Emily's training blog

Today I just ran an easy ten miles.  I thought that I would try running on the river trail north of 4800S, to see if the flooding has cleared up.  I ran down 2200W to 3500S, and then to the river trail.  Less than a minute onto the trail, and I ran into flooding.  I didn't feel like wading through water today. (especially since my father-in-law told me about water snakes in the puddles . . .shudder!)  So, I turned back around.  I ran down to 900W and ended up looping around a correctional facility.  This took me over to 700W. I ran to 3900 S, and thought maybe I could get back onto the trail . . . nope.  still flooded.  So, I ran up to 1300 West, and over to 4700S.  At 4700 S, I ran to 1950 W, and back through the neighborhood to my house. 

My run meandered all over the place this morning.  I usually like my specific routes.  (What OCD runner doesn't?)  I guess a little adventure never hurt anyone.  Now I have to go wake the kiddos up.  East High cross country practice starts in an hour!

I met Devra at Sugarhouse Park, so we could do a track workout at Highland High.  We warmed up with a lap around the park, and added on to make a three mile warm up.  Devra had 4 x 1200 with 4 minute recovery in between at 4:10 pace.  I tagged along, and added on one more 1200 since I didn't run a half marathon this weekend like Devra did. 

The workout went really well.  We started out pretty conservatively, and got faster as the workout went on.  I felt comfortable until the fifth one, but then we were running much faster at that point.  My intervals were 4:08, 4:05, 4:04, 4:04 and 4:02. We ran a lap recovery, and then did a standing recovery until 4 minutes. 

We cooled down with a lap around Sugarhouse Park.  On our cooldown we ran into the East High team, who were just starting their workout.  I ran another two miles with the team, to give me a 4 mile cooldown. 

I did not feel very well this morning.  I haven't been sleeping very well the last few nights, and I think it caught up to me a bit today.  I will have to make sure to take good care of myself through the day today, or tomorrow's tempo run will be painful. 

My original plan was 12 miles, but I cut it to ten.  I felt like I was struggling, and the pace was not fast.  I'm glad that Devra came to run with me.  It was nice to have the distraction of someone to talk to. 

We ran out on the river trail to Gardner Village and back.  I filled my daily protein intake through the amount of gnats that kept flying into my mouth.  They were everywhere down there! 

Despite feeling awful, I think we managed to finish in a 7:10 average pace. So, we definitely picked up some steam as we ran. 

If I can just make it through this week, I get a nice easy one next week to prepare for the half.  3 more days!

I met Devra at Liberty Park to run a tempo run.  I originally wanted to run six, but I wimped out the last mile and cut it to five.  We warmed up two laps around the outside of the woodchip trail.  Then, we changed shoes, and jogged over to the start, which gave us a 3.5 mile warmup.  The goal was six minute pace.  

My splits were: 

Mile 1:  5:47

Mile 2: 5:48

Mile 3: 5:58

Mile 4: 6:06 (Whoops, my mind started to wander, and I wasn't focusing very well this mile.

Mile 5: 5:54  (Got my head back into it for the finish.)

Total time was 29:35 

I was happy with my tempo run.  I know that I need to make my splits a little more even, but I have found if I get out a little bit harder during the first couple of miles, I do better.

We did a three mile cooldown around the park, and then I rushed up to cross country practice.  It is going to be a busy summer!

I ran an easy recovery run today in preparation for tomorrow's 17 miler.  I ran out 2200W, down to 3800 S, over to 2700 W, and back up to 5400S. 

It was cold this morning.  I didn't bring a long sleeved shirt, so my arms felt numb.  My legs never felt like they really warmed up, either. 

I was kind of dreading today's run.  I am not a fan of long runs, which is a little weird since I want to run a marathon.  The longest I have run to this point is 15 miles, and for some reason 17 sounded like a lot of running.  Devra's schedule also had her running the last 5 hard, which intimidated me even more.  So, I was proud of myself for getting through today's run.

We ran out 1300 W to 104th S, up to 2700, and back to 5400.  We had to add an extra mile in the neighborhood to hit 17.  We didn't start out too quickly, about 7:20 pace for the first three.  Then, we started to pick up.  At about nine miles, where we turned onto 2700 S, we hit a slight downhill.  Our pace picked up significantly, so we decided to do our five hard right there instead of at mile 12.  From mile 9-14, we ran 6:20's.  At mile 11 we took a goo.  The 14th mile was pretty tough, because it was all uphill to 6200 S.  I was definitely feeling the pace then.  Even in the uphill mile we ran a 6:27.  After 6200 it is all downhill, so we just ran easy . . .6:30-40 pace instead of 6:20.  About this time the goo kicked in pretty good, so I felt great the last three miles.  Our total time for the run was 1:55:45, or 6:50 average according to Devra's garmin.

I'm glad to get past the mental barrier of today's run.  Plus, this is my longest run since the winter of 2008.  If I can just stay healthy, I think I will run really well!

Now I get to recover for next week's half marathon!