Rollin' THUNDER

14 miles at 10:30 am on the treadmill. I had planned on running outside, but forgot to set an alarm. I woke up at 8:30 and decided I would just go to the gym (for hopefully the last time in a long while). 

This was a good run. I had wanted to run 10 miles at my goal MP for TOU. Over the 14 miles, my average pace was 7:02.4285. My goal pace for TOU is 7:03, so I am pleased with this run.

12 miles, no watch. Nothing eventful.

18 miles on a a bike. Yesterday after my run and even this morning I felt like I had a pulled muscle on my right thigh. Every once in a while I would feel a sharp, isolated pain. I decided to ride a bike today to try and let it heal.

Avg HR for 1 hour 139

Max HR 169

18 miles on bike in 1 hour. I dont want to rush anything and pull the muscle again. I think I will do one more day of biking tomorrow (hopefully a long bike ride) and then I will get back to running.

 Avg HR 141

Max HR 170

18 miles on bike at 5:00 am. Went to bed at 12:30 and woke up at 3:45, kids are great. Luckily I am not feeling too tired yet.

Hopefully this was my last bike ride and I can get back to running tomorrow.

8 miles on treadmill at 5:40 pm. I started running and decided I should just do this run faster than normal. So I did. I avg a little faster than 6:40 miles.

Total time 53:10

Avg HR 161

Max HR 171

Even though I ran this at about 1/2 marathon pace, I felt really good. I am positive I could have kept going much longer at this pace. I need to start training at a faster pace, so I can start racing faster.

8 miles at 8:00 am. I had a really hard time convincing myself to get out the door. I did this run a lot like yesterdays, a lot faster than normal (only this was outside and not on a treadmill). 

I felt good the whole run, and I finally got a dog with pepper spray. I went past a house that 2 dogs always come out and follow me down the road barking. Today there were the 2 regular big dogs, and like 6 little kick dogs. I got one of the big dogs right when he got to the road, and he backed off. All of the kick dogs followed him. The other big dog stayed about 10 feet off the road, and barked while it was running parallel to me. Maybe next time I do this route I can get him. I am hoping they will stop coming out to the road.

Total time 54:18

Avg pace 6:47

Max HR 177 (while I was by the dogs)

Avg HR 162

8 easy miles at 8:00 am. At 4 miles my watch started to freak out, and I lost all my data. I was at about 30 minutes over the first 4, and the last 4 may have been a little slower. Only 4 more runs until TOU!!!

7 miles at 9:00 am. Again I had a hard time getting out the door. I am wondering what I need to do in order to feel excited again to go running. I am considering training for a triathlon next year and hoping that the swimming and biking will keep me interested in my workouts.

Overall this run went pretty good. It was a little windy and a little cold, but not too bad.

My total time was 51:06, an average of 7:18's.

Mile splits 8:28 (uphill with head wind), 6:57, 7:06, 7:09, 7:07, 7:11, 7:11.

Max HR 172

Avg HR 156

6 miles, no watch. Felt sluggish. I really need to eat well for the next couple days. I think my poor diet today is what made me feel so sluggish during the run.

I think I did the run in about 46 minutes.

My Garmin read 26.35, weird.

Today I was a pacer for TOU. I paced the 3:05 group, and finished in 3:04:38. I also got a PR by 5:11. Overall it went really well, and I am satisfied with the results. I felt like I was holding myself back for all but 3 miles, and I still got a PR.

I guess it's time to finish my entry for TOU. I have never felt so prepared going into a marathon as I did for this one. This was my 7th marathon, and I had no doubt that I could get 3:05 which was going to be a PR by about 5 minutes. I have been consistent in my training and listened to my body. If I felt extra sore or had an injury I went to the pool or rode a bike rather than just resting or fighting through the pain.

At the start line when people asked if I had to prove that I could run 3:05 by doing a couple times before, most were shocked that I was pacing for a PR, but I absolutely knew I was going to be able to do it. Based off my half marathon time a month ago and my workouts, I think a 2:55 wouldn't have been out of the question.

Long story short: As pacers we weren't allowed to be more than 2 minutes ahead of a positive split at the half way mark if we wanted to be able to pace again. When I got to mile 12 I saw that mile 13 was going to have to be pretty slow in order to not have started too fast. I was looking at my watch often, and I knew I was ahead of pace the whole time, but not by much. I told the group running with me that 13 was going to be slow. One of them ran ahead to use the bathroom, and the others took an easy mile with me. Up to that point all the miles had been under 7:00, and 13 was 7:14, I felt like I was almost at a walking pace. I got to the half way mark at 1:30:38, 8 seconds in the green.

Now that I was good to pace future races, I could get back to running what felt easy and relaxed, while watching my speed to make sure it was a good pace for those that 3:05 was their goal.

Longer Story Short: by mile 18 I was still feeling great. I was having fun and trying to encourage those running with me. By mile 24 a kid that had literally been at my side the whole way started to drop back. I tried to talk him into keeping it up, but he dropped back and finished about 4 minutes after me. I finished in 3:04:38, a PR by 5:11, and it felt easy the whole way (probably how pacing should feel). After the race I had several people come up and thank me for helping them reach their goal. Last year nobody said anything to me (I finished alone).

I am glad I was smart about my training, and I am hoping I can be smart again and get a huge PR next year. I am also blessed to have a great family that supports me. I was one of the few runners that had fans in the canyon. My Mom and Brother were on their bikes in the canyon, and both kept riding ahead to cheer me on throughout the race. My Wife was at several spots on the course with our son cheering me on. My Dad and Sister were in a car driving to many spots to give me support (not food or drink, just cheers). my sister in law and her 5 kids were at a few spots to encourage me. The people running with me kept mentioning how I had a lot of fans. It really does help to have people cheering for you, and I have proof from the Ogden Half.

This was my fastest, easiest, and funnest marathon. But training was my hardest, most frustrating, and by far the most rime consuming.

15.3 miles on bike. Not a stationary bike this time, but on my new road bike :)

Took the day off, it seems like I am taking an extra long time to recover.

I did a 4mile bike ride (stationary) warm up, then a 4 mile run at about 7.2 (slow) mph at an incline of 1 because I am still having trouble walking on flat ground so how can I run on flat ground? I then did a 3 mile cool down ride on the stationary bike.

8 miles (7:30 pace) on treadmill followed by 6 miles (3:30 pace) on stationary bike. There is a ton of smoke in the air! I walked outside this afternoon and just looking across the street at a building you can see that it is hazy. Normally it is hazy in the sky, but right now it is hazy down low. I guess I will be running at the gym for a little while until the air clears.

12 miles on stationary bike followed by 4 miles on treadmill. Averaged 7:30's, first mile was 6:58, then decided to not risk injury so soon after the marathon, so I slowed down. Both calves are a little sore, but my quads finally feel good.

6 miles in the afternoon. I did TOU 9 days ago, and I have another marathon in 18 days, so I am kind of in a limbo of what to do for training. I don't want to do super high mileage in case I am not fully recovered from TOU, and I don't want to take it super easy in case I won't be prepared for the Utah Marathon. I am hoping to get in a decent amount of miles over the next 10 days or so, then do a smaller taper.

Today I started out a little quick, then picked it up over the next 4 miles, then took mile 6 a little slower. I am wanting to train faster than I normally do so I can become a faster runner, but it's a fine line of training faster and killing myself. I will see what I can do.

Splits were 7:10, 6:40. 6:43, 6:52, 6:40, 7:23.

Total time 41:29

Avg HR 171

Max HR 181

10 miles on treadmill after work. I got off work at 9:00 pm, but luckily I work at a gym, so it is pretty convenient to go running afterwards. 

I did 9 miles starting out at 8 mph then increased 0.1 mph every mile until I hit 8.7 mph. I stayed at that speed until I hit 9 miles. I then ran to the bathroom, and did 1 mile at 8.0 mph. 

This was a good run, I felt good and I didn't feel too tired while running.

12 easy miles on treadmill with no incline.

Avg pace 7:30

Total time 1:30:00

10 miles on treadmill. I did 5 miles of this run with the treadmill at a 0.5 incline and .5 miles at a 1.0 incline. I held the pace a 8.0 mph for the entire run. The Utah Marathon has a lot of uphill, so I am trying to get some uphill training going in the short time I have. I figure the easiest way to do that is on a treadmill.