Per Aspera Ad Astra

Resolution Run

Previous MonthRecent EntriesHomeJoin Fast Running Blog Community!PredictorHealthy RecipesCollinAnderson's RacesFind BlogsMileage BoardTop Ten Excuses for Missing a RunTop Ten Training MistakesDiscussion ForumRace Reports Send A Private MessageWeek ViewYear View
Graph View
Next Month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
20122013201420152016201720182019
15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

Location:

Salt Lake City,UT,United States

Member Since:

Dec 08, 2012

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

13.1: 1:09:58 (2018 Des News)

26.2: 2:37:45 (2019 Mesa Phoenix)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Stay healthy!

 

2019 Running Schedule

Feb - Mesa Phoenix Marathon (AZ): 2:37:45. Lingering flu didn't help, but I still got a PR.

April - Bonneville Shoreline Trail Marathon (UT). Mostly just going to be a training run. Finally got myself into the sub-4 club last year, so I'll just have fun with it this year.

May - Stillwater Half Marathon (MN). Goal race for Spring. Looking for ~1:12.

October- Chicago Marathon (IL). We'll see where I'm at in Fall, but probably will be looking for low 2:30s.

Long-Term Running Goals:

Stay healthy, make improvements, maximize my potential.

Personal:

I am a bioengineering PhD currently working as a post-doctoral research fellow in the Department of Neurology at the University of Utah, where I design and improve neurosurgical approaches for treating movement disorders.


Summer 2018 update: I'm lazy about copying over from Strava, so find me over there for day-to-day runs until I eventually get around to copying everything over here.

Favorite Blogs:

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Skechers GoRun 4 Blue - A Bit Too Big, But Free Lifetime Miles: 105.80
Saucony Grid Type A Lifetime Miles: 94.20
Saucony Fastwitch 7 Blue Lifetime Miles: 132.40
Saucony Fastwitch 7 Red Lifetime Miles: 135.90
New Balance Vazee Summit V2 Black Lifetime Miles: 121.90
Skechers Go Med Speed 4 Lifetime Miles: 36.70
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
157.9023.5016.5011.10209.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.001.000.001.005.00

Missed the last 3 days due to illness, also why I couldn't get any reasonable mileage in the other days this week.  Thursday I was only out of bed for maybe a total of 30 minutes, my whole body just ached horribly for the latter part of Wednesday and then all day Thursday.  Miserable.

 

 Friday run was a few easy miles, a mile at marathon pace, and a mile at 5k pace, plus some strides, to get my body used to running again for a race on Saturday.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Race: Resolution Run (3.18 Miles) 00:17:45, Place overall: 1, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.000.000.003.005.00

I picked this race because it was actually a 5k (exactly 5k, without being too short or too long) and pretty flat for Utah (high point and low point only 25 feet apart), so I was irritated when I showed up and the start/finish had been moved by .04 miles off the course, making it 3.18.  

I did a quick 2 mile warmup and roughly half of my fingers and toes went numb (crappy gloves and Nike Zoom Streak XC3, which are very porous mesh on the top), so I quickly grabbed some glove warmers (only had one pair, so I let my feet freeze) right before the race.

I figured I could show up and run about 16:50 at altitude right now for an actual 5k given that I was forced to rest up due to illness.  However, I wasn't 100% recovered and just wasn't all that fast, so I ended up running 17:45 for 3.18 (17:19 for an actual 5k).  I have no idea what my splits were because the mile markers were seemingly randomly placed (first "1" in 6:39, second "1" in 4:22, last "1.1" in 6:44).  In any case, I won by a couple seconds shy of 3 minutes, so a win is a win.

 

They gave me a gift card for a free $60 massage, an all-day unlimited pass to Boondock's Fun Center (pretty awesome, right?), a big jar of gels, a box of Lance Armstrong branded honey stinger waffles (hah) and a trophy, so I guess I can't really complain.  As for my effort, it was actually a good honest effort unlike the 5ks I ran in November (a pair of even 17:30s on hilly courses in which I wasn't in that great of shape and felt unable to really push all out), so obviously I'm disappointed that this was slower after having 5 pretty solid weeks of training.  In all fairness, though, I was still sick enough that I could barely breath after about a mile or so, so I guess I'll take this one with a grain of salt and just pick another fitness tester in a couple weeks.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

Eastern NSL and Bountiful loop starting by going up Orchard and then running all the way up the steep Eaglewood Drive, which felt absurdly slow today.  Legs were actually kind of sore after yesterday's 5k.  I also still felt like the flu was lingering a bit, which is getting extremely annoying.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.0015.000.000.0015.00

Was at work in the lab until 9:30 the night before, didn't get to run yesterday.

 

For this run, did 15 miles at an average of 6:13 (1:33:16) on a treadmill.  Split 10 miles in 62:28 (just under 6:15) and then did the last 5 in 30:48 (just under 6:10).  Last couple were getting pretty hard, but it was manageable.  I had probably 2-3 miles left in me at the end, but the goal wasn't to obliterate myself, so I stopped at 15 as planned.

Oh, and I wasn't quite sure how to log this...  This was a little faster than marathon effort, but not as hard as threshold, so I just put it as marathon pace.  This particular workout, if i was maxed out by the end (I wasn't quite there) would correspond to about a 2:45 marathon on the Phoenix course, given that I'm at altitude but that running on a treadmill is akin to running on a slight (1%) decline due to several factors.  I'm still undecided as to what pace to push for at Phoenix (I really would rather not blow up in my first marathon in 4 years), but I know that I would be dissatisfied with anything slower than 2:48 or so (I need a 5 minute PR to be happy).  I have the feeling that I'll probably end up deciding to go out in 1:23 or so and just see what I can do from there.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.000.000.000.008.00

8 miles easy, about an hour, just breaking in some new Kinvara 3s.  I've been wearing shoes under 6 oz for awhile recently and I'm sick of buying new pairs almost constantly, so I decided to try these.  First thoughts?  Holy crap, that's a lot of sole under my foot. Hah.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.000.000.000.0012.00

8 miles in a blizzard, up Lacey, around Bountiful/NSL golf area, over to the southern tip, and back down with various turn-offs, about 10 minutes per mile due to the unbelievably deep snow.  Afterwards, jogged laps in a tennis court (also super deep snow) with Holly chasing me around for half an hour, another 3 or so.  First part was super epic.  The very south-eastern tip of NSL is almost entirely unfinished construction, so the roads were unplowed.  At one point, I crested a ridgeline, running through knee-deep powder, into a very strong headwind, and the only thing I could see in the distance was the super bright white lights on the oil refineries on the west side.  All of the elements combined and I felt like I was in some sort of supernatural post-apocalyptic setting.  I don't know how to explain it, but it was pretty darn cool.

 

Forgot to add in earlier... one mile of jogging across campus because I was running late for something earlier in the day. 

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.000.000.000.002.00

Really didn't want to deal with the snow and the weather was bad enough to close the U of U, so I couldn't run at the gym either.  So... just jogged 2 miles with Holly.  Lame, yes, I know.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.000.000.004.0011.00

3 mile warmup, 4 x mile with about 800-1000 meter jog between (varied for me, whereas everyone else did 1000), 2 mile cooldown.  Run at Olympic Oval in Kearns on the 442 meter track.  The "miles" were done from the 1600 meter mark, but lane 1 was closed in a couple spots and blocked by speed-skating coaches in a few other spots, so it was already a full 1609, if not a couple meters more.  Add in dodging angry other track patrons (and a zamboni on one lap) and the intervals were probably a couple seconds slow.  Mine were 5:22, 5:22, 5:25, 5:24, so pretty even.  While it was hard, I had 1, maaaybe 2, left in me if I had to.  That said, I'm not used to doing stuff this fast, so I was pretty sore afterwards.

 

Went skiing later in the day and it just hurt like crazy. Hah. 

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.000.000.000.0015.00

Started from Highland, did the first 7 with Jake, Kevin, Rob, Andrea, and Allie, then ran over to Sugarhouse Park for some laps (what was it, 5?).   I guess 5 laps makes sense considering that we were at 14.3 when we got back to Highland.  I hate ending at weird numbers like that, so I jogged the perimeter of Highland to get it up to 15.  I accidentally stopped my watch at 14.3 (1:48), but I would figure another 5 minutes or so for the slow/snowy extra bit, so probably about 1:53.  Not particularly quick, but I was sore from the workout and skiing yesterday, so it was enough to make my legs feel a bit beat and give me a light headache at the end (surprisingly similar to when I just haven't done any running of value and try to do my first long run back, but I suspect this was only because I only had a couple Sports Beans and a Clif Bar for breakfast beforehand, with the run starting at 11:30...)  What can I say?  I didn't get up until 10 and then just lay in bed on my computer for another 45 minutes. Hah.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.000.000.000.001.00

Really frustrating.  Either getting sick again or still sick from 2 weeks ago.  Did about 1 mile, had a pounding headache and a totally sore body, so I decided not to fight it and went home to sleep for 10 hours.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.000.000.000.004.00

Had to run across campus several times, so I literally ran.  Not really a good day of running, but whatever.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
20.000.000.000.0020.00

I was still feeling a little rundown and also lazy over the last few days.  Bad air quality + lingering virus that won't seem to go away 100% + surprisingly cold weather = laziness I guess.  Ran with Fritz, Kevin, Chad, and Adam for the first 10-ish (after starting a little late and having to run hard at the start to catch up as they had already taken off... hah..), and then Fritz and Kevin the rest of the way.  I think Fritz said it was 19.8 or 19.9.  My watch was at 2:16:xx (probably 40 something... had 2:17:0x, but forgot to stop my watch when we got caught at a light for 20 seconds).  Felt good up until 17.5-ish when I started to bonk.  It probably didn't help that my "breakfast" consisted of one gel and my nutrition during the run consisted of one more gel.  I gradually got dropped by Fritz and Kevin, but caught back up, until I got dropped again a couple minutes later.  At that point, I was just fighting to keep running, so I lost about a minute on them at the end.  Felt terrible afterwards, but whatever, lesson learned (how many times do I have to learn my lesson about actually getting out of bed early enough to eat breakfast before I do a long run? Hahaha...).  Bonking sucks, but I think it was more because of nutrition than fitness.  Still, today was a reminder that I should not be lazy over the remainder of my marathon training.  If I start to bonk at mile 18 when I'm doing 26.2 instead of 20, things will get a lot uglier.  As for my logging option, this effort would convert to 2:09:30 or so on the Phoenix course at lower altitude, so in all fairness, it wasn't all that far off marathon effort (based on the last few weeks sucking, I'm thinking that 6:20s will be a good goal pace for the gentle course at Phoenix).

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.000.000.000.0011.00

11 miles in 1:15 with Fritz, Kevin, John, and Nate.  Legs were a little beat up from yesterday, so it was harder than it otherwise would've been.  Pace started off slow and picked up a bit a few times.  At times, it felt harder than marathon effort, but only because it wasn't all that even.  Afterward the run, I decided my legs haven't had enough of a beating this weekend, so I slammed down some Aspirin and then skied pretty hard for about 3 hours. Hah.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.005.000.005.00

5 miles treadmill tempo, didn't have a lot of time before gym closed (early because of MLK day), so I hopped on and used the first mile as a "warmup" (ie, 5:52).  Did the whole thing in 27:56, pace for first 4 miles felt sustainable for somewhere between 10k and 10 miles, but of course this is a treadmill, so it's slightly fast.  Also, since I knew I only had time for 5 miles, I kicked it up in the last mile.  I believe I figured out the mystery of why 5:00-flat mile repeats on the campus gym treadmills seem so easy, even on a small incline.  Up until about 5:18 pace, each uptick made a noticeable difference in difficulty, but after this point, everything between 5:00 and 5:18 felt identical (tried to kick it up for a finishing sprint, but noticed that it didn't get any harder, so the treadmill probably just doesn't actually go faster than 11.3mph or whatever 5:18 is).  Saw James Moore at the gym and waved as he walked by my treadmill but he looked confused. Hah.

 

Splits: 5:52, 5:36 (11:28), 5:38 (17:06), 5:32 (22:38), 5:18 (27:56).

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
26.200.000.000.0026.20

Marathon on a treadmill. Hah.  2:53:07, felt comfortable until about 22.  Actually, I took yesterday off to try to rest up my legs, but they were still a little beat up after my bonk-inducing 20 on Saturday, my 11 mile / skiing double on Sunday, and my 5 miles hard on Monday, so they weren't 100% going in.  The goal was to get to the point that the last few miles were pretty uncomfortable, but without beating myself up, so that I wouldn't wreck my training, and I think I accomplished that very well.  I didn't pay attention to pace much while I was running (just tried to keep it comfortable) and inadvertently ran 12 seconds off my PR from 4 years ago, which is really encouraging.  The only ill effects were that my stomach is a little beat up afterwards (very common for me since my stomach sucks) and a couple toes are marginally sore from taking the Kinvaras the longest they've ever gone.  Nutritional plan was supposed to be 4 gels (1 @ 5-6, 1 @ 10-11, 1 @ 15-16, and 1 @20-21), but I knocked one off the treadmill stand about halfway, it landed on the belt, and flew off the back.  When I tried to get someone to grab it for me about 10 minutes later, it was apparently gone (who would take a gel???), so I didn't get the last gel.  That said, I had about 300 calories from Gatorade during the run as well, so nutrition wasn't so bad.  Having the last gel would've been ideal, but I survived without it obviously (I think the finish would've been a bit more pleasant with those extra 100 calories, but w/e...).  Overall, I got exactly what I wanted out of this run, so I'm pleased.

 

 

Converting to the Phoenix course, I consider the fact that this is run at 4500', but at 0% grade (ie, equivalent of 52.8' down per mile, ie -1% grade due to lack of wind resistance).  At Phoenix, with an average elevation of 1500', a net downhill of 850', with about 100' up and 950' down, this would be worth 2:49:56.  I think I'll be happy with a sub 2:47, so basically I would only need the equivalent of 3 minutes faster than today's effort, which is absolutely doable and not bad at all.  I think a faster goal would be a good idea, but in all fairness, I haven't raced a marathon in almost 4 years and I really don't want to blow up.  I have plenty of time to go faster in the future. :)

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

Easy 45 minutes in NSL/Bountiful.  Legs had almost zero pep, but they also weren't that bad.  They kind of just felt a little heavy and slow, but not terribly beat up (quads were a little sore, but only marginally).  

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.800.000.000.009.80

Very easy 45, a hair under 6 miles, NSL and Bountiful, would've been happy to do more, but want to not be sore for Winter Series tomorrow (looks like I'll probably still be slightly flat after Wednesday, but oh well...).

 

 

Later (1AM), another 4 miles.  Went to a "crazy hat" party, where I demo'd a new music reactive LED hat I just built for fun a couple days ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfejrNFmgo4 .  It was pretty fun, but a girl I met up with there was not OK to drive home and needed her car in the morning to do some MD student stuff, so I drove her home in her car and then jogged back to my car (from Sugarhouse to the U).  Hah.  This was kind of awful, given that I was wearing jeans, boots, and a down jacket literally rated for arctic exploration.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Race: Winter Series 5k (3.107 Miles) 00:17:33, Place overall: 10, Place in age division: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.900.000.003.107.00

Probably a hair under 2 miles for the warmup (15 minutes or so), Winter Series 5k in 17:33, 2 mile cooldown (to the 1 mile marker and back).  Considering that I ran a "trial" marathon (~10 minutes off what I would peg as about my max capacity in 5 weeks at the real race) 3 days ago and didn't get nearly enough sleep after some festivities last night, I'll take it.  My legs felt average during the race, certainly not great, but not completely destroyed, although after the race, they just felt hammered. 5k is definitely not my best distance right now.  Hah...

 

Overall place is an estimate right now, FYI... 

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.000.0013.00

13 miles in NSL/Bountiful in 1:35-ish.  Very snowy, started as the storm was petering out, but most of the roads I was on were reasonably well plowed, so it didn't slow me down much.  A couple miles from the finish, while running on Orchard Drive, a cop stopped me and threatened to give me a ticket for running in the street (in an area with no sidewalks).  Pretty sure I wasn't breaking the law, given that Utah State Code allows for pedestrians to be in the street when there's no sidewalk (or if there is a sidewalk and it's not "practicable", which seems like intentionally vague terminology).  He also told me that I needed to stick to running on a treadmill in winter, as running outside in cold weather is unsafe.  I guess he thought I was his son or something? #Abuseofpower.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(4)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.007.502.500.0012.00

Treadmill.  1 mile warmup, 10 miles in 61:21 (0 to 2.5 at a little faster than marathon pace, 6:15, 2.5 to 3.0 in a surge, about 5:45 pace, 3.0 to 5.8 in a little faster than marathon pace, 6:15, 5.8 to 6.8 in a surge, about 5:45 pace, 6.8 to 8.5 at 6:15, 8.5 to 9.0 at surge, 5:45, 9.0 to 9.5 at 6:15 and 9.5 to 10.0 at 5:30 pace), 1 mile cooldown.  The goal was to force a pace slightly faster than marathon pace to be a recovery pace, in an effort to make marathon pace as comfortable as possible.  I had plenty more miles in my legs, but today wasn't supposed to be all-out as I'm going to do a very hard tempo workout in a couple days that I need to be ready for.  I probably have time for 3 more really hard workouts before the marathon after this week's (one next week, one the following week, and one the week before the marathon if I throw it in on Monday, ie, like 12 days before the race), so at some point I'm going to push for a long run kind of like this, maybe 18 miles mostly at about MP, but with a total of 3-4 miles of tempo mixed in.  I think my current fitness could use something like that workout-wise, so maybe I'll push for it next week.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.000.000.000.001.00

Lazy, just jogged a mile with Holly.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.000.009.000.0010.00

1 mile warmup, 3 x 3 mile tempo on treadmill with 2 minutes rest between in 17:13, 17:07, 16:56.  Last mile of the 2nd one was hard, got to that typical state of "how in the world am I going to do a 3rd one?", and then pounded out the last one by counting down every 30 seconds until the expected finish time over the final 10 minutes.  I killed it and hit the paces I wanted and it killed me right back in the process, so I would say it was very successful.  I'm right at where I was in this workout a little over 3 years ago (also on a treadmill at the same gym) while I was training up for a marathon that never happened (got my one stress fracture of my life a month out), but I'm doing it with a little bit less 5k speed, so that ought to translate to a faster marathon (my goal was 2:42 then, which was probably slightly overly ambitious), but it gives me confidence towards definitely benig able to run a mid 2:40s time now.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.000.000.000.002.00

Jog with Holly.  Lazy.

Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
157.9023.5016.5011.10209.00
Night Sleep Time: 0.00Nap Time: 0.00Total Sleep Time: 0.00Weight: 0.00
Debt Reduction Calculator
Featured Announcements
Lone Faithfuls
(need a comment):
Recent Comments: