Fly on the Wall

Ran to City Creek, then to the Bagel shop where I meet my family for breakfast. Three fast ~mile repeats on the way.  Ate a spicy Santa Fe wrap.  Ran home through Memory Grove. 

EZ on JRP. 97°! I enjoyed the heat. Slow, easy, and short runs in the heat are fine but forget about trying to run fast.

6 ez on JRP.  For yesterday's run it was 97°, today only 53°!  Brrr.

ez on JRP

5k ez on JRP. Ready for UVM.

The short of it- This race blew.  My hardest effort yielded my slowest time. 

The Slam is not conducive to fast times, this I know.  Three weeks is not enough recovery time if trying to run fast.  However I felt like I held back a bit at Ogden 3 weeks ago and did not want to feel that way at UVM.  So I started with a good, strong but realistic and sustainable effort.  

I felt great for 7 or 8 miles.  Then came the hills, no worry.  But with the hills came a horrendous head wind that lasted through mile 20ish.  I think this messed with my pacing more than I realized.  I kept trying to find runners to tuck in behind but never found anyone at a pace such that we could take turns and work together.  I was passing and being passed until I was out of the canyon and out of the wind.  By that time I was spent.  

The final miles had a nice down grade and could have been fast but my legs were shot.  It was all I could muster to only lose 5 minutes in the final 5 miles.  I did get to run with some encouraging runners, which helped.  At mile 20 Smooth was there screaming for me (bet she had no voice left by the end of the race).  THANKS SMOOTH I really needed the encouragement!  

I talked with Rhett and Kelli before the start.  Both went with the 3:05 pace group.  Unfortunately I passed both before the half.  Kelli was seriously sick and I do not understand how she finished!  But there she was in the finish coral- true grit!  I need to read Rhett's blog and see what happened to him.  Hopefully he did not get hurt.

Wind aside, I have mixed feelings about this course.  Provo Canyon is beautiful but running on the highway is not a good way to see it.  There is a lane closure in the canyon but cars are still zooming by and concrete with wake-up bumps is not an ideal surface.   

Not a great race for me but it could have been way worse.  One more under my belt and half way through the Slam.  :)

1-  6:59

2-  6:56

3-  7:05

4-  7:11

5-  7:10

6-  7:13

7-  7:06

8-  7:53

9-  8:08

10- 7:13

11- 7:22

12- 7:52

13- 7:36

14- 7:27

15- 7:28

16- 8:06

17- 8:10

18- 7:45

19-7:35

20- 8:01

21- 8:03

22- 8:30

23- 8:26

24- 8:45

25- 8:49

26- 8:26

3 or 4 cross training miles. My wife had arranged a family hike to Caveman's Patio, aka the Living Room, to watch the sunset. I was sore and tired form UVM and would have preferred to sit on my butt somewhere. But it was a nice hike and as beautiful as ever. My son went exploring just before our group was heading down.  He had hiked straight up the mountain and out of sight.  I had to hike straight up to find him, then straight back down- ouch.  Because I was sore, my gait was a bit off and now (next day) I'm sore in new places because of it.  

EZ on JRP.

No running last week.  Recovery, then I got some hideous stomach virus.  Feeling better now, thank goodness.  

EZ on JRP.

Ran with Don who was doing intervals 4x4min with 2min recovery.  I did the first 2 and 1/2 of the last one. My body is still tired from UVM and I have a race in a few days. 

5k EZ on JRP.

This is my favorite race but I planned to skip it this year because I'm running the Slam.  I've been trying to convince others to run it but so far no one is up for it.  Along this line, Kathy had expressed some interest and in trying to convince her to do it I signed up for it myself so as to not be a hypocrite.  Of course Kathy wasn't there but I was.

The start is less than a mile from my front door. So I slept in til 5:00, then walked over with plenty of time for the 6:00 am start. I am not fully recovered from UVM so my plan was to just run and not push very hard.  I wore my Garmin but never looked at pace, splits, or time.  

I pushed a bit for the first mile just so that I could hit the single track without too much traffic.  Still there were quite a few runners around me.  I chugged along till the real hill and then got caught up in the climb and started passing people.  Unfortunately this surge did not last for long.  On the ridge line I started feeling nauseous, which is not normal for me.  I felt a bit better on the steep decent but once on the flats I just felt kind of sick. So I pretty much jogged down the canyon to the finish, unwilling and unable to run strong and just wanting to finish.  

My finish time was about 20 minutes slower than it has been in past races, 3:11:31.  Most of those 20 minutes were lost in the last 6 miles. I expected nothing for this race and so am not disappointed.  

I rested at the finish for over an hour before walking home, then showered and took two long naps.  I'm not sure what was up with my body.  I never felt hot or dehydrated. 

1-8:36

2-12:19

3-10:45

4-11:45

5- 12:08

6-13:44 

7-22:18

8-19:46 (still on sub-3 pace)

9-9:59

10-9:11

11-7:54

12-8:20

13-9:44

14-10:33

15-11:17

16-10:14

16.3-forgot to stop Garmin