Per Aspera Ad Astra

Long run with Nate, Adam, Evan, and JP on JRP/Legacy. Miles 7 to 10 were at 6:03, which is enough tempo for now. Felt good and 18.1 really didn't feel very far, which is nice. Overall AP of 6:57.

Later, played a speed round of disc golf, running each throw to the next.  Roughly 1 mile on the 9 holes.

Boy have I been struggling to get in the mileage.  I've been insanely busy and often can't run until after 11PM, but I'm on a decent sleep schedule, so I'm always exhausted by then.  Last night, I decided I wouldn't take the day off, no matter what, so I hopped on a treadmill at midnight.  I mostly ran at about 7:00 pace, but did 6 quarter mile sections at ~5k pace or slightly faster.  I think I'm just going to have to make a conscious decision to not take any days off due to busyness, no matter what.  If it means I don't finish my run until 1 AM, that's what's going to happen.

Threepeat at the Spectrum Academy Turkey Trot 5k (1.5 warmup, 1.1 cooldown)! I wanted to run as easy as possible to win, and I apparently went harder than I needed to, but that's fine, as it didn't feel hard.  The race was a lot bigger this year, partly thanks to the addition of a 10k, and there was a huge high school team there that I thought might push me, but it turns out that they were all slow. Before the race, I heard a couple of the high school kids making some crude comments about my admittedly short galaxy-print shorts, so I decided to try my best to just bury them right off the line.  I took it out at about 5 flat pace for the first 20 seconds just to see if anyone would go with me, and was easily in the lead.  The only guy that seemed likely to try to hold on was an older guy, so I ran just fast enough to stay in front of him at that point.

First mile was a 5:37, and it felt easy, which was surprising since I haven't done anything fast in months.  Now that I think about it, this may have been my first sub-5:59 mile in 2 months, so I'm glad I wasn't straining at the pace.  When we turned onto the Legacy Parkway trail, we hit a strong headwind, so I kept the effort the same to stay in front, but the pace slowed to the mid-high 5:40s.  I figured that if he didn't make a move before the turnaround (a bit more than halfway, since the connection to the trail on the way out was shorter than the connection from the trail on the way back), I could easily win, as I wasn't really pushing and could power home the last mile if necessary.

Surprisingly, I hit the halfway, turned around, passed him 5 seconds later (comfortable 10 second lead, just like I wanted), and he gave me a high five.  I was surprised to receive a high five from a competitor, so I looked back and saw him keep going, meaning that he was in the 10k and I hadn't needed to race him to win.  Hah.  At this point, nobody else was within 30 seconds, so I kept the pace the same in the remainder of mile 2, easier with a tailwind at this point, and then kept the same mid-high 5:40s on the 3rd mile (would've been a crosswind, but didn't feel it, as I the foot path runs next to a fence).  The course measured 3.14, and I was told that they had moved the turnaround point for some reason, so it was a little long according to them and my GPS was spot on.  My split for 5k on the garmin, which probably was accurate, was 17:39, and I never felt like I was hurting too much, so I think that's a good sign.  By the end of the race, I won by about 75 seconds, and the fastest high school kid was 2 minutes back.  Funny how it works out sometimes.  Apparently, the 10k winner had thought he might be racing me in his distance, so he also backed off after I turned around, hitting the 5k in 18:10 and the 10k in 37:xx. I think we were both relieved to not have to actually race anyone hard after 1.6x miles.

After the race, another runner asked how old I was and guessed that I was 15.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty certain that, having reached the age of 27 and constantly sporting a light beard, I really don't look 15.  Anyway, it gave me a laugh.

I guess I'll have to go back next year for round 4!  This course is super flat, so I keep saying that I'm going to make sure I'm in shape one of these years and really go for a fast time, but the course is never quite accurate (2.85 the first year, not sure the second year, as I forgot my watch, but I handily beat some 17:xx guys with an 18:07 that felt harder than it should've, and then 3.14 this year), so if I'm just in moderate shape again next year and get another win, I'll be happy.

21.5 with Evan Cooper at 7:11 AP.  Felt good for 17 or 18 and then felt low on calories over the final few miles, which wasn't particularly pleasant.  Probably should've either eaten breakfast or brought a gel.

Route was Centerville trailhead of Legacy Parkway all the way up 9.4 miles to 900 south-ish Farmington, over the highway, up to 200 East, along that to Parrish Lane in Centerville, where we got water at Subway, over to 200 West, down to 400 North in Bountiful, over to Beck, along that to 350 North in North Salt Lake, over to Main Street, to Center (cutting through the park there), and then back to the trailhead.

Calf was oddly cramped basically all week and I was nervous to run.  Finally got out again when I was in DC.  Hurt for the first few miles then went away.  Ran 7.6 at 6:58 AP (up Mass, down Rock Creeek, to the National Mall, to the road closest to the White House, up to Mass, and back.  Then, jogged 2 miles in regular clothes for transportation later.  Also, walked 10-15 miles.  

Out and back on Mass Ave.  Watch kept losing connection to satellites (it thought I was going 30+ minutes per mile at the start), so I just ran a single out and back and map my runned it later.  Didn't pay attention to time and tried to run roughly 10.  It ended up being only 9.6, but the hills added up a lot more than I realized.  I thought it was moderately hilly, but it turns out that I had 671 feet of uphill.  The area near Naval Observatory, American, Wesley, and beyond was apparently more undulating than I had figured (low point 101 feet, high point 398).  I guess hills are less annoying at sea level. :)  Also, calf was weirdly cramped again for the first few miles but loosened out again later.  Weird, but it isn't getting worse.  I guess I just tweaked something in the 5k last weekend, as I'm not used to running very fast.  AP today was probably around 7:10 based on a rough estimate of how long the run took.

10.8 by myself at 7:01 AP with 800+' of gain.  Mostly around 7:20-ish (I think), then 8.5 to 10.5 at 5;49 pace, which really didn't feel terrible.  Later, 4.2 at 7:36 AP with my old Baltimore-based buddy Dave Ploskonka, who's in DC from Baltimore for some weeklong computing seminar.

Being out of town for a conference is great... So much time to run!  Went 6.3 miles to a disc golf park on the far end of Alexandria, jogged through 27 holes (counting .5 miles of running for each 9-hole game), then ran back.  Afterwards, needed to hurry to dinner, so I ran a mile in street clothes.  I intentionally ran slowly to avoid sweating.  Right leg was a bit funky on the way out, but good on the way back.  Weird.  Good thing ski season starts in a couple days (the day I get back), and will balance everything out for me.

Tm at hotel, late. Would've done more, but my shin was quite sore. Pain seems to be migrating around that area. First it was the calf muscle, then it was the ankle, and now it's the shin. Weird and frustrating. I really haven't been doing much, so there's no reason for soreness. Hopefully it goes away.

Skied the last 4 days.  Calf has been really acting up, although skiing hasn't done anything to change the situation for better or worse.  Frustrating that it got bad right when I finally got motivated to train.