A Lean and Hungry Look

Happy New Year!  Temperature is still frigid, so I bundled up and enjoyed a gorgeous, sunny morning.  Did the fire station to Shoreline loop.  The uphill sections and the snow-packed sections were tough, but it was great to be out after an unproductive Christmas break.  We've had family in town and have been getting to bed late every night, and it's been a struggle to stay on top of things at work and church, let alone take time for myself.  Time for a break from Christmas vacation.

Ran home from the office, took the long way (through Memory Grove, up to 11th Ave, across U campus and home).  Stopped at my car to grab a hat, which added a bit to the mileage.  Didn't wear my Garmin, so mileage is an educated guess.  I pushed the first and last miles and had a decent clip going by the end.

Gotta love that January inversion.

Since I left my car at work last night, I had to run in this morning.  (Stranding myself is sometimes a handy substitute for self-discipline.)  Other than hitting every red light between 700 East and my office on Main, it was a decent outing.  Plenty cold, but I had dressed appropriately, so no issues there.

I managed to sneak in a short workout between work and my dad's 60th b-day party.  Parked at Murray Park and ran around the outer loop (along part of the old XC course) a couple of times.  It was plenty cold, but the effort was just enough to be invigorating.

Given my schedule these days and the fact that Brooke and I are going to Boston together, I've decided to run the race with her (not just at the same time).  We've never done that, and I think we'll both enjoy the vacation a lot more if I'm not in pre-race stress mode in the weeks leading up to it. 

Since our treadmill at home will only work for Brooke (it's getting old and needs about $1200 worth of upgrades to bring it back up to speed), I'm looking into joining a health club for a couple of months in order to have an alternative for speed work and bad-air days.  As a result, I checked out the new Anytime Fitness franchise on 23rd East and ran there after work.  3 x 1 mile with quarter-mile recovery jogs in between.  First 2 were at 6:00, last one was 5:30.  I can tell I've packed on a few pounds since I last did speed work in the lead-up to SG 2009, but the effort felt better than I expected.  The biggest problem was that my feet kept heating up, and I finished with a blister or two.  It was nice to stretch the legs out, though.

I bought a 90-day membership at Steiner to get me through the inversion season, so I stopped on my way home from work to sneak in a workout.  I was going to do some tempo today, so I warmed up with an easy mile, then did the following:

Mile 2: 6:18 pace, 0.5% grade

Mile 3: 6:00 pace, 0% grade

Mile 4: 6:00 pace, 0% grade

Mile 5 6:00 pace, 1% grade until 5.5, then moved grade to 0% and increased speed by 0.1 mph every .05 until 5.9, then finished with final 0.1 at 5:00 pace.

Although the treadmill clearly doesn't mimic the road and the pace is unrealistically fast (probably by 30 seconds per mile), I like the fact that it forces me to use a little turnover and am hoping that by doing speed on the treadmill for a couple of months, I'll be ready to move outdoors when the roads and air are safer. 

Although the temperature was downright balmy today (low 40s), it was another red air quality day.  As a result, I retreated to Steiner for a dreaded treadmill-bound long run.  My mind feels numb after that fine experience, which I hope not to repeat anytime soon.  I listened to the worst This American Life episode I've ever heard (called "Say Anything"), and that didn't help matters.  The only thing that kept me from dying right there on the 2nd floor was the fact that I could watch the youth hockey game going on down below.  Even that was a snoozer, though--4-0 (and it wasn't that close).  I switched treadmills after 7 miles in hopes of breaking the monotony a little.  That helped, but only slightly.

That is all.

Between kids, work, and church obligations, this has been a tough week for running.  As a result, I resorted to stranding myself again by bringing my gear to Extra Space and running home, which forces me to run back there tomorrow.  After last Saturday's 13-miler on the treadmill, which felt like an ultra in terms of the mind-numbing boredom of running in place for an hour and a half, tonight's run home felt like a dream.  The sun was shining, the temperature was probably in the mid-30s, and each step took me forward, with something different to look at.  It made me remember why I normally run outside through the winter, no matter the weather.

I noticed soreness in my calves about halfway home, and I wonder if it's because I haven't been doing much with grade on the treadmill, or simply because running on real surfaces uses different muscles. 

Ran back to Extra Space pursuant to my stranding strategy.  The run wasn't quite as enjoyable as last night's, and I felt a little fatigued, but it was a great way to start my Friday and left me feeling slightly less guilty about the horrible week I've had in terms of getting my workouts in.

Brooke and I had carpool duties for Jacob's 6th-grade ski group today, and there were enough boys going that both of us had to drive.  Since the air quality wasn't great in the valley, we decided to drop the boys off at The Canyons, then go for a run together in Park City.  Unfortunately, the conditions up there weren't ideal for a 15-mile run--blowing snow and very few areas where you could run without being in the middle of the road or on unevenly packed trails (the Rail Trail was gorgeous, but 15 miles of trudging through semi-packed snow would have killed us).  We eventually decided to start at the Newpark rec center and ran east along the frontage road, Highland Drive), which has no shoulder and is heavily traveled.  After a mile of that, we decided to turn off onto Old Ranch Road, which was part of the marathon course when I did it in '06.  That was much better, and we enjoyed the next 4 miles, except for a stretch of 1-2 miles where we were running into a stiff headwind.  Since we were running together, though, the pace was slow and I had Brooke drafting behind me.  We could see a snowstorm up at the resort, from which direction the wind was blowing, so I knew we had a little trouble headed our way and decided to turn around at 5 miles instead of 7.5.  I did not realize how bad it was going to be, though.  Shortly after we turned around (we finished with a quarter mile or so on the equestrian trail that eventually makes its way to the Big White Barn), the snow started flying.  It got steadily worse until we were in a full-blown blizzard, with the snow flying horizontally from the left side and freezing our faces off.  The wind was blowing so hard and the snow was coming down so fast that the road was quickly covered, and we had to step off the road when the few cars on the road came by in hopes of not getting run over.  That lasted for about 2 miles, and it was pretty miserable.  As we turned back toward the north on Old Ranch Road, though, it started to let up a little.  With about 2 miles to go, the snow had stopped almost entirely, and by the time we made it back to the frontage road, the sun was shining.  The effort felt more like a 13-14 miler, but we were just grateful to have made it back safely.

Bad news: my achilles tendinitis is back with a vengeance.  After a couple of months of minimal mileage, I am paying for my back-to-back-to-back semi-long runs at the end of last week.  I started feeling AT pain in the first few miles of Thursday's 9.5-mile run home from Extra Space, so I made sure to stretch it more over the ensuing few days.  It felt better the next day (most of the run was slightly downhill, so that would make sense), but it bugged me throughout Saturday's run and was pretty sore in the final couple of miles.  As a result, I took Monday off and thought I'd be fine by today.  Not so.  I went to Steiner, warmed up with 1.5 or so at an easy pace, then planned to do 3 1-mile repeats with about 1/4 mile active recovery in between.  The first mile was at 5:27 pace and felt hard but not bad, except for pretty noticeable AT pain.  I stretched it a few times, jogged a bit, then went to try a second repeat.  The pain was bad enough that I knew it was time to call it quits.  In hopes of salvaging something, I went over to the elliptical and did a hard interval workout for 20 minutes.  I don't think the HR monitor was working right, because it kept putting me in the 140 range, which is where I am on a light jog.  The AT was bugging me the entire time, but I figured that the minimal impact from the elliptical wasn't going to exacerbate any damage.

When I stepped off the elliptical, I could barely walk.  I stretched for a while, then hobbled down to the shower, back to my car, then started icing it as soon as I got home.  I also took 3 prednisone tablets (left over from my last bout of AT) and iced it 3-4 more times before bed.

I've been over 2 years without any AT trouble, but it looks like I might be headed right back into the thick of it.  I'll wait a few days before doing anything active, then I'll start trying the eccentric loading exercises.  In the meantime, I'll try doing some weight training and stretching, and possibly some work on the stationary bike.

Good thing I'm not training to run Boston for myself.  It may be the perfect year to run it with Brooke.

Okay, I didn't run 15 today.  My left AT is still in pretty bad shape, so I haven't been able to run since Tuesday.  However, I'm now 5 days into my prednisone prescription and able to walk without pain most of the time, so I decided to try going to the gym to see what I could handle.  I ended up spending 30 minutes on a stationary bike (around 12 miles) and 90 minutes on 2 different elliptical machines (I needed a change of scenery to keep from becoming suicidal due to boredom).  I'm calling the effort the very rough equivalent of 15 miles.  After 30 minutes on the bike, I was starting to chafe (left the biker shorts at home), so I decided to try the elliptical to see if the AT could hack it.  I didn't feel any pain, so I kept going.  I realize that 90 minutes on a elliptical is not the same as running for 90 minutes on the road, or even on a treadmill, but that's about as close as I'm going to get for a little while.  I tried to keep an honest turnover going (between 175-225 strides per minute, depending on the tension), but I don't think my HR ever stayed much about 155 bpm (the machine I spent the last 60 minutes on kept wigging out and showing me at 235 bpm, then 100 bpm, then everything in between, so I really have no idea).

At least I have the elliptical as an option for a while.

Again, not a real 7-mile run, since the Achilles is still inflamed.  I did an hour on the elliptical at Steiner, with the last 15 minutes at a higher resistance (up to 10) while maintaining close to the same step rate (average before that was around 190, and it dropped to 180 as I increased the resistance).  I jogged around the indoor track for a minute as part of my cooldown, but it was clear that the tendon is not ready for that yet.  I stopped and walked after 100 meters.  Since I'm running Boston WITH Brooke (and not just on the same day at my own pace) this time, I'm not going to stress out about this setback.  I'll just keep going to the gym and trying to maintain some aerobic fitness while I try to get the Achilles working again.

By the way, I was not sad to be stuck running inside today.  It was 20 outside, but it felt like 0 with the wind.

Another scintillating evening at Steiner on the elliptical.  This time I set the resistance at 4 and maintained a stride rate of 180-195/min until the final 10 minutes, when I increased the resistance to 6 and my stride rate to 200+/min.  I'm trying to give myself a full two weeks from the reaggravation of my achilles before I try running again.  That means next Monday or Tuesday.  In the meantime, I'm doing my best not to die of boredom.

For the record, I started using the 100 Pushups and 200 Situps apps last week.

Pushups: Week 2 Day 1 Level 2 (9, 11, 8, 8, 11--60 sec rest between sets)

Situps: Week 1 Day 1 Level 3 (15, 18, 10, 10, 14--90 sec rest between sets)

More quality time (60 min) on the elliptical. According to the machine, my average HR was 167 bpm.  That seems pretty high, but I did keep my stride rate and resistance a little higher today (around 195 stride rate until the last 15 minutes, when I increased it to 200+, and 6 on the resistance until the final 10 minutes, when I increased it to 7, then 10).  I can't believe how much sweat I seem to produce on that thing.  The people around me, who all seem to be carrying on conversations and comfortably reading their magazines, are probably pretty disturbed by the sight of me.

Two lovely hours over at Steiner: one on the bike and another on the elliptical.  If I had to do this every day and wasn't just using it as cross-training while my achilles recovers, I would probably choose obesity instead.

I met with my physical therapist this morning and we decided to try ASTYM treatment on my achilles.  He gave me the first treatment today and we're going to try 4-6 treatments to see if it helps.  He could tell a difference between the quality of the tissue in my left achilles versus my right, which led him to believe that this has been something of a chronic problem.  That makes me a candidate for ASTYM.  Given the fact that it took me over 18 months to get through my last bout with achilles tendinitis, I'm willing to give it a try.

It's been a rough week in terms of time, so tonight was my first workout of the week.  I set up my bike on the trainer and rode for an hour.  My average HR was around 140, which is a little low.  I tried not to overdo it because I'm hoping to get two more rides in this week. The setup (in front of the big screen in my basement) is great.  I just need a couple of weeks to get myself used to spending time in the saddle (ouch).  It's nice to have an option that does not involve the elliptical.

Back at the PT today for ASTYM treatment #2.  It was a little more painful this time, but I'm hopeful that it will accelerate the healing and make Boston possible.

Only exercise was 12 minutes on the stationary bike at the PT as a warmup for the treatment.

After taking a day to let my "sit-bones" recover a little, I decided to get back on the horse for a 90-minute ride.  I got two episodes of Friday Night Lights in.  I realized after the ride that because the trainer is on carpet, my tire was rubbing the rubber mat and had almost worn all the way through.  Maybe that's why it smelled funny.

I couldn't take more than 90 minute in the saddle and wanted to test the achilles, so I threw on my trainers, leashed up Maja, and went for an easy 2 miles.  The achilles felt pretty good, but I felt pretty tired.  It was hard to tell whether it was because I'm out of shape or because I was already fatigued from a 90-minute spin.  It was probably a bit of both.

The achilles was pretty sore the rest of the day, so I made sure to do my assigned stretches about 5-7 times throughout the day.

45 minutes on the bike downstairs.  I adjusted the trackstand so that the rear tire wasn't rubbing the mat, and it made quite a difference.  Saddle soreness was also much better than a couple of days ago.  The combination of improvements helped me to put in a better workout.  AHR was 160.

40 minutes on the trackstand, felt pretty good.  ASTYM treatment #3, felt less good (something about hard plastic surfaces scraping against bones and tendons in the lower leg and foot doesn't make me excited).  Ryan advised me to try a little light running tomorrow morning, since my next treatment is on Thursday.

I started with 30 minutes on the bike, then took Maja out for a 3-mile "gentle" (per my PT's instructions) run.  The achilles was slightly painful for the first 1/2 mile but didn't bother me at all after that.  When I ran 2 last Saturday, I noticed intermittent pain throughout the day.  So far today (5 hours post-run) the only pain I've felt has been when doing my prescribed stretches.  Hopefully this all augurs well for a quick recovery.  I have a fourth ASTYM treatment scheduled for tomorrow, then a trip to St. George for the weekend.  I'll probably bring the bike with me but will try to fit in some light running while I'm there.

More ASTYM treatment today.  Ryan kind of worked me over and left me feeling a little bruised.  Good thing my next session isn't until Tuesday.  Based on the progress I've made thus far, he wants to do a full round of treatment, which means a total of 8 sessions (4 more).  Although the time commitment is a pain, I think it's doing the job nicely, so I want to see it through.  The last time I battled Achilles tendinitis, it took me about two years to get through it.  If this ASTYM treatment is working the way it seems to be working, that would be an advantage of about 22 months, so I can deal with the inconvenience. 

In St. George for Kaela's soccer tournament.  She had an early game so I had to sneak in a workout at 6.  We're staying with some friends who have a place just off of Snow Canyon Parkway, so I ran on the trail to Ivins and back.  Achilles felt a little tight in the early going but warmed up quickly and gave me no trouble thereafter.

Still in St. George, so Brooke and I decided to run part of the marathon course.  We drove 18 miles from the condo, which took us to Veyo.  I ran the first 10 with her to see how my Achilles would handle some distance.  Fortunately, it was fine.  I felt it on the way up Veyo and a little on the hills around Dammeron Valley, but the pain was slight.  We had left a car at the parking area for the trail, so I dropped off and let Brooke finish out on her own.  She is getting fast--her overall average for the 18 miles was sub-8:00.

We saw the new qualifying standards for Boston last night after we got home.  5:59 faster for each age group, plus a waterfall registration based on how far ahead of your qualifying time you are.  I love it.  The only bummer is that because the registration window opens in mid-September, St. George will no longer be a viable qualifying race for the following year (it will still work for the Boston race taking place two calendar years later). 

More ASTYM treatment.  I was a little worried that my Achilles would be a little inflamed after yesterday's 10-miler in St. George, but it seemed to recover just fine.  I did use a little ice last night as a precaution, but I didn't notice any pain getting out of bed and it wasn't sensitive to the touch, even when Ryan started scraping it with the tools.  Hopefully it really is on the mend.  I'm going to try to run every other day this week to see how it handles that.

I had planned to go out for an easy 6, but I decided to cut it short after I could still feel slight pain in the Achilles after 2 miles.  The pain was minimal, but more than I've felt on my past few runs after the first half mile.  I may wait until Saturday to run again, just to play it safe.  With Boston less than 7 weeks away, I can't afford another setback.

ASTYM treatment #6.  Only two more.

Still feeling a little skittish after cutting short Wednesday's run, so I decided to stick with the bike today.  2 hours on the trainer in the basement.  Fortunately, I was able to watch the second half of the BYU-SDSU game, which mitigated the boredom to some extent.

50 minutes on the trainer in the basement while watching "Without Limits" (the Pre story).  A little saddle-sore from Saturday's ride, but not bad.

ASTYM treatment #7.  I felt some tightness in the plantar fascia during the last part of the treatment (where he digs into that tissue).  I suspect that's from the last couple of rides, as my feet sometimes bug me a little when I'm on the trainer.  I'll try to stretch it a little, though, and will keep an eye on it as I start running more.  I'm hoping for 3 runs this week, but will "let pain be my guide," as the ASTYM protocol recommends.

I went home for lunch to hang out with Eli while Brooke taught Janey's class.  It was gorgeous outside, so I put Eli in the jogger and we did an easy 4.  The AT was a little tight for the first 1/2 mile but felt decent after that.  My right plantar fascia was a little tight leading up to the run but felt good during and after.  I suspect the tightness is from my cycling shoes.

45 minutes on the trainer while I finished watching "Without Limits."  What a great show.

ASTYM treatment #8 (final).  Ryan says he can feel a difference in the tissue in my Achilles due to the healing that's been promoted by the treatments.  He says the real healing starts now, since I will no longer be going in twice a week to have him beat up on the tissue.  He also told me to expect an occasional flare-up but not to be alarmed by that--just treat it with ice and stretching.  I am to continue my eccentric loading exercises, but Ryan believes those will become unnecessary as the tissue heals completely.  He thinks that in 5-6 weeks from now I should be feeling more or less completely healed.  I'm feeling hopeful about it, but I'll continue to monitor my pain carefully.  I really want to be able to run Boston with Brooke, so that should help me avoid overdoing it.

Easy jaunt with Maja down to Guardsman, across the U campus to the engineering building, then up past the new track, across the Olympic bridge, and back down to Wasatch to Foothill and home.  Almost no soreness in AT start to finish.  I'm hoping to join Brooke for part of her 20-miler in the morning, but probably no more than 10.

Took Maja out for the first 6, then dropped her off to finish the run (she's woefully out of shape).  Picked up the pace over the final 4 miles (across the U campus) and finished with a 6:10.  Achilles felt a little tight but not painful.

Did 1 hour on the trainer in the basement while watching '24' after the kids went to bed.

Woke up to 12 inches of snow, so I spent my running time clearing snow (Brooke and Kaela had to leave at 7:10, so I had to get the driveway done by then).  No official workout today.

Brought my gear and ran at lunch.  The snow was melting pretty quickly and I was able to run in a short-sleeve shirt.

Minor pain in the Achilles for the first half mile but nothing thereafter.

Ran home from work.  I was a little nervous about it, since it's mostly uphill and I don't want to put too much stress on my Achilles, but it seemed to handle the run just fine.

Easy run through U campus with Maja.

In St. George for mid-year Bar convention.  Brooke and I headed east from my sister's house in Washington and ran largely on dirt roads toward Sand Hollow.  Pace was very easy (overall average was around 8:30), although the terrain was pretty uneven and hilly.  On our way back, we came around a bend to hear the sound of rifle fire in rather rapid succession.  We continued on and saw a guy with a rather large rifle aimed perpendicular to us.  His truck was stopped in the middle of the road and was still idling.  He shouldered the rifle just after we came into view and started walking back to his truck.  As we approached him, I asked how he was doing.  He said, "Better now--I just got me a rabbit!"  I replied, "I'm just glad you didn't get you a runner!"  He didn't seem particularly amused.  After we passed, he opened the door to get in, and we heard a Sara Bareilles song blasting out "Who cares if you disagree, you are not me, you aren't the kind of anything!"  The combination struck me as slightly incongruous.

My achilles held up very well and was only a little bit sore following the run.  I'm hopeful that I'm truly on the road to recovery.

With that in mind, I'll mention a conversation Brooke and I had during our run.  She asked me whether I was going to try to break 2:30 again and I told her I thought that time had passed.  She pressed me on it for a while, suggesting that I probably don't have many years of competitive running left in me (since I'm 36) and urging me not to give up on the goal.  She told me that if she knew I was going to be training intensively for 12-18 months but that it would be over at the end of that time period, she would love to support me in pursuing the goal.  We talked about what it would mean in terms of early bedtime, early runs, long runs on Saturdays, a more disciplined diet, hiring a coach again, etc., etc., and she continued to urge me to take it on.  I'm still thinking about it, but I am leaning toward giving it one more shot.

I woke up to lightly falling snow.  It wasn't heavy enough to turn Maja back, so I brought her along and we enjoyed a relaxing and enjoyable jaunt down to 17th East, out to 27th South, up to 20th East, and back home.  My achilles felt quite good from start to finish.

Easy pace across U campus, over Olympic bridge and down through Research Park.  After a rough winter, Maja is starting to look slightly skinnier, and I'm sure she's as happy as I am that my achilles is getting better.  (In case anyone happens to read this without knowing what I'm talking about, Maja is my dog.  I'd hate for someone to think I was talking about my wife that way!)  Achilles seems to be steadily better.

Drove out to The Store and parked, then ran home and back with Brooke.  8:40 overall average, which was probably a little faster than a long run for Brooke should be.  Achilles was a little sore on the uphill sections but felt pretty good otherwise.  I did some ice afterward and will be sure to stretch throughout the day.

Although I haven't trained for Boston (due to the Achilles injury), it is somewhat comforting to know that I can handle 20 without much difficulty (at a slow pace).  This is the perfect year to run it with Brooke and just enjoy the experience.  At least I know now that I can handle the distance without slowing Brooke down.

Ran across U campus to Federal Heights Drive, then up to University Hospital, across the med school campus, then through Research Park and home.  Had two unleashed dogs try to attack Maja (no apologies offered by either owner, which left me a little miffed) and battled traffic at about every other intersection once I reached the hospital.  Not the most relaxing run, but at least the weather was nice.

After a pretty lousy week in terms of getting out, I decided I needed some miles in my legs if for no other reason than to give myself the confidence that I could handle running Boston with Brooke without looking like a fool.

Drove out to Hillcrest High around 5:15 and ran north through my old digs in Murray, through Murray Park (restroom was open--great news!), up Atwood, over to 500 East, then up to Liberty Park and back.  Very easy pace--around 8:12 avg on the way out, 7:30 avg on the way back.  Knees felt a little sore for the final few miles, but that's probably due to the lack of miles in the legs.

Very little achilles soreness following the run and throughout the day, so I think Boston is officially a go.  I should also be ready to start training for SG once Boston is over.

Easy effort with Maja down to 15th East, through Sugarhouse Park, then up Parley's Canyon Drive to 20th East and back home.  Felt like I had some cobwebs from Saturday's long run, but nothing too bad.

I've been working harder to eat better, limiting my intake of refined and processed foods, avoiding sweets, and snacking less.  Although it's a daily battle with the Peanut M&Ms at the office, I'm staying on the wagon pretty well at the moment.  I need to start weighing myself to see if the changed eating habits are producing any results.

Nothing fancy this morning.  Just an easy 5 with Maja down to 15th, out to around 21st, and back home through the neighborhood.  I need to fill my Albuterol prescription, though, as the pollen is starting to shrink my airway a bit.

Note weight.  I don't know how accurate it is (I weighed myself post-run and post-breakfast), but I'll try to remember to weigh myself before I run in the mornings from now on.

Easy pace out to Millstream Lane and back (via Parley's).  I guess I did have about a half-mile burst in there around mile 8, where I saw a guy up ahead and decided to run him down and pass him, but otherwise the pace was relaxed.

Boston Marathon.  I ran with Brooke, so I'm not counting it as a race.  Amazing weather, amazing crowds, amazing times up front!  Brooke was on track for around 3:36 at the half (more likely 3:40, given the difficulty of the second half of the course), but her stomach started giving her trouble, then her legs started giving out on the Newton hills.  She gutted it out, though, and was able to pick it up a bit over the final two miles.  All in all, it was an incredible experience just being able to take it all in without worrying about my own race plan or fitness.  I took a lot of photos on my iPhone, recorded the craziness at Wellesley and BC, and even got a photo of Dick and Rick Hoyt as we passed them around mile 8.  Embarrassingly, I had to lay down just past the finish line for about 20 minutes because I kept blacking out trying to walk through the finishing corral (which feels about a mile long) to get my medal and food packet.  Brooke finally had to get the food for me, which included some chips.  As soon as I got some salt in my system, I was fine.  I know my fitness was entirely inadequate for running a marathon, but I think the problem may have been that I'm just not used to being out on my feet for 4 hours (we finished in 4:00:21)!  It gave me a new appreciation for those in the middle and back of the pack in marathons.  It also motivated me to start training for St. George, so that I don't have a 4-hour marathon as my most recent race for too long!

We left Boston yesterday and drove up to Maine for a couple of days, so I ran on the hard-packed sand this morning on a gorgeous beach in Ogunquit.  The wind was blowing like crazy, but it felt great to stretch the legs out a little and to start working out a little bit of soreness from the marathon.  Since the pace of the marathon was so much slower than I'm used to running, it used different muscles.  Instead of my quads and hams being shot, it's my hip flexors that are sore.  I assume that's because I was taking shorter strides and probably spent more effort in an upward direction than a forward one.

We came back to Boston yesterday for one more night before leaving this afternoon.  Brooke and I went for an easy jog around the Boston Public Garden and the Boston Common, then dropped by a secondhand book store and bought a guide for a walking tour of Beacon Hill, Boston's literary district.  We only ran a couple of miles, but we walked at least another 4 doing the Literary Trail, then traveling to Cambridge and walking all over Harvard's campus.  This is an amazing place.  I may have to come back and try to race the course, since I've now run it twice without actually training for the race.

I registered for the SG lottery yesterday, so I figured I should start getting out the door as close to 5-6 days per week as possible until my official training plan starts up in a few weeks.  I had heard some rain during the night, so I wore my rain gear but couldn't find gloves quickly enough.  Maja usually refuses to run if it's raining, but although the ground was wet when we left, it wasn't raining at all, so she joined me enthusiastically.  Her enthusiasm waned, however, when our pleasant morning turned into a driving hail storm, which turned into a pretty decent snow storm.  She kept looking up at me as if to ask, "What the $%@# are we doing our here?"  My hands were a little frozen by the time we made it home, but by then the storm had mostly died down.  What a lovely April it's been.

No hail or snow this morning, so that was a bonus.  Temperature was chilly, but the sun was bright and the sky was clear.  Pace was easy, but it must have been a little faster than usual, because Maja was dragging a bit after 2 miles.  The focus now is just getting back to running every day.

Maja was dragging this morning, so I shortened my originally planned loop and dropped her off, then did a quick loop down to Guardsman and around 500 South to Foothill.  It felt good to open it up for a mile or so, but it was also clear that my fitness stinks.

Woke up to a fresh couple of inches on the grass.  Unbelievable.  I had to sneak in a quick 8 before heading up to Centerville for Jacob's soccer game.  It was chilly but gorgeous, and Maja was back to her normal self.  I headed across the U campus, then ran down 2nd Ave to Virginia Street, up to Popperton (about died running up the hill--I am seriously out of shape), then turned around and looped up to the U of U Hospital and through Fort Douglas and Research Park and home.

The good thing about this morning's run is that it is Monday and I still managed to drag myself out of bed at 5:30 to get the run in.  A small moral victory, if nothing else.  The other good thing was that when I opened the paper to read while eating my cereal, I learned that Bin Laden is dead.  That was easy.

Still working on getting back to 5-6 days per week, not worrying about mileage yet.  Brooke and I have been eating more carefully over the past week or so, and it seems to be working, as I'm down 3 pounds so far.  The goal is to dip under 150, but we'll see how that goes--I was around 155 when I graduated from high school and was in great shape.  Since I was lifting weights at the time, though, I think getting below 150 is realistic and will help me shave time from my marathon and minimize injuries.  When I trained for St. George in 2009, I dropped down to 154, but that was during August, when my training was at its peak.  It was miserable to be limited to 2000 calories per day at a time when I was burning 1000-1300 each morning in my workout.  The idea this time is to drop the weight before the training gets intense.  Hopefully that helps me improve the quality of the training as well as preserve the sanity of my family in having to live with me in the midst of it all.

Today's run reminded me why I get up early.  After a long winter and a snowy spring to this point, it was incredibly refreshing to be out on a beautiful, clear morning with the green grass, trees in blossom, and flowers in bloom.  I felt like singing, almost.  Maja and I headed across the U campus, up to Popperton, then up near the Shoreline Trail (we stayed low and cut behind the JCC and through the Huntsman Cancer campus), then through Research Park and home.  The hills still feel like mountains, but I think my fitness is slightly better than it was last week.

Brooke's work with my dietary habits also seems to be paying off, at least so far.  I'm down about 4 lbs from where I was 10 days ago, when she started me on a low-grain, low-dairy, high veggie and protein diet.  So far, I'm not grumpy and have had enough energy to get through the day without any trouble.  We'll see what happens when I actually start my training program in a couple of weeks.

With Brooke gone Friday and Saturday, I wasn't able to get out for a run either day.  Jacob had an early soccer game on Saturday (he had to leave just after 7 am), so I had to be around when the younger ones woke up.  So much for my goal to run 5-6 days last week.  Oh, well--I'll try one more time before next week's training schedule starts up.

Today's run was a little drizzly but not cold.  The rain was light enough that Maja didn't refuse to join me.  We did the usual short route across the U campus, finishing along Wasatch and Foothill instead of going through Research Park.

Popperton-JCC-Med School-Research Park loop.  Maja seems to have dropped a lot of her winter weight (which was mostly my fault, since my achilles issues kept me from running much, and since the kids just don't take her on walks) and is keeping up better.  She's not going to be happy when I start doing speed and hill work next week and can't take her along.

Maja was dragging today for no apparent reason.  Maybe she's sore after having not run with me for three consecutive days in a very long time--do dogs get sore?  We headed down 900 South to Diestel, down Bonneview to 15th, down to 17th South, up to 16th East, up Harrison to 19th East, then up Sheridan/Claremont to 13th South, then to 21st East and home.  For the record, I've been guessing on mileage lately (they are educated guesses based on similar runs with the Garmin) because my focus has been on reestablishing the habit of running nearly every day.  I'll worry about speed and distance as I get into my real training schedule.

Brooke and I are thinking about trying the Paleo diet for 30 days to see if we can drop some weight quickly at the beginning of my SG training regimen.  I'm already down to around 157-158, but my goal is to hit 149.  We've already started a modified version of the diet by limiting our grain and dairy intake (with a little cheating), but this would be the real deal.  We're trying to come up with an incentive to make the suffering worth our while.  The sooner we come up with it, the sooner we can get this 30-day clock running (and the sooner we can get it over with!).

I brought my gear to work and ran 1.5 miles on the grassy field by Extra Space, then drove to Murray Park and did the rest while I waited for Jacob's soccer practice to finish (it was about 5 min away from the park).  It was around 65-70 degrees, which would normally be perfect.  Since it was my first warmish-weather run, though, I felt a little sluggish, as I always do when I start making the transition from cold to warm training.

I settled on an incentive for my weight loss plan.  If I drop down to 149, I get the new Garmin 610 (since it's pricey, it will also count as my Father's Day and/or b-day present).  I'm hoping I can do that within 30 days, but the reward comes after I hit my weight goal, not after doing the diet for 30 days.  Brooke is still working on her reward, but hers will come after sticking to the diet (modified Paleo, allowing ourselves one grain--not cereal--and one dairy per day, otherwise eating lots of vegetables, especially green veggies, lean meats, no processed foods, and strictly limiting grains and dairy).  I was really grateful that we decided to allow one grain this morning (it's now Friday), because I was getting pretty sick of scrambled eggs for breakfast.  We had oatmeal with fresh fruit and honey this morning, and it was a nice change of pace.

Too bad I forgot to weigh myself.

Today's run made me more than a little wary of this whole modified Paleo diet shenanigan.  About half a mile into my run, I felt drained.  I was planning to run at least 10, but it was clear that that just wasn't going to be in the cards.  Every time I encountered a hill, my legs felt like lead and I had to struggle my way up.  In fact, I had to start taking walk breaks around 2.5 miles (up the final climb to Popperton Park).  Although it seems like I just have a bad day every now and again, this felt different.  By the time I slumped through the door, I was convinced that the diet was the problem, and that the reason I felt so awful was because my glycogen stores were depleted.

Brooke and I talked about it all weekend and she picked up a copy of Matt Fitzgerald's Racing Weight for me to peruse.  It quickly confirmed, more or less, what I was feeling--that an endurance athlete (such as I am) is not likely to do well on a low-carb diet.  I've said the same thing a million times to friends who are pumping the  latest high-protein, low-carb craze, but after having actually experienced it myself, I was even more convinced.  As a result, I'm in the process of tweaking my diet right now.  The current thinking is to incorporate whole grains but to continue to load up on fruits and veggies, limit (but not eliminate) dairy, strictly limit processed and sugary foods.  I think I'm going to allow myself one dessert on Sundays, just to make the experience a little less spartan.

I also went through a calculation in the book to figure out my optimal racing weight (based on current weight and body composition).  The goal I set for myself several week ago was 149.  After buying a scale that measures body fat (mine is apparently 15.5%) and running my numbers through the formula, the calculations confirmed that number (actually, the number is 149.33333).  I was disheartened by the body fat number, since the last time I remember getting my body fat checked was in high school (caliper method, so probably not accurate), and the number was 4.1%.  Those days are long gone, but I'm hoping to dip below 10% by the time I toe the starting line in October.

Day #1 of SG training plan.  Easy run with Maja out to Sugarhouse and around inner loop and home.  I could feel the difference from adding a few carbs between Saturday's death march and today's easy jaunt.  Amazing how much better it feels when you're not trying to run an unleaded vehicle on diesel fuel.

I started tracking my calories today as a means of controlling them (per Fitzgerald's recommendation and after having experienced the benefits of it the last time I trained for SG--, basically, the simple process of tracking your weight helps you lose more).  I'm trying the Livestrong app on my iPad.  So far it seems a little more convenient than the online system I used last time.  Of course, I've only tracked one meal and one mid-morning snack so far.

3 x mile repeats at Sugarhouse Park.  Here's the summary:

Warmup: 1.86 (outer loop) in 16:30 (8:54 pace)

Mile 1: 5:51 (155 bpm)

5 min active recovery

Mile 2: 5:41 (178 bpm)

5 min active recovery

Mile 3: 5:44 (181 bpm)

Cooldown: 1.34 in 11:34 (around 8:30 pace)

I never looked at my Garmin to get an idea of pace; instead, I just went by feel.  The mile course included two downhills and one uphill on all three repeats.  By the final one, I had cracked by the time I reached the top of the hill (on the southwest side of the park) and lost a lot of speed for the next 200 meters or so.

While my splits were not outstanding, they were a lot faster than I expected, since this is my first speed work in well over a year.  The legs seemed to hold up pretty well, even though they were pretty leaden by the final 400 meters of each repeat.

 Note to self: don't try to store the key to the car in the rear pocket in the gray Sugoi shorts--there is a hole (confirmed by two attempts during this morning's workout--fortunately I was able to find the key both times and learn from my mistake--eventually).

Easy loop through U campus, across the bridge to Fort Douglas, through Research Park and home.  Calves were a little tight after yesterday's repeats, but otherwise everything feels good so far.

There was a major thunderstorm last night around 3:30 a.m., complete with hail, wind, lightning, etc.  It woke me up and I didn't get to sleep until just before my alarm sounded at 5:30, so I turned it off and decided to try to sneak in my run later in the day.  Fortunately, it worked out and I was able to run home from my office downtown.  I took the scenic route up toward Memory Grove, then ran up the steps to A Street, up A Street to 7th Ave, then to B Street, then up to 9th Ave, over to K Street, up to 11th Ave, stopped at 11th Ave Park to see if Kaela was there for tryouts (hers didn't start til later), then past Popperton, down to Federal Heights Drive, then to North Campus Drive, then along Wasatch, through Fort Douglas, Research Park and home.  Whew.  Weather was gorgeous and the run was glorious.

With four soccer games and a piano recital on the docket, I had to squeeze in a shorter-than-planned run early.  I took Maja with me for the first 8, which I did around my Sugarhouse to Highland Park loop, then dropped her off at home and ran downtown to my office, where I showered quickly and picked up my car (which I left last night) to drive to game #1.  I was a little anxious about doing a long run the morning after doing a mostly uphill run in the evening (my Achilles sometimes freaks out when I do that sort of thing), but I had no problems and felt good all day.

I missed my early run because I had to get in to the office to get a jump on a busy week (four loan and acquisition closings), but I brought my gear with me when I took Jacob to his end-of-season soccer party at the Northwest Community Center.  Don't get me wrong, I love comp soccer parents and would like to spend all of my social time with them, but I decided to leave the scene for 40 minutes to sneak in my run.  I wasn't sure where I'd run in the area (300 N 1300 W), so I just started jogging on the grass around the community center.  Fortunately, within a quarter of a mile I ended up on the Jordan River Parkway Trail, which I took north to Rose Park Golf Course and back.  There were some truly lovely sections along the opposite side of the river from the trail itself, complete with wood chips in one section and otherwise with nice dirt paths.  It was so nice to have a flat trail to run on--we don't have a lot of that in my neck of the woods.

The only bummer was that it rained pretty hard throughout the run, but I had come prepared with rain gear, so it wasn't bad at all.

Since I ran last night, I decided not to chance it with speed work this morning and instead decided to move my Tuesday workout to Wednesday and my Thursday workout to Friday (which works better anyway, since my church assignment keeps me out late on Wednesdays and makes it hard to get up at 5:00 for speed work the next day).  Easy loop through the U campus and back through Fort Douglas and Research Park.  Maja was as excited as always until I let her out and she felt the rain on her back, at which point she tucked her tail and darted back into the house.  It's always a little sad but comical to watch her wrestle with her greatest love (running) and greatest fear (rain) at the same time.  As it did this morning, fear usually wins out.

1/2 mile repeats at Sugarhouse Park.  The workout went like this:

1.85-mile easy warmup jog

Repeat #1: 2:39 (5:20/mi)

2-min active rest

Repeat #2: 2:39 (5:20/mi)

2-min active rest

Repeat #3: 2:33 (5:07/mi)

2-min active rest

Repeat #4: 2:45 (5:32/mi) (I paid for overdoing it on #3)

2-min active rest

Repeat #5: 2:38 (5:18/mi)

2-min active rest

Repeat #6: 2:43 (5:28/mi)

I should note that it worked out just right so that 1,3 & 5 were all from the top of the hill at the northeast corner to the pond (including the downhill), and 2, 4 & 6 were all from the top of the hill at the southwest corner to just west of the Highland track (including the downhill), which is a slightly harder section.  No climbing in either section.  As I get more fit, I'll vary the starting points more so that I have to deal with climbing in the intervals.

Given that this is only Week #2 in my training, I'm feeling pretty good about my progress thus far.  I have hit a plateau in my weight loss, but I continue to eat healthy and think the remaining 9 lbs will probably just melt away slowly as my mileage increases throughout the summer.  I may try to slip in some evening spins on the bike just to make sure my body understands that it's fueling for performance right now, and that it needs to shut down any impulse to store fat and burn muscle instead.  Once I feel like my running base is solid enough, I will try to work in 2-3 evening jogs a week to supplement my mileage and keep trying to get down to that optimal racing weight (which I haven't seen since my junior year of HS 20 years ago).

After yesterday's effort, I felt sluggish and a little sore (mainly calves) today, but I also forgot to take my inhaler, which likely made a difference.  Maja and I did the usual U Campus loop over the bridge.

Hill repeats on 23rd East.  I jogged over and measured the hill as part of my warmup, and it turns out to be a little longer than 1/4 mile, so I set the Garmin for 1/4-mile intervals with 1/4-mile rest and went for it, doing 8 repeats.  I jogged back down between each repeat as my rest interval.  My average pace ranged from 6:40/mi (the first one) to 5:50/mi (the last one), with most of them being in the 6:10-6:15 range.  I clearly have work to do in this area, since in my last St. George race in '09, I feel like I lost hold of my goal on the uphill sections (beginning with mile 2 and then especially from Veyo to Diamond Valley).  For my first hill workout in well over a year, though, I'm reasonably pleased.

U campus to Shoreline loop with Maja living it up off-leash on the trail sections.  What a gorgeous day for a run!

Neighborhood 5k pushing Janey and Eli in the double jogger with four nearly flat tires.  I'm giving myself credit for an extra mile because the effort was much more significant than a simple 3-miler.

Sugarhouse to Parkway Ave to 21st East loop with Maja.  The paper said today's low would be 53.  I think it was more like the upper 30s during my run.  Gorgeous and bright, sunny morning, but a little cold for a run without gloves. I'm going to do my hard days on Wednesday and Friday again this week.

4 x mile repeats at Sugarhouse Park.  In reading Racing Weight last night, I was reminded of the value of fueling prior to a run (which I never do except for very long runs and races).  I gave it a try and ate half a bagel before the workout.  I also brought along an organic snack bar and ate it on the drive home.  The weight reflected in today's log is post-run, pre-breakfast, so it's abnormally low (I usually weigh myself post-run, post-breakfast).

1.86 miles easy warmup around outer loop, then started repeats.  I started all of them in the same place, at the northeast turn by the rose garden parking lot.  As a result, I had two downhills and one uphill on each repeat.  Active recovery of 5:00 between each.

Mile 1: 5:41

Mile 2: 5:37

Mile 3: 5:37

Mile 4: 5:30

Short cooldown in bare feet (see below for explanation).

My biggest challenge on each repeat was recovering for the final 500-600 meters after the hill.  I forgot to wear my HR strap today, so I don't have any HR data.  If I did, I'm pretty sure it would show me going anaerobic at the top of the hill each time.

For medical purposes, I need to bookmark this morning's workout as the potential start of plantar fasciitis in my right arch.  I started feeling a twinge about half a mile into my warmup and it continued intermittently throughout the workout.  That's what prompted me to do my cooldown barefoot.  Looking at my Shoe Manager, I have around 300 miles on each pair of my DS Trainers.  I've started running more on my midfoot over the past year, so the heels of my trainers aren't wearing down like they used to, but I wonder if the midsole is breaking down.  In any case, I've had a couple new pairs that I haven't opened yet, but it's probably time.  I may also try to work in a few miles a week in the VFFs in an effort to strengthen my feet a little.  I need to watch this one, though.

After yesterday's twinge of what felt like plantar fasciitis, I decided to put in a few easy miles on the grass in my Five Fingers, so I took Maja over to Sunnyside Park and ran around the perimeter on the grass a couple of times.  Since I still haven't done enough in the VFFs to really adjust to them and because it's been a long time since I've run in them at all, I kept the effort very easy and the miles low.  I massaged both feet last night by stepping on a golf ball, and I'll continue to do that through the week in an effort to stave off further issues.  I can't afford an injury this year.

Right arch was still bugging me, so I decided to take the day off and focus on rolling it on balls producing various levels of pain instead.  I don't want to miss my 16-miler tomorrow.

I was worried about trying 16 miles after the twinges I've been feeling in my right arch, which were feeling like the onset of plantar fasciitis, but I decided to try a new pair of shoes after taking a day off.  Although my energy level was down for the first 5-6 miles, I ended up having a good run.  I headed out to Holladay Blvd just south of Brooke's Aunt Connie's house.  Avg pace for first half (slightly downhill) was around 7:43.  I picked it up a little on the way back (slightly uphill) and finished with an overall average of 7:27.  Although I felt occasional tightness in my arch, there was no pain and I think the new shoes helped.

My arch didn't seem to bug me all weekend after the 16-miler on Saturday, but I still think I need to do a little preventive training.  There is plenty of controversy right now about barefoot running, and I am aware of the pitfalls of it, but I still believe that a small amount of running on the grass helps strengthen muscles and tendons in a way that can help prevent injury.  Until proven otherwise, I think I'll try to work in at least 4-6 miles per week in my Vibrams, but only on soft surfaces.  Today's run was at Sunnyside Park.  It felt great to be running in the Vibrams and I didn't notice any pain anywhere.  The only complaint I have is that I run a lot slower when I wear the Vibrams than when I wear my trainers.  That may be related to the fact that I'm running on grass that is sometimes long, but my average pace is almost a full minute per mile slower than my normal recovery day pace.

I switched up my hard days again, so the plan is Wednesday and Friday this week.  I forgot to take my inhaler before leaving the house, so I was a little wheezy this morning.I seemed to warm up after a few miles, though, and the effort felt pretty good.  I did have some tightness higher in my left achilles tendon (probably due to running in Vibrams yesterday), but it was mild and disappeared after a couple of miles.

6 x 1/2 mile repeats at Sugarhouse.  Did the usual outer loop as a warmup, then did the usual inner loop for the repeats (one downhill on each, no uphill).  Two minutes active rest between each repeat.  Splits were as follows:

1: 2:33 (5:07/mi)

2. 2:33 (5:07/mi)

3. 2:36 (5:12/mi)

4. 2:42 (5:25/mi)

5. 2:35 (5:11/mi)

6. 2:38 (5:17/mi)

I was feeling pretty spent by the fourth repeat (as shown by the deterioration in time), but I felt like it was a productive session.  I need to look back at my log during the buildup to SG '09, but I don't think I was running repeats at this pace until several months into my training.  I suspect my lower weight and more efficient stride (more of a midfoot strike) may be helping.

I did my cooldown barefoot in the interest of injury prevention.  It makes me nervous running shoeless in Sugarhouse Park, though, so I think I'm going to start bringing my Vibrams and may do my warmup and cooldown in them.  There was a great piece in The Science of Sport this week on the barefoot/minimalist movement and one of the recommendations made was to warm up shoeless but train in shoes.  That makes sense to me, so I'll probably give it a shot with some of my hard workouts.

H-rock run with Maja (but I came straight down after Devonshire ended instead of winding around to Crestview).  The 21st South hill just about killed me, which probably had to do with the fact that yesterday was a hard day, but the weather was perfect and the view, as always, was spectacular.  Besides that, Maja didn't make me use either of the doggie bags (she usually makes me use two), so it was a success all around.

After a late night and with a heavy day of work ahead, I decided to take it easy this morning and try to fit in some pace work in tomorrow's 9-miler instead.  U campus loop.  Left achilles still tight, but the issue is higher up on the outside instead of in the usual spot.  Need to stretch throughout the day.

I left Maja home this morning because she slows me down and I needed to get some MP work in today.  I headed out along my 19th-20th East route to 39th South at an easy pace, then stopped and stretched for a minute before turning around and coming back up the mild hill (but returning along 21st East instead of 19th) at MP effort.  I left the Garmin home because I wanted to focus on effort and feel instead of stressing out about hitting my actual target pace.

The first couple of miles felt pretty good.  By the final 1.5 miles, I was pretty worn down, especially between 13th South and Zions Lutheran (where the hill gets steeper).  Temperature was higher than usual, so I'm sure my HR was high.  All in all, though, it was a good workout.

Too busy at work to fit in a run today. :(

Plan was 5 one-mile repeats at Sugarhouse Park with 5 min active rest between each.  I warmed up in my Vibrams along the outside perimeter, then started in the usual spot by the northeast corner.  Unfortunately, by halfway through the second repeat, I was having GI trouble and needed a restroom.  Even more unfortunately, Sugarhouse doesn't open its bathrooms until late (after 7 am).  After checking all of the restrooms, I decided to try one more repeat and give the maintenance people until 7 to open up.  By the end of the third repeat, I was dying, so I walked around waiting.  When there was still no one in sight at 7:05, I gave up and went home.  I need to plan better for this not-so-uncommon contingency in the future.

Splits were 5:30, 5:29, and 5:24.

Went past Sugarhouse to Highland Park neighborhood and wound my way back home via 21st East.  Maja was gassed by mile 6, so the last two were a little slower than they would have normally been.  It's my fault--this is her first run in 5 days (I don't take her with me on long runs or quality days).  Avg pace was 7:27.

Easy effort with Maja through U campus and through Research Park.  Didn't sleep enough last night, so even the easy effort felt a little labored.  I'm hoping to do my long run tomorrow instead of Saturday this week, as we're headed somewhere for an anniversary getaway.  (Not sure Brooke would be thrilled if I took off from the hotel at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning to run 18.)

Since Brooke and I are headed for an anniversary getaway (all the way downtown) tonight, I sneaked in my long run before work this morning.  I ran out to Extra Space and back.  Pace on the way out was leisurely (7:45), especially since it's slightly downhill the entire way.  I picked it up some on the way back (around 7 flat).  Other than some lower back pain (feels like a pinched nerve), I felt great.  Last mile was around 6:20.

After staying at the Marriott and sleeping in until almost 9:00, Brooke and I ran 4.5 up City Creek and back.  My lower back hurt during yesterday's long run and throughout the day, and the pain was back today, although somewhat less.  The pain is left of my spine along the back of my pelvis, which, if I remember correctly, is the area that was injured in a boogie boarding accident in Hawaii in 2004 (my legs got ripped over my head on a nasty break).  I had intermittent pain there for a year or two, but it eventually went away.  Not sure what could be bringing it back.

Had a late night with family, so I missed my early run.  I got the new Forerunner 610 for Father's Day yesterday, though, and I was dying to try it out, so I brought my gear and ran after work.  I parked at Sugarhouse (by the rose garden) and ran around the outer loop but continued on 13th East out to my sometime route up Claybourne, over to Zenith, then winding my way back along 20th East, then down to Highland and around the outer loop of the park.  Pace was just slightly brisk for an easy day (7:06), especially because it was warm outside, but the effort was pretty comfortable. AHR was 163 bpm.

I love the 610, especially the vibrate feature, which makes it much less likely that I'll miss a split when listening to my iPod.  I also love that it looks and feels more like a watch than a brick and that it turns back into one when you stop the timer and leave it idle for 30 seconds or so. 

My lower back was sore during the run, but it was almost debilitatingly painful after the workout.  I had Brooke give me a pretty painful massage in hopes of loosening things up.

Lower back was still killing me this morning, so I decided to take the day off and try to loosen it up by rolling on my foam roller, Miracle Balls, and pretty much anything else that seemed like it might help.

Intervals at Sugarhouse Park (8 x .25 mi with 1:00 active rest between each).  I drove over, then did the outer loop in my Vibrams as a warmup.  After a quick detour to the Chevron restroom, I started my workout.  Here's how it went:

1: 75 sec (5:00/mi) 163 avg/177 max

2: 75 sec (5:00/mi) 163 avg/177 max

3: 77 sec (5:12/mi) 173 avg/178 max

4: 83 sec (5:34/mi) (finished uphill) 174 avg/181 max

5: 76 sec (5:06/mi) 174 avg/179 max

6: 80 sec (5:20/mi) 174 avg/183 max

7: 80 sec (5:20/mi) 175 avg/183 max

8: 76 sec (5:04/mi) 171 avg/181 max

1-mile cooldown.  I was hammered after this one.  I'm getting old.

I hesitate to call these easy miles because I felt a little wasted from start to finish today, but the pace should have been easy.  The temperature was already around 70 when I left at 6:00 a.m., so that didn't help.  Besides that, I think I was tired from yesterday's repeats.  Maja struggled even more than I did, though, and I had to sort of drag her the last two miles.

Hill sprints at Sugarhouse Park.  I ran to the park at a normal easy pace (7:30 or so), then did 8 sprints up the sledding hill, jogging a serpentine route back between each.  I started each sprint near the creek on the flat section and finished at the top of the hill.  It hurt.  My legs seemed to give out before my heart did, because my heart rate only went above 180 once, and that was on the first or second sprint.  After that, even though I felt like I was dying near the top of the hill, my heart rate was only hitting 176-77.

I ran home as my cooldown, but I stopped and walked about half a mile at about 6.5 due to GI issues.

I took Maja for the first part of the run, which was my U campus-Popperton-Shoreline-Research Park route, then dropped her off at home and traded my shoes for my Vibrams and did the last 4 at Sunnyside on the grass.

After yesterday's sprints, my legs were useless on the hills.

Sugarhouse loop with Maja.  She was loafing a bit today, stopping three or four times during the final two miles for no apparent reason other than seeming tired.  I had visions of the scene from the new "True Grit" where Jeff Bridges stabs the horse to keep it running until it collapses in a heap and he shoots it, but I thought better of it.

My right hamstring was bugging me a bit today.  Not in the spot where I tore it in HS (way up top), but about halfway down on the outside).  I'm assuming it's related to the hill sprints I did last week.  I stretched it more than usual following my run but will need to watch it throughout the day.  My mileage is supposed to exceed 60 this week, so I can't afford to be injured. 

6 x mile repeats with 5-min active rest between each.  I decided to try something new and ran east from my house 2 miles, which took me about a mile up Emigration Canyon.  I then did one repeat up the canyon, one down, and so on until I had done 6 total, then jogged home.  I alternated my active rest between climbing and descending  (which explains the different elevation loss and gain between each repeat) so that I finished the last repeat at the mouth of the canyon so that I would have just over a mile of cooldown.  Splits were as follows:

1: 6:19 (170 bpm, 121 ft elevation gain)

2: 5:16 (171 bpm, 116 ft elevation loss)

3: 6:27 (174 bpm, 127 ft elevation gain)

4: 5:12 (169 bpm, 152 ft elevation loss)

5: 6:43 (173 bpm, 249 ft elevation gain)

6: 5:17 (168 bpm, 152 ft elevation loss)

Fortunately, my hamstring tightness from yesterday was gone, and all systems seemed to be functioning pretty well.  I should note that there was the usual canyon wind, which meant that the ascending repeats were into the wind and the descending repeats were wind-aided.  Still, maintaining anything close to MP while ascending feels impossible at this point in my training.  Given the fact that I gave away lots of time at SG '09 on the uphill sections, I think I'll do this type of up-down repeat workout several more times throughout the course of my training this year.  Hopefully that will help me stanch the bleeding enough to keep my average pace where it needs to be in October.

I took Maja out for the first 8 miles (Sugarhouse to Highland Park loop), then dropped her off and did another 4 through the U campus and back along Wasatch and Foothill.  Maja was dragging from mile 5 on today, so I was thrilled when I dropped her off and was able to pick up the pace.  When I left her, my overall average was sitting at 7:45 after 8.  By the time I finished the last 4, it was down to 7:23 for the workout.  Final mile was 5:43.  AHR for the run was 152.

H-Rock run with Maja.  Gorgeous view, as usual, but the 21st South hill never gets any easier.

Pace: 7:31

AHR: 152 bpm.

We stayed at my parents' place (in Murray) last night for a movie night and sleepover for the kids, so I got up early and ran to my house, let Maja out, then ran back to Murray.  I tried a new fuel source out on this run--Generation UCAN (16 oz before the run, nothing but water during the run)--and it seemed to do a pretty good job of maintaining steady energy.  I'll have to try it a few more times to make sure it works, but it seems promising if I can avoid using gels.

Pace: 7:14

AHR: 150

Easy effort with Brooke around U campus.  Happy 4th!

Our July 4th was jam-packed and I didn't get to bed until 12:30.  I woke up feeling like I'd been run over by a truck, so I skipped today's workout and went to bed early in hopes of being able to do my speed work tomorrow.

Quarter-mile repeats at Liberty Park.  1.5-mile warmup in the Vibrams on the woodchip path, followed by some strides in the DS Trainers, then did 9 intervals with 75 sec active recovery between each.  Splits were as follows:

1: 74 sec (4:58/mi) (AHR 159/MHR 172)

2: 78 sec (5:12/mi) (172/178)

3: 75 sec (5:01/mi) (163/178)

4: 76 sec (5:04/mi) (173/180)

5: 79 sec (5:18/mi) (174/182)

6: 79 sec (5:18/mi) (173/180)

7: 75 sec (5:01/mi) (171/181)

8: 77 sec (5:07/mi) (174/181)

9: 79 sec (5:19/mi) (174/182)

1.5-mile cooldown in Vibrams.

Easy 8 at Bear Lake.  I actually felt like crap for the first 4 but worked out whatever was slowing me down and finished pretty strong.

Long hill repeats at Bear Lake.  2-mile warmup, then did 8 repeats of a 1/4-mile modest hill, jogging down between each.  Pace ranged between 5:15 and 5:30 on the repeats.  2-mile cooldown.

Still at Bear Lake.  I ran to the north shore and along the flat road to the turnaround point, then headed back.  At the 11-mile marker, I picked up the pace and finished with a 5:54.

After a crazy weekend, I woke up feeling like I had a non-alcoholic hangover and missed my run.  I was grumpy all day as a result.

Nice and easy jaunt around Highland Park loop (8 miles), then dropped Maja off at home and did my 4-mile loop across the U campus to finish up.  I slept on the couch last night after falling asleep during a movie, and my back is killing me.  It's the same spot (where my back and pelvis meet on the lower left side) that has bothered me over the past month or so.  I need to spend more quality time with the Miracle Ball and stretch my hamstrings throughout the day.

Variation of my U campus loop today--I went down past the East track, then north along 13th East to 300 South, then up to University Street, then through President's Circle and over to North Campus Drive, then up to Wasatch, through the med school campus and Research Park.  The distance was coming up a little short, so I turned right instead of left on Chipeta and took Foothill down to the 21st East light, where I re-entered the neighborhood and headed home.

Maja was dragging from Mile 1 today--I don't know what was going on.  It kept the pace very slow, though (7:46 avg).  Fortunately, my lower back pain was much less than yesterday.

As my alarm went off this morning, I realized that I haven't done any marathon pace work yet in this training cycle.  With that in mind, I decided to scrap my plan to do mile repeats this morning and just go out for an easy 10 so that I'll be fresh for some MP work in the second half of Saturday's 22-miler.

I left the dog home today because she felt like a millstone around my waist yesterday after about mile 1.  I'll have Jacob (my 12 YO) take her out for a short run today so she doesn't get too depressed.

Easy effort around Sugarhouse Park loop.  Avg pace was 7:28 (my first mile seems to be very slow lately--I must be getting old).

Plan was to run up Emigration and over the top of Little Mountain until I hit 11 miles, then to work in 8 miles of MP once I got back to the top of Little Mountain and started descending the canyon.  The effort was pretty relaxed on the way up.  As planned, I started my MP effort at mile 13.  I felt fine for the first two miles, but the pace felt much slower than the effort, which is never a good sign.  Split looked like this:

Mile 14:  5:43 AHR 164 MHR 169

Mile 15: 5:48 (168/172)

Mile 16: 5:58 (167/174)

Mile 17: 6:01 (168/172)

Miile 18: 6:32 (166/172)

Mile 19: 6:48 (156/162) (I had popped by this point and was just trying to get home)

Mile 20: 6:14 (162/167)

Mile 21: 6:38 (159/168)

I'm not sure what the problem was, but I have a few ideas:

1. I ate a lot of junk during the week, including Little Caesar's pizza and cake and ice cream last night (for Eli's 3rd birthday).

2. I didn't drink enough water (I only had two Amphipod flasks).

3. I didn't start fueling early enough (I brought one EFS flask--400 calories--but didn't take anything until mile 13, then again at about mile 16, and it didn't sit well).

4. I haven't done enough MP work.

5. I haven't done enough MP work during long runs.

6. I haven't done enough downhill work (I've consciously tried to do more of my speedwork on flat and rolling surfaces to avoid the cheating effect of having fast but aided interval times).

In any event, I know I have a long way to go before I'm ready for St. George, and I know a lot of things I need to work on and do differently in the weeks to come.

Easy effort with Maja on U campus.  My quads were screaming at me for the first couple of miles after Saturday's long run (which was promptly followed by a 5-hour drive to Idaho) and I felt lousy until about 3.5.  Fortunately, the last 1.5 felt back to normal.  I have Youth Conference tomorrow through Thursday, so that should be interesting.  Good thing this is a step-back week on my mileage.

Missed my run because I was up late getting ready for Youth Conference and had to be ready to go by 7.

In the mountains between Vernal and Flaming Gorge for Youth Conference.  I ran with Jake and Alli Thompson to the top of the nearest peak.  We climbed from 8800 to 10200 over 4.5 miles.  Spectacular views, lung-searing climbs.  What a way to start the day!

Still in the mountains.  I hesitate to call the effort easy, because it was at nearly 9000 feet and involved some fairly sturdy climbing at a pretty strong pace, but it wasn't exactly race pace.  I must not have paid enough attention on the way out, because I thought the route was nearly flat.  I learned otherwise in a very painful way almost the entire distance back.

Missed my run again because I had to be in the office by 6 a.m. to start making up for lost time while I was at Youth Conference.

Slept in a bit and got punished for my sloth by the heat.  I took Maja for the first 8 miles and dropped her off, then finished the last 4 without her.  Other than 3 potty stops in the first 3 miles (a new record--fortunately I came prepared with a sufficient number of doggie bags), she held up pretty well.

Happy July 25th.  After being gone 3 days last week and planning to be gone on Friday of this week, I had to work today.  After getting up at 7 to put up flags around the neighborhood, I headed in to the office.  To make it feel less like I was working on a holiday, I took off at lunch and ran up City Creek.  I passed 5 cyclists and 3 runners (it can't feel good to get passed on a bike by someone on foot, even if it is uphill).  Fortunately, it was overcast and not too oppressively hot.

Had to get in to the office early (two closings next week to prepare for), so I had to skip my run.  Work is overrated.

After missing my past several speed sessions for one reason or another, I was pretty anxious about this one, and I woke up at 4:30 (my alarm was set for 5:00) and never really settled down.  The plan was 8x1-mile repeats with 5 min active recovery between each. I decided to do them in Emigration again, alternating between uphill and downhill intervals.  After the customary warmup of a little under 2 miles, I started the pain and suffering in the dark.  Splits were as follows:

1: UP 6:31 (AHR 170/MHR 178)

2: DOWN 5:22 (167/176)

3: UP 6:33 (176/180)

4: DOWN 5:26 (172/176)

5: UP 6:32 (175/178)

6: DOWN 5:26 (169/175)

7: UP 6:35 (173/179) (passed two cyclists)

8: DOWN 5:12 (171/176)

Cooled down back to the house.  I felt pretty worn out by the end and probably should have come prepared with some fuel and hydration.  Nevertheless, I was pretty pleased when I uploaded the data from my Garmin and saw how consistent the splits were.  My climbing speed continues to leave something to be desired, but it stayed consistent throughout the workout, so I'm happy about that.  I probably could have pushed the pace a little more on the downhill segments, but I didn't want to blow up.

I think I've recommitted to this a few times before on the blog, but with just over two months to go before SG, I'm going to try to limit my sugar intake and focus on eating more healthy foods and cutting out junk wherever possible.  Even if I don't lose any more weight, I want to hit the starting line knowing that I've fueled properly and shown some discipline for a sufficient amount of time to feel confident that I've respected the distance and given myself the best opportunity possible to run a solid race.

Easy effort with Maja around Highland Park loop.  It felt short after yesterday's interval session.

Because I'm headed out of town for a quick overnighter after lunch, I decided to do my long run this morning.  The plan was to do 24, but for some reason my alarm didn't go off at 4:45 and I didn't wake up until 6:00.  I couldn't justify getting to the office much later than 9:00 or 9:30, so I cut the distance short.

I ran up Emigration over the top and down one mile, then turned around.  Back at the top of Little Mountain, I took one more Shot Blok (I had taken 2 between miles 7-8) and used the restroom. I wasn't sure whether I felt up to MP work on the downhill, so I decided to ease into a little faster pace and see how it felt.  Fortunately, it felt easy and relaxed as I transitioned to higher turnover in the first mile, so I kept it up, with a goal of doing 8 at roughly MP, then using the final mile as cooldown.  Splits looked like this:

Mile 12: 6:08 (AHR 154/MHR 168)

Mile 13: 5:41 (161/165)

Mile 14: 5:51 (166/171)

Mile 15: 5:55 (165/170) [felt myself starting to slow, so I consciously worked harder in the following mile]

Mile 16: 5:47 (171/175)

Mile 17: 5:50 (174/178)

Mile 18: 5:54 (174/177)

Mile 19: 5:56 (176/181)

Cooldown mile was 6:56.

Given that my first attempt to work in MP two weeks during a long run failed (I only lasted 4 miles and popped) and the fact that I did a big workout on Wednesday, I consider this morning's effort a success.  A few things to note:

1. I didn't use the Generation UCAN product before the run.  Not sure I like it or buy into its claims of providing sustained energy for two hours if you take it 30 min before a run.  Maybe it's worth trying as a mid-workout fuel source.

2. I bought two 10.5-oz bottles for the Amphipod belt and filled them with Camelbak's imitation of the Nuun tablet mixture.  I also took 2 8-oz bottles with water.  Didn't start taking the Camelback stuff until mile 12, but I only had 6-8 oz left by the time I finished.  When I did my 22-miler, I only had the 2 8-oz bottles, and I may have been a little dehydrated.

3. Love the Shot Bloks for the texture, flavor (Cran-Raspberry today), and digestibility, but  they are too hard to open and eat on the run (and I took them on the easy portion of the run--can't imagine being able to chew them and breathe while running at MP).  Still need to find a fuel source that works as well for me as Enervitene did (before it got taken off the U.S. market).  EFS was terrible and I still hate all forms of gel.

4. Nearly two hours post-run, I feel surprisingly good.  Fortunately, Brooke had replenished the Ovaltine supply at home, so I was able to refuel quickly with a tall glass.  Chocolate milk is the bomb.com for recovery.

5. I need more MP work in my long runs.  The mental training required to sustain a hard effort for a long period of time strikes me as being just as important as the physical aspect.  I felt a little mentally weak at times today, so I need to work on that over the next 4-6 weeks.

6. I know it's cheating, but I weighed myself before getting into the shower (without having eaten anything).  Thanks to water loss, I tipped the scales at 151.2.  It doesn't count, but it did help me feel like my sub-150 goal may still be achievable.

Had an early breakfast to bid farewell to my sister and her husband, who are headed to UCLA for law school, so I brought my gear and ran in the VFFs on the grassy field by Extra Space.  With the rain and humidity, the temperature was downright pleasant for a midday run.  The scenery was a little boring, as it always is when one runs laps, but it felt good to put in some time in the VFFs.  All systems seemed to be in order.

10x1/4-mile intervals at Sugarhouse Park with 90 seconds active recovery between each.  Warmup (around 2 miles) didn't feel particularly good, as my back pain seems to have returned (same spot--just left of my tailbone along the top of my pelvis) and was causing a "hitch in my giddyup."  It started feeling a little better near the end of the warmup.  Splits were as follows:

1: 79 (5:17/mi) (AHR 156/MHR 167)

2: 79 (5:16/mi) (166/178)

3: 72 (4:49/mi) (170/177)

4: 77 (5:09/mi) (177/184) (this was up the hill on the northeast corner near the rose garden)

5: 77 (5:09/mi) (168/175)

6: 79 (5:15/mi) (178/182) (finished up the hill on the southwest corner)

7: 77 (5:10/mi) (173/181)

8: 74 (4:55/mi) (172/178)

9: 82 (5:28/mi) (175/185) (finished up the hill on the southwest corner)

10: 73 (4:53/mi) (175/181)

1-mile cooldown.  Solid workout--some of the best 1/4-mile splits I've seen in a long time.

Things are crazy at work, so I had to get up on time (5:00) this morning to sneak in my run.  It was dark enough that I wore my headlamp.  Still feeling some back pain.  Brooke got a card from a woman in her Crossfit class who is a massage therapist.  I may give her a call and see if she can help me resolve the problem.  It probably wouldn't hurt me to see her a few times before SG anyway.

Another early morning at work, so I had to skip my run. I brought my gear to run home from Extra Space, but I felt so wiped out that I couldn't stomach the thought of run 9.5 miles in the heat and humidity and 5:00 traffic.

12 easy miles with Maja in tow for the first 8.  After dropping her off, the pace picked up to a normal easy pace (around 7:20).  I'm shooting for 20 tomorrow to make up for missing yesterday's workout, so I consciously slowed myself down today.

Wanting to get some miles in but tired of fighting the cyclists in Emigration, I drove down to Liberty Park and ran south along 500 East to Vine Street, then wound around to 900 East, back to 725 East and out to Fort Union and back.  Very easy pace on the way out.  I picked it up on the way back, but still kept the effort pretty easy (running 6:30s).  I was pretty tired during the last couple of miles, but otherwise felt good throughout.  I took 6 Shot Bloks (3 over about 3 miles beginning at 8, then 3 more over 3 miles beginning at 14).  I just wish I could figure out a way to make them work when I'm at MP.  I choked once or twice when I was chewing them around Mile 15, even though I tried to eat them very slowly.  Still looking for my energy source for the race.

Easy effort on the H-rock loop (I extended the route by crossing over to Wasatch at the bottom of Donner Park, then following the golf course to 1300 South, then back home, which took it to exactly 7 miles).  Since I have a hard day tomorrow, I took it especially easy today, particularly on the 21st South hill (I walked a couple of times).  Since I forgot to use my inhaler before the run, it was probably good that I didn't extend myself much (I was wheezing anyway, and that continued for an hour or so after I finished the run).  Props to the dog for dragging me up 21st (she spotted a couple of rabbits and provided a very useful surge or two).

Up-down mile repeats in Emigration Canyon with 4 min active recovery between each (down from the usual 5 min).  Instead of continuing the usual up-down pattern, I went up, down, up, down, up, up, down, down.  Having trouble getting my Garmin to sync up with Garmin Connect, so I'll have to add splits later.  For now, I'll just point out that I felt horrible by about 1/4 mile into Repeat #3 and had thoughts of abandoning.  Fortunately, I didn't, and it turned out to just be a rough patch.  The headwind coming down the canyon seemed especially strong today, so I hope that accounts for some of the slowness of the uphill splits.

Garmin Connect seems to be working again, so here are the splits:

1: 6:35 (AHR 166/MHR 178)

2: 5:21 (167/173)

3: 6:29 (174/179)

4: 5:13 (169/174)

5: 6:46 (174/179)

6: 6:39 (171/176)

7: 5:34 (165/171) (disappointingly slow--I think I must have been subconsciously saving up for the final repeat)

8: 5:09 (168/176)

My schedule called for 8 this morning, so I took Maja and we ran across the U campus and continued north to 11th Ave, then over to F Street (4 miles).  I never like returning the same way on that route, so we diverted east at Federal Heights Way on the way back, continued east to Primary Children's, then through Fort Douglas and Research Park and back home.  By the time I got to my street, I was at 8.9, so I continued just far enough to make it an even 9.

Maja got stung by a wasp on 11th Ave.  It managed to plant itself precisely in a spot on the back of her left foreleg where she couldn't reach it with her teeth, so I had to flick it off after I finally figure out what was going on.  Must not have been this wasp's first time around the block.

Nothing overly interesting or troubling to report.  Legs are feeling pretty good right now, with no ongoing pains or anything that leads me to believe I'm approaching trouble.  The only consistent complaint I've had this summer is my lower back pain in the area where I injured myself while boogie boarding in Hawaii 7 years ago.  Still need to get to a massage therapist for that one.

The plan was for 14 easy today, but when I realized that I was already a couple of miles ahead of schedule this week and my lower back pain kicked in around mile 6, I decided to turn around.  I did the 20th East route out to Holladay Village and back.  As I reached the light on 2700 South and 2000 East on the way home, the light turned green in my favor just as I got there, so I went through without slowing down.  At the same time, a young-looking guy turned north on 2000 East from 2700 South.  I was on the east sidewalk, he on the west.  I sped up just a little to pass him (as is my wont), but he seemed to realize it and picked up his pace.  Although my back was hurting and I was hoping to keep things easy, I could not allow this guy to overtake me, so I threw down the hammer.  For a couple hundred meters, I could hear his footfalls on the other side of the street.  As we hit the downhill to go under I-80, I could still hear him, so I picked it up more.  At the top of the hill on the other side, I turned right toward 21st East.  I didn't look back until I got stopped at the 21st South intersection.  When I turned around to see if he was still on my tail, he was nowhere in sight.  He probably turned left on Parley's Canyon Drive where I turned right.  I also realized that my back pain had subsided considerably.  Amazing what a little pride and adrenaline can do for a guy.  I felt like I should carry some kind of sign that says, "Haven't been passed on a training run in 22 years of running, so please forgive any sudden accelerations and just let me go instead of trying to overtake me--my midlife crisis thanks you."

My lower back pain was significant today, so I decided to take the day off in hopes of being able to do my 26-miler tomorrow.  I'm getting nervous.

As I was getting out of my car last night, I threw my back out.  As a result, I made the decision to forgo my long run today in hopes of avoiding more significant problems.  Instead, I put on the Five Fingers and did a few easy laps around Sunnyside Park.  I'm really hoping that the problem is just a result of muscle tightness and that my massage on Monday night will free things up.

My back bothered me a little bit all weekend, so I tried to stretch a lot and use the Miracle Balls whenever possible.  Today's run was very slow (7:40 avg pace).  Back pain was mild, although it felt a little worse by the end.  Counting down the hours to my massage appointment tonight.

I had a 90-minute massage last night, and I think it helped a lot.  There was tremendous tightness in my hips and glutes, as well as my quads and hamstrings.  I have been terrible about stretching anything other than calves and hamstrings, so that may explain part of my back trouble.

I was concerned about doing my scheduled interval workout this morning, so I decided instead to go out for an easy 8 miles and to postpone my speed session until tomorrow morning.  I didn't feel any particular tightness or pain anywhere during the run, and the biggest difference was that my pace was faster than it's been lately, but with a similar effort.  Yesterday's pace was unusually slow (7:40 avg) for an easy day.  My easy days usually range in the 7:20-7:30 pace.  Today's average was 7:09, and that was after a very slow first mile (I was testing things out).  For an easy day, that was a good sign.

In case my two readers are interested, my massage therapist is Leah Nelson (leahnelsonlmt@gmail.com; 801-906-3222).  She's at 133 Kensington in SLC.  She just moved here three months ago from NYC, where she had a thriving practice.  She has worked with a lot of athletes, and I recommend her highly.

Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of my back pain.

10x1/2-mile repeats at Sugarhouse with 2 min active recovery between each (down from 3 min in past workouts).  Usual warmup and cooldown.  Splits looked like this:

1: 2:33 (5:07/mi) (AHR 160/MHR 170)

2: 2:37 (5:15/mi) (174/178)

3: 2:31 (5:01/mi) (173/178)

4: 2:38 (5:17/mi) (175/180)

5: 2:27 (4:53/mi) (175/181)

6: 2:32 (5:06/mi) (178/181)

7: 2:31 (5:01/mi) (175/179)

8: 2:39 (5:20/mi) (175/180)

9: 2:30 (5:00/mi) (175/178)

10: 2:35 (5:10/mi) (178/181)

I was pleased with the workout.  It was comfortably hard but never painful. I didn't have any back pain until the last couple of repeats.  I need to keep rolling on tennis balls and stretching more.  I've also started bringing my ice pack to work so that I can at least get a little help that way.  All in all, my confidence level is much higher today than it was over the weekend, when I was concerned that the back issue could derail my SG plans.  At this point, I think it's going to be manageable, as long as I stay on top of it.

I left Maja home again (I'm wondering whether my habit of running with her leash attached to my waist may be the cause of my lower back pain) and headed out for an easy 9 on the route across the U campus, up to 11th Ave, over to F Street, then back via Federal Heights Drive/Primary Children's/Research Park.  No noticeable pain today.

I had to get my 12-year-old up early for a soccer game, then head to Provo for an early meeting, so I missed my morning run but brought my Five Fingers to work for an easy run on the grass at lunch.  The schedule calls for a 10k race tomorrow, but since I hate short races and missed my long run last week due to back pain, I've decided to run 20 tomorrow instead.  As a result, I decided to stick with the recommended 4 miles for my Friday run.  Since it was hot and muggy, I was grateful that it was only 4.  As usual, I forgot to bring my inhaler, so I was wheezing a bit by the end.

No back pain today.

Today's plan was to run up Emigration and to work in about 8-9 miles at MP.  Since we were planning to take the kids up to Snowbird early for a little "Stay-cation" (I hate that term), I got up at 4:40 to get ready.  I decided to try the Generation UCAN product again to see if I wanted to use the product for the marathon, so I drank 24 oz. while I got my water and other gear put together.  I also had a small banana.  Because I was worried that the waist belt might throw my back out again, I decided to take my Camelbak instead.

The first couple of miles felt crappy, as usual.  After that, I started to warm up and get used to the climb, but I still didn't feel great.  I started paying attention to my splits around mile 3-4 and they were in the mid-8 range, which is a little slow for my easy runs up Emigration.  I maintained a similar effort to my usual easy runs up the canyon and watched my splits get slightly better, but only slightly.  Normally, by the time I'm at 5-6 miles, I'm under 8 min/mile and getting faster each mile.  Today, though, I seemed to top out at 8:06 pace with the same effort.  By the time I got to the Pinecrest turnoff at around 7.5, I could tell that something just wasn't right.  I went another mile and decided to turn around and cut the day short at 17.  When I stopped to turn around, a woman came cruising down the other side of the road.  I took a drink, stretched for a second, then headed down, expecting to catch her very quickly.

Since I wasn't feeling like myself, I decided not to try to start blasting down the mountain at MP, but to slowly work up to my pace and see how it felt.  I gradually increased the pace but was not gaining much on the woman ahead of me, so I upped it a little more.  I finally started catching her on the steep section just below Pinecrest, but I was at about 5:40 pace at that point and it wasn't feeling good.  After I got well ahead of her, I settled back to what felt like a normal MP effort, but the splits were far above what they should have been.  What normally feels like a 5:45-5:50 pace was translating to a 6:20-6:30 pace.  Recognizing that a solid MP session was not in the cards, I just kept the effort steady the rest of the way home and the pace stayed roughly the same.

I felt kind of wiped out by the time I made it home--just like I felt the last time I tried to do MP after taking Generation UCAN.  I think I've used the stuff four or five times now, and I'm ready to render a final verdict: the stuff is as good as poison for me, and I'm not planning to touch it again.  Anyone want about $30 worth of the crap (I made the mistake of ordering it in bulk)?

U campus to 11th Ave and west to the funeral home, then back along the Federal Heights Drive/Primary Children's/Fort Douglas/Research Park loop.  Right achilles was bugging me for the first mile.  It's been tight before, but this seemed a little worse than usual.  I'd better keep an eye on it.

8x1-mile repeats at Liberty Park with 3 min rest between each (down from 4 min the last time I did them).  Since I've been doing mile repeats either uphill or downhill for the past 4-6 weeks, I wanted to see what kind of pace I could hold over flat terrain.  Typical warmup and cooldown.  Splits were as follows:

1: 5:41 (AHR 167/MHR 176)

2: 5:41 (174/180)

3: 5:40 (175/180)

4: 5:35 (175/181)

5: 5:36 (175/179)

6: 5:39 (176/179)

7: 5:40 (173/177)

8: 5:36 (174/177)

As usual, I wasn't able to see my pace at all during the workout, so I went entirely on perceived effort.  Given the consistency in the splits, I certainly didn't over-exert myself, but given the HR data, I would also say that I was probably right on.  That being the case, I'm a little disappointed in the splits, as I think they indicate that I'm slower than I'd like to be at this point.  If I were on track to break 2:30 at SG this year, I think I'd be able to hit 5:20s in a workout like this.  At this point, I think I'm going to revise my goal to set a new PR if it's an average day.  If I'm feeling good, I'll shoot for sub-2:35.  To break 2:30, I think there would have to be a brisk tailwind, cool temperatures, and a pack of 4-6 guys I could run with for most of the race.

I had another massage last night.  It felt great (except for the painful parts), but I felt wiped out on this morning's run.  I forgot to take my inhaler, which didn't help, and I also dragged Maja along (guilt is a powerful motivator for me), so those two factors contributed.  For the first mile or so, though, my legs felt like jelly.  I suspect that was due more to yesterday's hard workout than the effects of the massage, but it still felt kind of crappy.  Maja was useless after 5 miles.  I talked to Leah (my LMT) about the possibility of Maja's leash throwing my back out of whack, and she didn't think it sounded likely, so I decided to accede to the dog's demands and get her back out on the road with me.  In fairness, she's probably gotten out of shape after not running with me for a couple of weeks, so I forgive her for dragging behind me.

I don't know what's going on, but I felt crappy from start to finish today (some back pain, some stomach discomfort, but mostly just general fatigue).  From the first few steps until I staggered home, I was counting the miles until I was done, and I never felt good.  After Saturday's debacle, yesterday's sluggish effort, and today's death march, I'm concerned that something is amiss.  As for potential causes: sleep (I'm probably not getting more than 6 hours each night; stress (things are crazy at work and have been for some time), burnout (I'm enjoying running less and less these days, as it feels more like a job than an outlet), or something else entirely.  I just hope that Saturday's 28-miler doesn't feel like this, because I'll never make it that far feeling so lousy.

Because I've been feeling totally drained on my runs lately, I decided to take a day off and get a full 8 hours of sleep.  Hopefully it helps on tomorrow's 28-miler.

While the distance seemed extremely long, I think it was a good decision to skip yesterday's workout and get some needed sleep.  My energy felt much better from start to finish, and the run went off without any trouble.  I tried using PowerGel (Raspberry Creme and Kona Punch) as my fuel source, and I think I've found a winner.  The consistency is far less viscous than GU, ClifShot, Hammer Gel, Honey Stinger, or some of the others, and the flavors I tried were downright palatable.  The only hang-up was when I stopped at my parents' place in Murray for a potty break (around mile 16) and changed my music selection (from podcasts to Pandora), when I apparently didn't close my Amphipod pouch tightly enough and lost both of my remaining gel packets.  I didn't realize it until I went for my third at mile 20.  Fortunately, I felt pretty decent all the way to the finish in spite of the lack of fuel from mile 15 on, although I suspect it would have been even better had I been able to fuel at least once more.

No MP work today, but hopefully the overdistance tactic will pay dividends next month.

After feeling good all day on Saturday and pretty good on Sunday morning, I developed a horrible pain beneath my left shoulder blade about midday.  It got steadily worse throughout the day until I could barely move last night.  I sat in my mother-in-law's massage chair when we were there for dinner and later had Brooke walk on my back for a bit, but neither seemed to touch the problem.  It continued to hurt throughout the night and woke me up multiple times, so I was nervous about running this morning.  Nevertheless, since my schedule only called for 6 miles, I thought I should give it a shot.  It was painful for the first mile or so but then started to loosen up.  By the end of the run, the pain had gone down significantly.  Nothing overly interesting to report about the run itself.

Plan was 10x1/2-mile repeats at Sugarhouse with 2-min rest intervals.  I ended up cutting the workout short due to a need to get to the office early and a tentative plan to race a half-marathon this Saturday. Splits looked like this:

1: 2:38 (5:16/mi) (AHR 157/MHR 172)

I SET MY GARMIN WRONG AND ONLY HAD 1 MIN REST

2: 2:46 (5:32/mi) (171/175) (included some uphill, plus the shortened rest interval)

STOPPED AND FIXED THE GARMIN

3: 2:36 (5:12/mi) (169/173)

4: 2:39 (5:17/mi) (172/177)

5: 2:33 (5:06/mi) (171/179)

6: 2:34 (5:10/mi) (173/177)

While the workout was a little slow and short, I don't feel too bad about it.  I got limited sleep last night and wasn't at the top of my game.  I'm hoping to do a mini-taper this week so that I can run Saturday's half at a solid training pace.

Easy 3 with Brooke.  Registering for Salt Lake Half today.

Slept in and called it tapering.

Easy 3, just enough to stretch a bit.

This was kind of a hokey race.  As much as I hate to dump on volunteers, I've never seen people at aid stations who appeared to have less of a clue about their purpose than today's crew did.  Not only did they not hold cups up or jog alongside runners (even the top runners, who were spaced widely apart), but in some cases they were even obstructing the aid stations (I had to try to dodge a girl at the final aid station at Ruth's Diner (there were only 3 in the race) to even grab a cup, and by the time I got it, it was empty.  As a result of the crappy aid stations, I only got two small swigs of water for the race.  I took part of a gel at the second aid station around mile 6.5, and as I was not able to get enough to drink from the partially filled Dixie cup I managed to grab from the table, the gel sort of sat in my stomach and made me a little miserable for a couple of miles.  I realize that this was not a major race and that it's always hard to get good volunteers, but if you're doing aid stations, it seems to me that you should at least train your volunteers to be as useful as possible.

The award ceremony was a waste of two hours.  There were computer problems that delayed the men's results over and over again (they didn't start the men's awards until 90 minutes after I finished).  Finally, after wading through a million age-group awards, they finally announced James Moore as the overall winner, essentially as an afterthought, since most people had long since left.  Then they announced the relay winners and thanked us for coming.  I had left my kids home alone (my oldest turns 14 on Saturday, so she was my babysitter), figuring that I'd be home no more than an hour after finishing, so I was a little frustrated when it had been two hours and they still hadn't announced the overall results.  I approached the race director and asked him about it, and he replied, "Oh, we only recognize the overall winner."  Great.  They go three deep for every imaginable age group and give no recognition to even the top 3.  Note to self: if I ever come back, remember to leave as soon as the race is over.  Waiting two hours was about 90 minutes too long.

With that rant out of the way, here are my splits:

1: 6:26 (I fell in behind James Moore and a guy with a Penn State XC shirt on about 400 meters in and gradually lost them on the long uphill) (AHR 175, MHR 200)

2: 7:19 (this is a steep section, and I decided to back off and save something for the rest of the race, but I had no idea that I had backed off THAT much!) (177/191)

3: 6:25 (176/179)

4: 6:51 (177/179) (Little Mountain is the 4-mile mark)

5: 5:18 (172/176) (ahh, this feels better)

6: 5:20 (170/172)

7: 5:39 (167/172) (settled into sort of MP effort here)

8: 5:36 (168/172)

9: 5:34 (170/172)

10: 5:32 (172/174)

11: 5:33 (173/176)

12: 5:15 (175/177) (Lisa Madsen and my friend Tom Wilkinson were cheering at the trailhead for the Shoreline Trail and gave me a nice boost!)

13: 5:29 (177/181) (my Garmin measured the course at 12.95, so this was a partial mile)

The complaints above notwithstanding, it was great to be running down Emigration with a partially closed road--the car and bike traffic volume was down about 80% from a normal Saturday, so I was able to run the tangents for the most part and didn't have to scream at a single group of 6-abreast slow cyclists.  In addition, the weather was perfect from start to finish.

This was my first half, and other than the rather dumpy support, it was a great first experience at this distance.  My goal was to finish under 1:17 and I accomplished that.  The purpose behind registering for this a few days ago was to provide a tune-up for St. George next month.  I think it was perfect for that.

I left my car at Washington Terrace over the weekend (I parked there and jogged to the starting line on Saturday) and wasn't able to get a ride up there to pick it up yesterday (my wife is still out of town), so I dusted off my bike and went for an early ride this morning.  My quads were kind of trashed yesterday and still hurt this morning, so it was a good day for a little cross-training and a gentle warmup on the quads.  I got out early enough that it wasn't starting to get light until I was halfway up Little Mountain.  Although I was a little saddle-sore (this was my first ride in a long time), I was able to push up the climb quite comfortably and at a solid pace.  Fortunately, when I arrived at my destination, my car was still there.  I tossed my bike in the back of the car and raced home to drive carpool for my son's soccer tournament in Centerville.

Distance was about 16 miles.

I was going to do my hard workout this morning, but decided instead to give myself another day to recover, especially since I hadn't run since Saturday's race.  I took Maja out for our usual Highland Park 8-mile loop.  It was a little windy, but the temperature was delightful.  Too bad September can't last all year.

My blog fails to reflect it (I stopped logging my workouts for about a month), but my taper did not go particularly well.  After my last entry, I did a 25-mile run down Big Cottonwood Canyon and home (I ran home from Brighton at 3:30 a.m. when the guy I was pacing for the last 25 of the Wasatch 100 got sick and was several hours behind schedule, which conflicted with my obligations the following day).  I had lower back pain (SI joint) throughout the entirety of the run.  Following that workout, I had problems all the way up to race day.  I saw my chiropractor, physical therapist, and massage therapist twice each in the final two weeks leading up to the race, and by the time I toed the starting line, they had me feeling pretty good.  Unfortunately, the back problems kept me from doing much running in the final month before St. George (just as they had for a couple of weeks before the Salt Lake Half), and my fitness probably suffered for it (cycling on the trainer in my basement can only do so much).

Because I was nervous about my back for the race, I took a lot of ibuprofen in the two or three days leading up to St. George, hoping that I could zap any remaining inflammation.  Fortunately, I had no back pain during the race.  Unfortunately, my stomach gave me a lot of trouble (see below).

I drove down with the family on Friday morning.  We went straight to the expo, where I dropped off my water bottles in the elite area (choosing to alternate between water and Gatorade), grabbed my race packet, and fled.  From there, we grabbed lunch at Jimmy John's (I ate half a #11 sandwich on 7-grain bread), then Brooke dropped me off at my hotel, the ironically named St. George Best Inn.  What a dive (bathroom only had half a window, toilet didn't work, remote didn't work, the non-smoking room smelled like smoke, etc.--but it was dirt cheap)!

I spent a quiet afternoon and evening, trying to stay off my feet and relax as much as possible.  I ate an early dinner (5:00) at The Pasta Factory (half an order of fettucine with pesto and a side of sauteed Italian veggies), which was delicious, even after a week of carb-loading.  After that, I got my race gear ready and half watched the BYU game in my room while I half watched Rocky on my portable DVD player.  I continued sipping my 64-oz Gatorade, which I had been working on all day.  I closed my eyes at around 10:15 and managed to sleep relatively well until around 3:00, when I started waking up every few minutes until the alarm went off at 4.

I got up, showered (admittedly weird race day habit), then walked to the bus loading area.  I was fully prepared for the usual freezing temperatures at the starting line, so when I left my hotel room in my tights and jacket, I was immediately alarmed by the warm air that greeted me.  I could only hope that things would cool down significantly as we headed up the canyon.  On the bus, I ate my bagel and banana and kept sipping Gatorade.  I talked a little to the woman next to me, who was from Cleveland.  I kept assuring her that the temperature would drop like a rock as we climbed to the high-elevation start. So much for that.

Once we arrived at the start, they announced over the loudspeaker that the temperature was 67 degrees, a new record (it was 6:00 a.m.).  I do not run well in heat, so I was very concerned about the temperature.  My race plan was to dip under 2:34 if everything went well.  In light of the heat, I started thinking about whether to modify my goal for the day.  I went to the elite staging area and immediately got in line to use the port-a-potty.  I was startled by how packed the area was.  The last time I was there, it was probably 80% less occupied.  (Not sure whether they opened it up to more people or just didn't enforce it as strictly as they had in 2009.)  At any rate, I spent most of my pre-race waiting in line, just to be sure.

About 15 minutes before the start, I took my bag to the trailer with all of my cold-weather gear (no need for even gloves), then started stretching a little.  I talked briefly with Trent Jensen, Ryan Bybee and Lisa Madsen.  Trent told me he was looking to improve on his 2:45 PR.  Ryan told me he was running with his wife, who was doing her first marathon.  Lisa was  shooting for 2:54 but was typically full of baseless self-doubt, questioning her most basic decisions (wear the tee at the start or dump it now?).  She went on to run 2:55--way to go, Lisa!  As we started lining up, I talked for a minute to Walter, whose child had taken his Garmin out of his bag the night before.  (I would have been a wreck.)

Now for the race.

At the gun, I took off and settled in very quickly just behind a pack of guys, most of whom, like Walter, were wearing red St. George Running Center tanks.  After a mile or two, I figure they were all gunning for 2:30, and that was too rich for me.  I hoped to at least keep them in sight until around the halfway point.  I ran alone, with a little bit of back and forth with three guys (two of whom were running together) until around mile 12.

Early splits were basically on the money:

Mile 1: 5:52

Mile 2: 5:58 (a little slow)

Mile 3: 5:40

Mile 4: 5:41

Mile 5: 5:51

Mile 6:5:41