Cool Runnings!

OK, so I laid low for a while, rested up from my injuries, and in the meantime lost 20 pounds.  I am sure the extra weight played a role in my getting injured.  I still have about 5 more pounds to lose, but I feel much better.  I feel ready to start back up again (slowly).  Ran two miles today, and boy did it feel good.  Walked the first mile, ran the second, walked the third, ran the fourth, then walked the last 1/2 mile back home.  Mile splits were as follows:

1st mile:  7:20 (felt good, did not expect this fast of a mile)

2nd mile:  7:01 (whoops!  It felt really good, and I was concentrating on my form)

 I will continue to take it easy and start off slowly, running only 3x/week for right now.  I am planning on continuing to integrate my runs into my walks for the time being.  Woohoo!

Another two miles sandwiched in the middle of my walk.  However, this time, I actually ran two consecutive miles.  They both felt good.  I continued to concentrate on my form, both with my stride as well as with my upper body. First mile was in 7:27, second mile was in 7:33.  Total exercise time, including the walking portions, was 57:00.  This will be my standard for several more weeks until I feel like I am ready to add distance to my runs.

Another standard run, 2 miles in the middle of my walk.  The walk functions very well as both a warm-up and cool down.  Mile splits were as follows:

Mile 1: 7:17 (this is still faster than I had intended, but felt good.  I believe the faster pace is due to increased concentration on my running form)

Mile 2: 6:30 (Gasp!  I had no idea this mile was this fast until I hit my split button on my watch.  At the end of the second mile, I was breathing somewhat hard, but certainly could have sustained the pace).

I will have to make more of a concerted effort next run to keep my pace under control.

Had to watch the children today, so after I put them to bed, I got on the treadmill.  Walked a mile to warm up at an incline of 1.0, then ran two miles.

First mile:  7:30

Second mile:  6:55

Both miles were run at an incline of 1.0 to better simulate running outside.  Felt good both miles, again focused on my running form.  Soon I would like to incorporate some additional techniques into my workouts - bounding, striding, etc. that will help my muscles to "remember" proper form and technique while running.  I hope that and the weight I have lost will help me to avoid injuries again.

Same run as normal - walk 1.5 miles, run 2 miles, walk 1 mile.  This routine varies in terms of how much I walk before and after, depending on which route I take.  Since the roads here are cambered, I try to switch directions each time.  Running splits were as follows:

1st mile:  7:09

2nd mile:  7:10

I have to admit that this run was a bit more difficult - this could be due to the fact that while I was walking, I was also doing intervals of bounding and skipping to work on my form.  This may have tired out my legs a bit.  In any case, I am still feeling good and looking forward to continuing with this routine for a few more weeks before adding mileage.

Same ol' same ol'.  This time walked 1 mile, then ran 2 miles, then walked 1.5 miles - did my normal route in the opposite direction.  Mile splits were as follows:

1st mile:  7:19 - felt good, was able to maintin pace easily

2nd mile:  6:17 (gasp!) - and I though the mile I did last week in 6:30 was fast . . . I totally did not anticipate this.  I will admit that I was breathing pretty hard at the end of the run, but I had not looked at my watch until I hit the split button, then I did a double-take when I saw the time.

I am certain that the faster times have at least something to do with an improvement in technique, but it also gives me hope that maybe I didn't lose as much fitness during my downtime as I had originally thought.

After taking a week off due to illness, I got back on track last night.  Since it was raining and I was just recovered from illness, I stayed inside on the treadmill.  Started off walking for 1.5 miles, then bumped the treadmill up to 8 mph at an incline of 1.0.  Ran the first mile at 8 mph, concentrated on proper running form.  Increased the speed to 8.5 mph for the first 1/2 of the second mile, then increased again to 9.0 mph for the last 1/2 mile.  I can tell I need to make it in to the chiropractor - when I am out of alignment, it is 1) easier to run with poor form and 2) requires more exertion to run at the same speed than it does when I am fully aligned.  I can equate this to the alignment on a vehicle - if the alignment is off, efficiency suffers as it requires more effort not only to keep the vehicle on track but as a result also requires more power to drive at the same speed.  With that said, I am going to call the chiropractor and schedule an appointment for this week.

The good news is that I continue to lose weight, albeight slowly - I am about 3 pounds away from my goal weight now.  Next item on my agenda is to purchase a new pair of running shoes (needs to be done within the next couple of weeks).  After a stint with Saucony, I have decided that I am going back to Brooks, as I actually had my best experience with the Adrenaline GTS 5, and they have improved the Adrenaline GTS 7 to offer a fit more like the GTS 5.  With my weight being down now, I feel more comfortable running in a normal stability shoe.  I have never had much luck wearing the heaver shoes - every time I have done so, it seems to exacerbate any condition I may have had.  I was actually in the best shape, and had my best year in a while when I was running in my GTS 5's, so it would make sense to me to go back to what worked well.

Ran another two miles today - started out with 1 mile walking, then ran 2 straight miles, then walked another 1.5 miles.  Decided to wear the HRM today out of curiosity.  My HR while walking was right around 120.  However, when I started running, it shot up to the 170's, giving me a good indication that my cardiovascular fitness still has a ways to go.  Mile splits for the two miles I ran were:

1st mile:  7:44 (felt good and relaxed)

2nd mile:  6:44 (I started off at the same pace as the first mile, but about halfway through, my competitive juices started flowing, and I stepped up the pace)

I think that next week I am going to add more mileage.  My wife got as an early birthday present from her best friend a registration in a local 4.2 mile run which is run on her birthday.  The event is called Pat's Run, in honor of Pat Tillman, and the event benefits the Pat Tillman foundation.  I have decided that I am going to run in it as well, so I need to start upping my mileage.  The event is on April 7, so I have about 1 1/2 months left.  Should be plenty of time.

Ran 2.6 miles about an hour after eating a hamburger, and ended up regretting it.  I thought I had given my body enough time, but I forgot that my red meat intake has been cut way back, and as a result, I have a bit of a harder time digesting it.  The last time I did any kind of physical activity following a meal with a lot of red meat, I almost lost my dinner.  And that was just going for a walk with my wife . . .

So, on to the report.  Walked the first 1/2 mile or so, then ran 2.6 straight miles.  Don't have the splits any more.  After the second mile, I was really feeling the hamburger in my stomach, and knew I wouldn't be able to run 3 miles, which was my goal.  Cut it short at 2.6, as I felt if I had run further, the hamburger would have ended up on the side of the road.  Walked the last mile back home, still feeling a bit out of sorts.  Stretched out, and finally started to feel better.  Mental note - give myself plenty of time between dinner and running - at least 2 hours if possible :)

This run felt much better than my run on Friday - first, I had not eaten a big meal of red meat, and second, I was able to wait about 2 hours before I ran.  I walked the first 1/4 mile to loosen up, then ran 2.8 miles.  The first stretch was not quite a mile.  Worked very hard on my form.  On the last mile, I ran the first half fairly easy, then picked up the pace again.  Splits below:

1st .8 miles - 5:46

2nd mile - 7:22 - was able to keep a good breathing rhythm throughout

3rd mile - 6:22 - ran the first 1/2 at about the same pace as the second mile, then picked up the pace.  Towards the end, I could feel my form faltering a bit, and to be honest, the last half mile was probably at my lactate threshold.  Nevertheless, it felt good.

Walked the last 1.5 miles home to cool down.  My legs feel good and tired.

Ran my standard 3 mile loop in the evening in 21:45.  I really liked the fact that I knew exactly what the distance was, thanks to Gmap pedometer, and knew exactly what my splits were, thanks to Sasha's course tool.  I need to get a couple more loops in so that I have some additional routes that I can run and calculate splits for.  The run felt good, it started to get a bit hard on the final mile, but overall, I feel like my fitness is slowly improving.  I was unable to run on Saturday, so only 2 runs this week, but plan on putting in at least 3 runs this coming week.

Ran the standard 3 mile loop again, but this time early in the morning, as I was not able to run last night.  Started with a very easy 0.8 mile warmup, just light jogging, then started into the run.  My goal this morning was to take it out nice and easy and try to keep a steady pace.  That didn't quite happen, but I did run slightly slower than last time.  Total time for the run was 22:00, for an average pace of 7:20/mile.  The first two miles felt very good, then my conditioning (or lack thereof) started to kick in, and the third mile was a bit more difficult, although not too much more so.  Will continue to do the 3 mile runs this week as I start to kick the mileage up a bit more.  Next week I will plan on adding a 4-miler to help me to be better prepared for the race in April.  I should be able to get up to about 6 miles by the time the first week in April comes around, and by no means will I be taking this as an actual all-out race - it will be a tempo run.

Took the boys to the track this evening - the weather was gorgeous.  Ran a couple of miles, interrupted, on the track.  Was able to run the last mile without interruption, ran in 6:50.  After that did 100 meters of bounding, followed by 100 meters of skipping to work on my form.  I need to lift my knees more to get more power out of my legs.  I have very strong quads, but feel like I do not use them as much as I should.

Ran my standard 3 mile run.  Had to take it fairly easy because my stomach was still a bit full from dinner and held me back.  Total time was 22:22, average pace of about 7:37/mile.  I am happy with this - we actually took the boys to the track the other day, and in addition to running approximately 2 miles (broken up) with the last mile in 6:50, I also did some bounding and skipping to work on my form.  I said it before and haven't yet followed up on it - I think I need to schedule a visit with my chiropractor, as I think that my pelvis is out of alignment again and is hampering my form.

Ran 2 miles at the local track.  Didn't run all that fast, but it felt like I had to put a fair amount of effort into each mile - more so than usual.  This could be due to my pelvis being out of alignment, causing me to be less efficient biomechanically, or this could be due to my not being used to running so often.  In any case, my splits were 7:14 and 6:53.  I have said it enough times already that I need to take my own advise and go see my chiropractor.  Will report back this week on whether I actually set an appointment or not.

Ran my standard 3 mile loop.  Prior to beginning the loop, warmed up at an easy pace (~9:00/mile) for 0.8 miles.  Had to take a short breather between miles 2 and 3 because I hit the 2nd leg too hard.  Total time for the 3 mile loop was 21:19 - average of 7:06/mile, with a 1:40 break in the middle that I did not count.  Was huffing and puffing fairly good for the last half of each of the 2nd and 3rd miles.

My wife had book club this evening, so I got to stay home with the kids.  After putting the youngest two down, I went for a run on the treadmill.  1/2 mile to warm up, starting at 8:34 pace at incline of 1.0, gradually increasing to 7:30 pace.  Stayed at that pace for the first mile, then increased the speed to 6:58 pace for the second mile.  Upped the speed again to 6:40 pace for the final mile.  I could feel my form starting to break down in the last 1/4 mile, so I worked really hard to keep it together.  The breathing started to get more labored, but nothing like Monday where I had to stop and take a break.  Total time for the run was 25:22 - average pace (including the warmup) was 7:15/mile.  If I take the warmup out, average pace was an even 7:00/mile.

Well, I ran in a different (old) pair of shoes tonight, and it was a bad idea.  I thought maybe they still had some cushioning in them, but 2/3 of the way into my run, it was obvious to me they need to be thrown out.  Warmed up 0.8 miles nice and easy, then started my run.  After the second mile, I had to stop and walk because my left calf started to cramp up.  I could actually tell during my run that my heels were quite a bit further down than normal, and think this is what caused my calf to cramp.  I don't think that I strained or sprained my calf muscle, as it was sore all evening and into the morning (less so than the evening), but by the following afternoon, it seems to be almost back to normal.  I still haven't settled on a good running shoe - I have been going back and forth between Brooks and Saucony, and think I may need to expand my search to Adidas and possibly New Balance as well.  I don't like the Nike brand.  In any case, I think it is definitely time to find a new shoe, as my old shoes have definitely had it, and my most recent pair of shoes are definitely wearing down.  I don't want to wear my shoes out to the point of risking injury.  No running on Saturday - 10 miles this week is enough of an increase in mileage.

Ran 3 miles today - warmed up for about 1/2 mile (probably not quite), then stretched out my calves and soleus.  First segment was 7:25, second in 6:56.  My calf was starting to get a little sore, so I stopped and walked about 1/4 mile, then took a different route to run another 1 mile.  Last mile I really worked on my posture, started to kick my legs up higher, and either that helped my calf to relax or I was able to run through the tightness and the muscle started to relax on its own.  3rd mile (approx.) was in 6:36.  Walked home to cool down, and then stretched out some more.  Will see how things feel in a couple days.  My wife and I are going to a specialty running store on Friday to get fitted for some new shoes.  I would love to be able to find a brand that I can absolutely stick with.

Got some great advice from Sasha while he and his family stayed with us.  Ran 1 mile with Jenny and Sasha (she looks effortless when she runs), ran another 0.5 with Benjamin (his knee was hurting him), ran about 0.2 with my son Samuel, and then ran another mile with Sasha.  He managed to talk some sense into me and help me realize that perhaps a big factor in my getting injured so often is that I am running much too fast, especially for starting back out again.  My pace per mile should really be around 8:30-9:00/mile (easy miles), and I need to be trying to run 6 times/week at this easy pace to get my body used to the stresses of running, while not over-stressing any system in my body (muscular, skeletal, cardiovascular, nervous, etc.).  Total mileage was 2.7 miles at an easy pace.  We really enjoyed having Sasha and his family stay with us over the weekend.

Ran 3.0 miles easy this morning, at about 9:00/mile pace, felt nice and easy, I can definitely tell the difference between these last two runs and my other runs.  There is really no cardiovascular stress, and much less muscular stress on my body (good thing).  I was also motivated by Sasha to continue losing weight and get down to the 160-155 range.  My weight was definitely a determining factor in my getting injured late last year, and I want to keep my weight out of the equation.  After I finished my run, ran another 1.0 miles with my wife and with Sasha before going to work.  I'm going to try to start up this habit of getting up early and running about 3 easy miles for a few weeks.  Once I get used to that, I will start slowly adding miles.

Ran 3.5 miles in the morning at about 9:00/mile pace.  Felt nice and easy from every perspective.  Calves feel great.  Lungs felt great.  Ran another mile in the evening with the boys.  I had them alternate running about 1/4 mile or so at a time.  Worked with Samuel (6 yr old) on making sure he picks his feet up enough to not scuff them on the ground.  I am going to make sure that Libby starts blogging her runs :)

Ran a mile with the boys in the evening - Sam ran about .8 miles today, with one brief rest.  Had a meeting at 8:00, then ran another 3.3 when I got home.  The 3.3 miles was a little bit faster than I had planned on - I was shooting for 8:30-9:00/mile pace, but it turns out I was around 8:10/mile.  I thought the route was closer to 3 miles, but when I mapped it out, it was actually 3.3 miles.  Oh well - I will make sure I run slower tomorrow.  Calves still feel good, but HR was a little high for the run.  I felt a little uncoordinated during the run - couldn't find a good rhythm or a good posture.  Lower back was a little sore - around the L5-Sacrum.  This is where my chiropractor has been adjusting me.  He has also been providing much of the physiotherapy I would have received from a regular PT - heat, electric stimulation, and he has given me exercises to strengthen my back and trunk to keep me in alignment.

Ran 1 mile with the boys earlier in the evening.  Samuel ran another .75 miles (maybe a little more).  Then I ran my standard 3.3 mile loop.  I managed to slow down a bit more than last night.  Average pace was 8:32/mile.  Legs felt fine, cardiovascular felt better as well.  Still getting over either a sinus infection or a nasty bout with allergies.  I feel much better when I am running, but get all stuffed up and feel pressure during the day.  I am feeling really optimistic about this running approach.  Thanks to Sasha for the great advice.  I don't feel the pressure to run fast at this point.  I will probably plan on either running the PF Chang's 1/2 marathon/marathon or another spring marathon, and then maybe St. George next year.  That is, of course, looking forward in the future . . .

Ran with Samuel in the morning in the Pat's Run kids fun run (0.42 miles), ran a little bit more with him after the race.  He did great, and was able to keep a good pace throughout.  Later in the evening, I ran my standard 3.3 mile route in 28:30, average pace of 8:34/mile.  The run felt very good to all of my systems, and helped me to calm down from a stressful evening.

I will add to this later when I run with the boys, but I wanted to get in my morning run before I forgot about it.  Ran 4.1 easy miles this morning, felt absolutely great.  I decided to put on the HR monitor this morning, and I was pleasantly surprised.  There was quite a difference between my HR when running at 7:30 pace and running 8:30-9:00 pace.  In fact, I could tell when I picked up the pace a little bit on the return leg.  First leg (out leg) it took a while for my HR to get going.  Average HR for the first leg was 153 (wow!).  Average HR during the return leg was 168.  So I mentioned I could tell when I had picked up the pace a bit - during the last 1/2 mile of the first leg, I was working to keep my HR below 160.  As soon as I turned around (there may have been a slight slope), my HR automatically went up 5 bpm.  Soon after that, I was working to keep my HR below 170.  Still, the entire run felt wonderful, I feel good, my calf feels good, and I am continuing to lose weight.  I am very close to my original weight loss goal, and feel motivated to continue to lose.  In fact, I am pretty sure that without doing anything else but running daily, I will continue to lose weight.  How much, I will have to see.  I am not going to change anything else with my diet - I feel I am eating pretty healthy.  I am grateful to have a wife who is very supportive of me, and who has now helped to motivate our children to run every day as well.  As long as we don't load them up on sugar, I think that the running helps with their (boundless) energy.

Update:  we went to the track with the boys today for family home evening, and had them run around on the track, and then had watermelon for our FHE treat.  Ran 1/4 mile with Sam, then ran another 1/4 mile with Joseph.  Both Sam and Joey each ran another 1/4 mile all by themselves.

1.0 mile so far this evening with Samuel (wahoo!).  He did great, running the entire mile without stopping in 14:27, a new record for him for both distance and time.  I will get in my normal run a bit later this evening, just wanted to not forget his run.

Ran 4.1 miles in the morning, nice easy pace, put the HR monitor on, and the HR was good.  Managed to keep my HR below 160 the first 2 miles, and hovered between 160-163 for the third mile.  I sped up for the last mile, and saw my HR spike at about 173, but everything felt real good.  Total time was 36:28, average pace of 8:47/mile.  Would have been slower if not for the last mile.  Ran another mile (approx) with the boys in the evening.  Samuel really picked it up today and ran faster than the other day.  I think that he is beginning to realize the limits of his body.  After a month or so, I think that he is going to be able to put in a sub-10:00 mile without any problems.  On a side note, I had forgotten that the registration deadline for St. George was May 1, and I am seriously considering registering for it, along with the other races I had mentioned earlier (Phoenix Road Runners Summer 5K race series, White Mountain 1/2 marathon).  I am probably being a bit optimistic here, but I am feeling pretty good about my running, and as long as I don't get injured, I definitely have plenty of time to build up a good base for St. George.  Thoughts, anyone?

Ran my standard 4.1 mile loop early this morning.  It was windy.  Wore my HR monitor again to see what my HR was doing.  The first mile my HR was lower because the wind was behind me.  Average HR was probably around 155.  Second mile, HR was still low, stayed below 160, average was probably a couple points higher.  Third mile kept my HR below 160 until the end, when it bumped up to 161 for a short period.  Final mile was run into the wind, and I also increased my speed again, but not as much as yesterday.  Max HR was 173, average HR for the run was 159.  My body felt good after the run, no soreness, HR went right back down within a couple minutes.  My cardiovascular fitness is not yet such that my average HR is in the 120-130 range on an easy run like this, but hopefully if I keep up the work and don't get injured, I will be able to see noticeable changes.

Ran approx. 1 mile with the boys this evening, then ran 4 miles on the treadmill at 7 mph (8:34 pace) - Lybi had a piano teachers association meeting she had to attend, so I had to stay home with the kids.  The run felt great, my body feels great, and I am actually getting really excited to hopefully run St. George this year.  If I keep running at this rate, I will be up to 30 miles/week in a couple of weeks, and will continue to increase from there.  Feeling pretty good about my running right now.

Ran 4.1 miles this morning wearing my HR monitor.  Ran the first mile entirely too fast without meaning to, and my HR was affected for the rest of my run.  I also think my HR was higher than normaly because I ran last night, and because it was fairly warm (I ran about 8:00, and it was already almost 80 degrees).  However, I really need to get myself a "toy", as Sasha puts it, so that I can keep track of my pace.  Average HR for the run was 170 - about 10-15 points higher than normal.  I attribute this to all of the above.  Hopefully I can get a better measurement on Monday when I run again.  I also just checked the St. George marathon website (or rather, active.com) and found that my original entry from 2005 which I was not able to use last year was still available for me to register as a guaranteed runner, and so I went ahead and registered.  I am very excited about this, and am going to make sure that I take it easy enough throughout the summer so that I do NOT get injured again!

Ran approx. 1 mile with the boys earlier in the evening, then ran my standard 4.1 mile route later in the evening.  Wore my HR monitor again.  The HR was better than Saturday, but still slightly elevated.  This could have been due to having eaten less than an hour earlier.  Total time for the run was 36:00 flat, which ends up being somewhere around 8:30-8:40/mile.  Average HR was 164, max HR for the run was 173.  I felt extremely good about that.  Especially since I picked it up on the last mile.  Interesting to note was that I actually felt the most comfortable during the last mile - I really got into a rhythm, and actually saw my HR drop about 5 bpm - that was pretty cool.  On a side note, the thought just crossed my mind that it might be pretty cool to have a fast running blog get-together for all those who will be at SGM.  My wife and I will be there, barring injuries, maybe we could all meet at the expo or after the race - just a thought.

Ran my standard 4.1 mile out and back route this afternoon.  I stayed home with the kids today while Lybi had to go to Samuel's school for most of the day to play for their recital rehearsal.  Wore the HR monitor again.  HR was similar to yesterday, still slightly elevated, although it seems I was able to better stay under 170 this time.  In addition, I found that I was inadvertently running too fast again, which I am sure had an effect on my HR.  I really gotta get me a GPS watch, just so that I can see what pace I am running.  Total time was 34:42, for an average pace of 8:21/mile.  Felt good.  I had some cramping during the last mile, but I think this was because I ate chili for lunch - I am guessing that beans and running an hour later are probably not a good mix . . .

Ran another 1.5 miles with the boys.  Samuel ran an entire mile (or as closely as we could tell), then Joseph and Adam ran a combined .25 miles.  Joseph was sick last night, so that was fine.  I put all 3 boys in the double jogging stroller and then ran the .25 back home - man are they heavy when all 3 of them are in there!  I feel good about today's mileage, and about my fitness increasing.

Ran 4.1 miles this evening - my standard 4.1 mile out and back course.  Did not run with the boys today, as I was putting Adam to bed while Lybi ran with the boys.  Did not wear the HR monitor today.  Started off at a real nice and easy pace.  First half of the course covered in 18:42.  Increased my pace for the second half, second split was 17:25.  Total time was 36:08, average pace of 8:42/mile.  Felt very good about this run.  Friday and Saturday should be interesting - Lybi will be flying with her grandfather to Denver to be at her sister's sealing to their newly adopted baby, along with two baby blessings - the adopted baby girl along with a newly born baby girl of their own.  They now have 3 girls in their family - the first two are adopted, and the third is their own - balances out our 3 boys :)  I will have the kids by myself until Sunday evening.

Ran a mile with the boys earlier in the evening, then ran my standard 4.1 mile out and back course this evening.  Wore my HR monitor again, was very happy about my HR tonight.  HR stayed below or right around 160 for nearly the entire run, average HR was 160 (4 bpm lower than Tuesday) and even better, my max HR on my run was only 167.  Wahoo!  Average HR on the first leg was 156, average on the second leg was 161.  I am totally excited about this run.  Even better:  I finally went out (or went online) and bought a TOY!  I decided on the Forerunner 205, since I already have a HR monitor and can use it if I want to run by HR instead of pace.  For anyone else considering purchasing one right now, Garmin has a $50 mail in rebate until 5/15.  I would have gone through the blog store to get mine, but I am a cheapo and look around for the best price, period, which was about $10 less than what Amazon had it listed for.  Not a big difference, but that's the way I am.  I was even looking around on eBay for a while, but found out that Garmin would not honor the rebate on a device won at an auction.  That, plus the price plus shipping was ending up being about the same.  As an FYI, Amazon's price right now is right about 192.97, price after rebate is only 142.97, with free shipping.  I paid 182.95 for mine with free shipping.  Like I said, not a big difference.  For a while, I was waffling between the Garmin and Timex bodylink series, but this has so much more to offer, plus a huge screen.  Enough about my new toy.  I should get it sometime next week.  Tomorrow and Saturday may be treadmill days, because it is already 11:25 PM here, and I won't get enough sleep if I get up at 5:00 to run.  Lybi is going to meet me at work tomorrow and I will take her and her grandpa to the airport, and then it is just me and the boys all weekend long.

Ran a mile with the boys earlier in the evening, then ran 4.0 miles on the treadmill after I got them all to bed.  I ran at 7 mph on the treadmill (8:34/mile) with no incline.  Wore the HR monitor out of curiosity.  I could definitely tell that running on the treadmill was easier on my cardiovascular system.  Average HR for the run was 152, max HR was 160.  This is all about 7-8 bpm lower than when I run on the streets.  This seems to be a confirmation that if you are going to run a marathon on a treadmill, training on a treadmill would be adequate, but if you are running a marathon on the road, then you should train on the road (or running trails, etc.).  My body is still holding up well - calves are feeling a tiny bit sore, but I will stretch them out good.  My wife arrived safely in Denver and is at her sister and brother-in-law's house.  Tomorrow's run will have to be on the treadmill as well.  We need to get Sam a new pair of shoes tomorrow - he has a habit of scuffing his heels when he runs, and as a result, has worn all the way through the outsole of both heels.  Well, that's all for tonight - lots to do tomorrow with the boys.

Ran 4.5 miles on the treadmill after putting the boys down.  Did not run with them today, as Sam was feeling a bit under the weather.  Ran with the HR monitor again.  First 4 miles were at 7 mph (8:34/mile).  Average HR for the first 4 miles was 154.  I experimented a bit with my breathing, and came to the conclusion that I am trying to breathe too deeply and too long.  I match my breathing to my stride, and I have been trying to inhale for 6 steps and then exhale for 6 steps.  It has actually been a bit laborious at times.  Experimented with going back to inhaling for 4 steps and then exhaling for 4 steps.  Seemed to make a difference in my HR, and boy, did it make a difference in terms of how easy it was to just breathe.  I think it actually helped me to relax a bit more, so I am going to stick with this rhythm.  I don't think that extending the time of each breath was actuallly getting more oxygen into my lungs.  Picked up the tempo after 4 miles to 8 mph (7:30 pace) for the last 1/2 mile.  Was pleasantly surprised to see that my HR held steady at around 165.  Average HR for the last 1/2 mile was 164.  Hot dog!  Of course, since this was on the treadmill, I fully believe that were this on the road, my HR would have been between 5-10 bpm higher.  Need to reprogram my HR monitor to make use of the HR zones (it has 3).  Missing the wife, probably ate less healthy today than I could have.  Hopefully I can get back on track quickly.  I had actually gotten down to 165, and have been hovering at about 166 for the last week or so.  I would still like to lose between 5-10 pounds.  As my mileage increases, I am pretty sure some of that will come off naturally.  I have figured that I need to be running about 8 miles/day, plus a Saturday long run of up to 20 miles to be prepared for St. George this year.  That equates to a 60 mile week.  At that point, I am pretty sure I will be burning up the calories pretty good.

Ran 1 mile with the boys earlier in the evening, then ran my standard 4.1 mile route.  Did not wear the HR monitor tonight.  The run felt very good.  Started off nice and slow, then slowly picked up the pace as the run progressed.  Total time for the run was 35:53, average pace of 8:39/mile.  I will plan on adding a couple of 5 mile runs this week to increase my weekly mileage above 30.  Everything is still feeling good, I feel like my cardiovascular fitness is continuing to improve.  At this point, I am still planning on running a couple of 5K's this summer, and will probably also run the White Mountain 1/2 marathon, which is on September 17, although I am still undecided about it.

Ran 1.5 miles with the boys, and discovered a new way to motivate Sam to run - talk to him throughout the entire run and distract him from the actual running.  If he is just thinking about running, he tends to think about how hard it is and get discouraged.  However, today when talking to him, he forgot all about how hard it was to run and just ran and we had a delightful time talking about all kinds of things.  Ran my standard 4.1 mile course later in the evening.  Wore the HR monitor again, and was extremely encouraged about my HR throughout the run.  I never broke 160 until the third mile, and then I was hovering between 158-161.  Picked it up the last segment for a total time of 35:27.  HR hit 173 at the end.  Should have my Garmin on Thursday and will be looking forward to testing it out.  Woohoo!

Switching up the color here . . . how daring!  Ran about 0.5 miles with the boys this evening (Sam went with Lybi to a Primary Presidency meeting and did not run with me).  Joseph did a great job running.  Then I ran a slightly different route today to make up for the difference.  Ran a 5.6 mile route.  Was very encouraged by my HR during the run.  For the first 4 miles, my HR stayed at or below 160.  Average for the first segment was 150, for the second segment, 156, same for the third segment.  HR went up slightly for the 4th segment - 158 average.  Final segment (about 1.5 miles) had an average HR of 162, but I picked it up for about the last mile and maxed out at 175, then cooled back down for the final 1/4 mile.  Average HR for the entire run was 157.  Woohoo!  I felt great.  About the only thing I noticed was a bit of achiness in my lower legs.  I am going to attribute this to my shoes wearing out.  the outsole is really worn down pretty bad.  I have a pair of Grid Hurricanes I haven't worn too much that I am going to start running in again until I can get a new pair of shoes.  I think these ones have had it.  That was part of what caused my injury last time - first of all, running too fast and too infrequently, and second running in shoes that were totally worn down and provided no shock absorption.  Will probably go through Road Runner Sports, since I am a VIP member and they have their 60 day perfect fit guarantee or they will exchange them for another pair. There are probably some people who take advantage of that.  in any case, gotta come up with the 85 or so bucks to get a pair of Adrenaline GTS 7's.  I loved the GTS 5's, hated the GTS 6's, and have read good reviews about the GTS 7.  Update on the Garmin - it won't be here until Friday now.  Also, I will need to run in the morning on Friday, as I will be taking Sam (and maybe Joseph if I am up to it) to the Aaronic Priesthood commemoration/Fathers-Sons campout this Friday.

Ran my new 5.6 mile route again this evening.  Did not get a chance to run with the boys, as I had den meeting with the Webelos scouts.  Did not wear the HR monitor today, but ran in my other shoes (Saucony Grid Hurricanes).  Ooh, what a difference.  I can tell these shoes still have some miles left in them, whereas the others (Grid Trigon Guide) are completely shot and utterly useless.  Legs felt better during today's run - felt less pounding.  Ran pretty even miles until the last mile.  Picked it up the last mile (I am so looking forward to getting my Garmin tomorrow so that I will know more approximately how fast I am running!) - total time was 48:16, average pace was 8:34/mile.  I need to get more sleep.  On a side note, I realized today that I will not be able to go to the Aaronic Priesthood commemoration campout with my boys, as I am on call all weekend, and the campsite is a good hour from civilization.  Does not bode well if I get paged in the middle of the night or on the weekend when I am all set up.  I feel bad about this, but to be honest, I was a bit apprehensive about bringing both boys - Samuel would have been fine, but the combination of both Samuel and Joseph together in the wilderness would have been too much for me to handle, I think.  Next year, Joey will be almost 6, and Samuel will be almost 8.  I think this will be a lot better situation for me and them.  I don't want it to be a majorly frustrating experience for me or them - I want them to enjoy the experience.

Before I begin my workout report, I just have to say that I was so excited today - MY GARMIN FINALLY ARRIVED!  I was so geeked out about it.  I absolutely love it.  No problems at all acquiring satellite, already have it cradled and connected to my PC and have already uploaded my two runs today (1 with boys, plus my regular run).  This thing is totally awesome.  OK, enough about my new toy, on to my workout.

I am excluding some frantic sprinting I did prior to my run with the boys, when Sam and Joseph took off, and we couldn't find Sam for about 5 minutes.  I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, until I finally said a prayer, and started back home.  About a minute later, as I was on my way home, a car stopped to tell me that Sam was home.  Feelings of relief and gratitude flooded through me, first that he was home safe and second that someone hadn't seen him alone and tried to abduct him (yes, that thought had crossed my mind . . .).  All that aside, I had a marvelous run.

Started out by running 1.2 miles with the boys (I love the Garmin!), and finally knew exactly how far we had run.  It was great.  Sam did a great job.  Then I ran a 5 mile workout on the Garmin.  I set the workout for 5 miles with an average pace of 8:40/mile.  For the first 2 miles, I averaged about 8:37/mile - not too bad.  Next 2 miles were at 8:32/mile - just a little faster.  Picked up the pace for the last mile, had to stop at the stoplight for a few seconds (I love the autopause feature), and finished with a 7:39 mile.  Total time was 41:59, average pace was 8:23/mile.  I am so excited about this.  Today I was thinking about running St. George, and also was thinking about running the White Mountain 1/2 marathon, and think that the White Mountain will be a good indicator for me of my fitness for St. George.  As my mileage goes up, I think I will have a better idea of my predicted times for each of these races.

Ran my 5.0 mile route from yesterday, used the Garmin (of course!) again.  To keep this short, set a workout plan of 8:30/mile today.  Ran the course in 42:00, average pace of 8:24/mile.  The difference between yesterday's time and today's was that I managed to keep more or less an even pace, and not speed up at the end.  Legs feel great, body feels great.  I am even more motivated about running than I previously was, especially after having several weeks in a row of good results.  Hooray!

Note:  I have been doing one additional thing this week that I haven't previously been doing - I have started eating a banana after every run.  I feel like this is helping my electrolytes (especially my potassium) to stay balanced, which in turn is helping to keep my muscles from cramping up.

Ran 6.0 miles this morning using the Garmin.  I still love my Garmin!  I set a workout this morning to run 6 miles at 8:40 pace.  The run felt great.  I actually came in a bit faster than 8:40 pace.  Total workout time was 50:24, average pace was 8:24/mile.  The first mile was slow (warming up) in 8:51, then got into a groove.  The rest of the miles were between 8:19 and 8:24 (have to double-check that this afternoon when I get home from work).  It felt good to run in the morning, especially since I need to get used to morning runs for when I race.  Am planning on getting in at least 6 miles every day this week to hit a goal of 36 miles for the week.  Next week I will shoot for 40.  I am really excited about this.  I don't remember the last time I felt this good after running 34 miles in a week.  Sasha, I can't thank you enough for the advice about running every day - it has really paid off!

Ran 6.0 miles again this morning.  Have to get used to running in the morning - it feels a bit different than the evening.  I set a slower workout goal today to try to take it easier.  Goal was 8:45 pace.  Managed to stay within about 10 seconds of that pace, first 3 miles were at about 8:33.  4th mile was something like 8:19 (don't have the Garmin with me), 5th mile I spotted another runner up ahead and my competitive juices started flowing.  Passed the other runner just before I hit the end of the 5th mile.  Not sure about the mile split, but I think it was pretty fast - around 8:00 or so.  Tried to slow down on the 6th mile, but my body seemed to be in a faster gear and every time I intentionally slowed down, I found myself speeding back up again.  Will update later with splits.  Total time for the run was 50:24, average pace was 8:24/mile.

Ran 1.26 miles with the boys in the evening, for a total of 7.26 miles.

Green for go.  Ran 1.32 miles with the boys, then ran 5.0 miles later in the evening.  Took the first mile easy, 8:35.  Second mile decided to pick it up, ran a 7:21 mile.  Third mile slowed down again, ran 8:24.  Fourth mile was 8:37.  Last mile increased a bit, finished in 8:01.  Total time was 41:00, average pace of 8:12/mile (skewed by the second mile, of course).  The run felt good, I felt within myself.  Part of the reason for running the faster mile was to give myself an indication of what I would be able to do when I run the 5K at the end of May.  The rest of the runs this week will be nice and easy, I promise (I know Lybi checks my blog, so she will chew me out if I run too fast again . . . <grin>).

Ran 1.11 miles with the boys this evening, then ran 5.0 miles on the treadmill.  Ran the first 2 miles on the treadmill at 8:34 pace, then increased the pace to 8:00 pace for the next 3 miles.  Final quarter was at 7:30 pace.  Total time for the run was 41:04 (I'm not going to bother figuring out the average pace for the run today, it's late and I need to get to bed).  I wish I could have run outside tonight - it was actually pretty cool for a May evening in Arizona - cooler than it was in my room where the treadmill was, even with the ceiling fan running as well as the fan on the treadmill.  Oh well.

I am calling these easy miles, but they weren't all that easy because there was a strong wind blowing this evening.  Did not run with the boys as Sam was sick this afternoon.  Ran 5 miles with Adam in the jogging stroller.  Was a bit more difficult pushing a 20 lb stroller plus a 30 lb toddler, especially when the wind was factored in.  Total time was 42:48, average pace of 8:34/mile.  I feel good about that run.  I will probably run no more than 5 miles tomorrow.

Ran 0.35 miles with Joseph in the evening.  Samuel was still sick and did not run.  Afterwards, ran 4 miles.  It was a gorgeous evening.  Started off with a 8:21 mile, then 8:20.  Then decided to speed up.  3rd mile was 7:51.  Sped up even more - last mile was 6:57.  Total time of 31:31, average pace of 7:53/mile.

Ran 6.0 miles on a running trail, run felt good.  I felt a little drained after the run.  Total time was 49:00, average pace of 8:10/mile.  Not much else to report.

Did not run today, woke up with a sore throat and fever.  Have been taking tylenol all day since I have training I had to attend.

Did not run today either - sore throat was worse, fever was worse body aches.  tylenol all day again, plus have been dosing up on some airborne to hopefull help me get over this quickly.

Back on track again.  I took Sasha's advice and took it easy today.  Two miles at 9:00/mile.  I couldn't quite get myself to run 9:30/mile, but I feel pretty satisfied with that pace.  It took me a while to kick this bug, even with antibiotics, but thankfully it stayed in my throat (and up to one of my ears).  No sinuses, no chest congestion, no coughing.  Just sore throat and fever.  That's all gone now.  The run felt good, and I was itching to do more (good sign, right?).  More miles tomorrow.  I will go up to 4 tomorrow and see how that feels.  BTW, one fringe benefit of the forced rest was that I was able to let two blisters on my right toes heal up quite nicely.  I really need to get a new pair of shoes.

Went to the running store today and tried on two pairs:  Saucony ProGrid Omni 6 and Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7.  The Saucony had a little more arch support and a nice wide toebox, the Brooks felt a little cushier, but I didn't notice any issues with the toebox on it.  Only other big difference was that the Brooks felt like it had a lower profile.  Not sure that's a big deal.  Saucony is 12.3 oz, Brooks is 11.6 oz.  I am torn between the two.  The nice thing about getting a pair from road runner sports is that I have a 60 day guarantee.

Ran 4.1 miles today with the Garmin.  Decided to start increasing the mileage again as I still feel good.  Tomorrow I will probably go back up to 6 miles.  Total time for the run today was 35:42, average pace of 8:42/mile.  Most of the miles were slower, had one mile where I cranked up the pace a bit to end up with an 8:21 mile.  The rest were high 8:40's-low 8:50's.  The run felt good today.  My legs were a little tired after the run, but that is probably to be expected after a week layoff due to illness.  I am trying to decide if I am going to do the evening run or not on the 26th - I would like to, but I may just go there to cheer Lybi on.  Either way we will get to make a date out of it.

Ran 3.34 miles with the Garmin (did not have time to do any more than that).  Average pace was 8:34/mile, that because I pushed the pace the last 1/3 of a mile.  The first 3 miles were 8:42, 8:41 and 8:50, respectively, then did the final .34 miles in 2:25, average pace of  7:07/mile.

Ran 1.5 miles with the boys early in the evening, then ran 5 miles later on.  With the 5-miler, I found my pace slowly increasing the further I ran (go figure).  Started out nice and easy at 8:47 for the first mile, then 8:41, then 8:33 for the third mile,  and 8:22 for the 4th mile.  I decided to pick up the pace for the last mile and pushed it pretty good.  Final mile was in 6:55, and I was actually increasing throughout.  Started somewhere in the 7's, and ended up right around 6:00/mile.  I was huffing and puffing fairly good at the end, but I feel like I could have run futher - that was part of the reason I picked up the pace - to give myself an idea of what I am capable of next time I run a 5K (still not sure if I am going to do the evening run or not).  Cooled down and then stretched out after the run, took a cool shower (water here isn't cold anymore, just cool).  I feel good.

Got my new shoes today - Brooks Adrenaline GTS 7.  Did a 6 mile run in them, felt great.  Could tell my other shoes have lost their cushioning.  The run felt good - total time was 51:18, average pace of 8:33/mile.  Picked up the pace a little bit the last mile, but really kept the pace nice and easy for the whole run.  Cooled down and then stretched out afterwards, body feels good.

Adrenaline Blue - 6 miles 

Ran .92 miles earlier in the evening with the boys.  The hotter weather definitely makes it more difficult to run.  We have been topping 100 degrees every day this week, and it is still in the 90's at 7:00 pm.  Later on, ran 6.21 miles with the Garmin on my new trainers.  The run felt good.  These shoes are definitely lighter, and feel like they give a little more than my Grid Hurricanes I have been running in the past month.  No surprise there.  I probably do need to get a pair of inserts for my shoes.  Nice steady pace for the first 5 miles of my run - averaging right around 8:30/mile, maybe just a little higher.  The miles were all within 10 seconds of each other.  Decided at the 5 mile mark to pick up the pace, gradually sped up to about 7:20 pace by the end of the run.  I felt good that I was able to keep up my same breathing rhythm even when I sped up this time.

Adrenaline Blue:  13.13

I am looking forward to the 5K next Saturday evening.  It will be interesting to see what I am capable of right now.  I feel like my fitness is pretty good, but I still need to drop a couple of pounds to get to where I really want to be.  Now that I am fully recovered from my illness, I will plan on doing between 36-40 miles this week.  I think that my body is ready for the increase in mileage, and it really just amounts to adding one mile to my run a couple days this week.

Ran 5.25 easy miles in the morning.  Will run again this evening with the boys.  I kept the pace nice and easy, no speeding up, don't have my splits right now, but each mile was right around 8:30 pace.  I noticed that if I want to keep my pace slower, I have to concentrate on shortening my stride.  If my concentration starts to wander, I find myself unconsciously increasing my stride length, and as a result, increasing my speed.  As I was glancing at the Garmin, I would see my pace go from around 8:45/mile to as fast as 8:05/mile without any recognizable change in effort on my part.  Weird.  I am planning on putting in a 2-mile tempo in the middle of my run tomorrow to see where I am at in preparation for the 5K on Saturday - planning on running around 7:00/mile for those two miles.  This is slower than I am hoping to run the 5K in, but I don't really want to run 5K race pace, more like 10K race pace.

Ran 0.75 miles (approx.) with the boys in the evening, for a total of 6 miles today.

Ran 6.0 miles this morning.  This was my tempo run day, so I warmed up at a nice easy pace for a mile, then hit my tempo pace.  I ended up running the 2 mile tempo a bit faster than I had intended, but it still felt good, and I definitely felt like I could have sustained it, although I am not sure if I could have sustained it for 4 more miles.  I don't have the Garmin with me right now, so I'm not 100% sure of the splits (will update when I get home), but I am pretty sure each mile was 6:31.  Finished the tempo, walked about 15-20 seconds, then completed the run with 3 nice easy recovery miles at about 9:00 pace.  The tempo run gave me a great deal of confidence for the 5K on Saturday.  I should definitely be able to break 20:00.  I am not going to revise my goals this close to the race, but will just let it play out and see how things go.

Ran 1.14 miles early this evening with the boys, then ran my standard 6 mile run.  Calves felt a little sore from the tempo run yesterday, and overall I felt a little more tired than usual, but I attribute this to lack of sleep.  I had the worst time falling asleep last night in a long time, including when I was in Boston (although I was taking tylenol pm's when I was there - he he).  Total time for the 6 mile run was 51:10, average pace of 8:31/mile.  Not much else to say - I will continue to take it easy this week with nice slow runs.  I will probably cut back on Friday, and then run a short run in the morning on Saturday, although I am not sure about this.

On another note, I found out that the Saturday we leave Snowbird is the day of the Provo River Trail 10 miler.  I am trying to decide if I would be ready for a 10-miler in 3 weeks or not.  I will need to think about that some, and decide if I can (and will) do it or not.

Ran 5.03 miles in the evening with the Garmin.  Was originally planning on 6 miles, but it was late, and my calves are still a little sore from the tempo run.  Average pace for the run was 8:29/mile.  I think I am going to give my Garmin a name, since Lybi has decided to call our treadmill Fred.  I think I will call it . . . HAL.  :D

My head was filled with visions of the 5K this Saturday - all kinds of crazy thoughts, like (this being the inaugural event) my actually winning the event, or placing top 3 or top 10.  I got to take a look at the course today - http://www.shadefoundation.org/sunset/pics/course_map.pdf?searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&searchtab=home&formtype=address&popflag=0&latitude=&longitude=&name=&phone=d%22vel=&cat=&address=9400%2BW.%2BMaryland%2BAve&city=Glendale&state=az&zipcode=

I think the course layout could be better, and certainly isn't conducive to super fast times, but I am still certain I will be able to reach my goal of sub-20:00, and will have to see about 19:00.  Anyways, only two days away, and I am very excited.  This will be my first 5K in a long time.

Ran 1.56 miles with the boys early in the evening.  I was proud of Samuel for running a full mile without stopping once.  Joseph would have run further, but at .41 miles, he fell and scraped his knee (while holding on to my hand, otherwise it probably would have been worse).  He of course didn't want to run any more, so I had him sit down in the jogging stroller.  I promised all of the boys Gatorade when we got home (they love Gatorade) if they ran without stopping.  Each of my boys did it, even little Adam, who is only 2!  He only ran .13 miles, but he had lots of fun.

Now on to my run.  Ran 6.0 easy miles with the Garmin.  I decided earlier this week that I didn't want to taper for the 5K because my calves have been a little sore, and the easy runs have been helping to work things out.  Focused on my form and running technique to see what felt better in preparation for my race tomorrow.  I still have all kinds of wild fantasies going on in my head about what will happen tomorrow.  Nevertheless, I feel prepared for whatever happens.  It will be good to run a race again.  My last experience with a race was disastrous - that was the 8K I ran the January after I ran St. George, and that entire week (almost) I had been sick with a cold.  I ran too fast from the start, had to stop running about a mile from the finish and walk the rest of the way.  Not only that, but I was dizzy and wasn't even walking straight.  I ended up finishing, threw up the Gatorade that was in my stomach, and was halfway to my car when better sense prevailed and I walked back and got some attention.  They ended up having to call the paramedics to keep an eye on me, and I had to call Lybi to come get me.  I am certain this is not going to happen again.  Not only am I healthy, but I feel well-trained and in good shape.

Ran the Sunset run for Shade this evening.  I found myself anxious all day for this event.  It ended up being warmer than I thought at the start - probably mid-90's, although it felt cooler because of the humidity (or lack thereof) of the air.  Started off too fast (nerves), although not incredibly so, I found myself at a sub-6:00 pace for the first 1/2 mile or so, realized that was too fast, and then slowed down a bit.  Mile splits were as follows (according to the Garmin, I mean HAL):

Mile 1:  6:19 - I started off in about 9th place (smaller event, inaugural race)

Mile 2:  6:25 - we had a pretty good-sized hill here from a freeway overpass that slowed me down, but I was able to make it up on the way back down.  I also passed one of the guys in front of me as I ran down the hill.

Mile 3:  6:22 - I was struggling here with my breathing, but was focusing on the guy in front of me.  As we approached one of the turnarounds, I found myself getting closer to him, and just before we hit one of the right-hand turns, I was able to pass him up.  This put me in 7th place overall, and with the way I felt, I was just hoping to maintain that place.

As I turned right onto the final stretch, I sped up, and was pretty much giving it all I had as I came in.  I was partly motivated because I could swear I heard footsteps behind me, and I didn't want anyone passing me up.  However, my fears (and imaginary footsteps) were unfounded.  Don't have the final .1 mile split because I forgot to stop HAL, and I had not set it to its race setting.

Final place was 7th overall, 3rd in my age division.  I am ecstatic that I broke 20:00 in my first 5K after starting training again.  I also think that I am going to try to run the Judgesrun 5K in Salt Lake on June 16 while we are up there, rather than try to get everyone out of bed super early and leave Snowbird early in the morning for the Provo Riverwoods River Trail 10 miler.

Didn't have to work today, so I was able to get up a little later.  Ran 6.0 miles in the morning with HAL.  The run felt good, especially considering I had run the 5K on Saturday evening.  I was expecting my calves and hamstrings to be pretty sore, but they really weren't.  My calves were a bit sore yesterday, but everything felt fine on the run.  I am going to try to increase my mileage during the week, as I will not be running this Saturday.  We will be up in the mountains of California at a family reunion on my wife's side, and I don't want to go for a run on extremely steep terrain to avoid injuring myself.  So I will try to make up for it the rest of the week.  I am shooting for 7-8 miles each day the rest of this week, nice easy miles, probably broken up a little.

Ran another 1.13 miles with the boys this evening, for a total of 7.13 miles today.  I have taken Sasha's advice to heart and will plan on getting in a run on Saturday, even if it is not as long as normal. 

This is my longest run to date since beginning to train again.  I decided that if I am going to run the Provo River 10 miler, I need to at least have a run under my belt that will be equivalent in time to that run.  Woke up at 4:40 this morning, was hard for me to wake up and get going.  Ate a powergel to get some carbohydrates in me for the run, drank some Gatorado, and then got going.  Had a route in mind that I was going to run, but had to change it because there was a dog on the street without a leash, and no other person nearby (I don't like dogs without leashes, especially when you can't see the owner).  Don't have HAL, so I don't know what my splits were, other than that I picked up the pace for the last mile and ran it about marathon pace.  Total time for the run was 1:07, average pace was 8:25/mile.  I have to admit, I am a bit tired from running 8 miles, but feel good about getting it under my belt.  I will need to figure out pretty quickly whether I am going to run Judgesrun or the Provo River 10 miler, so that we can plan out what we are going to do.

Ran 1.1 easy miles with the boys in the evening.  Was originally intending on getting my regular run in this morning, but I had such a hard time falling asleep that I ended up deciding it was more important to get the additional sleep this morning and run tonight.  Ran 6.21 miles with HAL.  Felt sluggish at first.  It actually took me 3 entire miles to find my rhythm.  The final 3.21 miles felt pretty good.  Picked up the pace after 5 miles, ran MP for the final 1.21 miles.  Total time was 51:51, average pace of 8:20/mile.  Ordered an additional pair of adrenalines today so that I can start rotating my shoes, hopefully beginning next week.

Ran 6.0 miles on the treadmill this evening while my wife went shopping.  To break up the monotony, I alternated between 7.0 and 8.0 mph, with an incline of 1.  The run felt good, I was able to keep my same breathing rhythm throughout the entire run, and I tried to work on my running form.  Still trying to figure out what is most comfortable at slower speeds.  Going up to the mountains of California this weekend for a family reunion.  Will try to work in a run on Friday while traveling, and will plan on running on Saturday (hopefully with Lybi).

Well, here I was thinking that Saturday would be the difficult day to run, and I ended up not being able to run today.  I had way too little sleep, so I wasn't able to get up in the morning and run like I wanted to.  Then we got off for the family reunion later than I wanted.  On top of that, Lybi got sick on the way to the reunion, so I needed to take care of the boys, which precluded me from running that evening.  Bummer.  Oh well, I'm not going to get too terribly upset about it.  There were more important things to do that day.

Ran approx. 3.5 miles up in the mountains near Big Bear Lake north of San Bernadino.  Forgot to take HAL with me, so I don't know what the distance was, but estimated based on the time.  The place we were staying at was at 6500 ft - I was huffing and puffing on my run, and that was taking it easy . . . I might have run further, but it was already late, and we had been told there was a bear that wandered around the camp in the evening.

Ran 3.5 miles up in the mountains in the morning before we left - again was huffing and puffing.  However, it felt good to get out and run.  All weekend, I got plenty of sleep and woke up feeling rested, although tired.  I guess my body is not used to getting at least 8 hours of sleep.

Ran another 4.0 miles (this is a conservative estimate) in the evening.  We had driven down to San Diego during the day, so I was able to run along the ocean.  What a great feeling.  Not only was I running at sea level (lots of oxygen, yay!), but also running along the ocean really got me pumped.  I am guessing that I ended up running between 7:30-8:00 easily.  The effort felt fine, was not hard on either my lungs or my legs.

Got my second pair of Adrenalines today, and promptly took them out for a run.  Ran 7.0 miles this evening after we got back home from San Diego.  Man, I really appreciate cooler weather after having gotten back home to find out that the temperature today was 107.  Sheesh.  It was still in the 90's when I went running.  The run felt good, especially after sitting in the minivan for 6 hours, but I didn't particularly like the temperature.

Ran 6.21 miles with HAL this evening.  It was much cooler today than yesterday.  Even so, this run felt totally klunky.  I could not find a good rhythm the entire run.  Not sure what the problem was, but I was determined to run through it.  Knee was a bit sore at the very end, I think I was pounding more than normal during the run.  I may need to take a trip back to the chiropractor to get things straightened out.  Only two more days at home, and then we are back on the road again.  I am determined to get a good run in on Saturday morning before we leave to ensure that I get the run in.  I am certain I will not have time in the evening.

Ran 5.0 miles with HAL.  I had an extremely long day at work (12 hours straight) and didn't want to overdo it, hence the 5 miles instead of 6 or 7, especially considering the difficulty I had with my run yesterday.  Didn't know what to expect, since I was mentally drained from work.  However, being greeted at the door by my wonderful wife and children really gave me a boost.

Started off nice and easy, then after the first mile, decided I would run a mile at MP.  That mile was in 7:45 (a little faster than MP).  After that mile, I was planning on slowing down, but my body said no, so I ran another mile at MP (7:49, closer to my planned pace).  Finally convinced my body to slow down somewhat for the last two miles, 8:25 and 8:22.  Total time was 40:49, average pace was 8:09/mile.  I put some 3/4 length arch inserts into my shoes, and that seems to have helped.

I decided to set some goals for the Provo River 10 miler:

Goal 1:  under 1:20 (8:00 pace)

Goal 2:  under 1:17:30 (7:45 pace)

Goal 3:  under 1:15 (7:30 pace)

I will be happy with any of these goals, but ecstatic if I can hit the third goal.

Today was my tempo run.  Warmed up with an easy mile, then started the tempo - 4 miles at 7:30 pace or better.  First mile was 7:17, second mile 7:10, third mile 7:08, fourth mile 7:07.  Cooled down with an easy mile at the end, for a total of 6 miles.  I definitely could have sustained the pace for another couple of miles at least, but I am really shooting for between 7:20-7:30/mile.  I am going to try very hard to get in at least a few miles tomorrow morning before we leave - we will have to see how that goes.  I may be able to get in a few miles once we get up as well, and I will try to get in a couple miles during the trip as well.

Ran 6.0 miles on the treadmill at Snowbird.  The change from about 1700 ft to over 8000 ft definitely had an impact on me.  I could feel a major difference in how easy it was to run 8:30 miles.  However, I am hoping that as I continue to put in the miles up here, my body will be able to adapt to the lower oxygen and make things easier for me when I run Provo River.

Ran 5.5 miles on the treadmill up at Snowbird in the evening, as I was not able to run in the morning.  Started out at 6.6 mph (9:04 pace), increased to 6.8 mph (8:49 pace) after a mile, then increased to 7 mph (8:34 pace) after the second mile.  Ran at that pace until 4.5 miles, then increased to 7.5 mph for the last half mile.  Cooled down another 1/2 mile at 6 mph for a total of 5.5 miles.  Felt good about this, as I played 18 holes of golf in the morning with my dad and brothers and ran all around the course.

Did not get to run in the morning, as I woke up late (probably a good thing).  Ran in the evening, planned on running 6 miles total (including cooldown), but had to cut the run short due to my stomach - dinner did not agree with me.  That's what I get for eating bratwurst and sauerkraut . . . started off the run at 9:05 pace, warmed up for a mile, then increased to 8:49 pace.  This felt a bit more difficult than yesterday - probably attributed to the greasy brats in my stomach.  Ran at that pace for 1.5 miles, then increased to 8:34 pace until 4.5 miles, then slowed back down to 8:49 pace to try to settle my stomach down.  Didn't help.  Oh well, I don't want to overdo my distance as Saturday draws closer anyways.  Tomorrow I will probably do 4-5 miles, and Friday as well - nice and easy.

Ran 5.0 miles on the treadmill this morning at a nice easy pace - 9:05/mile the entire time.  The run felt good, I didn't feel exhausted afterwards, and didn't feel like hurling afterwards (not eating brats made a difference, I'm sure).  Another 4-5 miles tomorrow, and then it will be time to run the Provo River 10 miler.

Ran 4.0 easy miles on the treadmill today - shorter distance to make sure my legs are fresh for tomorrow.  Pace was 8:49/mile.  Then I ran 0.5 miles cooldown at 10:00/mile for a total of 4.5 miles.  Getting excited about the Provo River 10 miler tomorrow.

Ran the Provo Riverwoods 10 Miler on our way home from Snowbird.  Stayed with Sasha and Sarah Friday night (thank you guys!), got up early and helped Sasha set up the timing equipment.  Warmed up a bit, got on the bus, then warmed up a bit more when we got to the start (Sasha, you are a beast - what was a warmup for you on those hills got me huffing and puffing).  My original goal was 1:15, Sasha felt I could reach 1:10 and advised me to run 1/4 splits of 1:45.  I decided to follow his advice and see where it got me.  Now on to the race:

Started out nice and cool, big downhill at first, which got me a couple faster quarters, then settled down and was consistently hitting quarters in about 1:44.  Ran the first 4.5 miles with Clay from the blog - that was really cool, and helped the miles to go by extremely fast.  Continued to hit quarters between 1:40 and 1:45 throughout, caught some people, but as we descended, it started to get hot.  Right about mile 8, I started feeling the effects, and my legs started feeling dead, although I was able to keep up the same pace.  There was a girl about 10 meters in front of me that kept my competitive juices flowing, although I didn't think I could catch her.  Every time there was a small uphill, I caught up, but she gapped me again when we went back downhill.  At about mile 9, I started wishing the race was over, and felt like I could no longer maintain the pace.  However, when I checked my splits, I still wasn't doing so bad - around 1:46-1:47.  My slowest two splits were 1:48, towards the end when I was running out of steam.  The last 150 meters or so, I decided to kick it in and see if I could catch the girl in front of me - surprise, I did!  Saw my wife and oldest son cheering me on right at the finish - that was really cool.  Finished in 1:08:31, by far better than I anticipated.  Even better, after the race, Sasha told me he thought I could get a Boston qualifier with some more training.  To top things off, I got 14th overall (did not expect this, I thought I was top 50), and won my age division (since Sasha got first overall).  I haven't won my age division in anything since I was 16 and won my age in a 10K.

Legs are feeling a bit sore, but not overly so, this could partially be due to enforced inactivity as we drove home from Provo to Mesa.  I am extremely happy right now.  Congrats to Sasha, Clay (who did great in finishing in 1:12 and change) and all the other bloggers who ran.

Sasha - can you elaborate on what you would recommend for my training?  Obviously I need to put in more miles - if anything, that race showed me that I still need to increase my aerobic base.  My hope is that I can get up to 60 miles/week in preparing for St. George - sounds like I probably need to put in some more tempo runs like this as well to train my legs and body to run at this speed for marathon distance.

Update:  PAIN!  My quads and calves are extremely sore today from the downhill running.  Overall, still feeling OK, but I seem to have contracted some illness from a combination of things:  elevation (Snowbird), sunburn and exertion.  I hope to recover quickly, but this week will have to be an easy week.

No running today - still recovering from the strep throat.  I will see how I feel tomorrow and plan on doing between 2-4 easy miles based on how I feel.  Glad I went and saw the doctor right away to knock this out before it really flared up.

Couldn't go with another goose egg, and was feeling much better.  Hooray for antibiotics.  Decided to do a nice easy recovery run to shake loose the muscles.  My quads felt much better today, but my soleus' were still quite tight.  Could feel them complaining throughout the entire run.  Kept the pace nice and slow - 9:00-9:15 pace throughout, except for a couple of brisk quarters.  Stretched out thoroughly afterwards.  Going to try for 7 this evening, and hopefully go back to morning runs, as the heat is now into the "uncomfortable" stage, even in the evening.  High for today is predicted to be 111, for tomorrow and Friday, 113.  There are times when I wonder why we moved here, but then I remember the great job I have, the wonderful house we have, the neighborhood and the ward.

6 mile run at approx. 8:45 pace.  I learned several things from this run:  1) my body has not yet totally recovered from the illness, as my HR was still quite high 30-40 minutes after my run - this is not normal.  2) I don't want to run outside in the evening any more - it is just too hot.  3) my legs - specifically my calves - are still very tight from the provo river 10 miler - not sure how long it is going to take for them to recover.  With all that in mind, I am going to plan on taking another rest day today to allow all my systems to recover.  I may jump on the treadmill for a couple miles, but I really need to let everything get back up to speed to avoid injury.  This is probably the longest stretch of not getting injured in a couple years.  Starting tomorrow, I am going to ensure that I can run in the morning.  If I am unable to run in the morning, I will have to do my running on the treadmill.

Ran 5.7 miles this morning.  The weather was definitely much nicer, and my body felt better after a rest day.  Not sure if this was due just to the rest, or if taking the multivitamin may have helped as well.  There is a chance that I may be low on some vitamins or other nutrients like iron that may also be keeping my energy down.  In any case, the run felt pretty good through 3 miles.  Pace was a bit faster than yesterday, around 8:30-8:45/mile.  At the end of 3 miles, there was a guy who passed me going the other way, and when I turned around to come back home, he was about 30 meters in front of me (maybe a little more).  I decided to catch him, and ended up running about a 7:30 mile (have check the Garmin for sure), and caught him with about 150 meters to go on my 4th mile.  I was feeling the burn in my legs by then, especially in my quads this time, but calves were also burning a bit.  Slowed back down, and decided to cut the run a little short - took a shortcut back home that cut off about .35-.4 miles off the run.  After the run, stretched, showered, dressed and went to work.  My calves are still kind of tight and sore, but my quads are really killing me this morning.  Hoping that will go away as the day progresses.  I will make sure to take it easy tomorrow on my run.  Hoping to start running 7-8 miles next week as my body continues to rebuild from the race.

Was planning on running 8 miles today, but due to the heat, decided to cut my run a little short.  Everything felt much better today - my legs, my lungs, etc.  Was able to maintain a nice steady pace throughout the entire run.  Average pace of 8:26/mile.  Legs started to get tired at the end, but nothing really to complain about.  Hoping I will be able to view the results of the WBR soon.  Also have been watching coverage of the USATF Championships - our distance running corps seems to have improved quite a bit.

Ran 6.0 miles this morning.  Was planning on running 7, with an original plan this week of running 7-8-7-8-7-8, but I realized during my run that would put me at 45 miles for the week, and that is too much of a jump in mileage.  Decided instead to do something like 6-7-6-7-6-7, which would put me at 39 for the week, but I will probably put in an additional mile or two on Saturday to get me above 40.  Also decided that I will be Lybi's cheering section for the 5K on July 4 so that I can continue training and put in some good miles instead of running a hard 5K.

Ran 7 miles this morning at a good pace.  Average was somewhere around 8:20/mile.  Decided to spice things up on a couple of the miles to break up the monotony - ran miles 2 and 4 around 8:00 pace, also finished strong.  Felt good on this run.  Not much else to say - looking forward to increasing my mileage to continue to build up my aerobic base.

Ran 6.25 miles on the treadmill this evening.  It was kind of late and I didn't want to run outside, because it was still pretty hot. Started off at 7 mph at 1.0 incline as a warmup, felt good, felt nice and easy.  Decided that I would put in a tempo run to break up the monotony of the treadmill, after 1 mile, I increased the pace to 8 mph (7:30/mile).  Ran 4.5 miles at that pace, still felt relaxed and fairly easy.  I was able to keep my regular breathing rhythm throughout, which suggests that my CV fitness has definiely improved.  Ran the last 1/2 mile of the tempo at 9 mph (6:40 pace), that felt a bit more difficult.  Cooled down back at 7 mph for 1/4 mile, then was done.  Going to take it easy the next couple of days and then get in a 10-12 mile run on Saturday.

Ran 5.0 miles outside this evening at 9:00.  Temperature was still around 100 degrees.  Warmed up the first mile, then ran two miles at approx. MP (7:38, 7:28).  It felt harder than yesterday, I attribute that to the heat.  Slowed down a bit the 4th mile (7:58), ran the last mile in 8:23.  Although I felt good, the weather has now gotten to the point where I hate running outside in the evening.  And monsoon season will start in a few weeks, which means the humidity will be creeping up.  Not looking forward to that.  I really need to commit to getting to bed on time so that I can run in the morning, no exceptions.

Ran 5.0 miles this evening on the treadmill.  Nice easy pace - 7 mph (8:34/mile) at incline of 1.0 the entire time.  Will be putting in a long run tomorrow morning, so I wanted to take it easy.

Ran 12.0 miles this morning!  I had set my alarm for 4:00, but when my wife woke me up at 5:45, I realized I had forgotten that it was only set to go off on the weekdays.  Got up and ran 6 miles outside, with a quick stop at the store for some gel, as I had not had time to eat anything.  Took one gel with some water, then continued.  After 6 miles outside, it was getting too hot, so I came back inside, had some gatorade and the second gel, then finished my run on the treadmill.  I didn't really like doing this, but it beats getting heat exhaustion, which I am prone to.  Outside run was 49:53, average pace of 8:18/mile.  I was feeling pretty good during this part of the run, although the faster pace was also partly due to the sighting of a loose dog on the street.  Hit the treadmill, and averaged a steady 8:34/mile, total time of 51:24.  Total time for the run was 1:41:17, average pace of 8:26/mile.  This run felt good.  I felt like I could have easily run further without any issue - this is encouraging to me.  This gets me above 40 miles for the week.  My plan for next week right now is to have a shorter long run - 7 miles on the weekdays and 10 miles on Saturday.  This will put me at 45 miles for the week.

Afternoon - rode my bike about 5 miles to the auto shop to pick up our minivan, which had to have the tranny fluid flushed.  I won't count any miles here, but it definitely counted as additional exercise.

Well, I was shooting for 7 miles today to start off the week.  Was bothered almost the entire run by severe intestinal cramps (that led to you-know-what, but thankfully not until the end of my run).  The pace felt good, but the cramps forced me to change my running form to be a bit more compact.  Warmed up for a mile in 8:20, then ran a couple miles at about 8:05 pace.  Picked up the tempo a bit more, ran the 4th mile in 7:31 (MP).  Slowed down, decided to cut the run a bit short due to the GI issues.  During the last mile, my left calf (soleus) was complaining a little bit, not much - just a few twinges - but enough to make me glad I was cutting the run short.  Finished the run at the corner gas station about 1/4 mile from our house - just in time.  Walked back home and then stretched out my calves before going inside.  Average pace for the run was 8:08/mile.  I am not sure what caused the GI distress, although it may have been the change in sports drink.  I have been drinking Gatorade Rain, which I really like for the taste and how easy it is on my stomach.  Last nght I had a few gulps of powerade, and I drank more this morning before my run, then finished off the bottle afterwards (32 oz bottle).  It would seem that my stomach and GI tract do not like all the dyes in the powerade I drank.  I honestly can't think of anything else, as I was fasting yesterday, an we made our standard Sunday dinner of 1/2 white, 1/2 wheat pancakes and eggs, plus I had some milk.  I'll see how I feel tomorrow and will make sure to take it easy on my run - no pickups, just nice easy pace.  If I feel better tomorrow, I will get an extra 1/2 mile in on Wednesday.

Felt MUCH better this morning.  When I talked with my wife yesterday, others in our famiyl were experiencing the same issues, so maybe it wasn't the powerade - but I still like the taste of Gatorade Rain better.  7 easy miles this morning, fastest mile was 8:23, average pace was 8:29/mile. Don't have the total time right now but will get that when I get home from work.  All in all, very nice run.  Legs felt good, stomach felt good, weather was warm but not too warm - low 80's - that's pretty good for July weather in Arizona.  Feeling good about my training again, will plan on 7.5 tomorrow.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Ran 7.5 miles this morning.  Woke up a little later than normal, since I didn't have to go to work today, again no pickups or tempos in the middle of the run - just wanted to take it easy again.  Average pace of 8:18/mile, little faster than yesterday, but it felt good.  Fastest mile was 8:13, slowest mile was 8:26 (running into a headwind).  To me that is a pretty consistent pace.  I'm grateful to still be healthy, and feel like everything I'm doing is still helping me to prepare for St. George and beyond.  About the only thing I still need to do is to work on improving my diet a bit more. 

Ran 7.0 miles on the treadmill this evening.  Did not get to bed early enough last night, so I decided to sleep in rather than go through the day sleep deprived.  Warmed up at 7 mph, then did 1.5 miles at 7.5 mph.  Was feeling good, decided to do a little tempo to break things up.  Ran the next 3 miles at 8 mph.  Felt good, definitely could have kept on going at this pace.  Slowed back to 7.5 mph for 1.75 miles, then cooled down the last .25 miles at 7 mph.  Treadmill was at 1.0 incline the entire run.  Total time for the run was 54:57, average pace for the run was 7:51/mile.  I will have to see how I feel tomorrow - my plan is to run in the morning, as my evening is pretty full.

Ran 6.0 miles this morning - decided to cut the run short as I was pressed for time and because I had run yesterday evening at about 8:00.  Took a litte while to get going and find my rhythm, but was able to maintain a pretty steady pace.  Total time was 49:57, average pace of 8:19/mile.  Looking forward to my long run tomorrow morning.

Ran 8 miles in the morning in Los Lunas, NM. The run felt pretty good. Nothing remarkable, although I did run to music this morning just to make the run more enjoyable. I gotta get me a shuffle (or shuffle clone). The last 1/2 mile of the run was up a major hill. Pushed it up the hill, this was the only time during the run when I started breathing harder. Got back to our hotel and met up with Libby to run another 3 easy miles. It was quite enjoyable to run with her, we got to talk, and it made the miles go by pretty fast. Not to mention the enjoyable company . . . :)

Total time for the 8 mile run was 1:06:58, average pace of 8:19/mile. Perhaps a bit faster than I had planned on, but I guess the important thing was that it felt good.

Total time for the 3 mile run was 32:54, average pace of 10:59/mile. Nice and easy, very comfortable conversational pace.

I am excited that I was able to get to up to 45 miles for the week this week.  The plan is to do 7 miles during the week next week, and then run a 14-15 miler on Saturday to get me at 49-50 miles for next week.  It is pretty amazing to see the miles finally getting up there for me.  And the most exciting thing for me is that I still feel great, no injuries.  Woohoo!

Ran 7 miles on the treadmill this evening.  Did not have the opportunity to run in the morning, as I had to get up super early.  The run felt good, no soreness in my legs.  Started off easy at 8:34 pace, then increased to 8:00 pace.  Decided to make a tempo run of it to spice things up, after 2 miles, increased the pace to 7:30/mile.  Still felt good, I felt like I could have kept the pace for quite a while.  After a mile, increased to about 7:04 pace for one mile, then slowed back down to 7:30 pace for 2 miles, then slowed down for the last mile.  Total time was 54 and change (don't remember the exact time, too lazy to go look at the treadmill).  I am super excited that things are going so well for me and that I continue to remain healthy.

Ran 7 miles this morning outside.  It was warm and humid.  Monsoon season is starting soon, which will make it miserable to run outside, even in the morning.  Tried to keep the pace nice and easy, but I found myself drifting towards 8:00 pace and had to keep correcting myself to slow down.  Total time for the run was 58:39 (I think), average pace was 8:23/mile.  The effort felt harder than the pace, probably due to the heat and humidity.  I think that tomorrow I need to focus on running based on perceived effort instead of focusing on a specific pace.  This may help me to slow down a bit and just take it easy.

Ran 7 miles this evening.  It was still pretty hot - in the upper 90's, and it has been getting more humid here due to monsoon season arriving.  In spite of the weather, I decided to try an experiment on Lybi's words (he he), and consciously focused on a shorter, quicker stride, with a light footstrike.  I also focused on a more compact form today, with my shoulders lower and more relaxed, and my hands down by my hips.  The combination felt very good.  I just wanted to do a nice easy run, but found myself in a groove just over 8:00/mile.  I decided, what the heck, I'll go with it, it feels good.  I decided to put in a MP mile on the third mile, and ended up with a 7:17 - exactly what I would need to run if I decide to do a BQ at St. George (which I am still undecided about).  Slowed back down, hit the next three miles in about 8:12.  Then sped up a bit at the end of the run to bring it in hard, finished in 55:46, average pace of 7:58/mile.  This was one of those runs where everything seemed to click, and my body felt good right from the start.  Hope to have more of these. 

Ran 7 miles in the evening.  Decided to do a test, and ran with my HRM instead of with the Garmin, since I knew the distance of the route.  With the increase in fitness, I was expecting my HR to be much lower than the last time I had measured it.  Surprise - it was actually about the same, although my pace has increased since then.  Total time for the run was 57:53, average pace of 8:16/mile.  Average HR for the run was 163.  This was surprising to me, but then I talked with my wife about it and we agreed that this was probably due to the heat.  It was still about 100 degrees out, which means my body had to work harder.  I may do another HR test in the morning when it is a bit cooler to see what, if any, difference there is in my HR.

AM - ran 5 miles outside.  The weather was a bit cooler, but not much better than last night.  I was up a bit late, so I set my alarm to wake me up a bit later.  Therefore I did not have enough time in the morning to do the whole 7 mile run.  Ran with the Garmin (sorry - HAL) this morning.  Total time for the 5 mile run was around 39:25 (don't have HAL with me to confirm), average pace of 7:53/mile.  This run felt good, although it was a bit hard to find my rhythm.  I kept finding my pace increasing to about 7:30-7:40/mile without intending to, and would have to conciously slow down.  I plan on runnng a couple more miles this evening to get the entire 7 miles in today, then I have a 14-miler scheduled for tomorrow.  I think I will do a nice warmup to the HS track (3.5 miles), then do a 7 mile tempo run on the track, and then a nice easy run back to the house.  I will have to make sure I get up nice and early to avoid the heat.

PM - ran another 2 miles outside.  Knowing this was going to be a short run, my body said "lets get it over with".  Ran both miles at or below MP (factoring in the heat), 1st mile was 7:27, 2nd mile was 6:56 (oops - a bit too fast).  I could tell at the end I was running a bit hard - the breathing was more labored than normal.  Total time was 14:24, average pace of 7:12/mile.  We'll see what I do tomorrow on my long run.

Ran 13 miles this morning.  Got up early (4:00 am), ran to the track (2.71 miles) at a nice, easy pace, about 8:45/mile.  Stretched, drank some gatorade, had a powergel, then started my tempo run.  Ended up only doing 4 MP miles - I think my legs were still feeling the effects of my run last night, and I didn't want to push it too hard.  MP miles were as follows:

Mile 1: 7:44 (just getting into a rhythm)

Mile 2: 7:20

Mile 3: 7:16

Mile 4: 7:18

Took a break, drank some more gatorade, then finished up at a nice easy pace at the track.  Average pace of about 8:25/mile.  Then headed home, still averaging about 8:20/mile or so.  Total time was 1:46:20, average pace of 8:10/mile.  I was shooting for 14 this morning, but my legs and body just said no more.  I will try to get in one more mile later today to hit my goal.

Ran 7 easy miles this morning.  Woke up tired, took me a bit to get going on the run.  After about a mile, I was able to settle into a pretty good rhythm.  Total time for the run was 57:39, average pace of 8:14/mile.  Glad I got out to run this morning, rather than in the evening.  It is still too hot in the evening, even at 9:00.  I need to work on getting to bed early enough this week.  Nothing much else to talk about - nothing special about this run.  I intend to make this entire week an easy week in terms of pace - no tempo runs, just get in the mileage.  Planning on 50+ miles this week - I am absolutely amazed at how I have gotten here.

Ran 8 miles this morning.  I did not quite get to bed at 9:30, but I did get to bed by 9:45.  I figure that was pretty good.  Woke up early, felt better than yesterday.  Started off easy, then picked up the pace after about a mile to around 8:15/mile.  It was hot and sticky this morning, about 90 degrees, and humidity was higher as well.  My legs got kind of tired towards the end, probably from the combination of heat and humidity, but I slogged on to finish the entire 8 miles.  Glad I finished.  I am planning on doing 8 the rest of this week as well, and will plan on 12-13 on Saturday to get me over 50 for the week.  Total tme for the run was 1:06:23, average pace of 8:18/mile.

Ran 6 miles this morning.  Got out the door a little late, and decided that it might be time to change to two runs per day, ratherthan trying to get in all the miles at one time. I think I would still prefer to get in the bulk of the miles in the morning, due to the cooler weather, and am still undecided about the idea, but right now I am thinking that I may do around 5-6 miles in the morning, and then 2-3 miles in the evening.  We will have to see how that works out.  I will definitely be putting in a couple miles this evening to get in at least 8 miles for the day.  Total time this morning was 48:25, average pace of 8:04/mile.  The run felt good, it seemed to be a tad cooler this morning - certainly felt less sticky than yesterday.  I did get a fairly good amount of sleep as well - got to bed by 10:00.  I would still like to get to bed a bit earlier - 9:30 is a good goal for me, I think.

PM - ran an additional 2.05 miles this evening - temperature was 108 degrees, took it easy.  Body did not get overheated, because it was only 2 miles, and on the way back, I was grateful for a headwind, even thought it felt hot.  Total time for the 2.05 miles was 17:19, average pace of 8:27/mile.  Believe it or not, that felt like it was easy.  The biggest indication it was really hot outside was when I came back in and started sweating like a pig. 

AM - Ran 7 miles this morning - the alarm went off at 4:30, and I hit the snooze until 4:45.  Once I got up, I felt very awake.  Due to a lack of time, I ran 7 instead of 8 miles, and may try to get in a couple more this evening - we will see.  The run felt good today - it was still warmer than I like, and the humidity was higher, but my average pace has been continuing to increase, even on the longer runs, without any extra effort on my part.  I am confident this means that my aerobic fitness is continuing to improve.  Total time for the run today was 56:25, average pace of 8:04/mile.  I stepped up the tempo for the last mile and ended up running around MP for the last mile.

PM - Ran 2 miles this evening - temperature was 104 degrees, a little cooler than yesterday, but not much.  As I was running, I could see a big storm coming - Hallelujah!  Total time for the run was 15:54, average pace of 7:57/mile.  Glad I was only running 2 miles.  I had not yet had dinner, as I had Webelos Scouts at 6, and didn't want to eat right before I ran.  Could feel my stomach growling as I was running - bad tummy!  (j/k).  I think I am going to continue to follow this plan of splitting my runs.  This will allow me to wake up a little later (4:50 instead of 4:30), and put less stress on my body at one time. 

AM - ran 6 easy miles.  We had a nice thunderstorm last night, and it cooled things down a little bit this morning.  Started out my run, warmed up the first mile, then settled into my pace.  This was another one of those runs where I couldn't quite find my rhythm, and I realized towards the end that even though it was a bit cooler, it was also quite a bit more humid (found out on the radio on the way to work that the humidity was 54% - this is way humid for Arizona!).  Legs felt kind of dead after about 4 miles although I was not pushing the pace.  Kept going, finished the run in 49:03, average pace of 8:11/mile.  Will plan on doing another 2-3 miles this evening - I will make sure they are VERY easy so I don't wear myself out for tomorrow's long run.  Good luck to all those who are running Draper Days.

PM - ran another 2.1 easy miles.  Weather was a bit nicer - only 102 today!  Took it easy, but found my pace was faster than I had wanted even though I was trying to run slow.  Had dinner at 5:30 - I could feel my dinner a little bit, althogh I tried to eat a light dinner, and will eat a little more later tonight.  Total time was 17:00 exactly for the 2.1 mile run, average pace of 8:06/mile.  At least it was slower than yesterday's 2 mile run . . . :)  Looking forward to my long run tomorrow, during which I plan to focus on running around 8:30/mile.  Also looking forward to getting my final Harry Potter book!  No, I am not standing in line at one of the bookstores, waiting for the 12:01 release - I will get mine delivered tomorrow (sometime), and plan on immediately sitting down and starting to read.  Should be a nice, relaxing day.  Only other thing I need to do is to take my car to get the oil changed.  I will drop it off in the morning as soon as the shop opens and hope it will be done in a couple of hours (I don't believe in paying 35.00 for an oil change, I either take it to a place I know that does it for about 15.00 and also rotates the tires and checks the brakes, or I will take it to a place where I know we have a couple free oil changes coming.

Sasha - I thought of another idea for the blog - maybe you could make a way to restart the mileage counter on the trainers and racers to account for new shoes replacing old ones . . . 

Ran 12 miles this morning - it was cooler from another storm last night, but boy was it MMMUUUUGGGYYY!  Took it easy, first four miles averaged about 8:30/mile, which took me to the track.  Stretched out at the track, ran another 4 miles on the track.  Averaged about 8:20 for the first 3 miles, then picked up the pace and did my last mile at the track at MP - 7:30.  This was pretty much the point where I realized it was pretty muggy outside - my shorts and running shirt were both soaked.  I took off my shirt, and it felt like it weighed about 5 pounds.  Ran back home, trying to take it easy, because I realized I was probably a bit dehydrated, and my legs were pretty tired, no matter how hard I tried, the pace stayed around 8:20-8:30/mile.  Got home, guzzled down the rest of my gatorade, then went and weighed myself - 162.6 - this is a new low for me.  I haven't been at that weight since I was first married.  I am guessing I probably lost about 4 pounds on this run, although I didn't weigh myself before I went out.  I was exhausted after this run - I attribute this to the weather, and not to my fitness.  Hit my weekly mileage goal of 52 - woohoo!  Next week I will put in a long run of 16 miles - this will be my longest run of the year so far.  Things are really coming together for me.

Ran 5 easy miles this morning.  Did not get quite enough sleep - I will need to work to make sure I get extra sleep tonight.  Weather was very muggy - mid-80's and close to 50 percent humidity.  Not enjoyable at all.  Started out slowly, gradually got into a nice rhythm by the end of the first mile.  Total time for the run was 40:18, average pace of 8:04/mile.  I felt fine on the run, but I could definitely feel the humidity.  Even though I love monsoon season here for all the rain which we desparately need, it is hard to get excited about runnng when it is so humid.  50% humidity here is like 100% humidity in the midwest or east coast.  Planning on getting in a couple more miles this evening.

AM - ran 6 miles this morning.  Still muggy out, but not too bad.  Got a little more sleep last night than the night before, but was still kinda groggy when I got up.  It took me less time this morning to slip into my rhythm - just a little more than 1/4 mile.  Ended up running a bit faster than I had anticipated,but it still felt good to me.  Lungs didn't have a problem with the pace, legs felt pretty good as well.  Total time was 47:37, average pace of 7:56/mile.  Feeling pretty good about my fitness - I think I will continue to see my pace increase naturally as my fitness increases.  Will plan on running again this evening to make sure I get in my miles.

PM - ran 2 miles in the evening.  Temperature was lower than normal due to storms during the day - only 95!  I am certain it was lower than that at 7:00.  Ended up running faster than I had planned - seems to be the story of my life - ran the first mile in 7:58, second mile in 7:16.  Total time was 15:15, average pace of 7:38/mile.  I still managed to keep my normal breathing rhythm, but I could tell the pace felt a little fast.  Will try to maintan an easier pace tomorrow to take it easy on my body. 

AM - ran 6 easy miles in the morning.  Made a conscious effort to run a bit slower today to give my body a bit of a break.  Felt a little out of sync, although I was able to keep the pace about 20 seconds slower than yesterday.  Total time was something like 49:36, average pace of 8:16/mile.  Not much else to report - will put in a couple more miles this evening.

PM - ran 2.05 miles with the boys in our double jogging stroller.  All 3 boys plus the weight of the jogging stroller meant I was pushing around 120 pounds.  We had a terrific storm this afternoon I would have loved to go out and run in, but didn't have the chance.  But it felt good running with the boys, although it was incredibly humid - I was sweating buckets.  Total time was 17:14, average pace of 8:24/mile for the run.  Not too bad, considering the weight I was pushing :)

AM - ran 6 easy miles.  Right lower leg was a little sore - probably from trying to push a car up our driveway - the car of the parent of one of Libby's piano students had died, and it was raining pretty hard, so we didn't want to try and jumpstart it in the rain.  Unfortunately, the car was too heavy.  Took things a bit easier today - at least for the first 3 miles, then the pace picked up a bit.  Total time was 48:47, average pace of 8:08/mile.  Last 3 miles were all sub-8:00.  It was extremely humid again this morning - gotta love that monsoon season.  I do love the rain that it produces (seems like more than last year), but I don't especially like the humidity when we are not used to it.  Will plan on doing another 3 miles this evening to give me 9 total.

PM - ran 3 miles.  Right lower leg still a little sore/tight - will ice it, stretch it and rub it down tonight.  No rain tonight - bummer :(  but the weather was still pretty nice, although still very humid.  Took off, and started with an 8:01 mile.  Then sped up for the next two miles - 7:37, 7:32 (I will count these as MP miles).  I know I picked it up the last 1/4 mile, but overall the run felt good.  Puts me at 9 miles for the day.  8-9 miles tomorrow, and then 16 EASY miles on Saturday.  I have to keep telling myself easy in the hope that I will slow down a little.  Gotta order me some Clif bars - although there are stores here that stock Clif bars, none of them stocks my all-time favorite flavor - blueberry crisp.  Whoever thought of that flavor was a genius.

AM - ran 6 easy miles in the morning.  My right lower leg was still a bit tight, but in keeping with a promise I made to Libby last night, I took it easy, and averaged 8:30 miles for the run.  Total time for the run was 51:00, exactly 8:30 pace.  Legs felt OK, lungs felt fine during the run, but my upper body felt prett stiff.  That's what I get for trying to push a car up our driveway the other day.  After my run, I stretched out and showered, and by the time I got to work, my back was really sore.  I must have done something to do it when I was trying to push that car.  I went to the chiropractor this morning, and it feels a bit better, but still not normal.  I have a heat pack on it right now, and will use the heating pad this evening.  I may or may not run the extra 2 miles this evening, depending on how I am feeling, and I will have to see how I feel tomorrow morning to determine whether I will do the entire 16 miles or not.  If I run this evening, it will probably be on the treadmill (Libby gets to go out with some friends).

No running today - back hurts too much from trying to move that stupid car.  I went and saw my chiropractor again, and he said that everything was out but my head . . . after the treatment, my back feels a little better, but definitely not normal yet.  I am going to wait until the pain is gone before resuming my training.  Even if I lose a couple of days of training, I am certain it will not affect my long-term training for St. George and beyond.

Well, another day of no running - back is still hurting me quite a bit.  Believe me, I have learned my lesson about trying to push cars.  Went to the chiropractor again, and everything was out again, including my head.  Got an adjustment, feeling better, but still will take it easy today and maybe tomorrow (until the pain is either gone or negligible).

Yay!  My back is finally feeling good enough to run again!  I was thinking about this as I ran today, and I have the feeling that running helped me in two ways:

1) The increase in my health and fitness may have lessened the extent of the injury

2) It may have also hastened the healing process (although I am positive that the chiropractic visits didn't hurt either - just no cracks about my head not being on right . . .)

Just did 3 miles this evening to loosen things up again and get into the flow.  Worked on making them easy miles.  I also ran in new socks today - they are very comfy!  Total time for my run today was 24:44, average pace of 8:15/mile, and that was with the last 1/4 mile at about MP.  I feel good (dah dah dah dah dah dah dah), I knew that  I would . . . so nice (dah dah), so nice (dah dah), (dah dah dah dah dah dah, <primal scream>)!  Boy, this is scary, I'm just giddy to be running again, and after only 3 days enforced inactivity!

AM - Ran 5.5 miles this morning.  Run felt good, back is a little stiff at work now.  I started out nice and easy to warm up my muscles, then got into a good rhythm.  The weather has been absolutely wonderful - temperature this morning was around 80 degrees, which was nice, but a little too humid.  First mile was around 8:30, then rattled off 4 sub-8:00 miles, and finished with the last 0.5 miles at MP.  Everything felt good.  I don't have an exact time or average pace for my run because my garmin didn't stop when I pressed the start/stop button, and it recorded an additional .11 miles that totally threw off my average pace.  I will fiddle around when I get home from work and see if I can figure it out.  Depending on how my back feels this evening, I may or may not get in another run.

PM - ran 0.5 miles with my two oldest boys just before we got hit with a huge storm - major downpour.  Ran at 16:00 pace.  After the storm, ran another 2 miles, total time of 16:28, average pace of 8:14/mile.  Back feels a bit better, but at the end of the run, my left calf tightened up on me.  Not sure why, but will pay close attention to it tomorrow and rest it if necessary.  St. George is getting close - I don't want to come down with an injury again. 

Well, after a day and a half of running, my back decided it wasn't healed yet, and my calf was still pretty sore this morning, so I have officially decided to shut it down for the rest of the week and let my back completely heal.  Missing one week of training is not going to be the end of the world.  Pending a full recovery, I will plan on starting back up next Monday, and will make sure I take it nice and easy when I start back up again.  No sub-8:00 miles for at least a few days.  I am feeling surprisingly calm about this, after feeling so frustrated this morning.

Back in the saddle again . . .

AM - ran 5 easy miles.  My left calf was a bit tight - I had woken up in the morning on Saturday with a pretty big cramp in my calf, and I am still trying to work it out.  Since this was my first day back after about a week off, I took it easy.  Total time for this morning's run was 43:34, average pace of 8:43/mile.  This is close enough to my goal pace of 8:45/mile today that I am totally satisfied with my run this morning.  I plan on doing another easy 2-3 miles this evening.  High for today is only supposed to be 96 - yay!  It is finally cooling down (maybe for good?), but the humidity is still way up - 65% humidity this morning.  Looking forward to resuming my training.  I need to get in at least one 20 miler within the next month, and I am debating whether or not to run the White Mountain 1/2 marathon or not (it is on September 15).  The good thing is that it is mostly downhill, so I can work on my downhill form and pace, and it also has a monster of a hill (2 miles long) that puts Veyo to shame.  The bad thing is that it is only 3 weeks before the marathon.  I would appreciate any feedback on this.

PM - ran another 5 easy miles (not continuous), no time, but the pace felt nice and easy.  I put some Absorbine, Jr. on my left calf before my run, and that seems to have helped to loosen up the knot I had.  Leg feels better this evening.  Stretched it out nice and good, ran a little more than I had anticipated, but don't think there will be any ill effects from the extra miles.  Another nice easy day tomorrow as well.

AM - ran with music this morning, and I think it affected my pace.  I was planning on doing a nice easy run this morning, same pace as yesterday, but it didn't work out that way.  Several songs in a row that were very motivating - the theme from Gladiator, then Apollo 13, and Crimson Tide.  Those songs really got me going, and as a result, my run was quite a bit faster than I had planned on.  Total time for the run was 40:19, average pace of 8:04/mile.  The good news is that my calf feels almost completely back to normal again.  I would still like to get in a couple more easy miles this evening.  After talking with Lybi last night, I think I have decided I would like to help pace her in her next 5k - there is one on August 18 that should be good.  Her fitness is good for the amount of mileage she is running, but she needs a little help maintaining a consistent pace, which is where I come in.  I am actually pretty excited about doing this, and hope it works out well.

PM - ran 2 miles, again with music.  This may have been a mistake.  I ended up turning my easy 2 mile run into a 2 mile MP run, and couldn't seem to find the willpower to slow down :(  Towards the end of the run, my left calf started to cramp up, so that gave me motivation to slow down (I was probably running around 6:45 pace at the time - oops!).  I don't think it is anything to worry about right now, but I really need to slow down and take it easy to avoid injury.  You would think that my repeating this enough would drill it into my head, but NO!  Maybe I need to give myself some incentive to not run fast . . . I'm sure Lybi and I can think up something to help me.  Okay, tomorrow, I WILL run slow and easy to make sure I don't overdo it and get myself injured before St. George again.

AM - didn't run - slept poorly, and decided I needed to sleep in.

PM - ran 6.2 easy miles.  I was able to keep my promise to myself to keep them easy miles.  My calf felt better - at least it didn't cramp up, although I could tell it still felt a little tender.  I will continue to take it easy the rest of this week, and will see how far I feel up to going on Saturday.  Total time for the run was 52:15, average pace of 8:26/mile.  I'll take that.  I found myself impatient during the run, wanting to do more.  Even so, I still found myself slowly increasing the pace during the run.  I started out at 8:37 for the first mile, and by the end, I was actually running slighly slower than 8:00/mile.  I was a bit worried when I first started running - I didn't want my calf to get strained AGAIN - not after all I have been through.  Slowing down is definitely the right answer for now.  I felt relieved at the end, as my muscles slowly loosened up over the course of the run.  Feeling pretty good right now - but now it is off to bed so I can get enough sleep and get out again in the morning.  I will also take the multivitamin I forgot to take this morning.

AM - Didn't run again.

PM - Ran 6.5 easy miles - total time was 54:42, average pace of 8:25/mile.  Was planning on 7, but my legs were tired.  I also rode my bike this evening - 2 miles fast (I am counting that as 1 mile running), and then 4 super easy miles with my webelos scouts for the cycling activity belt loop.  I won't even count those miles because they were so easy, half the time I wasn't even pedaling.  All in all, a good run.  I am tired, and need to go to bed.  Legs feel good, just tired.

AM - did not want to get out of bed, but pulled myself out anyways.  I did not want to get in a 7 mile run this evening when I have a long run to do in the morning.  Ran 5 miles.  I could not find a comfortable stride the entire run.  Total time was 41:48, average pace of 8:22/mile.  Calf did not hurt, but my legs still felt kind of beat up.  I will probably do a couple short miles this evening to shake things out, and then prepare for my long run tomorrow.  Planning on 16-17 miles.

PM - nice easy 2.3 mile run.  Legs (specifically my quads) felt kind of stiff when I started out, but felt better after the run.  That was the point of this run - take it easy, loosen up the muscles for tomorrow.  Total time was 19:48, average pace was 8:37/mile.  This is probably around the pace I want to do my long run tomorrow - nice and easy.  I am going to go take a nice warm bath and then go to bed.

AM - I DID IT!  16 mile long run!  Woohoo!  This is my longest run of the year so far.  Still need to get up to 20, but that doesn't seem so daunting now.  Total time for the run was 2:14:28, average pace of 8:24/mile.  Slowest mile was somewhere around 8:32, fastest mile was the last one, 7:58 (I picked it up on the last lap 'cuz I was excited to finish).  I will admit that there were times when I wasn't sure if I could do it, but this was purely mental.  Physically, my legs felt fine.  They started getting a little heavy towards the end, but not too bad.

This also marks my highest mileage week to date, at 54.  That is also exciting to me. 

AM - ran 5 easy miles.  Legs were not sore at all (my wife massaged my legs on Saturday, which surely helped), but oddly enough, my lungs were working harder than normal today.  We'll see how I feel this evening or tomorrow morning - it may be from the long run on Saturday.  Total time for the run this mornng was 41:25, average pace of 8:17/mile.  I caught myself speeding up a couple of times and slowed down - I still want to take it easy on my calves for the next week or so.  I will try to take it out a bit easier this evening - either 2 or 3 miles.

PM - ran 3 miles.  It was hot - over 100 degrees again.  Ran with my new mp3 player (ipod shuffle look-alike, but much cheaper), pace was a bit faster than I planned, but still felt good.  Legs felt good too.  Total time was 23:22, average pace 7:47/mile.  Second mile was MP, 7:30.  Not sure how hard I am going to do my tempo during my long run on Saturday - I still don't want to run too hard and injure my calf.  I will see how my body feels and take it from there.  Current plan is something around 7:30, which would translate probably  to somewhere around 7:20/mile (probably faster) at SGM, given the lower temperatures and downhill course.  It is going to be hot here through September, so I don't want to overdo it - I am already fairly sensitive to heat.

AM - ran 6.1 easy miles.  Calf was a little sore again, probably because I ran too hard last night.  I wonder if I will ever learn.  Total time this morning was 51:16, average pace of 8:25/mile.  Took it real easy the first mile and warmed up, then got into a good rhythm.  Ran with music again, the time seemed to go by quickly.

AM - Lybi went to the early morning temple session, so I didn't run this morning.  I stayed home a little later than normal and took Sam to the bus stop for school.

PM - ran 7.9 easy miles.  First 5.1 miles with the Garmin, total time of 43:07, average pace of 8:27/mile.  Lybi and I talked about my calf last night, and came to the conclusion that I may be causing microtears by stretching before I run (i.e. before my muscles are even warmed up).  I tried not stretching this evening until after my run.  It really made a difference.  Calf felt great, was much looser at the end of the run.  Last 2.8 was untimed, but nice easy pace.  My long run on Saturday is going to depend on how my calf feels tomorrow and Friday.  If it feels great, then I will plan on the 16 miles, with the tempo run in the middle.  Otherwise I will probably plan on 18 easy miles.  We will see.

AM - alarm clock did not go off, did not run in the morning.

PM - so far, ran 3.5 miles at MP, felt very good.  Total time was 25:52, average pace of 7:24/mile.  Need to get in another 5-6 easy miles later, but Lybi is off running with her buddies right now.  Lucky her.  I really wish I had a running partner.  Music just doesn't cut it.

Ran another 5 miles after Lybi got back from her run.  Started off nice and slow, 8:45 pace, then slowly picked up the pace after each mile (this was unintentional, but it felt good).  At 4.5 miles, decided to put in a little surge, ran MP for that 1/2, then cooled down the last 0.1 miles.  Felt good, now I have to get to bed so that I am not too tired in the morning.  I still prefer running in the morning.

AM - These are listed as easy miles, but I will call them medium miles, because my legs were still kind of tired from last night.  In spite of that (or maybe because of that), I found my pace gravitatng towards 8:00/mile.  First mile was nice and easy, warmup, then picked up the pace a bit for the rest of the run.  Total time was 40:36, average pace of 8:07/mile. 3-4 more easy miles this evening (I really mean it!), and then I will have my long run tomorrow morning.

PM - ran another 3 easy/medium miles.  Forgot to bring the Garmin - I was in a hurry to get in my run.  Total time was something like 23:51 - average pace of 7:57/mile.

AM - was planning on my long run of 16 miles, with an 8 mile tempo at MP.  I slept very poorly, and felt very tired this morning, but was still up to try the challenge.  Forgot the Garmin again, was too tired to remember it.  Went to the high school track.  First four miles warmup, total time 33:32, average pace of 8:23/mile.  Took a break, took some clif shot blocks, was wearing my 2-bottle fuel belt.  Then I started the tempo - I ran this too fast to sustain for 8 miles, especially on about 4 hours of sleep.  Ended up only doing 5 miles.  My lungs were doing OK, but my legs were completely shot.  Total time for the 5 mile tempo was 36:00 flat - average of 7:12/mile.  This is probably too fast for my MP, based on my experience this morning - a more realistic goal is going to be 7:30/mile, which will still net me a 3:15.  After the 5 mile tempo, took a break, then ran 4 more easy miles - average pace of 8:40/mile.  Total distance of 13 miles.  I am a little bummed, but will take it in stride.  My body probably needs a little lighter mileage, and I think I am going to hold off on the tempo runs until after I hit 20 miles - I am just not ready for it.  I may or may not get in a few more miles this evening to hit my original goal of 16 miles - depends on how I am feeling.

AM - 5 easy miles.  Was able to keep the pace slow.  It was very muggy out this morning, my shirt was soaked at the end of my run.  Total time was 42:03, average pace of 8:25/mile.  Another 3-4 miles this evening for a good start to the week.  This week I think I will do a slow long run, and may put in a few tempo miles during the week.  Everything feels good today, my quads were only sore for the first 15-20 seconds of my run, and then they loosened up and felt good for the rest of the run.

PM - ran another 3 easy miles - it was hot.  The rest of this week is not looking good either . . . we are supposed to break our all-time record of number of days above 110 degrees.  I never thought I would say I can't wait for summer to be over . . . total time was 24:32, average pace of 8:11/mile.  A bit faster than planned, but nothing too concerning.  It was hard to get into a good rhythm this evening, so my pace kind of fluctuated.  I am very much looking forward to pacing Lybi in her 5K this Friday, although with it being super-hot, we will have to see about the pace.  It may end up being even hotter than it was when we did the sunset run for shade. 

AM - ran 7.0 easy miles this morning, with the expectation that I may not be able to run this evening.  Was able to keep a nice easy pace, although I again found myself speeding up at times.  Total time for the run was 48:40, average pace of 8:23/mile.  Nothing special to report, just a nice easy run.

AM - ran 6 easy miles.  It was a bit windy, which made the run a little more difficult than normal.  My legs also took a little while to get going.  However, I was able to keep the pace nice and easy.  Total time for the run was 51:06, average pace of 8:31/mile.  I feel good about this effort.  'Nother couple miles planned for this evening.

PM - ran another 4 easy miles to get a total of 10 today.  I was able to keep the pace pretty easy - although not at 8:45 pace, I was fairly close.  Total time for the run was 34:22, average pace of 8:35/mile.  Felt good, I had gotten a bruise on my forefoot this morning from stepping on a large rock in the road I didn't see, and I could feel it a little bit, but not too much.  I am starting to feel St. George fever coming on.  Thanks to all for the inspiring comments, I feel more motivated to be able to get in a good tempo this Saturday.  I have been running at the track, but am going to hit the road this week for my long run.  I really, really, really wish the weather would cool down a little bit before St. George.  I am also really looking forward to our 5K this Friday.  I think I feel courageous enough to squirt Lybi with freezing water to cool her off . . . <grin> 

AM - ran 6.2 easy miles.  Legs felt a little tired, but otherwise felt pretty good.  Nothing to complain about, no pain in my calves or any other parts of my body.  Lybi and I agree that stretching before I ran was probably causing problems with my muscles.  Since I have moved to stretching after the run, along with trying to have my first mile be nice and easy to warm up, I have not had any problems at all.  Tomorrow is race day.

PM - ran 3 miles.  0.5 mile warmup, then took off at MP - my legs just wanted to go this evening, so I obliged.  There were the most beautiful clouds just before sunset, I assume from the remnants of Hurricane Dean.  Total time for the run was 23:11, average pace of 7:44/mile.  That includes middle 2 miles of around 7:15/mile.  Everything feels good, even though it was hot out and I was sweating a lot, my lungs and legs felt good.  Lybi and I decided that since I will be running 18 miles on Saturday, I am going to take a morning off and get plenty of sleep tonight, and will run the race with her tomorrow plus warmup, for around 4 miles.  This will give me a chance to tank up and make sure I can finish my run on Saturday.

AM - no running, slept in.

PM - warmed up .5 miles with Lybi, then we ran our 5K with me pacing her.  I am going to preclude this race report by mentioning that it was still about 105 degrees, humid and windy, and 2 of the 3 miles were run on gravel.  First mile, 8:40, pretty good, got held up by some slower runners ahead of us, as we started at the middle of the pack.  Second mile, into the wind and in the gravel, not fun, 9:18.  I wore my fuel belt, and every time Lybi needed a little drink, she would say "water!".  There was a fair amount of dust in the air, but I hydrated well before the race so that I could give all my water to Lybi.  There were also two water stops, and each time, I grabbed a cup of ice cold water and threw it on her.  It's not every day you get to throw water on your wife and live to tell the story . . . Third mile, 9:04.  Lybi was suffering a bit from the heat (I could tell), but she managed to pick it up at the end.  I was very proud of her.  The Garmin measured the course short, but I'm not complaining . . . All in all, considering the factors involved (heat, surface, wind, dust), I thought that Lybi did a great job.  I told her she has to run another one when the weather cools down, and I think she will see a noticeable improvement.  According to the Tinman heat index, a temperature of 110 degrees would be a 12% performance difference.  I'll give her 10%, which would still be a noticeable improvement.  I am so proud of her.  Did I say that already?

AM - WOOOOHOOOO!  I did it!  18 miles!  Looks like taking it easy yesterday really paid off.   That and probably the pizza at 9:00 - oops . . . I mean, getting to bed on time, yeah, that's what I meant . . . total time for the run was 2:33:36, average pace of 8:31/mile.  I feel exceptionally good about this run.  I know for sure I could have done a couple more miles on this run, but I actually got stopped by mother nature.  I ran 6, then took some gel and water, then ran 10 more, then more gel and water (I also stopped at mile 12 for some additional water).  2 more miles to go, I was thinking of doing 19, but at mile 17, the faucets turned on full blast, thanks to the remnants of hurricane Dean.  I decided that it would be prudent to head home, especially considering the lightning.  Picked it up on the last mile to get home, I was totally drenched.  There had actually been lightning around since I started my run early this morning, but I said a prayer and felt good about continuing.  I am so excited . . . a bit drained of energy right now, but still very excited.  My legs felt good throughout the run until the last couple of miles, where I felt like my feet were pounding on the pavement a bit more.  In fact, my forefeet feel a little bit bruised . . . it may be time to get a new pair of shoes pretty soon.  I also weighed myself after my run, and I was at 160.  This is the lowest I have been since Lybi and I were married 10 years ago.  What else to say - I am very happy about my training, and about my performance, and about this run, and I feel like I am going to be so much more prepared for St. George this year.  There is no doubt I will be able to run a PR, the only question is by how much.  At this point, looks like it could be anywhere from 40-50 minutes.  Hot dog!  This is also a new record for me for weekly mileage at just under 56.

AM - 5.5 easy miles.  No soreness from the long run on Saturday, which is a good thing.  Still hot out - wishing it would cool down a bit before SGM so that I will be a little better acclimatized to the conditions.  Total time for the morning run was 46:52, average pace of 8:31/mile.  This run felt good.  As a matter of fact, the only sore part of me was my ankle, which I turned at the 5K on Friday when we were running on the gravel that was not well-lit.  Everything else feels good.  I am looking forward to doing 20 miles already.

PM - ran 4 miles.  Started off fairly easy, although a bit faster than this morning, then gradually sped up.  At first I was going to run 3 miles, then I decided to do 4 miles.  At the half-way mark, I decided I was feeling a bit frisky, and sped up.  Last two miles at MP, final mile in 7:07.  Mornings seem to be the time for me to have a nice relaxing run, and for some reason, I tend to want to run faster in the evenings.  However, I need to remind myself that any MP effort mileage should really be at about 7:30/mile, no faster.

On a side note, I was overjoyed to find out that Lybi won her age division - first medal for her!  Again, I am so proud of her.  Running is just one more thing that we can do together to grow closer and stronger.