Relentless

AM - 15 Junction.  Ran over to practice where we ran to the Junction and a 2 mile addition for the boys going 12.  Finished with 8xstriders and the run home.  Hip had some stiffness and I still felt Saturday's 18 in the legs.  (Barefoot '10 106)(Stratus black 673.7)

afternoon - 3 Green Springs.  Ran up to the clubhouse with the boys before weights and plyos.  Hip hurt a bit to get going.  Wish I was still running afternoons up in the mountains!  (Cumulus gold 572.75)

AM - 17 Clyde's Fields Loop.  Ran our new tempo loop with the addition of the inner Bloomington Hills trail loop.  After last week's struggle and being tired through yesterday, I was a little worried about today.  The workout turned out very good though.  Warmed up 3 and then got into 9 miles at Tinman Tempo.  My goal was to stay with Logan and Clyde throughout, even if they picked it up, so I could use them to help me out.  Took some ib this morning to help ease the tight hip and it seemed to take the edge off.  The pace was strong and true as we averaged 5:51 throughout.  Good workout to have in the bank.  Added 2 extra with the team as they did their warm up before a little interval work.  (Boston 242)

AM - 8.5 Grapevine.  Pretty tired after a long night of sick kids not sleeping well.  So I didn't do any more than over to practice, Grapevine, striders, and home.  Probably good though, because legs were pretty tired.  If it rains I'll go run a few; otherwise I will be done for the day.  (Barefoot '10 106.25)(Landreth blue 388)

lap swim 5 minutes.  It's been awhile since I swam or did any pool running.  So I jumped in the pool for a short swim today.  It doesn't really help anything other than making me believe I did something in the afternoon and am not a total slacker.

AM - 15.5 DC Trail.  5xmiles.  Met up with Logan and Aaron for a few mile repeats.  Ran 3 warm up and then got the legs going with a Tinman mile.  The hip hurt a little here and it kind of worried me, but it worked its way out soon enough.  Goal for the miles was a strong but controlled tempo of 5:30.  1-5:20, 2-5:25, 3-5:18, 4-5:23, 5-5:13.  The odds were down the River Trail from the freeway overpass.  And the evens were up and into a decent headwind.  Goal was to keep the ups within 5 seconds of the downs - did it.  Although I didn't really feel great, the workout was good and a nice one to have done.  Next time maybe I'll have a little more confidence with it.  Finished with a short cool and then 3.5 more for cool with the team, barefoot.  (Barefoot '10 109.75)(Ohana racers 317.75)

Went back in the archives to look up 2 years ago - the last time the Circle was rolling - on this workout.  I actually missed it because I was getting ready for the Provo River 1/2, but 1 month later (Sept.) we did the same but with 6 miles and I barely kept it under 5:30.  So that makes me feel even better, especially since I know I had a little more in me today, but tried to keep running within myself.

Weights and plyos this afternoon.

PM - 7.5 Club.  Just hit the standard loop.  Wasn't really stoked about running, but it wasn't too bad once we got going and just enjoyed the run.  (Free 294.95)

AM - 8.5 SGM Course.  Had practice at Vernon Worthen Park today.  Took the kids up the course and then tempo down for a bit.  I ran with Kaylee and Michael and we hit 2.5 solid tempo miles for them on the way into town and down diagonal.  Kaylee is running great; she better be careful or something awesome is going to happen for her this season.  (Barefoot '10 110.25)(Landreth orange 726.35)

The Trails 15 Miler 1:36:00

Warmed up a couple with James and noticed from the first mile and his description that this was going to be a very tough course if anyone was going to try and race it.  Started off at a comfortable pace around 6:00 for the first two, but Logan and Clyde were not coming with me.  So I yelled at them and held up a little and we regrouped.  The best move of the day was dropping our watches (it was raining a bit - and stopped right after ditching our Garmins) to Katey so they wouldn't get wet.  From here to the turn around, we just ran a nice chit-chatting pace, but still moving decent - like the beginning of a workout, which is what this turned out to be.  After being joined by James and closely followed by Steven, we hit the turn around and started to move a little better.  I led strong up a big climb over a mile long and into a nasty headwind, but on the down Clyde moved away from me.  I encouraged Logan to come up with me, so he did and moved right by me on the next climb!  Logan wasn't feeling great and I was feeling the workouts in my quads a bit, and the two of them were pulling away - Logan about 50 meters ahead as we topped the final major climb and headed into the steady uphill with 3 to go and Clyde about 50 more meters ahead of Logan.  Here I decided I didn't want to look like a fool, so I pushed pretty hard and caught Logan in this mile and started working toward Clyde.  With about 1.5 to go it looked as if Clyde slowed a little, so Logan came back up to me and we yelled at Clyde to hold up and we jogged in together.  It was a bonding moment.  Cooled down for two more and was happy to be done.  Glad I didn't try to race that thing; it would have eaten me alive.  (Ohana racers 336.75)

Good week of training.  Felt pretty solid and added to my confidence a little.  But since finishing the race my right knee has been swelling.  It is pretty stiff and sore.  This used to happen to me a lot and wasn't a big deal, but it sure did feel uncomfortable and make training a little tougher; so hopefully the weekend will bring it down.

Goals for next week:  School starts, first xc race, and all of that... It should be interesting.