Little Buddha

Didn't really know what to except from this race. Before the race I did 3 miles as a warm-up, plus I knew I wanted to get in some more miles this today, plus one of the buses was running behind and of course, the race started a half hour later than it was supposed. I talked a little bit with some of the workers after the race about needing to change the starting time to 6:00 am instead of 7:30, still pretty hot in St. George once the sun comes up.

Anyway, there wasn't a lot of competition in the race today. I knew Dave and Clyde would run faster than me and they started out at a good pace. I ran the first mile close to them, but then dropped back a bit. Ryan was also there pretty close behind me the first few miles.

1-5:42 felt good

2-6:04 slight uphill, pretty much running alone now.

3-5:50

4-6:11

5-6:00

6-6:13 another uphill, this course had a lot more hills than I thought it would.

10K split was 37:15

7-6:11 Coming out of the canyon and starting to hit the sun, and it is hot and muggy!

8-6:05

9-6:15

10-6:48 big hill, I just wanted to stop and walk, but I didn't! Got to the top of the hill and was really upset there wasn't a water stop there.

11- 6:12

12-6:34- pretty hot now and seem to be losing focus

13-6:48 another good hill to climb, and then home to the finish

Final time 1:21:18 (6:12 average)

Not the best time, but still a decent effort considering running pretty much the whole race alone, and the last 5 miles in the heat and tired.

After the race I did 2 more miles, basically walking a lot of it, because my hip was really bothering me.

Anyway, pretty happy with this week's training and being able to get in two good speed workouts.

DS Trainer-98

I was going to wear the Ohana, but they are starting to feel a little wore out.

With finishing 3rd overall, got a nice gift certificate from those good people at the St. George Running Center.

So far this has been a terrible week for me training wise. It seems like every extra minute I've had since Monday I've been working on my tiling job. I think the end is finally in sight, finished tiling both the kitchen and dining room late last night and got a decent night's rest. My body has been pretty sore the last few days between all of the getting up and down and moving around on my hands and knees. This morning I did an easy 2 miles, and plan to get some more in this evening. Not much time tonight, did two more miles.

Did 9 easy miles tonight. I ran 2.5 before heading out with the running club. I had to head back early since Sunny and the kids were waiting for me at the running store. I had some real soreness in my hip area, woke up at 3:00 in the morning and my hip was still bothering me. It is probably just a case of not having ran the last few days and I'm not as lose as normal.

DS Trainer-107

Kind of a difficult 11 miles this afternoon, still pretty warm outside. I ran out along 600 North trail to the golf course, one loop through Sky Mountain, then back home on the highway. I stopped at Lin's and stretched for awhile. I'm still feeling pretty stiff and sore

Nimbus-350.5

Didn't much want to run this morning, but I'm glad now that I made it over to run with the club, we did 20 on the marathon course and it went pretty good. The first ten I ran in 1:08:14 for a 6:49 average, then I reset my watch I wanted to push the next ten, but that didn't workout to well. I ran 1:05:19 for the last 10. The first 5.5 miles were good, then I started cramping up some and the soreness I've been feeling the last few days was bothering me more than it had been earlier in the run, so I slowed the pace down to about 7:00. In fact I met up with a 15 year old kid that was out training for the marathon and I ran about two miles with him, then picked up the pace again and finished pretty strong. Overall, not super pleased with the run, but it was not bad considering the week I've had. Total time would be 2:13:36, so maybe a minute slower than a few weeks ago, but I was also in a lot more pain today. Anyway, I think things will be fine, I would just like to have three more good solid weeks of training. I still think I'm on pace to run faster than I did last year.

.5 cool down back to the store

Cumulus-187.5

Pretty good run for a Monday. 10.5 out to Toquerville and back. I ran up to the cemetery for a part of it, then out to the city building to get some water, then back home the same way. This route has some good hills both up and down. My legs felt pretty good, but my hips are still sore.

DS Trainer-117.5

I have parent teacher conference today, which gave me a little longer lunch than normal, so I decided to hurry home, change and get in 4.5 miles. I had to run a little faster than normal which was good for me 6:55 average, I should do that more often. Anyway felt good to get in some miles in a short period of time. I'm planning to have a big week this week and next and then see what the marathon brings. I still would really like to go after my goal of breaking 2:40, I'm not sure if I'm in that kind of shape, but I still feel like I should go after it.
I had a difficult run this afternoon.  I left the school at 3:00 pm and did an out and back loop out in Hurricane Fields.  During parts of the run I felt great, while at other times I just died.  Anyway, I guess I'm glad I got 10 more miles in today.

Nike Zoom Miler 

Long day of parent teacher conferences. I was really tired most of the day, partly due to having went to a concert last night and getting home pretty late, plus my run yesterday afternoon totally wiped me out. Anyway tonight I just did an easy 5 miles over to Hurricane High School and back.

Cumulus-192.5

6 mile Gun Club tempo during my lunch break.  This is a pretty good workout, with two good solid miles climbing up the La Verkin Twist.  I really didn't want to do this workout in the heat of the day, but once I took off I just decided to do my best and get it over with.  My previous best time had been 22:54 going up for the 3 miles, today I hit 21:55 (7:18 average) so I was pretty happy about that. A full minute faster! I stopped at the top for three minutes, stretched took off the shirt, then headed back down.  I knew this was going to hurt a little trying to run downhill fast, (something I struggle with).  Anyway, I made it home in 17:35 (5:51 average), 21 seconds slower than my all time PR, but still a very good effort especially in the heat compared to last time I ran this in the early morning.  I'm still concerned with my hip as it seems to bothering me more when I increase the speed and intensity of my training.  It seems like I've had this nagging hip pain on and off throughout my entire running career.  Hopefully, it isn't anything to big.  When I got home, I got on the scale and weighed in at 139 so I'm dropping the weight.

I won't be at the club run tonight, but I'm looking forward to doing another long run on Saturday.  I actually wouldn't mind doing the marathon course one more time except not starting up so far and running all the way to the park, but if you guys want to do something else I'm also game for that. 

Went and played basketball this morning for an hour, it was a nice break, I haven't done that for awhile.  I'll get in some longer miles tonight

Did the same 20 mile run on the course as last week. I had better results this week, but really didn't feel that great during the run. I was having some stomach issues, then my hips started hurting about mile 14. Anyway, need to stop complaining ran 2:12:12 (6:36 average) which is my fastest time for this 20 miler. My previous best was on August 4th when I ran 2:12:35, so not a huge improvement today, but I do think we had to deal with more of a head wind today, than we have at any other time. I lost about 30 to 45 seconds getting a drink right after Winchester, but felt like I really picked it up pretty strong the last three miles. I felt I ran the first 10 miles pretty good a minute faster than last week for the first 10. Last week I ran 2:13:36 so a better effort today. I'm not planning on doing any more 20 milers before the marathon. There is the Swiss Days 5K next weekend, so I'll probably do that and then some more miles on the course after the race.

Cumulus-212.5 

Beautiful evening for a workout in Southern Utah, temperature 82 degrees, which is a big relief from the 100+ we've had most of the summer. I knew I wanted to do some type of speed workout, but I wasn't certain exactly what, but I just headed out the door and knew I would have 2.5 miles to warm-up running over to Hurricane High School. Anyway, I decided that I wanted to do some Yasso 800s, so I figured 6 would give me a pretty good workout, with the goal of each one being as close to 2:40 as possible, with a 400m recovery between each.

1-2:39 (1:17, 1:21) felt great, but a little worried this might have been too fast, especially if I was wanting to do 6

2-2:36 (1:16, 1:19) another really good repeat

3-2:35 (1:15, 1:19) Put on the song "Kick Start My Heart" lately I've been listening to some older heavy metal on my hard workouts. After this repeat I'm thinking maybe I should just be done with this workout, since I'm feeling pretty good.

4-2:37 (1:18, 1:18) Ran this one even pace, however the effort didn't feel even, felt like I started too slow, and had to really work to get this one under 2:40

5-2:36 (1:16, 1:19) Had to put the ipod on "Dr. Feel Good", which pumped me up some.

6-2:34 (1:16, 1:18) Once again I put on "Kick Start My Heart" and I'm able to run a fast repeat and finish for me what was a very good workout.

This workout was exactly what I needed to boost my confidence a little with the marathon soon approaching. These times were a lot better and more consistent than anything I did at this time last year, so that is good.

DS Trainer-127.5

For a Monday I felt pretty light in relation to my weight.

I did this same workout exactly a year ago to the day and went 2:43, 2:42, 2:44, 2:43, 2:46, 2:47. So I'm pretty pleased with the improved times this year.

Fairly easy 8.5 mile run out to Hurricane Intermediate School and back.  I got my new Asics Speedstars today, so I gave them a try, I think they are going to work well for the marathon.  I will wear them in Saturday's 5K and on the training run after the race.

Speedstars-8.5 

Not a very good run today. I ran over by the middle school and around the high school cross country course. My whole body seemed to be feeling pretty sore, so I didn't run as long as I was going to I did 6 and decided to take the rest of the night off.

Nimbus-356.5

Still feeling some soreness in my hip, so I did another easy run tonight, just 5.5 miles down through Confluence park, then out through the new part of Zion View Estates. Nice pace and nice evening for a run, just wish I could get over this nagging hip pain.

Cumulus-218

Well, this morning was the Swiss Days 5k, I was looking forward to this, to see where my 5K speed or lack of is at. Last year I ran 17:29, so I was hoping for anything close to that, of course faster would be better. I did a two mile warm-up, and was already sweating pretty good, it was muggy this morning and has been raining ever since the race.

1-5:50 I forget how fast 5k races start and I was left behind most of the younger high school kids. Logan, Dave, Steve all got out pretty good. Mike and I were a little slow at the start, but Mike soon pulled away and caught Steve and ran with him for maybe a mile. I really felt pretty good once I hit the trail and was into the race about 4 minutes. I came through the mile about where I was hoping to and decided to push it a little. I had already caught some of the high school kids that were ahead of me at the start.

2-5:37 I was able to pass some more high school kids on this mile, then caught Steve and Mike. I really felt like this was the best part of my race. I tried to keep pushing the pace, even though I was having some stomach issues. I had a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and I could really feel it around mile 2. Mike and I helped push each other through this mile.

3-5:33 I was really pleased with my last mile and being able to run this pace and I felt I finished pretty hard. I knew Mike was on my tail, so I just kept pushing.

Overall, I was pretty happy with my race 6 seconds faster than last year, which was good.

Logan, Dave and Steve went and did some more miles on the course, but I decided I will wait until this afternoon and maybe avoid the rain, or maybe not. I haven't been feeling the best the last few days and I didn't want to risk getting sick running out in the rain.

Speedstar-13

I got out tonight and did another 10 miles pretty easy up to Toquerville City Office and back through La Verkin. My body felt pretty good, still need to work out the hip issue, but maybe the next two weeks of tapering will help.

DS Trainer-137.5

Nice 5 mile run, for some reason I felt a little extra light and energized this afternoon. I did one mile at marathon race pace and it felt good. Didn't have much time for more than 5, but I'm fine with that the next two weeks will be fairly easy leading up to the marathon.

DS Trainer-142.5

Pretty decent workout tonight. I did a 2.5 mile warm-up over to Hurricane High School then did 4x800 with 400 jog/recovery, once again the goal was to not run anything slower than 2:40 and to try to be around 2:35-2:37.

1-2:34 (1:16, 1:17) This was as fast as my fastest repeat last time

2- 2:35 (1:15, 1:20)

3-2:33 (1:15, 1:17) This one felt good, I had ran through the sprinkler on the football field before doing this one

4- 2:34 (1:14, 1:19) Felt good to end on this one.

Pretty good workout, I think tomorrow will just be some easy miles, then on Friday probably 7 or 8 miles with 3 or 4 miles at marathon race pace.

2.5 mile cool-down home.

Speedstar-21

Really good run tonight, I didn't want to push the pace, but I was running with Dave and Steve and they just kept going, so I did my best to keep up. We ran down around the Black Hill, up Main, then back to the store. Steve lost his dinner about 3 miles into the run which was nice! Steve and I slowed down a bit the last .5 mile and Dave extended the run a ways, but we still averaged 6:50 pace for the 9 miles, so that was good.

Cumulus-227

I didn't really feel that great this afternoon, so I just did an easy 5 miles down through Confluence Park. Hopefully, I don't feel as sore tomorrow and can have a good run with the club down the marathon course.

Nimbus-361.5

Real good workout this morning, I think we're (St. George Running Club) ready for the marathon. We went 10.5 miles up the course then just cruised down. My goal was just to hit a few miles at marathon race pace, but it turned out to being pretty fast the whole way down which was fine, because the body was feeling good and the pace was also feeling good. Only concern was a little hip pain, but I've just been running through that.

1-6:21 Steve and Dave started off quite a bit faster, but it took me two miles to warm-up,

2-6:06- Still hanging back with Toby and Bill

3-6:13 pick up the pace and attack the Winchester Hill

4-6:00

5-5:38 Now I'm starting to have some fun, Steve and Dave are still in sight, but running fast

6-5:40 Another good mile, feeling fine

7-5:38

8-5:52 Steve and Dave slowed down a bit and I was able to catch up to them at Snow Canyon Parkway, which was nice being able to finish the last two miles with them.

9-5:53 This felt easy going down Diagonal, we were actually visiting some this mile

10-5:38 (59:03) Picked up the pace a little again, as we were getting close to the finish

.5 2:32 I wanted to push the last half mile especially, just to mentally prepare myself and simulate finishing strong on 300 South next weekend!

Overall 1:01:36 with a 5:53 average which is well under my marathon race pace.

Dave and I did another .5 mile cool-down at the park

Speedstar-32