I Need some Speed

Ran down Emigration Canyon getting ready for the Utah Valley Half Marathon.  Average pace of 6:44

8 mile slow run

My first half marathon.  I was overall happy with the race.  Strong headwind coming down the canyon.  Finished 4th in my age group with 6:47 pace.

5 miles on the treadmill

Trying to see if I am ready for the Deseret News Marathon in a month or so.  Ran a good portion of the course.  Started up Little Mountain and down Emigration Canyon and then to my home in Holladay.  Was at 7:00 pace coming out of the canyon and then faded a little.  Finished with average 7:15 pace.  Not quite as fast as I wanted.

Did interval training.  1 mile warm-up.  6 half mile intervals at 6:00 pace with quarter mile rest at 8:00 in between.  Half mile cool down

Bike ride - 16 miles around Holladay

Ran 20 miles in preparation for DesNews Marathon.  Started again at the base of Little Mountain and ran down Emigration and back to my house in Hollady.  It went better than my 18 miler a couple of weeks again.  Ended up with a pace of 7:14.  Still a little slower than I would like, but not too bad.

Bike ride - 15 miles or so around Holladay

Weights and cross training

12 miles on the treadmill

7 mile interval training.  0.5 mile at 6:00 pace and then 0.25 mile at 8:00 pace with mile warmup an cool down.

Weights and cross training

8 mile tempo run

8 miles on the treadmill

6 mile run

6 mile tempo run

4.5 mile slow jog

Ran the DesNews Marathon.  Was not sure if I was completely ready to run the pace I wanted but decided to run anyways.

 The race started out pretty good.  I had not run the first 6 miles of the course and had heard it could be pretty fast. I didn't want to start out to fast, but it was so downhill that I was going at a faster than normal pace for me and I didn't feel like I was exerting myself too much.  At mile 6 I was at a 6:33 pace.  Faster than expected and probably too quick for me.  The run up little mountain went well and I was at 6:55 pace here.  Coming down Emigration I did not ran as fast as I had expected.  My split at the half way point was just under 1:31, about where I wanted.  I got the the zoo at a pace of 7:00.  Not making up time in the canyon was my first clue that the race may not end well.  Once I started heading north on Foothill drive, the wheels come off.  I hit a wall and ended up walking a fair amount of the rest of the race.  Finished with a time of 3:29.  It was disappointing to crash at the end, but not totally unexpected.  My last 2 marathons have ended that way, crashing at about mile 18-20 and struggling to finish.  I obviously need to improve my endurance if I hope to qualify for Boston. 

Worked until 9:00 pm, not the funnest day of work with my legs so sore.

Stationary bike, quick swim in the pool.

Stationary bike at the gym for an hour.  Legs are feeling better today.

6 miles at 8:00 pace

11 miles at 8:00 pace

My foot has been sore since the DesNews Marathon, so I decided not to run today to rest it.  Instead did 6 miles on the stairmaster.

Foot is still hurting quit a bit. Did 6 miles on the stair master again.

Miles 1-12 @ 8:00, 13-15 @ 7:30 and mile 16 @ 7:00

7 miles on the stairmaster, still dealing with some foot issues.

13 miles @ 8:00 pace 

Warm up mile at 8:00, 6 miles at 7:00, cool down mile at 8:00.

15 miles at 8:00

On call at the hospital for 24 hours

2 miles @ 8:00, 4 miles @ 7:00, 2 miles @ 8:00

First 15 miles at about 8:00 pace. Ran last 5 miles at closer to 7:00 pace.

6 miles @ 8:00

6 miles @ 8:00, 4 miles @ 7:30 and 2 miles @ 7:00

On call at the hospital for 24 hours

6 miles @ about 8:00 pace

2 miles @ 8:00, 2 miles @ 7:30, 2 miles @ 7:00, 2 miles @ 7:30, 2 miles @ 8:00

15 miles @ 8:00

10 miles @ 8:00

Ran down Big Cottonwood Canyon.  Finished 22 miles @ 7:25 pace.

Hiked Mt. Olympus with some friends

10 miles @8:00 pace

Ran the Big Cottonwood Marathon course starting once you get out of the canyon.  Ran at an easy pace of a little under 8:00

On call at the hospital for 24 hours

Ran a total of 8 miles, 6 of them at 8:00, miles 3 and 6 at 6:00

15 miles @ 8:00, last 5 miles @ 7:00

On call all day and night at the hospital

Ran first 14 miles @ 7:45 pace and then last 6 miles @ 6:59 pace.  Average pace for the run was 7:31.  Did this same run about 3 weeks ago and felt much better today and ran a faster pace.

10 miles @ 8:00 pace

2 miles @ 8:00,  2 miles @ 7:30, 4 miles @ 7:00, 2 miles @ 7:30,  2 miles @ 8:00

13 miles @ 8:00

On call for 24 hours at the hospital again

7 miles @ 8:00 pace

0.5 mile warm-up @ 8:00, 6 miles @ 6:48, 1 mile @ 9:00, 6 more miles @ 6:48, 0.5 mile cool down @ 8:00

10 miles @ 7:55 pace

1 mile @ 8:00, 2 @ 7:30, 2 @ 7:00, 2 @ 7:30, 1 @ 8:00

10 miles at about 7:45 pace

6 miles @ 8:00

Final long run before STG.  Ran down emigration canyon to my house.  It was a run I had done a couple of times before in preparation for the DesNews Marathon earlier this year.  I have been putting in more miles in preparation for STG and it seems to be paying off.  Previously, I had struggled to finish this run and felt beat at the end of it.  Today, I felt much better at the end.  Finished with a average of 7:16 for the 22 miles.  Here are my splits:

Mile	Time
1	7:20
2	7:20
3	7:51	Up Little Mountain
4	8:26	Up Little Mountain
5	6:59
6	6:48
7	7:13
8	6:46
9	7:08
10	6:52
11	7:18	Out of Emigration
12	6:58
13	6:45
14	6:54
15	6:49
16	7:39
17	7:28
18	7:35
19	7:29
20	7:33
21	7:09
22	7:27
	2:39:57	7:16 Average Pace

 Overall, I was happy with the run.  We'll see how it goes in 3 weeks.

3 miles at 8:00, 2 miles @ 6:50,  2 miles @ 8:00, 1 mile @ 6:30, 2 miles @ 8:00

8 miles @ 8:00

1 mile @ 8:00, 1 mile @ 7:00, 2 miles @ 6:45, 1 mile @ 7:00, 1 mile @ 8:00

4 miles @ 8:00, then pushed my son in his stroller as I ran for another 2 miles @ 9:00 pace.  

15 miles around Holladay.  Felt a little sluggish and ended up at 8:15 pace. 

2 miles @ 8:00, 2 miles @ 7:00, 2 miles @ 8:00

Worked until later than expected today.  Ran a total of 6 miles on the TM.  4 miles @ 8:00 and 2 miles at 7:00.

10 miles run through Holladay.  Average pace of 7:28.  Threw in about 3 MP miles.

6 miles @ 8:00 on TM

6 miles total, 4 miles @ 8:00, 2 miles at MP - a little under 7:00

Got stuck at work until 10:30 at night, so I wasn't able to get a run in today.

Did a total of 10 miles today.  In the middle of the run did a 5k push in 18:03 (5:49 average), which I was pretty happy with.  The other 6 miles were at about 8:00 pace and finished the last mile at MP.  

6 miles @ 8:00, last mile at MP (6:45)

Ran total of 6 miles today.  5 miles at an easy pace with 1 mile at around MP (6:41).  Legs felt a little heavy today.

4.5 miles at 7:46 pace with 3 MP pick-ups for 0.25

Day off, down to St. George

A couple easy miles with a few short pick ups. As ready for a marathon as I have been for tomorrow. Goal to qualify for Boston, we will see how it goes. I feel as ready as I could be.

I couldn't be happier about the outcome of the race. I came in with the hope of qualifying for Boston, but wasn't sure exactly how things would turn out. I was frustrated with my last 2 marathons (St. George last year and DesNews this year). Both races I started out decent and crashed about mile 18 or so. After DesNews, I picked up my training and mileage to hopefully improve this. I was able to average 50-60 miles weekly with a high of 70 and also able to get in more 20+ mile runs. So, I went into the race the most prepared that I have ever been but not sure what to expect.

My plan was to run with the 3:05 pacer for at least the first half of the race and probably longer. The 3:05 pacer was fantastic and did a great job of helping manage the race. I felt great the first half of the race and my time at 13.1 was 1:34:09. I definitely felt like I could have gone faster, but I am glad I stayed with the pace group and didn't go out too fast. We started to make up time on the downhills of the 2nd half of the course. I was still feeling good and as we got to mile 20, where I had hit the wall the previous races, I was running strong. I stayed with the pace group until about mile 23 and then went a little ahead of he group. I ended up finishing the second half a little under 1:30 and overall time of 3:03:43. For me, this was a PR by 20 minutes from St. George 2011 and improvement from the 3:29 I ran at DesNews this year. I couldn't have asked for a better outcome for me...qualified for Boston, negative split and PR by 20 minutes.

Splits:

6:57, 7:25, 6:51, 6:57, 7:02, 6:54, 7:01, 7:55, 7:20, 7:29, 7:24, 7:07, 6:44, 7:01, 6:41, 6:38, 6:48, 6:58, 7:12, 6:59, 6:28, 6:56, 6:50, 6:38, 6:55, 7:00, 1:35....average 7:00 pace

Congrats to Fritz on his victory and a big thanks to him for answering my many marathon questions over the past couple of months. Also, thanks for all the advice and training tips on this blog which helped me obtain my goal.

10 minutes on the elliptical, some light weight lifting, then 3 miles on TM at about 8:00

15 miles on bike 

Worked until 10:00 pm, no time to work out today

5.5 miles pushing my son in the stroller

3.5 miles on stair stepper, 30 minutes of weights

6 miles pushing my son in the stroller, 8:40 pace or so

On call today

5 miles @ 8:00 pace, weight lifting

17 miles on the bike

First longer run since St. George. Ran 10 miles around Holladay and felt pretty good. Ran harder than I thought that would and ended up with a 6:53 pace. Hamstring did feel a little tight later in the day.

Worked until 10

Worked until midnight

4 miles on stair master and some weight training.

3 miles on the elliptical and them 4 miles on TM at 7:30 pace

Ran just a little over 10 miles.  Warm up and then did a pick up 5k at 6:20 pace.  Finished with overall pace of 7:14

1 mile on the elliptical, 3 miles on stairmaster and weight lifting

16 miles on the bike, rode up Millcreek

5 miles on the elliptical, weight lifting

10 miles around Holladay, 7:03 pace

4 miles, no watch

4 miles on the stair master and weight lifting

18 miles cycling

On call

16 miles on bike

Worked late and had to go to dinner immediately after

20 miles on stationary bike

Elliptical 5 miles, Stationary bike 5 miles, core workout

Worked until 11 pm

3 miles elliptical, 3 miles stair master, weight lifting

22 miles on stationary bike

10 miles around Holladay, 7:00 pace

6 miles on elliptical and weight lifting

7 miles @ 7:35 pace

Weight lifting and 4.5 miles @ 7:30

Leisurely 8.5 mile run, no watch

1.5 hours on bike trainer at home watching the Utah game.

2 miles pushing my son in his stroller at about 9:00 pace, then 10 miles at 7:16 pace

An hour on the bike at home

An hour on the bike at home

8.5 miles @ 7:34 pace

5 miles on TM @ a little under 8:00 pace

Run around Holladay, 10.5 miles at about 7:20 pace

On call

Weight lifting and 5 miles at a little under 8:00 pace

1hour on bike at home

Weight lifiting and 5.5 miles on TM

13 miles on TM, 10 @ 7:30, 2 @ 7:00 and 1 @ 6:00

8 miles on TM, 6 @ 7:30 and last 2 at a little under 7:00

Interval training for a total of 6 miles, average pace 7:00 then some weight lifting

10 miles around Holladay at about 7:20 pace

6 miles on TM @ 7:30, then some weight lifting.

10 miles on TM, 8 @ 7:30 and 2 @ 6:30

60 minutes on bike trainer at home

6 miles on TM at 7:30 pace

1 hour on bike at home

5 miles on TM, 1 mile @7:30, 2 miles @ 7:00, 1 mile @ 6:30, 1 mile @ 6:00 then some weight lifting.

12 miles around Holladay, 7:10 pace.

1 hour on bike at home

6 miles @ 7:30, 2 miles @ 6:30

12 miles @ 7:30, 1 mile @ 7:00, 1 mile @ 6:30

6 miles on TM at 7:30 pace, weight lifting