A Lean and Hungry Look

Plan called for 12x2-min repeats with target of 180+, followed by recovery jogging until HR dipped to 140.  Went to Liberty Park and did roughly 2-mile warmup, including pullouts.  Stomach didn't feel great and I just didn't feel quite right.  About halfway through the first repeat, that feeling was magnified considerably, but I usually feel awful during the first couple of repeats, so I kept going.  After 5 reps I had to make a pit stop, and for some reason it took forever for HR to come back down to 140 after I finished the pit stop and started running again (a full lap of 1.3 miles or so at a snail's pace).  I ground out 4 more reps and called it a day, due to the fact that I was feeling really lousy and also because I was out of time.  Not sure what was going on exactly, but just a general kind of malaise that has continued for the two hours since I finished the workout.  I got almost 7 hours of sleep last night and more than 8 the night before, and I'm pretty sure I've been hydrating properly, so I'm not sure what to blame it on.  I guess you just have a bad day sometimes.

Here are the splits:

1. AHR 164 (5:10/mi)

-1:12 recovery

2. AHR 171 (5:09/mi)

-1:41 recovery

3. AHR 174 (5:12/mi)

-3:38 recovery

4. AHR 175 (5:11/mi)

-2:03 recovery

5. AHR 175 (5:13/mi)

-12:00 recovery (here's where things really broke down)

6. AHR 169 (5:23/mi)

-1:12 recovery

7. AHR 174 (5:08/mi)

-2:15 recovery

8. AHR 173 (5:16/mi)

-5:12 recovery

9. AHR 173 (5:09/mi)

-5:04 recovery

Because I was feeling so out of sorts and because the last two recovery jogs were so long, I called it a day without doing any additional cooldown.

I'm actually quite pleasantly surprised by the splits.  Based on how I was feeling, I expected them to be 5:30 or slower.  Although today wasn't my best day, the shorter speedwork I've done over the past 3 weeks seems to have helped with the turnover.  I'll try to focus on that instead of being too disappointed by the fact that I didn't finish the workout.

Scheduled day off.   Tried to sleep in a little in an effort to get rid of the bug or malaise that's been hampering me for the past few days.

Easy pace up to Wasatch and across Parley's to Millstream Lane and back.  Took 1 Enervitene at the turnaround.  At the 7-mile mark, I pushed the effort the rest of the way home, but I stayed on Foothill instead of going up to Wasatch.  Splits and HR for the tempo section were as follows:

Mile 8: AHR 176 (5:27)

Mile 9: AHR 181 (5:47)

Mile 10: AHR 182 (5:40)

I had a good song playing during Mile 8 and I found myself really pushing the pace.  HR got into the 184 range for a bit in that first mile of tempo, so I tried to back it off a little so that I could hold on.  I didn't feel any of the malaise that I felt on Saturday and again on Tuesday, and the tightness in my left leg around the knee hasn't made an appearance since last week.  Both good signs.

Stratford loop at comfortable pace.  Left Garmin at home.  I slept in a little in preparation for tomorrow's big run in St. George.  I probably won't get there until 10:30 or 11:00 tonight and will be leaving early in the morning, so I thought it made sense to sneak in an extra hour os sleep today.  I felt a little bit of tightness in my left achilles (the one that gave me fits for a couple of years), so I need to remember to stretch it out and do my strength exercises.

Weight is down to around 156, which is about what I weighed when I graduated from HS, and about 20 lbs less than I weighed at the end of winter.  Hopefully the lower weight helps in the race next month.

Drove to about the 3-mile mark of SGM and ran the course to the finish (except I ran on the trail from Snow Canyon to the church on Bluff Street).  First 5 at easy pace, next 12 at MP roughly MP effort, next 3 with goal of 180 bpm or higher, then last 3 at super-easy cooldown pace with my little sister, who was finishing an 18-mile run on the course.  It was pitch black for the first 5 or 6 miles and there was a lot of traffic on the roads, presumably due to the Red Rock Relay, the fact that it was a holiday weekend, and the abundance of SGM runners training on the course.  I felt pretty good until about mile 14 or so, when my energy started to ebb.  I had eaten a banana before the run, then taken Enervitene at mile 5 and mile 10, and I took my last one at mile 15.  That seemed to help some, but I still felt pretty wiped out by about mile 18.  The ascents and descents on the trail are far more severe than on the actual course, and that undoubtedly affected how I was feeling.  The temperature was pretty mild but it was quite humid due to a significant rainstorm the night before.  I felt like I was sweating like crazy and that the sweat never evaporated.  That may have also contributed to a feeling of greater depletion than I would have expected.  Finally, I wonder if the 2000 calorie/day regimen had me toe the line with fewer reserves than normal.  I only slept a couple of hours the night before, but I got great sleep two nights earlier.  At any rate, here are my splits for the hard miles:

Mile 6: 6:27 (AHR 162) (this started about a mile past Veyo on the climb into Dammeron Valley)

Mile 7: 6:36 (AHR 175)

Mile 8: 6:29 (AHR 173)

Mile 9: 6:06 (AHR 171)

Mile 10: 6:17 (AHR 167)

Mile 11: 5:55 (AHR 167)

Mile 12: 5:53 (AHR 161) (I think this was the mile that headed toward Snow Canyon--it would have been faster, but I caught up with Brooke, my wife, and ran with her for 200 yards or so)

Mile 13: 5:48 (AHR 172)

Mile 14: 6:01 (AHR 171)

Mile 15: 6:31 (AHR 172)

Mile 16: 6:14 (AHR 172)

Mile 17: 6:13 (AHR 169)

Mile 18: 6:03 (AHR 177) (this one had a lot of big clims and steep descents along the trail and really beat me up)

Mile 19: 5:42 (AHR 180)

Mile 20: 6:18 (AHR 177) (for some reason, my Garmin showed the church on Bluff Street as being .65 short of 20 miles, so I continued down into the neighborhood for a while, then ran back up the hill to finish at the church, and the combination of feeling like I was already done and running uphill killed my pace in the last half mile)

I should note that I didn't keep to my 2000-calorie/day commitment during the 3 days of vacation.  I didn't eat like a pig, but I allowed myself to enjoy a burger at In-N-Out and some pizza.  I must say that I was a lot less grumpy than I had been during the previous week or so!

Later in the day, we took the kids hiking (I carried Eli in the backpack) and spent a couple of hours hanging out at some natural pools outside of Hurricane.  We had a great time and my energy levels stayed pretty high until late in the afternoon.  Little to no soreness (at least before I pulled out The Stick and found some in my quads) that day or the day after.

Went on a 10.5-mile mountain bike ride on the Green Valley Loop with my brothers-in-law before spending all day moving my parents' things out of their St. George place.  The first 4 miles were downhill and technical, with little aerobic effort involved, especially because the group kept stopping to chat.  The last 6.5 were rolling and uphill, and I pushed myself a little because I knew I wouldn't be able to get my scheduled 6-mile run in.  Total time on the bike was a little under an hour.  It was fun to do a little cross training for the first time in 5 or 6 months.

We didn't get home until after midnight from St. George last night, so I missed my scheduled workout and decided to run an easy 6 at lunch instead.  Ran around Holladay through Haven Lane, along Cottonwood Lane, and back to Extra Space.  Very comfortable pace.  Temperature was surprisingly mild, so it was a nice midday break.

Pace: 7:46 (!)

AHR: 148

12x2-minute reps at Liberty Park, target 180, recovery jog to 140.  Got to the park around 5:30 and finished reps before it got light.  Although I'm embarrassed to admit it, it appears that my HR recovers much more quickly in the dark, most likely because I can't see all the people around me, which prevents my HR from increasing as I look at people I want to pass, etc.  Childish, obviously, but apparently physiological as well.  Anyway, my recoveries were much quicker than usual today.  In the past, they've been quick until it's gotten light outside, then they've slowed down.  What a dork I am sometimes.  At any rate, I did roughly 2 miles of warmup, including some pullouts, striders, and high-knees, then went for it.

Here are the splits:

1. AHR 157 (5:09/mi)

-1:02 recovery

2. AHR 165 (5:29/mi)

-0:56 recovery

3. AHR 168 (5:09/mi)

-1:18 recovery

4. AHR 171 (5:19/mi)

-1:21 recovery

5. AHR 171 (5:16/mi)

-1:34 recovery

6. AHR 170 (5:25/mi)

-2:11 recovery

7. AHR 169 (5:29/mi)

-1:25 recovery

8. AHR 169 (5:10/mi)

-1:51 recovery

9. AHR 168 (5:33/mi)

-1:31 recovery

10. AHR 162 (5:24/mi)

-1:11 recovery

11. AHR 169 (5:13/mi)

-2:59 recovery

12. AHR 169 (5:10/mi)

-1:08 recovery

Roughly 1-mile cooldown.

I felt far better this morning than I did on this workout last Tuesday.  My only disappointment is that I didn't bring my HR up as high as I should have on most of the reps.  Not sure why it was, but the legs just didn't seem to want to give more.  I'm not convinced that the average pace information is correct for all of the splits, because I felt like my effort was pretty consistent throughout.  Perhaps the short recoveries led to a few slower reps, I don't know.  Over all, though, I was pretty pleased with the workout, particularly because I still felt pretty good by the end of the workout.

I yielded to Brooke's training schedule this morning and had to take Kaela to violin at 6:30 a.m. anyway, so I didn't run until 8:00 p.m.  Because I had a big workout planned for 10 hours later, I took it easy and ran without the Garmin.  Stratford Loop with a few modifications.

Ran up Emigration to about 1/2 mile above the Pinecrest turnoff and back.  First 5 at super easy pace, then tried to maintain HR at 171 or better the rest of the way.  The first 2.6 of the MP effort section were uphill.  Took a PowerGel (strawberry-banana w/caffeine) at 5 while I stretched for a minute and one Enervitene at 10 on the run.  Here are the splits:

Mile 6: AHR 163 (7:11) (uphill--temp was pretty chilly, which probably made it harder to raise HR to target)

Mile 7: AHR 169 (7:25) (still up)

Mile 8: AHR 171 (6:48) (0.6 up the steepest part of the run, 0.4 down)

Mile 9: AHR 164 (5:36) (back down, felt really relaxed)

Mile 10: AHR 167 (5:48)

Mile 11: AHR 164 (5:50) (I lost focus a little on this mile and got a little too relaxed)

Mile 12: AHR 169 (5:41) (I re-engaged)

Mile 13: AHR 170 (5:43) (focused but relaxed)

Mile 14: AHR 172 (5:37) (still feeling good)

Mile 15: AHR 175 (5:25) (felt HR rising, but still felt strong)

This was the first tempo run I've done in a long time where I felt strong and relaxed all the way through.  Over the past several weeks (even months), I've felt pretty spent on these runs.  Today's run was a nice confidence booster.  I was comfortably tired at the finish, not at all wiped out.

I'm pacing Clark Hirschi in the Wasatch 100 tonight from Brighton to the finish, so I'm going to focus today on getting my calories and hydrating.  The last time I paced Clark (in 2006) he finished 7th overall in less than 23:30, and he's hoping for a similar result this year, so I need to be ready to do a little work.  I'm supposed to meet him at Brighton around 9:30 p.m.  Good luck, Clark!

Paced Clark Hirschi from Brighton Lodge to finish of Wasatch 100.  Left at 11:30 p.m. and finished at 7:15 a.m.

Easy run around Holladay over lunch break.  Quads and calves have been fairly sore since pacing on Friday night--the crazy descents were much harder on the legs than I remembered--but felt pretty good during the run.  It was a relief to be covering ground at road-running pace instead of ultramarathon pace.  I don't know if I have the patience to be a 100-mile guy--there are times when it just feels so boring to be going 3-4 miles per hour.  Who knows, though--I'm not counting out a Wasatch 100 sometime in the future.

I headed over to Sugarhouse this morning for 15x2-minute intervals.  During my 2-mile warmup, I felt the pain in my left ITB that was bugging me a few weeks ago, only it didn't seem to be getting better as I warmed up.  After 2 miles, I stopped and stretched pretty thoroughly, then tried a few pickups to see how it felt. 

When the pain continued, I stopped and thought about what to do.  I remembered that I had felt pretty significant ITB pain during the first 10 miles or so of pacing at Wasatch 100 on Friday night, particularly on the killer descents.  I forgot to write anything about it on the blog, probably because I didn't blog the run until the next day and was still recovering from the sleep deprivation.  Because this has been a recurring issue over the past couple of months and because the race is so close, I decided that I needed to pay attention to signals my body was sending and that it was more important to get to the starting line as healthy as possible than to get another interval workout in today.  I called the workout and drove home.

I took 3 prednisone tablets and spent the next 90 minutes stretching, massaging, and icing in an effort to zap the problem as quickly as possible.  I'll do more of the same tonight and will see how I feel tomorrow.

I took my scheduled day off instead of trying to make up for yesterday's skipped workout.  Spent more time last night and again this morning stretching, rolling, massaging, and icing the leg.  It's feeling pretty good, so I think I'll return to the normal schedule tomorrow after more therapy tonight.

After spending more time stretching, massaging, and icing the legs last night, I was feeling pretty good this morning, so I did the scheduled easy 10 miles (up to Wasatch, across Parley's and out to Millstream Lane and back).  I felt mild pain in the ITB, but it was clearly better than a couple of days ago.  I took it easy until the final mile, where I opened it up a couple of times with 30-second bursts, just to test how the ITB would respond to some turnover.  It felt fine.

I'll continue with the stretching, massaging, and icing regimen, but I think I should be back on track now.

I got a call from a volunteer for SGM yesterday asking if I'd like to run as an elite.  I immediately responded that I would, and I'm looking forward to the convenience of having my own water bottles available, since I always spill Gatorade in my eyes and struggle to get enough in me when pushing the pace.  My favorite part of the conversation was when she explained about the Ibigawa trip for the winner and how I would need to have an answer ready on race day as to whether I could go or not.  I told her that a lot of people would have to fall down and drop out before that eventuality would ever play out, but she dutifully went through the whole routine anyway.  The elite entry was a very nice surprise.  It will be my first experience running with the elites, and I'm excited for it.

Easy run to keep the legs loose for tomorrow's 10k leg of the Daybreak Tri.  ITB felt good (I did more stretching, massaging, and icing last night), but I felt some pain in my left arch.  I felt it a little yesterday, too, but it felt more like muscle fatigue than anything else.  I'm not sure what to make of that, but hopefully whatever it is will wait a couple of weeks before giving me any real trouble.

Daybreak Tri.  I did the run leg of the Olympic relay.  Warmed up for about 4 miles, including several pullouts/strides to get HR close to race effort (180+).  The swim leg got drastically modified at the last minute due to the presence of roundworm in Oquirrh Lake, so John Karren only got to swim 75m, then run about 1.25 miles to the transition area.  He was first out the pool and second into the transition area.  Elliott Smith smoked everyone on the bike leg, so I took the chip in first place by a significant margin.  I held my HR above 180 throughout the effort, but my splits were slow.  The course was two loops along a path that winds around Oquirrh Lake, and it felt like about 2 miles of each lap were slightly uphill and into a stiff headwind.  I hope that was what slowed me down so much, because I was at least 30-45 seconds per mile off my projected pace.  Splits were as follows:

1: 5:39 (AHR 181)

2: 6:06 (AHR 184)

3: 6:10 (AHR 184)

4: 5:54 (AHR 183)

5: 6:17 (AHR 183)

6: 6:23 (AHR 184)

Last 0.35: 5:45 pace (AHR 186)

We won the relay by a huge margin and beat the first solo guy by about 8 minutes, so it wasn't ever close.  Still, I was very disappointed with my performance.  There is no good reason why my HR should have been up in the clouds at such a pedestrian pace.  Anyway, I'm going to concentrate on the fact that I held my HR above 180 throughout the race and still managed a modest kick instead of focusing on the pitiful splits.

After the race, I cooled down for 6-7 easy miles around Daybreak while we waited for the awards ceremony.

Still feeling some fatigue/tightness in my left arch.  It was present throughout my warmup and cooldown.  Didn't notice it during the race.

Relaxed effort along 21st East/Stratford loop.  My left ITB was feeling a little tight yesterday, so I did some massage and stretching last night.  It was slightly tight in the early miles this morning but felt pretty good.  Still feeling something in my left arch, but it's not really painful--feels more like muscle fatigue.

12x2-minute repeats with HR not to exceed 176, recovery jog between each until HR dipped to 140. Drove to Liberty, ran 2-mile warmup, then did some strides to get the legs moving. Splits:

1: AHR 158/MHR 189 (5:35/mi) (I slowed way down after HR spiked)

Recovery: 0:55

2: AHR 145/MHR 177 (5:33/mi)

Recovery: 2:39

3: AHR 171/MHR 179 (5:18/mi)

Recovery: 1:32

4: AHR 172/MHR 182 (5:34/mi)

Recovery: 1:32

5: AHR 169/MHR 178 (5:29/mi)

Recovery: 1:34

6: AHR 169/MHR 178 (5:33/mi)

Recovery: 2:15

7: AHR 171/MHR 180 (5:22/mi)

Recovery: 1:20

8: AHR 170/MHR 179 (5:16/mi)

Recovery: 2:01

9: AHR 171/MHR 180 (5:29/mi)

Recovery: 1:42

10: AHR 172/MHR 180 (5:17/mi)

Recovery: 1:54

11: AHR 171/MHR 180 (5:21/mi)

Recovery: 2:34

12: AHR 172/MHR 181 (5:21/mi)

Recovery: 2:19

Roughly 1.3-mile cooldown. I felt pretty relaxed from start to finish today. Legs felt strong, effort felt comfortable. I tried to keep the effort below 176, but it looks like I exceeded it on pretty much every rep.  However, I had my Garmin set so that it would notify me when HR hit 174, and that was usually about 45-60 seconds in on each rep, so I don't think I spent much time at the excessive HR. Temperature was brisk (probably high 40s), which helped considerably. Didn't feel the fatigue in my left arch that's been nagging me lately until near the end of my cooldown, and it was very mild. No ITB pain.

Scheduled day off.

I got up with Eli at 1:00 a.m. and didn't get back to sleep until around 3:30, so my plans to run at 5:00 a.m. went out the window.  I took an early lunch and ran from the office down to Murray Park and back.  The plan was to do 5 miles at a harder effort, with AHR not to exceed 176.  I started the effort at the 3-mile mark.  First 2 miles were downhill and were right on in terms of AHR and pace, but the next 3 were slow and AHR jumped a little high.  They were on a gradual incline into a headwind.  Also, I forgot to take my inhaler, which may have contributed to a higher than usual AHR.  Cooled down for the final 2 miles, which were also uphill.  It was warmer than I expected, but the effort felt pretty good, even when HR jumped too high.

As part of my "race preparation," I slept in this morning and got a little over 8 hours.  It was beautiful, but it meant that I got up too late to run, so I brought my stuff again and ran at lunch.  It was a little warm outside, but the run was relaxing and invigorating. 

Got plenty of sleep and left for the run around 7:30 a.m.  Went up to Wasatch, across Parley's and down to Millstream Lane and back.  Easy, comfortable for the first 7, then picked it up a bit for the last 3 to get HR up around 170.  Gorgeous morning.  Legs felt great.

AHR: 151 (avg for last 3 was 170-171)

Pace: 7:20 (avg for last 3 was just over 6:00)

Slept in after going to bed early (got almost 10 hours!) and ran an easy 5 out to Parley's Canyon Drive and back.  Feeling good.

Drove to Liberty for last interval session before SGM.  Warmed up for 2 miles, including a few strides and high-knees, the did 5x2-min reps with target HR not to exceed 178.  Splits were as follows:

1: AHR 163 (5:19/mi)

-1:45 recovery

2: AHR 170 (5:29/mi)

-2:11 recovery

3: AHR 173 (5:10/mi)

-5:33 recovery (?)

4: AHR 172 (5:04/mi)

-2:09 recovery

5: AHR 170 (5:27/mi)

Cooldown of a little over a mile.  Temp was surprisingly warm (in advance of an expected storm this afternoon), but everything felt great.

Scheduled day off.