Per Aspera Ad Astra

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.

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).

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. :)

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).  

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.

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...