt overly flat leaving me mentally and physically in a bad running funk. Not going into a race on my terms that's for sure. Outside of being sick my legs aren't turning over like they need to. Last weeks speed workout with Dave and Logan was basically pathetic. Now I feel that way every time I run... just working too hard to turn the legs over. Anyways I'm really frustrated right now and need to vent it all out. I'm hoping a magical wand hits my legs and at least takes me back to three weeks ago or so when I had a little confidence. Because right now there is zero. 

4.4 miles this afternoon. Mik'L had a busy day at the office and wasn't going to be home early enough to watch Myler so I took him in the jogger. We ran over to the park on a extended route then once there I did some barefoot in the five fingers. I wanted to work on form as everything feels totally out of whack. It was kind of counter productive because I was also pushing the stroller on the grass field... but it was nice to just get out and relax a little. Finally pushing all of the sick symptoms out today but the legs feel like they belong to a beginning runner. I couldn't have broke 4 hours today if I had to run a marathon.

DC/ Stone Cliff loop. Wanted to reestablish some confidence without overdoing it. So I mentally told myself today was going to be a good day and headed out the door. Took it nice and easy on the first mile (8 min pace exactly) just relaxing and enjoying the brisk morning air. I wore gloves today. Then once at the park I slowly worked on form and let the pace hit whatever it wanted. Made it around to the DC at 6 miles at around a 7:15 avg then on the way back up the river trail, around Stone Cliff and the fields I let the legs go and just tried to be smooth. Hit some 6:40's and 6:30's to end up doing the run in 1:28:20 with overall 6:59 avg. Nothing amazing but just what I needed right now. Effort was laid back and the legs felt fairly smooth. 

The good news about being sick is it drops my weight... a lot. I finished this run at 147lbs and I didn't even feel drained or dehydrated. So I should be able to be a very comfortable 152 lbs on race day... my perfect racing weight. 

Last Biggish workout before the marathon. The plan was to do a 3 mile warm up then a progressive tempo hitting 7 min, 6:30, and 6 min pace for around 9 miles and then a 3 mile cool down on a "hilly" course. So I chose to do it on our regular tempo loop which has a few good little hills and extend it around the park so I'd have to deal with the hill up River Road at the end and fastest part of my tempo. I wanted to make this one count and get a little groove flowing into next week but not overdue things. 

After the warm up I eased into the first three mile section that was supposed to be 7 min pace. I hit 6:52, 6:42, 6:13 here. The next section called for 6:30's my splits were- 6:16, 6:09, 6:12. And the last section called for 6 min pace I hit- 5:45, 5:42, 5:46 to finish on the top of the hill just past the gas station by my house.

Cooled down around the park and Jedora to square it off at 15 miles for the day. Splits were a little faster than the goal pace of the workout but I didn't hammer things. Just kept it smooth and really only had to work up the last hill at the end. The legs felt ok... not super sharp like I want but way better than earlier this week. With the weekend and next week I should be where I want to be. Also I was 147 lbs again after the workout today and yesterday I tried to eat more and really drank a lot of fluids so my weight situation is as good as I could have asked. 

We are up in Torrey so I ran from Bicknell down into the fields and then up over the Velvets and back to town. It was a beautiful morning and the views up there are so amazing. I ended up going a little farther than I wanted but the pace was EZ and about 7 miles of it was on dirt roads and trails. While I was climbing up the switch backs I got pretty winded and could feel the altitude but the rest of the run was smooth sailing. 

Ran from Bicknell back to Torrey again. This time I just stayed on the main road. I warmed up for 3 miles and then did 3x800's with a 2 min recovery between. Just ran these sets on the open road on my way back. I tried to do them on the most level section of road but there was a few rollers. Hit the first on a 4:55 pace as I rounded the turn and dropped to the river. The second was the most flat one and I hit it at 5:00 pace. Before the third set I did my recovery back up the road to Bicknell to lengthen the flat section for the last set. I hit it at around 5:05 pace. With the altitude all the sets felt like my lungs were going to explode but the legs felt pretty much in control. Finished up hitting the rest of the run at sub 6:30 pace because the legs were all wound up and I had a good tailwind coming off the bench into Torrey.

We are headed home today and it will be nice to get there and be able to have a couple days of regular life before the craziness of the weekend.  

Back home. It felt good to sleep in my own bed last night and even better to run on my own routes this morning. Hit the B-hills loop this morning. After running up in Torrey it felt great running down here. Legs feel good, lungs feel good, weight continues to be down... Should be a good on coming up... maybe a hot one too!

Up early and out in the dark. The morning was warmer than I thought it would as my T' shirt style tech shirt was just too much clothing. At the moment I'm feeling so fresh I could pop. It really kind of feels like the I'm having a weird dream or something right now. My body feels great and I'm just fighting the normal nervous mental stuff. Weight this morning was 148.5 so I have a few pounds to spare over the next couple day. Really looking forward to the weekends events.