Cool Runnings!

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.