my makeup may be flaking

Did 2*(2 loops of sugarhouse park).

First set 10:49,10:47

Second set 10:45,10:56

Fell victim to Captain Slowdown at the beginning of the last lap, but I picked it up and was able to maintain. Pretty pleased with this workout. (It used to be difficult to do even 1 pair under 22 mins)

11.5 am

4 pm

9.5 am

4.0 pm

Two loops of Sugarhouse with Kevin. It was much easier to do this in the light as I didn't have to duck to avoid trees so much. First lap was 10:20 (faster than I've ever done for a stand alone loop) and the second was 10:28. 20:48 total, super duper fast. I also felt sick today.

I felt much worse today sickness wise. 

Very much a repeat of last year with my coming in second behind Josh Steffen. I was 15 seconds slower than last year, but I was 20 seconds slower at the mile. I tried to stay with Josh, but I wasn't really in the mood for taking any big risks. I know that I am sick right now, but I felt OK during the race. Anyway, I decided to just run a really long cool down because I'm busy today.

Did 4 miles in the morning.

In the evening did 10 in 58:08. I felt somewhat sick during the run and it got worse as I went on. I could never really get comfortable running 5:40 pace and was never going all that fast.

A workout that can only be described as awesome sauce.

4 by 2mile with 5 minute jog on the field house track.

10:31 (5:15,5:16), 10:38 (5:17,5:21), 10:41 (5:21,5:20), 10:41 (5:21,5:20)

It is really fun to do workouts like this on the indoor track. I could have done another rep of this without much difficulty, definitely a good sign.

Went to the Mountain Regional meet in Rose Park. It was a great spectator course and I was so pleased to see a student of mine (Amanda Mergaert) get 8th overall and qualify for nationals. The team battles were exciting also.

Anyway, I did a kind of tempoish run with Kevin Smith between the races and then following did some more running. Then I got home and did more running in Liberty Park, barrel of laughs I am.

AM 5.5

PM Did my 2700s loop in 57:50 (29:42,28:08). Huge workout PR! Previous best was 59:58. Pace for the whole thing is 5:44 but 5:33 adjusted, very pleased with this workout.

AM 5.5

PM 9.5

I did 2*(2 loops of Liberty Park) with Kevin Smith. It was a good workout, but my legs felt oddly tired today (pretty much all day actually). Times were 16:57,17:00 which is definitely good although I ran on the grass(faster) instead of the woodchips like I normally would.

First time doing this race, I can highly recommend it though. There was a steady wind blowing from the South and as the race starts out going South, I didn't think that I would take the lead at the start. I anticipated there would be lots of highschoolers in the race, but it seems like the kids on the XC team where actually organizing the race, not running it.

Anyway, the fast starting highschoolers did not start out all that fast and I decided to take the lead after less than 200 meters. I ran pretty controlled the first k until turning out of the wind, then I really started to pick it up.

Unfortunately on the final turn there was no one to direct me so I went the wrong way. I was very confused when I couldn't find a finish line. I stopped and asked people which way I should go and eventually refound the course but I lost a lot of time and there was no way I was going to find the pace that I was on.

I still ended up winning, but I lost a lot of time. It was really my own fault as I should have checked the course more carefully. I did win a hat though and hats are fantastic.

One last try doing a workout in my Type As. Of course, due to the snow I went to the field house track. The plan was to go fairly easy and see how it felt to pick it up. I ran 5:59,5:49,5:47.5:53,5:42,5:40,5:48,5:50. After 5 miles my ankles were sore so I switched directions. Then my knee started to hurt so I slowed down at the end. The Type As don't seem to give me enough support to go around a tiny track.

1.8 miles into this run I crossed over 500 miles on my Mizunos. About a half hour later, I started to feel as though my left knee was collapsing outward slightly (I didn't realize I'd hit 500, I just decided then and there that the shoes were done).

I played Chicken with the "Blizzard" at my office. I eventually left at about 6pm and ran home in a light snow. It was very pretty and I wrote "JMZ RULZ" in the snow at stoplights, which made it prettier (beauty is truth, and truth beauty).

Off today because of travel. I did jog over to the airport and I actually slipped on the ice and went down on my butt. I really, really wish I had a video of it. Both feet went forward and I went back and I probably slid about ten feet down the sidewalk. Fortunately I was wearing two backpacks so I didn't hurt myself.

What I wanted to do today was a 9 mile base run so I can see how fast I am at Sea Level. The problem was that there was quite a bit of snow on the ground and that precluded fast running. Also, my legs just felt terrible. It seems like every muscle in my Pelvis is sore somehow or tight. This is probably a good sign as before my last two big races I've felt quite bad. I was getting concerned that perhaps I was feeling "too good". Fortunately I felt terrible.

Did 7.5 miles around the South of Mercer Island. Because I did it last year, I did a mile relaxed around the middle school track 79,79,79,76. That's 5:13, 9 seconds faster than last year. That means that I should run 1:09:15, I will most emphatically take that.

Also, my butt is really, really sore and I've been sitting on a block of ice all day basically.

Anyway, now I'm going to go put my chip in my car so I don't have to drive back home to get it, because, you know, that would be really dumb.

I know why I did "poorly" today, but I'm still a bit frustrated. I've been feeling progressively more and more sore all week even though I've been resting. It's as if someone has been sneaking into my room while I've been sleeping and hitting my legs with a tire iron. Just to be sure I jammed my desk chair under the door handle before going to sleep, but it didn't seem to help.

I still had pain in my hip and butt, but I knew that there was nothing I could do about it so I just headed off to the race.

The good news was that it was much less cold than I thought it would be, the bad news was that I was nervous and had to run into an out of the way area and throw up a bunch of times. I was concious of my butt while I was warming up, but I otherwise felt good.

At the start Aiden Irish took a slight lead and I sat back with eventual winner Steven Crane. Just before the mile Steve and I caught Aiden and we all slowed down. I felt like the pace was a bit slow and thought about picking it up, but then I suddenly found myself losing ground. I hit the first mile in 5:20 and knew I was in trouble. Off of such a slow opening mile I should have been able to catch up to the leaders, but I couldn't I had nothing. The top two gradually opened a gap on me even though I ran 5:18 for the second mile.

I was still unable to close the gap as we left downtown and turned onto the express lanes, which was where I really picked it up last year. Instead I only managed a 5:33 and just felt like I was stuck in a slow gear. My legs were also starting to ache already and I knew it was going to be a long day.

After this point I kind of settled in at basically maratho pace. My splits were a bit erratic because of the terrain and I kept training to surge to get myself going. I could still see Aiden ahead of me and I felt that I could still get 2nd if I just kept up my pace. I did 5:28 for the 4th mile which is downhill and then 5:42 for the 5th. This mile is generally slow because it has a steep, wet winding path. In the 6th I got passed but still ran 5:25. I now had 2nd and 3rd in my sights for the next few miles (5:47,6:14,5:29,5:42). After mile 10 I lost sight of the guys ahead of me and I began to go to a dark place mentally, from which I would not emerge until I called Allie after the race. Mile 10 was uphill 5:42, mile 11 was downhill 6 flat (I did 5:25 for this mile last year). I was feeling very sore and I just couldn't find the motivation to keep going. Somehow I did mile 12 (which has a big hill) in 5:52 (5:41 last year). I got passed right as I passed the 12th mile marker. I stayed with the guy on the next downhill bit, but he just broke me on the uphill (this race has a lot of those).

I didn't talk to anyone after the race. I just straight through the finishing area and tossed my medal in a dumpster. I was in my car crossing the floating bridge and the marathoners were still on it! They started after me, but still, I left very quickly.

So, not really sure what to think now. It' pretty clear that this was not the best I can do. I ran a 5:11 downhill mile to close out a 10 mile run two weeks ago and only managed 5:33 today while racing someone. Last year, my muscles were totally seized up after the race and today they felt fine except for the sore butt. Since I got sick at the end of September my workouts have been off the charts good, but my races have all been kind of "meh". I can understand not running great 5ks because everything was done at HM pace and I can understand not running great at the half because when I've run my best halfs, I've run with complete fearlessness. It's hard to do that when you're sore/sick.

This is not the first time I've trained for a long time and had nothing to show for it. My Junior Year of Track in college, I got sick a whopping three times, including stomach flu, during crucial points in the year. I was supposed to run the 10K at one meet but I hadn't been able to eat anything for several days because I was sick. My warmup consisted of lying on the ground because I was too dizzy to run. Somehow, I was only 4 seconds off my PR despite my shoe coming untied with 400 to go and a first mile of 5:08 (and a second mile of 6:00). Anyway, long story short. I had some short term disappointment, but all my work paid off the next year. Here's hoping that this solid block of training makes me better in the future.

Part of my new, ultra minimalist training regime. Zero miles.

And just because, I had a cranberry-grape-spinach-feta salad.

Can I make it to 4000 miles this year? Let's see...