Running

4.50 with no watch, but it felt like I pushed the pace in certain areas.  Was out of town the last two days in Dallas and have come back to what feels like winter temps.  Probably no running tomorrow and will leave for S.G. around 10.  Very excited and feeling confident for the race, although I'm a little tired right now.

Good race.  About an 11 minute PR for me.  I was going to try and stick with the sub 3 pace group, but I thought they were going too fast for me after about 5 miles.  I wish I could have stuck with them though because I think it would have helped me in the later stages of the race.

1-6:52

2-6:44

3-6:28

4-6:18

5-6:30 This is around the point where I dropped from the pace group.   I was feeling pretty good overall.

6-6:27

7-6:32

8-7:24 Ran with Matt K. from the blog for a few miles.  Got up Veyo without too much trouble. 

9-7:15

10-7:07

11-7:25

12-7:12 Miles 9-13 were pretty tough.  I think the steady climb was getting to my legs a bit.

13-6:43 Hit the half way point right around 1:30:10 and figured I was in good shape if I could negative split.

14-6:55

15-6:58

16-6:21

17-6:29

18-6:50 It was around this point in time where I start having trouble with my toes.  Both my big toes are going numb on me. I think it is a combination of the heel inserts I’ve been wearing all year and my shoes being tied too tight.

19-7:20 Uh oh

20-7:07

21-6:33

22-7:24 I’m starting to spend more time at the aid station and I am not doing good mentally.  Bottoms of my feet are killing me.  There is some walking in some of these miles.

23-7:17

24-6:54 Apparently I’m feeling better than I thought.

25-7:55 It’s over.  I’m mentally done and I am walking more and more now.  Getting passed a lot, but I know I’ve got my BQ in the bag.

26-8:09 Death march to the end.

.2-1:45

Overall, a great race for me.  I don’t think I was ready for miles 22-26.2.  I need to get stronger mentally.  My legs were obviously the first thing to go and they were getting shaky around mile 19.  However, looking back at my splits, I think I let the race get the best of me.  I was still trucking along pretty good around mile 21 or so, but going from a 6:54 mile to a 7:55 mile from 24-25 is frustrating.

I think I have lots of room to improve and get the marathon time a lot lower.  I need to change some things (eat better, lose some weight – I was racing at around 160 lbs, and do more runs at marathon pace).   I guess more than anything, I am motivated to get better.  Will take any advice from anybody on the blog to help me get there.

Extremely sore from the race still.  Everything hurts from the midsection and lower.  I don't plan on doing anything today, and will start with the elliptical tomorrow.

30 minutes of lifting and 30 minutes of elliptical.

45 minutes on the elliptical this morning.  My quads are still sore from the race.  I don't know that they have been this sore after a race.  I'm going to try and not run until Saturday, and then next week I think I will try and do the same thing.  I think it is good for me to take a little running break.  We will see if I can do it.

So far, so good on not running.  45 minutes on the elliptical.  Will try to go lift later on tonight.  Legs are feeling better and better.

Lifted for an hour and then walked 10 minutes on the treadmill while talking to Becca and did 10 minutes on the elliptical. 

35 minutes on the stationary bike because there were no ellipticals available at the gym (grrrrhhh).  This was after I drove around all of Lehi looking for a way to get by the train that had blocked almost all of my available routes to the gym. 

11.71 at overall pace of 8:15 up to Vivian Park and back down.  Felt good for the first 6 miles or so, and then the soreness got worse and worse in my quads. This was a stupid move to run this far and I didn't realize how much damage the SGM did to my legs. I felt worse last night than I did at any point last week. Will try and do runs of 3-4 miles this week at slow pace.

4.02 in around 37:15.  After Saturday's run, I decided I would intentionally take things really, really slow.  Some soreness in the quads, but felt better than Saturday.  I don't know why I feel it's necessary to include the 0.02 in my mileage, but I do.

PM 4.0 at around 8:15 pace.

4.27 in 35:27.  Really warm this morning compared to yesterday.  Didn't feel all that great, but made it through the run.

PM 4.0 on the TM after lifting for 40 minutes.

4.50 on the TM because it was too windy to run outside.  Walked an additional .25 after as I talked with Melanie from the blog about the SGM.

PM 4.0 in 29:58.  It started raining pretty good about 1/2 way through my run. For some reason my pace was descently fast, plus I think the rain made me go faster as well.

5.34 in 44 something.  Didn't feel that well in my legs and my stomach was giving me problems.

Nothing this morning.  I had good intentions, but rationalized not getting out by saying that a day of rest today will help me feel better for a little bit longer run tomorrow. 

12.05 at overall pace of 7:55.  Felt about a million times better than last Saturday, but not 100%.  Last 3 miles were about 6:48, 6:41 and then around 6:32.  I might throw in some easy miles this afternoon around football games. 

Afternoon: Threw in an additional 5 miles in 39:35.  Felt pretty good and never pushed the pace at all.  However, later on Saturday evening I felt aweful.  I think I just over did it today with the running.  My left knee was giving me some problems and I was just sore.

4.64 in 37:05.  Didn't feel great, but it was warm this morning.  I could have run in shorts and no sleeves today and been fine.

PM 5.50 on the TM.  Did a 1.50 warmup and then I hit the runner's high for about 4 miles.  I felt so good and I had the pace in the mid 6's for the whole time.  Felt like I could go forever at that pace.

4.75 in 38:00.  Legs and lower body didn't feel all that great.  This was expected after putting in some pretty fast miles last night on the TM.  I think I'm going to run the 1/2 that is on Halloween and comes down Provo Canyon.  Should be a pretty fast course.

Evening: Lifted for about 30 min. and then did a 2 mile warmup on the TM.  I was then going to try and do about 5 at a pretty good tempo, but I only made it 2.25.  My stomach was giving me trouble and my body didn't feel nearly as good as the other day when I was on the TM.

5.05 in 40:34.  Didn't feel all that great, but just tried to go easy and not push things too much.  Body is pretty sore and I'm tired from not getting as much sleep as usual.

3.02 in around 22:45. Mile 1 in about 8:10. Mile 2 about 7:35. Mile 3 about 6:51. Just couldn't get my body to go faster at the end. I've been unusually sore and tired from the limited miles I've run this week.

12.05 in 1:35 something.  One of the worst runs I've had on a Saturday morning in a while. Don't know if it's cause the motivation is not there or what.  Body didn't feel that well again.  Wonder if I'm fighting a bit of a cold, even though I don't feel that bad.  Hamstrings and legs are a bit sore.  Lower abdomen muscles are sore.  I haven't even lifted that much this week either.  Didn't even run that much this week.  I'm assuming that I'm just still feeling the effects of the marathon, but it has been a while.  Great weather in the canyon though.  Unusually warm and I was overdressed.  Hardly any wind and that is never the case on Saturday mornings.  Not sure if I want to run the 1/2 next week if I feel crappy like I have been.

7.22 in 56:35.  Probably the coldest morning yet this year, but one of my better morning runs since the marathon. Had a good mind set for the run and just took it easy and tried to enjoy things. Scared the crap out of somebody right at the beginning. It was pitch black and I could tell I was coming up on sombebody and was going to pass them (we were going in the same direction). I went to the opposite side of the road so that I wouldn't come right up behind them, but right as I was about to pass them they started coming to the same side of the road that I was on. I quickly made some noise so they would notice me and they stopped dead in their tracks. I think they were terrified and they had no idea I was there. Felt bad for them, but I laughed for a bit. Saw several other runners out early today.

6.50 on the TM. Started slow and just gradually picked the speed up.  Felt pretty good overall. Went to bed earlier the last two nights and I have felt better on my runs the last few days. If not for the wind, I would have been able to run outside. With the snow coming today, I'm sure I'll be stuck on the treadmill for the next few days.

6.75 on the TM. Did a 1 mile warmup and then got serious.  Just gradually built my pace up for the next 4.50 miles to where I eventually was hitting 6:30s for a bit. Felt good after a while and got to the point where just under 7:00 felt pretty easy. Not a bad run for me overall this morning.

6.0 on the TM. Everything was pretty slow except for mile 5, which was probably around 7:25ish. A bit sore and tired. I'm going to sign up for the 1/2 marathon this Saturday down Provo Canyon. Hope it's not too cold.

Nothing. Decided to sleep instead of wake up. Justified it by saying that the treadmills and ellipticals would probably all be full since the L.C. track is closed for some Halloween party they are getting ready for. I probably could have run outside though. Whatever.

Pretty frustrating race for me.  I’ll keep this simple.  First 4.5 miles were great.  I was sailing right along and loved the steep downhill.  Passing lots of people and was pretty close to the front I believe.  Big gap between me and the people ahead.  The coolest thing of this whole race was the fog when we were coming out of the first canyon where Sundance is.  It was awesome.  Everything after this was tough.  My legs just died.  Mentally I wasn’t into it.  Getting passed by everyone I had just passed.  Melanie from the blog came along and I was going to try and stick with her, but I just didn’t have it in my legs.  From about mile 7 on I tried to just take it easy, but I was so frustrated.  Finally at mile 10 Josse caught up to me and I was so glad to finally have somebody to run with to the end.  Glad this race is over.  I want to be done with racing for a while.  My legs just don’t have anything in them.  I want to try and just put in some miles and enjoy some overall fitness.

BTW – I had an awful “honey bucket” experience before the race.  I’ll spare the details for now, but it was disgusting and just pissed me off.  Still makes me sick to think about.  On the bright side, the fog was awesome, my first 4.5 miles were awesome, I got to talk with Bec before the race and Josse and some others after the race, and I got some exercise today.