Trails!

Providence Hills loop.  Felt half decent today.  I pushed it really hard up the 1 mile of steep hills to get it under 8:00 mile for that mile.  My HR climbed to 178 going up.  The rest of the run was easy.

Total Time: 60:36 (7:23 ave)

Ave Hr: 155

Ran to Paul's house and ran with him on the Canal trail loop.  Parts of the run felt easy, but most felt like I was working too hard.  Legs are feeling their usual delayed fatigue from the race.  Nice morning for a run.

Total Time: 68:04 (7:28)

Ave Hr: 152

I woke up to some serious rain and I decided to go back to bed.  Oooo it felt so good.  I had to wait until the afternoon to get my run in.  I decided to actually run a "workout" today so I put my game face on and got going.

I ran the Providence - River Heights loop as a Tinman Tempo (at MP effort).  I had to push it pretty hard in sections to keep the pace up but overall I did great.  8 miles in 51:44 (6:28 ave).  Ave HR was 164.

I was going to push Jaxon in the stroller but it started to sprinkle and get colder so I decided not to take him. I immediately turned around at the house and ran the river trail loop (3.4 miles) easy.  It took just over 25 min.

Very Easy run in the morning.  I ran the landfill loop in 47:58 and had an average HR of 142.  A much needed recovery run.

Long Run with Paul and James.  We started at the Canal Trail (dugway) and ran up to first dam.  We ran up the switchbacks to the Bonneville Trail and over to Green Canyon.  At that point the snow started and the run was becoming quite unpleasant.  Yep snow.  It was 80 earlier in the week now it is snowing.  Paul and I ran up past the end of the road about 3/4 mile past where the singletrack starts.  James turned around and went home pretty close to the single track trail (as he ran long yesterday too).  We hit 9 miles at about 9:00 mile ave, but it felt much harder as we had climbed to ~6500 ft (from 4600 ft).  The snow was accumulating quite well at that point (1-2 inches maybe).  Once we truned around, we realized the wind had been blowing up the canyon and now we were running into the blizzard-like weather.  It was cold and miserable.  I had a hard time seeing as the snow was blowing in my eyes, boo hoo.  Once we left the canyon, the weather cleared up nicely.  We picked up the pace at the end with the last mile (flat) in 6:51.  Today's run was all about time on my feet, not pace but it still is depressing to feel like you are working hard, but still running 8:00 miles.

Total Time: 2:30:19 (8:21)

Ave Hr: 151

AM: (6 miles) Landfill loop with 6x100m striders.  Wasn't feeling especially spry.  The striders were pretty sub-par.  "Looks like sombody has a case of the mondays.."

Total Time: 44:38 (7:26)

Ave Hr: 146

PM: (3.5 miles) River Trail pushing Jaxon in the stroller.  Easy pace, great weather.  Legs felt better this afternoon.  No watch.

Bad News:  I didn't get in the Lottery for the St George Marathon... Bummer

General Aerobic run on my Providence Hills loop.  I had some gravity assisted and gravity impeaded miles, but overall, I beat the 7:00 guy.

Total Time: 57:17 (6:59)

Ave Hr: 159

Good News:  It turns out that the list I read was incomplete.  I did get in!  Sub 2:40 training starts June 1.

Easy run on paved river trail and over to Logan High School.  Ran into Paul there doing mile repeats. I wanted to get the feel of a 5:00 mile for tomorrows time trial so I ran 1 lap with him at his mile repeat pace (76 sec).  I then ran an easy 400 and caught him on his last lap of that repeat and ran one more fast lap (75 sec).  They felt ok, but I only did 1 at a time not 4.  I do have confidence that I can break my PR of a 5:03 1600 meter run.  Looking forward to tomorrow...

Total time: 54:31 (7:47 ave)

Ave Hr: 154 Max HR: 182

I have always wanted to break a 5:00 mile.  I ran a 5:03 1600m in high school and figured that would be as close as I got.  Today I got one step closer to that goal.  I set out to run a sub 5:00 1600m today on a track.  I met up with Paul and James this morning at the USU track and did a nice warmup.  The plan was to have Paul pace laps 1 and 3 and have James help throughout.  I have to say that I tried hard and ran well, but fell short...barely.  I ran 5:00 exactly!

Splits: Lap 1 - 74.5

Lap 2 - 76.5 (2:31 800m)

Lap 3 - 76.2

Lap 4 - 72.8 (2:29 800m 5:00 total)

Max HR 188 (Should be pretty close to my actual max HR)

I felt like I gave it my all and am pleased that I set a new PR (9 years later).  James thinks I should have tried for 4:50 so that even if I fell short of 4:50 I would've made sub 5.  I think he is probably right.  Maybe next time...

Thanks James and Paul for the help! 

Another great morning for running.  I ran a random route based on how I felt at the given intersection.  I spent much of the run on the paved river trail and on the golf course.  Very easy pace

Total Time: 49:00 (8ish)

Ave Hr: 146

Perfect conditions for the Smithfield Health Days Fun Run.  I haven't run a 5K in a while so I decided that today would be a perfect tune-up race for Ogden next week.  Plus it turned out to be a fast course with a gradual uphill (200 feet climb) for the first half and the same downhill on the way back (Out and back).

I didn't expect a lot of competiton in the race.  Especially because I saw Carson Campbell (4th at TOU 2006 2:32-ish) jump into the 10K and not the 5K.  The 10K started first with Carson and James the obvious favorites for 1-2.  The 5K started 5 minutes later with the first 1.5 miles on the same course.  It was the usual start with the kids in an all out sprint.  Once they were out of the way (100 meters or so), there were only 3 high school kids out in front.  Dan and I ran pretty strong the first mile together and reeled in the high school guys.  It was fun passing all the slower 10K people as they commented about how bummed they were that the 5K people caught them.  Sorry guys..  I was feeling pretty good once I pulled into the lead, so I decided to keep pushing and see what happened.  I did ease up a bit in the third mile as I knew I would win, but still pressed for a PR.  I ended up only 7 seconds behind my all-time cross country (HS) PR with this being my Road 5K PR.  I measured the course to be 3.07 on the Garmin, but it is supposed to be certified.  Close enough for me.

17:33 (5:39 ave)

Here are the splits:

Mile	Time	Ave HR
1	6:02	177
2	5:51	189
3	5:18	192
3.1	:20	193

My HR was much higher today than it was on thursday during the mile time trial.  I figure that the up-hill pushed it up there and then I just maintained it.  Makes me wonder about how much harder I could run the mile as my max today was 195 as opposed to 188 on thursday.

Dan still ran stong and finished 4th overall and 1st in his age group.  He had to stop for a bit for ...a bio break and that hurts on a race as short as a 5K.  Other than that, he met his goals for the race.

James ran really well and was way ahead of third place and not too far behind Carson.  James could be around 2:40 at ogden next week.

Oh, bonus!  I won $20 for first overall.  My first ever prize money! 

Ran 2 mile warmup and 2 miles of cooldown.

Race Results are HERE

Landfill loop nice n' easy.  Joints were a little sore, but other than that, feeling good.

Total Time: 44:35 (7:26 ave)

Ave Hr: 149

Why am I so tired and sore during a taper?  I didn't feel like getting up this morning, but I did anyway and ran a miserable 5.  I ran my 5-mile river trail loop.  Slow.  I did losen up a bit as time went on but my joints are sore.  I am sure I will feel better tomorrow.

Total Time: 38:56 (7:48)

Ave Hr: 147

Last day of anything other than very easy miles before Ogden.  I felt much better today on my run.  It could have been the hour and 15 min walk I took last night.  Today I ran my Providence - River Heights loop.  I ran mile 4 at race pace.  It felt good.

Total time: 58:45 (7:21)

Ave HR: 155

Met up wtih Paul and ran on the Paved River Trail.  Nice and easy pace.  I am feeling ready to go.

Total Time: 38:34 (7:43)

Ave Hr: 149

One last easy run to shake out the legs.  No watch.  Ogden here we come......

I have been looking forward to the Ogden Marathon for some time now as I have wanted to prove that I can run faster than my PR of 3:11:20 at TOU.  I had a lofty goal of sub 2:50, but knew that if all pieces fell into place I could run even faster than that.  Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but I am still pleased with an 18 min PR.  Good to get the 3-hour monkey off the back.

I ran 2:52:45 - 16th overall and 4th in my age group. Results are HERE:

After a brief warmup and some standing around, the race started out nicely, close to being on time and in ideal conditions.  My splits are according to the course markers.

Mile 1: 6:08 - Maybe a tad fast, but on a nice downhill

Mile 2: 6:23 - A tad slower than what I was wanting.

Mile 3: 6:14 - Right on pace now.

Mile 4: 6:16 - I ran for quite some time (till mile 17) with a student from Weber

Mile 5: 6:16 - Still feeling great

Mile 6: 6:17 - Sun is out full bore and I am now noticing it.  I was drinking from almost every aid station or dumping cold water on me as I knew I would need to stay hydrated and cool.

Mile 7: 6:14 - I don't remember anything about this mile

Mile 8: 6:14 - No more downhill now ...bummer

Mile 9: 6:37 - Too slow on the hills

Mile 10: 6:17 - Over compensated a tad.

Mile 11: 6:34 - Was trying to figure out if it was worth it to take a bio break as I felt the need pretty strong thru here.  Ended up not stopping.

Mile 12: 6:23 - Felt better this mile

Mile 13: 6:33 - Net Uphill mile I believe

Half Marathon: 1:23:10  - Was shooting for 1:23.   I am happy but I can tell that I am getting pretty tired and am having to work way to hard for the times.  But I can run 1:26:50 for the second half and meet my goal. 

Mile 14: 6:23 - Was energized running thru the crowd at the half start

Mile 15: 6:49 - Up the big hill and back down the other side.  Was not as hard as I thought it would be.  Still very uneasy about my energy levels.  I have taken 3 gu's by now and power aid at most aid stations to try and keep my legs going.  I dumped water on my head at every aid station from here to the finish (there were a lot of stations..that was nice)

Mile 16: 6:30 - Losing it slowly

Mile 17: 6:37 - I got dropped by my running buddy.  Just couldn't go any faster.

Mile 18: 6:21 - Was looking forward to this mile for so long that when I saw my split, I was bummed as it had a great downhill and I couldn't take advantage of it fully.

Mile 19: 6:40 - Down the canyon but still slowing down....Oh boy

Mile 20: 7:01 - I have lost it now.  I can't move, I actually almost passed out here.  I was wobbly and almost stopped to walk, I was so out of it.

Mile 21: 6:55 - Still slow, but I can see straight now.

Mile 22: 6:47 - Trying so hard to go under 2:50...Can I do it?

Mile 23: 6:39 - I had hoped to stay under 6:30's thru here and can't go any faster

Mile 24: 7:22 - Somewhere in mile 23, my body shut down and mile 24 was pathetic.  My HR dropped with the pace, but I couldn't get the body to go.  I am in survival mode.  I know now that 2:50 is not happening, but am still giving it my all.

Mile 25: 7:33 - Same thing

Mile 26: 7:09 - I know I am almost done, but no gas in the tank.  Sasha ran me in for a good half mile.  That helped me a ton.  What a great gesture!  I was grateful for the support

Finish: 1:18 (6:00 pace)  Wow I hurt.  I need water....HR climbed up to 188 on last mile.

I would say that the "wall" met me around mile 18 or so.  I was able to keep moving, but not at the pace I wanted.  If I had gone out slower, maybe I could've avoided the wall, but I had to put myself out there to try and go for it.  I did what I had set out to do and the chips didn't fall into place for a sub 2:50.  However, I am sure I ran my best possible race for the day and I am very pleased with it.  Who can argue with such a large improvement over less than a years span? Last year at this time I was running < 15 miles a week and couldn't have run a 10K under 40 minutes to save my life.

I was very happy for the other bloggers who did so well.  So many people ran well in-spite of warm temperatures.  Good job to everyone, but especially to Paul who deserves the validation of his hard work and gets to see the fruit of his labors.  What a day!

Still Recovering....I am sore, but not as bad as TOU last year.

I might run some tomorrow.  I am only slightly sore now.

I was pretty itchy to get out running yesterday, but I put it off until today.  It sure felt good to get out and spin the wheels.  I took it easy, even running without a watch.  My calves still bother me, but other than that, I am ready to get back into it.

Felt pretty good this morning so I ran whatever my body felt comfortable running.  I ran the landfill loop in 41:22 (6:53 ave).  My HR was about right for the pace so I think I am mostly recovered now (160 ave).

Providence - River Heights loop easy.  I was feeling a bit sluggish which seemed normal.  I was not expecting it to be 50 degrees at 6:00.  I got pretty sweaty in my long sleeve shirt.

Total time: 59:07 (7:24)

Ave HR: 158

Met up with Jon, Paul, James and Dan to run up Temple Fork to the sawmill and back.  I felt really good today and had to limit myself to only this single run as I felt like I should be running more (as it is a Saturday).  I didn't really have time anyway, as I had to help family move immediately after the run followed by 3 hours of yardwork.  After all that, I am too tired to have the desire to run more.  Recovery week is over now.  Time to get some speed back in the legs to run some 5k and 10K's this summer.

Total Time: 59:44 (7:55 ave)

Ave Hr: 158 

Took advantage of not working today to get in a long run.  Now the rest of the week, I can focus on more speed and less mileage.  I ran from the Canal Trail up Logan Canyon trail to the Malibu campground and back.  I felt pretty good, but still didn't push it too hard.  I was struggling for the last 3 miles though.  I am pretty beat now.  I am leaving to Pineview Resevoir right now to play.

Total Time: 1:56:07 (7:41 ave)

Ave Hr: 165

Easy recovery run on the Paved River Trail.  No Watch.

Warmup to Logan High track to do 5x 1000m repeats with 200m recovery at approx goal 10K pace (35 min).  I was shooting for 3:30 for the repeats.  I went:

3:29

3:30

3:30

3:27

3:26

They felt pretty decent.  I was sure glad when the last one was over.  I am kind of unsure of what workouts I need to do to build 5K and 10K speed.  I figure that some threshold workouts can't hurt.  Any ideas on what I can do to race well at the 10K and 5K level this summer?

Total Time: 50:51

Ave Hr: 156 Max HR: 184 (last repeat)

The garmin refused to wake up this morning.  He was insistant to sleep in.  I had to leave without him and run naked as a result of his stubborness.  I ran my Providence hills loop easy.  It was a beautiful crisp morning.  Who can complain about this weather?  I got home and lo-and-behold, Mr. Garmin woke right up and mocked me.