dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

Red Rock 5k

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Location:

Alpine,UT,USA

Member Since:

Jan 01, 2008

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Olympic Trials Qualifier

Running Accomplishments:

3K: 8:58 Pocatello, ID 2003 (indoors at Idaho State)

5K: 14:55 Salt Lake City, UT 2010 (Law Day 5k)

10K: 29:33 Salt Lake City, UT 2010 (Des News 10k)

1/2 marathon: 1:06:59 Provo, UT 2010 (Utah Valley Half)

marathon: 2:21:59 St. George, UT 2009 (St. George Marathon)

Short-Term Running Goals:

To get running higher mileage more consistently without getting injured

Sub 2:19:00 marathon

Personal:

I used to run competitively, and maybe I will do so again someday.  Right now I am primarily running to try and get in better shape, and to maintain both physical and emotional health, but also for the simple joy that comes when I run.

I am also the proud daddy of five little ones.  I love the opportunity that I have to be a daddy, and my challenge is to balance my family responsibilities with work and running.

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Asics Speedstar Lifetime Miles: 2020.05
Asics Gel Ohana Racer Lifetime Miles: 2332.20
Adidas Adizero Lifetime Miles: 1375.45
Barefoot Lifetime Miles: 183.10
Nike Free 5.0 Lifetime Miles: 2221.85
Saucony Kinvara Lifetime Miles: 795.92
Puma Faas 200 Lifetime Miles: 381.50
Puma Faas 250 Lifetime Miles: 466.10
Altra Adam Lifetime Miles: 1836.85
Baretrek Lifetime Miles: 290.15
Hoka Conquest Lifetime Miles: 41.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
301.7550.356.102.00360.20
Saucony Kinvara Miles: 132.30Nike Free 5.0 Miles: 60.80Adidas Adizero Miles: 58.50Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 68.60Puma Faas 200 Miles: 10.00Asics Speedstar Miles: 30.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.009.000.000.0020.00

I got up at 6:20am this morning with the plan to finish a 20 mile run before general conference at 9:00am.  I should have known better than to think I could get out the door quickly as after I got up I ended up needing to massage my calf out, perform some hip exercises to try and relieve the stress on my calf (its odd, but it seems to work most of the time), and take care of Anita including diaper changing, play time, feeding her breakfast, etc.  In sum, I didn't get out the door until almost 7:40am, so I only had the time to run 12 miles before conference.

I finished the 12 miles in 1:17:25, starting out in around 8:30 for the first mile, and then speeding up until I was running around 6:30 pace.  I sped up a little more after 7 miles, and I averaged sub 6:00 pace for the last 5 miles.  I will count those 5 miles as marathon pace miles, because despite the somewhat slow speeds these miles still felt like there was a decent effort involved.  It was a strange feeling, as on the one hand I felt like I was barely working, while on the other hand the effort felt much more difficult than I would have expected.  It is like there were two physiological systems fighting with one another, and toying with my perceptions, as the one system was performing adequately and the other struggling.

PM:  After the priesthood session of general conference was over in the evening I went out again to make up the mileage I missed in the morning.  I ran 8 miles in 51:59, running a 4 mile tempo from miles 2-6 in 22:07-09 (I missed the ending mile marker because it was dark so I am not completely sure about the finishing time).  The first 2 miles of the tempo were rolling with a net uphill, and the final 2 miles followed the same path in reverse.  The course is not fast, but for my purposes it works, as the uphill/downhill segments are generally not so steep that they completely throw off pace one way or the other.  

The results of the tempo (not the finishing time) were rather strange, as my heart rate seemed just a little low (160-165bpm) during the first two miles (5:44, 5:43) considering the effort (I was expecting high 160's).  My heart rate is usually higher when I am running uphill, and it was actually lower than normal despite an honest effort.  During the second half of the tempo my HR began to drop, first into the low 160's (160-161), and then progressively lower until it was hovering in the low 150's (150-154).  The effort felt no easier, and my time for the third mile (5:27) was relatively equivalent to the first two miles (when adjusting for net incline/decline).  During the first half of the fourth mile I continued to experience the same issues, although my HR stopped dropping.  I felt like I was working pretty hard, yet my HR was not rising as high as it should have (indicating lack of recovery).  This caused some alarm, as I really backed off the mileage this week to try and give my body a break.  However, during the second half of the 4th mile I began to feel more relaxed, the pace began to feel easier, my HR increased, and I sped up.  I finished the last mile somewhere between 5:12-5:14.

So, suddenly I was feeling the way I expected to feel for the entire tempo... what was wrong earlier?  I can't really make too big a deal of this all, because in the grand scheme of things it probably means very little, but it is still rather alarming when my body does not respond the way I expect it to, when I have so much experience watching my body consistently respond in the same manner.  I feel more strongly now that the decision to cut mileage back this week was probably the correct decision to make.  I just need to manage things correctly so that I am ready for the Santa Barbara marathon come November 12th.  Total time for the combined runs today was 2:09:24 for 20 miles.

Saucony Kinvara Miles: 20.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

I ran 10 miles with Anita in the running stroller, finishing in 1:21:05.  I felt pretty relaxed while running, which should be expected considering how slow I was running.  It had rained so it was much more humid than normal.

Nike Free 5.0 Miles: 10.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.200.000.002.0017.20

I ran to school this morning, running 8.6 miles in 1:05:44.  It was the coolest weather that I have run in since I was in California a few months ago (approximately 70 degrees).  At the beginning of the run I was actually wishing that I had a shirt with sleeves (short or long) rather than the sleeveless jersey that I had on.  It rained on me a little while I was running, but it was not bad.

PM:  I ran home from school in the evening.  On my way home I ran 9 x 1 minute hard, 2 minutes easy.  After the third and seventh repeats I had a little more than 2 minutes recovery (about 3:45 and 2:30) because of stoplights, and after the first repeat I ran the last 30 seconds of the 2:00 recovery fast because I had to speed up to get through a light before it turned red.  My average pace when the fast and slow running was combined was somewhere in the range of 6:20 per mile (maybe a little faster), but I am not sure how fast I was running the hard sections.  Total time for 8.6 miles was 59:48.

Adidas Adizero Miles: 8.60Saucony Kinvara Miles: 8.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.200.000.000.0017.20

I ran to school this morning.  I started off really slow (somewhere in the 9:00 range for the first mile), but I sped up to around 7:30 pace after the first mile and felt good.  It was cold (about 60 degrees) so I wore a long sleeve shirt for the first time this fall.  My hands got cold while I was running, so I may wear gloves when I run to school tomorrow as the low tonight is supposed to be 53 degrees, which is frigid compared to the nightly lows we were getting in the mid 70's just last week (today the high is only supposed to be 71).  On the plus side of things, my HR was super low this morning as a result of the low temperatures and my average HR for the run was only 123 near 6 miles, whereas yesterday morning when I was running about the same speed my average HR was around 131.

Unfortunately, I stopped my watch at a stop light and when I started again I did not press the start button hard enough so my watch did not start.  I did not realize this error until I was already over 8 miles into my run, so I do not know how long it took me to get to school.  I was on pace for a high 1:05 (similar to my run yesterday) when I stopped my watch.

PM:  A little rain was coming down during parts of the run home, which was not bad at all.  The sudden change in temperatures in addition to a solid amount of wind however was not fun.  I made it home with a total time of 1:04:50 and an average HR of 126.  It is amazing the difference that a 20 degree drop in temperature will have on the HR. 

Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 8.60Adidas Adizero Miles: 8.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.300.001.500.0015.80

I ran to school this morning with a total time of 1:02:59 for 8.6 miles.  During the run I ran 1 mile at a simulated 5k race effort, and after a half mile easy I ran an additional half mile at that same effort.  The results of the workout were rather surprising as I ran a 4:36 for the first mile, followed by a 2:13-2:14 for the half mile.  I was only shooting to go sub 5:00 for the mile, and to see the finishing time so fast was actually kind of exciting.  I have to say that this is the most excited about a workout that I have been in quite some time considering its insignificance.  I do think that I was working a little harder than 5k race pace to be honest, but it was not significantly harder.  I am also happy because I am not worried about the distance being short despite running this on the roads.  I have measured this section of road with my car and with the course tool, and both come out to 1 mile (and according to the course tool it may even be 10 or so meters long).  I am sure that the half mile was short, so I don't care much about the time I ran there.  The purpose of running the half mile was only to simulate running fast and relaxed when already fatigued.  All in all, the workout doesn't really mean much in the long term, but it makes me excited for the 5k race that I am running on Saturday.

PM:  I ran most of the way home, however about 3.5 miles into the run my left calf seized up on me... not good.  I was able to keep running after I stopped to stretch out the muscle, but I had to keep the pace no faster than 8:00 miles or the calf would start screaming at me again.  Kimia ended up picking me up a little less than a mile and a half from our house.  Total time of 58:03 for what I will call 7.2 miles.  

Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 7.20Nike Free 5.0 Miles: 8.60
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

I woke up this morning and it hurt to walk.  Things didn't seem so bad when I went to bed last night, but it hurt to walk this morning and that scared me.  I ended up deciding to skip the run today to try and get my calf healthy as quickly as I can.  I don't want to mess up my body this close to my goal marathon.  On top of that, I have a 5k I am running tomorrow and I don't want to mess up the calf worse by racing when it hurts.  During the day I did some little exercises to try and stretch out the calf like hopping and skipping.  I also massaged the muscle and wore long socks to hopefully help support the muscle a little better.  By the end of the day the calf was feeling a lot better than when I woke up in the morning, but there was still some minor pain when I would try to hop or skip at all.

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Race: Red Rock 5k (3.107 Miles) 00:16:07, Place overall: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.900.003.100.0010.00

I ran the Red Rock 5k this morning.  I was worried about how my calf would hold up given that I only strained the calf a day and a half ago.  I have had these issues for years, but I have never had a race so soon after developing pain.  My primary concern was messing up the leg badly enough that training would be hampered in the last few weeks leading up to my fall marathon in Santa Barbara on November 12th.  However, there was $500 on the line for first place here, with money going 5 deep, so I still wanted to run (I also didn't want to waste the entrance fee I paid).

I was really careful in my warm-ups to start out slowly, stretch out the muscle, massage, and perform some light skipping exercises to try and stretch the muscle dynamically to prepare myself to race without hurting myself worse.  I also wore some tight soccer socks to give my calf just a little bit more support than normal.

Most importantly, I was praying to my father in heaven asking him to help me not hurt myself any worse.  To be honest I do do not even know if God cares about how well I run.  In the grand scheme of things running pales in importance to so many other aspects of our lives.  But still the same I found myself praying last night and while I was warming up, asking my heavenly father for help.

Even then, I doubted that my calf would hold up the way I hoped.  I worried that it was going to be really painful and that I would mess up the entire culmination of the marathon prep that I started in June.  I wondered, where is my faith?  If I do not believe that God will help me what good are my prayers?  I then resolved to trust in the Lord and have faith that things would work out.  A few minutes after making that resolve I suddenly felt a very peaceful feeling come over me.  I knew that it was an answer to my prayers, and while I was still unsure how my calf would hold up during the race I knew that everything would be ok, and that whatever happened was the will of the Lord.  I continued to feel some slight pulling and nagging in the calf throughout the rest of my warm-up, but I knew that everything would turn out okay.

I stepped to the starting line a few minutes prior to the start of the race, and I looked around to see where my competition was.  I was shocked to see only one other runner who appeared to be fast, and based on his jersey I knew he was a local.  Where was all the competition from the Flagstaff based runners?  The last time this company put on a race with prize money I placed eighth, and I had figured that with half the prize money we would see half the competition, meaning that 4 or 5 fast guys should be here from out of town.

The race started, and I took off at the front of the pack.  From the time that I started the race any discomfort that I had been feeling in my calf previously was gone, and I knew that my prayer had been answered.  No one made any attempt to go with me either... confirmation number two of the answer to my prayers (it is harder to hurt yourself if you are not pushing as hard in an attempt to beat faster runners).  From here on out I was able to focus on running hard without doing anything silly, rather than on competing with other runners.  The race starts off downhill for about 2 minutes, at which point you start to head uphill, followed by a super steep grade for about 20 seconds.  Once I crested the top of the short but steep hill I was greeted by a nasty headwind.  Where did that come from?  There was no wind during my warm-up, and now two and a half minutes into my race and I am getting blasted.  I was glad that no one tried to hang with me at the beginning of the race because it means that no one was close enough to draft off of me.

The runner in second place was attempting to stay as close as possible, but as I went around a corner near the mile mark he appeared to be about 10 seconds back.  10 seconds in elite runner terms at the mile mark of a 5k = game over under most circumstances, so I knew that I was mostly running for time from here on out.  The problem was that running for time was mostly worthless because the wind was still beating against me.  On top of the wind, the course was constantly rolling up and down.  It has to be one of the most deceptively slow courses that I have run in a while.  There is semi constant uphill to break up momentum, followed by downhill so short that it doesn't help you at all.  I ended up going through the mile in 4:59, followed by a 5:16 for mile 2 (10:15 total).  During the third mile we hit a long sustained uphill stretch just before the 3 mile mark that was not fun, but my pace only got marginally slower during this mile as I hit the 3 mile mark in 15:35 (5:20 for the mile).  I crossed the finish line in 16:06 (official time of 16:07) with the second place runner coming through with an official time of 17:01.

So in sum, I am extremely grateful that I was able to run the race without any pain, and I know that my father in heaven was watching out for me.  As a bonus, I won $500 dollars for placing first, which is exciting.  I have no idea how to quantify my performance, because the course was slow, it was windy, and there were no elite runners to gauge my performance off of.  Nonetheless, I am happy with how things turned out.

Puma Faas 200 Miles: 10.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

I ran 10 miles today.  I kept the effort really easy in order to not stress the calf any more than necessary.  Total time was 1:18:58.

Asics Speedstar Miles: 10.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
18.600.000.000.0018.60

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:16:39, running to Kimia's work to drop off Anita's shoe that she threw out of the stroller, followed by running to school.  I was tempted to run something fast because I was feeling kind of antsy, but I want to be careful with my calf so I held back.  I might run some "slow" speed work tomorrow (I know, it sounds funny) maybe just barely faster than 6:00 pace just to get moving a little quicker without really stressing myself too much.

PM:  I ran home in 1:09:08, which is 20 seconds slower than an 8 minute average pace per mile over 8.6 miles.  I was running really slow because my calf just seemed a little weak tonight, and I didn't want to risk doing any damage.  Things were fine running slow, and finally after 6+ miles I started to wake up a bit and I sped up a fair amount during the last couple miles.  After how I felt running home I think I just need to hold off on speed work until my calf is feeling stronger (even if I get impatient).

Nike Free 5.0 Miles: 18.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.200.000.000.0017.20

I ran to school this morning with a time of 1:05:55.  I felt good, but my calf still felt a little weak.  Lately, my HR seems to be higher than normal as well.  Average HR this morning was 135 when normally I would expect sub 130 in these temperatures at this pace.

I ran home from school in the evening with a total time of 1:02:56 for 8.6 miles.  I am starting to suspect that my HR being high lately may have something to do with additional allergens being present in the air as a result of the rain and cooler temperatures that we have had lately.  I'm not completely sure yet, but that is my suspicion.

Saucony Kinvara Miles: 17.20
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.600.000.000.0011.60

I ran to school this morning with a total time of 1:04:26 for 8.6 miles.  HR was still high, 138 average for the run.

PM:  I ran 3 miles on the way home, at which point Kimia picked me up so that I could get to practice for the choir that I joined a while back. 

Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 11.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:16:03.  My HR was still really high during the first third of the run, with an average of 136, however I was able to get it lower as I focused a lot on my breathing and I averaged 129-130 for the rest of the run.

Adidas Adizero Miles: 10.00
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.9013.100.000.0021.00

My calf is starting to feel better as I have not run hard all week, so I decided to go ahead and do my last planned half marathon time trial.  Since my HR seems to be freaking out recently, in addition to the calf problems, I decided not to go out as hard with the hope that I would be able to finish faster at the end.  I suspect that the HR issues may be asthma/pollen related as my mileage of late has been low, so I would not suspect over training, while it has been cooler and we have seen a fair amount of rain.  Maybe I need to get one of those crazy masks that Galen Rupp wears?

I did a 5.5 mile warm-up in a little over 40 minutes (40:35 I think, but maybe 40:25) after which I started the time trial.  My HR was high during the warm-up (averaged around 135) so I suspected that even without going out hard my HR would be where it normally is when I go out harder.

The first mile of the time trial felt really easy but my HR was up near 170 like normal.  I hit the "mile" marker in 5:27 and finished the first lap in 11:09 (19 seconds slower than last time).  I kept the effort the same and finished the second lap in 11:07 (22 seconds slower than last time, 41 seconds total).  I decided to start picking up the effort a little after 4 miles, and made it through the third lap in 10:59 (12 seconds slower than last time) for a total time of 33:15.  My HR was now in the 175-177 range, where it stayed for the rest of the time trial, occasionally climbing up to about 180.  I kept the effort strong for mile 7, and after 7 miles I grabbed my water bottle even though I didn't really need it (temps were in the high 60's and low 70's, so I felt cold for a while).  Getting the water was a bad move, as I believe that it pulled blood away from my muscles to deal with the water which caused me to slow down again while my HR stayed high.  I finished the fourth lap in 11:10, and followed that up with an 11:12.  I tried to push harder during the sixth lap to speed up, but nothing really came and I finished that lap in 11:09.  I closed with a final "mile" in 5:31, and finished the time trial in 1:12:34 (1:21 slower than last time, and 0:54 slower than the time before that).

Overall it wasn't too bad.  I was not expecting to go as fast this time as last, and this time I was dealing with the HR issues.  If nothing else this helped me to experience a little discomfort so that when the marathon comes in 4 weeks I will be able to push through it.  Despite being the slowest time trial I have run all year (I have run four of them since July) my legs felt the worst at the end of this one.  I'll take an off day in a workout rather than the marathon itself.  I finished 21 miles total in about 2:10:00

Saucony Kinvara Miles: 21.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

I ran 10 miles today in 1:20:08. My average HR for the run was 130, so it was still a little higher than it would normally be, but it seemed to be a little closer to normal than it has been recently.

Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 10.00
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.205.000.000.0017.20

I ran to school this morning, and I ran a speed workout (1 + 2 + 2 miles) on the way there. I ran the first mile in 5:13 with an average HR of around 174 running slightly uphill the whole way. I was happy with the HR on this mile.

I had a recovery of about 4 minutes after the first hard mile (3 min running and 1 min at a stop light) and followed that with my first 2 mile repeat in 11:00 (5:29, 5:31). The slow splits are mainly due to wind which got progressively stronger during the second mile, although there was no uphill during this stretch. My HR was lower (average around 170-171) during the 2 mile repeat than during the first hard mile, which was also good considering the effort was not as hard, however there was a brief stretch when my HR spiked for some unknown reason before returning to normal (possibly due to HR monitor error, but possibly not).

I had a longer recovery after the first 2 mile repeat of about 9 minutes. The second 2 mile repeat was a 10:48 (5:18, 5:30) with the first mile possibly being just a tiny bit short (but no more than 5-7 seconds I would imagine). This repeat was also windy, but flat just like the other. My HR did not agree with me on this repeat, averaging around 175 for 2 miles. This told me that while my breathing issues seem to slowly be getting better I am not 100% back to normal yet.

Total time for 8.6 miles was 56:15.

PM: I ran home from school. I missed restarting my watch at a stop light and didn't notice until I had gone almost a mile. Total time was 58:27 and the missed time brings me up to 1:06:10-1:06:20. Average HR was 130 for the run.

Adidas Adizero Miles: 8.60Saucony Kinvara Miles: 8.60
Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.200.000.000.0017.20

I ran to school this morning with a total time of 1:06:11. Average HR was 129. Overall results appear equivalent to last night (average HR of 130 and total time that was similar), but I think that this was a better result as running to school gives me a net increase in elevation of over 200' whereas running home is the opposite.

PM: I ran home from school this evening in 1:06:35 with an average HR of 129. I started off pretty slowly, and by 4 or 5 miles I was running near 7:30 pace without an increase in HR in comparison to the beginning of the run when I was going slower.

Adidas Adizero Miles: 8.60Nike Free 5.0 Miles: 8.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.002.501.500.0015.00

I ran to school this morning with a total time of 58:36.  I was in the mood to run a little quicker, so I just cruised a little under 7:00 pace for most of the run (although the first mile was more like a 7:45).  Total of 8.6 miles.

I ran at school for my second run today.  I ran over to the track, and after a brief warm-up I ran a 400-800-1200-1600-1200-800-400 ladder with 60 seconds rest (just over 100m running on average) between repeats.  The goal was to try and relax as much as possible while hitting splits right around marathon OTQ pace (5:18/mile).  It was somewhat windy and temps were in the 80's so the effort was harder than what my effort will be when running my next marathon on November 12th, but that was fine.

Splits were 1:16, 2:34, 3:52, 5:15, 3:54, 2:33, 1:10.  The wind was not very strong during the first three repeats, but it picked up a bit during the 1600 and the following 1200 before dying back down again.  I was surprised at how easy the final 400 felt.  My general feeling while running was that a 36 second 200 did not feel much different than a 40 second 200.  I will need to make sure to not press too hard early on in the next marathon, which may be difficult when differing efforts do not feel too different.  I guess that is what the HR monitor is for, but I can not become too dependent on that either.

Total of 6.4 miles for the run, with 4 miles of total speed work. 

Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 8.60Nike Free 5.0 Miles: 6.40
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

I ran in Reno this morning after driving all last night from Las Vegas to attend a conference.  Luckily I did not have to drive so I was able to sleep some in the car.  Unfortunately I was not able to sleep more than a few hours, so I was very tired by about 10am.  At 11am I was able to go to sleep and I slept until 3pm, so I felt much better.  I ran an estimated 10 miles in 1:17:58 at 6am.

Saucony Kinvara Miles: 10.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.005.000.000.0020.00

I ran an estimated 20 miles this morning in Reno in 2:12:04.  I suspect that it may have been a little longer than 20 miles because of some mile markers I saw on the roads while I was running.  I ran the last 5 or so miles at a marathon effort.  It was hard to gauge the effort being at altitude for the first time in months, with much colder temperatures than I am accustomed to (around 40 degrees).

Saucony Kinvara Miles: 20.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.250.750.000.0010.00

I ran 10 miles today, running about .75 fast in order to catch up to a couple guys I saw out running on the trail ahead of me.  Total time for 10 miles was 1:17:39.

Asics Speedstar Miles: 10.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
16.201.000.000.0017.20

I ran to school this morning with a time around 1:06 (not sure about total time because I didn't start my watch after stopping at the stop light at Maryland Parkway.  HR up until that point was averaged at 139, and it was likely higher over the last mile or so after my watch got stopped.  I am still not sure what is going on there.  Things had gotten back to normal by the end of last week, and now the same issues have come back again.  I did notice that when I really zoned out my HR would drop to 130-132, which is where it should have been based on the pace.  As soon as I would start to think about my HR it would shoot up to 140-145.  When I would focus on breathing deep and getting plenty of air HR would drop to about 137-138.  In normal situations it doesn't matter what I do with my breathing, as my HR will stay fairly consistent as long as the effort is even.

PM:  I ran home from school in 1:05:28.  My HR only averaged 130 for the run, so it seems to be right back to normal again.  It seems very strange that my HR can be off the charts in the morning, and then no higher than normal in the afternoon.  Maybe there was something in the air which irritated my breathing, but the wind cleared it out by the evening?  On the way home I did run 1 mile fast in 5:35 in an attempt to practice running relaxed.

Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 8.60Saucony Kinvara Miles: 8.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.600.000.000.008.60

I ran to school this morning with a time of 1:06:33.  Average HR was 131.  It was windy, otherwise I would have made it to school faster.

Nike Free 5.0 Miles: 8.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.105.000.000.0014.10

I ran out on the Pittman wash today.  On the way there I took a detour to drop off some things at Kimia's work which I will count as .6 miles (more than .5 but less than .7 is what I figured).

Later on in the run I ran a 5 mile tempo in 27:28 (5:24, 5:28, 5:36, 5:41, 5:19).  I am glad that I was only trying to hit marathon pace effort on this tempo and not faster, because the conditions were brutal.  There was a strong wind that was gusting throughout the tempo, so even when I thought I should have a tail wind it still felt like the wind was in my face.  There was also a fair amount of rolling and climbing (although the course gave me a net drop).  The general layout of the tempo was as follows:  mile 1, gradual downhill and fairly straight; mile 2, mild net downhill but rolls a lot, includes running through a tunnel with a couple turns; mile 3, zero net uphill/downhill but has 14 turns and a 180, plus two nasty uphill sections with corresponding downhill that I couldn't take advantage of due to the turns; mile 4 was the same as mile 2 but in reverse, while mile 5 was the same as mile 2 following a 180 at the beginning.

I was rather happy with the 5:36 on the third mile considering the circumstances, but it did feel like the wind died down during that mile so it may not have been as difficult as it seemed.  The first mile should have been much faster than it was, because that mile gives me the majority of the net downhill during the tempo, but that was the worst mile in terms of the wind.  Miles 4 and 5 were also pretty bad in terms of wind, but the wind was a little weaker during miles 2 and 3.  I had to push fairly hard during mile 5 in order to get under 5:20 for that mile, but I was happy with how relaxed I felt when I sped up despite fighting a headwind.

Total mileage for the main portion of the run was 13.5 miles, plus the detour (so 14.1 miles total) to finish with a total time of 1:37:40.

Adidas Adizero Miles: 14.10
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.001.000.000.0014.00

I ran 14 miles today at a fairly brisk pace.  It just felt good to cruise at a pace that was not hard but not slow, rather than trying to run super easy like I normally do.  It also felt good to toss the HR monitor for today.  Some days I feel like I am a slave to it, so once or twice a week I just use the cheap walgreens watch that I have.  I ran 1 mile fast about 9 miles into the run in 5:16.  It was the same mile that I started with when I ran the 5 mile tempo yesterday.  There was no wind today, so it was expected for the mile to be faster, but I was happy because the pace felt easier as well.  I finished 14 miles with a total time of 1:30:43.

Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 14.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.308.000.000.0018.30

I ran 10 miles easy at the start of my run, followed by running 8 miles on my 2 mile loop at marathon effort, but picking it up some the last 2 miles.  I made it through the first 10 miles in 1:15:07, then ran out to the start of my 2 mile loop, ran my 8 miles hard and finished by running back to the house for a total of 18.3 miles in 2:01:42.

I was able to mark out quarter mile marks during the first mile of the 2 mile loop (when starting in front of my apartment complex) in order to give myself better feedback while running, and this was the first time that I had the opportunity to take advantage of these marks.  I was surprised to a certain degree by what I found out, as I learned that the uphill sections on this course really slow me down a lot.  When I would hit 5:20 pace on the flat sections I was hitting about 6:00 pace on the uphill sections.  This is a little deceptive because it was windy, and it was just my luck that the wind was killing me on these uphill sections while providing no net effect on my pace during the flat sections as a result of buildings blocking the wind (i.e. virtually no tail wind at all during the tempo).  But, it still seems evident that the hills slowed me down a lot.  The second mile where I don't have any quarter mile marks was windier than the first, and the 2 mile (distance is actually a little longer than 2 miles) splits showed the effect of the wind.  Splits were: 11:16, 11:16, 11:16, 10:54.  I was consistently hitting about 5:20 pace on the flat sections at the beginning of each loop with a HR of about 170, which is consistent with what I tend to see in more controlled environments like the track or the treadmill on a 1% grade.  The HR jumped to about 177 during the last loop, which felt manageable, but not for more than 8 miles I would imagine.

Overall I am happy with the workout.  It wasn't supposed to be a killer as I run the Santa Barbara International Marathon in 2 weeks.  I just need to start fine tuning things now that the race is getting closer.  I feel better prepared for this marathon than for any other marathon that I have ever run, so I am somewhat excited and nervous at the same time.  At least I am busy with the family, work, and school so I don't really have any time to dwell on things.

Saucony Kinvara Miles: 18.30
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.000.000.000.0010.00

I ran 10 miles today in 1:14:56.  No HRM today.

Asics Speedstar Miles: 10.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
301.7550.356.102.00360.20
Saucony Kinvara Miles: 132.30Nike Free 5.0 Miles: 60.80Adidas Adizero Miles: 58.50Asics Gel Ohana Racer Miles: 68.60Puma Faas 200 Miles: 10.00Asics Speedstar Miles: 30.00
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