my makeup may be flaking

I was exhausted at the end of yesterday and when I woke up I thought I was going to have difficulties on my long run. I actually felt pretty good though. This was definitely a slow long run, but that was what I had planned. I did the same 15.5 miles that I did last weekend. About three hours after I was done, I went to the U for my first frisbee game of the year. I was feeling pretty dead but I ran around alot and got some good sprints in.

Just did three loops of Liberty Park. Started out slow and ended quite fast. I feel pretty good now and ready for some more work over the next couple of days.

Did three loops of Sugarhouse park on the grass. Ran pretty slow for the grass loops. I had alot of aches and pains in my legs from playing frisbee for the first time in a while, but not as many as usual. I'm really tired right now, but I'll probably drag myself out again tonight.

PM Did three loops of Liberty park. I felt a little tight still, but i loosened up as the run went on.

AM Did two loops of Sugarhouse. It was incredibly windy, but fortunately it wasn't cold wind. I still have a definite tightness in my groin. I felt this in Fall '07 and I remember it went away with stretching. The tightness goes away when I warmup, but I still may lay off of
any intense speed work this week.

PM I ran the Shoreline trail to the zoo. The trail is now completely dry. It was really windy, which probably wasn't good for my leg. It felt fine to begin with but I became aware of it a little after about 30minutes.

AM 5.6 A short loop around the "block" i.e to 2100S and up to 1300E.

PM 10.5 Did two loops of Sugarhouse Park, felt better and better as the run went on and would have tried to pick it up alot if not for my groin. It definitely felt better today, but I'm still not totally comfortable pushing it. I'm content to just get some nice mileage in. Recruitment weekend is coming up and I'm hosting someone, so I will cut the mileage a little the next two days and hopefully it will be better when I come back.

PM Ran the shoreline trail in the evening. The mud was just that right consistency to stick to your shoes and make it almost impossible to run. It took quite a while to clean them off afterwards.

Didn't have much time due to recuiting weekend activities, but that's what I planned on so I still got my mileage for the week.

Did the full Jordan River trail (To Murray and back) for the first time in a while. It was extremely windy on the way out which was awesome because I was blown home the last 4 miles. I had to stop and stretch out my IT band a couple of times. The slow pace didn't seem to bother my groin at all, but now I have a few aches and pains after my first 20-miler since the 2nd week of January.

Just an easy run in the evening.

AM Did my secondary long run today. Felt pretty good, but my leg still is not right somehow, there is still some tightness in my groin and it is getting better very slowly. I tried to pick up the pace at the end and it felt good to begin with until I tightened up. Not particularly painful, but definitely noticeable.

PM Just tried to go run fast in Liberty Park. There was some localized tightness at the base of my groin but it was not very painful. It went away as the run went on very gradually and I began to feel more comfortable running fast. It's a little encouraging and indicates no major injury. I'm concerned that time off would make it worse (because it would be tight, this is what happens in my experience) so i'm just trying to do what I can without it getting worse. I did compromise by doing one lap fewer.

Two loops of Liberty Park on the grass. A similar pattern as normal. Some minor aches and pains that come and go. This time my left IT band felt tight, but there was no rubbing at the knee so I didn't care. It seemed to get better rather suddenly during the run. I'm wondering if maybe running in neutral shoes is the problem...maybe I should do 30miles a week in neutral shoes or something. The problems I'm having seemed to start with frisbee, but I've played under those exact circumstances before (high mileage week, long run right before playing) so maybe neutral shoes made me more susceptable. Also, everything seems to be in my pelvis and I know that I have slight alignment issues. So maybe even though I don't pronate, shoes with more support take care of the crooked left leg.
 

I tried to do a hard run today to simulate my race on Saturday. If it goes anything like today, I will at least have lots of people to run with because I'll be back in the pack! I started off at a decent pace. I wasn't wearing a watch because it broke, but I know that I have certain "gears" that I can slip into and I was in 5:35 mile pace gear, which felt ok to begin with, but I wasn't properly warmed up and my legs cramped up. I slowed down running uphill and then my quads cramped up badly when I got to the top and tried to increase the pace. I stopped and strectched them out,which helped out the tightness but then they felt strangely weak. I finished out the run feeling a little better as I went on. I may have to really cut back on the mileage however, much as I did in August and September when things were so bad I thought I was anemic.

Did 3 loops of Libery Park. I really want to run well tomorrow so I limited the intensity, but I was not feeling very good anyway. I didn't feel good before the 15K either and that went well, so we'll see. I'm going to start out slow.

Well I'm very, very suprised by this result. This was, I believe, my fourth best race ever and it comes in unexpected circumstances. The only better races: 1. Boston Marathon 2:40,2 Seattle Half 1:13, 3 32:30 10K. Anyway...

Did a two mile warmup with the bloggers: Jon, Walter and Twinkie. I was feeling Ok at the slow pace but I was feeling unsure. My legs felt good enough that I believed I would finish, I just thought it might get ugly.

On the starting line I see that my toughest competitor will probably be Walter unless Jon is feeling a whole heckuva alot better than he was at the 10K (he told me in the warmup that he ran miles 8-9 in like 10:10 last year, uh-oh). Then with 5 minutes to go, Trevor Ball runs up to the start line and I curse under my breath. We all ease into it at the start. I follow the same strategy as the 10K, slow up the first hill then taking a big lead by using the downhill very agressively. I regret doing this almost immediately as I feel myself cramping up as the road flattened and I relax. I'm unconcerned if the field catches me, as long as they are working hard to do it. Right at 2 miles I'm joined by Paul Pilkington and he runs behind me for about a mile before he starts to drop back again.

Miles 4,5,6,7 have uphills of varying difficulty. My plan was to relax on the steepest of the uphills and use them as a break. I was certain that Trevor Ball would pass me before long and I decided that I should try to make it hard for him to catch me. I was very pleased that I was breathing very hard on the hills as that meant that I was getting the max effort from my body. At 10K, I passed an aid station and people were making comments that implied I had built a huge lead. I looked back and saw someone around 20seconds behind me in a white singlet. I assumed it was Trevor Ball. I felt that if I could maintain my lead during the 7th mile then he would have alot of trouble catching me on the downhill. I really slowed down alot on the steepest part of the 7th mile and I kept thinking I heard footsteps behind me, but I refused to look back again. When the road flattened out from really steep to just uphill I took off. My legs felt very tired but cooperative. When I passed the 7 mile mark my confidence sawed and I sped up to probably around 5:00-5:10 pace. I risked a look back on one long stretch and could see that I had extended my lead. At that point the sun came out and I took off my mittens. When I passed the 8th mile mark I began to think that I might actually win. I just kept thinking that I didn't want to let anyone get to see the lights from the lead cop car. I was pushing myself very hard and m breathing was so hard I was getting a little dizzy. When I got to 9 miles I still thought I was going to lose, I hadn't looked back for about 1.5 miles. I climbed the final hill in the 10th mile as hard as I could thinking "I should at least give myself a chance". I headed downhill and passed by the main pack as they were hitting 10K, one of the organizers took a picture of me and i remember thinking "ha! I'm not going to win! Take a picture of the next guy". As I turned into the parking lot I got a view of the empty road behind me. At that point I knew that someone would have to run about 50second quarter to beat me (at most) and so I knew I had it won. Only at that point did I start to think about what my time was going to be and I was shocked to see the clock read 58mins. I crossed the line and looked back and saw no one.

A full minute later Walter came in. That's who was chasing me, not Trevor! The mere threat of Trevor was enough to propel me! Great race for Walter as he also broke 1 hour. Trevor came in 2 minutes later followed by Tim, Jon and Jeff Mcarthur all bunched up. Tim had been in contention for third but had taken two wrong turns!

Cooled down with the same guys for four miles. Then I headed to the Subway to get a 5 dollar foot loooooong! Then I went to the track team locked room and took a shower again. Good times.

Well I was thinking I might take today off, but my race yesterday boosted my confidence. I felt great on the run today. My left IT band was tight, but my groin seems to be much better as do my butt muscles. I probably ran a little bit too fast today but it was nothing crazy. I took an ice cold shower afterwards aimed at the base of my spine...we'll see whether or not that helps.

Did three loops of Liberty Park. I was feeling a little sore but mostly OK. I gradually sped up as the run went on as usual.

Ran on the Shoreline trail above the University. I was very tight to start this run but I loosened up considerably as it went on and I was able to inject quite a bit of speed. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to do a harder run.

AM Did loops of Sugarhouse park on the grass. I did the entire 10.5 mile run hard. I wasn't wearing a watch so I don't know exactly how fast but it was a very good effort judging by my breathing. I could not have even thought of doing this effort 2 weeks ago, so clearly the slightly lower mileage last week has let me recover, somewhat. The pain in my butt and groin are almost gone and my IT band and calves felt much looser. I'm still not perfect , but I don't need to be perfect right now so it's all good.

PM Did three loops of Liberty Park to show off my new "built for speed" hairdo. The weather kind of demanded it. I helped my stylist with her ecology homework. Anyway my legs were tired on the second run. It's hard to go fast on the woodchips anyway, but it was especially hard after the morning run. While running I started counting how many people I saw going the same direction as me and how many were going the opposite direction. I found that it was about an 11:1 ratio in favor of coming at me. So assuming I'm going 7min pace, that means that the masses are going 8:24 pace or a disproportionate number of people run counter-clockwise. I was counting cyclists and roller bladers so it is possible, but it would appear that most people choose to just run counterclockwise, because that is the direction the cars have to go.

AM Secondary long run to 2700S,up to 2000E back by the football stadium, down South Temple and then back to Liberty Park. I didn't run all that fast felt pretty tired, but I felt even less "injured" than yesterday. PM Did three loops of Liberty Park. It's always nice when people comment how fast you are when you're just jogging. I picked it up for the final 800 just to get some speed in.

Two loops of Liberty Park this morning. I felt pretty good today, much better than yesterday. It's been so nice running this week and I've been feeling so much better that I totally went back on my "it's ok to just run 70miles this week" plan. I'm going to try to do an actual workout tomorrow for the first time in a while and then we'll see what's up.

AM 10.1 I was going to do a workout involving multiple loops of Liberty Park, but I ended up changing my plans. I did two loops hard. I didn't have a watch but I'm pretty sure the pace was where I would have wanted (low 17 for 3 miles on woodchips), but it wa really hard on my quads. I decided to finish up my run on concrete so my quads would be working less hard relatively. I ran easy up 1300S to 1300E then ran hard all the way to 2100S then turned West ad kept running hard all the way to 500E (2 miles hard in probably around 10:30, downhill, this is an effort-based estimate). Then I ran easy to 1700S and 300E, before one final burst going from 1700S to 1300S in probably around 2:40 (4:40 mile pace) which was very hard.

In summary 2 miles easy, 3miles at 5:40, 1.6 miles easy, 2miles at 5:15, 1 mile easy, 967 meters at 4:40 pace=10.1 (trust me it does)

PM Three loops of Liberty park at a steady pace. I saw Bill Cobbler out setting up the Salt Lake Marathon course and he told me what my competition will be next Saturday. Teren, A. Tomas, Seth, Trevor Ball, Joe Wilson to name a few. Well then, I may have to cut my miles this week to be ready, it's not every week you get to face that kind of field, but then again, maybe I'll be out of my league no matter what I do.

Did the Jordan River 20 miler. It was very windy but not too cold. I was kind of paranoid that a storm was going to start while I was running and then I would have been very angry. I was only wearing short-short running shorts. Of course the good thing was that the wind was at my pack the last 4-5 miles and I ended with two miles of base pace followed by 3 miles at marathon pace followed by a very fast last mile. I still don't have a watch so I don't know the times but it felt fast. I was pleased that I seemed to be able to hold the pace despite being tired. I also felt much, much better than on my 20 miler two weeks ago. I didn't have to stop and stretch this time.

Is it really going to be snowing this week? Alright fine, that's fine. Hmm, I'm in a crabby mood because my housemate shows his appreciation of me making dinner for him by having yelled conversations on speakerphone so I can't get any work done! Grrr. Anyway....I did 7 miles easy today.

Did three loops of Sugarhouse Park on the grass. It's such a lovely park to run around, I love it. I was feeling tired heading up to the park on 2100S. I felt much better once I got on the grass however and the run seemed to go by quite fast. I usually don't have a sense of smell but today I did for some reason and I noticed how good Sizzler (it's next to Sugarhouse park) smells for the first time.

AM Three loops of Liberty Park

PM Ran to the zoo from school and did 3 by mile along the running of the leopards 5k course.

0-1.04 (5:28, 5:15 pace)

1.04-1.95 (4:42, 5:09 pace)

1.95-2.98 (5:07, 4:58 pace)

Total 2.98 in 15:17 (5:07 pace)

Felt pretty good. Took 2 minutes between the first two and then one minute between the second and third. I could have done the whole run continuously I felt. Followed it up with 3 200s on the East High Track.

Did 9.4 miles at a pretty good pace (6:20-30?). It was cold and kind of windy but I felt strong the whole way. I've decided that the bicycle police on the U of U campus are some of the most wonderful people on the planet, mainly because they amuse me. When I got to the math department today one of them was talking urgently into a radio. He was going very slowly so he was wobbling alot and going around in circles. Juxtapositions are funny.

Three loops of Liberty Park plus some strides. The park was really empty this morning! I guess I normally run there in the afternoon and on weekends but still, would have been a good time for a speed workout. Of course being a lazy grad student I started my run at 9am, the real runners (Allie!) were out at 6-7am. I got home and put on my flats and did some strides ranging from race pace to all out. I can definitely still sprint fast despite having to go a couple of weeks without strides. I always seem to maintain that top gear. The one to work on is the "quick, light and loose" pace that you can actually use at the end of a race. I can only hit my top speed comfortably for 70meters or so, which is pretty normal I guess.

First off, let me say that this was a very well run race, especially for the first time and having the start and finish in different spots. Next, I'll add that this was probably the most underrated race on the calendar this year. I jogged over to the high school then took one of the shuttles to the start line and did two more miles of warmup. I was feeling really good by the time the race started. Teren takes it out really fast (shocker!) and I quickly lose contact. However there's a pretty steep downhill about 200meters in and I use it to catch back up to the leaders. I feel pretty comfortable and manage to stay with them as we climb the one hill in the whole course. I should point out that the leaders at this point were Teren, Seth W., Seth Pilkington and Hobie Call. Just before the mile I back off and let them go. Alexander Tomas passes me but I can't go with him either. I turn onto Wakara and Nick McCombs passes me, I manage to hang on to him for about a quarter mile. It gets tough when we turn onto Foothill, because the road is now flat. I'm feeling pretty good but I also feel like I'm running in a flat out sprint. Finally we turn onto Sunnyside and two more guys come up beside me. One is Dennis Simonaitis Nathan Hornok I think (geez this race is stacked), the other I don't know (find out later it is the blog's own Thatcher Olson). I stay with them all the way down Sunnyside but at this point my calves are beginning to hurt alot and when they surge with 600meters left I can't go. I come onto the track and feel that with my big kick and can catch them but my calves tell me this might result in injury so I just gradually pick it up. Vance Twitchell passes me with about 150meters left, then I see the finish clock reading 14:48!. I immediately accelerate to full speed and blow by him, finishing just over 15minutes. I didn't really feel tired when I was done, my calves were just in alot of pain. I should probably invest in some new flats. I'm glad I started out fast, I knew from running the course that a fast start wouldn't really hurt me. By my calculations, taking into account altidude and downhill this is worth about a 15:12 5k on a track at sea level. So a 16 second PR off of only marathon training...pretty good. The IAAF score is 774 which makes it my 3rd best race ever, behind only my marathon and half marathon PRs.

Results

1. Seth Pilkington 13:56
2. Hobie Call 14:05
3. Teren Jameson 14:10
4. Seth Wolde 14:29
5.Aleksandar Tomas 14:39
6 Nick McCombs 14:49
7 Nathan Hornok 14:50
8 Thatcher Olsen 14:53
9 James Moore (Me) 15:03
10 Vance Twitchell 15:05

Point of Reference 2008 Heart of Holladay

Did my usual somewhat abbreviated long run along the Jordan River. I was very sore to begin with but then felt better as I warmed up. The last couple of miles I felt very tired and hungry. I was up for about 24straight hours on Saturday...a race, a full day of work, a date. The snow storm gave me an excuse to sleep in until noon so I still got the necessary sleep. Main focus for this week will be recovery. I'll probably keep the mileage in the 80s and maybe do one workout.

Pushed for time today and also still very sore. I decided to onl do two loops of Liberty Park.

Definite improvement today. I really need new flats. The pair I raced in have practically no heal, which works out fine for me on a flat course, but not going downhill. I did 10.5 in the morning, just two loops of Sugarhouse. Then I got in another 7 in the afternoon.