Maybe I'll Blog, Maybe I Won't

Very easy North Logan Loop this morning.  Lungs felt like I was breathing really hard for some reason but running past a a person cutting a hole in the road with a gas saw all the exhaust and dust at the beginning of my run probably wasn't helpful.  Legs felt reasonable for a Monday.  Didn't hurt at all so that's a good sign after Saturday's longer run.  I just took it really easy because I'm going to try a "Small Workout" tomorrow (as opposed to a Big Workout since I'm not fit enough for a Big yet).  I'm kind of excited although it will be weak sauce compared to what I want to do later on.  

"Small Workout" 

2 mi. warmup to the USU track.  Started my workout.  Planned for 6x1000's at 5:50 pace (3:37 per 1000m) or a little slower than my last 10k pace.  After the first one I decided 5:50 was too easy so I dropped them down a couple of seconds to I think 5:44 or 5:45 pace (3:35 per 1000m).  200m jog for recover in between each 1000.  Here are my splits:

1     3:37 -- felt too easy, although the first one usually does it still felt like I wasn't working

2     3:35 -- this pace is better

3     3:35 -- still felt fine, halfway!

4     3:35 -- feeling good but starting to feel the fatigue catch up with me...breathing is harder

5     3:34 -- starting to feel my energy going fast but somehow pulled a second faster

6     3:36 -- including a massive sideache the last 200m and a 4 lane detour to avoid a face full of water from the sprinklers--I pushed it a lot harder the last one then the time shows

 .5 mile recovery jog around the track

Started running back to my apartment the long way, taking it easy at first then after about half a mile or so, then increasing to about 6:30 pace.  I felt like I was gonna die but kept thinking it would be worth it down the road.  Kept that up for a couple of miles then cooled down the rest of the way back.  My legs are now officially trashed...they haven't felt this dead in months but I think it will pay off.  Now the question is if that was too much to start with.  I guess we will see how I feel tomorrow and the next day.  I signed up today for the Strawberry Days 5k down in Pleasant Grove this Saturday.  I feel like this summer I should race a lot and get in the groove with that as much as possible so I've got a bunch of races I'm looking at including possibly 2 half marathons depending on how I'm feeling.  We'll see what happens.

Easy recovery run this morning.  Tabernacle-Island loop.  Legs actually didn't feel too bad other than I had absolutely zero energy in them.  Didn't beat the 9 minute guy by very far today...But considering the workout I did less than 10 hours before and the fact that I haven't done a workout like that in months I'd say I was pretty happy with my recovery.  

Was going to go longer today (like 10 or so) but my legs just were not feeling it.  Probably still trashed from Tuesday and I figured between that and the 5k on Saturday I might be risking injury if I tried pushing too hard so I called it quits early. 

Total time 56:35 (7:33/mi.)

Really easy loop around campus and east today.  Legs still feeling rather iffy for tomorrow's race but I guess we'll see what happens.  Threw in one 100m accel on my way back home just for kicks and it didn't feel too bad.

Drove down to Orem last night and crashed at my cousin's apartment there.  Got up at 6, got ready and drove over to PG and got my number and stuff.  I couldn't remember if the race started at 7 or 8 so I showed up in time to run at 7 but it ended up being at 8 so I had tons of time to warm up.  Just jogged/ran around the neighborhood and parts of the course the whole time.  About 30 min. before the race I put my flats on and did a few accels and stuff and stretched out a bit to get loosened up.  Course looked fairly easy with the first mile being mostly a slight downhill.  Second mile is mostly a slight uphill/level and the last 1.1 is mostly level with a little downhill at the end.  Realized I forgot my watch but it didn't matter because I was just going to see what I could do.  Expecting it to be fairly tough where I haven't raced in forever and have zero speed training under my belt in who knows how long.  I figured I would call it good if I broke 17 by a few seconds.  Boy, did I miscalculate. 

 Started out and the first part I felt like this was going to be a long and painful race, but I kept the pace down hoping that I would have energy enough to make a decent performance.  Legs are tired from Tuesday and this week.  Stayed in the back of the lead pack of about 5 or 6 runners, most of them being college runners/ex college runners from BYU I think.   There was a high school kid in there too who said he was going to break 17 so I kinda stuck with him that first mile thinking if I beat him by a little I would do alright.  Hit the 1 mile mark going uphill and all of a sudden I got my second wind.  The high schooler dropped behind and I started closing on 4th place.  Got him.  Got passed by another guy, passed him back a little before the two mile mark.  Passed one more, running in second behind a guy who ran for BYU and feeling pretty good considering.  Got passed again by a different guy with about .75 to go.  Currently in 3rd.  Rounded the final turn and could see the finish line about half a mile down so I started picking it up.  Thought my kick was pretty good but got passed again with about 200m to go.  Finished 4th overall.  The clock had stopped at 15:00 so I didn't know what my time was...the guy that passed me right at the end said he got himself at 16:19 so I figured I was about 3-4 seconds behind him giving me a low 16:20's which I did NOT expect at all.  And I didn't even feel that bad besides wanting to puke for a minute in the chute (don't worry I held it back). 

 After the finish is where this gets really boring.  Basically I cooled down and sat around and waited for an hour for them to get the awards thing going.  Granted, there were a lot of runners for a little 5k like that, but that was my only complaint was the post-race organization.  Awards took them forever because they thought they had to have a little drawing for everything under the sun.  Ended up raining so they just hurried and read off names, but I didn't get my trophy until 2 hours after I finished.  But that's alright I guess.  I took first in my division (legitimately--I was really the first 19-24 year old across the line...the other guys were older I guess) and 4th overall.  Actual time was 16:18.7.  Winning time was 15:54.  I think the course was pretty legitimate too as far as distance goes...it was easy for the most part (especially with the first mile being downhill), but I think the distance was pretty well on just from the way they had the mile markers and the 'one mile to go' marker.  I don't own a Garmin so I dunno though. Oh, and I met Allie from the blog for the first time.  As far as I know we were the only bloggers there but I don't know many from Utah Valley so I could be wrong. 

Overall I am extremely happy with this race.  PR since being home off my mission by 22 seconds!  I guess it's only my third 5k in that time but I'm just tickled.  Didn't think I was in shape enough for that.