Fly on the Wall

am 6.6 from home. ez pace

pm 3.7 from home. ez pace.

JRP ez.  Here and there, alone and with company.  

I'm starting to really look forward to taper.

I just read a great race report from the "Pre-Regions."  It involved an elbow to the gut and a puke and pass.  :) 

5 miles downtown and Memory Grove.

Small races are often interesting and they are fun for the not supper fast runner like me.  If it is a big race I'm not at the front.  But if the race is small enough and the fast guys are elsewhere, I've got a chance to run at the front. 

The race was 4 laps around Sugar House Park, which is a hilly course.  The start of the 10k had few runners and almost all of them looked as old or older than I am.  None of them looked young and fast!  We started after the 5k which meant passing people, but that was not a problem in a race this small.  At the start I took the lead but only held it for about a 1/2 mile before being passed by one runner.  He surged ahead but never gaped my by more than 50 yards the whole race.  Every time I would start to reel him in, he would reopen the gap on a downhill.  This race coming at the end of a 70+ mile week meant my legs were far from fresh and I could never quite catch back up.  On the last uphill of the last lap I started getting closer and closer but I just couldn't seem to power down the last downhill and he beat me across the line by probably 5 or 10 seconds (results aren't up yet). 

At the finish a strange thing happened, some guy was all excited and started talking to me about how he runs 6 miles in 50 minutes on the treadmill but the adrenaline really must have kicked in because it was a race.  I asked if he ran the 5k and he showed me his RunnerCard results which said he was 1st in the 10k with a time of 35:xx!  I asked if he really took off at the start and he said no, he was behind me and the guy in the blue shirt (the guy who beat me) and must have passed us somewhere.  Long story short, the guys in the pace car never saw him pass, the guy in the blue shirt never saw him pass, I never saw him pass, and he runs a 50+ minute 10k on a treadmill, but he had convinced himself he just ran a 10k at a 5:40ish pace and won!  Oh well he seemed so excited about it, there wasn't any prize money or anything, and it just really didn't matter.  Neither the guy in the blue shirt nor I said anything more and Mr. Speedy took home his prize. 

So, should I have reported him?  Was it unfair to the guy in 3rd?  Did anyone really care in a small race like this?  Will the guy ever realize that he only ran 3 laps?  Will he wonder why he is so much slower in his next race? 

9 miles w/ 6x600m @5k pace w/ 2 min recovery, 3 up and 3 down City Creek Canyon.  Interval pace ranged between 7:12 and 5:45 but I was running hills so it's meaningless.  Legs a bit tired but ok.

bonk

6 w/ 6 100m strides at fairly fast pace.  I felt better than yesterday.  After my run I ate a HUGE greasy lunch of fish n chips with a salad and drink.  

EZ miles.  Still no pop, but hopefully tomorrow.

19 w/ 14 @ marathon pace effort on hills.  3 mile warm up. 14.3 strong effort.  2.5 ez.

I'm happy that I felt better today than the rest of the week.  A bit mixed results on the MP effort miles.  I ran from City Creek up to 11th Ave, then up 11th Ave, back down to City Creek, up City Creek Canyon, and part way back Down the canyon.  In the Canyon, some miles were faster than previously (this training cycle) but more were slower.  Here are my meaningless splits as I'm not going to figure out how much gravity played a role: 7:44, 7:41, 7:14, 7:05, 9:06, 9:17, 9:00, 9:49, 10:55, 11:22, 5:55 (wow fastest mile ever), 6:16, 6:21, 7:05, 6:53. 

Tomorrow some ez miles, rest Sunday, then my last big week.  Yikes!

10 ez downtown, Memory Grove, City Creek Canyon, home.

4.5 a.m. ez on JRP.

6.2 lunch ez on JRP.  

Feeling pretty good and ready to tackle my last big week...... Though I am not looking forward to tomorrow's run- 11 miles w/ 6x1200m intervals.  Ugh. 

11 w/ 6x1200m @ 5k pace, 2 min recovery.  I have not been looking forward to this run but a great thing happened.  I went down to change and the fast guy was in the locker room.  He cheerfully said he'd pace me on my intervals!  Hurray.  He joined me for a warm up and the 1st 4, then had to get back to work.

Pacing - 6:06, 6:09, 6:11, 6:11?(had to stop for cars), 6:24, 6:23.  Recoveries were about 2:30 because we were talking between the intervals (after I caught my breath).  Oddly, my pacer consistently said we were about 5 seconds per mile faster according to his watch and the 1/4 mile markers on the trail.  I've done faster intervals, but my PR 5k pace is about 6:25, so these weren't so bad.  I averaged about 8 sec faster than same workout last year.  Now if only I could lay my head down on my desk in a puddle of drool and take a nap.

I was working on the Nebo loop road and decided to do a trail run....

I started at about 8100 feet elevation, ran down to about 6300 feet, then took a different trail back up.  Lots of loose, deep, and dusty sections; some ankle strengthening cobble strewn sections; lots of stream crossings; some super steep ups and downs; tons of cow crap; and a whole bunch of empty Bud Light cans littering the trail (damn "cowboys").  A great run but a bit more than I should have done.  My lunch time run turned into a 3:15 hour epic, which made for a very long field day. 

I think I ran 11.2 miles.  Actually it was more like chasing Gump Chump as she charged up and down City Creek Canyon from the guard shack to the end of the road and back.   This is the time in my training cycle where I can get burned out and my runs become drudgery.  So I really appreciated the company which made for a great run.  

Downtown, Memory Grove, 11th Ave, City Creek Canyon, home.  Feeling pretty tired and looking forward to an easy and short run tomorrow, then an easier next week as I ease into a taper.  

5k ez.  Random route through the hood.

JRP- 7 ez w/ 8 x 100m strides.

The wildfire smoke was bad yesterday and the sagebrush pollen was worse.  I woke up this morning with my allergies raging and my lungs and throat complaining.  I took a pill and laid back down for a couple of hours. I still felt bad at lunch time so I waited and did my run in the afternoon when I was feeling better.   

Last mid-week, mid-long run.  Just get it done miles, and I was glad to get it done.  Felt very slow, but that is OK for the beginning of taper.

6 ez w/6 x 100m strides.

ez. Still sluggish.

Downtown, City Creek...  ez miles.  Still feeling SLOW.

I would have liked to run the skin cancer awareness 10k in Bountiful but it was my daughter's b-day party.... 

So I ran a tempo run.  2.25 mile warm up to Memory Grove (got a bit sick for some reason and was lucky to find a PoP at a construction site :(  )  Tempo- 2.? miles up the canyon and 1.? miles back down.  Slowest uphill mile was 8:25.  Downhill pace was 5:53.  1.5 mile cool down.  This was a shorter tempo run but my uphill pace was the fastest this year (ever?) and that down hill mile was my fastest ever mile.  This gives me a bit of confidence.  I kind of wish I was racing a fast course so I could shoot for sub 3. 

One more in the bank.  A little more taper next week.

8 w/ 8x100m strides.

Logan Canyon Trail.  Cool enough for gloves.

8 miles w/ 3 x 1 mile intervals w/ 2 min recovery.  Paces meaningless on the hills and trail.

I ran this 5 on Tuesday and Tuesday's 8 on this day but recorded it on the wrong day.

Sneaked in a late afternoon run.