faster with age

     I was planning on a 15 miler today. We had to go down to Salt Lake and I was hoping to find the time to run down there. I never got it done down there and when we got home it was 11:30 pm and -14 deg [it got down to -20 last night]. I was tired and didn't quite have the motivation to do it then. So decided I'd do it tomorrow since this was the second day this week I wasn't able to get out.

     I missed 2 days of running last week including a planned 15 miler yesterday so I decided to get in a run today. I didn't get out until after dark and the temp was 13 deg which was about as warm as it has been day or night the past few days. I was running on snow so I just started out slow and easy. I went 13 miles total. My first few miles I was running around 8:50 pace but as I ran it felt like the same effort but my last miles were around 7:50 pace [which is faster than I usually run on snow]. Overall pace was 8:21.

     8 miles on snow and ice. 8:36 AP.

     10 more miles plugging away on the snow and ice. The temp was at -5 deg. When the roads are icy one of my neighbors [an elderly woman] can't cross the road to get her newspaper and mail. If I notice her paper is still in the box I stop and take it over to her. This morning she got a big kick out of all the ice on my beard and eyelashes and had me come in to look in the mirror.  8:33 AP

     I wanted to do a tempo run today but it's a little hard to find a road that isn't covered in snow. I figured I could go out and run on the highway but I don't enjoy it much with traffic zooming by at 70 mph. I had noticed a gravel road nearby that had strips of dry dirt exposed down most of it from the plow. I guess it doesn't get packed down so much before the plow hits it because it doesn't get much traffic. I ran back and forth on a 2 mile stretch and was able to run on dry gravel for most it. I had to keep switching from side to side to keep hitting the best dry strips. I was probably only running on snow about 15 % of the time. I ran a 2 mile warmup at around 7:30 pace. Then did 8 miles at 6:44 ave pace with a 4 min break at the halfway point. It was a bit tougher than I expected especially the last few miles. It may have had to do with the fact that it was about 15 deg [which actually feels pretty good lately] and running on the gravel is usually a bit slower. Overall pace for 10 miles was 6:53.

     I was able to run up the reservoir road today for the first time since it snowed. Somebody finally drove through the snow in a truck and left some tire tracks to run in. The snow is only about a foot deep right now and there isn't any drifting so they were able to make it through. I love running up there in the winter. The sun was shining and it is so quiet and peaceful. Temps were in single digits but I guess that's better than the negatives. 8 recovery miles at 8:56 AP.

     Took another run up around the reservoir today. The footing in the tire tracks isn't terrible but it stills seems to slow me down by 30 seconds or more per mile. The uphills are quite a bit slower than that and I get down to around 10 min pace. 9 miles @ 8:57 AP

     Went 15 miles and stuck to the plowed roads this time. There is getting to be more strips on the road that are dry. I kept criss crossing the road to catch as many of the dry strips as I could but still ended up with quite a bit of running on snow and ice. Started the run running around 8:40 pace and continued to drop the pace until the last miles were around 7:40 pace. 8:07 overall ave. 

     Easy 8 mi at 8:48 AP

     Went 11 miles today with 2 miles of warm up then 9 miles tempo. Went up to the gravel road that I used last week where I could find more dry patches to run on. I still had to keep criss crossing the road to avoid as much of the snow and ice as possible. some small stretches I just had to run on the snow. I started out at 7:39, 7:18, and 6:52. I took a short break at the jeep and took of my sweatshirt. next 4 miles at 6:41 AP. 5 min break and then another 4 miles at 6:41 AP. I averaged 6:42 for the 9 miles of tempo and 6:51 for all 11. Just like last week this felt harder than I expected. I was planning to run the last 4 a little faster but just couldn't do it. The fact that it was 9 deg probably didn't help.

     8 mile slow recovery run. 8:55 AP

     This morning was like a heat wave at 18 deg. I ran 10 miles. Averaged 8:09 for the first 4 miles and 7:46 pace for the next 6. The roads are getting more and more dry spots but still running on some snow [about 10 %]. 7:55 overall pace.

     6 miles. 8:52 AP

     I think today was the warmest it has been all winter at 37 deg. I ran 12 miles starting with an 8:40 first mile and averaging 8:22 for the first 6 miles. Then for the 6 miles coming back I threw in some fartlek running 5x1/4 miles and 2x1/2 miles at anywhere from 6:05 to 6:25 pace with recoveries from 1/4 to 1/2 mile between. Average pace for the last 6 was 7:21. Overall ave pace for 12 miles was 7:52.

     This morning we had an extremely strong west wind blowing when I ran so I made 90% of my run north and south to avoid as much headwind as possible. My upwind leg was constantly clipping my other leg as I would bring it forward almost tripping me a time or two. There are a big line of huge cottonwood trees along part of the road that I run down and they frequently lose a few large branches [including some this morning] in this kind of wind. It was a little spooky going through there. Just have to stay on the far side of the road and watch closely. I was taking it pretty easy and then with the wind thrown in, I barley averaged under 9 min pace.

     4 miles this morning with around 6 strides thrown in.

     Ran 5 miles this morning. Warm up for 1.75 miles at 8:23 AP. Then Fartlek for the rest of the run. 2x1/4 then 2x1/2 then 2x1/4 anywhere from 5:50 to 6:12 pace with 1/4 recoveries at around 7:45 pace. Ave pace for 3.25 fartlek portion was 6:44. Overall ave for 5 miles 7:18. I'm keeping all my runs short this week in hopes of getting freshened up some for Painters 1/2 in St George this weekend. The past 2 harder weeks had left me feeling a bit sluggish. I felt quite a bit better today.

     1 hour of basketball

     My wife and I made the trip back down to St George last night and got a good night sleep at the hotel. When we arrived at the race that morning the temp in the car read 32 deg. A little chilly in shorts and short sleeves but it warmed up nicely a few miles into the race. I came to the race this year with higher goals than I did last year. I felt like I was in better shape than last year after running quite a few more miles the last 2 months than what I did last year. My main goal was just to beat last years time of 1:25:24 which was over 3 minutes faster than the year before. I was hoping I could take as much as a minute off of that. 

     The race starts out with a gradual climb for the first 2 miles. A little more in the second than the first. I hit those in 6:22 and 6:31. The 3rd mile was 6:18 mostly down hill with a climb at the end. 4th and 5th continued through rolling hills 6:21 and 6:28. During the 6th mile I was still running a good pace but I wasn't feeling so good and started to fear I had gone out too fast. At this point my average pace was about 6:24 which was on pace for under 1:24 and I was finished with the toughest part of the course but my pace really started to drop off after that. I was at 6:28 pace for mile 6 just coming into the aid station at the end of the mile. I stopped quickly to chug a gatorade then ran up the steep hill to the mile marker and finished that mile in 6:37. The next mile should have been a fast one but I ended up at 6:37 again. Most of the rest of my miles were in the 6:40s. I did manage a 6:28 on mile 10 which was a slight downhill mile and I managed a 6:20 on the 13th mile after really picking it up for the last 1/4 of it. I looked at my watch a bit before the last corner and could see I was going to be very close to last years time. I had already picked the pace up for the last little bit but now I really put it into gear. I came around the last corner hard and kept it up all the way to the finish. Not sure how long the last stretch was but I know the 13 mile marker was a little less that 1/2 way down it so probably a bit less than .2 miles. Finishing time was 1:25:28 so 4 seconds short of last years time. It was a different course this year. I'm not sure if it was faster or slower. It had shorter hills but more of them. I'm quite sure if I would have paced myself better I could have run a much better time. I was thrilled with the time last year so I guess I should still feel pretty good about it.

     I won my age division the last 2 years [45 to 49] and would have won that division again by 20 seconds but I was beat by another guy in the 50+ division and had to settle for second. If nothing else it was a good start to my training for Boston in 3 months.

     Splits:   6:22, 6:31, 6:18, 6:21, 6:28, 6:37, 6:37, 6:43, 6:42, 6:28, 6:40, 6:50, 6:20, 5:00 min pace last .1

     Still in southern Utah after the race yesterday. The weather was gorgeous and we went on some hikes. Legs felt good other than some quad soreness on the steep downhill but not too bad.

     My right hamstring [the one that always gives me the problems] was a bit sore today. It felt fine after the race and yesterday.  I decided to skip the run today.

     My hamstring felt fine this morning so I headed out for a run. I didn't even make it 1/2 mile and it started to tighten up. I decided it wasn't worth the risk of making it worse and walked home.

     Hammy felt fine again today but decided to give it another day. I went for 15 miles on the mt bike instead. It felt good to get out on the bike for the first time this winter.

     I played basketball last night and took a knee to my quad. I had a big knot right above my knee which was even bigger this morning. I went out to attempt a run again but only went 1 mile. The quad was quite sore but I quit because my hamstring was getting sore. It wasn't the same pain I had earlier in the week. This was more up in the glute area. I felt it burning there last night after racing after a loose ball. I always figure I'll take it easy but it's easier said than done. I came back after the mile and went 15 miles on my mt bike.

     I decided to rest the hammy another day and went another 15 miles on the mt bike. There is a dog nearby that has been getting a little more aggressive toward me on my runs lately. He came out after me yesterday on my bike for the first time. Today when he came out he was even looking more serious so I unclipped my pedal cleat just in case. He was really eyeballing my foot so I gave it to him right in the chops with a quick sharp kick. He quit chasing me immediately and when I came past on my way back he was right by the side of the road but made no attempt to come after me. My quad is still pretty swollen and sore from the knee I took in basketball the other night but I think I could run with it if I needed to.

     Decided to try another run today. The hammy/glute was a slightly sore throughout the run but didn't get worse. Just went 3 miles. Hopefully I can start to get some miles in next week.

     I ran 8 miles this morning. The road that goes up past the reservoir looked mostly free of snow so I went that direction. Once I got over the first hill though it was a lot more snow covered and quite slick in places. My glute was still slightly sore. I just felt a bit of a burn after the first 1/2 mile and it didn't feel any worse at the end so hopefully no harm done. It was 26 deg which is warm for this time of year but it didn't feel very warm with the stiff north wind that was blowing.Kept the pace slow at 8:51 AP. Hopefully I can get the mileage back up a bit this week.