Relentless

AM - 8.25 Green Springs.  Took advantage of the smaller miles and slept in a few minutes.  Nice little run around Green Springs loop.  Pushed the pace coming down Quail Ridge - haven't done that often lately - will get into some Tinman stuff and Tempo stuff in the next couple weeks and that will be nice.  (Stratus bee 623.90)

afternoon - 13 Mall Trail to Nowhere/Webb Hill.  Ran the Trail to Nowhere with the JV boys today with a nice pickup in the middle to their Temp pace (5:50) for a mile.  Then went over to Webb and ran 2 sets of Meatgrinders/Fire Sides - up Meatgrinder and down Fire Side, then up Fire Side and down Meatgrinder.  On the second time down Fire Side I saw something flash out of the corner of my eye, so I stopped.  It was a beautifuly colored fox - every color from red to rusty orange, to brown - he just stopped and stared at me from about 5 feet away for 1-2 minutes until he decided to move on!  It was very cool.  Oh and the hills were tough.  (Cumulus gold  352.15)

AM - 33 Wendy's/Quail.  Got up and ran Wendy's then went down and ran Quail with James.  On the way out we took the Lava Point trail to add a few miles - down by the river I noticed some blue string up in the cliffs, so I was staring at it - then I noticed two great horned owls sitting up in the cliffs, one in the nest must have been an adolescent - it looked just like an Ewok.  Then just a few feet away on a crag was the adult.  Two straight days of awesome animal sightings!  Got fairly tired as we finished up the run into the wind.  (Landreth orange 169.25)

Week was solid, got in another set of good miles and and decent long run.

Goals for next week:  It will be another busy one with region track on two days, so that will cut into the mileage a bit.  So I will use it as a recovery.  Then over the weekend we are up to SLC, so I think I may head up into the mountains for a hard mountain trail run - but we'll see.

AM - 12 Middleton/Warm Springs.  I must congratulate myself for getting up today - because it just about didn't happen.  Run was slow at first, solid at the end.  Took Molly around for a mile as usual at the end.  (Landreth black 596.85)

afternoon - 16.  About as uneventful as a run can get.  DI with Austin and then ran laps while he did his workout; finished with DI for his cool.  Then repeated the exact same thing with the rest of the team.  Got home and Ry wanted to ride around the block, so I took the dog around again.  (Cumulus white 656.35)

AM - 10.15 Green Springs/Warm Springs.  Another hand for waking up - it really just about didn't happen.  Took Molly around the block.  (Landreth orange 179.4)

afternoon - 10.25 Chuck-a-rama/Dog Pound/2450.  Ran the easy run with the boys, then with the girls and finished by breaking off and doing 2450.  (Stratus grey  129.85)

AM - 13 Target Loop.  Decent run this morning.  Some sections felt strong others a little slow.  I have been throwing in a mile each morning this week at Tinman - or perceived pace, with no watch - to try and get a little speed and Tempo work going.  Today I did 3.  I felt good for the most part, but still have plenty of work to do before I am ready to run fast at anything.  Ended taking Molly around the block.  (Stratus black 335.1)

afternoon - 7 barefoot/grass.  Went out on my prep and got 7 in on the grass barefooting before heading off to region.  Run felt fine - grass is good.  

AM - 13 Fields.  Looped into the fields for 12 this morning.  I once again had a hard time getting up and almost used an achy left lower/outside leg as an excuse not to run.  Very happy I went though as the leg didn't give me any problems and I did 3 at attempted Tinman pace.  Was able to get to 6:00 without any real issues, but when I lost focus it was easy to slow down as well which led to the averages on the three to be at 6:teens; it is just a matter of not doing Tempo for awhile and just getting back at it.  Finished by taking the dog around where I ran into Mom out for a little run of her own!  (Stratus bee 636.9)

noon - 7 barefoot/grass.  Sneaked out during lunch and the first part of my prep for another 7 barefoot.  With region it is impossible to run after.  The pain in my leg is there a little still, but I think it is from all the laps yesterday.  So today I switched up the direction every mile and it seemed to take the pressure off that spot.  Will keep an eye on it for a few days to make sure it is no big deal.

evening - 10.5 Sego Lily. Body and mind were both hammered this morning and I couldn't even function let alone get up to run, so I am glad I got this in once we got to SLC. Instead of the usual Sego Lily loop, I ran down and looped around the library and came back the same way; then went over the top (with a .5 detour do to a wrong turn) and dropped down Sego Lily and looped around the library and came back up. Definitely a hill workout every time I run up here. (Cumulus white 666.85)

Started off the morning running the Race for a Cure with Ally's family. We all ran in memory of Al's Aunt Kitty who just passed away around Thanksgiving and in celebration of Al's mom who has just ended her treatments and looks to be getting over this beast. Ry said she wanted to actually run so I ran with her. Taking away the time it took to walk to the start, her bathroom break, and the walk to the finish because of the back up of thousands or runners, she did it in right around 30 minutes! I was so impressed. She held my hand for most of the run - since she is a little timid around crowds - and told me her legs hurt a bit; but whenever I asked her if she wanted to walk she said no. Two times she did walk, but it was for about 1 1/2 steps and suddenly she was pulling my hand again to get going! It was a lot of fun to run with her and a neat event. Not bad for an 8 year old; she runs at school a mile once a week in PE and quite often the same during lunch and recess, and of course she is in great shape from her swimming where she places against 12 year olds. But I have been very careful not to be pushy - I don't want to be one of THOSE parents.

noon - 30.25 Bell Canyon/Little Cottonwood. After eating I headed up Bell Canyon Trail. I thought I would be able to get more miles here than I did, but I quickly ran into the snow at about mile 5 (2.5 miles of trail) so I headed down - but it still gave me a great climb, up to over 6700 ft. - 1700 climb; and was able to go on Maggie and my favorite trail when we lived up here (so that was fun to think about). Then I dinked around trying to find another trail in the area, but nothing - so I got kind of frustrated and just decided to run up Little Cottonwood. And UP it was - took me to 8900 ft in the 10 miles to the very top of the road - a 3700 ft. climb. Brought it back down very easy as to avoid thrashing the legs as much as possible. Very pretty up there with a lot of cool waterfalls and snow drifts in the cliffs. (Stratus bee 670.35)

Held the week together pretty good - it was tough some times.

Goals for next week: Busy week with the end of school nearing and state track, so it will be a recovery week.  Mileage may be around 90.  Work on some more tempo stuff. 

AM - 10 Middleton.  Just plodded along and took Molly out.  (Stratus grey 139.85)  Interesting side note, I just realized I spell grey with an ey and it was coming up wrong, so I looked it up and the ey is the British ending ay is the American ending.  But when I spell it gray it looks and feels wrong.  Hum... whatever.

afternoon - 10 DI and laps.  Warmed up with the boys and then ran laps while they did their workout.  Then finished with DI cool and a couple 800 loops.  Still a bit tired in the legs.  Hot out.  (Landreth black 606.85)

I now know why Ry was able to do so well in the 5K; she has lungs like a whale!  Today was her swim-a-thon and she swam 100 laps (200 lengths of the pool) - that is nearly 3 miles, in just over an hour.  She swam the whole time, no stopping.  I jumped in and did a few laps and 4 about killed me.

AM - 10 Green Springs/Warm Springs.  It has been nice to catch an extra few minutes of sleep this week.  Run was a bit better today.  Tried to hit 3 Tinman, but wasn't totally on.  Took the dog around.  Wore a new pair of Saucony Triumphs (I know... Saucony - but they felt good).  (Triumph 10)

Hit 2000 for the year this morning - I wonder how long it took me last year? June 27th.

afternoon - 10.  Same exact thing as yesterday afternoon.  (Cumulus gold 362.15)

noon - 11.75 River Trail.  Got out for a run during lunch and prep.  Hit 4 Tinman miles in the middle at 5:50-6:00 (right on).  Effort at times was still a little harder than necessary, but at other times it felt smooth.  So hopefully that is a good sign.  (Landreth orange191.15)

afternoon - 7 Shoe Run.  A short turn around, the heat, and the harder run earlier made me spent.  It was a good thing it was easy, because I had nothing.  Got home and took Molly around.  (Landreth orange 198.15)

AM - 10.5 Wendy's.  Man this was pretty crappy to start.  The legs felt worse than yesterday; however, they did slowly get into it.  Ended by taking Molly around.  Now it is off to state.  (Triumph 20.5)

evening - 4 Lehi.  Just went with the distance runners on little 4 around Lehi, getting yelled at by the local yocals, to stretch the legs out.  (Triumph 24.5)

evening - 10 Lehi.  Thought about getting up early and running before the meet, but I slept so crappy last night that I just decided to run in the evening (that's kind of my tradition anyway).  So ran from hotel up into the new section of Lehi uptoward Timpanogos.  I really felt good and had to kind of hold myself back from just letting it loose.  The point of this week was to let myself feel this way for a day or two. (Triumph 34.5)

noon - 10.7 Y.  After the 3200's ran with Austin and Trevor up to the Y from the track.  That was a pretty beastly experience as I almost lost my banana nut muffin.  After coming down, we went along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail for a few and then ice bathed in a stream right off the snow pack (nothing colder, ever).  Then we worked our way back to the track.  Run felt great except for the climb up to the Y.  (Triumph 45.1)

Goals for next week:  Get back on some bigger miles and start some workouts if I am going to do SanFran.

AM - Big Workout #17 - 16 Fields.  4 warm/4 cool with 7 Tinman in between.  Tinman went very well for the most part.  I felt very good, just like I think this pace should be - controlled, relaxed, and quick.  But during the 6th and 7th miles I had to work a lot harder as I felt myself starting to lose juice in the legs - even felt like I needed to throw up again around the halfway mark of mile 6, but it went away after a couple minutes.  Kept pace within a fwe seconds each way with 6 and 7 dropping to 6:07's each.  Finished and took Molly around for a mile.  (Stratus grey 155.85)

afternoon - 9 GS/PL/Midd.  Summer has arrived - 106 degrees on this run!  Soaked my shirt at the upper Green Springs park and tied it around my head as I ran through the desert and the heat didn't seem as bad.  (Landreth  808.75)

AM - 13 Target.  A very tired run this morning.  I think the heat took a lot out of me yesterday, as well as the Tinman yesterday.  It will be interesting to see if I can hold this crap for long.  The summer is so different than the spring.  Finished by taking Molly around.  (Landreth orange 211.15)

Counted up my barefoot mileage for the year so far and added it as a shoe.

afternoon - 9 barefoot/grass.  Went out and hit some grass hoping that it would take pressure off the top of my left foot which has been giving me pain the last two days.  It felt good.  The wind picked up a bit and helped it feel a little cooler.  (barefoot 77.75)

AM - 12.5 Junction/CC.  Ran out through Coral Canyon.  Foot felt the best it has in days; still a little pain, but not much.  Took the dog around.  (Landreth black 619.35)

noon - 9.5 River Trail.  Hot down on that blasted trail; I don't know why I go on that heat infested oven.  Even with the temps not at 100, it just sucks you dry down there.  Went home and slept for 1 1/2 hours.  (Stratus black 344.6)

Foot has been feeling much better; only just a little pain.

AM - Big Workout #16 - 6x1000.  Warmed up to the school and did the DI at Tinman.  Then started into the 1000's.  It had been a couple months since I had tried anything like this, so I was a little concerned.  Times were at the upper end of the range (3:19-3:23) 1-3:23, 2-3:22, 3-3:24, 4-3:23, 5-3:22, 6-3:21 with a 200 jog at 1:15 between.  I didn't feel great, but not bad either; it is just hard to do this type of workout when you haven't for awhile.  I also decided that high mileage is going to make times on these workouts in the high range, but as long as I can keep it at least in the range of where it is supposed to be I will take the trade off - I mean, I am already in both feet on this high mileage stuff; I am not a burner anyway, so let's see where this takes me.  Cooled off back home by way of DI and Fire Station and a mile with Molly.  (Triumph 60.2)

noon - 8 Grapevine/Coral Canyon.  I ran again today.  The foot felt really good, but the heat is getting me so I took another nap after I got home from graduation.  (Cumulus gold 370.15)

AM - 8 Green Springs.  Slept in a little!  Nice overcast morning, so I hope that holds on to this afternoon.  Ran Green Springs very easy and took Molly around.  Legs are a little sore from yesterday I guess.  (Stratus bee 678.25)

noon - 21.5 Pine Valley.  There are 20 mile runs and then there are 20 mile experiences - this was an experience.  Started at Silver Reef with the intent of running up to Oak Grove and up the Summit Trail to the top of Pine Valley, then around on the trail up there and back.  I hadn't ever done this before, but have heard that the trail is just as steep as possible.  Started off at 3700 ft. at Silver Reef and started up to Oak Grove - this 7+ mile section is in of itself a climber, up to 6800 ft.  Saw a very cool Red Tail Hawk flying with a snake in its claws.  Got to Oak Grove and started up the trail; basically it is 3+ miles and nearly 3500 ft elevation gain.  There was a lot of hiking and wishing that I hadn't done this, but at the same time it was remarkable.  The views were undescribable and the challenge was amazing.  I finally got to the top of the trail and told myself that there was no way I was getting up here without summitting, which was another few hundred feet up and about 1/2, but the trail was covered with snow and unfollowable.  So I just started working my way up crashing through the drifts and occasionally folling through only stopping at my hips and getting cut up by the hidden rocks and trees.  I finally reached the pinnacle and stopped to eat and just chill at 10261 ft!  I just relaxed and took it all in.  Got kind of lost on my way back to the main trail, but finally found it.  Had to carefully work my way back down the mountain as to not fall (which would have dropped me straight off the cliffs) - only had a few slips and was able to grab some bushes and rocks as to prevent a serious problem.  Eventually got back to Oak Grove and strated back on the dirt road back to the Jeep.  Finally after 4:45 minutes and 21.5 miles (including a seven mile progression down Oak Grove 7:00 - 6:00) I was finished.  Got into the stream and drank a lot of water and gatorade and kind of releved in what I had just done.  Didn't quite the mileage I wanted, but there was no way to run on top with the snow and my legs were way too beat up to add anything on at the end; no big deal though.  (Landreth  830.25)

morning - 10 Washington Loop/Parkway.  Legs were spent today, barely made it through the run.  Took Molly around when I finished.  (Cumulus white 676.85)

Week went well getting into marathon training.  Legs are a bit shot now, hopefully they will bounce back a little more this weekend.

Goals for next week: Make it about the same as this week - mileage, big workouts, survive the summer heat.

AM - Big Workout #15 8 Tinman (17).  Warmed up plenty easy and slow; still stiff from Friday and wasn't sure how this would go.  Got into the Tinman and it started to roll decent, but quickly went away.  So I just tried to hold it solid.  All the miles were around the 6:05 mark except mile 4 where I just seemed to fall apart.  I decided to either cut the workout or stop for just a second and regroup - so I stopped to regroup and kind of pulled it back together and hit a 6:20 and the next 4 weren't too bad.  Got back and took Molly around.  (Stratus grey 172.85)

evening - 9 Middleton.  Went out into Middleton and the legs were pretty shot.  (Landreth black  628.35)

AM - 13 Target.  Really was spent this morning.  Took a lot longer than it should have.  Finished by taking Molly around.  (Landreth orange 224.15)

afternoon - 9 Barefoot/grass.  Ran over to the city fields (just .5 away) and ran 7 barefoot miles and then ended with 8xbarefoot striders.  Temps have been very pleasant for summer the last two afternoons; clouds and breezy, but no rain.  (Cumulus white 677.85)  (Barefoot '09  85.75)

AM - 13 Coral Canyon.  Ran out on the CC trails out past the Gilbert building.  Had a bit more in my legs than the last few days.  Took Molly around. (Stratus black 357.6)

Pool Running - 5 min.  Did a little pool running for the first time this year.

afternoon - 9 Mill Creek.  Went up Mill Creek to the top pump.  A bit hotter today, but the breeze helped keep it bearable.  (Cumulus white 686.85)

AM - Big Workout #14 3xmile.  I am kind of down on myself for this workout.  It was supposed to be 7 miles at LT (5:30), but I could barely get the three in at 5:41,40, and 39.  So I just called her quits for today and came home.  Since Ally and I have decided not to go to San Fran, my workout schedule has become much more open, so I will come back and try this one again a couple times to work up to the 7 and bring the times down with a little fresher legs.  Did the workout on the Lava Point section of the River Trail - went out toward Coral Canyon and started my 2 mile Tinman, which were hideous and a warning of things to come, then down past the dump onto the trail.  Good place for repeats, but the body just couldn't give it today.  Came home and took Molly around.  (Triumph 72.85)

evening - 8.25 Club Run.  Went out into the fields.  I worked to keep everyone pretty slow and easy with my yelling and complaining - worked on everyone but the high schoolers!  (Stratus bee 686.5)

AM - 10 Green Springs.  Nice morning for a run, and I had a positive attitude since today is shorter on mileage!  As usual, took Molly around.  (Cumulus gold 380.15)

afternoon - 6 Sienna Hills.  Ran over to the park with Ry and pushing Laney.  Then they played on the playground while I ran 3 miles barefoot.  Ry was a bit tired on the way back, but she did a great job.  (Cumulus white 689.85) (Barefoot '09 88.75)

AM - 26.2 Green Valley.  Set out to run 25-30 this morning and it ended up landing right at a marathon.  Ran out through Green Valley and up the trail we used to run for Club Runs out of the old store and over the top of tortoise road, back into Washington and out to the Parkway and home through the desert - ended by taking Molly around.  Had a tough point at around 18 or so that I really just wanted to be done, seems that is always a difficult point in runs.  (Landreth orange 250.35)

Week was okay, but ended pretty tired.  Ready to get this stupid race done with.

Goals for the week:  taper a little.  Survive!