Trails!

Last night we had a little scare as my pregnant wife went into labor.  She is not due for another 6 weeks so we didn't want another premature baby (our first was 5 weeks early).  Long story short, we were able to stop the contractions and not have the baby yet.  Needless to say, we didn't sleep much as we spent the night in the hospital.  Everything is fine now and I was able to get out for a run this afternoon.

I ran the Young Ward Loop.  2 mile warmup (6:55, 6:50 paces) then a 5 mile Tinman tempo at a goal pace of 6:30 for 5 miles.  I hit 6:29, 6:28, 6:28, 6:28, and 6:27.  I still felt ok so I kept up a comfortable pace for the last 3 miles (6:35, snowy/slushy mile on the paved river trail in 7:21, and a 6:41 last mile.  The .15 was a cooldown at 7:15 pace.  Overall, I felt really well considering the 3 hours sleep and stress level.

Total Time: 1:07:48 (6:41 pace)

Ave HR: 166 (172 during tempo miles)

Easy miles through Providence foothills.  Feet were sore today for some reason.

Total Time: 62:46 (7:52ave)

Ave HR: 149

Ran the Young Ward Loop - out via Landfill and back via Willow Park to add a few miles.  Comfortable pace between 7:00 and 7:30, uneventful.

Total Time: 1:30:16 (7:06 ave)

Ave HR: 160

Canyon Road in Providence.  Easy Run.  Did 2x20 sec hill surges and 8x20 sec striders during the run.  Legs felt very heavy during the striders.

Total Time: 61:01 (7:29 mile)

Ave Hr: 156

I woke up to lots of snow today so I decided to avoid the cars and truck splashing slush and I ran on the River Trail and on Logan River Golf Course.  The Golf Course had enough snow that it buried my feet and made running difficult.  The river trail was in better shape but covered with snow.  Footing was tricky so I went REALLY slow.  It felt good just to get out at least.

Total Time: 46:31 (8:52 ave pace)

Ave HR: 146

Stiders 10K Race today.  I had a plan for the hills, and I did pretty well sticking to the plan and I think it payed off (my plan was to not die on them).  I started out at a comfortable pace for the first mile. (That pace is only comfortable for about a mile anyway)  My garmin beeped well before the first mile marker, but those are my only splits so I will share those.  Mile 1 in 6:11 and I was right on track.  The hill at mile 1 was a bummer and I struggled to change gears to come back down it.  I enjoyed the flat and slightly downhill section right before the second climb.  I was able to latch on to someone and work together up the next (monster) hill.  It got pretty ugly for me up that climb. 6:17 second mile and 7:09 third mile.  I had a hard time speeding up on that flat section at the top of the climb.  It took a couple of blocks of steady downhill to finally go. 5:45 and 5:47 mile splits for miles 4 and 5.  Scott passed me during those fast miles and I didn't have the guts to push harder and stay with him.  The last uphill was tougher than I thought.  I feel like I went strong up it, but my mile split was a dissapointing 6:12.  I was able to close the gap to a couple of runners that got away during the downhill, but they pulled away again on the last downhill. Grrrr.  I was too tired to care enough to kick more as we ran another lap around the building.

I measured 6.28 miles for the course so that last .2 (.28 measured) time was 1:35. My finish time was 38:59 (6:16 mi).  17th overall and 7th in my age group.  I am pleased with the result and I even ran the last 5K pretty close to a PR time.  My HR was almost the exact same as it was during the 5K (between 180 and 187 with an average of  181)

Ran an easy 2 to warmup and 3.55 to cool down. 56 miles for the week.  Next week I will bump it up to 60 and hold for a couple of weeks.