faster with age

     8 miles in the evening. 8:08 AP

     8.5 total miles this morning. I ran the first 4 at 7:52 pace. I'm planning to run a 5k a week from Saturday and since I haven't done anything faster than 1/2 marathon pace for a while, I decided I had better do something to get my legs moving a little quicker so I did the next 4 miles of fartlek with 4x1/4 miles fast with 1/4 slower between then 2x1/2 fast with 1/2 slower. Followed by another 1/2 mile cooldown. I ran the faster parts between 5:50 and 6:00 ave pace/mile and the slower parts around 7:45 ave pace. 6:52 overall pace for last 4.5 miles and 7:21 overall ave pace/mile for 8.5.

     Nice day today. I ran up past the reservoir today and saw the loons for the first time this year.They come back every spring and hearing their eerie calls make it feel more like spring even though we're still hitting low 20s every morning. 9 miles at 8:25 AP

     Nice morning for a run. It started cold again but the sun quickly warmed things and it was calm. Just did another 8 miles at a comfortable pace. Everything is feeling pretty good. It seems like I come away from most marathons with some lingering issue but so far so good.

     Ran on the track today for the first time since probably last summer some time. I ran a 4 mile warmup at 7:50 ave then 5x1000. The first 4 were all 3:54 and the last was in 3:50 with 1 lap recovery at about 8:30 pace. This pace seemed to feel harder than it should have. Hopefully it will feel a little easier next week. Ave pace for 8.5 miles was 7:17.

     Went for an easy 8 miles in the middle of the day. I think it was the warmest day this year at 70 deg. It felt like 85. I'm not used to that at all. 8:27 AP.

     Went out in the rain for my run today. It wasn't raining real hard but the wind was blowing about 25 MPH. I couldn't take my preferred route because of mud which made it so I had to run the first 4 miles directly into the wind and rain. It was nice to turn around and have it at my back. Later the wind went away and the rain got a lot heavier. Given the choice, I would take the heavier rain without the wind. 10 miles at 8:30/mile.

     Looks like I got drawn in the St George Marathon lottery. Looking forward to that this fall.

     Raining a bit again but there was no wind. Much better than yesterday. After yesterdays run I had a little soreness in my hip so I kept the pace extra easy today and everything felt good. 8.2 miles at 8:58/mile.

Went back to the track today for a short workout. I ran 4 miles warmup at 7:49/mile. Then a short workout.

1x1000 - 3:40

1x1200 - 4:30

1x400  -  1:27

3x200  -   :42

I meant to do 2x1000 but lost track of my laps and did 1200 on the second. The 1000s felt a lot better than the ones that I did last week but faster than I think I could run a 5k right now. I did another 1.25 miles cool down at 7:35/mile. Overall pace for 8 was 7:23/mile.

     Very easy 8 miles. Nice day.  8:55 AP

     6 miles today with a few striders near the end. 8:26 AP.

     Ran the Conquer the Canyon 5K down in Smithfield this morning. This is a tough course that climbs about 250 feet up the canyon for the first half then right back down. I haven't quite been able to break 19 minutes on this course yet but came in at 19:01 last year. I have only done marathon training this spring preparing for Boston so I was curious to see how that would work in a 5k. It was a perfect morning with the temp in the lower 50s [the past 2 years it's been in the 20s and 30s] and they had a record turnout with 650 runners between the 5&10 Ks. I did a 2 mile warm up and was ready to go. The race started and I took off  and was surprised to be in 3rd place with just 2 high school aged kids ahead of me. After about a mile the first kid had a pretty good lead but the second was hanging about 30 yards ahead. I went through the first mile in 6:36. From about the first 1/2 mile we were weaving in and out of the slower 10k runners that had started 5 minutes ahead of us going up the winding canyon road. We hit the 5k turnaround and I was about 15 yards back from second place. Now we get to run back through all the 10k runners we had passed coming up and now they were mixed with 5k runners. I finished the second mile [1/2 up and 1/2 down] in 6:24 and passed the second place runner somewhere in here. The 3rd mile was all downhill and I ran it in 5:38. I ran hard the last bit but came up just short of going under 19 at 19:06 and second place overall. I thought I felt good during the race I just didn't feel like I could go faster. It probably didn't help that I haven't done any speed work until last week and very low mileage for 3 weeks tapering and recovering from Boston.

     PM Ran 6 miles easy.

     Went out for 10 miles. perfect temperature at 52 nice easy run with 5 or 6 short striders in the last 2 miles. 8:11 AP

     Another 10 miles up around the reservoir. It finally stopped raining long enough to dry out the mud up there. Nice cool temps again. 8:09 AP.

     Ran on the track this morning. Started out with a 3 mile warm up then 6x200 and 2x400. I averaged 40 seconds on the 200s and 1:20 each on the 400s with recovery of equal distance between each at around 8:30/mile. Cool down for a couple more laps. 7:23/mile overall AP

     3 miles 8:48 AP

     I'm running another 5k tomorrow. I usually don't do much of a taper for 5ks but decided to try a bigger one with 3 miles yesterday and 2 today. 8:08 AP

     I ran the 5K in Ogden this morning that is held in conjunction with the marathon. My wife and son and I came down and stayed with my parents last night so we'd have a shorter drive in the morning. I ran the Smithfield 5K last week and last year I ran the same 2 races back to back. I thought I might be in better shape this year because of my marathon training for Boston this past winter and spring but I ended up 5 seconds slower on last weeks race than I was last year. I had only done any 5k speed running the week before last weeks race so I was hoping this second week with some 5k type training would help me beat last years time of 18:38 on this race. 

     The temp was in the upper 40s with almost no wind to start the race. Perfect conditions.  The race starts out down a little more than 1/4 mile stretch of road then onto a bike path. I took off fast to try and get ahead of as many people [there were about 900 in the race] as possible before we hit the bike trail where it's tough to be in a crowd. I had about 10 runners ahead of me when we hit the path after running about 5:35 pace. By the time I hit the first mile mark I had passed all but a group of 4 kids from the Bonneville High Cross country team who were about 60 or 70 yards ahead. Mile one was 5:51. During the next mile the Bonneville kids spread out and I caught and passed the first 2 about 1/2 way through the mile. That put me in 3rd with 2nd place about 50 yards up. By the end of mile 2 I was about 10 yards back and finished the mile in 6:01. You leave the bike path at this point and get on Grant street. The whole last mile is straight and flat very slight uphill [not enough to notice]. I seem to always run faster once leaving the bike bath with it's short quick ups and downs and turns. I was gradually gaining on 2nd and with 1/2 mile to go I passed him and put on a little distance hoping to break him. He caught back up with 1/4 to go and I fought but couldn't hold him off. My legs were just dead. I finished mile 3 in 5:45 and the last .12 [according to my Garmin] in 41 seconds [5:52 pace]. Slower pace than my last mile. That has never happened before. I usually finish that last .1 of a 5k at or under 5 min pace but my legs went to jello. My legs were so wobbly and I felt like I was going to pass out I was breathing so hard I had to sit down and catch my breath after crossing thte finish.

     I've done this race 3 times with a Garmin and it has always read 3.12. Not sure if it's just the winding path [I focused on taking good tangents] or if they just always add a few yards to the end of Marathon courses to certify that they aren't short. After the finish they had my Gun time at 18:19 [which I think is accurate] and my chip time at 19:11. My Garmin said 18:21 but I hadn't stopped it right on the finish. They said my chip activated the sensor a minute early so I'm not sure of my actual chip time. It's got to be a second or 2 faster because they started us 10 feet back from the line and I was 3 rows back from the front. They haven't posted times yet. I was amazed to run this 20 seconds faster than last year after being slower last week.

     For 3rd place overall I got a nice plaque and a $200 Suunto training watch. I'll have to call this my new PR. My fastest is 18:16 from 4 years ago but it was a downhill course that was probably 40 seconds faster than this course. After Boston and this race, I have now run faster times these past 2 years, at 50+ yrs. of age, at all distances that I've raced. I haven't done a 10k since 50 but plan to take care of that on this year.

     The day after the race they have results posted and have me at 18:08 for gun time and chip time. My wife filmed my finish and when I crossed the finish the clock said 18:19 and you could see when I stopped my watch 3.5 seconds after the finish. My Garmin read 18:21  so I guess I'll stick with 18:18.

     After Saturdays race, everything was feeling good. Saturday evening my right hamstring/glute area was sore. I also felt some very slight burn in it last Thursday [which was the day following my last speed work].  Between doing speed work and 2 races over the past 3 weeks, I think it was a little too much too quick. It was sore all day Sunday but felt fine today. No running for a couple of days just to play it safe. This is the same hamstring that has given me problems in the past so I need to nip this in the bud.

     Hamstring felt good again today but decided not to run yet. I went for a mountain bike ride and got a flat 1 mile from home. I carry what I need for repairs on my road bike but not my mt bike. This was the first flat on that bike. Luckily I didn't have to walk too far before a neighbor came along in his truck and gave me a ride home. I fixed the tire and went back out for another 15 miles. It rained all morning but was quite pleasant in the PM when I went.

     Tried a short run this morning. I went 4.5 miles slow and easy and decided I would stop if I felt any discomfort in the hammy. It felt 100% during the run so if it still feels good tonight, I'll try something longer tomorrow. 8:57 AP

     Hamstring felt pretty good last night with just a small amount of discomfort. It felt good today so I ran 8 miles and just kept the pace relaxed and easy. Everything felt good on the run. I'm probably being extra cautious with this but I've had a couple of hamstring issues in the past that started the same way and wound up taking months to get back to 100%.  8:26 AP

     Got out for an 8 mile run just before dark. It was about 50 deg with some wind and dark looking clouds moving in. I brought a light jacket with gloves and a hat tied around my waist just in case I got caught in blowing rain. A couple of miles into the run the wind mostly quit and it just turned into a very nice evening run up to the reservoir. I brought the jacket for nothing. Better safe than sorry I guess. Took it nice and easy again then picked it up to about 7:40 pace the last 2 miles. Hammy still feeling good. 8:25 AP

     Went for 8 miles right before dark again. It was about 50 deg. Perfect running weather.  I was planning to keep all of my miles slow again today but after the first 4 miles at 8:14 ave I was just feeling to good and picked it up more with each mile on my way back. I averaged 7:17 for the last 4 miles including the last 2 at 7:03 and 6:48. 

     I ran 13 miles this morning in a lot of wind and rain. It was about 45 deg and no rain or wind when I started. About a mile in the wind got stronger. It was at my back so I knew I would be fighting it all the way back. Then I started getting hit with some on and off showers. It wasn't too bad on the way out but by the time I turned back the wind had gotten even stronger and of course it started raining harder too. It wasn't fun running into a 20 mph headwind getting pelted with rain. The rain let up after a couple of miles but not the wind. I had 4 1/2 miles coming back directly into the wind and I got above 9:00 pace on some of those. We have sure had more wind and rain this spring than I can remember. A lot of years we can started cutting alfalfa by memorial day but this year it's not even close because of the cool weather. 8:19 AP

     8 miles this morning at a nice easy pace. The temp was about 50 deg with no wind. Can't ask for better than that. We are supposed to hit 70 today and it's probably going to get hot real soon. It may be one of the last days like this before summer. 9:06 AP