This morning I ran the Providence Hills loop adding a mile up Providence Canyon (10.3 miles total). Sleepy until the turn-around and then had some gravity-assisted fast miles. (6:07, 5:53, 6:35). Rest of the run was at easy pace.
Total Time: 1:17:06 (7:29)
Ave Hr: 151
PM: Met James and Jon at First Dam and drove up to Jardin Juniper trail. I haven't been on this trail for years, but I remembered it well. I didn't go to the tree last time, but we checked it out today. Slow pace up the hill dodging Moose and trying not to overdo it. Coming down was a blast. I was motivated by knowing that there was a bathroom at the bottom waiting for me, so I let it fly for a while. ~55 min up and ~36 down. My watch read 10.06 miles and looking at the history, it looks like it didn't cut out at all, so I believe it. Sorry Jon, the satellite gods are usually pretty close.
Recovery run on the Landfill Loop. Started slow and felt better throughout. I am pretty tired from all the running yesterday, but it was worth it. Tomorrow I will hit the track..
AM: Workout Day. Did a warmup to the Planet Walk then ran tinman tempo pace for 3 miles. Ran 3/4 mile on trail and then turned around and went back (2-reps). I went 6:27, 6:27, 6:30. It is kind of hard doing a tempo on that trail as there are too many sharp turns on bridges and all the stopping and turning around. After the tempo, I ran easy over to Logan High and started a VO2 Max ladder. 200,400,800,1200,800,400,200. I wanted the 200's and 400's hard with the 800's and 1200 at about 5:30 pace. The recovery was 200m (100 walk, 100 jog).
I went 35,74,2:48,4:12,2:49,72,32
Paul showed up in time to join me for my last 400 and 200. He helped push me when I was hurting. He also joined me for my easy pace back home. In-all a decent workout for how tired I have felt lately.
Total time: 1:13:31 (10.1 miles) (7:17 ave) Ave Hr: 159
PM: I am in the Young Mens Presidency in my ward and a optional requirement for the Duty to God award is to run 3 miles in under 30 mins (14-15 year olds). So today was the day. We ran on the Planet Walk from the start to the half mile marker and back 3 times. We didn't have too many show up to try but those that did ran pretty good. The fastest was 22:30 and the slowest was around 40 mins. I ran with the fast group for a half mile then waited for the last guy to hit the turn-around then ran hard to catch up with the leaders again. I caught them around the mile mark and ran the rest with them. After they finished, I ran the last mile with the slowest guy to help him along (13 min pace). In all, I got in 4.1 miles, most at easy or very easy pace. The fastest boy is going to join the Logan Cross Country team as he shows great potential (running 22:30 with no training whatsoever).
AM: Easy Run to Logan High via Golf Course to do some timed striders on the track. I decided on doing 4x200 and 4x100m fast to work on leg turnover. I did them alternating and with 100m rest between. I went 34.7, 16.5, 34.4,16.3, 33.7, 16.1, 34.1, 15.9. Easy jog home. 4.5 miles total -36:26 (8:07) 151 HR ave
PM: Ran with Paul on the River trail. Not an easy pace for that trail, but an enjoyable run. Last mile 6:12
Met Paul and Jon @ first Dam and carpooled up to Franklin basin for some mountain running. We ran on a quiet dirt road up in a beautiful part of the mountains. The road was a relentless up hill all the way to the Gibson lake turnoff. I had a hard time right from the get-go but ran hard to keep up with the guys. 8:30-8:45 up the road seems slow, but it kicked my butt. Once we turned around (@ 8 miles) the going got easier as now it is downhill. We started clicking off 6:30 miles. Paul and Jon kept speeding up and my water-filled camelback drove me insane! I need to find an alternative to that thing. With 3 miles to go, they were sub 5:45 pace and I was 6:00 pace and was losing ground quickly to them. I did my best with whatever gas I had in me to finish (6:20 pace) , but I was spent.
I need more of these runs as they seem to be my weakness in the marathon. I can run "fast", I can run long, but I can't hold the effort for both. Hence "the wall". I will keep doing long runs working on running faster the second half and the wall will be pushed further and further away, but some days are frustrating. Having this week as my highest mileage week ever (72 miles, 1 more than last week) also didn't help.
On a happy note, I have now been running for a year this month and I have had some great improvements since then. At that time, I was running a 20 min 5K (compared to 17:30 ish now) and 7:30 pace had my HR in the 170's while now it is in the 150's for the same effort.
Ok enough boring stats. Long story short, I am looking forward to a good summer of training to smash some more PR's.
