Trails!

AM: Landfill loop on the snowy / icy roads.  Pretty slick out.

T-55:52 (7:43) 144

PM: Wandered around the neighborhoods with Paul and Jon.  Easy pace

T-60:20 (7:33) 142

AM: 5 easy on Planet Walk.  Tired

PM: I was planning on joining Paul and Jon for a workout but forgot about previously made dinner plans.  The run got put off until 8:50.  It was lightly raining, but not too bad so I figured I would be ok.  I was wrong.  I froze my butt off when the rain turned to big fat flakes of snow and the wind started to howl.  It was like the St. George marathon all over again.  Only much shorter.  I warmed up 2.5 miles to the First dam run 10k course start/finish line and tried to do a 6 mile tempo.  The first mile was uphill but with the wind.  Most of the second was the same, but I decided to turn around at mile 1.75 and cut out almost 2 miles because I couldn't see anymore due to the snow and I was killing myself trying to hold a tempo pace in this weather.  Turned around and did better the further away from the canyon I got.  I still had a nasty headwind though.  The six mile tempo turned into a 4.4 mile tempo.  I then decided that I had better hustle home or I was going to lose all feeling in my body.  I ended up hitting some good splits due to self preservation.  Good motivation tool.

Tempo splits:

• 6:05
• 6:17
• 6:15
• 6:06
• 5:56 pace for .4

Cool down home:

• 6:38
• 6:36
• 6:30 pace for .7

Now to recover and rest for the big race Saturday (striders 1/2)

T-1:03:40 (6:32) 9.75 miles 164 ave

Still snowing here in Logan so I opted for an easy 5 on the treadmill.  

T- 40:00

Landfill loop with 5 striders.  Other than that, pretty un-eventful.  Tapering for Striders.

T-53:00 (7:34) 145

Another nice 'n easy 5ver on the Planet Walk.  

Striders 1/2 Marathon

We (Jon, Paul, and I) left Logan in a blizzard and headed to Ogden Valley passing warm and dry Ogden on the way.  The weather in Eden was snowy and cold.  Oh, did I mention windy too?  The race was a humbling experience to say the least.  Not that I was planning on winning or anything, but I was hoping to run closer to 1:16.  I felt that I was within reach of my PR assumming good weather.  None of that happened and I was only racing to survive.  

I started out fast with Walter and Tim.  It was probably a bit aggressive and I am sure I paid for it later.  Walter soon pulled away and Tim and I ran together until mile 5 when he pulled away for good creating his own roadkill.  From that point on, I was on my own.  I also really started to slow down and hurt pretty bad for the rest of the race.  Exiting the canyon, we encountered a stiff headwind that really took it out of me.  The race continued to decline until I was inching along for the last 5K.  Enough whining now, but this race was really frustrating.

Lessons learned:

• Traveling is not good for training.  I was away for 2 weeks
• Eating out while traveling is also a bad idea.  5+ pounds of weight gain really hurts.
• Stress from life really takes a toll.
  
• Running into a headwind sucks.

Mile splits:

1. 5:29
2. 5:37
3. 5:47
4. 5:49
5. 5:41
6. 5:56
7. 6:04
8. 6:06
9. 6:17
10. 6:17 (59:00)
11. 6:46 ouch
12. 6:37
13. 6:44
14. :35 (with the wind finally)

T-1:19:42 (6:05) 176 ave 185 max

3 mile cooldown with Jon and Paul at a blistering 9:43 ave pace.