Run fast

Road the stationary bike

Treadmill at 6 minute pace.

21 miles, 6:22 pace.  Ran out 9th east to 8600 s. up to Highland Dr. and back.

I haven't run this far in awhile but it felt good and I didn't get overly tired.  Maybe it had something to do with being lazy the past few days.  Go figure.   The most exciting event of the run was at about mile 16 when a large bug flew into my mouth.  Carbs would have been better so I spit it out.

6+ miles at 6:36 pace on treadmill.  Started at 7 and slowly increased to 6.  Felt really good and could have easily gone faster.

6:38 pace on treadmill. Legs feel better so tomorrow I am back on the road.

Easy run through Holladay.  Sadly I noticed that after 20 years the TGIF's has shut down at the corner of Highland and 48th South.   I remember the days of hanging out at that mall, playing in the arcade, and throwing pennies off the balcony.  What are kids supposed to do now?  Play their Wii's at home?  Give it a few years and businesses will come back.  

6:06 ave. pace. I wasn't really planning to run hard but then I saw my time for my second mile and I didn't think I should slow down. Funny how that works. At least for me, if I start at a fast pace I rarely let myself slow down for the course of a run, regardless of how tired I might be or how hard the first mile is.   One day I will actually try some intervals.  That's a novel idea.

After yesterday's experience I knew I couldn't take my watch.  Nice day to run.

6:32 pace.  Taking it easy this week to prep for big race on Saturday.  I can't wait.

6:46 pace.  Hopefully the weather Saturday morning is the same as it was today.

My head got really cold today.

0 = perfect

I ran for the first time in the shoes I will wear for the race. Most people wouldn't recommend it but I have done it several times (all with the same model) and never had problems. Some would characterize these shoes as "army boots" because they weigh 12.1 oz.. One day I might try racing in some marathon flats but now isn't the time to test that out.

Amazingly I got bib #8! That is my favorite sports number because I used it in football in high school and it's lucky for the Chinese. The stars are aligned.

During my four month layoff from marathons I think I forgot that they can be quite tiring.  Fortunately tomorrow I will forget and start looking forward to the next.

Don't you wish there was a direct correlation between the degree of suffering and your race times?  If there was, I would have definitely run a sub 2:30.  Instead, I still sufficiently suffered starting at mile 18 and ended up with an average finish.  For some reason things just didn't click and I am partly to blame because I probably went out a bit fast (1:15 out and 1:21 back). One thing I was really looking forward to during this race was gauging my HR and never getting above 165.  To my great disappointment the HR function on my garmin didn't work for some reason and I ended up lugging that heavy strap for 26.2 for no reason (at least +10 secs, right?).  Of course after the race I turned the garmin off and then on and it worked perfectly.  Doh!  Lesson to be learned is to turn on your Garmin at least 15 mins before a race to ensure everything works.

Back to the not clicking part of the race.  I thought I did everything right, i.e. waking up at 4, showering, eating a good breakfast, and getting to the race early.  What I can't figure out is that my stomach still felt really full throughout the entire race and I didn't even have the appetite to take a Gel.  I did force one down at mile 16 because I knew I needed it but it left me feeling nauseous.  I think next time I will get up even earlier and avoid all fats in my breakfast because I don't think I can digest them as quickly.  This means PB will have to go, at least for one meal. :)  My legs also felt a little dead and I never felt that gliding/effortless sensation at any point in the race.

All was not lost however and I still finished a respectable 6th, one place out of the money.  My time was 3 minutes faster than my previous fastest time at SLC and I think this course was about 1 minute slower.  I would like to know who decided to have us go all the way to south temple on state street instead of turning at about 4th south like in the past.  That hill killed me (6:42 mile).

Congrats to everyone who ran today at SLC and everywhere else!  Aren't we lucky to have so many races to choose from?  Those half runners were blazing fast.

 No HR :(

Finally got out on my new road bike.  I was planning a leisurely ride to help my legs recover but it turned into a 25 mile grind up Millcreek Canyon and then north towards the U.  I just couldn't let my sister kick my butt.  The legs still feel better than yesterday but the ride today probably wasn't the smartest thing to do a day after a marathon.  Oh well.  I have a few weeks to recover before the next one. 

So what's the deal with no spot for biking miles?  Are runners not supposed to ride a bike?  These miles should count for something, right? :) Oh well.  I will accept the fact that this is the "fastrunningblog" and biker geeks aren't allowed. 

I am still giving myself .1 for cross training because I also mowed the lawn.

Road the stationary bike and then ran slowly on the treadmill for about 2 miles.  The aches are going away so I should be able to gradually increase the miles each day.

Easy miles on treadmill.

6 miles on stair stepper.  Building up those quads...

Two days ago I decided to run a couple of miles at the gym after work.  I did one mile and was feeling good so I sped up the pace.  Suddenly I felt a twinge in my left hamstring.  I stop the wheel and stretched and stupidly hopped back on.  After about another minute I felt the hamstring tighten again and then a sharp pain.  I jumped off immediately but I am afraid the damage was done.  I definitely don't think it is torn but I am sure I won't be able to run for awhile.  This isn't the first time I have done this so I am getting better at the rehab, i.e. stretch, roller, ice, heat (jet in hot tub), cross train (eliptical, stairstepper, bike, rowing), and NO RUNNING.

Today I did a great workout at the gym, as defined by sweat output.  1 hour spin class, 30 mins on the eliptical, 3 mins on the rowing maching, 20 mins of lifting, stretching and core.  The hamstring is feeling better but I am not going to attempt to run until at least Wednesday.

I was planning to get out on my bike but I hate riding in the cold so I hit up the gym again.  1 hour on the stairstepper (450 floors), 30 mins eliptical, 15 mins core and strength, and 5 mins stretching and hot tub. 

Maybe I overestimated the injury but my hamstring is feeling MUCH better already.  Now I think I will be able to test it out running in just a couple of days.

Wednesday should be interesting because I am racing in a bike criterium at the DMV.  I just hope I don't break my collar bone again like I did in August.  Should be a good workout and lots of fun!  Bring on the Roadies!

Road the bike for 55 mins.

I RAN a quarter mile on the treadmill and I didn't re-injure myself. There is no need to do anything crazy yet but I will definitely need to put in some good miles next week in order to make a respectable showing at Ogden.

Just for fun here is a breakdown of the 502 best marathon performances by country.  The US has some catching up to do and Khalid Khannouchi from Morocco gets credit for 5 of the ten.  Looks like this might have been updated at the end of 2008.

Here are the other 5 from the US:

Road in the DMV crit.  Got gapped off early in the race so it turned into a time trial.  Definitely a different experience than running.  Much more strategy and positioning is everything.

Decided to the give the running thing a shot today.  Started out very easy on the treadmill but over the course of the run I really started to feel good.  Last 4 at 6 min pace, last mile at 5:20.  I am looking forward to getting back on the road.

6:40 pace overall.