Run Derneld, Run!

Did a 3 hour long run this morning. My clif bar froze before I opened it, but it was luckily still pretty easy to gnaw apart. Averaged an 8:19 pace, and felt pretty good! Did a quarter mile cooldown wog.

5.02 miles in the desert during lunch

4.69 miles at home before dinner. Still enjoying the General Conference high! 

Easy lunch miles with some strides.

Had a really good workout during lunch today. 
16 minutes @ LT, 3 minute jog
10 minutes @ LT, 2 minute jog
6 minutes @ LT
Basically maintained a 6:56-57 pace in each of them, except for a fast finish at the end of the last bout. Felt really good, and I feel like training for my target race has been successful thus far. I won't be able to get as many miles in this week with moving shenanigans and travel for a wedding, but it is probably good since last week was my highest mileage week ever (70 miles).

Moderate paced lunch miles. Squeezed between meetings.

Zilch. Traveling to Houston for a wedding.

1 mile warm up. 15 miles at M-pace (7:41/mi). 1 mile cool down. Did this workout on a hotel treadmill in Houston. Even drinking lots of water, I weighed 3 pounds less after the run. I will have to consider how much more I sweat in a warm humid environment should I ever race down here.

Got on the treadmill early in the morning before all the moving that we'll be doing today. Tonight I'll be officially out of Rexburg and in IF!

Easy miles during lunch.

Moderate pace (at lunch time outside)

2nd to last workout before the SLC marathon.
0.5 mile warmup, then 1 mile @ LT, 1 mile @ marathon pace, 1 mile @ LT, 2 miles @ marathon pace, then 0.2 mile kick. Then 0.3 mile cooldown.

The short warmup was a bad idea, as I felt some sketchy discomforts in my hip at various points in the run. The workout went well however, I averaged 7:02 on the LT splits, and 7:40-ish on the marathon splits. There was a lot of variation in those numbers because of a strong head wind. The 0.2 mile kick also felt very good, and I clocked it with a 6:09 pace, better than what I was able to muster in the Canyonlands Half almost four weeks ago, and I felt pretty decent at the end of that race. I'm thinking I'll aim to stick to a 750-7:55 pace during the marathon next weekend. Hopefully that's not too hopeful.

No afternoon workout yet again. Although we are happily moved into our new home, we are unfortunately not yet officially moved out of our apartment.

5.1 miles on the treadmill during lunch

5.41 miles around the new place in IF. First run there, and first double in over a week. 

Went down to the green belt for the easter egg hunt put on by Bill's Bike and Run. Sadly, I did not find any eggs.

Last workout before the big day. Did 3x1mile at 6:55/mi on the treadmill with 2 minute rests. This was also a good final fitness test to see if I'm prepared for my goal. Now let's see if everything holds together!

4.26 easy lunch miles

5.31 easy lunch miles

2.05 miles after work, pushing Ellie in the stroller. Took it very very easy.

Less than 20 minutes jogging today at work. Heading down to SLC tonight.

Shakeout around temple square. Good luck to anybody on here running the SLC marathon tomorrow!

Well I typed out a great entry for this race, and the computer ate it... so I will type until I don't want to anymore.

This race turned out exactly as I hoped it would. We drove down to Salt Lake City and stayed at my grandma's apartment across the street from the LDS Conference Center. Friday activities consisted of: a morning shakeout run, two easy walks around Temple Square and the Church History Museum and then the expo of course. These things were all within two blocks of the apartment, and the rest of the day was spent relaxing. Throughout Friday, I ate about 4 bagels with plum jam, a clif bar, lemon rice, butternut squash soup, pickled beets, and two servings of Quaker oatmeal packets. There might have been more, but I can't remember. On race day morning, I had half a toasted bagel with plum jam and a banana before setting out on a mile walk-jog to the TRAX station. The walk-jog really helped me to wake up without being too much effort. I rode to the start line with a nice guy named Tom who is finishing a marathon in each state (this was #23 or 24). Arrived about an hour before race start. Relaxed for a bit, then did a half-mile warmup and lined up. My goal was to finish this race under 3:30, and so I focused on staying under 8:00/mi with some wiggle room for all the ascents and descents. Got passed a lot in the beginning but stayed calm. I started getting pretty nervous by the halfway point, where I finished in 1:45:11. My legs were gradually feeling heavier, and I was worried if I sped up then I'd end up walking close to the end. Around mile 19, I felt like speeding up was worth the risk, and floated around 7:50 for the rest of the race. I don't think anybody passed me in the race until about 25.5 when I got passed by someone who apparently was trying to quickly use up some energy they had left over. This was a great target to follow for the last 0.7 when my legs were starting to burn. I focused on this speedy one with a maintained gap, and then let out the best marathon kick I have done and passed in the last 0.2. This race was a slight negative split, and a PR by almost 9 minutes! My best time previously was at STG in October, and this race is at least slightly harder than the St George course. Increased weekly mileage has definitely helped. Now for a good recovery phase and transition into training for St George again in October!

Free weights and 16 minutes on the elliptical. Definitely not ready to start running again!

Easy run to recover

Bad stomach day

Just easing back into normal running

Writing this the next day (Saturday) and thinking maybe I ran too hard. Not injured, just uncomfortably sore after a seemingly easy run. Will wait til Monday to hit the road again!

Also did a good strength training circuit when I woke up.