Afternoon run from Jensen park North on the Syaracuse trail. Mostly cloudy, 37F, wind from the North at 6-12 mph.

Did 5 x 30 second striders in mile 8 working each one to 6:45 pace. It's fun to feel like a rock start for 4 or 5 seconds at a time.

1:14:43/8:47

Well, it looks like I'll end up with a short run tonight (like 6 or 7 PM), either on the TM or the trail if weather permits. That's fine. It's good to shake up the routine once in awhile, I stale easily. Also, I'll have to (or get to) run 7 days this week to get my mileage goal since I won't be getting more than 4 or 5 miles today. Just writing it out here on the blog helps me to solidify a plan.

5 miles tonight on the fire break road with the dog. Mostly cloudy, 50F, wind 5-12 mph. Cool looking sky as a storm front is moving in.

Bad poetry alert!

Not a long run

But this course is hillified

My run jones is satisfied

I could have run more if I tried -  but I didn't

So this run I'll abide.

Around noon on the LPT. Mostly cloudy, 40F, wind WNW @12-20mph. Very frustrated with the wind am I.

2 mile warmup, 3 mile tempo (7:47, 7:53, 7:47), then 5 miles of push through the wind to get back.

1:25:50/8:35

Easy 6 under overcast sky, 40F, light drizzle, winds 3-7 mph. From the house, through the hood, 1 mile on the LPT.

I didn't get started until 2:00 pm. I wanted to hurry and finish so the sun could come out. Now I'm done and the sun is out for the first time today. See how that works? I'm just saying...

Got out just before 10:00 AM. Sunshine, temps started at 40 degrees and reached 47 by the time I got back. Light winds 1-6 mph. Glorious weather compared to the last week or so. Ran from the house to LPT out and back. Slow and easy.

Giving myself the option of cutting back this week depending on how I'm feeling, how work goes, and in anticipation increasing to 70 mpw training specifically for the Ogden half.

Easy 6 on the Syracuse trail. Sun, 53F, light wind.

51:34/8:36

 Noon on the Bluff trail (previously refered to as the syracuse trail), SUN, 65F, wind SE at 4-10. Beautiful weather brought everybody out, it was nice to have a little company on the trail.

Easy pace (like I ever run anything else). Picked a good week to cut back as my legs have been feeling a little un-alive the last couple of days. All in all feeling healthy, energetic and strong.

1:29:57/8:54

WIND!

April showers.

Swamped at work.

Hope to get at least a short TM run tonight.

Maybe no run today though...

PM - Showers break, the sun comes out, I find time to take my dog on a 4 mile run on the LPT. Saved from the TM!

5:23 AM (Garmin Standard Time), Couldn't sleep so I ran early. From the house to LPT out and back. Mostly cloudy, 43F, light wind. Very easy pace today. Good end to an easy week. Hope to do 60+ next week, then a couple of 70 mile weeks, then short taper, then Ogden Half, then start training for TOU marathon, then win the lottery, then get better looking.... 

From the house at 9:40 AM. to LPT, out and back. Sunny, 50F, winds variable 2-8 mph.

4 mile tempo @GHMP and 3 mile tempo @ GHMP (HMP = 8:15)

3 mile warmup

4 mile tempo (8:07,8:09,810,8:01) 8:07 Avg.

1 mile easy

3 mile tempo (8:11,8:16,8:17) 8:15 avg.

2.1 mile cooldown.

I feel okay about this workout. A little dissapointed that I faded so much in the second tempo. But that's what this is for right? To push myself.

If I can run the half with an 8:15 pace, that will be 1:48:05. My goal is to beat 1:50, so I'll keep working on the 8:15 target in my workouts.

1:54:24/8:44

Easy eight on the Bluff Trail. Sun, wind, warmth.

High noon on the LPT. Weather: no comment.

Although not reflected by my pace, I felt gooder than usual today.

1:28:12/8:49

Early lunch. From the house to LPT out and back.

Weather: thank goodness it wasn't "60 dgrees  and sunny, with calm winds" today, that would've really been a drag.

Exact same pace as yesterday.

Got a late start (2:00 PM). On the Bluff trail. Light rain, 39F wind out of the NW 4-12 mph.

After the first mile I started feeling dizzy/vertigo. I thought maybe it was the strong crosswind playing with my sense of balance. I stopped at mile 3 to see how I felt and I felt weak and shaky...but I decided to press on another mile and turn around for 8. However, when I got to 4 miles I started feeling alot better so I kept going to 6 then turned around. On the trip back I started feeling really strong with my last 3 miles avg. 8:15/mile. So, optimism wins again.

1:46:56/8:55

Slogfest on the Bluff trail. Partly cloudy, 52F, wind variable 8-15mph. Weather looked better today than it has for awhile, so I won't complain about the wind...the windy wind...not going to complain...

Barely got my 60 for the week, but at least I did it in six days so tommorrow can be a rest day. Shooting for 70 miles next week.

9:00 AM. From the house to LPT out and back. Sunny, 58F, light wind. Beautiful conditions.

I felt just okay today, and things were going well until about mile 14 then I just sort of bonked. Don't know what happened...I couldn't have stuffed any more carbs into myself yesterday...hope to get this figured out by Sept. marathon.

2:33:45/8:56

Oh beautiful day. Sun, 68F, light wind (just right for cooling). Lunch run, Bluff trail. As usual, felt good the day after a long run. It's the day after the day after a long run that I feel it.

Hoping to get a run in early tommoroow morning before rolling out of town. Camping = no computer = no blogging until late Friday. Hoping for some good miles in the South East desert of Utah. So, in case I don't have time to blog in the morning, have a good week y'all!

1:11:47/8:39

6:00 AM. 8 miles, from the house to LPT. Clear skies, 46F.

PM: 4 miles (pre-blogged) somewhere near moab...

(I'm writing this on Friday the 24th, now I'm back home...) Well, if I hadn't pre-blogged it, I probably wouldn't have done it. After driving all day in the heat and finally arriving at our camp, I just wanted to crack open a cold one and soak in the views. But I had to get a 4 mile run in. But first I had to set up my tent/camp etc. Then about 6 PM I ran 4 tired, hot miles. I knew within the first mile that I was going to be in for some tough runs this week. No matter which direction I go, I was going to have to run hills. Long, slow, often quite steep, hills. I think, this, my first 70 mile week, would've have been much easier without having to do these next couple of day's runs up and down these hills. But I realized that if I could pull this off without getting injured, then I might actually feel like I'm acheiving some kind of conditioning...I was looking forward to the punishment.

7:50 AM. 4 miles up, 4 miles down. 2 miles of this climb gain 1,000 feet. This workouts to something like an 8 or 9 % grade, and in some spots it was steeper. I was extrememly tired this morning from running 37.5 miles in the three days previous (alot of miles for me), with 4 of those miles being on this same road last night. This road, by the way, is also very rocky, my feet were taking a beating. So a grueling climb.

I was going to run 4 more tonight, but opted for rest instead. My legs are hammered and I'm hoping that tommorrow I'll feel more recovered...

7:45 AM. 11 miles starting with a descent down to a flat campground area next to the Dolores River, with a nice 1/2 mile loop that I ran several times. My legs are still feeling very sore today, especially my quads, so I ran quite slow. By the time I climbed back up to camp, I had only run 7.25 miles, so I continued on to the wretched climb that I had done yesterday for more mileage. Around mile 10, my legs actually started to feel better (?), and the last mile was enjoyable. It was an encouraging mile because I've been running sore for the last 22 miles before this ONE mile.

6:00 PM. 4.5 miles down by the Dolores river and some flat loops around the campground before the climb back to camp. This was my best run of the trip in terms of how my legs felt, and I'm hoping that I'm recovered enough to finish off a 9 miler tommorrow for 70 miles for the week. It turns out that my week ending today I ran 70.3 miles! I feel very good about this especially given the tough miles these last couple of days.

Well, I decided to take a rest day today and finish the week tommorrow. Besides being a travel day, the wind howled through camp all night making sound sleep impossible, and it was blowing even harder this morning. It's just as well as my legs are still sore, especially the achilles...and the calves...and the quads...the feet...but hey, the knees feel solid.

7:00 AM. Partly cloudy, fresh post-rain, 42F.

Felt good today. Very easy pace and very happy thoughts...

This is the first Sunday I've not run since I started running six days a week last August...I must've found religion! LOL!! Actually, it works out perfectly as far as my training schedule goes. My body feels great, but my mind was tired this morning and I thought it through and decided this would be a good day to take my rest day for this week. So I'll be running Monday through Saturday to get my 70 miles this week. I might run next Sunday, which is the begining of a two week taper for the Ogden Half.

Today we're going to go pick up a new dog...a great dane...our cats will be so excited. Our other dog Buddy will be happy to have a companion again.

Have a great Sunday!

6:15 AM. From the house to LPT out and back. Clear skies, 36F, light wind. Felt better today than I have in a week.

Hoping for more this afternoon...

Lunch time run on the Bluff trail. Sunny, 53F, winds 15-22 mph SSW. Pleasant enough day weather wise, the wind blew, but other than that no complaints.

Okay, this is going to sound like fiction but it really happened. Just as my run was ending...I was hit in the back of the head by a bird! I heard flapping wings going over my head then all of a sudden wham! It felt like getting hit with a bag of sand. The poor thing, a duck I guess, was waddling around in a daze. It looked like it was gasping for air and probably got the wind knocked out of it. I hope that's all anyway. My head hurt for a few minutes afterward, but I'm not dizzy or anything. I am feeling a little shaky though.

Mile splits for this afternoon: 1 - 8:16  2 - 8:05  3 - 8:42  4 - 8:16  5 - 7:51 

41:10/8:14

Late lunch run on the Bluff. Partly cloudy, 55F, wind from the North 8-12 mph.

Was having a hard time focusing on the run so at mile 6 I started a series of 8 x 2 mins. @ 7:15 pace w/ 2 mins easy inbetween.

Mile splits 1) 9:09 2) 8:15 3) 8:30 4) 8:48 5) 9:17 (um...) 6) 8:27 7) 8:19 8) 8:23 9)8:17 10) 8:21  + .2 mi. @ 1:29 (7:26 pace).

1:27:14/8:33

6:15 AM. Easy 8 miles. Clear, 40F, light wind. From house to LPT out and back. Legs feeling tired and stiff this morning, loosened up a little during run but not as much as I would have liked.

12:45 PM. Easy 5.5 at the nature preserve (1 mile boardwalk - loops). Mostly sunny, 56F, wind WNW 4-10 mph. Lots of birds, no collisions.

Lunch run. Bluff trail. partly cloudy, 60F, wind NW 4- 12mph.

The pace today was very, very slow and easy. With all that time to think, I came to the conclusion that I actually, really do like vanilla...

April '09...

My first 70 mile week.

My highest mileage month. (260.95).

First time in my life I've been 45 years old.