my makeup may be flaking

8.54 miles on the elliptical in 1 hour

immediately followed by 14 miles on the stationary bike.

I felt pretty terrible during this workout. It is hard to be on these machines for that long.

I'm not sure what this machine is, but I don't like it.

AM 7.6 miles RUNNING with Allie.

PM 5.4 miles in 30 mins on the elliptical. 

Ran to the fieldhouse and back...and guess what I did?

Half marathon on the elliptical.

I started out with a couple of warmup miles (5:59 and 5:40) and then kept the rest of the miles in the low 5:20s. I ended up doing the second half a minute faster than the first to finish in 1:11:26. I did the first 10 miles in 54:42 before closing in 16:44 the final 5k. It felt about as terrible as doing this on the road would be. 

Got out and ran again. Slightly conscious of my achilles, nothing major.

8.2 miles on elliptical in 45 mins. (uh yeah, it was hard)

1.8 miles running to get to 10.

21 miles on the bike (in just over an hour)

2 miles running

PM Ran home and did Allie's double with her.

JAJA run in the morning. Last night I used my gua sha tool to rub out my achilles. I succeeded in rubbing it pretty raw (skin came off). In my experience this is ok. During the run it felt a little sore and I wasn't sure if it was from actual tendon pain or from the raw skin. I honestly still can't tell, BUT it didn't feel any worse after the run than before.

Another factor in me running again (6 straight days!) is probably the superfeet insoles that I got per Rossy's suggestion.

PM: 10.4 miles cycling in 30 mins (heart rate in the 170s for the 2nd half.)

Did 4.97 miles on the elliptical

5:05,5:06,5:20,5:18,5:06 for final .97 (5:16 pace). Total time=25:55. Died pretty badly just before the 2 mile mark but I hung on to break 26.

Afterwards did 4 miles on the track at about 6:45 pace. I felt fine until the last lap when my hip started to hurt.

 PM 5.9 with Allie.

The outside the ice 5k turns out to mean that it is an indoor 5k going around an ice rink. This was actually a pretty cool venue for a race and I'd like to see more races there. Obviously there was a difficulty of lapping people but it wasn't all that bad.

Anyway my goal today was just to test out the achilles to prep myself for the half marathon tomorrow and I figured that I would pace Allie as well. I kind of had fun sitting back and picking people off as we kept a really even pace. We started with a 1:43 lap and we stayed in the 1:42-1:44 range until running the last two laps in 1:41,1:35. I think the funniest part was that the leaders almost lapped us after about 6 laps but then stayed about the same distance back the rest of the way.

As for my foot, it was fine and I even felt like I was pushing off my right foot fully. I think that the superfeet insoles are stopping me from yanking my achilles too much. Additionally, the fact that it is pancake flat was very kind to my feet. The one issue that I got was a blister due to the hole in my sock and the insoles which make my feet sit slightly differently in my shoe. I bet that this will become really bloody and gross tomorrow, but I look forward to it.

Last week I ellipticalled a half marathon in 1:11:23. I'm going to be happy with a 1:16 low tomorrow. Half marathon history (you have to go down very far to get to my altitude half pr)

1:11:14 (Utah Valley 2011, aided) 

1:11:15 (Seattle 2009, Sea Level)

1:11:23 (Elliptical 2012, Um..Elliptical)

1:11:24 (Mercer Island 2010, Sea Level)

1:11:36 (SLC 2009, Aided)

1:13:08 (Seattle 2008, Sea Level)

1:13:37 (Seattle 2011, Sea Level)

1:13:56 (TOU 1st half split, aided)

1:14:00 (Des News 1st Half split, aided)

1:14:14 (Seattle 2010, sea level)

1:14:29 (Boston 1st half split, aided sea level)

1:14:31 (Salt Lake Half 2011, Aided)

1:14:54 (Freedom Half 2011, Aided)

1:15:01 (Sale Lake City Half 2011, aided+short)

1:16:18 (Provo City 2011)!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Clearly my altitude PR is soft. I think that this will be tough to get tomorrow but it's at least possible. 

I had planned on doing this race for about a month. Everytime I thought about, I thought "I'm probably going to regret this". Anyway, I told myself that I had a shot at my altitude PR yesterday and figured that I could get the Wasatch Running Center some good exposure.

I was never on pace for 1:16. After about 5k it became apparent that I was not going to run very fast (like no faster than 1:19). I just clicked off the laps as my left leg became gradually more and more sore. Again, my achilles was fine and my breathing was fine, but my quads were toast.

Anyway, I definitely slowed down by maybe 10-15 seconds a mile toward the end but I was happy with how I did.

Best Pace Guesses

1595m=5:51 (5:54)

3367m=12:20 (5:53/5:53)

4696m=17:15 (5:54/5:57)

6468m=23:54 (5:56/6:02)

8240m=30:37 (5:58/6:06)

9569m=35:44 (6:00/6:12)

11341m=42:34 (6:02/6:12)

13113m=49:21 (6:03/6:09)

Final 7974m in 31:14 (6:18 pace):Ran out of memory

I estimate that I could have (in the latter stages) been losing roughly 15-20 seconds a mile weaving around people. I think this could have cost me maybe as much as 3 minutes. It's actually difficult to say. Anyway, I'm glad that I tried this race, but my legs are really trashed now.

Did 2700S loop with Allie. I was very achy from my race and I also had some blisters from using superfeet in my flats. It was good to be able to do this run without my achilles bothering me. It was very creaky again after this run, but I know from experience that creaking is ok if no accompanied by pain. It still is a little tender to the touch, so I'm not going to give up the cross training just yet.

A sorry day. I got to the gym and did a 5k on the rowing machine. Then I went up to the track and tried to run, but my legs were too tired and my blister hurt so much that I started crying (ok, not really). Then I tried to ride the exercise bike but I just could not get it going.  I probably need a day to let myself heal a bit anyway.

2*4.7 miles. One in the AM, one in the PM. Both runs felt pretty good and I didn't have to think too much about my achilles. Hopefully more running this week.

AM JAJA run and it felt great. Andrea is clearly antsy so it seemed like we ran faster than normal (or maybe I'm out of shape). In any case it was good to get in a good workout that didn't involve watching numbers slowly tick by on a screen. I really hate watching numbers tick by on screens.

It started to snow, so we decided to cut the run .8 miles short (also we didn't really know how far we'd gone). Then we went to the weight lifting. Despite my sore quads I still managed 125lbs. I'm now up to 95lbs on the hamstring curls. My achilles is slightly creaky today, but it is not as bad as it was over the weekend. Maybe things are getting better? Maybe. I know that the creakiness by itself is not necessarily that bad as I've had it linger before. Still, it's a clear indication that I'm not ready for high intensity/ high volume yet.

Something is wrong with my quad.

Ran home but had to stop a few blocks from my house due to my quad.

AM 5 With Jake, Adam and Allie. I then headed to the fieldhouse and ran in circles until allie showed up and we could live. (3 more)

PM 4.8 in 31:25 (6:30 pace). Leg started to hurt at the end, but my Saucony Mirage felt like really great. 

AM 3.6 miles

PM I decided that I wanted to see how fast I can walk.

I did two miles in 8:23,8:24. The main issue I had was that power walking seemed to hurt my quad more than running so it became difficult to maintain form. I think that I could easily have gone sub 8 pace if my quad wasn't sore.

So a 16:47 2 mile walking. That's about 15:40 for a 3km, which is 660 points according to the IAAF.

Equivalents to a 15:40 3km Walk vs my PR

Equivalent	My PR
2:04 (800m)	2:03
4:38 (1mile)	4:28
9:15 (3km)	9:07
9:58 (2mile)	9:51
15:52	15:26
33:47	32:30
1:14:36	1:11:15
2:42:01	2:32:27

 Umm....maybe I'm a much more talented walked than I am runner? 

Managed 7.4 on the JAFAJ run and then went another 2 at the fieldhouse while waiting for Allie. Those last 2 miles felt pretty good as I was running around 6:00-6:20 pace with no real effort.

Anyway, my achilles was creaky but not painful afterwards and I was able to do some leg extensions. I think I should be good now.

Anyway, I'm going to shoot for 50 miles of running this week. At 25.4 right now with 3 days left.

Leg seized up on my run again. This is pretty lame. I'm going to have to take another weekend off. At least I got in some running this week.

After some time off, running with Allie again. Can I get string together some running this time?

Another JAFAJ run cut short. :( I really have to fight the urge to go for a 2nd run. I know that I can go run 10-15 miles right now, but I'm trying to get my weekly mileage up again. Grrr.