dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

We ran on the river trail today, and did a little tempo just to make sure that it was the grass that was slowing us down yesterday, and we are not getting hopelessly slow.  We ran 3 miles in 5:37, 5:36, and 5:29.  I actually felt really good for the pace we were running.

I ran earlier than normal with Sasha this morning, and we ran a little slower because of it.  Total time of about 1:18:00 for 10.1 miles

I ran 2 x 2 miles with Sasha this morning.  The goal was to hit them in 11:00 each.  So, nothing too hard, but fast enough to feel it.  We started off and hit the first mile in 5:32 after running the second quarter in 1:25 (whoops!) but then followed that up with a 5:26  to finish the first repeat in 10:58.  After a half mile recovery we ran the second repeat, hitting splits of 5:28, and 5:26 for a time of 10:54.  Total time for 10 miles was 1:10:48.

PM: I ran home from work today, and then added a little extra after I got back to get in 4 miles in about 31:00.

I ran 10 miles, running most of it on the grass.  Total time was 1:16:37.

I started out my run with 5 miles easy in about 39:14.  After this, Sasha and I ran a 15 mile tempo, running the first 5 miles in 31:00 (uphill and into a headwind at times), running miles 6-10 of the tempo in 28:10, and finishing it up running miles 11-15 of the tempo in 26:40 (16:12 for the first 3 miles, followed by a 5:18 and a 5:10).  Total time for 20 miles was 2:05:04.  After I finished I ran an extra half mile in 4:18 just to get a little cool down in. 2:09:22 for 20.5 miles.

I ran to a park where I ran 10 miles with Sasha, followed by running home and adding an extra mile to make it to 14 miles for the day in a time of 1:45:31.  Sasha and I ran three laps hard on the grass.  I hit 2:07, 2:08, 1:59 for the laps (about .39 miles each lap).  This was the first time that I had ever run hard while running barefoot, and it felt really good.  I felt like my form was naturally different than when I run with shoes on, and I liked it.  I felt like I was running much smoother, and with a lower center of gravity and slightly longer stride length.  I also felt like I was using the lateral muscles in my quads a bit more to power myself forward.  The only negative was that about 2/3 of the way through the run I stepped on a pine cone, and now I have some bruising and a blood blister on the bottom of my right foot.  Oh well, it will heal.

I ran on the river trail this morning with Sasha, and we ran mile repeats with about 2:00 recovery between repeats.  We did not push the pace too hard on the first 3 repeats hitting 5:18, 5:17, 5:17.  We kept the fourth repeat easy for the first half, and then picked it up the last half mile.  I made it through the first .5 in 2:38 (5:16 pace) and then picked up the pace and ran the last two quarters in 1:12, 1:07.  The 1:12 felt comfortable, the 1:07 did not.  The last quarter hurt, especially since that part of the trail has a slight uphill on it (HR peaked at 184 during this quarter).  This gave me a 4:57 for the last mile.  We then ran back to Sasha's house to finish 10 miles somewhere between 1:12:00 and 1:13:00.

I ran 10 miles with Sasha in the morning on the grass at Grandview Park.

PM:  I ran 5 miles alone in under 35:00.  I was trying to hurry so that I could pick Kimia up from work, but then I ended up waiting for almost 25 minutes before she got out.  I don't think that I will be picking her up on time anymore.

I ran 10 miles with Sasha this morning.  We ran the 5 mile tempo trying to hit an average heart rate of about 152 for Sasha, which ends up being about 162 for me on most days.  Today I was closer to 160 on average.  Even with a super slow first mile in 5:59, we still ended up running 28:53 for the tempo.

PM:  I ran home from work and then added a mile extra to end up with 4 miles in about 30:00.

I ran 10 miles this morning on the grass with Sasha.  Nothing special happened.

PM:  After work I ran 5 miles in about 36 or 37 minutes.  It was faster than I was expecting since I have been feeling sick and my legs feel stale, so I made no effort to push the pace.

I basically ran two 10 mile runs today.  I first went and ran with Sasha at Grandview Park.  We ran 11 laps of the field at a tempo pace.  I finished up running home and finished 10 miles in 1:12:19.  I then spent some time with Kimia before she went to Salt Lake City for the day, so I ate breakfast and waited a while before finishing my run.  When I went out the second time I ran down the hill to the river trail and went out and back 5 miles.  On the way back I added a little extra on a short detour I took.  Total of 10.1 miles in 1:09:13 for the second half of my run.  I tempo'd the last 2 miles heading uphill to my house to finish off the run.  2:21:32 for 20.1 miles.

I ran with Sasha this morning at Grandview park.  Afterward I ran a few more laps around the field, and then ran home, ran a mile loop near my house, and then ran to Kimia's work to pick up the car.  Total of 15 miles in 1:47:57.  While running with Sasha we picked up the pace for about 2 miles (5 laps) running the last lap in 2:06.

On a side note, which is completely non running related but definitely more exciting than the mundane text that comprises my daily workouts, my wife Kimia is pregnant!  She is due on the 23rd of March, so she is almost 13 weeks along now.  We are excited to be able to finally start our own family.

I ran 10 miles with Sasha on the grass this morning.  Most of it was easy, but I threw in a faster portion for good measure.  It felt harder than it should have, but not too bad.

PM: I ran home from work again, and then added a little extra to finish 4 miles in just over 30 minutes.

I ran on the grass again.  Total time of 1:17:XX for the run.  Nothing special happened.

I ran the 5 mile tempo today.  I ran the first mile and a half with Sasha, and ran the rest of it alone.  Total time of 26:57 for the tempo.  Not very good considering the effort I had to put in to get the time.  I have been sick, but I was feeling a little better so I decided to push the pace a little more than normal on the tempo in order to get a feel for how recovered I am.  Not as much as I was hoping for.  Starting out I hit a 5:39 for the first mile, and it felt way too hard.  I then focused on running smooth and not pushing the pace too hard, and I sped up until I was hitting right around 5:20 pace, sometimes a little slower, sometimes a little faster.  I maintained this until the end, but to a certain degree I felt like I was fading a bit.  This should not be happening when just two Saturdays past I ran a 15 mile tempo, hitting the last 5 miles in 26:40 with a 5:10 last mile, without running all out.  Anyhow, it makes me glad that I decided not to run TOU this year, and instead decided to head back to St. George again.  Hopefully I will get over whatever it is that is slowing me down soon.  1:07:XX for 10 miles.

Nothing special happened

I felt like I am starting to get over whatever illness I have had recently.  I ran 6.1 miles hard averaging 5:44 during that stretch.  Total time for the run was in the high 1:40's

I ran at the park with Sasha today.  We kept things pretty easy since he just ran a marathon on Saturday, but we did throw in a couple laps at a faster pace.

I ran with Sasha this morning on the grass.

PM: I ran my last double before St. George today.  Now it is about time to start backing off on the mileage.

I did a speed workout on the grass today.  I ran 3x3 laps with a goal of hitting a 2:10/lap average (about a 5:20/mile equivalent effort if it wasn't on grass).  I was pleased with the workout because as a whole it felt easier than I thought it would, and I ended up hitting times a lot quicker than I was expecting.  6:26 for the first repeat (2:14, 2:05, 2:07) 6:17 for the second repeat (2:09, 2:06, 2:02) and finally 6:10 for the third repeat (2:05, 2:04, 2:01).  Sasha ran the first and third repeats with me, and I was surprised that he was able to stay with me as easily as he did on the third repeat.

Ok, so this is actually the post that should be on Thursday, but I accidentally wrote it on Wednesday.  Whoops.  I don't feel like moving it so it will stay here.

So this is actually Wednesday's workout.  I ran with Sasha, and then did a fat mile on the way home because I needed to pick up the car from Kimia's work, but I was running a little late.  I felt good.  About 1:14:00 for the run.

I ran with Sasha, and also ran to Kimia's work to pick up the car again.  It was a good run.  I ran at fat mile effort while coming uphill on the way home.

I ran a 5k this morning as a tune up of sorts for the St. George Marathon next Saturday.  I ran about a 5.5 mile warm-up, followed by the race and a cool down to finish up with 12 miles for the day.

The race went well.  The course is super slow as it has some nasty hills in it.  The race was a battle of the genders up at the front as the women had 3:00 subtracted from their times in order to compete for prizes.  I knew that I had no chance of putting 3:00 on Lindsay Dunkley, but I wanted to see how big of a gap I could put on her.  Anyhow, I started off running hard, and I went through the mile in 4:58.  I continued to push during the second mile and I ran a 5:04 (10:02 for 2 miles).  During the third mile my lack of 5k training took its toll as I started to get a side cramp, and I began to have trouble pushing myself and I slowed considerably, running a 5:20 (15:22 for 3 miles).  I finished in 15:54 to cross the line as the first finisher.  Lindsay finished 1:27 behind me to take first place.  I think that for future races of this nature that a 2:00 gap would be better than 3:00.  It would not have changed the outcome of the race at all, but I think that 3:00 is an unfair handicap for the men.  Anyhow, I think that after St. George I want to try and improve my 5k speed.  I need to get faster at that distance if I want to run faster at longer distances.

10 miles

8.1 miles

6 miles in the evening.