Jamie

Ran the Uneventful 1/2 with Sasha, Ted, Michelle, and Tom this morning up in Provo.  Warmed up about a mile before joining everyone else.

Started the run slower than last time.  Moved into what felt like a comfortable tempo.  Hit a few threshold miles...then the last part of the run was labored breathing just under 7 minute pace.  The group hung back a number of times toward the end (to help me) and I needed it.  Last mile was 6:50.  Two weeks pregnant.

Sasha's advice: a faster leg turn-over and focus...don't let my mind wander.

Today's time was very close to my time for the second half of St. George.  But in the marathon, the second half felt much easier.  The hills in the marathon certainly helped; the Uneventful half course is fairly flat.

I was surprised that it felt as hard as it did for the time (1:34:29 - average of 7:13).

Note:  I'm guessing that the last time I ran this (a week and a half ago) I was a good half mile short of 13.1 miles.

Easy run with the Spanish Fork group.  Time 1:10.

Crazy day...I knew it would be.  I'm sad to admit that I didn't get my run in.  Ugh.

Happy Thanksgiving!  I enjoyed this race and hope to do it again and again.  Alexis and Luke ran their divisions.  Alexis was 11th Female for the 400meter.  Luke was 4th Male for the 100meter.  It ended up being a lot of fun...despite the cold temperatures.  I feel pretty good about my time but have a lot to learn about racing (my splits weren't as even as they could have been).  It felt like a good tempo run.  I took 5th Overall Open Women and 1st in my division (25-29).  Came away with 2 turkeys and a pie!  Bring on the grub; it's chow time!

Here's how this morning went:

Warmed-up (a very relative term) for about 2 miles.

Just after the start, the men and women merged into one body of racers and I saw Sasha.  He told me I was starting too fast.  It startled me and I eased the pace up.  I heard Ted and James (his son) behind me, just after the first quarter mile(?).  Paced with them for the first mile and felt comfortable.

#1  6:17  Wanted to pace at about 6:15, so I wasn't too worried.

#2  6:33  In the second mile, Ted mentioned that I ought to leave them and pick it up a bit. 

Into the third mile Sasha's chanting of "ta, ta, ta, ta" (from Monday) came to mind...and I sped up my leg turnover.

#3  6:14

#4  6:31  Paced with a guy ahead of me for the last mile (the next closest girl was more than a minute ahead).  Passed him but should have done it sooner.  Out kicked two men in the last stretch.  Next time push in from the corner and then hard at the straight-a-way.

6:23 Averaged pace.

Suggestions from Sasha:  Some thoughts. 3rd mile marker was off by about 7 seconds. So that would give you 6:21 for mile 3, and 6:24 for the last mile. Still even with this adjustment your pacing through the race is really odd. 1st mile was just right, 2nd way too slow, 3rd just right, last mile too slow especially considering that you kicked at the end. This is actually consistent with what I observed in the Uneventful Half. It seems that your mind drifts at times and you start running 20 seconds per mile slower than what your fitness would allow you.

To fix. Buy or borrow a measuring wheel (GPS is not good enough for this). Measure out a 3 mile course, as flat as possible, mark every quarter. Twice a week do tempo runs on it trying to hit every quarter not slower than any of the preceding ones. Start with 6:28 pace as a target (1:37 quarters), move it up gradually over time as the fitness increases.

Heaven help me; I'm not ready for these cold temperatures!  Decided to wait until the sun was up in the sky (because I could) before getting out for my morning run.  It helped.  Random (easy) loop in Spanish Fork...time 1:09.  Feel like getting out in the hills tomorrow, so I think I will!

Distance is approximate.  Trail run in 18 degree weather, burrr!  Up to the Rock Pile, Prayer Circle, out Dry Canyon, back to North Orem Soccer Park on the Bonneville Shoreline trail.  Planned on running farther, however, had a weird thing happen!  My vision went bad every so often.  Mostly because my contacts would not stay in place (because of the cold temps).  This was a first.  Moderate effort (occasional hard pushes)...was able to hang with the faster guys much of the time.  Leroy was slow today...perhaps because of the race this past Thursday.  I think it was the first time I have ever found myself ahead of him (only in the last couple miles).  I asked him if he felt okay...I think he was offended.  Oops.

I am missing Sarah; many times we ran these trails together.

Time 1:25