Little Buddha

3.5 easy miles this morning. Tonight ran up the La Verkin Twist out 3 miles and back 3 miles overall average was 7:26. I felt pretty good going up the hill and then picked up the pace of course on the downhill. I started teaching another driver's education course this afternoon, so I will be kind of busy the next two weeks, but at least the weather is getting nice so I should be able to squeeze in my runs. I'm looking forward to the Spectrum 10K on Saturday, I don't really know what kind of shape I'm in, but should be faster than last year hopefully (Nimbus)

5 miles pretty easy, busy day

Decided to do a speed workout tonight, and boy was I hurting.  I think there are 3 main reasons why I didn't feel that great.

1. I haven't been very consistent with my training lately and I haven't done much speed the last 2-3 weeks

2.  My diet hasn't been very good, gained about 5 pounds on vacation, so I need to work that back off, I can tell a difference when I'm carrying the extra weight

3.  I haven't been getting enough rest and my body has been feeling the effects of fatigue

Anyway, recognize the problems and they are all areas I can improve in.

 Well, I begin by running from my house over to Hurricane High School 2.5 mile easy warm-up 7:40 pace

Decided to do a ladder workout, goal was to run everything near 5:00 mile pace

200- 32 faster than I wanted to run

400- 73 faster than I was planning- 2:00 minutes recovery

600-1:55 slower than pace and feeling tired already 2:30 recovery

800- 2:36 slower than planned- 3:00 recovery

1200- 4:04 hurting and the wind is starting to pick up- 6:00  recovery

800- 2:40- just going through the motions

600- 2:01- just want to finish this workout and go home

400- 75 felt pretty good

200- 36- finally done, get me out of here

Cool-down 2.5 miles felt like I was limping my way home 8:20 average pace

Hopefully, I can recover somewhat from this workout, by race time on Saturday

8 miles tonight with the running club, felt good to get out with the guys I've missed the last few times.  We ran out on Snow Canyon Parkway, then up to the trail behind Snow Canyon High and then back to the running store on Sunset. 7:32 average.  I felt a little sore from my workout yesterday, but good to get out and try to work some of the soreness out of the legs. (DS Trainer) 

Today was the Spectrum 10K, I really didn't know what to expect going into the race. In fact I was pretty worried considering I haven't been running many miles lately. Also, my pre-race meal Friday wasn't very good, added to the fact I ate a bucket of popcorn and pop the night before at the show, I was sure I was doomed and should expect a poor performance. However, I overcame the negative thoughts and had a pretty good race. I finished 3rd overall and 2nd in my age division. I knew the competition would be decent, all of the guys from the club were there, except for Dave, also I noticed some other talented runners from the area when I got there, Ryan from Cedar City and Cheston (was nice to get to talk to him). The weather this year was great compared to last year, also they changed the course slightly from last year, but I don't know if it really made the race much faster. Last year I ran 37:42 and took 8th, today I ran 35:55.

1 mile- 4:58, pretty fast first mile, quite a bit downhill and a little worried I was going out to fast, I was even trying to hold back a little. Clyde, Steve Olsen, and Steve Hooper were all about 12 to 15 second ahead of me and I was in 5th. John Wright from Lehi was in 4th.

2 mile- 5:50 (10:49) Ryan caught up to me around 1.5, and ran with me for about .5 then I threw in a little surge, and dropped him and caught John.

3 mile- 6:00 (16:49) If I remember this part had a slight uphill, then a cone you had to ran around up West trail then back to the original course from last year. At this point Clyde was in first, Steve Olsen was in second, and Steve Hooper had about 20 second on me.

4 mile- 5:51 (22:41) For me this was the mile that felt the best, I just focused on pushing the pace the best I could

5 mile- 5:48 (28:29) This mile felt pretty good, as we turned onto Center Street in Ivins I glanced back to see Cheston hot on my trail, so I continued to push the pace.

6 mile- 6:05 (34:35) I was able to close the gap and caught up to Steve Hooper right around the 6 mile marker.

.2 1:20 Steve and I pushed each other to the finish line, and pretty much finished together.

Overall, a good race for everyone from the club. Also decent prize money provided by the St. George Running Center (thanks Steve and Kendra)

Clyde and I did a 2 mile cool-down, right after the race, waiting for the awards ceremony