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Location:

Preston,Id,USA

Member Since:

Mar 09, 2008

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Age Division Winner

Running Accomplishments:


2009 TOU Half Marathon 1:25:06

2010 St George Painter's Half Marathon 1:25:24

2011 Jan. St George [Painter's] Half Marathon different course 1:25:28

2011 Apr. Boston Marathon 3:03:24

2011 May Ogden 5K 18:18

2011 July 4th 15K Freedom Run 58:53

2011 July Deseret News 10K 37:12

2011 Oct St George Marathon 2:58:18

Short-Term Running Goals:

Sub 18 min. 5k

1:24  Half

 Sub 3 at St George in Oct.

Get injury free and stay that way

Set new PRs at all distances now that I'm 50

 

Long-Term Running Goals:

17:30 5K

2:50 marathon

Personal:

I was born in 1960

I started running in 2006

I am married with a 16 year old son [that lives with my wife and I] and a 30 year old step son and 25 year old step daughter

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1521.10100.9565.2026.35897.002610.60
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.006.006.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.500.000.000.000.006.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.006.006.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.500.003.000.000.008.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
13.500.000.000.000.0013.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.006.006.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.500.000.000.000.006.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.006.006.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.500.003.000.000.008.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.500.000.000.000.007.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.006.006.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.500.000.000.000.003.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.0012.001.100.000.0014.10

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.500.000.000.000.005.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.500.000.000.000.006.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.000.000.000.008.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.000.005.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.000.005.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.006.006.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
12.000.000.000.000.0012.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.000.000.000.000.009.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.006.006.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.500.003.000.000.008.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.502.000.000.000.007.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.000.005.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.006.006.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.000.005.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.000.000.000.000.007.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.006.006.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.500.000.000.000.008.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.003.003.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
11.500.000.000.000.0011.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.006.006.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.500.000.000.000.009.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.005.505.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.500.000.000.000.008.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
12.000.000.000.000.0012.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.000.001.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.500.000.000.000.008.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.000.000.000.006.008.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.500.000.000.000.008.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.000.000.000.006.008.00

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
12.500.000.000.000.0012.50

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

I have been running just over two years. I have been dealing with a high hamstring problem since mid november. It seems to do alright if I keep the pace slow and avoid running consecutive days. Every time it has started feeling better and I run a few faster miles I end up setting myself backward 2 or three weeks. I ran the painters 1/2 marathon in Jan. and didn't push to hard. I didn't wind up with to much soreness and thought I was recovered but as I added some more miles and a few faster runs it came back. I haven't had any flareups for about three weeks now and I've been riding a bike on days between running. I keep my fingers crossed after every run. It's usually not until that night or the next day that I can tell I overdid it and that makes it easier to go faster or farther than I should have.

Comments
From jtshad on Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 08:45:11

Welcome to the blog! It is good to see another person from Idaho on the blog.

This will be a great place to get the motivation and training tips you need to keep running healthy. There are several folks on the blog who have been dealing with hammy issues and they could provide some advice. I would suggest you keep up what you are doing (rest, easy running) and include some good stretching after light warmup to get it back to running strength.

From Tom on Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 08:55:09

Welcome to the blog!

Like jtshad said there are a few of us that have dealt with the high hamstring issues, most recently Paul (paul.fastrunningblog.com) so you might want to check some of his blog entries for the last couple of months. This can be a really tough thing to overcome, it took me months to get to where it wasn't bothering me while running but even now I have periods where it flares up again. My problem is that I waited too long before dealing with the injury so the sooner you can start to baby it the better.

Also I noticed your running goals are right in line with a whole bunch of us on the blog. Feel free to check out the blogs of all the runners listed on my Favorite Blogs list as most of these guys are shooting for sub-3 marathon in 2008. It's been a great help and motivation for me to see how everyone else trains and to share thoughts and ideas.

From Dave S on Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 20:28:08

Thanks for the comments guys. Those are some good sugestions. Looking around the blog I see how it could be very helpful. It's always easier to look back and see what I should or shouldn't have done differently. I would probably be a lot farther a long on this hamstring issue if I would have been on the blog when it happened.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.000.000.000.000.009.00

This was a beautiful morning for running it was 16 degrees to begin but it was sunny with no wind we still have a lot of snow but it's going fast. I went for 9mi at a comfortable pace and felt like going a few more but decided I better not push my luck. I barley felt anything from my hamstring throughout the run. normaly I'll get a little more discomfort in the latter miles but this morning it felt no different at the end. Most of the run I kept about an 8:40 pace with last 2 around 8:10 overall pace 8:36.

 

Comments
From josse on Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 11:56:45

Welcome to the blog. You got some great goals there can't wait to see you get them.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.006.0010.00

This morning I went for an 18 mile bike ride. 1:10. Mountain bike. Gravel road. Another nice morning. Not sure of the best way to figure cross training miles. I guess I'll count that as about 6 mi.

 

Later went for a very easy 4 mile run at about a 9:15 pace. Last week I did easy 2 mi. runs on my bike days without any negative affects to my hamstring. A few weeks ago when I would run consecutive days of 6-9 miles at average pace I would wind up with more pain. Today seems to be no problem. So far.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.001.001.000.000.009.00

This morning I wanted to do some hills. I found on a couple of my earlier recovery attempts that I could run a harder effort up a steep hill going slow with less hamstring pain than that same effort on the level. I felt like it was because of the shorter stride length. At the same time running faster down the hill lengthens the stride back out but the easier effort seems to put less strain on the hamstrings.

I have a mile long hill by my house that climbs 240 feet. The sign at the top calls it a 6 percent grade but the first and last 200s taper off a bit. I started with a 3 1/2 mi. warmup on the level at about 8:45 pace then down the hill in 7:22 back up in 9:28 then down in 6:55 which is faster than my current mp but probably a slow mp effort with the hill. then back up in 8:08 which was definatly a threshold effort.I didn't plan on going that hard on the last hill but the hamstring felt strong and I couldn't resist. I felt pretty good since this is the hardest effort I have run any distance in 5 months.I finished with 1 1/2 cooldown with a total of 9mi. total time 1:11 overall ave. 8:26

Comments
From Tom on Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 17:55:29

Hi Dave - thanks for the comments on my blog. I thought I'd take a shot a responding to your questions regarding my improvements over the last year....

Before joining the blog I did see some improvement over the years but nothing like what I've seen since being on the blog and getting the valuable insight and training tips from the many great runners on the blog, especially from Sasha.

The biggest thing that held me back before the blog was in trying to improve by taking shortcuts like a 3-4 day-a-week running schedule with relatively low mileage most of the year (20-40 miles per week), with some speedwork thrown in. I did get far enough on this type schedule to qualify for Boston but I sputtered a whole lot along the way and had numerous injury problems, especially as I got older.

Then Sasha extolled to me the value of not worrying about speed so much but just focus on building base slowly up to 60-80 miles per week, initially all run at an easy pace. Then once you get used to this load (took me about 3 weeks of consecutive 60 mile weeks to get to this point), then start throwing in a tempo run every week (one initially, then after a while added a second longer/slower tempo run). These tempo runs are typically from 3-10 miles and vary from 10K pace on the shorter ones to 1/2 marathon pace for the medium length runs and marathon pace for the long ones. Then perhaps an occasional race (once a month?) just to keep things fun and interesting.

That's pretty much it. You have to have the patience of Job on this schedule, probably the biggest problem people run into when they try to do this is that they build mileage too fast and/or run too fast too soon in their impatience to get faster. When in doubt on pace I try to error on the side of slowness. I find if I don't do this sometimes I won't have enough energy for those 1 or 2 days a week when I DO want to push hard on the tempo runs.

Hope this is helpful. I really think this will work for most anyone, I'm certainly not a born runner, mediocre at best. But with months of consistent, focused training it's quite amazing the adaptations your body will make.

Of course being on the blog and setting goals provides that extra bit of motivation to hang tough during the slumps when you don't want to put in the work.

From Tom on Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 17:57:11

I forget to mention a few secondary factors that are also important to success on this program...these include eating at least a somewhat healthy diet, getting enough sleep, and eliminating stresses from your life. It helps alot of the spouse/family is on board.

From steve ashbaker on Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 18:50:38

Welcome to the Blog! I have relatives that live in Preston.

From Dave S on Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 08:35:14

Tom thanks for the info. That helps a lot. I also have been running low miles the last 2 years 25-35 a week. I really wasn't running any easy miles except warm up and cool down and long runs. Of course long runs arn't easy but at easy pace.From some things I had read I got the idea that older runners needed more recovery time and that I was better off not running at all on a recovery day.I certainly want to give this a shot after seeing the success you and some other runners on this blog have had. I guess I'm already on my way because of my injury I have only been able to run easy miles for a while anyway.I'm excited to try this and easy miles are so much more enjoyable anyway sounds like a win win.I also was able to run a BQ time but the last part of both my marathons were terrible and I slowed down a lot.I think this should help a lot.

Steve thanks for the welcome

From Tom on Thu, Mar 13, 2008 at 08:40:48

I think your right that with older runners especially in some cases I know guys who do better by cross-training on recovery as an alternative to running on those days. I know for me personally I'm OK running 6 days but sometimes my recovery runs are REALLY, really slow.

Good luck with your training.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.500.000.000.000.004.50

I had planned a bike day today with a short run later. I ended up being gone all day and when I had the chance it was quite rainy and muddy for a bike ride so I just wimped out and did the easy run at a very slow pace around 9 to 9 1/2 ave. I didn't feel real energetic today but that could be partly that I don't normaly run in the evening or something to do with the large meal I ate about an hour earlier. This was the first run I can remember in quite a while that I felt zero from my hamstring start to finish. I haven't felt what I would call pain for a while but there's generally some sensation just letting me know it's still there. I'm sure the easy pace had a lot to do with it but I'm quite pleased expecially after a couple of harder miles yesterday.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.006.0010.00

This morning I did an 18 mile bike ride before the ground thawed and got muddy. Mountain bike on gravel road. Time 1:14 HR 132.

 

Ran 4 mi. just before noon at an easy 9 minute + pace. It felt good and I wanted to go faster but resisted.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
13.000.000.000.000.0013.00

Nice morning for a run. 28 degrees with no wind and a few light snow flakes. Went 13 miles with none faster than 8:00 with an overall pace of 8:19. I felt real good this morning expecially after the first three miles. I added 12 miles to my weekly running over the last two weeks [8 of it this week] I'm a little worried about that being too much but what I added were 3 very easy 4 mile runs to days I hadn't been running. My energy seemed to be good on all the runs I had been doing normally including todays and I don't have any new achs or pains. I was wondering how todays run would feel after the extra miles this week and running 6 days straight [which I'm not used to]  right now I feel pretty good.  My hamstring is the best it's been in 3 1/2 months. I'm not sure what to do next week but I probably won't add much if any.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.000.001.00

Ran out to the mailbox to get the paper 1 mile.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.000.000.000.000.009.00

Ran 9 miles at an easy pace mostly 8:40 to 8:50 per mile. My son was out of school and wanted to ride his bike along with me. It was kind of nice to have some company on a run for a change.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.006.0011.00

Took a bike ride this morning in the blowing snow. Six miles of my route had been freshly graded. I think the grader was just ahead of me because mine were the first tracks in the fresh dirt and gravel. This made for very slow going even down the hills. It wasn't all bad though, I got to see a bald eagle up close and had a lot of canadian geese flying around. I went the same 18 mile route I have been going in 1:21:23. This took about 7 or 8 minutes longer than it has been and I actually put out more effort as my HR was in the 140s for a lot of this ride.

 About noon ran 5 mi. at a very easy pace.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.008.009.00

Yesterday morning before my bike ride I was moving some things around while in an awkward position and tweeked my back. Yesterdays ride and then easy run didn't seem to make it any worse but it bothered me the rest of the day and was still there this morning. I don't know if the buildup in miles helped to bring this on or if it is just a coincidence. This morning I had planned to take it easy on my run. I only got 1/2 mile and I could tell the running was not helping. Rather than risking making it worse I turned around and went back and took a bike ride. I took the same gravel road as yesterday but then feeling pretty good I went another 6 mi on the highway for a total of 24 miles in 1:36.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.003.003.00

My back felt much better this morning but not 100%. Just to be safe I took another day off from running and did 35 min. on the eliptical. This didn't seem to bother the back at all.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.006.006.00

Did an 18 mile mountain bike ride this morning. My back is feeling better but I don't want to risk aggravating it more. Running while it is sore seems to aggravate it a bit but biking seems fine. I have had this lower back thing flare up on me 5 or 6 times over the last 8 years. I have had times where it took weeks to get back to 100 % but that was before I got into running. The last 2 episodes [since I have been running ] have been less severe and haven't lasted very long. I rode the second half of my ride at a harder pace than I have been keeping my heart rate in the 150s and 160s. Total time 1:12. Some of the freshly graded gravel is getting packed back down but there are still some very slow spots. I'm not sure but I may try a short easy run later I'll see how it feels.

Comments
From Adam RW on Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 12:09:32

Hi Dave, Thank you for the comment. I forgot to mention that I did also tighten the strap the other day so you may have hit the nail on the head. It looks like you have a well balanced training program. You guys that get in the rides and the swims on top of the running really know how to stay in shape. You mention going sub-3:15/3:10 this year. Do you have a marathon in minde? Keep up the hard work.

From Dave S on Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 13:35:29

Adam, I'm planning to run St. george this year. If I don't get drawn I'll either do Pocatello again or TOU. I'm planning to do the 1/2 at Ogden and go for 1:30 but its coming up fast and if I don't get healthy here pretty quick to the point I can at least start getting in a few tempo runs I won't be expecting much. At my age the injuries seem to come on more easily and I think riding has helped with that by giving me a little more balance. It's also nice to pick up on the riding when I have to cut back the running. If I had a convienent place to swim I'd like to do a little of that to but the closest indoor pool is down in Logan about 30 miles.

From Adam RW on Fri, Mar 21, 2008 at 15:02:41

I hope you get into St. George. However, I can say that TOU was a great course and very well run small marathon. Sorry that your back has been a problem. You are in amazing shape for 48 and have made great progress for only running 2-yrs. Good luck I'll be optomistic and look for your 1/2 race report in a few weeks.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.0011.0012.00

This morning I tried running a mile but I could still feel it in the back a bit and decided I'd rather be safe than sorry so I went back and did 30 min. on the eliptical. Then I went on a 4 mile bike ride with my son. After I dropped him off at home I went on a ride for another 20 mi. in 1:27. I sure hope I can start running some miles next week. By not running today and taking a complete rest day tomorrow I have high hopes for monday.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.500.000.000.000.006.50

My back was feeling pretty good this morning so I went out running for 6 1/2  miles at a very easy pace. It felt ok throughout the run and I just hope it feels ok tonight and tommorrow. If  it keeps feeling good I plan to keep my running miles under 30 this week and add in enough cross training to keep the total over 50. Hopfully I can get back to where I was within the next two weeks.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.0011.5011.50

This morning I went for 40 min. on the eliptical. I counted that for 3.5 mi.

Afternoon I went for a 24 mile mountainbike ride offroad in 1:37.  HR 150. Had a strong headwind coming back that continued to get stronger then started raining hard enough that it was a struggle to keep my eyes open. Fun fun. Back feels great today after running yesterday and that's good news. I'll try another run tomorrow.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.000.000.000.008.00

This morning I went for an 8 mile run.I ran most of my miles at 8:30 to 8:40 pace with a couple just under 8 min. Average pace was 8:25. I tried 1/4 at a 6:45 pace and it felt pretty good but I don"t think I could have maintained it very long. I haven"t run any miles at under an 8:00 pace in about 7 weeks [other than a few steep downhill miles] . I've only run about 6 or 8 miles at under 8 min. pace [ not counting the painter 1/2] in 4 1/2 months while battling this hamstring injury. This morning I hardly felt a thing from the hamstring and my back feels pretty good also. I think I may finally be past this hamstring thing as long as I'm carefull  about  how I bring back the faster miles. I was hoping to run the half at the Ogden marathon this year and go for under 1:30 but I'm running out of time. It's going to be tough to be patient with reintroducing faster miles and it's probably best if I don't get to focused on time goals for Ogden.

Comments
From Adam RW on Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 21:38:32

Glad to see your back and hamstring are finally giving you some breathing room. Good way to slowly test the speed waters again.

From Dave S on Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 11:35:22

Thanks. I hope I can have enough patience. I'm chomping at the bit to get going.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

Went for a 20 mile mountain bike ride this morning. It was 25 degrees with a very stiff wind. I rode twice a week all winter and ran the other days with temeratures as low as -17. I don't think any felt any colder than today other than maybe one running day when I got caught in an extreme blowing snow storm. I'd take the colder temps without wind any day. It was blowing hard enough that I think I could have almost walked as fast when going directly into the wind luckily most of it was crosswind. It took 1:34 with 133 HR. Today was supposed to be easy but it didn't feel that way.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.500.000.000.000.004.50

I went for 4 1/2 easy miles this morning at about an 8:30 pace. My back felt great but I wanted to keep it plenty easy. My back was a little sore wed. night after my 8 mile run wed. morning so I wanted to keep the rest of this week very easy. This is the hardest part of recovery for me when my back and hamstring feel fine I feel like running faster and farther.  Then when I find out I overdid it it's to late. I might do a couple more easy miles later today.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.008.008.00

My back was a little sore again after yesterdays easy run. I was planning to run 10 miles today but decided to not run at all. maybe with today and tomorrow off from running I can be ready for a little more next week. I went on a bike ride with my son. We went  4 1/2 miles in about 25 minutes. After I dropped him off I went for another 20 miles in 1:30. I was able to take my favorite running and riding route today for the first time this year. It has been snowed in. I still had to get through a few drifts that are left and a lot of mud. Luckily it was cold enough this  morning that the mud was mostly frozen. With this road open I can make a 20 mile loop all offroad except for 2 miles of highway.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.000.000.000.000.007.00

What happened to spring ? This morning it was 18 degrees when I left the house and the ground covered in snow . The roads were icy and it was windy. I was running through snow in a few spots that was drifted 4 or 5 inches. Shortly after my turnaround the wind got much worse [head wind of course] and it started snowing again.I hadn't worn enough layers for this very hard wind. My last couple of miles seemed much slicker coming back into the wind. I ran these last 2 miles at over a 9:30 pace but the effort felt like an 8 min.pace. I was glad I wasn't on my bike. I seem to get colder riding than running. I ended up going 7 miles at about a 9 min. pace overall on slick roads. At least my back feels good.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.0010.0010.00

This morning I did a 20 mile bike ride. It was 11 deg. when I started but at least there was no wind [other than what you create by riding]. By the time I was finished it was quite sunny and had warmed to a balmy 28 deg. I have been trying to do one ride a week with a tempo type effort since I havn't been able to do it running. For the last 37 minutes of todays ride I kept my heart rate above 160 with the average at 162. overall average HR for the ride was154. total time was 1:16.                 Mountain bike. Mostly offroad.

 

PM  35 min. eliptical

Comments
From wheakory on Tue, Apr 01, 2008 at 12:02:30

Nice ride. Hopefully we have the last of this cold weather. That's a very nice tempo effort on the bike and keep your HR consistent.

From Dave S on Tue, Apr 01, 2008 at 19:40:00

Won't it be nice when we can get in some real spring running with 50-60 degree temps. Almost hard to imagine.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.001.000.000.000.009.00

This morning I didn't run until 9 o'clock. By then the sun was out good and the temp was up to 32 degrees so I decided to wear shorts for the first time this year. It got up to 40 deg. by the time I finished. It was nice. Speaking of temps,  Cache Valley recorded the lowest ever april temperature for the lower 48 states yesterday morning at -41 deg. in the mountains above Logan at Middle Sink.

 I went for 9 miles. I did 2x20 second hill sprints during the run and two 1/2s at 7 min. pace. I ran my last 3 miles at 7:44 ave. Overall pace was 8:06. Trying to gradually introduce some sub 8 min. running. My hamstring seemed  to handled it fine.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.0010.0010.00

Did a bike ride this morning. I kept a fairly easy pace and went 28 miles mostly offroad.It took about 2 hours. Ave. HR 135.

There's a house with 5 dogs that always come out after me.This house is 3 miles from any other house back in on a gravel road. I can't blame them for letting the dogs run loose where they live. They always run out in front of me and I worry I'm going to hit one and crash. They keep getting more bold and last time through one of them bit me. He didn't break the skin just grabbed my pants. This morning I unclipped from my pedals before going past and I kicked two of them in the nose with my shoe. I got one of them pretty solid and he left the chase immediately. I'm not going to make it much fun for them from now on.

Comments
From JeffC on Thu, Apr 03, 2008 at 15:05:44

Dave...Noticed where you are from and it caught my attention. I lived in Preston from 1980-1984 (I was born in 1971) and both my parents grew up there. Maybe you have heard of the Chatterton's. My grandparent's and other relatives still live there and we get up there every few years for family reunions and stuff. Anyway, nice to meet you and good luck with your training.

From Dave S on Fri, Apr 04, 2008 at 16:32:57

Jeff, I have heard the name around but I don't actually know any of them. I have lived here 13 years I grew up in the Sandy Utah area. I knew some chattertons down there.

I noticed you are planning to run Ogden. Are you doing the half or full?

From JeffC on Fri, Apr 04, 2008 at 19:01:15

I am doing the full. This will be my third full and my first two were St. George so I am looking forward to trying out a new course.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.000.000.000.005.007.00

Went for 15 easy miles on the mountain bike HR 120. Then later went for a 2 mile easy run.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.000.000.000.008.00

This morning I ran 8 miles at an easy pace except 2 uphills I ran harder. My hamstring is doing great. Not bothering me during my runs. My back is doing better also. I hope to start getting in a few more miles.  8:24 ave. pace this morning.

Comments
From JeffC on Sun, Apr 06, 2008 at 01:24:43

Very nice work Dave! Glad to see the hammy is doing better. Being one who suffers terrible back pain almost all the time, I hope your back gets feeling better soon.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
11.500.000.000.000.0011.50

This morning I went for a 10 1/2 mi. run. Started out about 25 deg. with falling snow. I enjoy running while it's snowing as long as it's not windy. By the time I finished, the snow had quit falling and it warmed up and got a bit windy. I ran the first 5 miles mostly around 8:50 pace. I ran the next 5 mi. at 8:00 min. pace with mile 7 in 7:35 and mile 10 in 7:21.

 

My son decided he want's to do the 5k at the Ogden marathon so we went out and ran a mile after school. We'll have to see if he sticks with it. He has a tendency to get excited about running  for a week or and  then give up on it. It's going to be up to him if he keeps it up. I'm not going to nag him to do it. We did the mile in 9:36.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

Went for a 20 mile mountain bike ride this morning. 1:19 HR 141.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.503.003.000.000.0010.50

This morning I did some hills. I did a 2 mile warmup followed by 3 times up and down a 1 mile 6% grade hill. I had a bit of a tailwind going down and a headwind going up.

 The hill portion went as follows

downhill 1- 6:40

uphill      2- 8:41

down     3- 6:59

up          4- 8:29

down     5- 6.40

up          6-8:10

ave. pace for 6 mi. 7:36

 The uphills were a tempo effort for me and I had only planned to do it twice but I felt better after the second than I did after the first so I went for another. My heart rate was in the mid to upper 160s on these climbs and I was supprised how comfortable it felt considering my lack of running at this effort. I have been doing some tempo effort on the bike and I think that has helped. Ave. overall pace for 9.5 miles was 7:46. My hamstring seemed to handle it wonderfully. Not even a slight sensation. I'll see how it feels tonight. My back felt good on the run but did tighten up just a little a half hour after the run. I did a little ice and then heat. It's feeling ok for now.

PM Ran 1 mile slow with my son.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.0010.0010.00

This morning I did a 30 mile mountain bike ride. It was about 25 degrees and dead calm when I started. A medium steady breeze began about halfway  through the ride so I had a headwind all the way home without enjoying the tailwind during much of the first half. It took about 2 hours HR 141

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
12.000.000.000.000.0012.00

After arriving at Zion Nat. Park last night I took off on a run a little before 7 AM from the campground. I ran up Zion canyon along the Pa'rus trail until it ended and then up the highway past the Grotto and partway around the base of angels landing where I turned around. I'm estimating it to be about 6 miles each way. It was such a beautiful morning as the sun started to hit the upper cliffs in the canyon. It was probably around 50 deg. to start out with a steady headwind while running up the canyon which felt nice after all the 18-25 deg. mornings the last couple of weeks. I ran up for 52 min. and back down in 45. When I went to put on my running shoes that morning, I realized I had brought two left shoes from the two pair of Saucony T3s I have. I had to wear a pair of cheap hiking shoes. They weren't terrible but I was starting to feel blisters by the turn around and got worse all the way down the canyon.

That afternoon we did the 5 mile round trip angels landing hike.It was my wife and sons first time and it was a bit scary but they loved it. Back in January the day after the Painters 1/2 we tried the hike and made it to the top of Walters Wiggles and couldn't go any farther because of snow and ice. In fact Walters Wiggles was ice packed and we barely made it up that. The last time I hiked it I was about 15 yrs old [about 33 years ago] and they didn"t have any of the chains except about 200 feet. I don't even recall seeing any other people back then. We only ran into a couple of other hikers in Jan. when we did it but now it's got a lot of people. It was still great. My feet were quite sore by the end of the day after running in bad shoes and then the steep downhill second half of the hike but I loved every minute and the weather was fantastic. In the 70s.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

Spent another full day at Zions park. We did a few shorter hikes and didn't get away from the park until about 6 PM. We had a great time. We didn't get home until about 2 AM.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
11.000.000.000.000.0011.00

Today I didn't run until noon. The temperature was close to 70 deg. which I thought would feel nice.I guess I'm not used to it yet because it felt very hot. It seemed odd running around the lake with it still 3/4 covered in ice and a few lingering snow drifts while I'm sweating like crazy in the heat. I think I enjoy running in 30-40 deg. better as long as it's not windy. I went 11 miles at 8:24 pace with two 30 sec. hill sprints on two steep hills during the run.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.000.000.000.007.009.00

I went for a 20 mile mountain bike ride today with a very bad wind. It took 1:38 which is probably the slowest I have ever done this loop.

Afternoon I did 1 mile with my son then one more myself.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
12.000.000.000.000.0012.00

This morning I went for a nice 10 mile run. It was around 20 deg. when I left and about 35 when I got back with no wind. I had to take my sweatshirt off and tie it around my waist after 2 mi. Just took it all easy at an overall pace of 8:26. The ice was all gone from the lake after all the wind yesterday and the loons were back on the lake. I love hearing the sound of their call while I run. I guess it's kind of a springtime thing. Ive been seeing a lot of other waterfowl on my runs including anywhere from 4 to 7 swans on my irrigation pond. I love this time of year.

 

PM ran 1 mile with my son then another myself. He has been getting bad stomach cramps on about half of his runs.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.000.000.000.007.0010.00

Went for a 20 mile mountain bike ride this morning. nice day. I rode pretty hard the whole way with an ave. HR of 151. It took 1:14. Did a 1 mile cooldown run after.

PM 2 miles easy my son didn't want to come with me today.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.000.000.000.000.009.00

Beautiful morning. Started out at 35 deg. and about 45 when I finished with no wind. I just ran 5 miles at an easy pace. I plan to do a few more later on.

PM Ran 1 mile with my son and 3 more myself easy. My son got stomach cramps so bad he had to walk 4 times. He has tried eating nothing or eating a little but we can't figure out any pattern for when he gets them or not. It seems to be a problem on about half of his runs

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.005.005.00

This morning I went for a 15 mile mountain bike ride. It was a nice morning in the fourties to start and the sixties to finish. It was calm to begin with and started to get a bit of a wind the last 5 miles. Head wind of course but I lucked out by getting home just before the wind got really bad. Total time was 1:03.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
13.000.000.000.000.0013.00

My lovely wife got me a Garmin for my birthday this past weekend. Yippee! I ran with it for the first time this morning and I think I am going to love this thing. I am still learning new things about it.

I went for 11 miles this morning and kept it easy with most miles 8:30 to 8:40. I can't believe the temerature was 11 deg. this morning and May starts next week. It was actually nice though .The sun is coming up earlier and there was no wind.

 I was planning to run the half down at the Ogden marathon next month but just found out they are all filled up. It might be just as well. I wasn't going to be very ready anyway and just planned to use it as a training run. My hamstring tendonitis has taken longer than I expected to recover from and I've hardly done any tempo work or even MP miles. I may still sign up for the 5k anyway. My son really want's to do it.

PM Ran 1 mile with my son in 9:15 and then 1 more mile myself.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.007.0011.00

This mornings 25 deg. seemed nice after yesterdays 11. No wind. I went for a 20 mile mountain bike ride. Used the new Garmin on the ride. I really liked the biking mode to keep it seperate from running. I can see my pace in miles per hour rather than min. per mile. The new 405 doesn't have multi sport options from what I have read. The currant MPH seemed to be very acurate to me. Yeserday while running, the currant pace seemed to be off a lot of the time. I'll have to put it on my road bike and compare it to my bike computer which I know is quite accurate. It's nice to have something on my mt. bike because I much prefer riding the dirt roads around and rarely seeing a vehicle to riding the highway on my road bike. I started looking around at a lot of new routes I can now run. In the past I have usually just run 2 different routes because thats all I have measured out.

 

PM  My son and I ran 1 mi. in 9:52 and then I ran 3 more around 9:30

Comments
From Wildbull on Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 17:15:17

Glad you got the Garmin. keep me honest. humbled me somewhat because i thought i was running faster and farther before i bought it! It is a great tool for training.

From Dave S on Tue, Apr 22, 2008 at 20:33:01

I'm loving it already

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.003.003.000.000.0012.00

I did some hills this morning on a 1 mile 6% hill. the temp was in the fourties and a little wind to start with. I warmed up for 3 mi. at about 8:45 pace. then I began my hills. I had a little tailwind going down the hill and a little head wind till about 3/4 mile back up when the wind got bad. By the time I was headed up the second time the wind got terrible. It must have been 25 or 30 MPH. There were tumbleweeds blowing much faster than I was running downhill. The uphill going into that wind had to make it the hardest I have worked in a run in quite a while. Here are the splits on the hill portion.

Mi. 1 downhill     6:27

mi. 2 uphill          8:33  Headwind started to get bad 3/4 up

mi. 3 downhill     6:27

mi.4 uphill          9:15   The headwind was terrible

mi.5 downhill     6:24

mi. 6 uphill         9:23 The wind was even worse. I worked the hardest on this mile.

I can't imagine working this hard for a 9:23 mile. I had to just forget about pace and keep telling myself what a good workout I was getting. 1 mi. cooldown

 average pace on hills 7:46

 

 PM.   Ran 1 mi. with my wife then 1 more myself easy.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.000.000.000.000.007.00

I was planning to ride my bike this morning but when I got up it was snowing hard a real wet snow. The dirt roads I ride on get very muddy and the highway didn't seem like a good idea with poor visability so I went for an easy recovery run instead. My hamstring felt great after yesterdays workout that was harder than I have been able to do for a while. I felt nothing at all from it last night or this morning or during yesterdays run. After 5 long months of babying it I hope I'm finally past it to where I can start doing a few harder runs now and then, and get ready to race again. I did 5 miles all over 9:00 min. pace.

 

PM  Ran 1 mile with my son then 1 more myself easy pace.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.007.0011.00

This morning I went for a ride on my road bike for the first time this year. The dirt roads I mountain bike on were too muddy. It was 27 deg. and calm when I left home but I started to get a slight tailwind just before the turnaround. which then became a headwind that got steadily stronger and slowed me way down. I don't mind headwinds to much as long as I get the benefit of the tailwind going the other way unlike this morning..

I mounted my Garmin to the handlebars and compared it to my bike computer. The current MPH was amazingly close. Usually the same. sometimes within  0.1 MPH and never more than 0.2. The average MPH at the end was identical at 16.5. The currant pace given by the Garmin while running dosen't seem very accurate. The extra speed on the bike must make the difference. As far as total distance, the Garmin read .09 shorter than the bike computer. I guess thats not to bad after 23 miles.

Total  time 1:23 ave. HR 144

PM  Ran 2 mi. with my son then 2 more myself.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.751.000.250.000.009.00

This morning was nice. started out at 27 deg. but sunny and calm. Quickly warmed up.

Did 1 mile with my son. Then did 8 miles with miles 5,6,7 ave 7:30 pace. Mile 7 in 6:59. .25 in 1:30 overall ave. pace 8:13. Nothing from hamstring. We'll see how it does tonight and tommorrow.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
13.000.000.000.000.0013.00

Gorgeous morning for a run. I'm afraid we probably won't get to many like this before it gets hot. Went for 13 miles on dirt road . Hilly route. 8:39 ave. pace.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.000.000.000.007.0013.00

Another perfect morning.No wind and 50 -60 deg. I did a mountain bike ride this morning on dirt roads. I was suprised how fast I was going without a lot of effort. I did an 18.6 mile loop in 1:13:18 ave. 15 mph. which was pretty good considering all the hills and loose gravel in spots.Then went another 1.5 mi. to make it an even  20. Then ran 2 mi. easy pace.

PM Ran 1 mile with my son . He is having a lot of trouble with side stiches on over half of our runs. Today he didn't eat or drink anything after school and it was worse than ever. I've had him try different breathing methods but nothing seems to help. He is getting discouraged. After that I ran 3 more miles myself with 1x100 meter strider during last mile.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.005.006.00

Last night I started to get a pain behind my knee. I have felt it slightly a few times over the past week or two. It felt a little better this morning but I decided not to run. Intead I did a fifteen mile mt. bike ride. I didn't use cleets because the upstroke seemed to aggrivate it a little.Riding just pedaling the downstroke didn't seem to aggravate it at all. Just when my back and hamstring have stopped giving me trouble something new comes along. I sure hope it turns out to be not a big deal.

 

PM  I ran 1 mile with my son in 9:27. Today he ate some ice cream about 1/2 hour before we went. That seemed to help with his cramping. He felt a little of one coming on a couple of times but it never got too bad. It's still sore behind my knee mostly when I straighten it all the way. But it actually felt a little better after running. I hope to be able to run tomorrow but unless it feels real good I'll probably have to skip another run.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.000.000.000.000.003.00

It's the first day of may and it's 26 deg. and snowing. Wow.

 I don't know what's going on with my the back of my knee. This kind of came out of nowhere. It hadn't ever bothered me while running. I had felt a discomfort so slight I didn't pay much attention to it a couple of times over the last couple of weeks. Tuesday night and  last night it got worse untill it was painfull to walk. It only hurts to straighten my leg. I took some ibuprofen and it got a lot better last night. This morning it was a lot better. I think I could even run on it but I decided I had better not.

PM  I ran 1 mile with my son in 9:13. My knee has been a bit sore all day when I walk but when I ran with him it didn't hurt at all. I decided to go 2 more miles in 8:30 and 7:56 and it felt great. I guess I'll see if it swells up again tonight. If it dosen't I'll try some more miles tomorrow. I'm not even sure it's a running injury. It could be from biking. I've been working more on power through the whole pedal stroke and pulling up on the pedal puts a lot of strain on this area. I did bike on both of the last two days when it got bad. I never seem to get injuries from cycling. Unless I crash. So I didn't really consider that. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Comments
From JeffC on Fri, May 02, 2008 at 11:28:07

I would stay on the Ibuprofen for at least a couple days to help with the inflamation. And don't forget to Ice and elevate as often as you can during the day. Good luck!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.003.000.000.0011.00

As of yesterday I didn't know if I would be running today because of my knee. After yesterdays 3 miler it felt real good. It got a little sore by bedtime but nothing like the two previous nights. It felt pretty good this morning. Slight pain when I straighten it. I decided to go ahead and run.

It was a perfect morning. Sunny with a slight wind and close to 40 deg by the time I got out. It was 22 deg. 45 minutes earlier. I never felt one thing from the knee from the time I started running. I was planning to go at about an 8:45 pace but was running about 8:20. I had been planning to do my first 3 mile tempo run in months. Then Tuesday night the knee problem hit and I figured it was out. I felt so good this morning [ probably from the last 2 days being so easy] that I decided to go for it. I haven't run hardly any miles under 8:00 min. in a long time so I figured if I could keep it close to 7:00 pace that would be great.

 After running 4 miles at 8:20 pace I started my tempo. The first mile is on dirt and gravel and climbs about 80 ft. then drops about 100 ft. I figured I'd be doing good to get 7:10 on this mile so I was suprised to see I was at 7:10 pace at halfway after all the climbing. I finished this mile in 6:42 and felt pretty good. Now I hit pavement and flat and did my next mile in 6:32 and still felt good.  This kind af got me excited to be this far ahead of expectations and I sped up and did my last mile in 6:16. That last one felt like a race effort. I finished the 3 miles in 19:36 which is a 6:31 pace. I was very pleased with this and farther along than I thought I was.

More importantly neither my knee or my hamstring gave me any problem. My back still gives me slight pains after some runs but it keeps getting better. Overall pace for 7 miles was 7:34. did one more mile cooldown after.

 

PM did 2 miles with my son then 1 more myself  easy pace. I haven't felt one bit of sorness from my knee since this mornings run.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
11.000.000.000.003.0014.00

This morning was another beautiful day. I ran 11 miles at an 8:40 pace. My knee hasn't felt like one thing was wrong with it since yesterdays run. It's odd that I could have as much sorness as I did tues and wed and have it completly go away while running on friday. It was like I just ran it off. Don't you wish all injuries were like that?  Later I did a bike ride with my wife and son. I ended up going about 9 mi.

Comments
From JeffC on Mon, May 05, 2008 at 10:55:07

Glad to hear the knee is feeling better. Funny how those things just diappear sometimes. Gotta love it.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
15.000.000.000.000.0015.00

This was as nice a morning as you get. I went 9 miles average pace 8:28. My hamstring feels great , last weeks knee problem is completely gone, and my back is doing much better [just a little tightness after some runs]. This is the first time I have felt injury free since last Nov. when my hamstring first flared up. I look forward to adding some tempo runs.

 

PM   I ran 2 miles with my son at about 11 min. pace. Then went 4 more at 8:40 pace.

Comments
From JeffC on Tue, May 06, 2008 at 11:10:55

What a great feeling to be injury free and feeling good! Be careful out there and don't overdo it, you don't want to mess up a good thing.

From Dave S. on Tue, May 06, 2008 at 12:54:29

I guess I should knock on wood after saying that. I know how quickly things can turn around. When you get feeling good it's easy to get in a hurry and try to do to much. expecially when you have races coming up.

From JeffC on Tue, May 06, 2008 at 12:58:37

Don't worry Dave, I am knocking for you as I type :)

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.007.0012.00

Another nice morning. I went on a 20 mile bike mountain bike ride. 18.5 mile loop on gravel took 1:12 . Rode a total of 1:20. Ran 2 miles at about 9:30 pace.

PM   ran 1 mile with my son in 9:50 then ran 2 more at 8:45 pace.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.001.003.000.000.0010.00

It was a great running morning at 50 deg. a few rain drops and the wind wasn't to bad. I finished just before the wind and rain got bad. After a 2 mile warmup at about 8:30 pace I did a fartlec run for the next 5 1/2 mi. running 5 x .62 mi. [1000 m.] @6:25 pace then 2:15 min. about 8:40 pace. After 5 of those I did 3:15 min. slow followed by 1 mile in 7:15 then 1/2 mi. cooldown. On the  1000s I did   4:04, 4:01, 3:55, 3:58, 3:52.  My average pace for the 5 1/2 was 7:09.

 PM    Ran 1 mile with my son then 1 more myself.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.000.000.000.008.00

Went for 5 miles this morning easy. 8:38 ave. pace. Hamstring feels great after yesterdays faster running.

PM   ran 3 very easy miles about 9:00 pace

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.007.0011.00

I went for a 20 mile mountain bike ride this morning. It was nice. About 40 deg. Shortly after my turn around it started to rain and rained the rest of the way back. It didn't rain too hard and was kind of nice. I was on a gravel road that didn't get too muddy. It took 1:26. I ran 4 miles afterward in the rain at 8:30 pace.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.504.500.000.000.0010.00

This was another perfect running morning. I went for 1 mile with my wife. Then I went for 9 miles with the first half at 7:48 pace and the last 4 1/2 miles at 7:04 pace. Overall pace for 9 mi. was 7:25. My hamsring seems to be doing great with a few faster miles.

I got drawn for St George. Yippee!!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
13.000.000.000.000.0013.00

Another nice morning for running. Temps were in the 40s. I did get some light rain and a little hail but not much wind. I went for 10 miles and ran the first half at a 9:00 min. pace and the second half at about 8:00 pace. overall ave pace at 8:27.

 

PM   Did another 3 mi. at very easy pace> It was very windy.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.000.000.000.007.0013.00

This morning started out a little cold and breezy. I had to bundle up a bit but it was sunny and didn't turn out to bad. I went for a 20 mile mountain bike ride that took 1:22 then went for an easy 3 mi. run at about 8:50 pace.

PM   Did one mile with my son in 9:31 then did 3 more at about 8:55 pace

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.000.001.000.000.008.00

I guess I'm going to do the 5k down at Ogden this weekend. I wanted to do the 1/2 mar. but because of my earlier injuries I delayed getting signed up and when I went to sign up a month ago it was already full. My son was planning to do the 5k and still really want's to. I have barely done any speed or tempo running so this morning I ran 6 miles with 2 fartlek miles in the middle with 8x200m at 6:00 pace w/200 rec. at about 8:05 pace. Overall ave.pace for the 6 miles was 8:01. I'm not expecting much at the race. I'll be happy if I can break 20 min.

PM   Ran 1 mile with my son in 10 min. then 1 more in 8:48

Comments
From JeffC on Wed, May 14, 2008 at 13:32:32

Good luck to you and your son with your 5K. Sub 20 is a good goal, one that I still need to reach. I hope to be coming in about 3:30-4:00 (if all goes well), probably long after you are done. If you are still around I would love to meet you.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.005.005.00

I went for a 15 mile mountain bike ride this morning. I had a very strong headwind going out that made for very slow going but really cruised coming back. It took 1:09.

Race: Ogden 5k (3.1 Miles) 00:18:59, Place overall: 11, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.100.003.100.000.005.20

I had been planning to do the Ogden half marathon for the last few months but because of a nagging hamstring, I waited to see if it would be recovered enough to run it before I signed up. I decided about 4 weeks ago to go ahead and run it but when I went to register they had already filled up. My son had been wanting to do the 5k and still wanted to go so I decided to do the 5k also. I got my 5k PR last year on this course at 19:40 and that is the last 5k I had run before today. I didn't go in expecting much after battling injuries that kept me from any fast running for about the last 7 months. Most of that time I had to keep my pace above 8:30 and a lot of running above 9:00 pace to keep the hammy at bay. I didn't know what to expect going in and thought I might be happy to just go under 20 min. I figured a pr would be great but not likely as last year I had been doing a lot of speed work.

My son and I got to the start line about 6:15 and I did a couple of warm up miles. At the start of this race you have over 800 people starting on a very narrow road for about the first 400 meters and then you turn onto the bike path. I took off quick at the start to not get trapped behind to many runners when it narrowed down. I hit my first mile in 6:04 which I thought might be to fast but I didn't feel that bad.My second mile was 6:16. At this point I realized I was likely to pr. I may have been slowing slightly when I hit the last straight mile of road. I started to gradually pick up the pace the farther I got and past a few guys along here. With 4 blocks to go[1/2 mile] I picked it up a bit more. When I had 1 block left I really went for it. I had a guy ahead of me that I thought could possibly be an old guy like me and I sprinted all out the last 70m and got him by 1/2 a second. He turned out to be the winner of his age group which was a couple younger than mine. My third mile was 6:08. My garmin had the race at 3.13 miles and my last .13 according to garmin was 30 seconds. I figure my actual last mile was 5:48 to 5:50 with my last 200 figured in [ the first 1/4 of mile 3 my garmin had me at 6:20 pace and I sped up quite a bit from that point on. ] My final time was 18:59 which not only whomped on my old PR but came in just under my long term goal of sub 19 min. Not by much but I'll take it. I was 11th overall and took 1st in my age group.

My son only ran about 20 miles over the past 6 weeks in preperation and he ran it in 29:16. a 9:27 pace. He didn't push real hard just ran comfortable and had a great experience. He can't wait to do another.

It was fun to meet a few of the bloggers and fun watching the stream of them that came across the finish line in the top 12. I can't wait to get out and set some more PR.s this year.

Comments
From Jon on Sun, May 18, 2008 at 10:32:56

Nice job- looks like you already met your short and long term goals for the 5k! Excellent race.

From Paul Petersen on Sun, May 18, 2008 at 14:53:42

Congrats on the PR!

From jtshad on Mon, May 19, 2008 at 13:15:15

Congrats on the PR. It was nice meeting you at the race.

From Sasha Pachev on Mon, May 19, 2008 at 13:45:55

41 second improvement in a 5 K on the same course in a year is something, especially if it happens between the ages of 47 and 48. Very good sign for your marathon.

From wheakory on Tue, May 20, 2008 at 00:53:54

Sorry for the late response it's been busy at work since being home. Your time is awesome, and you ran a smart race. All the aerobic base miles you did is a big benefit when you ran anaerobic for this race, because your legs were fresh and were ready to go fast.

I'm glad I meet you and I wish we could have talked longer at the finish line. I'm sure we will me again.

From JeffC on Tue, May 20, 2008 at 11:11:59

Great race Dave, you are getting "faster with age!" Should be a great racing season for you.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.001.000.000.000.009.00

I did a 9 mile run. The first halfpace was 8:27. Second half pace at 7:29. I was going to do a Pm 4 mile run but ended up working til after dark on a pipeline to replace our irrigation ditches. A lot of kneeling and up and down that my knees and legs aren't used to left my knees a little sore. With this hot weather we have got to get it finished quickly. I may have more days like that this week. didn't even get time to blog.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.000.000.007.0015.00

I did a mt. bike ride this morning. It was a very nice morning. Calm with temps in the 40s to start which felt good after being out in the sun all day yesterday. I went for 20 miles on dirt roads in 1:23. After I got back and got my son on the school bus I ran for 5 miles at an easy 9 min. plus pace.

PM  Did three more easy miles.

Comments
From wheakory on Tue, May 20, 2008 at 13:05:57

Great weather to run in and what a nice run it was for you.

Are picking a Half Marathon even you want to run in the future yet?

From Dave S on Tue, May 20, 2008 at 20:02:45

Kory, I got drawn to run St George. Thats kind of going to be my main race for the year. I'll probably do the TOU half or the half at Pocatello. I'd like to do both but they are 1 week apart. I was planning to do a biathalon in three weeks but I may do the Provo river 10 miler instead. I'll probably do a few shorter races also. I wish I could recover as fast as you and I'd do more marathons.

From wheakory on Wed, May 21, 2008 at 00:12:25

How's the course for the Provo 10 miler. You could run the Pocatello half as a Training run, than run TOU as your race. It was really nice meeting you and your son.

From Dave S on Wed, May 21, 2008 at 10:23:59

Kory, I've never been on the course for the provo river 10 miler but I've seen some of it from the road. It is a bike/running path that follows the river kind of like the last 3 miles of the Ogden marathon I would guess.

I do plan on doing either pocatello 1/2 or TOU half with St George marathon as my main race.

What races do you have coming up?

From wheakory on Wed, May 21, 2008 at 11:48:15

I'm planning on doing the Wastach Relay on June 20-21, then I thought I might do the Des News Marathon, or I just might keep training for the Pocatello Marathon to crush my best time there. Then I might done both TOU and St. George marathon's like last year. But this will depend on how well I do in the Pocatello Marathon.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
13.000.000.000.000.0013.00

This morning it was 41 deg. with a light rain. I got 100 yards from home and realized I had misjudged the amount of both wind and rain and decided shorts weren't going to cut it. Went back for some long pants which was a good thing because the rain got a lot worse. I felt a little beat this morning, legs felt heavy. Some of it may have been the soaking wet running shoes or the 5 lb soaked sweat shirt, my shortage on sleep this week, or all of the above. I went 9 miles at an easy pace.

PM   Easy 4 mile run.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.008.008.00

This morning it was in the 30s with a very strong north wind. I went on a 24 mile mt. bike ride. My first 5 miles were into the wind which was very slow going. I had to use a gear usually reserved for steep hills most of the way. It was fun cruising with the wind at my back those last miles. I didn't get into much rain but I hope it rains the rest of the day. We sure could use it. Total time 1:44

Comments
From wheakory on Thu, May 22, 2008 at 14:44:28

It was a nasty morning and looks like will get rain all weekend. Nice bike ride!

From Adam RW on Thu, May 22, 2008 at 16:38:34

So I guess I’m an activist at heart. I noticed we’ve only had 13 votes but 144 views and there are more of you out there. I know some people don’t use the discussion board of the blog so I’m posting this comment on everyone’s blog that has updated in the last few days or so to bring your attention to both the discussion section and the mileage board. Please read the discussion here (http://fastrunningblog.com/forum/index.php/topic,324.0.html) and then vote here (http://fastrunningblog.com/forum/index.php/topic,348.0.html) if you have an opinion. If you already voted, I am sorry about the “spam.” Thank you!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.300.000.000.000.004.30

I had to travel down to salt lakeearly this morning and was there for the day. I ran 4.3 miles and felt a bit sluggish. It might have had something to do with the 3 1/2 hours of sleep I got last night. Overall pace 9:11

Race: Magna classic 5K (3.1 Miles) 00:18:16, Place overall: 29, Place in age division: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.200.000.003.100.0011.30

I hadn't planned on running this race until thursday when I realized I would be in salt lake friday. My wife and I decided instead of going home friday night that we'd stay the night at my parents house in sandy and hit the race in the morning.

I just ran my PR in the 5K last week in Ogden and I had heard this was a fast course so I thought maybe I could PR again. The first mile is a good downhill. The first 2/3 of the second mile is still down but not quite as much. Then you have a gradual 1 mile climb followed by a quick 200 meter downhill Then about 1/4 mi. flat to the finish. The first mile is the fast one and I did it in 5:35 The second mile I did in 5:58 I never got passed after the first 1/2 mile but I passed a few during this mostly uphill third mile and finished it in 6:06. My garmin had the race at 3.13 so my last .13 was 36 seconds [4:46 pace according to my garmin.] My official time was 18:18 but it was not chip timed and I started about a second back at the start line and they round up the finish time. My watch had 18:16. Last weeks time was 18:59 for a 41 second  PR. I beat last weeks PR by 43 seconds today but it is definatly a faster course. I was 2nd in my age group.

2 mi. warmup before race. 1/2 cooldown after. and 5.7  after I got home.

Comments
From Tom on Sat, May 24, 2008 at 22:28:00

Great job on the PR!

From Lybi on Sun, May 25, 2008 at 00:05:29

WOW! Back to back PR's! Congratulations, and what an impressive finish--4.46 pace! Geez!

From JeffC on Mon, May 26, 2008 at 11:04:20

Wow....nice race! You are really on a roll lately. With your training and speed you will be grabbing that 3:10 at SGM with not much problem at all. Congratulations on another PR!

From Adam RW- on Tue, May 27, 2008 at 08:44:23

WOW! A 43sec PR on any course in a 5K is still smokin downhill or not, especially given the fact that it was such a fresh PR to break. Great race and I'm sorry I didn't see you. I ducked out pretty quickly afterward as I had some family plans.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

My wife and I went on a 10 mile nice easy bike ride up around the reservoir. Had a little light rain but it was real nice.

Comments
From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 08:58:53

you whent biking on a sunday and we can't run on a sunday.Nevermind melosh

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
15.000.000.000.000.0015.00

This morning it started to rain just before I got started. It was really nice running with the temps in the upper 40s and not much wind. The only problem was that instead of turning back at 4.5 miles to make it a 9 mile run I was feeling good and went out an extra mile. I was running on a dirt road up by the reservoir and in the time the extra mile out took, the rain had soaked up the ground enough that right after I turned back the mud started to stick to the bottom of my shoes until they felt like they had tripled in weight. After a couple of miles like this the road got more of a sandy base and I scraped off the mud. It was great again after that. All in all it was a very enjoyable run. I didn't pay attention to pace along the way just enjoyed. Went 11 miles at 8:24 pace overall.

PM   Went 4 miles at just under 9:00 pace.

Comments
From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 10:28:56

Hi it's me bryson I joined the blog my user name is melosh check it out write back I wrote to tom today and alot of other people on how to get rid of side aches hold on i'll tell you a person whoes blog you should look at.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.000.000.007.0015.00

This morning I headed out on the mountain bike only to find out the roads were still to muddy. Sticky mud can jam up a bike to where it won't even go.I got back home after 4 1/2 miles and switched for my road bike and went another 19 on the highway for a total of 23 1/2 miles in 1:31. After I got back I did a 4 mile run at 8:32 pace. The temps were nice without much wind. Did my voting. 

PM    Ran 4 miles very easy pace.

Comments
From bryson on Tue, May 27, 2008 at 23:45:22

hi i joined the blog it's me bryson how are you doing call me i'll have to show you my blog look at the new kids on the blog on the front page it'll say melosh and that is my user name.

From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 08:47:05

my site is on the front page obove you're site check it out soon. MELOSH ME BRYSON AND MY nick name is brysonio.

From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 08:56:53

I think we should get a picture of zazoosh for my front page cause I don't have one on there yet.melosh

From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 09:42:58

hey when was the ogden 5k.

From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 10:30:54

Look at michellel's blog.

From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 10:55:11

Hey this guy on the blog wrote to me that there are ways to get rid of side aches on the discution board.

From Dave S on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:42:41

Bryson, the Ogden 5K was may 17th. You should write about it. Check the box that says race report.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.000.000.000.000.009.00

We keep getting these real nice mornings for running with temps in the upper 40s and very little wind. Don't know how long that will last. It could get hot real soon. after all it is almost June. This morning I ran 9 miles at a relaxed pace. Overall pace was 8:28.

Comments
From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:41:23

yeah but we don't have enough time and it's rainy and cold.

From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:47:32

Hey try this ladies blog michelle L she is writing me.

From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:54:43

that lady i'm talking about go to my blog and look above what you wrote and click on her name and check out her blog.

From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 12:33:17

Write me back!

From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 12:37:38

how did you do in the magna 5k?

From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 12:52:41

I hope it's okay that I used you're e-mail to get my blog.

From melosh on Wed, May 28, 2008 at 13:07:56

I did didn't I cause I thought...nevermind i'm pretty sure I did it.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.006.0010.00

I took my road bike this morning and went for 21 miles. I did 7 miles easy and 14 miles at a tempo type effort. Overall time was 1:14. It was a nice calm morning. Nice ride.

I went out for a short run that turned into an adventure. I live on a farm and was running on the property with my dogs when they started barking at something down in the trees. I ran down to have a look and saw that they had a feral cat cornered. The cat then proceeded to jump onto my thigh [ I was wearing shorts] and latched on. It seemed like it was stuck to my leg forever as I was trying to shake it loose and knock it off. I think one of the dogs finally pulled it off. I have about 17 bleeding  puncture holes and several scratches mostly just above my knee and some on my calf and shin all the way around my leg. I went ahead and finished up my run with a little higher heart rate. By the time I got back I had blood running all the way down to my shoes. One of the wound has some deeper holes and are spaced about the same as canine teeth would be and may be a bite. I think it bit my finger also but didn't leave a wound. I'm going to check with my doctor and see what he thinks I should do. Gotta love a little action now and then.

PM  Did 2 more miles at 8:17 pace then 1x100 meter strider.

Comments
From melosh on Thu, May 29, 2008 at 13:48:43

I don't know cause I didn't I think the website messed up or something.

From Tom on Thu, May 29, 2008 at 14:30:12

Yikes! That cat encounter sounds pretty intense! My wife and I had a kind of similar experience (yet not as damaging) a few months ago. But fortunately for us we were on a walk and had longer pants on so our clothing protected us somewhat. However my wife still has some pretty good scars on her ankle from the incident.

Hope the wounds aren't too bad and don't give you cat scratch fever or something.

From melosh on Thu, May 29, 2008 at 15:55:58

Wow but I thought that you don't run in the trees only on the road.Tell me how the doctor visit goes.~melosh

From melosh on Thu, May 29, 2008 at 20:12:27

I'm to busy how much rain over the week have you gotten cause it's bone dry out here.So how did the checkup on the cat clawing go.

From JeffC on Fri, May 30, 2008 at 11:07:16

Dude, I hate when that kind of stuff happens. You are a crazy man to finish the run, I'm too much of a wimp. Keep us informed of how the doctor visit goes, I hope your okay, those wild animal bites can be a bit scary.

From Dave S on Fri, May 30, 2008 at 11:31:01

My wife works at the hospital and she saw the doctor and asked him about it yesterday. There are a couple nasty things cats can pass on expecially when bit. Anti biotics are quite effective. I can't tell for sure if any of these marks are a bite. One might be. I was just on antibiotics 3 weeks ago for H Pylori and would rather avoid going on them again so I'm going to keep a close watch for the first sign of any infection. I guess we're going to send the cat to the health department for rabies testing [at my wifes insistance]. The dogs killed it after they pulled it off me so I still have it.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
11.000.000.000.000.0011.00

This morning I went for an 8 mile run. No "When animals attack" events today to report. Just a nice plain uneventfull morning run at an 8:31 pace.

PM  3 more easy miles around 9 min. pace. 

Comments
From Kim on Fri, May 30, 2008 at 11:21:26

I'm sorry you got trashed by the cat! They are vicious little animals! Like Tom said, I have scars! Those puncture wounds they give are quite painful! I was wearing capri pants and flip flops when I got attacked. Tom was wearing levis and the dang cat even got through them! I was lucky enough to not get cat scratch fever. I hope you are the same! I think I remember that it can take up to 4 weeks for the symptoms to show up. Good luck! And glad it was a nice plain uneventful morning today!

From Dave S on Fri, May 30, 2008 at 18:52:33

What prevoked it to attack you? Did it have to do with dogs also?

From melosh on Fri, May 30, 2008 at 21:11:39

Hi how are you and ruth doing.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
11.000.000.000.000.0011.00

A georgeous morning. Slept in a bit then went on an 11 mile run. The temp was about 60 with a nice light breeze and sunny. Ran up around the reservoir at 8:24 pace for the first 4 miles and 7:33 ave. pace for the next 7 miles. Average overall pace 7:51. Felt real good.

Comments
From MELOSH on Sun, Jun 01, 2008 at 15:51:32

HI

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
13.002.000.000.000.0015.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.000.000.007.0015.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
10.000.000.000.000.0010.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.006.0010.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
12.000.000.000.000.0012.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.500.002.500.000.0011.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
13.000.000.000.000.0013.00

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.

Comments
From JeffC on Tue, Jun 10, 2008 at 11:37:33

I'm not a bike guru but what the heck do you get on a 10 thousand dollar bike that you can't get on a $500-800 bike other than are probably feather light. Last I checked those bikes still have pedals, a chain and gears, still takes muscle to power em. You will do great, you ride well. Hang in as best you can on the bike and then blow them away on the run. Good luck!

From Dave S on Wed, Jun 11, 2008 at 01:31:43

You get about 2 mph over a bike like mine. I know it's hard to belive they could cost that kind of money. You'd think they'd come with an engine for that price. When I was in the bike shop today there was a set of wheels hanging on the wall just rims spokes and hubs for $1600. I guess if I added those to my bike it would become an $1850 dollar bike. Hmmm.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.500.000.000.005.5011.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.750.000.001.250.008.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.000.000.000.000.003.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.000.000.000.004.007.00

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.

Race: Cache Valley Biathlon (21.5 Miles) 01:20:34, Place overall: 15, Place in age division: 4
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.600.005.000.005.0011.60

     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.

Comments
From JeffC on Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 11:10:06

Nice job on the race Dave! I bet there were many many very expensive bikes that came rolling in behind you....hahahahah. 31:21 for the run is a great time, I think you did it just right to be able to give it all on the bike. Congrats on a great effort!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
18.000.000.000.000.0018.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.000.000.000.007.0010.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.000.000.000.000.006.00

     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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
12.000.000.000.000.0012.00

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

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.000.000.000.007.0010.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.007.000.000.000.0014.00

    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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
13.000.000.000.000.0013.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.000.000.000.007.0010.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.001.004.001.000.0010.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.007.0012.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
11.000.000.000.000.0011.00

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

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
13.000.000.000.000.0013.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
15.000.000.000.000.0015.00

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.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

I was to busy to get out in the morning and didn't get out until 1:00 pm. I went on the mountain bike for 20 miles. I took a road I don't usually ride for about 4 miles of it. It is quite hilly which would be nice but it had just been graded and had very loose sand and gravel that slowed me way down in fact I nearly didn't make it up a couple of the hills without walking. The ride took an hour and a half. It was 92 degrees. I took a water bottle that was half ice when I left. After an hour in that heat the water was almost too hot to want to drink. I wasn't able to make it out for a run later.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.500.000.001.000.005.50

I did a 5.5 mile run this morning with some fartlec thrown in. I did 1/4 at 5:50 pace and another 1/4 at 6:10 pace and 1/2 at 6:12 pace. Overall pace for the run was 7:57. I wanted to pick up the pace a bit before the 15k I'm running on friday. I'm not sure if I'll run anymore tonight. I still haven't gotten a new computer so my blogging has become a bit erratic.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.000.000.000.005.007.00

I went 15 miles on the mountain bike this morning. I didn't push to hard having a race tommorrow. It took 1:01. Later I went for an easy 2 mile run. Didn't take a watch.

Race: Blacksmithfork 15k Freedom Run. (9.31 Miles) 00:59:32, Place overall: 29, Place in age division: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.700.009.000.300.0012.00

    Last year I did this race in 1:04:14. I figured I wouldn't have any trouble beating that and thought possibly I could go under an hour. Last night I came down with some kind of bug in my lower GI track [ my wife had it for a couple days]. It was worse this morning and required numerous bathroom stops that unfortunatly didn't seem to help.

After a 1 1/2 mile warmup I started the race with a 6:05 mile. My guts were churning and my next 2 miles slowed to 6:25 and 6:27. I had hopes of keeping my pace near or under 6:20 so I picked up the pace a bit and my shoelace came undone. I stopped at an aid station that was 75 yards before the 4th mile marker and tied it. When I stopped my garmin said I was at 6:18 pace for that mile. By the time I tied it and ran the final yards I finished that mile in 6:31. I only lost 13 seconds. No big deal. Near the end of mile 5, I spotted a guy from my age group that runs a lot of races here in Cache valley. He has beat me handily in the past including last year at this race by 4 1/2 minutes. I hadn't seen him since mile 3 and figured beating him was out of the question, now he was 45 seconds ahead, still a long way. I ran miles 5 and 6 both in 6:17 and closed the gap to about 25 seconds. The last quarter mile of mile 7 starts a steep climb that goes on through the first quarter of mile 8. I did these two in 6:38 and 6:40 and I was now 15 seconds back. Now the 13 seconds lost tying my shoe seamed like a bigger deal. I couldn't seam to close the gap any more.  I normally have a good last mile but only did 6:23 for mile 9. He widened the gap a bit during that mile. I ran my last .3 at 5:42 pace but he got me by  21 seconds. Maybe next time.  Here are my splits

1- 6:05                                                                                                                  

2- 6:25

3- 6:27

4- 6:31   tying shoelace would have been 6:18

5- 6:17

6- 6:17

7- 6:38   last 1/4 mile steep uphill

8- 6:40   first 1/4 mile steep uphill

9- 6:23

.31- 1:44  [5:42 pace]

 

 

     My guts felt terrible afterward but I felt pretty good about the race. I went under an hour at 59:32 /6:23 pace and was second in my age group to the guy I was trying to catch. I beat my last years time by  4:43.

1.2 mile cooldown

 

Comments
From JeffC on Sat, Jul 05, 2008 at 12:51:18

Great run Dave! You seem to be getting faster every race. Without the gut issues and the dang shoe you would have had a great chance of beating this guy. Hope you feel better soon.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
12.000.000.000.000.0012.00

     This morning I went for 12 miles. Just took it easy even walked a couple of times. Overall pace was 9:14. I felt like I had plenty of energy but some muscle soreness from the race yesterday. The all out sprint I had with a 20 year old at the finish line yesterday probably didn't help.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.000.000.000.005.0014.00

This morning I went for an easy 9 mile recovery run. I felt like I had plenty of energy but my right calf was sore from the race last weekend so I kept it slow and shorter than I had intended. 9:14 pace. Then I went out on the mountain bike and went pretty hard for 15 miles. Did my fastest time this year and my second fastest ever on this course with 4 miles pavement and the rest dirt and gravel. Time was 52:32. 16.9 MPH ave.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.007.5012.50

Went for a 5 mile run this morning. It was 43 deg. Felt good. My calf felt a lot better but I kept it easy again just to be safe. Pace was 9:06. Then went for 25 miles on the road bike at medium effort took 1:26.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
10.000.000.000.000.0010.00

Did 10 miles at 8:15 pace.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
12.000.000.000.000.0012.00

Ran 7 miles in the morning at 8:39 pace.

PM  Ran 5 miles at 9 plus pace.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.000.000.000.007.0013.00

This morning I did a 20 mile mountain bike ride The wind was blowing hard and it took 1:30. Then I did an easy run at 9:14 pace.

 PM Did another short run. 3 miles at 8:43 pace. I still haven't gotten a new computer so I have just been quickly blogging when I get the chance.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
17.500.000.000.000.0017.50

This morning I went on a 17.5 mile run up past the reservoir. I got started a little late and the temperature got up to 80. I dunked my shirt in the water 2 different times and it made the run quite bearable. I was a little worried about my right calf which had been a little sore most of the week since last weekends race and was planning to cut back the distance if it started getting sore but it was fine. I ran the first ten at 8:28 pace and picked it up a little faster to 7:52 pace for the next 7. Overall pace was 8:13. That was my first run this year over 15 miles.

Comments
From JeffC on Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 15:56:18

What reservoir did you run up to? As you know I used to live up there and often wonder where you are running. I think I you have mentioned Weston a couple of times too and I have a grandma and uncle that live out in Dayton, they are Coburns. They live right along that highway that goes north to south at the foot of the mountain with the "WS" on it. I think they call it rattle snake mountain.

From Dave S on Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 20:47:14

Jeff, do you know where Winder reservoir is? It's just north of preston and it's about 4 miles from my house. Thats where I do most of my runs that are over 6 miles. A loop I like to do on my mountain bike takes me past both Winder reservoir and treasureton reservoir. I do go out to Weston canyon sometimes for hill work and run the 3 mile stretch from the reservoir up and down. I guess we just have a lot of reservoirs around here.

From JeffC on Mon, Jul 14, 2008 at 21:07:11

Wow!! You are quite a ways north of Preston. I have never been to Winder reservoir but I can see it on mapquest. We always used to go skiing out at Glendale reservoir so I kinda know the area. Nice place to run.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.000.001.00

     I just starterd irrigating again today. It was nice having it shut down last week. I have 2 wheel lines and one hand line that are each 1/4 mile long. The hand lines are in 40 foot lenths that each have to be disconnected then carried 60 feet and reconnected. The wheel lines have motors in the middle that roll the whole thing over 60 feet to the next setting. Much easier. I move them morning and night every day. I put my garmin on the other day and figured I end up walking about 4 miles every day doing this. It's not always the most fun when you've just finished running. 

    Tonight I was in a hurry to get finished before dark and so I ran when I had to cover the 1/4 mile back and forth across the field to the other end of the line twice for one mile. Probably not a very fast pace but wearing irrigation boots and running through knee deep alfalfa it should probably count for double.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
14.000.001.001.000.0016.00

This morning I went 11 miles up past the reservoir. I ran most of it around 8:30 pace but did mile 7 in 6:40 and mile 9 in 5:59. Overall pace for 11 miles was 8:14. After getting back I had to move my irrigation lines. I had a flat tire so I ran out and shut off the wheel  lines to drain. 1 mile round trip. I would have run back out to move them after they drained but I got lazy and put air in the tire so I could drive.

PM    Ran 4 more miles at 8:50 pace.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.500.000.000.008.0015.50

This morning I ran 3 easy miles at about 9:00 pace then headed out on my road bike for 26.5 miles. I rode up past glendale reservoir until the pavement ends. Overall ave. 18.5 MPH. As soon as I got back I ran 1 mile shutting off my wheel lines to drain before moving them.

PM   Ran 2 more miles at 9:05 pace. I wore my garmin doing irrigation and recorded 1.47 running. I was barley under 10 minute pace wearing hip boots and running through deep alfalfa.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
10.750.000.000.000.0010.75

This morning I ran 7 miles at 8:27 pace. I got back and ran another 1.75 moving my waterlines. I figure it saves on gas to just run the sections I would normally drive and I can get in more running miles. Only problem is sometimes I need tools.

PM ran 2 miles

Comments
From JeffC on Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 10:50:21

Way to conserve on the gas, I try to coast as far as I can to work to conserve gas, wish I could just run but I don't think my co-workers would like me very much and a marathon a day is probably a bit much. Running with your tools doesn't sound real easy.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.300.000.000.004.0010.30

This morning I did a 6 mile run Then went 12 miles on the mountain bike. I might run a little more later if I get a chance.

Comments
From melosh on Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 22:39:46

Hi what's up.

From Dave S on Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 19:52:21

Hi Bryson hows it going? See you tomorrow.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.007.008.00

   This morning I did a 20 mile mountain bike ride off road in about 1:20. Then ran 1 mile shutting off water when I got back.

    I've got to go down to Salt Lake to a famly reunion tomorrow so I'm going to run the Draper days 5k in the morning. I've had a hot exausting day out in the sun today and I'm not going to get much chance for sleep tonight so I don't think that will help much for tomorrow but it should be a good training run.

Race: Draper Days 5k (3.1 Miles) 00:19:08, Place overall: 29, Place in age division: 3
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.500.000.003.100.0010.60

   I had a family reunion to go to down in Salt Lake so I decided to leave extra early Saturday morning and hit the Draper Days 5k in the morning. My wife was on call friday night so we couldn't leave until morning. I didn't get to bed until 12:30 and got up at 3:15 to get on the road before 4:00 am to make the 2 1/2 hour drive. I didn't taper at this all week but figured this would be my tempo run for the week. The course was changed from a net downhill course to a loop course. I only got in a 1 1/2 mile warmup before the race. I was just planning to try and run just under 19 min./ 6:06 pace.  I did the first mile in 6:07 and the second in 6:02. Halfway through the 3rd mile there is about 1/4 of uphill. I think I got a little to comfortable running behind a couple of younger guys that had been running about the pace I liked. I didn't relize how much we had slowed until we were closing in on the third mile. I took off and left them then but it was to late. 3rd mile was 6:23. Last .10 in 36 [.12 according to Garmin]. It was a good workout and I still got in 72 miles for the week. I think I could have run this a bit faster and my heart rate never quite got up to where it normally does on a 5k but I'm glad I did it. 

   I went on a 4 mile hike at the reunion which was up at the spruces. Then I got in another 6 mile run that night in Sandy from my parents house.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
11.000.001.001.000.0013.00

We stayed Sat. and Sun. nights at my parents house in sandy We had another get together mon. for my wifes family. I went for a 13 mile run mon. morning from my parents house in Sandy. I ran 5 miles to where saturdays 5k was in draper. then around the course and back  to their home. My miles were mostly between 8:00 and 8:30 for the first half. My dad came out on his bike and started riding with me at about mile 9. Mile 11 I picked up the pace to 7:44. I got a drink from my dads water bottle then went through some sprinklers right after. It felt so good I picked up the pace and did mile 12 in 6:32. Mile 13 I was still feeling good and finished it off in 6:13. Not sure what got into me those last 2 miles It wasn't planned but it was feeling good so I went with it. Overall pace 7:59.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.008.0013.00

This morning I did 26 miles on my road bike.

PM   5 mile run easy.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
10.500.000.000.000.0010.50

    I finally found a minute to catch up my blog. Hopfully we'll have a new computer soon. This morning I did 7.5 miles at 8:43 pace. I  plan to run a little more later on.

PM   Ran 3 more miles easy.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.000.000.003.000.0010.00

I ran 8 miles this morning after 2 miles I did 5 x 1000 at around 5k pace with 400 recovery run between. I hit 3 of them in 3:51, 1 in 3:49, and 1 in 3:52. Overall pace for 8 was 7:42.

PM ran 2 easy miles.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.500.000.000.008.0014.50

I went for a 26 mile bike ride this morning. I intended for it to be a recovery day after doing some speed work yesterday and planning a 20 mile run for tomorrow but I felt pretty good and pushed the pace more than I should have. I kept telling myself to take it easier and finally after 21 miles I eased off a bit for the last 5. Usually 2 hard days in a row means tired legs on the 3rd day so I guess I may have to play it by ear tomorrow on my long run and cut it short if I have to and do it Monday. For me forcing a long run on tired legs is a good recipie for injury. Afterward I ran 4.5 miles easy pace w/o a watch.

PM ran 2 miles easy.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
20.000.000.000.000.0020.00

I did 20 miles this morning. It started out nice and cool [around 52] but quickly warmed up when the sun got up. I was feeling a little beat around 8 miles where I turned back toward home but had to go at least another 8 to get home. after 16 I didn't feel any worse so I went ahead and finished out the 20 I had planned. Felt good to be done today and for the week. 8:13 pace.

Comments
From JeffC on Mon, Jul 28, 2008 at 01:10:03

Great job on sticking to the original goal and getting that 20 miler in. Is this your first 20 miler since coming back from injury?

From Dave S on Tue, Jul 29, 2008 at 01:43:11

Yes Jeff that is my longest run this year. My hip started bothering me a bit the last week and a half and I was a bit worried about that but it seemed to not get any worse during the run. I felt beat at the end of the run but by that afternoon I felt back to normal so I'm happy about that. I'm a little slow getting back because I still don't have a computer. We've been looking just haven't decided yet.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.000.000.006.0014.00

   This morning I did 20 miles on my road bike. I warmed up for 3 miles then rode the 14 mile biathlon coarse for a race I'm doing this weekend in Preston. I rode hard but not quite race effort. Average speed was right at 20 MPH. Then another 3 cooldown. Later I did a 5 mile run. Easy pace without watch.

PM 3 miles easy pace after dark. It was cooling off and felt good after working out in the sun all day.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
12.000.000.000.000.0012.00

I did a 9 mile run this morning at 8:32 pace.

PM  3 mile run no watch. 9 min. plus pace. I plan to cut the mileage back to 60-65 this week for recovery. It will also be a bit of a taper for the biathlon this weekend.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.500.000.001.500.007.00

This morning I did a 7 mile run starting with a 3 mile warmup. The next 3 miles I did a fartlek run alternating 1 min. at about 6:00 min. pace then 1 min. 8:00-9:00 pace. Then a 1 mile cooldown. I did the 3 mile fartlek part at 7:04 pace averaging a bit under 6:00 pace for the faster intervalls and 7:42 pace overall for the full 7 mi.

Comments
From Tom on Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 17:04:23

Nice job on the fartlek workout!

From JeffC on Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 11:06:29

Nice workout and great pace. I will have to give that a try sometime, sounds fun.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

Did 20 miles on mountain bike

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.500.000.000.001.507.00

Did a 5.5 mile run at 8:38 pace. My legs felt beat most likely from being on my feet for 5 1/2 hours last night. It's rodeo weekend here in Preston which is about the biggest event of the year. We went to the parade and then the carnival until midnight. I think running 15 miles is almost easier for me than just being on my feet that long. My wife can outlast me I think.

I decided to demo a new road bike and rent it for tomorrows race. I picked it up and did 5 miles just before dark. It felt great compared to mine.

Race: Winward PT Preston Biathlon (17.15 Miles) 00:57:41, Place overall: 4, Place in age division: 2
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.250.000.003.1512.5016.90

  This Biathlon is in Preston which is small but it gets about 80 people each year mostly from Logan and around Cache valley. It has a 5k run on an out and back course then a 14 mile bike out and back also. Last year I finished in 1:01:30. I was Hoping to go under an hour or even better under 59 min.

I started on the 5k with a 6:04 first mile. I have a habit of getting behind someone thats going the pace I like then getting to comfortable and not realizing they have slowed. I checked my garmin about .25 into the 2nd mile and my lap pace for that mile read 6:38. I was hoping to stay below 6:05 so I picked it up and finished mile 2 [which included the 180 deg turn] in 6:10. This course is a bit long. I've checked it a couple times with my bike computer and get 3.14. My garmin said 3.15. I finished the last 1.15 at 5:54 pace going by my garmin. I averaged  6:03 overall pace for the run [18:45 for 3.1]. I finished 6th in the run. I felt very good with this run and had plenty left at the end for the bike. It's probably my best 5k [being on an out and back course] even though I didn't give it everything.

My transition took 1:22 .On the bike I was only passed by 3 riders. I passed 4. One of them was a guy that had passed me earlier. I averaged 22.5 MPH and finished in 37:15. The bike I rode made a big difference. At least 2 minutes faster than my bike. My finish time was 57:41 good for 4th place individual and was only beat by one team. Unfortunately the best triathlete in Cache valley [Keith Anderson] is in my age group. He took first overall so I didn't even win my age group. I was very happy with this race and was able to hold off a few cyclists that are much better than me by getting a big enough lead in the run and then maintaining enough speed on the bike to keep from getting caught. I would have been very happy with a sub 59 time so I was very happy with 57:41 nearly a 4 min. improvement over last

Went for a 25 mile bike ride before I had to return the bike.

Comments
From JeffC on Sat, Aug 02, 2008 at 16:17:48

Congratulations on a great course PR and a great race! Were you able to borrow a bike from someone for this race? Was it a road bike? I would think, like you, that a good bike could make a big difference.

From Dave S on Sat, Aug 02, 2008 at 22:06:14

Jeff I rented a demo from the bike shop. It was a pretty nice road bike. My road bike I got used at a bike swap. It's probably 15 years old and the newer bikes have come a long way since then. This bike was much faster than mine but even mine is much faster than a mountain bike.

From Tom on Sat, Aug 02, 2008 at 22:09:14

Great job on the race! That 5K time is very impressive. I think it may be safe to say that a sub-3 at SGM COULD be possible for you this year.

From JimF on Mon, Aug 04, 2008 at 13:10:44

Very impressive race! Nice 5k and sounds like you held your own on the bike as well. I have done a few Biathlons and they are a lot of fun. You are right that the bike can make a huge difference.

From JeffC on Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 15:35:54

Dave are you still in the process of getting a new computer? Hope the running is going well.

From Dave S on Wed, Aug 13, 2008 at 19:14:51

Jeff we got a new computer the day before we left on our trip. We just got home yesterday and haven't had time to set it up yet. It will be nice to have it up and running.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

    We left for the SLC airport at 4:30 this morning to fly out to Pennsylvania. We flew into JFK airport and then drove to our destination. We didn't arrive until about 10 PM so I no time to run. This was the first time in months I've taken 2 days in a row off from running.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
11.001.001.000.000.0013.00

    Last night we arrived at an old farmhouse in Pennsylvania that my wifes parents own on a 150 acre farm. It's not really a farm anymore because the trees have all grown back and it is now a forrest again as are most of the other farms in the area. It has been in my wifes family since 1870. It is a beautifull area with woods, forrests, ponds, blueberry patches, and lots of wildlife. It is my favorite place to run. The terrain is very hilly and if your not going up your going down. Not much is flat. It's not a good place for people who get carsick to ride in a car as the roads are also windy. There is a lot of shade. I was really looking forward to the 65 or 70 miles I was planning to run while we were there.

    I slept until about 9:30 to catch up on lost sleep the last 2 nights and didn't start my run until about 11:00. The temperature was about 70 and with lots of shade it was nice. I felt very good running. The elevation is only about 2,000 feet which is high for Pen. After 2 days off I had plenty of energy. I did 13 miles total. I did the first 5 at 8:09 pace then the next 5 at 7:27 pace. I did the 11th mile in 6:54 and 12 in 6:22. I felt like going a lot farther but I had a 20 miler planned for thursday and wanted to be fresh for that. Overall pace for 12 was 7:38. I was doing a 1 1/2 mile cooldown just running along easy enjoying the scenery looking around rather than watching where I was stepping when I tripped on a rock that was sticking up out of the dirt road I was running on. I was going down hard and thought I was going to cut up my knees up for sure but I brought my right leg forward fast enough to catch myself and only my hands it the ground but as my leg came forward so fast I felt my hamstring  tear. I knew it had to be bad and could not believe what had just happened. As I hobbled the 1/2 mile back to the farmhouse my first thoughts were worry that I might not be able to run anymore while I was there on the farm. That was disappointing enough without thinking that it might keep me from running the TOU half in 2 weeks or even SGM in 8 weeks. I had been training so hard and everything seemed to be going so well. I had no nagging injuries bothering me and I felt like I was still improving. I iced it down and took a bunch of ibuprofin and hoped maybe it would be like sprained ankles I have had a couple of times that hurt like crazy but aren't too bad by the next day but after a couple of days it seemed just as bad as the day it happened. I couldn't even walk without favoring it or even push my son on the rope swing and running was out of the question. While sitting it felt like a big lump under my leg but I never got any bruising. One wrong steep or twist and I would get shooting pain as bad as when it first happened. I tried riding a bike and couldn't. I was getting very dicouraged and realized that even if I am able to run SGM that I will probably won't be running much the next 4 or 5 weeks which was going to be the peak of my training before a 3 week taper to SGM. All the fast finish long runs and downhill mar. pace  runs I had planned for so I could really peak for this one seem to be out the window. It is hard knowing that I am the fittest I have ever been and all the work that went into getting there could just go away and I can't do anything about it. I just have to remember there are plenty of worse things that happen to people that make this seem insignificant. It is just temporary and will heal.

    On the positive side after the 3rd day I found I could ride a bike. At first it was a bit painful and I had to take it easy but as I rode farther it actually felt better. It has now been 8 days we got home from our trip yesterday and it is feeling a lot better than it was. I can  run about 5 steps.

Comments
From JeffC on Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 11:18:03

Dave, I am so sorry to hear about your accident. I can't beleive that happened right now, so close to some of the big races you have been training for. I hope you are able to get back to logging some bike miles as soon as possible and maybe get back to some light running. You are so right, there are much worse things that could and do happen to people but it sure does stink to be the one going through the challenge. Get well soon. By the way, I am very jealous of your trip to the Pennsylvania farm house, that place sounds absolutely beautiful. Sounds like a great place to just relax and enjoy life.

From Dave S on Thu, Aug 14, 2008 at 21:25:20

Jeff, I have been doing quite a bit on the bike. I'd really be going nuts right now if I couldn't do that.

It is gorgeous there. The daytime temps only got up to about 70. Nights about 55.

From Tom on Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 16:16:01

Just read about the unfortunate accident and hamstring injury. Hope it can heal up for you ASAP! No fair that happening to you while you're on vacation in a beautiful place for running and relaxing. Guess you'll need to do a bit more relaxing than running this time around.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

I  was really hoping for a big improvement this morning but just rolling over in bed hurt enough that I knew it wasn't going to happen. I limped along on a 1 1/2 mile walk with my wife and son and a nephew catching little red newts in the morning. We caught over 100. My hamstring was quite sore and I probably shouldn't have gone but hey, we're on vacation.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

   No improvement today. If  I take a wrong step or twist wrong it hurts as bad as when it first happened. I tried getting on a bike today but just sitting on the seat was painful. I couldn't run 2 steps. It started really sinking in that this could take a while.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

   Still in Pensylvania I tried the peddle boat on the pond at the farmhouse and the pain wasn't to bad. Later that day I tried the bike again. It hurt a little but I could do it. I just had to go easy so wife and I went for a ride. The more I rode the pain went away. I had a lot of energy after no running or riding the last few days and it felt good to push hard. It is one hill after the next out there so I would hammer on the uphill then turn and ride back down then back up and try to catch my wife by the next hill. We went 9 miles. When we got back to the farmhouse I left and went for another 11. It was great to find out I could still ride.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.0011.0011.00

   Still at the farm in Pensylvania, I can't run at all so I went on a 32 mile bike ride. This is on a very heavy schwinn mountain bike on a lot of big hills. On the downhill in the highest gear you spin out at about 20 MPH. Mine, at home, spins out at about 30 MPH.  22 miles of this ride was on an old railroad track that was taken out and turned to a nice dirt and gravel bike path [it's the only place you'll find thats somewhat level]. It runs through the forrest for 2 miles at a time without crossing roads or any sign of civilization and I hardly saw a soul. As I was zipping along silently I supprised a bobcat right next to the road. I got a good look at him from 20 feet. This was a lot longer than I normally ride and on a slow bike I had pushed pretty hard and my quads started to get  fatigued after about 26 miles. As I was almost back I turned onto the farm about 3/4 mile from the farmhouse and there was a blackbear standing in the road about 80 yards away. He watched me as I road about 20 yards closer then he bolted into the woods. That is the first bear I had seen there but I regularly see tracks. So I had seen both a bear and a bobcat on the same ride. Awesome!

   We finally got the new computer set up so I'm trying to catch up my blog. I just need to find a bit more time.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.005.005.00

      Last day in Pensylvania. Still can't run 3 steps. I went on another bike ride just before we left the farm. I rode from the farmhouse to the top of Elk mountain ski resort which I think is the highest mountain in Pensylvania. It was a dirt road to the top and it got too steep to ride on 3 different stretches  [at least on the heavy schwinn bike I was on]. I think I maybe could have done it on my mountain bike but it would have been a killer. The stretches that I pushed the bike I was able to do a fast hike, almost run, leaning on the bike supporting my bad hamstring side. I was going hard enough to keep my HR around 165. Probably very good cross training without hurting the hamstring. I pushed very hard because my time was limited and I was pushing to complete round trip in under 1 hour. I really pushed at the end and finished in exactly 1 hour to the second. It was only a little over 10 miles but I'm converting it to 5 miles because one hour at that intensity deserves more than 3.

    That night we left for Newark

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

     This morning we caught a bus near our hotel room out to New york city.  We spent the day touring  Manhatten. We did a lot of walking. We spent most of our time in the Natural History Museum. That's the second time we've been through it and there's just never enough time. I think all the time on my feet was harder on my hip on the good leg from favoring the hamstring a bit.

    That night we caught our flight and arrived back in SLC around 11:30.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.0011.0011.00

    Got home this morning. I went on a 32 mile mountain bike ride. The longest rides I had been doing offroad before last week were 20 milers. This was the second at 32 miles and my quads got pretty tired again. I'm going to do a lot of biking while I can't run but I worry that increasing my biking too much in just one week could cause other problems.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.004.004.00

    12 miles bike offroad.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

     I've tried running a few times but my hamstring tightens up bad after about 5 steps.

     I went on another offroad bike ride. I rode the second half hard keeping my HR above 160 on most of it. 20 miles total in 1:13 my second fastest time on that route. 16.3 MPH ave.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

     Rode the same route as yesterday. I thought I would be tired after yesterdays hard ride but I felt good and rode almost as fast.

    Today I could run about 50 steps carfully keeping the hamstring relaxed before it would tighten up. I did it 3 or 4 times throughout the day. From reading on the internet I learned that my hamstring tear is a grade 2 out of 3 grades. It's good to keep it moving without hurting it. I've been irrigating since getting home and that causes me to walk about 3 miles a day which is probably good for the hamstring but it's causing a sore hip on the opposite side from favoring it. I'm starting to get a normal stride back though.

     I'm trying to keep from losing too much arobic fitness by riding but I'd probably have to be riding over 200 bike miles per week to equal what I was running. Since I have been only riding about 40 miles per week, that isn't reasonable right now. I did about 94 this week offroad.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

    We spent the day at bear lake. I tested the hamstring and running in bare feet on the packed sand didn't feel to bad.  I ran a little less than 1/2 mile up to a restroom then back just slow and trying to keep the hamy relaxed. It didn't feel to bad. Probably 10 or 11 pace.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.0015.0016.00

    This morning I ran 1/4 mile twice at about 10 min. pace. Hopfully I might be able to start running a few miles soon.  I went on a 40.4 mile ride on my mountain bike. 20 miles of it on dirt. 14 miles of the highway part was a 3 mile climb from Treasurton over the pass then 4 mile desent to the bear river just south of Thatcher. Going down the Thatcher side I had a tailwind and was cruising at 30 to 35 without much effort. It was almost as much fun as the climb back up with a headwind was work. I had to fight a headwind all the way home. The wind got a lot stronger halfway through my ride. I didn't get much tailwind on my way out but a lot of headwind going back. I was trying to somewhat simulate a long run and I kept my HR ave above 150 for 2 hours of the ride and averaged 148 HR for the whole ride which took 2:38. 15.3 MPH ave. Thats not to impresive on a road bike but with the wind and hills and 20 miles of gravel road it was a lot of work.

    The last 20 mile run I did, 1 week before my injury, I ran in the same amount of time with a 140 HR  at 8:13 pace. So cardio wise this should have been comprable to running 20 at sub 8 pace. I hope.

    Under the circumstances I decided to convert to running miles using 10 min. per mile.

    PM  I did another slow run for 1/2 mile.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.700.000.000.007.0012.70

    It's been 2 weeks since my little accident and 2 weeks of no running. I decided to try a little more this morning and ended up running 2.5 miles taking 1 minute walk breaks every 2 or 3 minutes of running. 10: 25 pace. It felt pretty good. It did start to tighten up a bit just before each walk break but didn't seem to be to bad after the run. I may try a little more tonight if it still feels good.

    Then I went for a 20 mile mt. bike ride offroad. It felt pretty good after yesterdays ride and just wanted a good recovery ride. I actually ave. the same MPH as yesterday but my HR averaged 135 after yesterdays at 148. It was all about the wind and the 2 big climbs yesterday.

    PM   I wasn't feeling any pain from this mornings run so I went for another. I feel a slight pain while running and feel like I have to stride carefully. I went 3.2 miles at sub 10 min. pace. Whahoo! I did walk breaks of 3 min. running 1 min. walking. I don't think I could go much faster or much farther between walk breaks but I could probably do more total distance but decided to play it safe. The last thing I need now is a step backward in my recovery.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.009.0010.00

This morning my hamstring was a little tight from yesterdays runs. I took off slowly to see if it would loosen up a bit but after 1/2 mile I realized it was harder to run because of more sorness than yesterday so I slowly ran the 1/2 mile back and decided not to run today. I decided I'm only going to run when the pain is better than or at least no worse than the run before. The hardest part of this recovery for me will probably be patience especially when I'm still thinking there's a chance at SGM. Every day that I can't run is frustrating. I went for a 15 mile ride on my mountain bike.

    PM   went for a 12 mile bike ride off raod.

Comments
From Huans32 on Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 12:35:01

Good job man. That is one of the toughest things for me too. Is to call off a run. And then followed yours up with riding your bike. Hope your hammy starts feeling better soon. You still have alot of time to recovery and still do great at SGM.

From Dave S on Thu, Aug 21, 2008 at 13:34:06

Thanks for the comment. I'm hoping I still have time to recover before SGM. It's coming fast.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.007.008.00

   This morning I went for 20 on the mountain bike. I tried running again but after one mile I decided to rest it again. It felt better tuesday and I guess I did to much.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.500.000.000.009.0011.50

    This morning the hamy felt a bit better so I went for 2 1/2 miles running slowley and taking walk breaks every 3 or 4 minutes depending on how it felt just trying to keep the discomfort to a minimum. It's been 5 or 6 hours since the run and it sill feels good.

    I went 26.5 miles on the mountain bike and did kind of a progression ride. I did the first 9 easy at 137 ave HR. The next 9 harder effort at 147 ave HR. The last 8.5 at 156 ave. HR which is a tempo  effort for me. 10 miles were on pavement 16.5 on dirt.  

ave. MPH 16.4

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.500.000.000.002.005.50

    This morning I should have been running TOU half. It's one I had really been looking forward to this year. I was thinking it was realistic to run it around 1:23. Instead I'm running 3.5 miles at a 10 1/2 min. pace still needing to take walk breaks. This is basically the third week of  practically no running. Sub 3 at SGM is pretty much out of the question now [the race predicter had me at about 2:53].I'm just wondering if I will even be able to run it. It's a bummer when I think about how well things were going and it really wasn't even a running injury just a split second that changed everything.

    Went 6 on the bike. 

Comments
From JeffC on Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 11:33:06

I hear you brother, it is truly a bummer. There will be another day in the sun, just keep a good attitude and keep working to get feeling better. There will be other races, but you only have one body.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.000.000.000.005.0011.00

    This morning I ran 5 miles. The hamstring did pretty good. I walked 4 times and ran a 9:50 pace. Last week while running I would get pain halfway down to my knee. Today I didn't get that at all just a burning up higher in my butt area that didn't get much worse during the run. That was definitly the biggest improvement I have seen so far.

    I went for 15 miles on the mt. bike. I woke up last Sat. morning with a sore hip flexor most likely from going from 40 miles a week on the bike to 140 much to quickly not to mention the upped intensity on a lot of the rides to try and match what I would be doing if I was still running. I took it easy on Sat., rested Sun., and went easy again today. It was still sore Sun. but feels pretty good today. Hopfully I will be able to replace a lot af that riding with running  soon.

    PM 1 mile

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.100.000.000.008.0010.10

    This morning I thought I'd run a slow 5 miles again but a little after the first mile I started having some of the pain I was having last week in the hamstring. I didn't have any pain there yesterday so I finally decided to call it off after a little more than 2 miles and had to walk back. I could have kept running but I just don't want to chance going backward with this injury. I then went 24 miles on my mt bike offroad.

Comments
From JeffC on Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 11:49:11

Hang in there and be patient man, things will start to turn around.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

     Yesterday I was proud of myself for ending my run when I did because my hamstring was feeling a lot better all day. I was thinking about how good todays run was going to be. Then last night while irrigating I was pulling on a pipe that came loose when I wasn't expecting it and caused me to twist and step awkwardly. I felt a sharp pain in my hamstring where I must have reinjured it a bit. This morning it still hurt just to walk on it as much as it did 2 weeks ago before I started any running again. So no running this morning. I went 20 miles on the mt. bike at medium hard intensity.

Comments
From JeffC on Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 16:28:15

NOOOOOOO!! Dave, what is up with us lately? I can't even come close to comparing myself with what you are going through so I won't even try. I hope your hamstring comes around soon. It would be nice if we could just quit our day jobs and focus on getting healed for the marathon.

From Dave S on Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 18:03:08

The sad part is we'll probably be healed by the time SGM comes but without much training. Oh well you can only do what you can do.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

    Today I still had a little soreness from the reinjury 2 days ago so I decided not to run again. I went for 20 miles on the mt. bike. I'm hoping I can run a little tomorrow. Our temps have been a little crazy. Yesterday morning I had ice on the alfalfa when I went out to move the wheel lines. It damaged some of our squash plants in the garden but luckily not the tomatoes. This is awfully early for frost and our last frost this spring was June 11 which is extra late. Not much of a growing season this year. It's hard to belive it could be 32 deg in the morning then up tp 80 deg 6 hours later.

Comments
From JeffC on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 11:15:01

Global warming....just ask Al Gore.

Hope the hamstring feels better tomorrow for a little bit of a run. Good luck.

From Dave S on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 11:31:30

Ya, and Al will tell you that extra cold weather is caused by global warming also.

From RivertonPaul on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 11:34:39

Sorry for the ice and chilly weather. As a treadmill wimp I just rationalize that when it gets cool outside by training inside I'm training for unexpected warm weather late in the year.

From Dave S on Fri, Aug 29, 2008 at 11:46:53

That's a bit a stretch but one of the better rationalizations I've heard for treadmills.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.000.000.000.007.0010.00

    I had an encouraging run today. I went 3 miles at 8:47 pace. Pain was very minimal and felt fine afterward. In my previous runs since the injury I have had to keep the pace around 10 min. to avoid pain so the pace was good. I took one short break in the middle.

    One positive to come from this injury is that it's got me in the best bike shape I've been in. I rode hard today on the mt. bike and beat my pr on my favorite 20 mile 15 miles of dirt, 5 miles blacktop course by 3 1/2 minutes. It took 1:09 and averaged 17.4 MPH. For me that wouldn"t be to bad pace for a mt. bike on a paved course with that many hills. My HR ave. was 150 for the first 5 miles and I kept the ave. at 164 for the rest of the ride as high as 173 on a couple of hills. Hopfully this type of workout will  keep my V02 max from disapearing to much. 1 more mile cooldown.

Comments
From JeffC on Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 13:51:34

That is great Dave. I hope things continue to get better from here. With the biking you will still be in really great fitness, especially with the PR rides. Is there still a glimmer of hope for SGM for you this year?

From Dave S on Sat, Aug 30, 2008 at 18:50:41

Jeff I still have hope but the recovery is going to have to speed up a bit. I obviosly won't be running to my full potential if I do make it.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.100.000.000.000.003.10

    I took my son bowhunting this morning. We hiked about 4 miles. My hamy seamed to handel the hiking ok. I noticed it a bit when stepping over logs. After I got home I ran 3 miles with one walk break. I couldn't go quite as fast as yesterday without discomfort in the leg. 9:30 pace.

    PM  we went back out elk hunting for the evening and hiked about another 4 miles a lot being on pretty steep rugged terrain. All the hiking today should be some good cross training and wasn't to tough on the hamstring but I needed to be very carefull. By the time I got back I was glad to be finished as it was starting to ache a bit but it feels ok now. Hopfully after resting it sunday I'll be ready for a little better run on Monday.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.008.0012.00

    This morning I ran 4 miles at a little over 9 min. pace. I took 3 breaks about 1 min. each. Hammy's feeling pretty good but I think I over did it a bit sat. with all the hiking. and running. So I took it extra easy.

    I rode 25 miles on my road bike. My mountain bike routes were muddy with all the rain. That sticky mud can clog your chain and gears to where the wheels won't even turn. Just ask me I've done it. So I stuck to the pavement. I caught a break between storms and only got rained on a bit for about 10 minutes.

Comments
From JeffC on Tue, Sep 02, 2008 at 11:13:25

Nice ride and run. Glad to hear the hamstring is feeling good. Nothing like riding in the mud and rain, what a mess.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

    We had another light frost this morning. I had to break out the gloves and sweatshirt for this mornings bike ride. I went for 20 on the mt. bike. My route was mostly dry with just a small amount of mud. I think I will try running every other day this week and see how it goes.

Comments
From JeffC on Tue, Sep 02, 2008 at 15:52:53

Frost!?!? Again!! Dang dude, that is cold. It was 72 degrees down here this morning and I thought that was chilly. Plus riding a bike in the cold is worse than running in the cold. Good luck with the every other day plan, I hope it works.

From Dave S on Wed, Sep 03, 2008 at 14:38:54

72 degrees sounds nice. Actually I enjoy running in 20 to 50 degrees the most. Biking a little warmer. I don't know how you do it in those hot summer temps you get. Of course this winter when it's below zero here you'll have it real nice there

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.007.0012.00

    Yesterday afternoon I put my hamstring through another test. I inadvertantly stuck my elbow right into a large wasp nest with 60 or 70 visable wasps nocking it so it fell to the ground. I started getting stung right as I saw what I had done and got swarmed. I think I came out of the blocks about like Usain Bolt and sprinted for saftey. It  hurt my hamstring but felt ok after 15 or 20 min. so I hope I didn't do to much damage. I got stung about 8 or 9 times between my elbow and wrist.

    This morning I ran 5 miles. I have had a dull ache in my hamstring the past few days up high in my butt. It never got any worse as I ran and felt nearly the same in the last 1/4 as it did in the last. The lower part of my hamstring [halfway down] felt fine. That is where I was getting the pain when I first started running after the injury I felt like going farther, but running until it gets worse is what I normally do so I'm forced myself to stop before that. I ran a 9:03 pace and didn't need any breaks. Then I went for 20 miles on the mt. bike.

   

Comments
From Tom on Wed, Sep 03, 2008 at 14:37:15

Man you're having a string of bad luck! First the fall in the forest then wasps!

Hey a bunch of us are experiencing the high-hamstring butt pains that you describe. On my blog yesterday Dale posted a link showing a stretch that he says helped him get over the problem pretty quick. Check out http://www.rice.edu/~jenky/images/glut.hip.jpg

Hope it helps.

From JeffC on Wed, Sep 03, 2008 at 14:55:38

Man that totally stinks about the wasps. I hate bees and would have been completely freaked out. Glad to see you were able to run the 5 miles with relatively consistant pain. Sounds like you are on the mend as long as you can turn your luck around.

From Dave S on Wed, Sep 03, 2008 at 16:14:42

Tom, thanks for the info. I have actually been avoiding stretching my hamstring until it gets a little better. It seamed like every time I was stretching it [even gently] I was making it worse. I read on the "what makes an elite runner" thread that you posted, under staying injury free, Jeff Galloway said not to stretch if you are injured or in pain. I also taked to a PT last week that told me to avoid stretching if I felt any discomfort afterward. It makes sense that stretching torn muscle fibers could retear them. But you can belive I will be giving that stretch a try as soon as I feel like I am able. It looks like a good one.

Good luck with your hamstring issue. As good as your training has been lately, one cautious easy week at this point couldn't hurt.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.0017.0017.00

    This morning I did a 50 mile mt. bike ride. My legs felt a bit tired from the start. Yesterday I intended to take it somewhat easy but felt good and rode harder than I should have. Near the end of yesterdays ride I had a neighbor following me in his truck. Of course I had to speed up and rode hard for 1 mile keeping it between 22 and 23 MPH on the level into a headwind on my mt. bike. My quads were burning by the time I was done and I'm sure that is what I was feeling today. I didn't think a 1 mile sprint, less than 3 minutes, would make that much difference the next day. I went over the pass on the way to Thatcher down to where the bear river enters the Oneida narrows then took the dirt road that follows 7 miles along oneida reservoir to the dam then another 7 till it hits pavement again at the highway. I did 34 miles of the ride on dirt roads and never passed another vehicle other than a few that were camping. It was a georgeous ride. My hands and arms were getting fairly tired by the time I was done from all the bumpy offroad riding. It took 3:14/ 15.5 MPH overall ave. No running today. Taking the Webelo scouts on a 3 mile hike later.

Comments
From JeffC on Fri, Sep 05, 2008 at 11:03:55

Wow, nice ride Dave! Your riding muscles will be in great shape by the time that hammy heals up. Hopefully that hike helped give you a little recovery from the long ride.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.000.000.000.007.0014.00

    Todays run was awsome! I have some hope for SGM again! I was considering canceling for gauranteed entry next year. My recovery the past 2 weeks has been at a standstill [partly due to reinjuring my hamstring early last week]. I was still running 3 or 4 miles at 10 or 11 min. pace with 1 min. breaks once or twice per mile. It has been almost 5 weeks since my injury and it's hard to even call what I've been doing running. My Wednesday run was encouraging at 5 miles but if I tried to run faster than 9 min. pace I would get discomfort in the hammy. This morning I ran 7 miles. I ran the first mile in 8:53 and I pretty much felt normal other than a slight discomfort in the butt area but even that was less than it has been. I told myself I didn't want to risk going any faster but every time I checked the garmin my pace was gradually picking up without me feeling like I was running faster. Everything felt fine so I went with it. By mile five I was at 8:11. Mile 6 at 8:03 and mile seven was 7:56. Overall ave. was 8:23. My running and stride just felt more normal than it has since the injury. I felt I could have run farther. It has been several hours since I finished my run and it still feels great. This is the first run that resembles a normal training run [ even though it would just be a recovery run ]. I know there is a long way to go but today I can see more of a possibility of making the start line. I won't have a taper since there is nothing to taper from. Instead I'll still be building mileage those last 3 weeks. After today I feel confident I should be able to run 10 or 15 miles by next week. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed though. Running every other day seems to be helping so I'll probably skip running tomorrow.  

    I did 20 miles on my mt. bike and took it easy.  I felt pretty good after yesterdays 50 miler.

Comments
From JeffC on Sat, Sep 06, 2008 at 23:10:00

That is great news Dave! Hope the hammy continues to feel better every day. I think with your cross training you have a great shot at running a respectable SGM.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.0010.0010.00

    My hamstring felt great today after yesterdays run but I'm going to rest it from running until Mon. and just run every other day for a few more days. I went on a 15 mile mt. bike ride and then another 15 this evening with my wife. We were just getting home and 5 bucks [ One real nice] were running across my alfalfa field. I hurried into the house and watched them drop off into a ravine. I grabbed my bow and took off after them still wearing my cycling clothes [ shorts and a red shirt] not the normal bowhunting attire.  I put a stock on them as I was being eaten by mosquitos. I ended up 22 yards from the biggest one needing him to take one step in either direction. He turned and walked strait away unaware  that I was ever there. The only direction I couldn't get a shot. I never could get close enough again. Oh well it was exciting.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
12.000.000.000.007.0019.00

    Wow! I seam to be making some faster progress. Finally! This morning I decided to try going 10 miles taking it easy. I finally got to run my favorite route again up past the reservoir where I'm running on dirt road and have some hills. I kept the pace around 8:45 and resisted the temptation to run faster. I took a 4 min. break at mile 3, 6, and 9. After the break at mile 9 I felt good enough to go ahead and run a little extra for a total of 12 miles [ which is nearly all I've been able to run in a whole week lately]. My hamstring felt pretty good. Still had that slight burn in the butt cheek but it seams to be less noticable. The lower part of my hamstring only complained a bit when I tried speeding up a bit on a steeper downhill part and also when I got to the last couple miles I started to get a bit of a tight sensation that went down the back of my hamstring and even the back of my knee and upper calf. It felt a bit like a tightness from swelling but didn't look swollen. It all went away a bit after I finished running so things are looking much better for getting in a good run or two before SGM. I know there is still a lot of healing to be done because I still get a lot of pain from certain simple motions but luckily running slow isn't one of them now. Overall pace was 8:43. I also went for 20 on my mt. bike.

Comments
From JeffC on Mon, Sep 08, 2008 at 16:13:00

Every day you run you seem to get better and better, that is great news! Let's hope it keeps up for the next 4 weeks and you should be good to go.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.0019.0019.00

     This morning I did 55 miles on the mt. bike. I took the same basic route I did last week on my 50 miler up to Thatcher and then down the Onieda Narrows. I went farther up past Thatcher this time to give me the extra 5, so 36 miles were on dirt, 19 on pavement. I had a north wind blowing this morning and since my first 25 miles is basically north I had a headwind all that way not to mention the first 16 has a lot of climbing. When I turned around at Thatcher I had about 4 miles of tailwind but when I entered the Narrows it got calm. By the time I came out the other end of the Narrows the wind had changed and was coming from the south so other than that 4 miles I had either headwind or no wind the entire ride. I averaged 15.5 MPH which is the same as last weeks ride but I worked a lot harder this time because of the wind.. With the sudden buildup in bike miles since my injury my quads have been complaining a bit even on some easy rides. Today I was feeling a bit beat from around mile 25 to 40 but I seemed to get more energy the last 10 to 15 and finished quite strong and felt good afterward.

    I watched some of the LOTOJA riders come through town Saturday and have to admire them going 205 miles. I know this morning another 150 didn't sound to good. Maybe I'm crazy but I'd like to try it some day.

    My ride took 3:30. That makes two days in a row doing 3 hours or more. Cardio wise I should be ready for St George. The question is weather my hamstring will allow me to get in some downhill and marathon paced miles and at least one 20 miler in the next 3 weeks. I had some sore muscles after yesterdays 12 mile run which reminds me how much I've lost the last 5 weeks. Fortunately my hamy seemed ok afterward. I plan to start tapering from the bike miles as I increase my running miles over the next 3 1/2 weeks. I feel like I've got to risk pushing it a bit because if I play it safe I won't be ready to run SGM anyway.

Comments
From JeffC on Tue, Sep 09, 2008 at 15:57:42

You are the king of the bike! You are totally out of control with your biking miles. Great ride! I always find that when I come back to running after a time off I get sore for at least the first week back and then everything is good. Once you get past this initial soreness you should be good.

From Dave S on Tue, Sep 09, 2008 at 16:08:11

I hope so Jeff. I don't have much time to build back up to 20 miles. It's been about 7 weeks since my last 20, which was also my first of the year.

From TylerS on Tue, Sep 09, 2008 at 16:33:39

I would do 200 miles on my feet, before I would do 55 on a bike. My butt becomes so sore after 1 mile on a bike. Great job on the bike. Thanks for the comment.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.000.000.005.0013.00

    This morning I decided to run some hills. I ran 1 1/2 miles and then ran up and down a 1 mile long 6% grade  3 times. I wasn't trying to push it at all just give an even effort up and down. I averaged 7:22 on the 3 downhill miles and 9:01 on the 3 uphill for an ave pace of 8:12 on the 6 miles up and down the hill.  I did work a little harder on the uphill. My hamy felt pretty good just some slight discomfort. My right calf muscle was sore after mondays 12 miler and it tightened up a bit the last couple of miles. At 8 miles it tightened up bad enough that I decided to walk the last 1/2 mile home and not risk making it worse. I really can't afford to deal with another problem right now. I went for 15 miles on the mt. bike.

Comments
From JeffC on Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 11:12:27

I suspect that calf is just not liking the recent pounding you are giving it with the running. Try massaging that calf muscle a bit during the day. I have a roller that I roll my calf on when it gets like that, some people use a think called "the stick." Either way, you need to lossen that thing up a bit.....get the lactic moving.

From JeffC on Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 11:12:52

Very nice hill run by the way!

From Dave S on Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 14:29:16

Jeff, I think your right about the cause and I think I will try some more massage. I've heard people talk about using the stick but I'm not sure what it is. I've got a kids small wood baseball bat I have tried rubbing up and down the muscle. It feels like it's doing the job. I guess?

From JeffC on Thu, Sep 11, 2008 at 14:52:06

The bat sound like a good way to go without spending money on the stick. Sounds like you are accomplishing the same thing. Hope it works. Sometimes massage makes my calfs feel worse for a few days. Never an easy answer to anything is there.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.100.000.000.0010.0014.10

    My calf muscle is still sore today so this morning I ran a real easy 2.6 miles at 9:54 pace to see if it would loosen up at all. It didn't seem to help but didn't make it any worse either. I'm hoping to do a 16 or 17 mile run at a very very easy pace Saturday. I'm more worried that the calf might stop me than my hamstring.

    I went a little over 30 miles on the mt. bike in 2 hours. My legs must be getting used to the higher bike mileage. They don't seem to be complaining as much as last week. Climbed to the top of the pass on the way to Thatcher again. My calf actually felt a little better after the ride.

    PM ran 1.5 easy

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

    I still have a sore calf muscle so I decided to not run today. As of now it looks like I better not do my long run tomorrow unless this gets feeling better quickly. This seems kind of crazy. The only time I've had lingering calf pain like this was after my two marathons and it took a few days to go away. 

     Did a 20 mile mountain bike ride.

Comments
From Bob on Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 15:34:42

Dave - How often are you stretching, icing, and massaging the injured area? I would get proactive with this and try running on a treadmill (focusing on lift up the feet after stance phase to lessen push off) until you are 100%. You are obviously dedicated because you are hitting the cross training. Many runners drop everything when injury strikes. Great job, keep being stubborn, and start working on that calf.

From Dave S on Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 00:47:19

Bob, thanks for the ideas. I have actually been stretching, icing and self messaging daily. It is the lifting of my foot that has bothered my hamstring since tearing it 6 weeks ago. You may have hit the nail on the head on the cause of the calf pain coming from the extra pushoff Ive been giving to make the lift easier. My hamstring pain is nearly gone and I need to focus on a normal stride again.

From Bob on Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 19:02:46

Dave - Just hang in there and keep working the crosstraining when needed. I've had my share of injuries! I didn't know you blew a hamstring, which led to a calf strain. Unfortunately, that's easy to do because of body biomechanics and compensation for injury. For rehab I found standing single leg curls using ankle weights, bridges, windmills, and double leg curls using a exercise ball as some good exercises for the hamstrings. I don't do all of those in one session, but just pick a couple and do 2-3 sets. I do standard single calf raises off a step as well. I also stretch in the morning and before bed everyday. You probably already know all this. I just know how frustrating it is and want to give you some of the ideas I've learned over the years.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
20.100.000.000.000.0020.10

    I wasn't sure what to expect today. I wanted to do a long run hopfully 16 or 17 miles. My hamstring has been allowing me to run [ as long as it's not to fast] but my calf has been a problem since mondays run and worse after wed. run. I decided to just run real easy and stop at the first sign of a problem and put it off till next week if I had to. I decided to take 1 min. walk breaks every 1/2 mile and take a 10 min. break about every 5 miles. I figured I could get in more miles that way and recover faster. I went 4 miles before my first break which turned into a 1 hour break [after getting side tracked] so really a seperate run. Then I took 10 min breaks at miles 9 and 14 and a 5 min break at mile 18. I felt as good at 18 as I did at 14 so I ran another 2 to make it 20. I ran for 3:10 at 9:25 pace [ not counting the 4 breaks] I figure I lose 1 min. per mile walking so my actual running pace was probably around 8:25. I may have been dumb to do this but I feel fine now. After nearly 5 weeks of next to no running, I went from 4 miles [ with a break in the middle] a week ago monday  to 5 wed. [with break] then 7 fri. then 12 this mon. then 8 wed. to 20 today. If I can get through that without injury I'll be amazed. But with the marathon in 3 weeks I've only got 2 weeks to get in some good runs. Gotta risk it a little I guess. I was running 70 a week just before the injury so hopfully thats not all gone. My calf was slightly sore but never got any worse maybe even felt better at the end. Hammy had a bit of a burn going about like normal. It got a little worse at the end but felt fine after I quit.

Comments
From JeffC on Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 10:37:56

That's some pretty good news there Dave! I hope the hammy and calf recovered well from all those miles and that you are able to get a couple more good weeks in before a little bit of taper.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.003.008.00

    Went on a 5 mile run at 8:44 pace. I felt pretty good other than the slight back pain I ran with for 2 or 3 months earlier this year was there again. Hopfully this won't get worse. Kept the run easy. Using lots of ice. It's amazing how months of good training can disappear after 4 or 5 weeks away from it. I ran up and down 1 mile of 6% grade one time during the run. down in 7:57 back up in 8:45 which was the only hard mile I put in.  Felt like MP effort on that mile.. Hammy felt fine. It seems to let me run all the easy miles I want without problems but I know it's not all recovered because there are some motions that are still quite painfull. 

    Went for 10 miles on the mountain bike. may do more later.

Comments
From JeffC on Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 15:23:10

How is that calf doing? Is it still tight or were you able to loosen it up? Great hill workout by the way! Sounds like a killer hill!

From Dave S on Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 00:16:46

My calf is doing pretty good. It has improved a lot and hopfully won't return. I don't know if you remember the hills north of Town where the highway drops down into the Bear River bottoms to cross the river. I can run about a mile from home to one of them. I seem to end up biking them alot also.

From JeffC on Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 10:51:25

Is that were they have that little historical sight marker for some battle that took place or something like that?

Glad to hear the calf is feeling better, I bet it will continue to improve.

From Dave S on Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 15:50:30

Yes. That's the place.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.0019.0019.00

    I did the long bike ride again today one last time before SGM. 56 miles on my mt. bike. 36 on dirt and 20 paved. I went a little farther than last week. I went at a pretty hard pace the whole ride expecially the last hour and a half. The ride took 3:25. Ave 16.1 MPH. I felt pretty strong the whole ride not like the last 2 weeks when I tired out in  different sections. I don't know how much this will help in the marathon but I figure keeping my HR up pretty good for 3 1/2 hours should help since I can't do it running yet. My back is still a little sore and with yesterdays easy run and no run today I'm hoping not to risk making it worse.

Comments
From JeffC on Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 17:31:11

Dude, your rides are out of control. While your running legs may not be there for SGM you certainly have the fitness to run it. Sounds like your running SGM is a for sure thing then? If it's for sure do you have a time goal or just run and enjoy?

From Dave S on Tue, Sep 16, 2008 at 20:14:42

I don't know if I dare say sure thing until I'm on the start line the way things have been going [If you know what I mean]. It's hard to walk the line between getting as much running fitness back as I can in the next 2 weeks and not overdoing it. As far as a time goal right now I have no idea. I really haven't run anything faster than 8:00 pace yet and mostly over 8:20. I did run three downhill miles last week in around 7:20 but that was pretty steep. It didn't feel to bad though. I'm a little nervous about faster pace too quickly after what I went through with my last hamstring issue. It was trying to run fast that kept me from recovering that time [it took about 6 months] although I think it was a different type of injury. It was more of a tendonites that came from overuse rather than a tear that happened all at once like this time. It was on the same side. Before my injury I was thinking I could realisticly go comfortably under 3 hours [Sashas race predicter had me at 2:53 and I was still improving]. Part of me thinks I still want to shoot for sub 3 but when I really think about it and all the long runs and tempo runs and downhill runs I missed and the fact that I haven't even run a MP mile in 6 weeks and probably won't for another week I would be real happy with 3:10 or 15. 3:10 was my goal early in the year. I guess next week after trying some MP miles I might have a better idea. I will probably only end up taking a 1 week taper or less so that won't help either.

I'm trying to decide whether to try another 20 this saturday real easy like last saturday and then maybe 17 with some fast miles thrown in the next week or just wait till next week and try 20 and running a little harder. Any thoughts ?

From JeffC on Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 00:11:17

Dave..my thoughts are if you are thinking of running close to 3:15 you better dang well jump in our little pace group we've got lined up with me huans32, mikewarren and a couple others. I also don't think you will require much of a taper so those extra long runs would probably do you some good. I think if you took it easy the week before the marathon you would be just fine. Think about the pace group, we would love to have you and I would like to meet you so I can put a face with a name. Best of luck these next couple of weeks. Train smart and listen to your body.

From Dave S on Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 13:27:21

Jeff, I'd love to run with you guys. I'll have to see how next week goes and get a better idea of what I should shoot for. Part of me still can't let go of trying for 3 hours but it's probably not likely for me this time.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.003.000.000.000.009.00

    I went over to Weston canyon this morning to try some hill running. My wife dropped me off at the top of a 3 mile stretch of the canyon that climbs about 480 feet, not to steep, then parked the car at the bottom while she walked up the canyon. I didn't plan to go to hard and just go with how I felt. The first 3 miles downhill I averaged 7:22 pace.  I ran back up at 8:25 pace [a little harder effort than down]. I headed back down and picked up the pace a bit. It felt ok so I went with it. Last 3 miles 6:49 pace. My back was a little sore mostly downhill but not bad. My calf tightened up a bit again seemed to be from the uphill. My hamstring had the same slight burn throughout but did get more intense at the end of the faster downhill but felt fine afterward and still does. My calf and back are still a little tight. That is by far the fastest I have run in the 6 weeks since my hamstring injury. Pace for all 9 miles was 7:32. I haven't averaged faster than 8:20 on a run post injury [ although 2/3 of the run was downhill]. The last three felt ok but no way felt like I could go 26 mi. at that pace but considering I did  3 1/2  hard hours on the bike yesterday I guess I can't complain. I think it was a real good workout as long as I didn't make anything worse. I guess I'll know by tomorrow.  It seemed odd to finally put down some miles that weren't in the easy column.

Comments
From JeffC on Wed, Sep 17, 2008 at 15:07:42

Great workout Dave! Hopefully tomorrow everything will feel good and you will be able to pick up where you left off today.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.007.008.00

    We made a trip to Jackson Hole for a couple days. My wife had a confrence to attened for her work. My hamstring and calf felt fine today after yesterdays faster miles but my back is bothering me again. I brought my mt. bike on the trip and went for a 20 mile ride on the backroad of the elk refuge.  Later I ran 1 mile on the treadmill at the hotel.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

    This morning I went for another 20 on the mt. bike. I road at a tempo type effort most off the way. The sun wasn't up when I left and there was ice on the cars. I took off in shorts figuring I would be plenty warm enough after 10 or so minutes like running but the wind created from riding kept my legs quite cold until way after sun up. My back felt a bit better and I was planning to run after but my son wanted to hike to the top of the snow king mountain at the ski resort. It gains about 2000 feet in 2 miles. We hiked up at a pretty brisk pace. I wore my garmin and my heartrate was about like it would be doing 8:45 pace. Probably good cross training. We went back down very quickly mostly at a light run. I never did get a chance to run the rest of the day. Hope to get in a decent run tomorrow. Whatever my back will allow.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
12.000.000.000.000.0012.00

    I went for a 12 mile run this morning. My back was a little sore to start but after about 2 miles it was fine. The first 4 miles I ran at 8:24 pace. Then I picked it up and did 7 1/2 miles at 7:27 pace. For right now this may be my MP. My HR is noticeably higher at this pace than it was pre injury. I was running about 6:50 pace at the same HR. I felt a slight pain in my calf throughout that didn't get much worse but I have a feeling it may be a bit of an issue in the marathon. My hamstring also started to get a bit of discomfort the last few miles like it got at the end of wednesdays run. Last week I ran 44 miles after 14 the week before. This week I was hoping for 55 or 60. With my back acting up I wound up with a grand total of 27 miles for the week. I feel very unready for SGM in 2 weeks. My back feels pretty good right now but I suspect tomorrow it will be sore again. Overall pace for 12 miles 7:47

Comments
From JeffC on Sun, Sep 21, 2008 at 18:30:36

Looks like you've had a good trip to Jackson. I've only ever been there one time but I loved it. Hope those little pains stop being a pain and you get everything feeling good for the big show.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
10.000.000.000.000.0010.00

    Ran 10 miles this morning in a light rain. It was nice. It's been a rare thing this past summer. Just went at an easy comfortable pace 8:51 ave. My back is feeling better. It's still slightly sore but much better than last week. My hamstring didn't bother me at all at that pace but my calf is still complaining a bit. I'm hoping to do a 20 miler Wed. or thur. if my body will allow it.

Comments
From JeffC on Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 11:02:24

Glad to hear you are feeling better, good luck with the 20 miler in a few days, I hope it goes well.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.0010.0010.00

    Went for 30 mile mt. bike ride this morning. 32 degrees to start. Warmed up to about 55.

Comments
From JeffC on Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 10:57:03

Man it's freezing up there right now. We are finally down to the low 70s every morning now. It still gets close to 100 every day.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
23.000.000.000.002.0025.00

    Today I wanted to get in  one more long run before SGM since my mileage has been so minimal since my injury.  I wanted to get in as many miles as I could but at the same time make it a run I could recover from as quickly as possible with the marathon 10 days away. I decided start out taking walk breaks to hopfully aid in a quicker recovery. Temp started at 30 deg and around 60 at finish. Perfect. I felt good today. One of those mornings where your pace ends up being faster than you think your running. I started out walking 1 min. every 1/2 mile. for the first 10 miles I averaged right at 9 min. pace. Since I figure I lose about a minute each mile from the walking my running was at 8 min. pace. Miles 10 thru 15 I was at 8:34 pace[7:34 pace during running time]. At mile 15 I stopped taking the walk breaks and ran the next 5 [up to mile 20] at 7:28 pace. I was suprised how good I still felt at 20 so I slowed the pace a little and went 3 more at 8:13 pace. A lot more fatigue started setting in on the last 1 1/2 but normal for the end of a run that long. My hamstring felt as good as it has on any run since the injury and my calf did pretty good too but my back complained a bit throughout the run more than it has on the last couple of runs. I hope it doesn't mean I have another flareup coming. I took ibuprofin afterward and have been icing it a lot and crossing my fingers. This run went much better than I expected and I hardley feel beat up from it considering my lack of mileage the past 7 weeks [as of yesterday] since I tore the hamstring. I'm hoping to get in one good MP run on Saturday and a few easy runs over the next 8 days and thats about as ready as I can get. I feel like I have just reached the point I can start training normal again. Oh what I would like to do with another 6 or 8 weeks. Maybe next time. 

    Overall pace 8:28 time 3:15:02

    PM  Went 7 miles on my bike to help keep lose.

Comments
From JeffC on Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 11:10:15

Wow!! That is a very encouraging run! I'm glad you were able to get in one more good long run before the marathon to boost the confidence. Hopefully the back will recover well and the rest of the body as well. Make sure to take it really easy the next few days to get a full recovery before the big day. You've come a long way in the past 7 weeks.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.005.005.00

    I went out bowhunting elk this morning. my back was a little sore when I got up this morning so I took some ibuprofin before I left. I did some hiking and everything felt normal after yesterdays long run [maybe the ibuprofin].  Later I did a 15 mile bike ride. Felt great.

Comments
From JeffC on Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 10:52:23

I'll be waiting for my Elk steaks on October 4 :) That sounds like a lot of fun. Do you hunt anywhere around the Preston area? I have been deer hunting a few times when I was 12 and we lived there but I have never been elk hunting.

From Dave S on Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 14:20:44

I'm mostly hunting the mountains nearby although I haven't been out much this year. It makes it hard to hunt in September with an Oct. 4 marathon and earlier when I went, the hiking over rough terrain and deadfall was tough on the bad hammy. I'll work on the steaks though but if I get one I'm not sure packing 4 or 5 loads of elk meat out will be the best thing to be doing right before a marathon.

From JeffC on Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 14:40:41

I was only kidding about the elk steaks.....you better not be packing elk meat out of the hills anytime soon....unless of course it is a trophy elk. You just take it easy on that hammy and let the healing continue.

From Dave S on Fri, Sep 26, 2008 at 14:52:02

I do have a couple horses but I haven't had much time for them this summer and they arn't shod. I did get an elk last year and didn't bother to use them and was pretty beat by the time I finished packing the elk out myself. Last year it was right after my marathon so it didn't matter. This year I might just have to break out the horses even if they arn't ready to go if I were to get one.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.000.005.00

    Ran 5 miles at an easy recovery 9:05 pace. Everything felt pretty good even my back felt better. I thing I accomplished the quick recovery I was hoping for after Wednesdays 23 miler. Tomorrow I am hoping to run som MP miles if everything feels good. I know it's getting close to the marathon but since I haven't been able to do much until now I'm hoping it will do more good than harm and I still have next week to recover and taper a little.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.009.000.000.000.0010.00

    I wanted to get in some MP miles and some downhill miles to try and get a better idea of where I'm at fitness wise and how I should pace myself for the marathon saturday. I went over to Weston canyon and ran down a 3 mile stretch of the canyon. It's mostly only a 1 to 2% grade for all but about the last 600 meters that is closer to 6%. My wife and son went along to walk as far as they could get before I picked them up so they could drop me off and park the car back at the bottom again. This gave me a 4 min. break between each 3 miles run. I ran the first 3 at 6:55 pace. The next 3 at 6:45 pace and the third 3 at 6:48 pace. 6:50 pace for all 9 miles. I had good news and bad news from this run. The good is that it didn't bother my back or calf or any of the other little aches and pains that I have been dealing with from trying to rebuild running fitness to quickly. The bad is that I am way behind where I was at in July. In July I did this run and was running closer to 6:20 pace at a similar HR and effort. The worse news is that my lower hamstring got very tight right at the end. It seamed to come from the last 6% grade hill where I kind of sped up and let fly down the hill. It felt ok later after icing it so I don't think I did any damage but it tells me I better watch my pace down the hills next week. If it wasn't for the hamstring I didn't feel that tired and felt I could have gone a lot farther. Probably my biking has me in a lot better cardio shape than the shape my lack of running has my legs in.  I do have some excuses I can throw in about possibilties why the effort was hard for the pace. I did go hunting Fri night and Sat. morning and did a lot of hiking. After returning from the morning hunt I ate a whole lot of waffles shortly before running and could feel the effects the whole run. And there was also a substantial headwind the whole way. Unfortunatly I can't find a good reason why the hamstring pain might not be there next week. On the long run I did wednesday my hamstring didn't bother me at  all and I did a lot in the 7:20 to 7:25 pace range but it was more flat. I guess it was good to find this out now as it will definatly affect how I approach the race.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.000.001.00

    My lower hamstring was a little sore yesterday and still is today after Saturdays run. It seemed to be the steeper downhill when I picked up the pace to around 6:35 pace that got the hammy burning.  I guess it was good to find out when I did or I would have been a DNF next Saturday [which could happen anyway]. When I finished last saturdays run I was planning a cooldown mile and had to pass on it because of the tightness.  I think I need to keep everything above 7:00 pace and maybe close to 7:20.  Hopfully with a good easy week my injury will at least be back to where it was before that last run.

    This morning I went hunting and did about 2 1/2 hours of hiking. After I got home I ran 1 mile at 8:50 pace but decided to leave it at that for the day.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.005.005.00

    I went hunting again last night and this morning. Real close to getting a nice bull this morning. Today's the last day of the bowhunt. My hamstring didn't bother me hiking this morning like it did yesterday. I did a 15 mile mt. bike ride after I got home. I'll try running some more tomorrow. I want to get the hamstring as healed as possible this week.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.250.000.000.000.005.25

    Ran 5.25 miles. Just wanted to keep it easy and comfortable around 8:30 pace but my pace ended up being a little faster than it felt and everything felt good probably because I haven't run since saturday after I made the hamstring sore again. It felt good today and I felt like running a couple miles around 7:00 pace but resisted the urge because I felt the risk of reagravating the hammy outweighed any possible benefit at this point. Average pace ended up at 7:59 for 5 miles. I'll probably do one more easy run tomorrow and either take fri. off or something very short.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.000.004.00

    Ran 4 miles this morning at 8:35 pace. I felt fresh and ready to go and felt like going faster. My back, calf and hamstring all felt great. I'm not even going to attempt sub 3 Saturday after my hamstring flareup last Sat. I plan to keep everything above 7 min. pace closer to 7:25 pace. Under the circumstances I would be very happy with 3:15. My PR is 3:24:59 so lowering that by any amount would be good. I plan to go out very conservative and if my hamstring is doing good late [and my legs in general after my lack of mileage latley] I might try to pick it up a bit. I have really only had 2 good training weeks in 9 weeks of only 44 and 48 miles running and about 55 miles total for the other 7 weeks combined. I am glad to just be making the start line and wasn't very sure that would happen until last week. 3 1/2 weeks ago I was considering canceling for gauranteed entry next year so I already feel somewhat successful. I'm not planning a run tomorrow we have about a 7 or 8 hour drive. Hope to see and meet some of you there.

Race: St George Marathon (26.2 Miles) 03:14:05
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.0026.200.000.000.0026.20

    The wind and the rain turned out to be the story of the day. I went into this race figuring I would be very happy with a 3:15 finish after tearing my hamstring badley nearly 9 weeks ago. I wasn't sure I would make the start line until the last couple of weeks. In the past 9 weeks I only got in 2 good weeks running in the 40s mileage wise and 1 week in the 20s. I did do a ton of biking though while I couldn't run. I only did any MP miles the last week and a half before marathon week.

    The race started very dark in the rain with a driving headwind that never quit. I enjoyed the rain and temperature but definatly could have done without the headwind.  I decided I was going to just start out at a pace that would be good enough for 3:15 and after the halfway point see how I felt and go from there. The pace felt very easy to me the first 10 or 11 miles and it was tempting to pick up the pace but I resisted. In an MP run one week before the race, my hamstring tightened right up to the point I had to quit running and I didn't want to risk that happening today. As I got close to the half I started feeling the effects of my low mileage a bit and the pace quit feeling so easy. I crossed the half in 1:37:06. Pretty much on target.

     Around miles 14 and 15 my hammy started to tighten slightly, but worse than that was my quads starting to get sore. My hamstring never got any worse but my quads seemed to get worse with each mile. With about 4 miles to go my calves joined the party and started to compete with my quads to see who could cause me the most discomfort. I still felt like I had plenty of energy but my legs sure were hurting. I just tried to maintain the pace the best I could for those last miles.

    Here are my splits :

1-  7:09

2-  7:18

3-  7:01

4-  7:06

5-  7:10

6-  6:54

7-  6:53

8-  8:09

9-  7:55

10- 7:44

11- 8:01

12- 7:38

13- 7:13

14- 7:26

15- 7:02

16- 7:03

17- 7:25

18- 7:32

19- 8:05

20- 7:17

21- 6:58

22- 7:34

23- 7:26

24- 7:14

25- 7:32

26- 7:28

26.2-6:32 pace

With my lack of mileage the past few weeks I was expecting sore leg muscles I just didn't expect it to start so early in the race. I was training toward a sub 3 before my injury but all in all I was quite happy with 3:14 considering all the conditions. It was an 11 minute PR for me so I guess I can't complain.

Comments
From Robert on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 12:17:20

Great job! A PR is a PR and when you can lower it by 11 min. in difficult weather then you were definitely doing something right. No second guessing what could have been, rejoice in your effort and mental fortitude. Fully recover and treat the Mrs. to a nice dinner.

From JeffC on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 13:40:56

Wow!! Great run and great time. Considering all you've been through over the last couple of months you should be very happy with this performance. Sorry we weren't able to hook up before the race. Maybe next time. Congratulations!

From Tom on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 13:46:41

Dave this is a great race! With these tough conditions and with all the injury issues you've gotta be pretty pleased about it.

It was great to meet you face-to-face and chat a bit.

From Terry on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 14:48:36

Dave, You ran a very smart race. From the sounds of it you did everthing just about right for your lack of training the last couple of months.

I'm hoping you and a few of the other bloggers will go for the sub 3 next year because you all have the potential if it wasn't for those darn injuries and headwind.

From Matt on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 23:05:31

Dave,

Likewise it was fun running with you. You did great. We will probably bump into each other again soon and I will let Kent & Debbie know I bumped into you. I usually am not so conversational but you seemed to help me make the mile go by quickly. Thanks again and Congrats on a great time I think you are a stud.

From josse on Mon, Oct 06, 2008 at 23:31:31

Great job on the PR!!! I remeber seeing you quite a bit throughout the marathon. I keep thinking you were Cal and then I would catch up, nope someone else. I should have said Hi but was to miserable to talk.

From rivertonpaul on Thu, Oct 09, 2008 at 10:59:31

Great job, and belated congrats.

From Adam RW on Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 09:45:59

Great job on a significant PR on a horrible day.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

    We spent Saturday night in Mesquite. Did some swimming in the hotel pool in the morning. It felt good on the sore muscles. Also did some walking and enjoyed nice Buffets with my wife and son Sat. night and Sun. morning.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

Rest . Quads and calves are very sore.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.005.005.00

    I did a 15 mile mt. bike ride this morning. It felt good. I was planning to take it easy but it felt good to ride some of it aggressive and felt I could have gone a lot farther. My calves don't feel much like running yet. Maybe tomorrow.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.500.000.000.000.003.50

    Ran 3.5 miles this morning at 8:42 pace. Everythings feeling pretty good. Could very slightly feel the hamstring but now that I have no pressure to push things to get ready for the marathon I think it will quickly heal the rest of the way.

Comments
From JeffC on Fri, Oct 10, 2008 at 11:03:28

Hey, glad to hear you are recovering well. Hope that hammy starts improving now. What's up next for you?

From Dave S on Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 14:05:03

Painters 1/2 in Jan. is the next big one I'm shooting for and maybe a local 5k in nov. How about you?

From JeffC on Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 14:17:32

Are you doing the runner's series for a guaranteed entry in to SGM next year? I will be at Painter's but I plan to do the Valley of Fire Half in November and the Las Vegas Marathon in December.

From Dave S on Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 14:41:11

I wanted to do the runners series but went to sign up mon. and they already had reached the 500 limit.

Boy it looks like you've got 2 more big ones lined up the next 2 months. If you can keep those injuries at you should do great.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

    Went fishing all day.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.000.000.000.000.007.00

    Went for a 7 mile run this morning. It was 34 degrees and snowing calmly it was really nice. I even wore shorts. Everything felt quite recovered after the marathon. I could still feel something slight in my calves and hamstring. I wouldn't call it pain but just a slight reminder of what they did a week ago. I guess winter is about here.  I was suprised how much higher my HR was on this mornings run. I don't know if it's because I pretty much took this week off from running and cycling or that I am still recovering from the marathon.

8:28 pace

    Yesterday morning it was 19 degrees and I had to kick on the furnace for the first time this year.

Comments
From Robert on Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 13:36:51

Hi Dave. Jeesh, 19 dgs!!! That's a bit frosty. It was 55 and sunny here this morning. Take care.

From Dave S on Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 13:59:22

55 and sunny for running can't be beat

From JeffC on Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 14:35:24

I nice calm run in the falling snow sounds very nice. I'm just glad I don't have to endure the upcoming winter that you guys get in the coming days and weeks.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.001.000.000.000.0010.00

    This morning it was 19 deg. but no wind so not to bad. I ran 10 miles up around the reservoir. It was nice with the sun coming up and shining on all the cottenwood leaves that are turning yellow and  the steam coming off the lake and nobody else around. I ran the first 5 at 8:24 pace and the last 5 at 7:33 pace [last mile was 7:06]. 7:58 pace overall.

    I'm feeling pretty recovered from SGM. I could still feel some very slight soreness in my calves the second half but I didn't even feel a hint of anything from my hamstring. There are still certain moves that cause pain in my hammy but hopfully it won't be an issue while running anymore.

Comments
From JeffC on Tue, Oct 14, 2008 at 11:08:35

Great News! Hope you continue to feel better and better.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

    Went for a 20 mile mt. bike ride this morning. Temps in the 20s. A few miles of my route were just graded which makes for slow going with the loose gravel.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
10.000.000.000.000.0010.00

    Ran 10 miles at 8:09 pace. I didn't run until 9 o'clock and the temp was up to 34 and sunny with no wind. Ideal running weather. Wore shorts and had to lose the sweatshirt after a couple miles. There's probably not to many of these mornings left before winter.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

    20 miles on the mt. bike this morning. 29 deg. at start with no wind and a few snowflakes. About 6 miles of my route got graded yesterday and the lose gravel makes for a lot more effort. There's not much traffic so it takes a while to pack it back down. One advantage in the cold is cold water in the water bottle. When it's over 80 degrees even a frozen waterbottle gets so hot it's almost nasty after an hour or two.

    I feel pretty recovered from the marathon but I still want to be carefull at least for another week. I think I'll keep running every other day [like I did recovering from my injury] for just a bit longer to be safe.

   

Comments
From JeffC on Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 10:56:51

29 degrees and riding a bike have to make for a pretty cold ride.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.005.005.00

     I went for a 15 mile bike ride with my wife. Nice weather. I've got a pain in my right hip that started Wednesday night that hopfully is nothing but it reminds me of a pain I had in my left hip 2 years ago that I had to battle for months. I really hate skipping a run but I decided the possible risk outweighed the benefit of even a short run. I may end up skipping tomorrow also but I'm going hunting and will be doing a lot of hiking. Hopfully by monday this will be nipped in the bud. I guess I jumped the gun in thinking I was completely recovered from the marathon.

Comments
From Robert on Fri, Oct 17, 2008 at 17:53:27

I'd skip the running. Take it easy. You deserve a break. As I've always said, we long distance runners are hard on ourselves too often.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

     No running again.  My son and I went deer hunting in the morning and did 3 1/2 hours of hiking. Then our pheasasnt hunt opened at noon and we did another 2 1/2 hours. I'm guessing we covered less than 10 miles but I felt much more worn out than running 10. My hip seems to be slightly better [all the hiking probably wasn't the greatest for it but it didn't make it worse].

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.500.000.000.005.0011.50

     This morning I ran 6.5 miles at 8:30 pace. My hip felt good running other than a slight soreness the first 1/4 mile. I felt real good and was tempted to go farther and faster but resisted the urge. I wanted a little more workout so I went on a 15 mile mt bike ride.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

     Mt. biked 20 miles.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.000.000.000.008.00

     This morning it was 17 degrees. A bit chilly after the last 2 nice mornings in the 40s. I ran 8 miles at 8:22 pace. My hip is feeling better. It really doesn't hurt much when I run but afterward it is a bit sore doing some simple moves like getting out of the car. As long as it continues improving I think I'll keep running easy every other day and biking in between.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.0010.0010.00

     This morning I went 30.5 miles on the mountain bike. The temp started at 18 deg but warmed to a nice sunny 43.

Comments
From JeffC on Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 11:07:11

You are a mad man on the bike.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
10.000.000.000.000.0010.00

     Ran a relaxed 10 miles this morning at 8:33 pace. 24 deg. and calm. As of last weekend I had gained 5 lbs in the 2 weeks since the marathon. I hadn't been eating more overall but probably a bit more junk in combination with the reduced mileage. This week I have increased the training time back up a bit and I've dropped a couple lbs back off already.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.000.001.00

     Ran 1 mile out to get the newspaper this morning. Was going to do some more later but never got the chance. My hip still isn't 100% so the extra break might be good anyway.

Comments
From Robert on Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 19:37:06

I'd hate to shovel your driveway!!

From Dave S on Mon, Oct 27, 2008 at 11:00:51

I have a plow for my truck and a tractor I use. The plow usually goes pretty quick but when it drifts bad it can be quite a challenge.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.000.000.000.000.006.00

     Yesterday I had a stomach virus. Spent the day in bed and couldn't eat. I felt better this morning and was able to eat breakfast so I went for a 6 mile run. I felt a little weak but the cold air felt good and running felt good as long as I went easy. 9:02 pace.

Comments
From JeffC on Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 10:28:21

The stomach thing has been going through my house too, hope I don't end up with it. Get well soon man.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.000.000.000.007.009.00

     Went on a 20 mile mt. bike ride this morning.  I didn't go until about 9:30 and it had warmed into the 40s. Nice morning with no wind. All the leaves have changed. It made for a nice ride. I'm still feeling the affects of Sundays stomach problems a bit but much better. It was a quick way to loose the rest of the weight I'd gained the 2 weeks following the marathon although not the preferred method. I just went at a moderate pace it took just over 1:20 I rode by a pheasant hunter and was a bit jealous on such a nice morning. My son just got his first pheasant and was quite excited about it. He had several chances last year and was usually to slow to get a shot off. Now that's all he wants to do. 

PM ran 2 miles with my son at 9:36 pace.

Comments
From JeffC on Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 10:03:24

Your jealous? I'm the one who should be jealous, there aren't pheasants in my back yard like in yours. You lucky dog.

From Dave S on Wed, Oct 29, 2008 at 12:53:20

I'm jealous of your winter running weather. Although I don't know how you do it in the summer.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.000.000.000.000.009.00

     I went for an easy 6 miles this morning at 8:16 pace. I can't quite seem to shake this hip problem.  I would like to get my running mileage back up around 60 a week for 6 or 7 weeks before the Painters 1/2 mar. in January but I don't want to start building back up until my hip is at least improving. It's kind of an odd pain and I'm not sure if I even need to worry about it because it dosen't hurt when I run or walk but the days after I run I will get a sharp pain from making just the wrong move. It seems to be expecially bad after sitting a while. After a long ride in a car I will get a very sharp sudden pain when I go to get up. Stretching the area seems to make it worse. It feels better on my non running days. I'm cutting the mileage of my runs lower this week and if I see no improvement I may not run at all for a few days or a week.

PM    Ran 3 miles with my son at 10:08 pace.

Comments
From JeffC on Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 10:03:25

Weird pains! I hope you are able to solve it soon. Still plenty of time before Painter's so better to rest now than get worse later.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.000.000.000.0010.0012.00

     30 miles on the mt. bike this morning. 26 deg. to start and a sunny 42 to finish. very calm  except a stiff headwind climbing up the canyon to Thatcher summit made for a lot of work and slow going but fast back down.

PM    ran 2 miles easy.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.000.000.000.000.007.00

     This morning I meant to run 6 miles but wasn't paying attention and wound up with 7. I've been keeping my runs shorter this week and my hip seems to be getting a little better. Kept it easy again at 8:32 pace.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.100.000.000.000.008.10

     I went down to Logan this morning to the First Dam Run. I had been thinking about running the 5k but havn't been wanting to risk my hamstring recovery yet with any speedwork. My son had wanted to do it also so I decided to run it with him. He had a nice start and appeared to be running comfortably the first mile which is all up hill and we finished it in 8:30. Right at the end of that mile he suddenly didn't feel so good and started to walk. He was afraid he might puke. He picked up running again and I know he was in pain but he kept pushing on. The rest of the race was all downhill or level. He was a little slower on those 2 miles but I'm proud of him for giving it what he had and not quiting. He actually came up with a good little sprint at the end and passed a few people. He got 2nd in his age group. His blog name is melosh and you can read his report there.  Got to meet Jon and Marci, Cody, Joe, and Lisa P from the blog.

PM   ran 5 easy miles 8:19 pace.  I plan to keep next weeks runs easy and short again.

Comments
From Jon on Sat, Nov 01, 2008 at 17:45:56

It was nice to meet you today, Dave. I'm sure we'll see you at other races around here.

From Melosh on Sat, Nov 01, 2008 at 18:39:51

Yeah, thanks for the comment.

From cody on Sun, Nov 02, 2008 at 10:57:44

What a good dad to run with Bryson. I was able to run with my dad for only 1 race before his body said no more. Lots of memories for you and him.

I will probably see you in Smithfield....

From JeffC on Mon, Nov 03, 2008 at 11:04:04

Congratulations to you and especially your son. It's tough to fight through when you feel like crap, shows a lot of mental and physical toughness. Where does the first dam run start and finish? I went to school at USU and know the area pretty well.

From Dave S on Mon, Nov 03, 2008 at 15:34:25

Jeff, It starts at Merlin Olsen Park just south of the temple then goes up canyon drive. The 10k goes up to first dam then back down to join the 5k course. The 5k turns off 1 mile up and loops around the block and back to the park. It was a very pretty course with all the color in the trees and leaves on the ground and temps were perfect.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.250.000.750.000.008.00

     This morning I ran 8 miles. I took most of it easy but then went down and back up the mile long hill on the highway and then in the last 2 miles I threw in a little fartlek with 1/4 mile at 6:20 to 6:30 pace then 1/4 back to around 8:20 pace 3 times just to see how running that pace felt. It's been such a long time since I/ve run that pace [about 3 months since my injury]  that it felt much faster than it was but felt good.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.000.000.000.000.006.00

     This mornings run started out with a lot of rain and a nice headwind. Brought back memories of SGM except it was about 20 deg. colder [33] and  at the halfway point I got to turn around and make it a tailwind. It also changed to a wet snow halway through. Decided not to do the bike today.  It wasn't to bad though wearing a couple tech shirts and a fleece pullover I stayed comfortable. Went 6 miles and kept the pace very easy at 8:56 pace.

Comments
From JeffC on Wed, Nov 05, 2008 at 11:07:34

Yikes!! Ran, wind and snow. I'm way to much of a wimp to handle running in those conditions. Way to get out there and tough it out.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.008.0012.00

     Rode 23 miles on the mt. bike this morning in a little falling snow at times.

PM     Ran 4 miles easy at 8:48 ave. 

Comments
From JeffC on Thu, Nov 06, 2008 at 11:10:26

Riding in the snow and running, you are an animal. Hope your aches and pains are feeling better.

From Dave S on Thu, Nov 06, 2008 at 12:36:39

Jeff, everything is feeling pretty good right now. I still feel a little out of my hip and hamstring but they are feeling better all the time.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.005.000.000.000.0010.00

     It was 15 deg. this morning but the sun was coming up and it was calm so I ran in shorts which was a little chilly to start but after 3 miles I was glad I had and was sweating and had to take off my sweatshirt. Even though it was still cold It was nice with the sun shining. Everything felt good this morning so I picked up the pace a bit more than my runs the last couple weeks. I ran 10 miles. First 5 miles I ran at 7:51 pace. The last 5 at 7:03 pace. Overall pace 7:27. Temp  was up to a balmy 29 at the end.

Comments
From Robert on Thu, Nov 06, 2008 at 14:12:43

Great run Dave!

From JeffC on Fri, Nov 07, 2008 at 10:58:35

Very nice run! A little cold for my taste but very nice. If it's not windy it's probably manageable.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

     20 miles on the mountain bike on a windy morning with a very light blowing snow.

Comments
From Jon on Sat, Nov 08, 2008 at 15:03:17

Mountain biking in the snow and wind? Wow, I hope you have some warm gloves.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

     I played basketball this morning for 2 hours for the first time this season. I was planning to run afterward but my back was a little sore and I decided to play it safe and skip the run and take a rest day tomorrow.

Comments
From JeffC on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 10:57:33

I haven't played basketball in nearly two years. The last time I played I left with a severe sprained ankle and vowed never to play again. We'll see. Church ball is starting up this week, but I'm not even tempted with LVM coming up in 4 weeks.

From Dave S on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 23:17:57

That ward ball can be dangerous. I need to use my head and not start out with 2 hours the first time.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.000.000.000.008.00

     I didn't get time to run until after dark this evening. My back was sore after playing basketball Sat. morning and then I was very busy with a project all weekend and today that kept me bent over a lot. That had my back even more sore today. I was a little worried about making it worse running but decided to see if I could at least run a couple miles. After 2 miles at around 9:30 it started feeling better and I decided to try for 5 or 6. I still felt good and ran for 8. It was 40 deg. with a very light rain. It actually was quite pleasant. 8:35 overall pace.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.000.000.000.009.0012.00

      Started out with 5 miles on the mountain bike this morning but decided it was still muddier than I like [from the rain the past few days] and turned around 2 1/2 miles out and went back for my road bike. I went another 23 on my road bike for a total of 28.

   Went in and had x-rays and and ultrasound done to check out a lump on the back of my knee. I go in to see an orthopedic specialist tomorrow.

     PM ran an easy 3 miles.

Comments
From JeffC on Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 11:15:22

I hope the lump on the back of the knee is nothing. Good luck at the doc, I really don't like going to see the doc for any reason.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.250.000.001.750.0010.00

     This morning I ran 8 miles in a light rain again and with some wind. I felt very sluggish about the first 3 miles[probably because I went pretty hard yesterday on the bike]. My back was also tight in the begining but loosened up later on. The second half of the run I ran some fartlek begining with 1/2 mile at 6:32 pace which felt way to hard. Then 1/4 at 5:48 pace then 1/8 at 5:20 pace each followed by recovery of equal distance. Then I did it again with 1/2 at 6:08 pace 1/4 at 5:50 and 1/8 at 5:25. The 6:08 pace felt like I couldn't have maintained it much longer. Last summer before my injury my 5k pace was faster than that. My first 3 miles were all over 8:40 pace. My pace for all 8 was 8:09

     PM ran 2 miles very easy 9:15 pace.

     I went to the orthopedic specialist today to have him look at the lump on the back of my knee. It is a Baker's Cyst which is like a hernia in the bursa sack that contains the synovial fuid that lubricates your knee joint. It bulges when the joint makes too much fluid and it forces itself out of the joint. It usually happens when there is torn cartilage or arthritis in the joint but can be caused from other trauma. I only noticed the lump 3 weeks ago but it probably got started after my hamstring injury when I was running with an altered gait. When I jumped my mileage up real quickly to get ready for the marathon I did a 12 mile run [that was a big jump in mileage from anything I had done] I got a real strange burning pain that went from the back of my knee down through my calf. This was probably the sack breaking and leaking synovial fluid down my calf. It can be very painful even down to your ankle. I had a lot of calf pain for the next couple weeks and I couldn't figure it out because of the low intensity of my running at the time but it makes sense now. I even remember the feeling starting at the back of my knee and working it's way down the calf even to my achilies. Amazing how one injury can start a chain reaction. He looked at x-rays of both of my knees and said they looked perfect [It was worth going in just to hear that].  It's not bothering me so he said it will probably go away on it's own.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.000.000.000.007.0010.00

     Went 20 on the mt. bike this morning. It was very windy but not to cold [lower 40s]. It was a bit muddy in spots. I pushed the pace pretty hard the last 4 miles mostly into the wind. 

     PM  3 miles. 8:45 pace

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.000.000.000.000.007.00

     Nice sunny morning. A little below freezing but nice running weather. I went 7 miles this morning at 8:28 pace. My back doesen't seem to want to get any better. At least it isn't getting any worse. Tomorrow morning I'm involed with a sevice project cutting and hauling firewood. I don't think my back is going to love that.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.003.000.000.008.00

     It was 18 deg. this morning when I headed out for an 8 mile run. I had to dress warm but wanted to do a tempo run so after 3 miles when the sun came up and I was warmed up I ditched my long pants and sweatshirt. The only cloud in the sky moved in front of the sun and I was wishing I hadn't shed so quickly. I think it's the first time I have been running in shorts and 2 long sleeved tech shirts while sporting an ice goatee. I ran the first 4 miles at 8:00 min pace then started a tempo run. I wanted to keep the pace around 6:30 pace which is what I had hoped my 1/2 mar. pace will be in January. This morning it didn't feel like I could have done a 5k much quicker. It's been 3 1/2 months [since before my injury] that I have run that pace other than 1/2 mile twice earlier this week. My splits for 3 miles were 6:31, 6:29, and 6:14 for 6:24 pace. I ran 1 more cooldown mile untimed. Pace for 7 miles was 7:19.

     My back was bothering me again to start out but felt a little better toward the end. As soon as I finished I had to go cut and haul firewood for 5 hours which had me a little concerned for my back but as of now it seems allright. Hopfully after a rest day tomorrow I'll be ready to go next week.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.505.500.000.000.0011.00

     25 deg and calm this morning. I  decided to just do my run according to how I felt. My back felt better than last week. I ended up going 11 miles. First 3 at 8:21 pace, Next 2 at 7:45 pace, and next 5.5 at 7:15 pace then .5 cooldown. Run felt real good. Overall pace 7:39

Comments
From JeffC on Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 11:15:29

That's a really good run. Glad to hear the back is feeling better. Back pain really sucks!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.007.0011.00

     Ran 4 miles this morning at 8:51 pace. In the afternoon I went 20 miles on the mountain bike. It was nice riding with the temps warmer in the mid 50s later in the day.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.000.000.001.000.0010.00

     This morning I ran 6 miles with 2 miles of fartlek. Ran 8x200 around 6:00 min pace with 200 rec. Average pace for 2m fartlec 6:59. Ave overall 7:36. I wanted to get in a few more miles but ran out of time. I'll try for more later today.

     PM ran 4 miles late. There was no moon and no streetlights. The homes are pretty spread out here with the closest being 3/4 of a mile. The stars were very bright but they don't do a good job of helping you see the road. Ran a slow 9:19 pace. My first and last 1/2 mile were on dirt road which 10:30 pace was about as fast as I dared run.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.000.000.000.000.002.00

     Couldn't get out for a run until nearly 10 PM so I just ran an easy 2 m.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.000.000.000.005.0010.00

     I went for a 5 mile run this morning. 8:37 pace. Then I went 15M on the mt. bike.

     I signed up to run a 5k tomorrow in Smithfield. I'm not expecting much since I haven't run anything within 45 seconds of my last summers 5k pace until last Saturday when I ran a 3 m tempo. My hamstring seemed to handle it fine. It should be fun and a good training run and it's not far to travel. My son is going to be gone to his mothers this weekend or he would be running it with me.

Race: Smithfield Turkey Trot (3.2 Miles) 00:19:47, Place overall: 5, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.200.000.003.200.0010.40

     It was 17 deg this morning when I left for Smithfield at 8:30. Luckily the race didn't start until 10:00 but it was cloudy early and only warmed to the upper 20s for start time. I have been avoiding any speed work [or pretty much anything under 7:00 pace] since I tore my hamstring last August. I did a 3 mile tempo last Saturday and the hammy felt fine afterward so I decided to do this 5k and get a good training run out of it.

     There was about 150 people running the 5k. The course was very hilly with virtually no flat. I did a 2.2 mile warmup. The race started with a bad hill climbing 170 ft in the first .6 m. It continued to climb the next 1/4 but not as steep then finally dropped a bit at the end. I finished that mile in 6:40.  The second mile quickly dropped about 100 ft in the next 1/4 m then started another climb that went up 70 ft then back down 70 to the end of mile 2. I did that mile in 6:07. The 3rd mile had a nice easy drop of about 75 ft. with a slight up at the end. Mile 3 time was 5:52. It was a loop course and right near mile 3 we crossed  the starting  line so the final .2 was starting back up the hill for a net elevation gain for the race of about 15 to 20 feet. I ran the last .2 at 5:39 pace. My garmin measured the course at 3.2 miles and I drove around it in my jeep afterward to double check my garmin. The jeep loses 1/10 for every 3 miles when checking with the highway mileage markers and it said 3.1 with 30 yards to go so I figure I'll go with 3.2 which matches the Garmin and would make my time for 3.1 miles  19:10.  The finish line had been moved beyond where the race map showed probably to finish in a more convienient spot in the parking lot rather than on the road. I feel pretty good about that given my lack of speed work and the tough course. I was 5th overall beaten by 3 high school x-country runners and a 26 year old. I was 1st in the 40 to 49 age group.

    PM  Ran 5 more miles at 7:58 pace at home.

Comments
From cody on Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 15:16:08

Nice race Dave! Tough course

From Jon on Sun, Nov 23, 2008 at 18:00:54

Yeah, nice job.

From JeffC on Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 10:50:43

Very nice run Dave. Sounds like a tough course and it was way too cold.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
11.000.000.000.000.0011.00

     Ran 11 miles at an easy pace this morning. I had some stomach issues and didn't have a lot of energy. 8:26 pace. My hamstring seemed to handle last saturdays race without any problems.

Comments
From JeffC on Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 11:04:52

11 Miles!! Dang are you training for any upcoming races? Did you say you were running Painters? I will be there, I still need to get signed up.

From Dave S on Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 12:14:02

Yes I'm planning to run Painters. I haven't signed up either. Do they have a cap?

From JeffC on Tue, Nov 25, 2008 at 12:38:17

I don't think so, but I don't know for sure.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.007.0011.00

     20 m on the mt bike.

     PM ran 4 miles 8:57 pace.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.000.000.000.000.009.00

     This morning I ran 9 miles. The first 4 miles easy. The next 5 at 7:39 pace. overall pace was 7:58.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.000.000.000.000.006.00

6 miles very late and very dark. No moon.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.500.001.500.000.008.00

     Ran 8 miles. First 4 at around 8:20 ave. Next 4 started a fartlek run 2x1/4 mile at 6:28 and 6:14 pace and then 2x1/2mile at 6:29 and 6:25 pace.  Pace for all 8m was 7:52

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.004.000.000.000.008.00

     Ran 8 miles this morning. First 4M at 8:31 pace. Next 4M at 7:24 pace. Overall pace 7:55.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

     Did my usual 20 mile mt. bike loop. I'm planning to get back to a good routine this week. I've missed a lot of workouts the past week because of some pressing projects to get finished up before winter sets in. I didn't stress to much about missing runs though because I've got some hip pain I'm trying to get on top of.  The extra rest days seems to have helped.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.501.002.001.000.008.50

     This morning was 11 deg. and calm. I ran 8 miles. The first 4.5 M starting at 7:50 pace working down to 7:20 pace. Then the last 3.5 in 6:58, 6:44, 6:46, and the last 1/2 at 6:19 pace.  Overall pace for 8 M was 7:14. My hip felt good again today. I think the extra rest really helped and also not running any more than 8 M at a time. It was usually beyond 8 miles it was getting the worst. 

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
11.000.000.000.000.0011.00

     Beautiful morning. Only 29 deg at 10 o'clock but sunny and calm. I ran in shorts and had to ditch the sweatshirt after 2 miles. Just took it easy and was only planning to go 8 but ended up going 11 up around the reservoir which is now iced over. 8:15 pace. Hip felt great. Hopfully next week I can get back to building up mileage. I think these 2 low mileage weeks helped a lot.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
11.000.000.000.000.0011.00

     Running on snow this morning. I kept the pace real easy. I went 11 miles at 8:42 pace. There were no tire tracks and a light snow falling. It was quite peaceful.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.007.007.00

     13 deg this morning to start  20 miles on the mt bike. Very little of yesterdays snow was left.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
2.503.003.000.000.008.50

     This morning I went for an 8.5 mile run. I ran the first 4 M at 7:31 pace. Mile five in 6:46 then averaged 6:17 for a 3 mile tempo run. Then 1/2 M cooldown. I had planned on picking it up for the last 3 miles and running the rest at a medium pace but I felt good this morning and did the whole run faster than than I had planned. Overall pace for 8 miles was 6:58. Felt like a great workout.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
4.000.000.000.007.0011.00

     This morning I ran 4 miles at 8:44 pace. Then I did 20 on the mountain bike riding fairly hard effort.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
0.000.000.000.000.000.00

     Thursday after I had been sitting for lunch I got up and had a very sore back. It had felt good earlier that day on my short run and bike ride. I had an incident on my run where my dogs [who were running with me] came running up from behind wrestling each other on the run and plowed into the back of my legs while I was running. It sent a jolt all through me and I felt lucky I didn't fall or injure something. I didn't feel any particular pain afterward but I think this awkward jolt got it started and just tightened up on me once I got a chance to sit down a while. 

     It got worse through the day and gave me trouble sleeping that night. Friday morning it was painfull just to walk let alone run. I spent most of the day on a bumpy tractor with a poor seat which didn't help. I had another tough time sleeping last night. Rolling over or moving my legs is painfull and has to be done slow and this morning it is a real chore just to get out of bed, put on pants or get up from a chair or walk. Coughing or sneezing is very painful.

     I had been feeling good so this really hit out of the blue. I'm afraid I won't be able to run for a while. Or ride a bike or anything.

Comments
From JeffC on Fri, Dec 19, 2008 at 11:01:29

Dang Dave, sorry to hear about the back. That really bites. I can sympathize with your back pain, I have had it most of my life. I hope you get feeling better soon.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1.000.000.000.000.001.00

My back is feeling much better today. A week ago on sunday I couldn't even sit through my meetings and had to go home early. Walking was very slow and bent over. I tried a little test last night and ran 200 meters. I had a slight pain but not bad. I went out to try it again tonight and it felt good enough I just kept going for a mile. I would have gone farther but I had a meeting to go to.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.000.000.000.000.007.00

     It was time to try running again so I went out this morning in a blizzard and 5 inches of new unplowed snow and started running. My back had a little sorness so I only went 2 miles. It seems to be a bit tight in the mornings. I enjoy running in the snow but I enjoy it more when I'm not running into a stiff headwind with the snow blowing into my eyes making them hard to keep open. I guess I should take some ski goggles.

     PM at noon I went out and tried it again. It wasn't snowing as hard but was still windy. My back felt better and some of the road had been plowed. I went 5 miles at 9:20 pace. My heartrate was about where it normally is at 7:45 pace. Probably a combination of the poor footing and the fact I havn't run in 1 1/2 weeks. It felt good to be out running again.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.000.000.000.007.0010.00

     Went for a late AM mt. bike ride. First ride on snow this year. It was a good temp for a winter ride. It wasn't very cold but far enough below freezing to keep the snow firm. I went 18 miles but since snow riding is slower with the same effort I'm counting 1 mile for every 12 minutes.

     PM ran 3 miles at 9:20 pace. My back felt pretty good. The footing made the running slow again.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.250.750.000.000.008.00

     It was 2 degrees when I went out the door this morning. Had a good ice beard going. I Ran 8 miles on snow and ice. I think that's probably how it will be for the rest of the winter. The first 3 1/2 miles I ran 8:49 pace. The next 4 1/2  I averaged 8:01 but that pace felt faster. That snow and ice really seem to slow me down. My back felt pretty good with a small amount of soreness. I'm amazed I feel this much better this soon. It was 2 weeks ago tomorrow that my back went out on me and I couldn't even walk without a lot of pain for the first 4 days.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.000.000.000.000.007.00

     I feel like I've really been slacking lately on my running. I didn't run at all on Christmas day because we had a blizzard all day and it seemed easier to just take it off. Friday I spent the day digging out from the Christmas storm. We have a lane that is nearly 1/2 mile long and it was burried under 3 foot drifts. It normally doesn't take long in the plow truck but it was too deep for that and 1 scoop at a time on the tractor takes a while. By the time I got out we had to leave and I didn't get a chance to run after that. By the time I got a chance again it was just getting dark Sat. night with blowing snow again. After skipping the last 2 days I decided I better get out there. It wasn't too bad other than the footing on unplowed snow sure slows you down. The snow keeps it a little brighter to see after dark. I went 7 miles at about 9:15 pace.

Comments
From JeffC on Mon, Dec 29, 2008 at 10:55:44

I'm the slacker lately, not you.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
7.001.000.000.000.008.00

     I ran 8 miles this morning on snow. Half was packed with ok footing and half  loose with poor footing. The weather was nice.  I ran an overall pace of 8:28 but my average HR was  where I'd normally be at 7:30 pace on dry surface. I ran the fastest  mile in 7:45 and counted that as MP. My back felt decent today but it's still got a ways to go.

Comments
From JeffC on Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 11:10:13

Sounds like a sloppy run. I don't know how you guys do it on the snow and ice and slush. Great job getting out and putting in some good miles.

From Dave S on Tue, Dec 30, 2008 at 12:20:16

I actually don't mind running in the snow in fact it's kind of fun. I just don't like seeing the slow times. I should just leave the watch home and enjoy.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.000.000.000.006.009.00

     Did a 15 mile bike ride this morning on snow. The snow really slows me down. Expecially several sections where the snow had drifted slightly. It was only 1 to 4 inches but it makes it hard to even keep the bike going.

     PM  3 miles run at 8:50 pace.

Comments
From JeffC on Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 11:17:23

Biking in the snow.....you are truely one tough old bugger! Nice job!

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
3.001.004.000.000.008.00

     I was afraid I wouldn't be able to run on non snowpacked roads the rest of the winter. Some years once they ice up it's there to stay but it warmed to the upper 30s yesterday and with a little salt [ which they normally don't use out here] they were able to plow most of it off. Since Im planning to do Painters 1/2 marathon in 2 1/2 weeks I decided to use the nearly clear pavement to do a tempo run. I had a 2 mile stretch of pavement so I ran it back and forth 4 times for 8 miles total. I ran the first 3 at 7:28 pace. The next mile in 7:01. Then 4 miles at 6:43 pace. The pace the last 4 miles felt way harder than it should have and much harder than  on a similar run 4 weeks ago just before my back problem flared up and kept me from much running. My back felt real good on the run.Overall pace for 8 miles was 7:03.

Comments
From JeffC on Fri, Jan 02, 2009 at 11:12:45

Nice tempo run Dave. I sure hope that back gets feeling better. Mine has been flaring up lately too. I wonder if the yoga is causing it to revolt. Hopefully some extra flexibilty will help things feel better eventually.

From Dave S on Fri, Jan 02, 2009 at 18:33:50

I bet it will help eventually. I really should do something like that too or at least be more consistant with my stretching.

Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
1521.10100.9565.2026.35897.002610.60
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