Training for Top of Utah 2011

32 degrees and the rain last night had turned to ice on the streets. As a friend of mine says in a french accent, it was slicker than cow slaw-bear. Going downhill was scary. Uphill was difficult because my feet were slipping the whole time. Flat was OK but slow. 

HR was decent at 144. Pace slow at 9:23. Overall felt way better than Saturdays run. Also after Sat. run my weight was down to 165. It hasn't been there for 15+ years. That might be why my runs are feeling easier.

Tempo run on the track at Mount Si High School. Temp said 36.5 at my house so I wear shorts. I get to the track and it's more like 26,27 degrees. On top of that there is a good news bad news sitch. No wind is the good news. No wind is the bad news because of the people living close to the track burning wood in their wood stoves. Yuck! When I start the tempo the workers fixing the damage from the flood fired up the heavy machinery to add to the nastiness in the air. 

Workout went well. 

1.5 mile warm up at 9:12 pace nice and easy.

3 mile tempo(runnersworld.com plan said to do 7:26) Did 7:23(Yipee Skipee) pace without killing myself too badly. Maxed the HR at about 174 with avg at 168

 1.5 mile Cool down at 9:16 pace

Usually the day after a speed workout I don't do very well, but today my legs felt good. 6 easy on the ridge, with plenty of hills. Not much traffic-probably because of  mid-winter break.

HR avg. 149 Pace 9:12

Weighed in at 165 again! Soon that might be the ticket. The love handles are going bye-bye. Love that!!

Gorgeous morning! Sunny and clear. Ran the ridge. Some gusty winds in some places. The first few miles was going against the wind. It's a killer when it's uphill against the wind. Anywho, started easy so it wouldn't be like last week where I was carrying piano the last 4 miles. Stopped at 3 miles and 7 miles for water. Decided to hit the parkway hill(usually a killer) about halfway through the run. 

It's amazing how much easier it is to run with less weight on your body. I can remember trying to run this hill when I was weighing 200+ lbs. I almost kept my same pace up the hill. 

Here are the stats from the run.

Avg. HR 148   Avg. Pace 8:53(not too bad with that hill in there) max HR on the hill 173