my makeup may be flaking

My body said it was ready for more again today so I obliged. 15.1 miles 6:54 avg. Ran up sunnyside, then along the MillCreek Township 8k course, then down 33rd South and back along 5th east. Finished up running some 6:30 miles on the flat. This was again difficult, but I'm getting there.

Des News Death Loop (up Sunnyside to Hogle Zoo, along Wasatch to Thunderbir, back on Foothill and down Sunnyside). 10.9/7:54 avg.

AM To work via the avenues/shoreline trail. 8:35 pace!

PM Home via Des News Loop. Starting to feel good on longer runs.

AM First non-Gimpy JAFAJ run in a while.

PM Ran home.

Ran pretty slowly this evening. Body starting to feel tired from all this running.

OMG! I'm somehow doing striders half and SLC full, what is wrong with me. Oh, it snowed today and stung my eyes while I was running. Ran with Allie. We went fairly fast because we wanted to be done.

The plan was to run 5:45 pace in the early miles and then just hang on. I didn't really know how I would respond, but I figured that a 1:16 was probably the best I would be able to do.

The response was that I felt like I was running in Molasses. I don't just mean that my legs felt heavy, but also that I was heavy a hard to breathing because Molasses was going up my nose.

The first few miles were reasonable fast (5:27,2&3 5:38 avg,5:35). My legs were willing but I felt like I was redlining it aerobically. As the road flattened out I had a hard time maintaining and ran 5:48, 5:55 for mile 5 and 6. I knew that I was in trouble as those two miles were still going downhill.

Normally I welcome gentle rollers and I was happy to see them today, but my breathing kept getting totally out of control. I pushed really hard in miles 7&8 but only got 6:03 and 6:04. At this point I was weaving all over the road. Still, I told myself, these are maybe the fastest miles I've run in months and I just ran 8 of them in a row.

I kind of slowly lost it the last 5 miles and I knew that I would have to work hard to beat my 1:19 from 2009. Glancing back a few times, I could see that there were people behind me getting closer. I ran 6:23 for mile 9. I remember surging on an uphill on mile 10 and managing 6:14. Looking back I could see people were closer and there were 3 miles left.

I was waiting for the inevitable at this point. I slowed again to 6:22 for 11 and 6:32! for 12. I was pretty out of it at this point, but I didn't think I had much left. With 1 mile to go, I was maybe 20secs up on MarkP and I felt confident I could hold onto that. I raised my pace as much as I possibly could: a measly 6:16 last mile.

Despite those terrible final miles I still managed to average 6 flat pace. Even though this is pretty bad for me by typical racing standards, I'm not upset at all. For one thing, I just got back to running. For another, I ran like 10000miles this week. And for yet a third, this race was at even higher elevation than I'm used to and I've always had difficulties with altitude (stupid low VO2 max).

Positives: If I had run 1:16 I still would have finished 5th, but if I had run 2.5 mins slower, I would have finished much lower down. Anyway, I'm currently beating Jake in the Circuit so HA!

Also, running this race early gives me something to compare future races to.

Finally, I didn't feel any problem today with my knee or achilles. My calves are sore, which is something I need to be careful about, but they are sore in a good way.

After the race I cooled down with Devra, Allie, MarkP and Tera. To me, this was just as hard as the race as I could barely keep up with them. 

Ran the SLC 1/2 course with Jake, Andrea, Allie and Fritz. Apparently, they all wanted to take shortcuts in their training so we cut .5 miles off from Liberty Park. I felt a little weak today and when I was done I felt like I'd gone 20 miles instead of 12, but I'm still chugging along here.

AM 11.5 in 1:24:02 (7:18 per mile)

AM2 To school

PM 4.7 (7:27 pace)

Math loop about 18:10,12:20,19:20,12:20 for a total of 62:10. Not great, but not terrible either. I felt really terrible because I was thirsty and sore. Compounded with being out of shape and you'd expect a poor showing. The reality is that 62mins is "ok" and it is actually pretty promising when I put it in context. When in good shape, I would probably be able to manage a 59 given my current workload and the conditions. (It was also really windy, which left me parched after the first few miles).

6:27 avg. (Flat equivalent=6:13)

Jafaja run: 9 miles and 3 step.

I'm thinking of starting the following mini-slam

"Indian Summer Quad Masher Tour"

July 14th Bryce Canyon Half (1800foot drop)

July 28th Timp Half (1800foot drop)

Sept 8th Mt Nebo Half (3100 foot drop)

The nebo half is ideal prep for the main event:

Huntsville Full Marathon: 3800 foot drop

Finally it all ends with:

Halloween Half (2200 foot drop)

I guess I could just make it Timp, Nebo, Halloween Half and call it "Quadsterf*$!". The races that combine inane logistics with absurd courses, whatever.

Anyway, I decided last night that I will be most likely running SLC full as a workout. I will attempt to hit half way in 1:22-1:25, after that I'm not sure what will happen.

PM Home Via Des News Loop. Felt really good today!

AM 8 miles with Allie. Blue Boutique/Red Mango Loop

PM Around Campus

Low key pre-marathon 5k. I wanted some honest competition so I enlisted my friend Andrew to come race me (I figured Fritz would crush me).

Anyway, I knew I was in trouble right off the bat as I was having trouble breathing going up the first hill. When I'm training hard (read slightly overtraining), I tend to have difficulties maintaining a high heart rate. I was forced to back off considerably and I fell back into 4th place behind Levi Pace. I feel kind of bad for Levi, because every time I race him there is always someone (his dad) yelling at him to go faster at every turn. It kind of stresses me out. Anyway, I stuck with Levi the first mile, which was the hilliest and hit a 6:04, putting me some 40 seconds behind fritz and maybe 20 seconds behind Andrew.

I started to push hard as the downhills came and it seemed like I was making up some ground. I ran 5:34 for the second mile and Andrew was still far away. My stride felt pretty smooth but I was having trouble with my turnover. Anyway we turned the final corner and I made a bid to catch Andrew. I almost caught him, but he heard me coming and had a little something left. I didn't have the normal turbo-boost today (maybe not enough to ear, i.e. nothing?) and he left me in the dust. I was happy he was there though as he kept me running fast in the last 1.1 (6:09 5:35 pace). I ended up not very far behind Fritz in the end (~30 seconds) so that's a good sign. Time wasn't great but the course was tough. I'm also beginning to think that my slow time was more that I am having difficulty with the mileage rather than being totally out of shape.

Afterwards I ran home 10 miles through Tanner Park. 

AM Progression run with Allie. Starting at 9:30 pace we were running close to 6 flat at the end. Ran the last two miles at a faster pace than Allie's 5k from the day before!

PM 2 loops Liberty Park 

Math "10 miler" (17:40,11:28,18:45,11:24)=59:17 (6:10 pace)

Last week (18:10,12:20,19:20,12:20)

Ran about 3 minutes faster than last week. It was much cooler today, but my legs still didn't feel great. First run in my new NB400s. I like the feel of them, I had a nice smooth midfoot strike going on without too much stress on my achilles. Seems like a good lightweight trainer and a good shoe to use in SLC.

My legs are getting used to the pounding of running again, but I'm definitely not going to pop a good tempo run with all the mileage I've been ramming into my legs. Also, I'm clearly a little rusty aerobically. I definitely feel good about the fact that my performances are going in the right direction.

Pre marathon 10k JAF run. We kind of ran around at random but it wasn't that different from normal.

Expo! The major sign telling people where to go was facing a wall. It was only readable if you were leaving the expo. It was kind of funny. No goody bag, no chip confirmation. The board with the numbers only went up to Sch. Things seemed mostly ok, but with this race...

I caved and tapered a little. My plan is still to run conservatively through the half. Most likely this will go out the window in the first few miles, but whatever. My best case scenario is something like the following splits. Shooting for a 6:10 "flat pace".

Like I've said, I had low expectations for this race. The plan was to run 1:22-1:25 through the half.

I ran the first couple of miles with Bill Cobbler and we settled in just a bit slower than I had intended but it felt pretty difficult. First couple of miles were 6:00,6:17,5:58,5:57. Each split was about 10 seconds slower than the "plan", but my legs were feeling pretty tight and I just didn't feel like I had much "go".

I lost Bill right before entering Sugarhouse Park. There were ALOT of marathoners in front of me. There was orange boulder guy about 2-3 minutes ahead along with Steve Andersen. Rossy was even further ahead. In addition Dennis was about a minute ahead of me. I entered the park right behind shirtless dude, white t-shirt man, bandana man and curly hair.

It was kind of cool to be back in the pack struggling for position, but I was definitely struggling. I kept falling behind on the uphills in sugarhouse but in hindsight I was probably conserving my energy better than those around me. We picked it up relative to the pace chart in this section as my pace drifted into 6:00-6:05 adjusted pace (when I had been doing 6:20). Shirtless guy was toast after before we left the park. Bandana man, white t-shirt man, curly hair and I ran as a little pack as we made our way through the half marathoners on 1700East.

White t-shirt guy was chewing on a Gu at this point and seemed very relaxed. I figured that he would be a tough nut to crack. Turning onto 2700S we away from the half marathoners and I could see Dennis ahead about 30 seconds ahead. White t-shirt guy seemed unaffected by the hill and opened a gap on me. We got a little downhill after the next turn and I caught back up. I was definitely straining here and my splits show that these were my fastest splits considering the terrain.

White t-shirt guy and I pulled away from the pack and continued this pattern of yo-yoing. He would take a big lead on the hills and I would get it back on the downhills.

Splits 5-12 (5/6 12:27,6:11, 6:20, 6:32 , 6:15 ,5:55,6:17) 

At about mile 12, we climb another hill and here white t-shirt dropped me and caught dennis. Michelle S. was doing recon out on the course and told me that I was 4-5 minutes down on Steve A and that I was in 8th overall. I was actually feeling good at this point, but I knew that with Steve and Fritz so far out there, I would have to run a massive negative split to catch them. I had a weird feeling that my legs were turning over well, but my body was also telling me that I would have fueling issues if I tried to push it any faster. This wasn't a great sign given that I had 14 miles left. I realized that I was only going to get money if there was mass carnage in front of me.

But the choice of whether or not to go for it was made for me. I lost a ton of ground on Dennis and white t-shirt on final uphill before the half and the ensuing downhill. I split 6:34 for mile 13 6:18 for mile 14 and 6:04 for mile 15. I was happy to see the 6:04 because that mile felt very hard. My quads were very fatigued and they did not like that downhill. By the time we reached Van Winkle Dennis and white t-shirt guys were little specks on the horizon. Dang it! I soldiered through Van Winkle and realized that I was entering "how am I still doing this" mode. Mile 16 felt like I was crawling but was a 6:18 (6:30 adjusted). Here I took a Gu and I immediately felt life returning to my legs. I ran 6:17 from mile 17 even though it was a flatter mile. Final Van Winkle mile has an uphill and I did 6:25 but this was 6:20 adjusted.

Here I was starting to get hot and my concern became dumping water on myself. Got myself good and soaked at the mile 18 aid station and then turned onto 5th south. Here I was met by Kevin Smith, which was amazing. He ran with me and told stories for the last 8 miles. I was kind of glad I wasn't in the money, because I wouldn't have accepted the help if I had been. I was starting to feel a little better anyway as the pounding of the downhill was working it's way out of my legs.  Mile 19 was  6:19. Still trucking along!

Kevin remarks that I'm running faster than he had been going. Well I'd sure hope so, he was doing a long run. Anyway in the 20th mile, it's orange boulder guy. He's coming back to me very fast. I get a burst of adrenaline and manage...a 6:25. Still I pass him and I know that he's not coming back. I would end up beating him by 10 minutes.

Mile 21 has a little rise. I definitely lapsed mentally a little here because I know downhill is coming. This mile is 6:43, my slowest mile of the race in both real and adjusted terms. The good news was that I kept getting faster from there.

I ran 6:34,6:33,6:29 for miles 22-24. I've basically only slowed down 10 seconds a mile from the start, I can't really expect any better than that. I can't see ANYONE ahead of me though, no steve, no rossy, no dennis, no white t-shirt guy. It's kind of hard to keep the effort up but I'm just trying to shoot for a 2:45 at this point.

Mile 25. Passing half marathoners then suddenly I see someone moving much faster than everyone else. Is that...could it be? Yes! It's white t-shirt guy. Oh so cruel! I pass him right as we run by Radio Shack.

Now I'm just counting down the blocks. I'm suffering a lot on the uphill but mile 25/26 are two very strong miles. Considering the terrain, I picked it up by about 10 seconds a mile.  Running down South Temple took way too long, but I saw the clock tick 2:45 and I knew I had it.

Anyway, my 2nd slowest marathon ever, but honestly I don't think this is cause for concern. Had I called this a "tempo run" then I would have considered it very good. I came in with the dubious combination of no base AND trashed legs. I also had some minor fueling issues that I need to iron out. These are probably due to the fact that I'm coming back to higher mileage. Two weeks ago I CRASHED in a HALF MARATHON and I ended that race slower than I ended my race today. Progress.

I love how we totally dominated today. Andrea, Fritz, Ben VB, Steve A, Allie, Emily B,Rossy. Also Redd for pacing me. FRB 4 eva! 

About a 3 mile walk. My legs are actually pretty beat up.

My legs aren't recovered yet. I think this pretty much rules out the Provo City Marathon. I don't want to miss all of May recovering.

Still sore, but noticeably better.

Back to doubling today, though it was a meager one. I'll be running the cookie chaser 5k this weekend. Hoping to set a yearly best in the 5k (sub 17) and beat my 2k time from last year (6:22).

Ran to and from school.

In the PM did 3*(1min hard-2min easy) going around liberty park. My average pace was around 6:40 so perhaps 8min pace for the "easy" section and 4:00 pace for the hard? That seems way too fast.

Sugarhouse 10K loop with Allie.

Had to go back to Riverton to defend my 2k and 5k crowns.

We didn't arrive nearly early enough to get a good warmup in which is obviously a problem for any race, but definitely a problem for a 2k. I also didn't manage to start my watch in time so I don't know what I ran for the 2k yet (6:35?).

At the start of both races there were tons of little kids who wanted to sprint the fast 100meters, so I went all the way over to one side of the road so I didn't step on anyone. I ended up losing a ton of ground to one guy in the mad sprint at the start and I never was able to close it. It's probably the fastest I've run for an extended period of time in a while and my lungs were burning by the end.

We didn't have much turnaround before the 5k and so I just went back to the starting line. The 5k was truly massive this year, it seemed. People started out slightly less crazily in this race and I was up with the leaders after about 400meters into the race. The winner of the 2k (Billy) was running next to me along with two highschoolers and a guy in blue. The pace felt really slow to me but I just couldn't find another gear and I was definitely thinking "oh yeah, I just ran a marathon". Anyway I just tried to keep pushing and hope that my steady pace would be enough to drop everyone. It wasn't.

The course is an out and back. About 400meters before the turnaround there is a little downhill and Billy took a substantial lead on me. I was around 8:30 at the turnaround with blue guy about 1-2 seconds back and Billy in the lead by about 5 seconds. Billy quickly faded in the 2nd mile and soon it was blue guy and I running side by side. With about a kilometer to go he managed to pick it up just a little and I was already running as fast as I could. I did end up negative splitting by 10 seconds but it wasn't enough, I ended up 8 seconds back.

Anyway, I was happy that I got my goal of sub 17. It was not an optimal day in terms of warmup, temperature, etc.  

Met Fritz at Highland High, but I had to go back home because I had forgotten my running shoes. Yep...I'm training to be a math professor.

We ran through the avenues and downtown, it ended up being a nice morning. Despite some slow early miles averaged 7:04 pace. I was really happy with how my legs felt today. Time to kickstart another training block. 

AM To school, took a longer route.

Midday Run:4.8 in 34:22 (7:10 pace)

PM:7.1, home

Ok, three runs in one day is tough.