dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran 10.1 miles this morning.  We kept the pace slow like normal.  My average finishing time for these runs is usually around 1:18.

5 miles in the evening in 37:47.  I threw in some strides as I came up the hill towards my house.  5 x 15 seconds for the strides with 1:05 recovery, with the first 4 run uphill and the last on a flat section of the road.

This is the only day this week that I ran less than 15 miles, which is abnormal for me.  I only ran in the morning today.  I felt really tired, because I had a long day at work yesterday in addition to helping out a little as my sister was moving yesterday.

I ran a 20 mile long run today with Sasha.  In order to celebrate the end of the construction on the trail (they finally paved it!) we ran the 5 mile tempo about midway through our run.  My total time was 27:37 with splits of 5:41, 5:38, 5:37, 5:25, 5:16 (81, 80, 80, 75 for the last mile, and 54-55 for the last 300).  Sasha originally wanted to run 86 second quarters for the tempo (5:44 pace) but once we got started he told me that he was ok with 5:40 pace.  I didn't feel too loose at the beginning, but as I slowly became more comfortable I started to speed up until I hit an 80 second quarter during the 4th mile.  I ran the last mile alone and Sasha dropped back.  At the end of the run we ran the last 2 miles fast in 5:57 (2:58, 2:59) and 5:42 (2:54, 2:48).

I ran 12 miles with Sasha this morning in 1:26:54.  Benjamin joined us for the first 2 miles, and Matt joined us for about 2.5 miles after that.  In the middle of the run Sasha and I ran 500 hard, with me hitting 1:19, and Sasha coming in at 1:20.  After 200 recovery we ran another 300 with me finishing in 46, and Sasha in 52.  At the end of the run we ran the last mile fast so that I could get home in time to make it to the parade, and we closed in 5:44.

Kimia and I got to be in the parade with our baby Anita this morning because Anita won the freedom festival baby contest in the 0-3 month age division.  We ended up walking about 4.5 miles by my estimate as we walked the entire parade route, and then had to walk back to our car at Provo High.  I represented the blog, and the St. George Running Center in the parade as I wore my white blog shirt with the red and black St. George/fastrunningblog logos.  Who knows if the advertising did any good, or if anyone even noticed the shirt, but it can't hurt.  We took a nap after the parade, and in the evening I ran 5 more miles with the baby stroller in 39:35.

I ran this morning with Sasha.

PM:  I ran 5 more miles easy

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:11:44 with Daniel.  This is the fastest 10 mile easy morning run that I have done in quite a while.  I ran some strides heading up the hill to my house.

I ran 10 miles this morning with Sasha.

PM:  5 more miles alone

I ran 10 miles this morning with Sasha and Daniel.

PM:  5 more miles alone

I ran my long run with Sasha this morning.  We ran the first 10 miles pretty slow, hitting our halfway mark in 1:16:40ish.  During the next half of the run we ran a 2.5 mile tempo on the way out in just under 14:00, and then ran a tempo from the start of the river trail until we got to Sasha's house (200m short of 4 miles) averaging 5:50 until we had a half mile to go, at which point we sped up a fair amount to finish 20.2 miles in 2:19:05.

I ran with Sasha this morning, and we ran 2 x 1.5 miles at 5:20 goal pace.  We hit quarter splits of 79, 82, 80, 79, 80, 78 (7:58) for the first repeat on our way out to the lake.  On the way back we hit quarter splits of 80, 80, 80, 80, 79, 76 (7:55) on the same stretch of trail running in the opposite direction.  Total time for 15.1 miles was 1:51:51

I ran 10 miles this morning with Sasha and finished in 1:16:XX.

PM:  5 miles alone in 37:07.

I ran a 1000m time trial today in 2:43, which is not too bad considering that it was somewhat windy, and I feel like the wind really affected me as I was running hard enough that even just a little more effort expended at the beginning while fighting the wind really sucked the energy out of me.  By the time I hit 500m I felt dead, but I kept fighting and was able to recover just a little over the last 200m.  200 splits were 31, 32, 33, 34, 33 (2:10 for 800).  I was shooting for a 2:40, so I was not too far off pace.  Sasha ran 2:12 for 800, starting 200m after me and then drafting behind me. Afterwards I finished what I eventually decided was a little over 10 miles, so I am calling the run 10.1 miles. 

10 miles in the AM.

 PM:  5 miles easy. 

10 miles in the AM

PM:  5 miles alone. 

I ran a long run with Sasha this morning.  We ran out to the end of the trail and back twice.  We ran the last 5.05 miles from the end of the trail back to Sasha's house fast to finish the run in 2:15ish.  Last 5+ miles in the mid 28:00 range.  Temperatures got up to the mid 80's by the end of the run, so that affected us during the last few miles.

Ran the first 3 miles with Benjamin, and then ran 10 more miles with Sasha.  Ran quick for a little bit, but I can't seem to recall exactly what we did.  Maybe I should update my blog more frequently so I don't forget.

Ran in the AM with Sasha.  Again, just like Monday we did have a relatively mild pickup and I forgot what it was that we did as I am now updating my blog a week and a half later.

I ran 10 miles this morning with Sasha.  If I remember correctly I think that we ran a fat mile this morning during the second half of our run.

PM: easy run with the baby in the stroller. 

10 miles easy this morning.  No PM run as I am cutting back just a little this week in order to help myself run strong at Des News on Saturday.

Easy run with Sasha.  Finished in a fairly average time.

This year as I gear up to try and qualify for the Olympic Trials in the fall I have been running fewer races than in years past, but have run races that I feel will give me a good gauge of my current fitness and help me to fine tune myself in order to qualify for the trials.  So far this year those races have come with mixed results.  I had good results at the Provo City Half and the Law Day 5K, while running poorly at the Utah Valley Half, and all three races helped me learn important things that I think will aid me in qualifying for the trials come November.  Today was no different, and I am glad to say that I gained a valuable confidence boost while running significantly faster here than last year.

At the start of the race I had three goals.  To run 29:30 or faster, to beat Paul Peterson after getting pounded by him at Utah Valley, and to beat Jon Kotter (I was 2 - 2 lifetime against both of them so this was a rubber match of sorts for me even if they didn't know it).

I started the race fast, in front of all but the Africans and one white guy.  After a couple hundred meters I relaxed a little and waited until the top Utah guys passed me by.  I latched onto the back of that group running just behind Teren Jameson.  Just before 2 miles however I hit a rough patch for a minute or two and Teren dropped me, catching up to Jon Kotter.  I hit 2 miles in 8:49 (3 seconds off of goal pace) and Brad Osguthorpe and a guy in red passed me shortly thereafter.  I dug down to focus on running strong and relaxed and I caught back up to Brad and the guy in red.  Throughout the next few miles Brad and I traded leads back and forth as we worked on catching up to Teren and Jon who were running together just in front of us.  We hit the 3 mile mark in 13:43 (4:54) and the 4 mile mark in 18:35 (4:52).  The guy in red dropped back at some point after 3 miles and I could not hear anyone else, but I kind of knew that there were other people back there.  We hit 5 miles in 23:28 (4:53) and caught Jon Kotter shortly thereafter as Teren dropped him.  Just after catching Jon, Paul Peterson caught the group I was with and I realized after a quick glance back that within just a few seconds of one another were all the people from 10th-14th in the race.  I started to worry a little now, as I had been 11th or 12th for the majority of the race and I didn't want to get beat by a bunch of guys at the end of a hard race.  I kept telling myself; just have faith, you can run this fast, you are just as fast as these guys, and I dug down to try and keep pushing the pace.  We got onto 900 South and the long slow death commenced, as this road seems to extend for an eternity.  Brad pulled to the lead of our group with Jon and I in tow and we crossed the 6 mile mark in 28:32 (5:04).  We then kicked, and Brad pulled away from the rest of us.  I passed Jon to move into 10th, but simply did not have the speed at the end of this race to stay in front and he passed me back.  I finished 2 seconds behind both Brad and Jon, finishing in 29:33 (1:01 for the last .21).

So, I kind of reached half of my goals.  The goals to beat Paul and Jon were really not important, but were goals mainly used to help motivate me to compete with guys that run at about the level I am at, and I beat Paul by about 5 seconds, while losing to Jon by 2 seconds.  I also did not technically hit my time goal of 29:30, but only finishing 3 seconds off I think is close enough for me to be happy.  So, all in all it was a good strong race.  I ran a course pr by 40 seconds, and both Paul and I beat the blog record in the 10K that I set at this race last year.  This gives me a big confidence boost that I can qualify for the trials in November at Indianapolis.  I just need to keep taking one step at a time (both figuratively and literally) so that I can keep improving.

I am still a little sore after Des News, but I do not feel too bad.  I ran 12.4 miles, running parts of the run with Daniel and Benjamin, and running all of it with Sasha.  Finished in 1:38:33

I ran 12 miles in the AM with Sasha, Benjamin, and Daniel.  Finished in about 1:34:00.

PM:  I ran with Anita in the stroller and got in 5 miles in 39:04 

I ran approximately 13 miles this morning with Benjamin and Sasha.  We had to take a few detours, thus the approximate mileage for the day.  Ran a fat mile in the second half o the run in 5:31.  Total time of 1:40:38.

PM:  I ran 5 more miles alone in about 37:00 (hit the turnaround in 18:16, but run uphill the second half, so probably finished slower and never bothered checking my watch)

Today was the biggest moving day so far for us.  We have been packing every day, but today we packed the truck, and by the end of the day I felt completely dead.  I am going to back off for the rest of this week.

I ran with a bunch of people today on my last run in Provo/Orem before moving to Vegas.  We leave this evening to head out.  Approximate on the distance again.  I am calling it 13.6 because it was close enough and it gives me an even mileage for the week at 61 miles through today if I call it 13.6 instead of 13.5 (maybe it was 13.4 or 13.7, but I don't really care to measure and find out).  Total time of 1:48:XX.  My legs felt dead due to the extra stress yesterday.  I am going to take my time cleaning the apartment today so that I can rest a little extra.

Kimia and I left Orem last night to start our trip to Las Vegas.  We only drove a little ways before stopping in Beaver for the night.  I ran in Beaver this morning, and for being at about 6000 ft I was surprised at how fast I was going early on in the run (there are mile markers on the road I was on).  Eventually I realized that I was going downhill.  However, I am a little bit too competitive with myself at times, and I ended up running faster on the way back while running uphill by virtue of a "fat mile" at the end of the run, which I ran in 5:51 (not bad for a slight uphill at 6000 ft).  Total time was 1:11:44 for what I will call 10.25 miles, although it was a little longer than that.

We got moved into our apartment in Henderson last night.  Our new ward was a lot of help, and the truck got unloaded rather quickly.  As I was somewhat worn out from everything going on this week I kept the long run short this week.  That ended up being a good thing as it was getting pretty hot by the end of the run.  I will need to get out and run earlier in the future.  A 7:30am start time is not good when temperatures get over 100 during the day.  Total time of 1:45:00 and I will estimate the distance at 14.25.