1:25:00

2:38:00

Ran to Cougar mountain

35mins

2:29

1:05:22

1:14:05

2:35:55

15mins warmup (6:30 pace) 10hard (5:50), 10easy(6:30), 10hard(5:50), 15mins cooldown. On indoor track.

1:18:00

75 laps of the indoor track in 62:23

2:46 ran to Sandy and took the train back

1:11:20

27mins

Geez I did alot of 20mile runs in January

75laps of glory in 1:01:06

Another 10miler on the indoor track, this time with splits

6:49,6:52,6:45, next 5 32:46 (6:33 pace),6:17,5:55 Felt very good.

Did 6 by 5 lap repeats with 2 laps jogging in between.

Times 3:28,3:32,3:36,3:38,3:39,3:37 Avg 3:35 (5:22.5 pace)

2:21:00

1:11:13

56:00 mins

1:43

4 miles in 30 in the AM

PM workout on the indoor track.  At the beginning of this run, there were some army guys doing workouts.  I started running a little too fast to crush them.

Splits 5:41,5:38,5:45,5:56,5:57,5:52,6:01,5:55

1:08:35

Did 3by 10laps-1min-5laps with a two lap jog.

Goal was 7:45-3:40

1 7:28(44.2,44.2,44.9,44.4,44.9,44.8,45.1,44.6,45.9,45.2) then 3:34(42.6,43.8,43.3,43.1,43.4)

2 7:34(45.1,45.9,45.2,45.0,46.8,47.1,45.4,46.2,45.3,44,1)
3:37(43.3,43.6,43.7,43.8,42.6)

3:7:25(44.2,44.7,44.4,45.1,44.2,44.7,44.7,45.0,43.9,44.6)
3:36(42.4,43.8,44.3,44.1,41.1)

Ran up city creek in 2:27

Did 4 by 800 in nine inches of snow

2:59,3:06,3:11,3:07

1:09:42

1:58

AM 3.5

PM 9 (6:10 pace)

1:06:16 on the indoor track, a clothing malfunction

Ran 3.5 in the morning.

In the afternoon did an 8 mile fartlek workout alternating between 6:25 pace and 5:45

(it was on the indoor track so I can be precise) pace

Did a short pre meet run and some strides

Eating at the dining hall left me feeling kind of queazy, but I was fine during the race.  In fact I was amazed how easy this race was (it was close to my 3k PR of 9:07) and I ran a negative split (4:55,4:52).  Of course I could really close very fast because there I've done no speedwork. Normally I'm good at sitting and kicking but today I might have done better to just whip up the pace.

Three loops of liberty park duing halftime (of the superbowl).

Kind of a miserable run because there was so much snow I could run on the sidewalk so I was running on the shoulder getting splashed by cars during rush hours.  At least drivers were being nice though.

3.5 miles in AM

10 miles on the indoor track (59:46)

12 miles in 80mins and then ran home

3.5 in the morning. Then I did a bizarre workout on our bizarre indoor track

2miles warmup

2*10 laps (7:16,7:20 about 5:30 pace)

2 mile "tempo" (12:23)

2*5 laps (3:33,3:33 about 5:20 pace)

2 mile cooldown

Along the Jordan River, 2:28

Went Skiing

1:04:10 From my house to Sugarhouse and then two loops thereof.

Was supposed to be a long run, but ended up being kind of fast, ran up city creek to where the snow is ploughed-7:00 pace

Ran 3.5 in the morning to school

Did a 10.3 mile threshold run in 59:14, which is about goal marathon pace.  Felt tough to begin with but I settled into a solid groove. Considering that I ran 16 yesterday, it was very good.

Ran on shoreline trail, and by the zoo and by east high school. 6:40 pace

Ran 3.5 in the morning to school

Then ran at the indoor track 2.67 mile warmup

3 by 2mile (10:59,10:59,11:02) with a 400m jog in between

Then did 2 miles cool down

Ran from Campus, by the Hogle Zoo

Ran from my house in Liberty Park to Sandy and then took the train back.  Ran along the Jordan River.

Ran 2 loops of liberty park from my house. Just realized I ran 96 miles last week.

Ran the Jordan river loop in a new best of 1:04:35 (5:52 pace) exactly what I was looking for-I really got into a groove as the run went on.

Ran 3.5 in the morning and then 9 miles later on.  58:41 for the 9 miler(approx6:30 pace). Felt really good. 85 miles is starting to feel like 65 used to.

Ran up City Creek for 58 mins, came back in 51.  I guess I'm now making it a habit to push this run a little.  I should really start doing marathon pace at the end but seeing how it's uphill at the end, it doesn't quite work that way.

Ran 3.5 in the morning then did a 10.3 mile fartlek in the afternoon.  This is one of my set courses that I run from school if anyone is interested.  I run down to 1300E then go to 2700S then up to 2000E.  I stay on 2000E until 2100S and then go up to 2100E and follow that till it hits foothill.  Then I keep going to I get to Wasatch drive and then go down back through campus to the math department.  There's only a couple of stoplights and it's got a nive variation of grade.

Anyway did 3 five minute pick ups (which is a pretty standard workout for me to do close to a low key race) each one separated by 10 minutes.  There were all a little faster than AT pace meaning around 5:30 pace per mile.

Running around 7 flat pace, maybe a little faster. I alternated feeling bad and could it was kind of weird, I felt pretty sick today, but I'm sure I'll be better tomorrow.

Whew tough day. The splits tell the story

5:24,5:39,5:44,5:47,5:52,6:02,5:58,5:49,5:46 (1:45)

Obviously I went out too fast and that makes quite a difference at altitude, I was chock full of lactic acid at the turnaround.  I started to feel good again towards the end, which often happens in my AT pace runs.

Did a 3.3 miles warmup and then an extended cooldown.

So I wake up and the sun is shining and I think, wow great day for a long run! Genius that I am however I wait until 3pm to start. At about the ten mile point the temperature dropped from about 10 degrees and it started snowing.  I was not dressed appropriately. I considered turning around but when you're at the 10mile point of a 20miler there's not much to do except tough it out.  I averaged 7:20 pace but I really ran in the last mile at about 6:30 because I was anxious to be done.

Course: Jordan River Trail to 53rd South

Ran 34 minutes.  Felt sick from yesterday, but the run helped a little.

Ran 3.5 to school in the AM

Instead of doing an AT run I just did a base run (9 miles) I felt pretty good but was slowed down by snow on the shoreline trail to begin with so this is probably about right. I did some core work and plyo drills afterwards.

Ran up city creek to where it was ploughed. I keep doing this run faster which makes me keep reevaluating how far it is.  It's 15-16 miles. Not a big mileage difference but a difference in pace. I felt like I was really moving..

AM 3.5

PM ran to the East High School track but found the track team there (surprise). Their practices last until 5pm by the way. No matter, I ran home and then did the first of what will be many LP (that's Liberty Park) workouts. I did 2*2laps(=3miles) in 17:20 then 17:39, which was decent. I was trying to do goal marathon pace on the woodchips. I feel that running these repeats on soft surface really helps to build strength. (It certainly helps for XC at least!). Hopefully, now that I've got a baseline it will be easier to push myself in the future.

Next week I'm going to do Sugarhouse repeats. Nobody should get this excited about workouts!

I also did 5 miles of warmup slash cooldown.

Ran an hour base run from school on the shoreline trail. It must have been 60degrees or so!

Ran various random places during recruiting. Ran to and from downtown and then did a timed 5.6 in driving wind and rain in 32:24 (5:47 pace).

Jordan river loop. This felt pretty good, it was a very easy pace even though I eased down to about 6:20 at the end and finished with a 6 minute pace. Total time was about 2:15 (6:45/mile).

Feeling really sick so I just ran around liberty park twice.

AM Ran to school.

PM Was going to do a threshold run but I was still a little sick so I did the 10.3 mile course in 67:30 (6:33 pace).

Ran from school up city creek like I have done several weeks in a row. Today was not that fast (about 7:15 pace). and I came back (down hill) slower than I went out last week. At some point in the next month I'm just going to nail this run (both directions sub 50 mins).  It was really cold today which isn't going to help me get better. Anyway, I should be up for Sugarhouse repeats tomorrow!

AM 3.5

PM Ran from school to sugarhouse (about 3 miles) then did 4 loops (7:40,48,46,47) with 2 minutes rest in between each one. Averaged just over 5:30 mile pace for the workout. It was fine for my legs but tough in my lungs, especially trying to accelarate coming off the final climb each time. Then ran the 3 miles back to school.

Typical friday run in the trails behind the U.  Now that the snow has melted its really muddy which would be fine if not for the possibility of falling down off a large cliff. Ran the course in 59:47 which is pretty typical.

This wasn't supposed to be a fast run and I wasn't really feeling that good but I guess I just punish myself occasionally. Started out at about 6:20 pace but it felt much harder.  Then I maintained that on the uphill, then I maintained it going into the wind. Reached 5.8 miles in 37:10 (6:24 pace) and then started to move. Ran down south temple at 6:00 pace and then cranked it into high gear on 300 East running through as many stop lights as I could. Hit the last 1.7 miles in 8:24 (5:30 pace) to finish the 9 mile loop in 55:12 for a 6:08 average. That's actually not bad for a day when I don't feel good. My best recorded time on that route is 54:59.

My patented THINK ABOUT IT run.  Basically go west in 1300S (it actually turns into California Avenue) until it deadends out in the middle of nowhere.  You'll see a huge mysterious building with those words in letter that must be twenty feet high. Does anyone know what this means. I thought this might have been a Hyundai factory but it's too isolated and doesn't appear on this website.

Anyway, this is and out and back (10.75 miles each way).  And the plan for march is to start negative splitting my long runs. Today I got a pretty nice headwind on the way out so negative splitting was very easy.

Out: 1:16:28 (7:07 avg) Back 1:08:07 (6:20avg)

This run makes me feel confident that I could average 6:10-20 pace for a marathon at altitude. I'm still not sure how that will translate to sea level.  But if I 'blow up' and can still run 6:20pace at the end then I'll be doing ok. I guess I'll check out the predictor. According to the predictor I subtract 10 seconds per mile.  We'll see, predictor, we'll see.

I guess this was kind of an easy run. I didn't time it but I felt that my pace was well under 7 minutes on the bark at liberty park. That's not what I would normally consider a recovery run, but I was anxious to get dinner started.

AM 3.5

I couldn't figure out why this run was so tough until I realized that I was going way faster than I intended to.  I generally do better on these types of runs if I start out kind of slow.  Instead I jumped right into a fast pace. I got to 3 miles in about 16:50, I did the mile that was entirely uphill in about 6:15. Even when I was struggling on the gradual uphill into the wind during miles 6-8 I was averaging 5:45 pace still. Ran the last 2 miles (downhill) in 10:40 and it was just cruising. Overall it was 10.3 miles in 57:43 (5:36 pace).  I don't think I need to do this workout faster, it just needs to feel a little smoother.

Ran up city creek and back (1:50:48). Took it kind of easy running 7:11 pace. The run was kind of uneventful.

AM 3.5 overslept again!

PM Ran from school to Sugarhouse park and did two loops. Did two 2-minute surges just to shake things up. Time was 60:43 which is about 6:45 pace.

Then it was a nice day so I ran home.

Ran on the shoreline trail, such a wonderful day! Ran it in 59:18.  I've done this course 3 times since the snow melted and have run 59:47,59:47 and now 59:18. I just run how I feel, is this consistency unusual?

An easy 5.5 which was probably kind of fast.  I'm going to actually recover on Monday. I ran around Liberty Park 3times. I also mapped out a half marathon course on the Jordan River bike path.  Start at the train tracks south of 1700S and start heading south. The turnaround is the last house before west vine street which is about 100m past the end of the boardwalk between 4800S and 5400S in Murray.

Some splits(Goal time) 1.05/12.05 (6:07/1:10:17)First bridge after freeway underpass

3.1/10 (18:05/58:20) 3300S

4.3/8.8 (25:05/51:20) End of bridge over meadowbrook expwy

5.6/7.5 (32:40/43:45) Taylorsville Expwy Underpass

6.2(10k) (36:10)Turnoff to bathroom after 4800S underpass

6.55 (38:12)Turnaround

Here's what I should see on my watch:1-6:07;2-11:58;3-7:00;4-7:35;5-3:30;6-2:02;7-5:33;8-7:35;9-7:00;10-11:57;11-6:08

Lots of splits in the middle to keep me motivated.

Well, things didn't go as planned.  I made it to the first checkpoint in 6:13, which was 6 seconds slow (5:55 first mile).  But I had the wind at my back so I should have been fast.  However my legs were feeling pretty heavy and I didn't think that I could really go any faster.  That's only a little faster than I ended my long run last Sunday! I hoped that maybe I would start to feel better, but instead I started to feel worse, alot worse.  My legs were burning and demanding that I stop immediately.  Who knows how the run would have turned out, but I knew that continuing would have been a bad idea in the long run.  So I stopped my watch and slowed to about 9 minute pace and ran home.

I think the problem is that I've been trying to fit in too many workouts recently.  I had a really tough run on Tuesday, but had been feeling fine.  I'm going to do easy mileage for a few days and then I'm going to try to tackle then 20miler in under 2:05.  I think that more reflects the type of shape that I'm in right now.

Did Sugarhouse twice.  pace was 7:05.  Started to feel better on the second loop, but I felt sluggish just like yesterday.

Ran up to the mountains and back. There was actually about 1000ft of climbing involved, which I guess inflates my 7:20 pace a bit.  Especially as I didn't really go that fast on the way back.

Another pretty relaxed run that started at around 7:30 pace and progressed down to around 6:30. Ran up 2700S to 2000E then came down Sunnyside and finished with a little in Liberty park.

6:06 pace! So, I got myself so redemption for Sunday! The run went off better than I would have hoped. This course includes the half marathon course that I made plus quite a bit more. So yeah its not really a race, but it was a tough effort. I was thinking I could do around 2:05, but saw that I was actually in reach of going under two hours! I was tiring/slowing at the end and didn't want to completely destroy myself to chase such an arbitrary thing when I was well inside my goal pace. Previous best on this course was 2:12 and my typical range is 2:30-2:40.

Just as I learnt alot from Sunday's failure, I also learnt alot from today.  I knew I was capable of such a thing but didn't know how it would feel. I got out a little too fast (18:35 5k, followed by 18:18, followed by 18:37 and hit 10 miles in 59:47) but it didn't really seem to matter at those speeds, I kind of recovered while still running fast.  My shins tightened up briefly in the second 5k perhaps due to the tough pace but it didn't last.  I felt really good in miles 11 and 12, I was just fully warmed up, loose and my endorphins were kicking in. Then I noticed that my right shoulder was starting to tighten up, that happens to me alot, but it didn't last. There are some rolling hills on 5300S and I handled them fine although in the end my butt started to get tired. At the end I was mostly conscious of the pain in my butt and of a general nausea.  I didn't bonk at all, I felt as I had no problem finishing with a 6 minute mile even though my legs were getting weak and I was nauseous. The nausia is probably due to the extended period of ab flexing, i don't know what to do about that.  And as for the weakness, I guess my mileage hasn't been high enough, I haven't done enough longer faster runs.

As this weeks theme is recovery, I gave myself a pretty good rest after yesterday. My only real activity was to run up to East High School to watch the HS track meet. My roommate has just started helping out with the team, so I thought I'd give them some support. I wasn't really sure who did well or not, as I didn't know any of their PRs, but If I keep going I should get a pretty good idea though. There was one girl who ran 5:35 in the mile, which is obviously good.

So despite all the recovery I took this week, I'm only about 5 miles less than I wanted it to be.  I finished up the week with a pretty legit base run.  I did my Sugarhouse Thrice course in a new fastest time (1:08:52) which comes out to 6:19 pace. It was a pretty uneventful run, although I did actually measure my stride rate while I was running.  It turned out to be 166 strides per minute which is much faster than I thought I would be. I think I'm going to start recording this during all of my runs to see how it varies. My last mile today was probably about 5:40.

Ran on the Jordan River trail until 3300S.  Although I almost missed the turnoff and kept going to Sandy because I wasn't paying attention. Ran a recovery run in 1:23:27 (7:15 avg).

Ran an easy 6 miles. I recorded my stride rate again and it was 168.  I also measured it yesterday at 166 so I'm pretty consistent.

AM 3.5 to school 178 strides per minute

PM did my 10 mile loop from school aiming for about 60, ran 60:44 which is pretty good.  I didn't feel great today so I didn't try to do anything crazy.  It was a beautiful day though so I decided to run home, though I did that really slowly.
 

Ran up city creek and turned around after 50 minutes. Well actually it was more than that because I stopped paying attention.

Just ran to and from school today.  Thought I'd go back and calculate my 5k splits from seafair in July should be kind of interesting.

5k 18:32, whoops too fast

10k 37:37(19:05) that's more like it

15k 55:40(18:03) Maybe I really am this fast!

20k 1:15:07 (19:27) No, I'm not

25k 1:35:12 (20:05) Ok, I guess I'll try to hold this pace the rest of the way.

30k 1:56:40 (21:38) Maybe this pace is a little more realistic

35k 2:19:00 (22:20) Holding on

40k 2:42:58 (23:58) Nope

42.2k 2:52:48 (9:50)

I was really frustrated in the last 5k that I could go any faster.  Looking at this makes me amazed at how far I've come. I was worried that I ran a 6:30 mile in my twenty miler, hah!

It should also be noted that I was in 5th at 20K and in fifth at the end.

Did Yasso 800s.  I was aiming for 2:35 and gave myself equal rest that included a lap jog.

1 2:38

2 2:37

3 2:36

4 2:37

5 2:35

6 2:36

7 2:38

8 2:39

9 2:38

10 2:39

The wind really picked up for the last one. I'm not sure how much time that adds but I would guess 2-3 seconds. I wanted to get this workout in primarily as a reference for the future. According to weather.com the wind was 22mph gusting to 30mph...yep.

Ahh, my last looonng run. Did it in about 2.5 hours and averaged 7 min pace.  It's gotten pretty to run that pace for that long.  Hopefully when I blow in Boston, I can limit the damge to 6:40-7:00 minute miles rather than the 7:30 horrors at the end of my last one. I ran one of my favourite routes along 1300S/California.  This was the first time I'd done this run on a day other than Sunday, so I was actually able to run in the wilderness area by the dump. It has a wonderful desolate beauty, I love those types of things.

Well, it's time for the next phase: a gradual taper. Following Sasha's lead I took a complete rest day on Sunday, my first goose egg in a veeery long time. It's the first one that I did willingly (not due to injury) since maybe August! and I've been totally healthy since thanksgiving.  Now it's time to start kicking butt. Total distance today was zero avg mile pace was 3:57.
 

Ran to sugarhouse park, did a couple of loops and then came back. Now my achilles is kind of sore. Probably due to the kind of first pace in the kind of cold weather. I still can't get over the fact that my legs will be feeling fine, but I'll be breathing really hard. Anyway: time was 59:47 which is about 6:38 pace.

AM 3.5

 PM Did 10.3 miles in 60:57. I wasn't feeling great so I did this one kind of relaxed. I'm not sure how far it is into the run but I always take a split at the same point.  This time my splits were (30:15,30:42) last week it was (29:44,30:49) and two weeks before that was a super tough (28:15,29:32).  In any case, this shows that most of my time was lost at the beginning of the run.

Just a ninety minute run going up 2700S coming down 500S and adding on a bit in Liberty Park. Average pace:7:30.

AM 3.5

Felt sick today ( a cold) and yesterday so I decided to postpone my hard workout.  So I ran home and then added on 6.6.  I felt really good despite being sick but decided not to push it. I know that I am capable of good things at 100%, I just need to somehow get myself to 100%.

Ran to East High to watch/help out at the Big Red Invitational. Then I ran back and did some loop in Liberty Park. I got cold standing around at the high school shich didn't help the fact that I was sick. Felt terrible that night, with allergic reactions and all sorts of nastiness. Not really sure what to do.

Felt pretty bad, but decided to get in a short run just to get the blood pumping.

Did the same as yesterday, but felt much better today, I think the worst is behind me. Thank goodness. It also helped to get 12 hours of sleep. My legs feel amazing.

Obviously, when I get back into it after a couple of days out I'm going to need to air the legs out. So I moved up my fast day and ran 57:30 for "Sugarhouse Twice". Which is a solid 6:07 pace.  I had a pretty sweet negative split with the second half under 6 minute pace, but that's not surpsiing because the second half is a net downhill, but not a huge downhill mind you. Anyway it felt good to be myself again.  I also got a new pair of shoes (I'll be running the marathon in them).

Marathon Shoes (2130s)-9.4 miles

Am 3.5 PM 9 on Shoreline Trail in 58:05 (6:27 pace)

Yeah so I think I finally have solved the Boston number fiasco and the Boston shoes fiasco and the Boston Sickness Fiasco, maybe it's time to start taking stock of my fitness level and to make some goals. Then again maybe not.  I think of this year as a baseline, I've accumulated alot of workouts but I don't really know what they mean.  Judging by two noteworthy sea level performances (my astonishingly easy 9:47 two mile which I felt I could have stretched into a sub 15:20 5K and my grossly unofficial 1:11 HM time trial that I won't even think of considering a PR take it for what you will but was still a massive breakthrough on a course that I've run dozens of times over the last 7 years) I have improved.  However, judging by my last marathon it may still be several years until I can push myself for 26miles.

That said here is the plan. Just go out relaxed, try not to worry about people around you and don't go out faster than 5:45, preferably around 6:00.  Go through 5k in around 18:20 and then try to hold 18:10-18:30 5ks until 20k (hopefully 1:13:20). Then run from 20K to 30k in under 36mins (hopefully 1:49:20). Next try to do 30-35k in 19 minutes taking me to 2:08:20.  Hopefully after that I'll still have something left and will be able to drop it down to around 18flat 5k pace still on the downhill (40k in 2:26:20). Then finish strong with an 8:00 finish (2:34:20). I think mentally breaking the race up like that may help me who knows? Any suggestions?

Ran my slightly extended Jordan River loop in 1:19:10 (6:53 pace).  Was mostly running around 7 minute pace till I kicked it in with a 6:10 final mile. Still breaking in those new shoes (33.4 miles now)

AM 3.5

PM Ran home then to Liberty park where I did three loops at a kind of tempo pace.  That's slightly difficult on the woodchips. Loops were 8:43,8:39,8:38 with a total time of 26:00(4.5 miles), that's a solid improvement over the last time I did this workout but that's to be expected. I should aim to get this down to around 25:00 in the future.  It was a little cold.

Ran to 2700S then up around the golf course and down 1300S. Started it out pretty easy and tried to build into the run. Ended up running 61:05

with about a 12:10-15 last two miles (6:29 avg).

Three loops of Liberty park. Felt a little sick to my stomachdue to a late lunch.  Listen if you're running (or walking or whatever) at Liberty park, don't feel obligated to get out of the way of runners passing you from behind.  People move aside for me all the time, and I appreciate it, but you really don't need to-it's not my park. Maybe I'm just intimidating?

11 in 1:08:50 (6:15 pace). Was planning on 6:00 pace, but I succumbed to the heat after 4 miles in 24:04 and so backed off the pace to 6:23 for the last 7.  Last mile was in 6:00. Weather forecast in Boston calls for 56 degrees, rain and a 10mph cross wind. Also, watched the London Marathon this morning.  My goodness, Martin Lel is an unreal marathon. He was able to mount a blazing kick after a crazy pace.  He outkicked Wanjiru, the half marathon wr-holder and 10k jr wr-holder (26:41) and Goumri who has run 12:50 in the 5k and made it look easy. That just puts Ryan Hall's incredible run into perspective.

Didn't run, did my taxes though!

AM 3.5

PM Crazy weather, just crazy. Managed to get my workout in however. (4.5 miles at the fieldhouse). I wrote a big long entry, but my computer froze up.

Sugarhouse twice at a pretty leisurely pace (7:13 avg). I didn't feel all that sharp but oh well. Good luck to everyone running SLC this weekend. I'll be in Liberty Park commanding you all to own that last 5k.  If you want an extra loud cheer, post your bib number and what you'll be wearing.

AM 3.5

PM ran home and then went to Liberty park and did a one loop tempo run on the woodchip trail. It was a new woodchip PR! 8:23 which is about 5:35 pace per mile, which is what I was hoping for.  Soon I'm going to be doing those loops in sub8 no problem. A good goal for the next training cycle I think.

Not much of a warmup up for me, just a slow jog to get to my starting corral.  I'll write more later, but let me first say that I am very pleased with how this turned out.  I again ran a positive split (1:17:37,1:22:50) but this was not so bad. Considering how awful I felt at the end and how fast I was going miles 8-16.  I can't believe it was only 5:13 more.  Anyway it was a great experience and I will definitely be back, everyone who can should try this marathon!

Extended Story. It was a unique experience from the start. First there was the bus ride getting there, which is impossibly long. I mostly listetened to other people's conversations. Sitting behind me where a couple of 2:40 types exchanging advice.  I actually ended up running the last 3 miles of the race with one of those guys. Anyway, there was a big traffic jam getting into Hopkinton and so all the runners started get of the bus to pee on the side of the rode.  When we finally got the start it took me about 20 minutes to find my college teammate Danny.  We tried to meet by the Poland Spring water tent but realized later that there were multiple such tents. The hour or so at the village flew by mercifully fast as we caught up on life. Most importantly, Danny gave me a name tag to pin onto my shirt. Then we warmed up on the way to our corral.

We got in at the back of our corral and even allowed some people from Corral 2 to get ahead of us.  I definitely did not want to get to wound up at the start. In fact I cost myself quite a but of time in the first mile given a lot of high fives. First mile was in 6:20. Thanks to the conservative start I was passing people all the way up until the last couple of miles. Anyway Danny and I were joking around in the early going and I must have been outside of 1000th place at one point. Mile 2 was 5:59 and I thought that this would be a good pace to try to hold for a while. Mile 3 was then 5:48, which was a relief when I saw the split because that one felt harder and I signalled that we should slow down.  Of course, we were still passing people all the time as there were alot of people who had started fast. Mile 4 was 6:01, again right on, but then it was right back to 5:48 for mile 5. At this point I was fully warmed up and the road was flattening out a little.  I tried to shorten my stride and just find a relaxed rhythm. Then I rattled off a pair of 5:54 miles and Danny started to falter. We were not destined to run the same pace it seemed.  At this point it started to thin out and I new that it was time for me to get serious.  I tried to concentrate on passing people, striding efficiently, staying hydrated and high fiving spectators.  Everyone was cheering for me thanks to my name tag and so I felt almost superhuman. 8-10 were all 5:50, 11-12 were both 5:52 13 was 5:53 and 14 was 5:55. It was around here that my legs started to feel a little tired, but it was also around here that I felt the difference between this marathon and the last. My legs were willing to cooperate this time. I did 15 in 6:03. The next mile had a significant downhill and I made the most of it coasting to a 5:48 in mile 16. Then I braced myself for the hill. 6:16, 6:24, 6:05 from 17-19.  My 20th was 6:11 and I was still under 6 minute pace.  At that point I felt that if I could just get over heartbreak hill with a decent (sub 7) mile then I could coast in with a decent time. Mile 21 was 6:39, but I was broken at this point and could not respond to the downhill as easily as I had earlier. I still managed 6:11 for mile 22, but I was digging deep and it was during this mile that I passed Walter. After the downhill was over I was just completely done. I pushed myself vary hard and ran both 23 and 24 in about 6:30, which was one of the greatest feats of strength I've ever done.  The last two miles I finally cracked running 6:50 pace.Danny ended up only about 90 seconds behind me in under 2:42 (4+ minute PR for him). Despite that finish, or perhaps because of it, I was pretty convinced that I'd given it everthing that I had.  I definitely seemed more broken than about 95% of the people I saw at the end.  I was also excited by how fast I was able to go in the middle miles (5:48 mile 16).  I was thinking that I might run another one this summer, but I'm going to be lucky to recover by Wasatch Back. Next marathon I think will be Seattle in Thanksgiving. Thanks to everyone for their comments.

Ran liberty park twice

AM 3.5 To School

PM 3.5 From School

Ran around liberty park 3 times.

Ran up 2700S to 2000E.

Ran sugarhouse twice at about 7 minute pace, felt really terrible.

Ran sugarhouse once with Katie, running fairly slow

Ran with Katie again.

AM ran Jordan River loop with Katie, went pretty slow (8:30 pace).

Last run with Katie, we went a little faster today (sub 8 minute pace).

Ran sugarhouse twice at 7:20 pace.  I actually started out a lot faster but then started to feel dizzy for some reason, maybe dehydration.  Things are going to be weird for the next week or so while I get my schedule ironed out.

Ran in the morning before school. I ran to the school, dropped my stuff off and then added on 4 miles. I'm gradually transitioning into my summer schedule of early morning runs.

3.5 in the morning

Ran to the east high track (1.5 miles) then did 6 in and out 200s (1.5miles total). This is part of my training to get my 800 sub 2 this summer.  This was a really a baseline workout and I found that I still have decent speed despite all the marathon specific training.  My times for 200 were 32.2, 31.6, 31.1, 31.4 , 31.5 , 31.6 so I gradually sped up and then started to tire
my rest was jogging the other 200m of the lap and then walking until I got two 90 seconds rest. This workout indicates 2:06-2:08 current 800 ability at sea level, so I have some work to do. There was a slight head wind. Cooldown was 3.5 miles.
 

AM Ran 3.5 to school

PM Did an additional 9.1. I was really dehydrated which is no fun at all.

Ran about 11 miles in 80 minutes in the morning. Once again I didn't feel good due to dehydration.  I'm really just trying to get some miles under my belt at this point.

Ran up to the mountains from my house. Thirsty.

Time to lay out the goals for the rest of the year.  Obviously I'm going to build a base for the Wahsatch back relay, but then I'm going to spend the rest of the summer trying to set PRs in the middle distance races. Then I'm going to see if I can combine my speed and strength for a big race at the Seattle Half Marathon at thanksgiving.  My next marathon will then be either Salt Lake City, Ogden or Boston next spring.

First day working in lab.  Got myself up at 6:30 to do 4 in Liberty Park.  In the evening I did hill repeats on 1100E between 800S and 300S, averaging about 40s (about 35s for 200 but a slight grade, I'll have to figure out what it is, in the future I'll probably run repeats in the hills just ouside my lab.  Adam, would you like to join me sometimes?

7 all in the morning this time pace was about 7:12

AM did 10 at an atrocious pace (7:30plus) but I felt ok.  Then I realized that it was actually close to freezing when I was running, which would explain why I never warmed up.

PM Ran home, which is now 5 miles instead of three and a half.  Somedays I'm going to have to take the scenic route (Bonneville trail) 

Sugar house twice in 69:48 (7:25 pace). Look weather, if I'm going to get up at 6 am to run you could at least let me see the sunrise, grrr.

Finally had a good morning run today.  I took a bathroom break just past the 5k and after that I started running a more appropriate pace.

Some splits from the run:

5K 22:26 (7:14 pace)

10k 43:01 (6:56 pace overall, 6:38 pace last segment)

8.1miles 55:24 (6:50,6:31)

10.5 miles 1:11:13 (6:46,6:35) needed to go to the bathroom in this segment

11.5 miles 1:17:14 (6:42,6:01)

Subtracting off the first 5k it was 8.4 miles at 6:31 pace and it felt great. In fact, the first 5k felt alot tougher.

1:57

Ran along 300E to 2700S then up to 2000E and then ran up Emigration Canyon a bit and then ran down 900S

AM 5.5 in Liberty Park

PM 4.5 including  hill repeats 

AM 7

PM 5 running home 

AM 9.4 at around 7:20 pace.

AM 7

PM 5 Wanted to do a track workout but there were people on the track, lots of them, kids

Umm.... didn't feel that very good today...

Ran around Liberty Park in the morning and then played Frisbee in the evening. Worked late in lab so I couldn't do the extra run.

AM 7

PM 6.5 Ran around in the hills by the med school and did some hard sprints and then ran home.

Ran 7:06 pace which is decent, considering I had a slow start (7:20 first mile). Found out that I've got a nice juicy 6.9 mile 5 downhill grade run coming up in two weeks.
 

AM 5.5 Around Liberty Park

PM 8 Before running home I did 3 mile loops in the hills behind the med school. The first one was a warmup during the second two I did 30 second sprints.

AM 7

PM Took the scenic route home from work, running along the shoreline trail until emigration canyon. Then I ran down to Liberty Park and home (7.3 miles)

Didn't go running in the morning, which threw me off and I forgot to eat lunch. That made my evening run very unpleasant. Ran Sugarhouse thrice.

Still feeling the effects of yesterdays depletion of glycogen stores I think. Time was 1:55 (7:33 pace) despite a 5:53 final mile.

AM 7

PM 7 (some speed work in mountains)

AM 9.4 at just under 7 minute pace

AM 5.5

PM 7.3 (scenic route home) 

Miniloop as a premeet run.

Race report later

Sorry about the sparse comments, I have limited internet access at the moment.

Leg #1 It begins

The saga beings with me wondering around Salt Lake City looking for Wild Oats market, which is where I was supposed to meet up with Chad.  I eventually realized that Wild Oats had become Whole Foods, which was why I couldn't find it.  Fortunately I saw Adam. After that I had a long wait, during which time I got to talk to Chad, Kory, Cody,Bill,Mitch Zundell, Steve Cuttitta, Andy Mclellan and Steve Olsen. 

After a couple of hours, Andy and I agreed that we were tired of waiting (we were runners 11 and 12). The first van was really long, almost 4 hours, so waiting at the first exchange was the most downtime we had all night. I had seen the times that I was supposed to hit and I was getting a little psyched out. I'm a terrible altitude runner, and a below average climber, however Sasha was making predictions based on Boston, which exposes neither of those weaknesses. Then we were finally going and things seemed to go by very fast. The first four runners in our van were either right on or a little ahead of their projected time and we had opened up a huge lead on the Runner's Corner team.

I felt pretty loose at the start of my run which was nice and I just tried to relax and find a pace that I could maintain all night. I had about a 900 foot climb right of the bat which I just tried to cruise up. I didn't have a Garmin, but I could guess how much further I had to go by looking at how the above me the ridge was.  About halfway up my quads started to burn and I was a little worried that I had screwed myself for the rest of the night. I crested the hill and passed the 1 mile to go marker at just over 21 minutes (over 7minute pace!). I knew that I had to fly on the downhill mile (300+ feet down in the last mile) to stay on pace. My legs responded wonderfully and I was sprinting all the way down getting as much air as possible into my lungs. I doubt the mile to go mark was accurate, but if it was I ran about 4:35 for my last mile, when I needed about a 5:06. It probably wasn't. 

After a short sleep in the van (it was too cold outside) I awoke just before 2am.  I had plenty of time to warmup and was feeling pretty good when the time came for my next leg to start.  My 2nd leg was the easiest of the three, an almost flat 4.5 miles which I cruised at a little under 6 minute pace to beat my projected split by about 20seconds.

Then I repeated the cycle, getting about 2 hours of sleep while Van 1 did its thing. It was on the final van that things got interesting. I awoke at about 8am giving me very little time before we had to start. Bill was our first runner and Cody had told him the wrong distance at the start of the leg (too short), something that would have made me very worried. Bill did fine though and when Steve's foot cramped up on the next leg, Bill leapt out and finished it off for him!

Then came the two ridiculous legs ran by Kory and Steve C., they gained about 3500' between them. I noticed that every time we stopped, it was getting harder and harder for me to breathe. The van dropped me off at the top of Ragnar and I cramped up jogging over to the bathrooms (uh oh).  I knew that I was supposed to average 5:15 pace for this leg, but I could see that the first mile was up and I was going to run it in barely sub 7. When I got the hand off, I went off at a fairly conservative pace. I knew that it would be a long leg and I didn't want to destroy myself.  When I came over the top of the first rise I then had about 1000' feet to lose in the next mile (that's right). I flew through that mile, picking up speed the whole way, but I paid dearly for it when the road flattened out and I almost had to drop out when the road started climbing again. At 3.9 miles I was at 25:00, which was over a minute per mile behind my projected pace.  Fortunately, it was a friendly 5% grade down the rest of the way and I covered that in 16:21 (5:21 pace). When I crossed the finish line, my knees very nearly buckled and I could barely walk.  I would be sore from that run for a week. I was sore from Boston for only 3 days.

Could barely walk.

Could barely walk, but still walked 1.5 miles to work very slowly. I felt awful while I was in work I it took until 8pm to finish everything that I wanted to.  I didn't get home until 9.

I could still barely walk, but I decided that I would go run anyway. Just ran to Liberty Park and did two laps. My whole left foot was a giant blister, so the woodchip trail felt nice.

I took the scenic route home through the mountains.

AM 4 at Liberty Park

PM 7.3 again took the scenic route, it felt better than yesterday which is a good sign.

Ran to Sugarhouse park and ran around the grass not the road. I tried to run faster than "crawling" and started to feel pretty good, but I soon cramped up and then was very unhappy the rest of the way.

Couldn't run in the morning, so I went at 6pm, but it was still in the nineties. I ran on the Jordan river trail, which was nice and shaded plus there was a breeze so I was comfortable. However my legs still would not cooperate, I didn't put a watch on this run. I didn't really see the point this week.  I don't feel good, that's all there is to it. I was thinking of maybe racing again next weekend, but I think I'm going to wait about a month.

Felt terrible to start this run.  My butt was no longer sore, but my lower legs felt shot, perhaps from carrying the load for the past week.  I started to feel better as the run went on.  Ran a big square around to 2700S then 2000E then Sunnyside. Didn't put a watch on it.

The lower legs asked for a recovery day today, so I obliged and just did 5.5 around Liberty Park. I think I'm starting to feel myself again. I'm no going to look toward a tack time trial some point during the Holiday weekend. I'm thinking I may attempt a double time trial of 1500 and 800 with a large amount of time in between.

AM 7 finally felt like myself again

PM 5 ran home the direct way 

Did one grass loop at Sugarhouse park in the AM. Played frisbee for a couple of hours in the evening.

6.3 AM did a small neighbourhood loop

7.3 Took the scenic route home. My bag was really heavy today for some reason and it chafed against my back.

Two grass Sugarhouse loops.

Ran to the east high school track to attempt a track workout. Felt terrible. Ended up doing some 200s, but those were awful too.  I haven't had a good speed workout since before WBR.  I may have to give up my tack aspirations for now and just try to get myself going again.

Went up City creek to four mile mark (8 miles out total) 63:15 (7:54 pace) and then came back 50:51 (6:21 pace).  It wasn't just the downhill, I pushed hard at the end of the run running 6:08 pace for the last 1.7 through downtown. In case you didn't realize it's much cooler in the mountains. I wish I could run there more.

AM 4

Monday is normall a rest day, but Saturday was so useless that I did an extra run in the afternoon and took the scenic route home.  Felt pretty good.  I've been drinking more water the last couple of days and I think its helping. PM 7.3 

7 am

5pm

Both runs were at a decent effort. I should probably note that all afternoon runs are with a 10 pound backpack (at least). I'm feeling really sore from Saturday despite the fact that it wasn't much work.  I've only got another week and a half here, then I'll be able to get back to my routine.

My body kept trying to go back to sleep at the beginning of this run, I just couldn't get m breathing fast. I still feel sore.

AM 4 I wanted to do an extra lap of the park but my legs were dead. I think I'm getting in plenty of miles, I just need to do some quality.

PM 7.3 The scenic route again.

Ran one grass loop of Sugarhouse park.  I was taking it easy as I plan to do a good tempo tomorrow but I felt pretty strong, hills were not a problem.

Ran to Sugarhouse Park and did two loops (grass) in 22:35 (5:38 pace) splits of 11:17 and 11:18. Did it as a hard tempo run, I'd been feeling awful and I just wanted to blow the cobwebs out of my legs.  Was happy with run, I felt smooth going over the different terrain, pushed it hard at the end and that hurt alot.  I chose to start at the stoplight for 15th east and go up.  Which meant I ended with a 300meter climb.

In the afternoon did three loops of Liberty park at a decent clip, maybe that run this morning was all I needed. I also used this run to jump ahead of Chad for the weekly mileage (there you go Adam)

Ran all the way up city creek, gaining 1700ft. Got to the end of the road and was tempted to keep going but I knew I should turn around. It's nice to be able to do runs like this on a whim now, a year ago this would have been ridiculous.

Out in 75:18 (7:55 pace), I thought I was going faster than that but I probably had some slow miles toward the end. Back in 60:18 (6:20 pace) which felt very easy. Despite it being downhill, it's still crazy that I can run faster than my typical base pace for the second half of a 20miler without any difficulty.. It shows that I really am a good downhill runner, no matter what anyone says. Do bikes count as road kill? If so, I had a ton today.

Ran an easy 4 in the AM (very easy) around Liberty Park.

Then I took the wonderful scenic route home from work and crushed it, backpack and all. My backpack has the coolest sweat stains on it now.7.3 miles
 

I took the super scenic route home. I ran up the small peak just North of the tail end of Emigration Canyon road. I couldn't find a name for it on the maps and it's not very high (5600-5700?). So I think I'll just call it lookout point.  I chose a brutally tough route up though and took a nice rest on the top, it wasn't that clear of a day, but there is an interesting view.  I don't know Utah history, but is emigration canyon the route that the first settlers came in.  Maybe the asked a couple young guys to go scramble up the peak and see what they could see. Maybe. It's easy to see why the settled here then.  I'll figure out the distance later (9?, slow!).

Had a tight schedule today and chose to play ultimate and then walk home instead of running.

7 in the morning

7.3 in the evening

Just one more day of this mess. 

Ran 5 in the morning, doing a little Indian Run with the East High School team. Entertained the idea of doing the Draper Days 5k until I realized it was in Draper not Murray (I'm a little slow).

In the Evening ran 7.3 (it alway feels sooooo much longer) doing the scenic route for the last time (for now).  I packed up my stuff from lab so my bag was very heavy, 20-30lbs and lugging it up hills just trashed my quads, removing any desire for a Saturday morning workout.

I still considered possibly doing a workout this morning (I planned a 2 by 5k workout) but my legs hadn't recovered from the night before so I just cruised 11.5

Got a little overexcited being back at sea level. Ran 9.2 in the morning at 6:05-6:10, then added on 3 in the afternoon (didn't have much time) and then ran to a local school to play ultimate frisbee for 90minutes and pretty much went full speed the whole time.

Felt a little sore in the morning, but still wanted to get in a long run. Did the basic Island loop untimed.  I really hadn't eaten enough and absolutely crashed during the run.

Felt weak at the beginning of the run but kept getting stronger and felt amazing at the end.  I may just coast in the race on Saturday and see what happens.

PM Did a (very) brisk warmup then ran to Pioneer Park (Mercer Island no Salt Lake) and did two loops fast (5:07,5:05). In high school we called those mile repeats which they are clearly not. But my 10:12 total time compares favorably to the 11:00+ that I did in my HS time trials

AM a relaxed 7

PM ran to frisbee, I felt alot of tightness in my hip flexor so only played at anout 60% effort to save myself.

1.5 miles warmup and 2.5 cooldown.

My plan for this race was to redline it the whole way.  It is very difficult to tire myself out at sea level and I wanted to shoot for sub 27 which I knew would feel fast.

Mile 1 5:17 it was uphill, the pace did not feel  fast but I was not well warmed up and my shins were complaining at me, I thought it might be a very bad race at that point.  I never got in contact with the lead pack (I didn't think I would).

Mile 2 5:36 downhill this was a worry to me, but I remebered the plan and I just trusted that if I kept hammering away my body would respond.  During the next mile I stayed in contact with the people in front of meand started making up some ground. Mile 3 (uphill) was 5:22 and I felt much stronger. Some guy who had passed me in the second mile looks over as I come up alongside him and says "good job". I was running in the t-shirt they gave away in the race so most people at the front probably thought I was going to just die annd the second mile slow down confirmed it, so this guy was a little taken a back when I just hammered away from him in the 4th mile. In that 4th mile (I missed the split) I started giving little kids high fives. I could see the main group up the road but knew I had no chance to catch them or anyone else. Then some guy caught me from behind amd started to pull away, he looked very strong.

In the downhill last mile I stayed about 20 meters behind him, I checked my watch and saw that I had an outside shot of sub 27. So I set two goals, sub 27 and beating the guy in front. I threw in a big surge with about 800 left and there was no response from the other guy. I then sprinted home to just break 27 (by my watch). I hit 10:38 for the last two miles.

Did 20miles in the afternoon (2:16!) then ran to frisbee and played for 90minutes.  Ouch.

I was completely wiped out today.

AM 4

PM 9.2 then I ran to frisbee and played (+5, conservatively)

Felt ok to start my run but was feeling very fatigued in the middle and I started to tighten up. I took a 1minute stretch break about an hour inbefore finishing up.  Not surprised that I'm so tired. I'm on pace for a 100+ mile week. 12.5 miles 1:26 (6:52 pace)

Ran around the Island at roughly 6:30 pace. Started out not feeling good,  but felt gradually better.

Did 7 miles than went to play frisbee.

Yes! First 100 mile week and I feel great. I wasn't completely fresh today as I struggled everytime the road went up, but I still felt pretty good. Took a wrong turn and added half a mile, but still ran faster than the last time I did this route (but I did it the other direction). 1:23:57 (6:27 pace)

Didn't have much time today, but I still managed to get a run in during the Blue Angels' show.

I had planned on doing a long run today, but I had some pain above my foot on the shin.  I turned around and went home before it could get bad.  I'm familiar with this problem, a couple of days off and icing is all that it needs. I don't think I've ever kicked about my mileage without some little injury like this.

Didn't run today, to let myself get fully healed.

Went out to see if a short run would be possible and ended up bulking up to a respectable 8 miles. There was no hint of pain in my ankle, but I did not feel good. During this run.

Coal Creek. Just realized that this run was 22miles in stead of 20 and that I did it 10 minutes faster than last year. (I thought I did it kind of fast last time). That would explain why I was dragging so badly at the end.  These two a days must be teaching me to run faster or something. I cruised through the first segment to the trailhead at 6:30 pace despite a slight uphill.  After that point, the trail starts and it climbs steeply.  I then came back and turned around and gained 5 minutes of negative split in the downhill trail section (3.5 miles). I subsequently gave back all of that time before I'd even gotten back to the island. However, I managed to maintain during the last little bit and ended up with a complete even split. 1:14 out 1:14 back (6:43 pace). Ouch.

10.3 Didn't feel good today at all, I don't think it was running related I might be getting sick.

+4 for frisbee

Somehow I still made it to 70 miles this week. I ran 12.5 miles in1:17:53 (6:13). But what made it awesome was the monsoon that hit in the second half of the run and monsoons make me indesctutable. First seven miles were uphill and 6:42 pace. Last 5.5 was downhill and 5:37 pace.

Ran in the morning before flying back to Salt Lake City, UT.  Now its time for a lot of studying. 8 miles in 52:57 (6:37 pace, I did that one in my head!)

Ran two grass Sugarhouse loops in 1:12:18 (6:49 pace) Yep, I'm back in Utah.

AM 4 miles, two loops of Liberty Park

PM 9 miles Shoreline-Hogle Zoo loop. My quads felt fatigued while I was running uphill. It's going to take a little bit to adjust I think.

11.5 miles in 6:43 and then played frisbee afterwards (sucking alot of air)

Ran from the math department to the intersection of the Shoreline trail with the trail the leads down to city creek.  I felt much less sluggish today, probably because I didn't run in the morning. Went out in 42:30 (7:43 pace) and came back in 36:48 (6:41 pace) average was 7:12.  Run went from 4700 to 5900.

53:58 for the bonneville, Hogle Zoo loop.

Ran up City Creek in 75:30 (7:56 pace), a little bit off of my best, but then came back in 59:43(6:17 pace) for a total time of 2:15:13 for 19 miles. This is a really good run that will be a nice mainstay for the next couple of months.

Ran two grass loops at Sugarhouse park. My legs felt very weak, but despite that I was able to run fast. I didn't do a hard workout because of the long run the day before however. I've clearly got to rearrange this schedule. 1:07:53 (6:24 pace!) pretty consistent pace actually. Last mile was 6:05, not blazing.

I just ran to school today to take the first of my two prelims. I felt I needed a rest day and I really struggled going up the hill. The prelim went well though.

AM Ran to school again for my second prelim. Did not go well. It's not the end of the world however.

PM Ran my usual mountain loop.  Legs were very weak again. I was fine on Friday-Saturday but these last 3 days have been progressively worse. It might be lack of hydration or possibly lack of food. My volume and intensity are in keeping with what I've been doing for the last year. I hope I can pull it together for the SLC half (which I signed up for today) otherwise it will be kind of a waste of time as I'll struggle to finish under 90 minutes.

I again felt very drained before the run even started.  My whole body felt weak but I went ahead and gave it a go.  I kept a steady pace the whole way, I didn't time it but it was maybe 7 flat pace and I felt like I couldn't go any faster. I might have picked it up a little at the end as the run started to get easier.  I think the problem is that I've been undereating for a few weeks now.  Something similar happened to me when I first started college and upped my training. It was not pretty.

Felt a little better today than yesterday and actually felt better towards the end of the run. I may just need to do a hard workout to kick my legs out of this funk. 10.6 miles, two loops of Sugarhouse Park in 1:11:47 (6:46 pace).

Didnt time this run. It felt like that scene in Forrest Gump when his leg braces break and he suddenly becomes a fast runner except the braces just would break. My legs felt very light but at the same time very weak. This is going to end up being a low mileage weak by design.

This run started out well, I felt very good for about 2 miles but then I began to feel fatigued about 2 miles in and it just got worse from there. I still averaged under 7 minutes per mile for the run but there was a very slow segment in there. Anyway, I think I may be slightly anemic which is at least correctable and I can keep training. The SLC half will be interesting however.

AM 9.4

PM Frisbee

AM 10.6

PM Frisbee +1.4

Well, I wanted to pull out of this race as recently as a week ok, but I decided to give it a go anyway and decided to give myself a chance at a good time with an agressive taper.  I hadn't been able to maintain a steady pace (any steady pace) for about two weeks so I thought the uphill followed by a downhill might actually agree with my legs. Adam gave me a ride and we picked up Eric at the finish before driving up to the start. Did a two mile warmup and felt hungry, whoops! Also needed to go to the bathroom when the gun went off, but that went away initially.

To begin with there was a pack of four of us chasing Grant Rotunda (I think) who was running as part of a relay.I felt kind of bad for him that he just had to sit out there while we used him as a rabbit. Mile 1 was 6:43 and felt a little harder than that, which is still not very hard, but I should have been able to push the pace more than I did. One of the four quickly dropped off as we went through the second mile in 6:41 despite the significant uphill. Towards the end of the second mile, I was dropped also, but I surged and caught back up as we went through 3 miles in (19:53) 6:28. My legs cramped up a bit, but not too badly and I decided that I would just let the two leader (Adam and other mystery guy go), they put a big gap on me as I did mile 4 in 6:58 to crest the hill.

Coming by the first exchnage I realized I had to go the bathroom and as soon as the downhill started I realized that I really needed to go the bathroom.  I ran both mile 5 and 6 in 5:29 and saw that Adam was maintaining a healthy lead. I really wanted to try to push and catch him but I knew I had to go. During mile 7 I stopped for 1 minute in a bathroom and that mile was still 6:30. I also still was in third place. However mile 8 was just 5:49 as I still needed to go to the bathroom so I stopped again in the 9th mile and this time I got passed up by the second relay team.  I caught and passed the runner during the 9th mile and ran 6:24 despite another 1 minute break. I'd really been flying down the hill for a while now and I was starting to get tired and I was already demoralized as I knew my time wouldn't be good. I got some motivation during the 10th mile as the relay handed off behind me and their third runner immediately surged to catch me. He got me just as I had finished running my 10th mile in 5:47. I got really annoyed that he would surge to catch me just as I was starting to tire. So I threw down 10:46 for the next two miles (I missed mile 11) and 16:40 for the last 5k.

Subtracting off the 2 minutes of bathroom time I ran the last 9.1 miles in 50:08 which is 5:30 mile pace. So, considering everything, I think I'm still on track for my goals this year.

The wind came and blew away all of my prelim fatigue. When the storm started at about 5 pm I started my run and felt a little tight to begin with. I kept picking it up until I realized that it was the height of stupidity to hammer the day after a half marathon so I thought "ok legs, you've made your point, let's settle in" I didn't put a watch to it but I would estimate that I still picked it up to the 6:20 pace range towards the end until my shoes filled with water.

I wanted to run on the Jordan river trail to Murray, but the weather pulled a Utah on me and it started hailing directly into my face, so I turned around, went home and put on a t-shirt. I just did a big loop of Salt Lake City instead so I could abort if necessary the weather ended up being fine. 16.5 miles in 2 hours and 5 minutes (7:34 pace)

Started this run out really fast and couldn't really settle in until about 5 miles in. I was at sub 6 pace through 3 miles then started to drift off it a little. Powered through the run in about 62 minutes which is just over 6 minute pace and about 3-4 minutes off of my best. 10.3 miles.

11 miles out and back on the shoreline trail gaining about 1000 feet. 41:50 on the way out (7:36 pace) and then 34:47 (6:19 pace) on the way back. Felt extremely good.

long day in lab and alot of class, means this will be my day off for the week, In general I should get in 3-5 miles on thursdays though.

This was a good start to a bad day. I felt really great and kept throwing in random little surges. I think I'll pretend my day ended there.

Gotta admit, I was signed up for a race today, but I was in no mood to show up so I just went for a hard run in Liberty Park. I just had a tough but inevitable rejection.  5.5 miles

Went for 9.4 miles in the afternoon and felt pretty good again, I should have run the race today, to restore my sense of self worth.

I shouldn't be so blase about 20 mile runs. I didn't eat enough before or drink enough water. Also, my roommate made me breakfast so I pushed the run to the evening when its much warmer. I felt great through halfway running under 7 minute pace, but I really struggled towards the end as I got hungry and dehydrated, but to be honest it wasn't that hot. 20miles(7:15 pace)

AM 8.6 One loop of Sugarhouse park.

PM 5 Ran home from school

Just ran in the afternoon, at a pretty fast pace. Not timing runs this week.

Did two loops of Sugarhouse in the morning. Then played frisbee in the afternoon. Then ran home. Felt really good for all of it.

Rest day. I did three loops of Liberty Park in the evening.

Ran two loops of Sugarhouse park in the morning and then I ran home in the evening from Lab. Again, I felt very good and I am on track for a 100 mile week.

Ran up city creek and back. Apparently, I was 8:50 pace going up, now I'm not so sure on the measurement. Does anyone know how far it is going up City Creek? Time was 54 minutes going from the trailhead to the turnaround, which meant that I was 9:28 pace, very confusing. Total time was 2:33.

Ran 5.5 in the morning. In the evening did 11.5, didn't feel good due to the 90 degree weather so I just took it easy.

Ran 9.5 in the morning in between lab meeting and class. Then I worked in lab in the afternoon and ran home from the med school for an additional 5 in the PM.

Ran along the shoreline trail starting from the math department. I felt pretty good during the run, but I was toast afterwards. I really need to start eating more.

AM Did 9 miles instead of 10.6.  I took a wrong turn and headed on the wrong run. In the afternoon I played frisbee and dominated, then ran the four miles home.