faster with age

This morning I did my running in and around town. I had to take my son in to a basketball camp that went from 8:00 to 10:00. I decided to do my running then rather than make two trips to town. It was a little later and warmer than I like but it wasn't to bad. I had planned to go 13 miles at around 8:40 pace. After 2 miles I ran into Nate Burnett. I ended up going 2 miles with him at close to 7:00 pace [not what I had planned]. He was finished up and I figured I'd slow back to at least 8:30 but I had a hard time slowing back down and it took a couple more miles. Ended up with an overall pace of 8:24.

PM    Ran 2 easy slow miles with the dogs.

This morning I did a 5 mile easy run early at close to 9:00 pace. Had to take my son to town again for a 2 hour basketball camp at 8 o'clock so I took my bike with me and rode while I waited to save the extra trip in. I went 23 miles on my road bike in 1:24.

PM   Went for 1 mile with my son in just under 10 min. Then did 2 more at about 8:15 pace.

I went for a 9 mile run this morning. Nice morning for running with temps in the 40s and calm. Overall pace was 8:39.

PM did 1 easy mile with my son.

Did a bike ride this morning. I went for 19 miles with 9 at a tempo pace. I was hoping to average over 20 mph but only averaged about 18 I'm hoping it was mostly due to the 20mph wind that was blowing. I was hoping to get in a few more but ran out of time.

PM  It was a very busy day and I didn't have time to run all day. Finally after 9:30 pm and after finishing a large dinner and just as the Laker Boston game was halfway through the 4th quarter and the score was close and I was feeling quite tired and my belly quite full and it was quite dark outside and I was thinking how easy it would be to bag any run for the day, I somehow managed to get out the door and go for 4 miles. It was only about a 9 min. pace but I'm glad I got it done.

It was a nice cool morning at 50 deg. without much wind until the second half then I got into a stronger wind and a little rain. I went for 9 miles at 8:29 overall pace.

PM  Went for a 3 mile run easy pace.

I went for an 11 mile progression run this morning. The weather was quite nice with a bit of wind. I started out at about 8:30 pace and averaged 8:22 for the first 5 miles. Then I did the next 3 miles at 7:18 ave.These were on a dirt road into a 7 or 8 mph headwind. Then I ran 6:39 pace for the next 2.5 miles back on pavement. Still had headwind but not as bad. More of a crossing headwind. Last 1/2 mile slow. Overall pace for the run was 7:40.

This morning I went for a 10 mile run an an 8:31 pace. I plan to cut the mileage back a bit for a recovery week then I plan to do the Cache Valley Biathlon on Sat. It is a 5 mile run followed by a 16.5 mile ride. I've been riding my bike 2 days a week but nothing fast. I did a tempo ride last week and the week before and was disappointingly slow. I did this race last year and there were a lot of serious cyclists and triathletes. The good cyclists do the best at these. Last year it seamed like I must have been passed by 30 people on the bike that I beat on the run [ I don't have a very good road bike and a lot of these guys are on 4 to 10 thousand dollar bikes]. Oh well , It's close to home and should be a good workout.

PM   went for an easy 3 miles 9+ pace.

I started out to do a ride on my road bike this morning that included a couple very large hills. I was in a lot of wind and some rain and some hail. I've been having some problems with my bike skipping in and out of gear and it just got a whole lot worse. I had to go home early and only got in 8.5 miles. I got a new gear cluster for the rear and a new shift cable. I ended up busy all day and didn't get another chance to ride until after nine pm. I went for about 1/2 hour and got in another 9 miles. I wanted to do more but it got to dark and I don't have a light. I came home, put the bike away, changed and went out for a 5.5 mile run. I didn't get back till nearly 11 o'clock. There was a bright moon and it was very calm. It was nice. I did underdress though as I wore just shorts and a long sleeve tech shirt. The temp. got down to 35 by the time I got home. 8:38 pace.

Boy this is crazy weather this spring. It's June 11th and we just had our 4th night of frost in a row.  The one Saturday night caught us by suprise and killed most of the tomato and pepper plants in our garden. It was chilly this morning with a bit of a breeze and a few scattered snow showers. I did 8 miles this morning at the track. After 4 miles at 8 something pace I did some fartlec running 10 x 200s fast. 200 easy. I averaged  41.5 seconds on the fast ones. I just wanted to get the legs moving a little faster before the race this weekend without wearing myself out to much. I felt a bit sluggish during the first 4 miles but felt pretty good once I sped up. I finished with a 1.5 cooldown. Overall pace for 8 miles was 7:51.

I went for 3 miles in the morning with the intention of going for 15 to 18 miles on the bike and another 3 mile run later. I needed another part for my bike and was going to get it in the afternoon. I got tied up all day shoveling mud out of a trench and putting together 10 inch pipe trying to get  our new irrigation pipeline finished before it gets to hot. We've actually lucked out this spring with the extra cool and rainy spring since we haven't been able to irrigate yet. It ended up being after dark by the time I got home and I still had a lot of work to do on my bike. I was totally trashed from the days work and a little worried about how my back felt. So that was it for the day. An easy 3 mile run. Not near what I had planned.

This morning I completly went through my bike got everything adjusted and lubed and finally got everything working right. I went about 14 miles and rode a little harder at times than I probably should have with a race tomorrow. I guess I felt rested after not much running yesterday. It would have been nice to have done todays workout yesterday and had the near goose egg day today.

PM   I did an easy 3 mile run. The last two days have been so busy this is the first chance Ive had to blog and it's 11:30 pm.

     I wasn't quite sure what to expect out of this race. I did it last year and I figured I would be faster in the run this year but I have felt slower on the bike. It's a little intimidating to pull up and see all the nice race bikes being unloaded. A lot look like the time trial bikes you see them using in the Tour De France with the rear disk wheels, aerobar handlebars, and carbon frames. A lot of these guys are into cycling the way people on the blog are into running. I'm just glad in running you don't need to spend thousands on equipment to stay up with your competitors.

     This race starts with a 5 mile run then you do a 16.5 mile ride. I have learned from past experience that I can't go all out on the run and still have good energy for the ride. There is a lot more time to be gained or lost on the bike. My plan was to try to keep my run at about 6:15 to 6:20 pace. I started out with a 1.6 mile warmup The run is on a loop course that you run around twice. It has a few small hills. I hit my first mile in 6:14. This was the only mile marker and my garmin was right on. My second mile was 6:19 and still felt pretty good. My third mile I thought I was keeping the same pace but it read 6:29. My fourth came up 6:38 which I didn't understand as I felt I was keeping a consistant pace. The last mile my Garmin read short and said I finished in 5:39. It said I ran that at 6:19 pace. The effort still seamed about the same and I didn't sprint the finish. The hills are pretty evenly distributed so mile 3 might have had the most uphill but mile 4 I didn't understand. I measured this course last year in the car and it came up a full 5 miles. I know cars are not that accurate but usually close. My garmin is off by .02 on some miles but this was a .1 difference. I read Logans blog and his 4th and fifth miles came out about even. My heart rate averages on miles 2-5 are within 2 bpm per mile. Not what I'd expect to see with such a big slow down then speed up so I'm not sure what to think. I finished the run in 31:21. Best case at a full 5 miles is 6:16 pace. Worst case 6:24 pace. I suspect it is somewhere between.

     From there I went into transition to change shoes, rehydrate, put on helmet, and get on bike. After a little fumbling this took 1:54 which is way to long. The bike course is an out and back course that is always either slight up or down whith a couple steeper hills big enough to slow you way down then hit 37 mph going back down. I think there must be a little more uphill on the way out and I averaged 20 mph. On the way back I averaged 22.1 for a 21.1 mph average. My bike computer read it at 16.62 miles and it is very accurate [ I wish I would have checked the run course with it afterward ]. It took 47:18. My overall time was 1:20:34.

      I'd like to have a do-over at the transition. I could have been 50 seconds faster there. I finished 15th overall and 4th in my age group which included all the way from 40 to 49 years. I know at least 2 of the first 3  in my division were just over 40. All in all I'm quite happy with the race. Other than the transition and miles 3 and 4 of the run [ and that may be partly a garmin error]. I finished over five minutes faster than last year. 1:38 faster in the run and 3:30 faster in the ride.

It was nice weather for a run this morning. I felt recovered from Saturdays race and felt good. I went for 15 miles. I ran the first half at 8:34 pace and the second half at 7:46 pace. Overall pace was 8:10.

PM   I ran 3 more miles at about 9 min. pace.

I went for a 20 mile mtn bike ride this morning. It's been about 3 weeks since I have ridden my mountain bike and I enjoy riding off the pavement much better than the highway but I do have about 3 miles of highway to complete the loop. It was quite a nice ride along the canals and reservoir. I see a lot of wildlife including a weasle that ran across right in front of me this morning. The temp started at 48 just cool enough to wear a sweatshirt the first 20 minutes. The ride took 1:16 30. It suprised me that I was riding that fast. The effort didn"t feel like that speed. Part of it may be some of the gravel that was graded this spring is getting packed in better. Afterward I ran 3 miles just over 9 min. pace.

     Today was a hard day to find time for a run. Last night I got 4 1/2 hours of sleep. I had to get up at to repair a wheel line motor at 5:00 am before meeting at 6:45 to take cub scouts on a day camp. I got home from that, took a 20 min. nap then had to take my son to town to baseball practice. Then strait from there to my step sons wedding rehearsal in smithfield. I ate a big dinner at Wendys on the way home and it was after 10:00 when I got home and went on my run. I got nice bits of french fry heartburn throughout the run and just went 6 miles at 8:54 pace. I'm very tired. Tomorrow will be another busy day with the wedding.

This morning I didn't get a chance to run until 9:30. It was already quite warm. I went for 12 miles. I ran the first half at 8:25 pace. I was getting hot and thought how refreshing the reservoir looked and stopped and took off my shirt and dunked it in the water. I put it back on soaking wet. It was so stimulating that I picked the pace right up and ran the last 6 miles at 7:37 pace. I'll have to try that more often in the summer. Overall pace was 8:02

This morning I did a 20 mile mountain bike ride in 1:19. Then did a 3 mile run at 9 somthing pace. I might try to run a little more later.

    Nice morning for a run. Started out at 52 deg. finished at 71 deg. I went for a total of 14 miles with a 2 mile warmup and a 1 mile cooldown that I didn't time. I did 4 miles at 8:33 pace then did 7 miles at marathon pace [at least wishfull thinking MP]. I tryed to average between 6:50 and 7:00 pace. Average pace for 7 miles was 6:52. Overall pace for 11 miles 7:29.

This morning I ran 13 miles at an easy 8:43 pace. I had to do a few things before I went and it got into the 70s which felt hot.

I went to head out the door this morning for a ride and was greeted by my 3 dogs with their faces full of porcupine quills. If that wasn't enough two of them smelled like skunks. I guess they had a busy night. I spent the next 1 1/2 hours pulling quills. 2 of the dogs had about 30 in their noses and in their mouths. The other dog had over 100. After they were done I had run out of time for my ride and wasn't able to get it in untill 2 PM when the temp was 89. At least on a bike you create wind that keeps you from getting as hot as running. I went 20 miles on my mountain bike in 1:18.  After that I ran 3 miles at 9:14 pace.

I did a hill workout this morning focusing on the downhill getting ready for St george and a 15k that I'm running on the 4th of july. I went over to Weston canyon where there is a real gradual 3 mile grade. I started with a 1 mile warmup in 9:35 then started down the hill. My splits were 6:50, 6:36, 6:17. Then I ran the three miles back up at an easier recovery pace of 8:45 per mile. Then back down in 6:28, 6:22, 5:50. Got a little carried away on that last one. Pace for the last 3 was 6:13. Overall pace for all 10 miles was 7:25. My wife and son came with me. She parked at the bottom and walked up while I ran. My son followed me on his bike.

I did my normal 20 mile mountain bike loop. I planned on it being an easy recovery day after running hard yesterday but I felt good and didn't feel like I was pushing that hard but I finished in 1:15:16 wich is my fastest time this year. Later on I ran 5 miles at around 9 min. pace.

I ran 11 miles in the morning. I didn't feel quite as energetic as yesterday. 8:35 pace

I had a ward campout Friday and Saturday so I took my running gear and went for a run Saturday morning in the mountains. I did 13 miles on a  rutted and rocky road with lots of hills. At the turnaround point I had a net gain of over 700 feet to 7000 elev. [overall gain was much more] and my legs were getting tired. I had only been averaging about 9:30 pace. I averaged about  7:40 pace coming back down. It was a real pretty morning  never saw a soul just a few deer and some very young fawns.

My computer broke down on wednesday so until I get it fixed or replaced I guess I'll just have to blog when I get my chances.

I ran 15 miles up past the reservoir and down the canal road. It was hot so I dunked my shirt in the water a couple of times. Overall pace was 8:18.