Started at 12:40 GST (Garmin Standard Time). Sunny, 48F, wind 9 MPH gusting to 20+. The wind sucked even more today for some reason.

After almost 7 miles into the wind I tried to run 3 miles at tempo pace, miles 8 - 10 averaged 8:09, then 2.25 mi. cool down. I'm tempted to feel discouraged about today's run because I was so wiped out at the end but I think those first seven miles took a lot out of me, so I guess I got in a pretty good workout although it's not reflected by my pace.

I've noticed that when I tire on a run, or struggle to keep the pace I want, it's almost always because of my legs. My lungs/breathing feel great, but my legs feel stiff or crampy. I stretch every night pretty thoroughly, but beyond that I don't know what else I should do to keep my legs from copping out on a hard run. It seems like there should be a magic beverage or something that will flood my legs with love and happiness and make them feel no pain and all gain. But I've yet to hear of any such wonder elixer. Please, let me know if there's something obvious I can do to help aleviate the situation.

My wife and I are celebrating our 12th wedding anniversary today. Although we've actually been together over 13 years. Life is good and I'm a lucky guy!

Easy TM run. 

This just in: it's remarkably easy to turn a treadmill OFF.

I just started reading "The Call Of The Wild" by Jack London. Oh my goodness!

On the treadmill.  Made up the workout as I ran based on how things were going.

2 mi. warmup

8 x 2 mins. @ 7:30 7:54 mpm range w/1 min. easy

.5 mi. easy

4 x 3 mins. @ 8:00 mpm w/ 1.5 mins easy

.5 mi. easy

2 x 1 min. @ 7:04 mpm w 1 min easy

1.6 mi. Cool down.

Felt pretty good throughout.

10 mi./1:25:17/8:32

Ran 7 miles easy from Jensen park North on the Syracuse trail and back. Sun, mid 40's, light winds.

1:01:32/8:48

Late afternoon trail run on the horizon!

(Time passes...)

Easy fiver on the hilly fire break road. Sunny sunshine, breezy breezes, 45- ish degrees.

I'll probably run a 5k on Saturday, so tommorrow I'll run even easier. If I run backwards will that deduct mileage from my weekly total?

Easy 4.25 for lunch. Run North from jensen park/syracuse trail. Sun, 40F wind 5-8 mph.

Looking forward to the 5k tommorrow, my first race in almost six years.

Giggity.

Finally. My first race since being here on the blog. Now I have a 5k time I can use to more accurately gauge my workouts. I think my time was right around a PR I ran 12 years ago, at sea level, in LA. So, given that I'm 44 yrs old now, and the race was at about 4200 ft elevation, I guess I'll take it. Like I have a choice.

The race started at 8:30 am. I got there around 7:15, registered, and then warmed up 3.9 miles. I ran up into city creek canyon. I used to run up there all the time and it's been a few years so it was nice to see it again. Very peaceful up there with the creek gurgling, the birds chirping, and the day starting to light up. Cold temps and a brisk north wind.

The race starts uphill. The first over mile and a half is mostly uphill in fact. My slow gene had me breathing hard and loud within the first quarter mile...and it seemed I never really did get my breathing under control. I've never had this happen in training, I wonder if nerves played into this at all. I passed the first mile in 8:19. I was okay with this because it was uphill. I was worried that that was going to be my pace for the whole race though, and I tried to push harder. The second mile I ran in 7:39, that's better. I'd say the last quarter of mile 2 was downhill. The third mile was all downhill, and pretty steep at times. My split for mile 3 was 6:45. I found myself trying to stay with this kid (like 12 years old or something) throughout most of the race, (ah, the life of a middle of the pack guy!). He did pull way ahead of me in the final quarter. For the most part, I passed people the whole time and had just a couple of people pass me. I sprinted hard to the finish line. The clock said 23:15 but my Garmin said 23:25 for 3.11. So I'll call it 23:20 for 3.1 until/if I see official results. I felt a little nauseous for just a few seconds after I stopped but relaxed and took a few deep breaths and was fine.

Well, I'm not fast. But I do think I can improve. One thing different nowadays compared to when I ran before is that I can pick up my pace and surge when I want to, and maintain that for a minute or so. Whenever I heard footsteps coming up behind me, I had another gear I could go into, and the footsteps would fade. I've never been a competitve person, but I'm learning to use the other runners around me to get a better performance out of myself.

I cooled down with two easy miles.

Now I need to find a 10k for April.

Splits, according to the book of Garmin:

mile 1 - 8:19 (all uphill) "Gravity Hill" is definately uphill heading North.

mile 2 - 7:39 (about 3/4 up and 1/4 downhill)

mile 3 - 6:45 (all extremely downhill)

last .11 42.09 (6:13 pace)

I'm curious to see how I'll feel tommorrow.