my makeup may be flaking

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.

Felt like I had a ton of energy this morning. I woke up at 5am and decided to do my Jordan 20 mile loop. I threw in several random surges in the middle and ended up running the whole thing in 2:10 (6:30 pace) and still felt good. I grabbed some snacks and water bottles and put them in my bag and then did the whole thing again, stopping occasionally to eat. Completed the second loop in 2:35 not including stops. Now I feel exhausted. I hope I can recover in time for Saturday!

Hmm ok or was it 10.5 miles very slowly...yes I think it was that instead. Sorry, I get confused sometimes.

Two loops of Liberty Park in the morning.

I did two loops of Sugarhouse in the evening. It suddenly became really nice for about 15 minutes during my run, but then it started to get cold rapidly. I felt much better running today and my legs were pretty fresh, but I'll need to be feeling much better to run a half on Saturday. I'll probably be fine.

Three loops of Liberty Park. I still don't feel good and I'm not sure about tomorrow.

Everything just kind of went wrong today. I got essentially no sleep for starters. I also wasn't feeling good as I'm still not recovered from last week. I thought I would just see how it went and start relaxed.

I felt that I DID start relaxed. I was easily keeping up with the front pack to begin with and thought that I had 3rd place locked up as my breathing was much less labored than either Albert Wint's or Steve Ashbaker's (the duo that fought it out for third). However, my calves were tight after 400m, loosened up briefly but then went into lockdown at mile 6. I felt like I was running in sand the rest of the way. The pain in my calves was not strong, but the tightness upset my form enough to make running very unpleasant. I really hate to give up on a race and until I got to mile 8 I held out hope that I could rally and get third (I had already dropped back to 7th at this point). When the wind hit, these thoughts evaporated.

With 1 mile to go Jeff Macarthur passed me and I decided that I was going to swallow my pride and put up a good effort to beat him. I don't think it's fair to your competitors to shut it down when things are going poorly, so I went back and forth with him a little. He got ahead of me with about 600 left and I couldn't shut it down with the kick. He was very excited about his race so that was good at least. Allie also had a great result. I'm not really too bummed because I felt fresh and strong, I just wasn't ready for a half marathon today. I'm certainly going to run the SLC half now!