6:07 AM GST. Clear, 60 degrees. From the house to LPT out and back.

Koo koo ka-choo.

Had the morning off so I didn't run until 7:30 AM. Clear and 65 degrees. Drove to LPT and ran less than I had planned. Thought I was ready for a workout today...WRONG. It took so much effort this morning to garner an 8:31 pace for 6 miles. Looks like this will be an easy week for me.

Mile splits: 1) 8:22  2)8:12  3)9:02  4)8:44  5)8:52  6)7:55

51:07/8:31

Got out at 10 AM, 75 degrees and sunshine.

Feel better today. Going to take it easy this week, keep it around 50 miles etc., see where I'm at Sunday. Who knows, maybe a couple of weeks of lower mileage is required.

Well, now I have firefox...I'm change resistant...

Early lunch run. Bluff trail/West Syracuse. Hot.

Maybe I need to eat more strawberries.

By the time my alarm went off at 5:30 this morning, I had gotten maybe 2-3 hrs of sleep. Given the kind of week I've been having, I decided to sleep another hour and not run today at all. I'll have to get my 6th day tomorrow, which is usually my rest day. So I've swapped rest days is all. It just means by my next rest day (Saturday the 13th) I'll have run 7 days in a row. Depending on how my "long" run this Sunday goes, next week may be another 50 miler if I'm not over this current funk. I think it's good my body is forcing me to rest up a little before I tackle some higher mileage weeks this Summer preparing for TOU.

11:00 AM 66 degrees.  Bluff trail. Felt good with 6 miles today.

Mile splits: 1)  8:18  2)  8:19  3)  8:28  4)  8:20  5)  8:15  6)  8:05

  49:43/8:17

Easy 8 on the LPT. Mostly cloudy, post rain, low 60's. 

Still in a low ebb mode.

Early lunch run. Bluff trail. 68 degrees, sunny. Easy eight. In fact, that might as well be my nickname this week, "Easy Eight".

Early lunch run. Sunny, 73 degrees. Another eighter.

Today I ran from the shop (this is literally only the second time I've done this because of the traffic and concrete), took a two mile route to the high school track and ran a few there. I ran miles 4 and 6  faster than the others. 

Mile splits: 8:35, 8:38, 8:38, 7:13, 8:43, 7:27, 9:20, 8:49

1:07:22/8:25

My right achilles has been whispering at me the last couple of weeks. It comes and goes. I'm icing, stretching, and running on it. Just saying. Any advice?

EZ 8 for lunch on a cloudy day. Periods of light rain. Very nice. Achilles feels fine, but if I had to run that easy every time I would lose my mind, or at least get an ipod to listen to.

Late lunch. Rain for most of the run, then sun the last 3 or 4 miles. 60 degrees.

The easy eight's are really paying dividends. I felt energetic throughout the whole run today. It's been a couple of weeks.

Achilles felt much better today. It's still a little tight. I've been icing it a lot and that seems to really help.

Easy 8 tomorrow, rest Saturday, then hopefully long and pain free on Sunday.

Eeee zeee 8, one mile grassy loops at Ellison park in Layton. 6x30 sec. striders barefoot in the grass at the end. 

This was the first time I've run barefoot. About a half mile total. I found that running very fast was easier than running very slow while barefoot. When I ran slow, my heel would feel it more on the landing. When I ran faster I would land more mid-foot and that felt more natural and smooth.

10 AM. Sunny, 63-68 degrees, unbreezy. Fairground/Glovers Lane loop.

I'm thinking June is going to be a base maintenance/recovery month. Recovery from what, I don't know. It's not like I've trained for and run a marathon. However, this is my "rookie" year in terms of running consistently, and I want to run much faster in a couple of years or so. That's one reason I'm running just one half and one full marathon this year. If I can keep up a mileage base through next Winter I'll be that much stronger and able to run quality races in 2010. Even then, that will only be my "Sophmore" year. Hopefully by the time I turn 50 years old, I'll be a really solid, strong runner and be able to place well in my age division in small local races.

So in July, I'll start increasing my weekly mileage again and hopefully by the end of August I'll have run some 70 mile weeks before tapering for TOU.

Anyway, just blogging out loud.

Easy 8. Late. Mostly sunny and 73 degrees. From house to LPT out and back.

Legs felt a little heavy, but the energy level is high. Lower right leg still sore. The pain seems to move around. Last week it felt like a tight achilles, but now it sort of feels like shin splints. Either way it doesn't feel right. Without the pain I might have gone further today but I'm going to be extra cautious until this clears up. 

Easy..........six? Bluff trail, sunny, 70 degrees.

Leg felt good. Usually that would mean I'd run more, but the new me said "no, go easy and maybe you'll feel good tomorrow too." I'm becoming a better listener in my old age...

Just biding my time here in Seattle,

Utah. 

Early lunch run. Overcast, light rain, 60 degrees, 79% humidity.

4 mile tempo run @ GMP.

2 miles warmup (9:29, 9:14)

Tempo mile splits (8:20, 8:28, 8:19, 8:24)

2 miles cooldown (9:08, 8:45)

Felt super.

1:10:05/8:45

Birds, snakes, and airplanes...

Early lunch. Sun, 74 degrees, light breeze. Bluff trail.

Rest tomorrow. Medium long on Sunday. More 8's next week.

Looks like I passed up last years mileage a couple of days ago. Even though 90% of last years mileage was done during the last 5 months of '08, it's still nice to see.

The last time I took two days in a row off from running was July 22nd & 23rd, 2008. Almost 11 months ago.

Yesterday was a planned day off. Today was unplanned, but I'm hoping a little extra rest now will allow me to train better for the marathon this Fall. My lower right leg issue, the Magical Mystery Moving Pain that started in my achilles three weeks ago and for the last week has been presenting as a shin splint-ish type of injury, has improved over the last few days. So just to be safe, I'm taking an extra day off, and icing, resting etc. Still plan another easy week this week of 50-ish total miles for the week.

If it weren't for my dad, who was a runner in the 70's before running was cool, I probably wouldn't be a runner today. Thanks Dad!

Happy Father's Day to all the blogging fathers!

Happy Solstice, one and all!!

6:00 AM. Back to morning runs. Clear skies, 50 degrees. From house to LPT out and back.

Taking the additional day off yesterday really helped. Felt no pain in achilles or shin today. We'll see tomorrow. Planning another easy week.

6:00 AM. Clear, 55 degrees. From house, extended loop to LPT, out and back.

Feeling pretty good this morning. Still taking it slow so as to not aggravate lower right leg, which has definitely improved.

6:00 AM. Clear, 58 degrees. From the house to LPT, out n back.

See a lot more runners out these days.

9:30 AM. PC, 78 degrees. Liberty Park.

I was in SLC this morning so I thought to run in Liberty Park. I don't think I've ever run there before, even when I lived in Salt Lake. I was happy to see there was a soft bark chip trail going around the park. Unfortunately, my legs were leaden. I struggled the whole time and stopped at 6 miles. Oh well, another day...

Just going to write this week off as recovery/get my head together week. I don't remember the last time my mileage total for the week was this low. Maybe last August. Anyway, woke up this morning with stomach issues, plus the lingering lower right leg issue is still present. Also, I haven't blogged about this, and probably still won't, but for the last several months we've been dealing with a major medical issue in my family. I've been training through it, and achieved my 1/2 marathon goal in May. But I guess the stress is finally catching up with me. So, I'm going to take today and tomorrow off from running, refocus my energies, stretch, ice, and hopefully get a grip on my diet again, then try for a run on Sunday. I hope this doesn't have a detrimental effect on my marathon effort in September...

So, 'till Sunday bloggers and bloggettes! 

6:30 AM. Not a cloud in the sky. 58 degrees at start, 69 degrees at end. Glovers Lane/Fairground loop w/extensions.

A good time was had by all.

6:15 AM. Clear, 60 degrees. From house, meandering and back.

Easy recovery run.

Got to sleep too late, slept in till 6:30...no morning run. 

Escaped from work at 10 AM and got my hill/heat fix on the fire break road. 85 degrees never felt so good!

PM - Couldn't leave my monthly mileage for June at 199.75 so I took the dogs on the fire break road for another 1.25.

These pretzels are making me thirsty...