Slowly Getting Faster

Weak for me for a Saturday, I know. Pretty much the same deal as yesterday except my wife had to be in Ogden early this morning so I couldn't have gone then. After that it was pretty much over until tonight. Luckily, I made it out before 11 tonight, so I went a few more miles.  This route is great for hill training, 550 feet in 3 miles if you trust the garmin. Hopefully tomorrow I can get back to putting in some distance. 

 Had I realized I just needed another mile to hit 30 for the week I would have run another one.  

I haven't been on this trail since June 1, just before I sprained my ankle.  I missed it.  I also forgot how much vertical gain is on this thing. Or, rather, I forgot how taxing it can be on the legs.  I need to start hitting it a couple of times a week I think. 

1:34:29, 13:15 per mile.  

Flag rock run with Matt VH. I had my reservations about this run at the beginning.  I ate way too much food for dinner last night and it sat on my stomach like a rock all night long. This morning when I woke up it was still sitting there. A mile into this run I was pretty sure I would puke it up before we were done. Luckily, that didn't happen. 

It was very pretty up there, and I love running down that north side. A great way to start the day.  

Should have made today an easy day.  Slow trail running. 

I only had time to get a short, keep-the-streak-alive run in tonight.  I decided to just sprint a mile.  I live on a steep hill so that was a difficult task. I managed to run an 8:30 pace for the 1.15, which includes a 300 foot vertical gain in .3 of a mile. Not too shabby. 

Same deal as yesterday.  I've been trying to sprint this mile.  I figure if I can only run 1 it should be fast. Today I managed this in 8:30 pace, even with the 220 foot vertical gain hill right at the end. 

Slow miles tonight. Just trying to get the groove going again. I need to eat more I think. 

My original plan today was to run Flag Rock as a figure 8.  I thought it might get me some extra distance plus it would mix things up a bit. But I didn't get out early enough and by the time I made it to the peak I realized I would just need to get back home as soon as possible. That turned my 9 mile run into a 5.6 mile run. Oh well. 

I ran around the neighborhood tonight. I figured it would be a good way to get some hill training while not straying too far from home. There is a nice 1+ mile loop from my house to 200 south to 100 east to state street and back. It has about 230 feet of elevation gain on each loop, all of which comes in .3 of a mile. After 5 loops I had 6.2 miles and 1330 feet of elevation gain. Now I just need to make the loops faster. 

I've wanted to run this (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/252286222#) course for a while and today was the day. It was snowy but that actually made it more fun. It wasn't really cold on the trails but the firebreak road was pretty windy. I think next weekend I might add a run up to sunset campground on to this loop. That should make the distance closer to 20 miles and the elevation closer to 4,000.

I wanted to get a run in today but by the time I got home it was 20 degrees outside. I like running in the cold and snow when its 32ish and the middle of the day.  But 20 degrees, in the dark, on black top so I can't see the black ice...I'm going to have to pass. 

 Instead I did a series of burpees and box jumps in my garage. I need to get my leg strength up if I'm going to run 32 miles and 22,000 feet of vert in July.

On a related note, I plan on officially entering the world of ultra running this year, one way or another. On January 1 I will be attempting to register for Speedgoat. There are only 350 runners allowed to enter so there is a chance it will fill up before I get in. If it does, I'm thinking about a R2R2R attempt in late May early June. It's a bit longer and more vert, but I have wanted to do it ever since I heard about it. Anyone want to join me for that?    

I did the Bair Canyon out and back from my house. It's just under 6 miles to get there the way I went out, but I didn't have the time or energy to come back the same way so the total ended up just under 11 miles. Fairly slow, 13:34 per mile, but the elevation gain on this run is almost 2800 feet. I think this route is much harder than flag rock.  With Flag Rock only half of it involves climbing, the other half is a fun downhill.  With this, there is always something that still needs to be climbed.  I think in the run up to summer, and as a base building exercise, I will try to run this a couple times a week. eventually I plan on making it part of a 20+ mile route.  For now, 10 miles will have to do. 

My goal on January 1, 2012 was to run over 1,000 miles this year.  I ran 1,190.9. While a member of this site, I only ran 300 miles in 2011, and probably a total of less than 500 miles for the whole year.  So this is more than double my miles for last year.  

Looking back over the calendar I notice several problems with my training for the past year.  The first is that I was not very consistent. I ran 8 miles in January because of injury, I ran less than 31 miles a week through February, I hit a high of 42 miles per week in March, in April I craped out and only ran a total of 83 miles for the month, in may I ran 148 miles overall but the weekly milage varied from 15 miles to 41 miles a week, in june I ran until I hurt myself on June 18 but I only managed a total of 42 miles for the month running more than half the month, from July to August I was out with a sprained ankle, and August to September I got really serious about my training - running 182 mile in August and 189 miles in September, 40 more miles than any other month to date, in October I crapped out after the marathon and haven't really managed to get back up to speed since - running 133 miles in October, 73 november and 64 in december.

It's been harder this winter to be motivated.  part of that is the new job but part of it is also the cold weather.  It was really easy to push myself when it was warm outside.  

For the new year I want to be consistent. It will probably take me some time to get back up to my desired mileage so I think I will shoot for 40 miles a week in January and February and get up to 50 a week by March.  The two months of training leading up to the marathon were the best I felt running since I started doing it again and I think that was because of the consistency.

With that in mind, my goal for the new year will be to run consistent distances. Because I don't want to be bogged down with specific numbers for the week I will try and keep my weekly mileage and days run consistent, meaning my goal is to run the above mentioned mileages by running 6 to 7 days a week. No more running 10 miles twice and a few 8's and missing several days.  I think running every day, or at least 6 days a week, is key to making gains. 

I am also going to sign up for the Speedgoat this year so I will need a lot of hill training. I ran 163,606 vertical feet this last year. In light of what some of the rest of the members of this blog ran, that number seems pretty small.  I would like to break 200K of vertical feet next year. If I am able to stick with my weekly mileage goal I should be able to break 2,000 miles for the new year, so that is my goal.

I am also planning on running the following races:

St. George 5k 

 Lake to Lake relay

Flag Rock Run

Speed Goat 50k

St. George Marathon

Moab Trail Marathon

I would like to run the 5k in under 21 minutes but that might be pushing it with my training over the past month.  Lake to Lake is just a good time, Flag Rock I would like to run in 1:05:00 or less, Speed Goat I would like to finish without needing to be rescued or carried off the mountain, St. George Marathon I would like to run in under 3:00:00, and the Moab Trail Marathon I would like to finish in under 4:30:00.

Now it's all out there, I better get running.