dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I slept a little later than normal this morning, and I ran alone.  The extra sleep was nice.  I ended up running 10 miles in 1:18:50.

Total time of 1:39:01 for 12.75 miles.  We ran 1.75 miles hard in the middle of the run, starting with 1.25 at 5:20 pace (6:40 total).  We were right on pace for the entire 1.25.  At the end of 1.25 we went straight into an all out 800.  I ran it in 2:10 hitting the 200 splits in 31, 33, 33, 33.

Total time of 1:18:08 for 10 miles.  Sasha's old friend Ben came and ran with us for a while.

I came into this race today not completely sure what to expect because I am running the Salt Lake Marathon in 2 weeks. I didn't want to run so hard that I would not be able to recover for the marathon, but I also wanted to be competitive.

I have to say that I really like the race directors for run13.com. I also ran the 10k that they put on for Pioneer day last year and I think that organizationally they did a good job for that race and for this race as well. I am also glad that this race was certified and the mile markers were more accurate then the race last July.

The race started off next to the Provo Tabernacle and headed through South Provo before going near the lake and then back along the Provo River trail before finishing back at the Provo Tabernacle. The weather was cold, with temperatures in the low to mid 30's (I think). There was also a light snow coming down for most of the race, and it was pretty windy. My mile splits were:

5:01, 5:21 (10:22), 5:29 (15:51), 5:34 (21:25), 5:34 (26:59), 5:32 (32:31), 5:28 (37:59), 5:29 (43:28), 5:27 (48:55), 5:20 (54:15), 5:25 (59:40), 5:27 (1:05:07), 5:03 (1:10:10), 0:29 (1:10:39)

At the beginning of the race there was a group of 5 of us including myself, Sasha, Shin Nozuki, Nick McCombs, and Ian Hunter. At about 2.5 miles Ian dropped back as he was not actually in the race and was just pacing Nick for the first few miles. Sasha dropped back here as well. Shin, Nick and myself then ran together until about 6 or 6.5 miles, at which point Shin started to fade and he dropped back. I had been drafting off of Shin or the other guys up to this point, but from here on I pretty much just sat on Nick. There were a few places where I started moving up next to Nick, but each time I did he sped up, so I would drop back again so as not to push the pace too fast. Just past the 12 mile mark I moved up and passed Nick. I ended up running a 5:03 mile from 12 to 13 and finished the last tenth in 29 seconds to win in 1:10:39.

I was pleased with this race because I have never felt this good after a race, or tempo run, that has been this long and this fast. I did not get very sore at all, and I still felt strong after the race.

Ran easy.  felt good after the half-marathon, but my quads were a little tight.

ran 2000 in the middle in 6:40 plus 1600 more in 4:59

good run.  Nothing special happened.

Took it easy.  Finished in 1:18:XX

Total time of 1:16:XX for 10.3 miles.  I ran 2 miles at marathon pace in the middle in 10:59 (5:30, 5:29).  I had a hard time telling if I was really running at marathon effort, or if it was a half-marathon effort, because my shins were tight, and hurt a little due to a short warm-up.  The longer I went however, the better it felt.

Only 10 miles today as I begin my pre-marathon taper.  We were pacing Mary Ann through a tempo run at 6:20 pace and we started off fast, hitting the first mile in a warm-up time of 6:30, and then getting right down to goal pace by the second mile.  After a couple miles I needed to use the restroom, so I took a vpb.  Because of how fast Sasha and Mary Ann were going it took me 3.5 miles at about 5:40 pace to catch up to them, after which I ran for a few more miles with them, before turning around to head back to my car.  I slowed down after turning around, but still finished 10 miles in 1:02:56.

In the afternoon I took 2 naps totaling 3.5 hours.  I needed it as I have not been sleeping enough the last couple of nights.  That is one thing that I really need to focus on over the next week as I prepare for the marathon.

good day.  I slept late, and went to stake conference.  My siblings came over for easter dinner in the evening.

10.3 miles this morning with Sasha, Mary Ann, and Daniel.  A funny thing that happened this morning, I stopped about 4.5 miles into the run to take a vpb, and while I am doing my business I see a plastic frog staring at me from under a rock.  Next to it was a plastic container with something in it.  I was intrigued, so after I finished I pulled it out from its hiding spot and I started running with it.  Ends up that it was a geo caching site and the container was filled with plastic frogs for people to take with them, and a log book to sign and put a stamp in saying that you had found it.  After I finished looking through it I decided that I needed to speed up and catch the others, which I did.  I then had to run a little extra after catching them so that I could figure out where it was I needed to put the container for other people to find it, afte which I caught up again.  All added up I think that this gave me about a mile at marathon pace, maybe faster.  I finished the run in 1:17:58 for what I will estimate was 10.3 miles.

ran about 8.1 miles in just under 1:05:00.  Ran 1.25 miles hard in the middle hitting 1000 in 3:18, and then slowly speeding up and hitting the last 1000 in 2:58, with the last 400 in 1:09.  I never felt like I was going all out, but it was pretty hard by the end.

nothing special happened

again, nothing special happened

2 miles in 14:59

So, for this marathon, I have some mixed reactions as I think about how things went.  On the plus side I reached my goal of placing in the top 5 and I got $100 dollars for my efforts (I already got the check!  No waiting for a year!).  I also now know how much more I need to improve before I can really say that I am an elite marathon runner (I hung close to the 3rd place finisher through about 18 miles).  I also ran an equivalent of my best marathon to date.  On the negative side, I have still not yet broken the 2:30 mark in a marathon as I crashed yet again (although my slowest mile was a 7:44 uphill mile in comparison to an 8:15 flat mile at St. George).  Crashing yet again was disapointing as I felt that my preparation for this marathon was so much better than in the past.  Anyhow, overall I feel that this was a positive experience.  I will learn from it and do better next time, just as I did better this time than the time before.  Here are my mile splits as I remember them.

1 - 5:22 felt really easy

2 - 10:55 (5:33) still easy

3 - missed the mark, but passed the aid station at 16:30

4 - 21:40 not completely sure on the time, but it is close

5 - 27:12 we head into sugarhouse park.  There are rolling hills throughout the next few miles.

6 - 32:44 (5:32)  not completely sure on the split, but fairly certain

7 - 38:24 (5:40)  There is a decent sized hill during this mile and Ezekiel Ruto and I let the top 2 Kenyans and Seth go.  again, not completely sure on the exact split, but this is pretty close.

8 - 43:53 (5:29)  From here on, the overall splits are correct.

9 - 49:37 (5:44)  The last few miles have been at a consistent effort, but have been rolling so the times jump around a bit.

10 - 55:00 (5:23)

11 - 1:00:20 (5:20)

12 - 1:05:53 (5:33)  I take my first (and eventually only) gel during ths mile.

13 - 1:11:38 (5:45)  I start to have stomach cramps due to drinking some gatorade as well as from taking the gel.

halfway - 1:12:13  I still feel strong, but I am a little worried because I felt better at the end of the Provo City Half than I felt at this point of the marathon even though I was running slower and the weather was better.

14 - 1:16:59 (5:21)  Ruto is starting to push the pace a little more

15 - 1:22:30 (5:31)  Ruto gaps me by about 13 seconds during this mile.  At the beginning of this mile I was messing with my shirt and trying to untuck it, and my second gel fell out onto the ground.  I decided to just leave it.

16 - 1:28:00 (5:30)  Uphill mile.  Average is exactly 5:30 through 16 miles

17 - 1:33:41 (5:41)  I made the decision during this mile to slow down a little and to try and run 5:40's to the finish.  The first mile of this was right on.

18 - 1:39:25 (5:44)  A little slower than I wanted, but still acceptable since the mile had a slight uphill in the second half.

19 - 1:45:17 (5:52)  I realize that I am about to hit the wall as my effort is staying the same, but I am starting to slow a little more.  I am determined at this point to not crash as bad as last time.

20 - 1:51:25 (6:08)  Second 10 mile section in 56:25.

21 - 1:58:03 (6:38)  I was surprised that my pace dropped so quickly.  I thought that my slow death would be a little slower.

22 - 2:04:44 (6:41)  I pushed a little harder this mile because I was trying not to slow down as much.

23 - 2:11:52 (7:08)  During this mile I had to start fighting to pass the half marathon runners who were getting in the way.  I ended up stopping at the aid station to grab gatorage as I couldn't do it on the run, and I bumped into a lot of people as I tried to get away.

24 - 2:19:19 (7:27)  Sasha gave me this split and the split at 25, so as far as I know these are correct.  Sasha and James (fiddy) joined me to pace me this mile.  They also helped me grab gatorade at aid stations, although I still collided with a couple of people

25 - 2:27:03 (7:44)  Considering what seemed like a massive hill that we had to climb during this mile, I don't think that the time is as bad as it looks

26.2 - 2:35:07 (6:37 pace from 25 to the finish)  We had a downhill mile to finish the race and I was able to get a better rythym going.  I was glad that I was able to pick it up towards the end, but at the same time I was a little disappointed that I was too weak to push it harder during the few previous miles when I think I should have been able to

So, all in all I think that placewise I finished where I was supposed to finish, I just came in 7-10 minutes slower than I wanted to.  I didn't feel as rotten at the end as I did at St. George, and I was able to speed up the last mile with an uphill mile that was still 30 seconds faster than my last mile at St. George last year.  I think that things will work out eventually, and I will run a great marathon, but it just might take a couple more years.

I ran 6 miles this morning in 43:22. This was my first run after the marathon. I am surprised at how quickly I have been able to recover after this marathon in comparison to the last 2. I am still sore, but it is not too bad. I will probably do no more than 6 for the rest of this week just to be safe.

I thought it would be kind of fun to post this picture that the ksl camera guy took of my 5th place check from the marathon on Saturday.

I ran 6 miles with Ted, Daniel, and Sasha this morning.  We finished in 45:11, after which Sasha and Daniel ran a few more miles.  I am still just a little sore post marathon, but I am feeling much better at this point than I did after my first two marathons.  Mainly now, my quads feel tight when I crouch down.

6 miles in 44:44.  I felt tired this morning even though I got to bed fairly quickly after I got home.  Maybe I am just adjusting to the earlier wake up time.  I am also still recovering from the marathon, so I shouldn't be too surprised.

I ran 6 miles in 43:38, running the last mile in approximately 6:40.  I felt good, but there is still some tightness in my quads.  I don't know how some people can run races at close to 100% just a few days after finishing a marathon.  I feel much better after this marathon than after past marathons, and I feel like I am in no condition to race competitively.  I guess that I just need to increase my resistance to the pounding, which means that I need to up my mileage some more.

I ran 6 miles this morning in 44:22.  It was a good run, and I am feeling strong.  Still a little bit of tightness in the quads, but I almost don't even notice it now.  I mainly only notice it when I kneel down.  After the run I hopped on my bike and acted as an aid to Sasha while he was doing his long run.  I carried a water bottle for him, and gave it to him every two miles during the second half of his workout, plus a couple of extra times near the end.  Sasha ended up running the last 10.1 miles in 58:44.  I will count my biking as 4 running miles for today.

ran 6 miles with Ted and Sasha, and then 2.5 more with Sasha.  Finished the first 6 in 43:09, and finished 8.5 with a total time of 1:00:19.  Ran the last mile in 5:13 (83, 77, 76, 77).  I didn't really mean to go that fast, I only intended to hit 5:30-6:00 pace, but I got excited.

ran 10 miles with Sasha in 1:13:53.  I found out that I have not recovered completely from the marathon when I ran a 3 mile tempo, and even with an easy first mile in 5:46 I was struggling a lot by the end.  Last 2 miles in 5:18, and 5:12.  Afterwards finished up running back to Sasha's house.

I ran the first 6 miles with Sasha and Ted in 43:04.  It is the fastest we have finished 6 miles since I ran the marathon.  Afterwards Sasha and I ran 4 more miles.  During the last mile we picked the pace up and ran a 5:59 last mile.  I stopped in the middle of this mile to give my wife Kimia a kiss as she was walking down the Provo river trail.  The goal of running a faster last mile is to see if I can slowly trail my body to run using a higher percentage of energy from fats at fast paces, so we pick up the pace just enough that it starts to feel uncomfortable, where if we picked up the pace any more we would actually feel better.  The theory is that our body is still trying to use fats to power the muscles as it has been the entire run, so speeding up just a little will train the body to use fats at faster speeds, thus limiting the blow-up in a marathon.  However, if we speed up too fast, our body will naturally switch over to using muscle glycogen as the primary source of energy.  Total time for 10 miles 1:13:36.

Just me and Sasha this morning, with the exception of about a mile near the beginning when Adam ran with us.  After about 3.5 miles, Sasha ran the 5 mile tempo while I just ran easy.  After Sasha finished the tempo he ran back to where I was at and we ran back to his house.  We ran the last mile in 6:00 to try and train the body to run on fats.  Total time of 1:14:20.