8:30 AM. Clear and 70F. Lagoon trail/JR high field. 

Leisure morning. Slept late, ran late. 1/2 mile barefoot striders on the grass field at the jr. high.

10:30 AM. P.C., mid 80's temp. Clarke/Glover lane loop.

Hot & slow.

So, it's been just over a year since I joined the blog. (I retro blogged my runs before August 1st. '08). I started blogging after lurking here for a while, and then when I felt ready to run 6 days a week, that's when I started blogging. In this one year, Aug. '08 through July '09, I ran 2,663.19 miles! I've gone from being a 10 min. per mile guy to 8:15 per mile for a half marathon! I won't know about my marathon pace until Sept 19th. Anyway, it's amazing to me how fast a year goes by. Life is so short!

I woke up with the alarm this morning but this little sinus infection/head cold thingy kept my head plastered to the pillow for another hour. Feel fine now though. Looking forward to a trail run later this afternoon. The temps are only expected to get to 98F or so. Muy caliente!

1:37:54 PM. Sun, 95F. 10 miles. Started at Kaysville Wilderness Park and ran North on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

Oh my that was killer. Killer climbs and descents.  I didn't even care about the heat because I had to focus on staying upright and moving the whole time. It took me 2 hrs. to go 10 miles. 12 mins. per mile avg pace! My fastest mile was 10:35, my slowest 15:32. On the way back (I went out 5 miles), I couldn't speed up on the flats because my legs were so tired. I wanted to get one good trail run in before TOU marathon so I guess this will count. Good times!

So I decided to download the software that came with my Garmin...I've had this since last August. Cool info. I don't know how get the information from there to my blog so I'll just write out the elevation manually:

Total ascent - 2479  total descent - 2716 (not sure how that's possible, it might be because it wasn't strictly an out and back course, I did divert along the way a couple of times to follow streams alittle ways etc. and/or the garmin just isn't that accurate when it come to elevation tracking).

Mile         Gain/Loss

1              395/118

2              229/200

3              140/183

4              322/172

5              580/235

6              173/674

7              145/294

8              159/127

9              196/318

10            140/395

10:11:27 AM. Sunny, 86F. Bluff trail.

I got up with the alarm but I didn't get out early. Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.

Edit:

We've got this "wildflower patch" in our yard and for weeks I've been watching this sunflower grow...and grow...it's crazy! It's at least 12 ft. tall and just about to bloom. There are several other sunflowers sprouting out there as well, but most of them are only like 6 ft. tall. The stem for the giant sunflower is 3 or 4 inches round, still, I put supports around it. It looks like there are about 15 or so blooms coming out of this one plant. What's more, it's a volunteer!

Early lunch run. Sun, 88F. Golden Ave/Davis High track loop.

Ran from the shop today. Urban assault! Actually, it's not that bad now that I'm getting more used to running on the roads. Concrete, asphalt, grass, and rubber.

Easy pace. 1/2 mile barefoot on grass at the high school.

Rest day. 

I seem to be dealing with some mental fatigue or something lately. My body feels fine (except for a nagging pain below my left knee, which I've been running through because it feels fine once warmed, but is stiff/sore in the mornings), but I can't seem to focus sharply enough to run any faster than a slogging shuffle. It's disappointing because last Spring the pace on most of my training runs was an effortless 8:40 or so, and now it's all I can do to beat the 9:00 mpm guy! So, I'm cutting back this week in hopes of putting in some high miles for the next 3 weeks before tapering for TOU.

I need a new drug.

6:06:44 AM. Clear, 55F. Hooray for mid-summer cold fronts. Clarke/Glovers lane loop.

Oh what a difference a day makes. Actually felt good on this morning's run. Must be all that spinach I ate yesterday. After warming up for 3 miles, I picked it up for the rest. Splits: 10:02, 9:19, 9:24, 8:42, 8:30, 8:36, 8:28, 8:03, 8:37, 9:17, 8:37.  Still not as fast as I'd like but at least I felt strong to the end.

SO, today I'm not dropping out of TOU, we'll see how I feel tomorrow. (just kidding).

1:37:37/8:52

No run for me today. I've had a real easy running week. Yesterday's run felt so good. This morning when I woke up, my left knee was smiling at me...it was such a cute smile, I decided my knee deserved another day off. Back at it tomorrow...

Congrats to all the racers this weekend!!

7:15:22 AM. Clear, temps were around 55F when I started, 65F when I finished. Fairground/Clarke/Glovers Lane loop.

Stopped briefly at miles 15 and 18 for water and GU. My fastest mile was 8:19, my slowest was 10:17. I went .1 mile longer than my long run a couple of weeks ago, but I ran the distance almost 5 minutes faster. Average pace was 17 seconds per mile faster.

3:10:24/9:17 avg.

6:30 AM. Clear, 58F. 'Round the hood.

Easy recovery jog.

Add edit:

1200 calories. 78 grams of fat. 3,420 mg sodium. 81 grams carbohydrate. 54 grams protein...what am I eating for dinner tonight?

Hint: it's not tofu.

9:45 AM. Clear, 79F. Urban assault from the shop.

Kind of a weird time of day for me to run, but that's how it had to go down today. I'm actually kind of liking running the roads around here. Early enough in the day the traffic isn't too bad. Around mile 6 I found myself at the high school track and did a couple of miles there. I ran a couple of quarters "fast". It wasn't speed work, I just wanted to see how fast I could go while still maintaining a relaxed form. the quarters were 97 and 95 seconds with a quarter easy in between. That's a 6:24 pace. I'm thinking maybe I could break a 6:30 for a mile today.

In high school my senior year, our PE coach whimsically had us run a mile one day. Me and another kid, the high school "burnout", beat the class and ran around 5:40. I often wonder if I had gotten into track in high school how I would have done. I also wonder if  I could break a 6:00 mile sometime in the future with a little work. Needless to say, I'm not a threat to the local elite runner.

Early lunch. Sun, temps 85 - 91F. Bluff trail.

Ugly.

But done.

6:30 AM. 7.2 miles. Clear, 72F.  Clarke lane/Fairground loop.

A lot of other runners out. Nice morning. We've got another cold front coming through this weekend!

Lunch run. 5 miles. Mostly sunny, 90-ish degrees. One mile boardwalk loops at the nature preserve.

My total miles for the week ending today is 71.3!

Active rest run with the dogs on the fire break road.

Looking forward to the cooler weather coming in tonight.

Saving it for tomorrow.

10 AM. Clear, low 70's. Clarke/Glovers lane loop.

I left for this run angry and frustrated at myself for running so slow all the time. My time for today's run matched my 10 mile PR which was achieved during miles 3-12 in the Ogden Half marathon this year. I feel today was a better effort because: a) I was running alone, and b) the ten miles of the half were a lot of downhill, whereas today was around 1200 ft. gain/loss.  On today's run, at mile seven, I was actually averaging 7 seconds per mile faster than my previous 10 mile PR, but then sort of pooped out the last 3 miles, still ended up with my PR average.

Splits 8:16, 7:56, 7:51, 8:05, 8:13, 8:09, 7:45, 8:20 (the pooping begins), 8:27, 8:24.

1:21:24/8:09 avg.

4:30 PM. Clear, 75F. Five more around the hood. Couldn't let the unseasonably cool temps go to waste, especially on a Sunday. Pace was extremely easy. Easy like Sunday morning, but it was afternoon.

Early lunch. Clear, 72F. Round the town from work.

1/2 mile barefoot striders on grass.

Early lunch run. Warm. Bluff trail.

Pace was...schmlogorrific.

10 AM.  Clear, 77F. Run from work around town.

Another niner.

Looking forward to a trail run in 90+ degrees later this afternoon. Yummy.

Started the run at exactly 3:00 PM. Right around 90F. A nice breeze to take the edge off the heat, which wasn't that bad in the first place. Ran on the hilly, rocky fire break road. Had to do a lot of backtracking to get the miles I wanted. I stopped at mile 7.28 to soak my head in a creek and stretch a little in the shade. the 11:00 mpm guy and I traded the lead for most of the run and I was finally able to pull ahead of him during the last mile or so.

  1:54:16/10:53 avg.

Rest day. Long run tomorrow.

This is how I want tomorrow's run to go:

Miles 1-6 @ 9:30-10:00 pace

Mile 7 & 8 @ 9:00-9:15 pace

Miles 9-18 (10 miles) @ 8:30 pace or better

miles 19-? @ whatever pace for cooldown.

So, now it's in writing. However, I reserve the right to bail on the run at any time for whatever reason...because I'm disciplined like that.

Good luck to all the Hobblecreekers and PC Marathoners and any others who are racing tomorrow!!

 Warning: Train Wreck Alert! Do not read if you're looking for soft fluffy clouds and golden streams of love and happiness! Lol! Actually, today's run was a good learning experience.

 No long tempo run for me today. Excuses: 1) Not sleeping well at all this week, capped with maybe 3-4 hrs. of broken sleep last night. 2) Heat, 3) 6500 ft altitude? would that make a difference? It's about 2,000 ft. higher than my runs here at home. 4) Cumulative fatigue.

When my alarm went off at 5:00 this morning I had gotten maybe an hour or two of broken sleep. The reasons are not important. So, I went to plan B, which was to try and get a couple of more hours of sleep, then drive up to Wanship and run on the rail trail (this is the same rail trail that starts in Park City). I was hoping it would be substantially cooler up there, but nay. It was over 80F when I started, and around 87F when I finished. It felt hot.

The plan was to run 8 miles easy before doing 10 miles at MP (8:30) then a couple of miles cooldown to make 20. Not too much to ask for, just too many hits against me today. The good news is, these are all factors within my control, so basically, I made several rookie mistakes which added up to - failure. Anyway, the 8 miles went great, I took it real easy and felt good when I got back to the van to refill my water bottle and continue on the other direction. Mile 9, the first tempo mile, was a struggle for me at 8:58. So I knew it wasn't happening as planned. Still, I thought I could go 20 and maybe get at least a couple of MP miles in there. But the rest of the run was a struggle, I think the lack of sleep and the increasing heat just made things worse, so I wisely cut it off at 16 miles and called it a day.

Rookie mistakes and solutions:

1 - get control of my sleep patterns. I tend to think too much in the middle of the night, and get worked up over things (like the impending workout the next day). This solves nothing, whereas sleep would be a much more productive use of the hours between 11:00 PM and 5:00 AM.

2 - Get up and do the run early if it's going to be a hot day. A no brainer, but a concept I seem to be struggling with.

3 - Plan better for water. Today I thought my little 16 oz. bottle was going to be enough for the last 12 miles of what was supposed to be a 20 mile run. You'd think I'd never done this before.

4 - Stay positive during the run in spite of the wheels not only falling off but shattering into tiny little pieces. I wasted a lot of mental energy during the run getting down on myself for flailing around like a moron, when I should have found positive things to focus on/work on during the run.

I'm exaggerating a little I'm sure.

PM edit: Watching the classic "Annie Hall" on PBS. Yes, I live large.

Ran with brother Mike who's in town (again) from Cal. Easy run on 9th East/Van Winkle area, SLC. Much cooler temps than yesterday.

Late, late lunch. Not much time so I decided to try 3 fast miles. Splits: 9:22, 7:17, 7:32, 7:28, 8:44. My time for the 3 was 22:17 with an average of 7:26 per mile. This is 8 secs. per mile faster than my 5k PR. Yipee.

40:25/8:05 avg.

No sleep, again. This is getting old. I'm doing everything right. I fall asleep usually before 11:00 PM. Then two hours later I wake up...and stay awake until 5:00 AM. It's really starting to put a dent in my training. I'm really starting to consider dropping out of  TOU.  I've changed up my training so many times to accommodate the insomnia that I've strayed very far from where I wanted to be at this point, less than 4 weeks from the marathon! I've had to try to run more miles in the afternoons to make up for missed morning runs, but it's always much warmer in the afternoons,and I'm not getting in the mileage I had hoped for. Frustration.

Seems like I've been whining a lot lately...

Hope to get a run in later this afternoon.

Ran an easy 4 on the fire break road.

A delightful run meandering through the suburbs of Layton. Temps 72F - 81F. Felt great out. 

6 miles into the run I found myself at a park. Ran a half mile barefoot on the grass there. Also re-hydrated at the water fountain. Worked my way over to the high school track and got more water there. Apparently There was a power outage at the high school so school was out today!

Late lunch run. 89F and dry sunshine. Hillbilly fun on the fire break road.

Oops. I had made an entry here meant for Friday. Friday was my actual rest day.

Today, Saturday, I ran 21 miles. It went very well. Still not as fast as I'd like but I had good energy all the way through (well, it may have wavered a bit around miles 13/14, but then came back). I left the cabin I'm staying at (Bear lake, I can see almost the entire lake from here, nice!), and drove two miles down the very steep dirt road and parked on level ground. The run started at 6:15 AM. I first ran South to a farm road then west for a ways, then headed back towards the van, making a stop at 4 miles at a porta pottie for star #2. The POP was on the beach. I passed the van heading North on a nice bike path and ran to Bear Lake Marina, this was about 10 miles into the run. Ran out on a dock and watched the sun rise over the lake. Some high thin clouds made for a colorful sunrise. I refilled my water bottle in a bathroom facility then headed back. I was at mile 15.5 when I got back to my car, where I refilled my bottle, took a swig of powerade, stretched and headed South again to the farm road, then back to finish. My legs were tired but I had plenty of energy left. Phew!

Drove back to the cabin, showered, and now I'm waiting for my two brothers to get back from participating in a triathlon this morning!

I'm so relieved this run went well!

3:20:10/9:31 avg.

Nice recovery run with Chad on the Bear Lake road. Legs felt fine after yesterdays long run.

8:53 avg. 

Hot lunch. Easy. Around Layton.