Chad's Runs

I missed my Thursday run ... Again.  It was a late night on Wednesday, I was up till past 12 getting the internet and wireless working.  A power flicker knocked it out, both the cable and the router.  I was on the phone with both Comcast and Belkin to get them fixed and it took 3 hours to do it.  What a pain.  So I was only going to run 16 or 17 today but since I missed Thursday I decided to make this one a little longer.  For a change of scenery I decided to go check out the unfinished murdock canal trail.  I ran up Center Street in Lehi and got there at about mile 7.  It was snowy and slick in places.  I had to be careful with my footing.  It was pretty early so I didn't see anyone else there.  There weren't even any foot prints.  I know its not done but I would have expected people to run on it anyway.  Well, I headed east and ran into the big wash.  The trail/utility road ran down in switchbacks and was pretty rough.  I picked my way cross country through debris until I reached a little creek at the bottom.  I crossed it on a little board being used as a bridge.  The way back up was even worse but I didn't want to turn around so I picked my way back up the other side and kept going.  After 10 miles got off the train to head back home.  I didn't want to return on the trail.  The return trip was a little shorter so I ended up with 19 instead of 20.  By the end I was glad it was only 19.  I was ready to be done.

I have a hard time retiring shoes.  They're so dang expensive I want to get more than 500 miles out of them.  That being said, I hate these shoes.  Their bricks on me feet.  My problem with retiring them is that they have always been like that.  I can probably put more on them to get my money's worth but they suck.  I'm torn.

My legs are still a bit tired from Saturday.  I went pretty slow but not because I was relaxing.  I should have brought my head lamp.  There is often enough light even when there is no moon because clouds will glow from the lights of the surrounding cities.  But this morning was clear and with about 2 miles left I stepped in a hole and rolled my ankle and went down.  I got up and was able to limp it off and start running a little later.  There was no pain when I finished this run but now, an hour later, it's aching a little.  I hope it doesn't linger.  I was just starting to get in some miles.  I don't need this.

It was beautiful at 5am this morning.  I tried to run but gave up.  I thought maybe running would get my twisted foot warmed up but it just hurt worse the longer I ran.  I tried 3 or 4 different times with walks in between before giving up.  Bummer.  I don't think it is all that serious, it just may take some time.  I'm going to rest tomorrow and look at how things go on Thursday.

7 slow miles in the Altras.  This is the longest run in them since my ankle problems and my ankle felt great this time.  The other one that I turned on Monday was also fine, seems completely healed actually.  It's time to start running faster with more effort.  I've been running slow and easy now for a while because of my injuries that I've gotten slow.

I just didn't have it.  I was going to run 7 or 8 but it just wasn't there.  Legs were heave, ankle was aching (not Monday's twisted ankle), and I couldn't even run a 10 minute mile.  So at two miles I turned around to cut my run short and save some energy for tomorrow.  The last mile I actually started to feel good and could have run farther, but I was already home.  Oh well.

7 early miles on the JRP and into Saratoga Springs.  Solid effort, crappy results.  I missed a run on Saturday and you would think that some extra rest would help make this one strong and fast.  Not the case.

Anyway, Saturday and set my alarm wrong and woke up without enough time to get a run in.  My wife was out of town and the day was spent on my son's eagle project.  He is building some shelves to hold band instruments in the Willowcreek band room.  We got the shelves built and now just have to install them in a week or so.  I'm glad that is wrapping up.

Anyway again, with my wife and her sister out of town my brother-in-law and his kids came over later and we had a great time, but it left no time for a run.  With the injury early in the week and the missed Saturday run, last week's total was a measly 18 miles.  That sucks rocks.  This week will be better.  40+ 

(1 hour later) ... How could I forget to mention that daylight-savings time sucks?  Its a worthless tradition that nobody likes.  Just when there was a hint of light at the end my runs the government takes it away.

7 more sluggish miles.  9:47 average pace.  The double red cell blood donation has really messed me up but I got through it.

Couldn't run this morning so I ran this afternoon.  Awesome weather!  Maybe a little too hot.  I missed yesterday because when I went to put in my contacts at 4:45am and I dropped it.  I just went to the eye doctor a few weeks ago to get setup with new sets and they hadn't come in yet, so I went back to bed because running in my glasses was out of the question.  So with my 6am commitment this morning I thought I might have to miss 2 days.  Well, not so, I got out this afternoon and since I missed yesterday and it was so nice I thought I would add a couple more miles onto my usual 7-8.  A 10 miler should not be this hard.  I ran at about a 9 pace and it wiped me out.  Is the blood donation still giving me problems?  Also after the run I felt sick the rest of the night.  Not so much immediately afterward but later.  I wanted to through-up.  So the question is, did my strenuous run make me sick, or was I already sick and the run just magnified it.  I've been whining a lot lately.

7 miles at 5am.  It was really quite nice this morning.  The roads were mostly wet.  I decided to avoid the JRP in favor of the roads.  I figure that the JRP was more likely to be slick and iced over.  I felt better this morning that I've felt in a while.  I had enough in me to push it on the last mile.  3 months ago I would have run a 7:30 with that effort.  This morning I barely made it under 8:00.  My speed is gone and with only 2 months of real training before Utah Valley I only have time to build stamina so I won't be fast.  Oh well.

As for last week, I got in 24 miserable miles.  I decided to take Friday off because of how bad I felt after Thursday's 10.  Then my wife made me promise not to run on Saturday.  She said I needed to rest and I didn't push back too hard.  So I was 16 miles short of the 40+ I wanted to do.  Crap.  I've got to do better this week.  I hope I have built up enough red blood cells to get me through 45 or so miles this week.

7 miles nice and slow on 700 south.  It was slick out this morning which is the main reason why I slowed it down.  Yesterday the nights snow left the road wet.  Last nights snow left the road icy.  No spills though.  I ordered a RoadID this morning.  I've been meaning to for a while but never got around to it.  The slick roads reminded me that it might be a good idea.

8 miles on the JRP and down into Saratoga Springs.  The weather was nice, I didn't even bring a hat or gloves.  It was also cloudy enough to not need my headlamp.  I hate that thing and when it is cloudy, even without a moon there is enough light from the glow of the clouds that I don't need the light.

7 more.  No excuses or crazy crap getting in the way of runs this week.  It feels good but my body does need tomorrows day off.  I'm not used to running 4 days strait.  Yesterday was warm so I wore shorts this morning.  It turned out to be pretty cold.  I was fine in shorts but I did need gloves and a hat.

I don't know how many I will run Saturday. Its been three weeks since I ran 19 but I don't feel like I could run that many now.  I guess it depends on if I find someone to run with.

Finally, an encouraging run.  18 mile solo run Saturday morning.  I took it nice and easy for first half, about 10 minutes miles or so.  In ran north on the JRP, then through the Thanksgiving point area.  I was going to cut across I15 at the Thanksgiving Point / Cabelas interchange but there are no sidewalks.  Weird.  Apparently pedestrians aren't allowed there.  So I continued to head north on the frontage road.  It is closed half a mile or so north of there so I didn't have to deal with any traffic.  There isn't anything wrong with the road for running or biking.  I got to the top and a little beyond to where I could look down into Bluffdale when the 9 miles were up.  It was actually quite peaceful.  The road is set down below far enough so you can't even really see the cars on the freeway and since the road is closed I hardly saw a soul.  Just one other person on a bike.  I was able to pee in private.  Anyway, my plan was to pick up the pace on the second half.  I ended up running the second half over a minute per mile faster.  I stopped to take a hammer gel at mile twelve but other than that I just kept going.  I felt strong all the way through the end.  My last mile was the fastest.  However, I should have hydrated better.  I didn't feel it during the run but I was thirsty for the rest of the day.  I couldn't get enough water.

I couldn't run yesterday because of work conflicts.  It couldn't be helped.  So I'm going to try and put in a few extra miles on my other runs this week, thus the 10 this morning.  I wondered how I would handle a 10 miler without consciously taking it easy for part of the run.  I took off and got into a groove at around 8:30-8:45.  It was till slower than three months ago, but faster than anything in the last two.  I waited for my strength to weaken a little but it never did, in fact I found myself running below 8 on mile 8.  I never made a decision to push it, it just happened.  I didn't have the strength to keep that pace up on the last two miles but I did run 8:15s on those.  Anyway, average pace was 8:30 and I'm starting to see some recovery from the injuries/blood donation of the last few months, finally.  I'm going to run 7 or 8 tomorrow.  I'm anxious to see how much I have in the tank.

6 crappy miles.  I was planning more but I only had time for 6, which is probably good because it was bad enough as it was.  It wasn't anything I didn't expect, I ran pretty hard yesterday.

6 more slow miles this morning.  I felt quite a bit better then yesterday actually, but not totally my strong self.  I also didn't have time to run as many as I wanted to.  I had an early morning commitment that I couldn't miss.  No for a long run on Saturday.

Failure.  Since I felt so good last week during the 18 miles I ran I thought I'd bump it up some.  I felt wonderful the first half of this run as well.  I felt like I could run for ever and decided to try for 22 miles instead.  I ran east just north of Utah Lake through the farms south of American Fork and Pleasant Grove.  Check out one of the great views I had.  It's hard to see the lake in photo.  So I turned around at mile 11.  Last week I had run 10:30s for the first half and picked it up on the second half running in the low 9s.  I started off running in the mid 9s today and was going to try and match that or even increase it with lest rest time on the way back just like last week.  Just a couple of miles later I could tell that it wasn't going to happen.  I took a gel then at mile 14 and felt better for a bit but then started to have some cold chills.  I could tell I was starting to get dehydrated.  I didn't have a lot of water left with me so I changed my route a little and cut north into American Fork to buy some Gatorade at the Holiday.  I chugged the whole 20 oz bottle and continued on.  West from there you go over the freeway then over a bridge over some railroad tracks.  These are 2 fairly substantial hills, at least the felt like it at the time.  I got over them.  So all of this happened over 2, maybe 3 miles since I took the gel at mile 14.  It sure felt more than that.  I stopped to walk for a bit just after mile 18 and lost my resolve.  I called my wife and told her to come get me.  I can think of two things that would have helped.  The first is a better meal the night before.  I had a steak.  Very delicious but not loaded with energy.  The second is a partner.  I tried to get in contact with my neighbor Richard.  He is running Utah Valley as well, but I couldn't get in touch so I ran solo.  It always helps to have someone drag you along and give encouragement not to quit.