faster with age

     First time I've run in long pants since last winter. It wasn't near the coldest morning lately at 32 deg, but the wind was really howling. I ran for 10 miles up around the reservoir at 8:06 ave pace. Hip felt good.

     Went to the track this morning. It was 30 deg but no wind today so not too bad. Started out with 3 miles at 7:28 ave. Then ran 6x200, 2x400, 2x200 in 37,40,39,40,81,81,40,40. I wanted to hit 40 and 80 so I was within a second on all but the first 200. Ran another 2 1/2 laps to make it an even 6 miles. I didn't want to make this too hard with a race coming up Sat. just a good shakeout for the legs. My hip felt good today but I suspect it will be a bit sore tomorrow after today's faster running. 7:13 pace overall. 

     Ran 4 easy miles in the morning. My hip felt better this time than it has on the day following the faster runs that I've done lately. 8:20 AP

     Ran the First Dam Run this morning down in Logan. When I got up this morning it was 25 deg and had snowed during the night. I figured if the roads weren't slick and the wind wasn't blowing it wouldn't be too bad. As we left home the road was a bit slick but down in Logan [even though we're in the same valley] it's usually always around 5 deg warmer. Down at the race it was about 30 deg. There was a couple of inches of snow on the grass but the snow was gone from the blacktop and there was no wind and just a light snow falling. Real pretty morning and overall nice conditions. I ran a little over 2 miles to warm up.

Mile 1- 6:15  The race starts out with the whole first mile going uphill. I hit this mile in 6:15 which I didn't feel too bad about given the climb.

Mile 2- 6:12 Just after the end of mile one you turn the corner and start downhill giving back pretty much all of the elevation you gain in the first mile. This mile should be much faster than the first mile but I just couldn't get my legs to move any faster. I would check my pace for the mile and I would be around 6:12 so I would pick it up a bit until I would be at around 6:07 and heading down but after not checking my pace for a while it would be back up to 6:12 again which is what I finished mile 2 in. I was running alone from about 1.25 miles to the end and for some reason wasn't staying focused. I needed somebody to be chasing or at least pacing off of.

Mile 3- 6:03  from the end of the 2nd mile to the finish there are some gradual uphill and downhill but the net elevation gain is about even. Right away after I saw the 6:12 at the end of mile 2 I started too pick up the pace and was able to maintain closer to what I thought I could average for the whole race and finished in 6:03.

Last .1-  :29 sec [4:51 pace] this course is supposed to be quite accurate and my Garmin came out exactly 3.1.  I though I could kick it in and get under 19 min but my official time came up at 19:00.10.  I guess I left way too much out there on mile 2 [like a good 15 to 20 seconds].

      Overall I didn't feel too bad about my time and is is actually a course PR for me by 15 seconds. I've only run it 2 other times but was pacing my son on one of those. I also beat the time I ran last week by 33 seconds and last week's race was a faster course.

     After the race I ran the 10K course with Paul from the blog. He had smoked the 10k in 31:55 and it's not a fast course. Amazing! The snow had quit falling and it was a perfect morning to be running. I shortcut to the start line and missed the last mile to make it back before they had the drawing for 2 treadmills. I thought with 2 of them and a smaller turnout because of the weather [they missed out on a beautiful morning] I might have a chance. No such luck. Cool down run ended up at 5.25 miles at 7:08/mile which gave me a pretty good workout. A jog in the park for Paul.

     I ran 10 miles today at 8:18 pace. My hip didn't bother me at all today like it did last Monday after last weeks  race and after every other run the past couple of weeks that has followed any faster running. Might be because I took ibuprofen before I went. I guess I'll never know.

     Just checked the results from Saturdays race. I was 10th overall and thought it was kind of funny that the top 15 other than me were all high school cross country runners. One geezer in the middle of all the kids. Probably older than most of their dads.

     Ran 10 miles this morning up around the reservoir. I ran the first 6 miles at 8:21 pace then picked it up and averaged 7:09 for the last 4 miles. Overall pace for 10 miles was 7:53.

     Ran for an easy 7 miles this morning at 8:29 AP.

     Went to the track this morning to do some intervals. After a 3 mile warm up, my hip was a little sore and since faster running seems to make it worse I bailed on the workout and went home, took some ibuprofen and went for 7 more miles to make it an even 10. 7:48 pace on the first 3 and 8:07 for the 7 miles. My hip felt good on the second run.

     4 miles at 8:23 pace.

     The Tremonton Turkey Trot is a small town race I decided to give a try on the recommendation of  Scott E. It only costs a dollar and that includes a T-shirt and a flat accurate course and age group winners all get turkeys. I Knew I wasn't in PR shape but thought I could run a good time. The weather forecast looked bad and it was raining and windy when we left home. When we arrived at the race, the rain had about stopped. The wind was still there but not as bad. I went for a 2.5 mile warm up and the conditions seemed ok. I had brought tights to wear if the weather was too bad but decided to just go with shorts after the warm up. Just as they were calling people over to start the race, the wind picked up and the rain started really pouring. .8 of the first mile was directly into the wind. The temperature was barely above freezing and after running directly into the driving rain for the first mile, I looked down and my legs were bright red. I finished the first mile in 6:09. Now the rest of the race should have been 1/2 crosswind and half tailwind. The crosswind was better but didn't feel all that great either. I was feeling beat and just couldn't make my legs go any faster. and slowed clear to 6:21 for this mile. The 3rd mile should have been about 1/2 tailwind but the wind was starting to switch from a South to a North wind so there was actually some headwind on this stretch. I finished the 3rd mile in 6:12 and the last .1 in 31 sec. [5:18 pace]. The rain changed to snow and the wind got even worse.

     This was a faster course than last weeks and I thought my fitness would be a bit better with another week of training under my belt since the short break I took after SGM. I thought I might be able to take another 20 seconds off my time from last week but was surprised to end up slower even with the bad weather. I felt sluggish during my warm up and really didn't feel strong during the race. I guess it just wasn't my day to run a good time. I did get a turkey for winning my age group so that made it more worthwhile. 

     I ran another 5 after I got home.

8 easy

     I ran 7.5 miles this morning starting with 3 at 7:55 pace then did 8x1/4 mile. I did this run on the road and used a section of road where I have the 1/4s marked off.  The plan was to start out a little under 6 min pace for the first couple and then pick up the pace a little more as I went. I did 89,89,87,87,88,88,85,81. I ran 1/4 recovery between each at around 8:30 pace then finished up with another .75 cooldown. 7:27 overall ave pace.

     7 miles @ 8:27

     ran 4 miles with some 45 second strides during the second half. 7:59 AP

     It snowed all day Friday and dropped 9 inches of snow at home. The temp was 15 degrees in the morning when I left for the race about 20 minutes away in Smithfield. The race didn't start until 10 am and the sun came out and there was no wind so it felt nice even though the temps were still in the lower 20s. The only problem was that the roads were all covered in snow and ice. I haven't ever raced on roads like this but do a lot of training runs all winter on them and usually figure it costs around 30 to 60 seconds per mile on a training run depending on how slick it is. 

     This course is the toughest of any 5K races I have run  because of some large hills with nothing flat the whole way. Plus the course is long. My previous 2 times at this race have been  19:47 and 19:49 so without the slick roads I was just hoping for a sub 19:30. With the conditions we had today I wasn't sure I could even break 21 min. After running a warm up out the last mile of the course and finding it completely icy and slick I decided to go with some heavy thick soled trainers that I had  put 9 or 10 hex head screws into the bottom of each shoe instead of my light weight racing flats.

     The race starts right out climbing about 150 ft in the first .6 of a mile. I had 5 boys running ahead of me up the hill with Conner M from the blog in the lead. The traction wasn't bad going up the hill as we were able to mostly run single file in the tire ruts where the snow had been melted from the traffic that morning. By the time we got to the top of the hill I had passed 4 of the others. Conner was already way ahead. After turning the corner at the top of the hill you continue to climb but much more gradually for the rest of the mile. The road hadn't been that bad yet and I would have much rather been in my racing flats for that mile. I finished in 6:41 which was actually faster than I had run it other years.

     Mile 2 starts downhill steep for .3 and you quickly drop most of the altitude you gained in the first mile then the next half mile is uphill again gaining about 70 feet. before dropping again for the rest of the mile. The roads during this mile were getting worse and it was getting harder to find non icy spots to run on and  a lot of stretches there were none. time was 6:18.

     Mile 3 is all gradual downhill until near the end of it. This is the fast mile where you can gain back some time lost on those hilly first 2 miles. Today though this mile was almost all on ice. I was very glad now that I had worn the trainers with screws. They helped a lot but I still ended up way slow for this mile. I ran it in 6:16 but under normal conditions I've been around 5:50.

     The last .16 is uphill and I ran it in 55 seconds [5:46 pace]. I hadn't seen Conner since he turned the corner just before mile 2 and the next guy behind me had been back a ways since the end of the first mile so I was alone most of the race.

     I finished 2nd overall in 20:10. That was the first time I have run a 5k over 20 minutes since the first two I ran 6 years ago. Today though under the conditions I feel  good about the time and if the course were the right length my time would have been comfortably under 20 anyway. A lot of people ended up a couple of minutes slower than their normal times.

     8 miles with some ice in parts. 8:37 AP

     Ran 7 miles with about half on dry pavement and half on snow running up toward reservoir. My pace on the snow was about 30 seconds/mile slower. 8:53 average pace overall.

     Ran 8 miles just before dark. It had warmed up pretty good today. The snow was getting a bit sloppy so I stuck to my 2 mile stretch of pavement going back and forth. 8:35 ave pace.

     Ive run 4 5Ks in the past 4 weeks with none of my times quite what I was hoping for. I think after training all winter and spring for Boston then all summer for St George, I think I peaked a few weeks before St George and have gotten a bit stale and don't feel very speedy. The extra 5 lbs I've been carrying since St George probably hasn,t helped either. I have actually never had as good of a 5k in the fall [post marathon] as the ones I do in the spring and summer.  I think for the next few weeks I am just going to mostly put in some slow miles and hopefully get recharged.

     Nice Thanksgiving morning run. I ran 9 total with half on snow. Averaged from 8:30 to 9:20 per mile on the snow and around 7:45 on pavement. 8:18 overall pace.

     8 miles @ 8:17 AP

     Late PM run. Ran 8 miles after dark at 8:26 AP

     Ran 9 easy miles @ 8:49 pace.

     Ran 10 miles this morning up past the reservoir. It is about 1/2 covered in ice now. The snow on the road has given way to mud but the mud was frozen so not a problem. Averaged 8:08 for the run with a few strides thrown in during the last two miles. We've got a big storm moving in with high winds this afternoon and tomorrow.