Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 17 miles. Jeremy Ranch. Easy pace with a little half-mile pickup at the end.

PM - 5 miles. Bike path between PC and the Canyons.

AM - 14 miles. We spent the night in PC so it was back to Jeremy Ranch this morning. Rob came up to join me, and we had a great run. The Oregon Project guys who didn't run at the Pre Classic were out there as well, so we were definitely not the fastest guys on the road... although Rob did his best to break me with a couple quarter-mile surges at the end.

PM - 6 miles. Hot out! 

Mary Cain ran 1:59.5 yesterday. Her reaction when Alberto came over and told her that she broke two minutes was priceless (watch it). Moments like that are hard to beat.

AM - 14 miles. Easy pace and kept it flat after two runs on the ranch to give my achilles a break. Mostly just grass/gravel loops at the horsepark.

PM - 7 miles. 

You can still get in on the action (or, if you missed this previously): Saucony Product Testing Application

AM - 15 miles. AT Progression: 6 miles in 31:58 (5:20/mi avg). Splits - 5:28, 5:24, 5:24, 5:20, 5:16, 5:06. Tempo loop. 6 up, 3 down. The last mile was definitely crossing into the LT zone.

PM - 7 miles. Finished on the track w/ 8 x 200m in ~34 seconds. 

AM - 10 miles. Slow.

PM - 8 miles. Still slow, but slightly less so. 

AM - 11 miles. Short breakdown workout on the track: 1600-1200-800-400 (400 jog) + 4 x 200 + 4 x 100 (on/off). Started at LT pace and worked it down: 5:06, 3:46, 2:27, 69, 34, 34, 34, 34, 16, 16, 16, 16*. 3 up/down. Feeling like the goal time I threw out there last week for UV 1/2 is more of a realistic possibility.

*Taken out to the hundreths, the actual times for the 100s were 16.00, 16.09, 16.00, 16.00. Blew it on the second one... that could have been a legendary set of splits. I could try to stop my watch at 16 point zero zero four times in a row the rest of the day and not come close.

PM - 4 miles. 

AM - 6 miles.

PM - 3 miles.

I wanted a progressive effort today, and executed that well. Targeted splits of ~26:00 at 5 miles, 25:15-25:30 for the next 5, and to not pull my hamstring in the last 5K. I ended up running 25:54 / 25:21 and then ~15:55 for the last 5K, with no injury re-occurrence. So, pretty much as good as it could have gone. 

It was important for me to start conservative today, as I don't have the quality miles in my legs to really be gunning it from the start. So I did a shorter warmup (and didn't take my caffeine) so I'd be slower off the start. Came through the first mile in 7th place and there was already a big gap to the front pack. Moved up a bit over the next two miles, and I was in 4th when we crested the hill at 5K, but Josh/Jon/Riley were still way ahead (~20 seconds). Passed Riley at 6 and then caught Jon at ~11.5. Jon and I ran together until there was about a hundred meters left... I felt great and like I had a big kick in me, but I couldn't justify taking the chance. One place isn't worth another month of missing workouts, and Jon was very strong and would have been tough to take down anyways.

Splits - 5:13, 5:19, 5:16, 5:07, 4:58, 4:57, 5:06, 5:02, 5:08, 5:07, 5:15, 5:01, 5:04, :33 = 1:07:11. Miles 1-5 = 25:54, Miles 6-10 = 25:21, Last 5K = 15:55. That was exactly what I hoped I could do, and its a confidence booster.

I'm feeling like I'm making progress and improving. This run felt very "aerobic" which is a good sign. My workouts have been pretty easy lately, but getting in five straight weeks of good volume, even at mostly easy paces, does wonders for endurance and durability. I never really quite felt like I was racing a half-marathon. My turnover at sub 5 pace feels a little sloppy, but I'll get that back. 

My short-term goal is to try and break 1:07 at Duluth in 2 weeks. Its going to take something of a monumental effort to beat my time from today (the UV course is a lot faster) but with a taper, a couple more decent workouts, and going into it with the right "racing" mentality from the gun, I think its possible and I'm going to give it my best shot.

Enjoyed the day... lots of good friends ran well. Weather was ideal. Race organization was top notch.

Also wore my Type A5 flats for the first time. They were superb. 

AM - 20 miles (2 up, 13 race, 5 down) 

AM - 9 miles. Holladay loop w/ Nate and Rossy.

PM - 8 miles.

Felt good today. Did a lot of stretching and massaging in the pool. I'm going to take the first half of this week very easy. 

AM - 10 miles.

PM - 8 miles. 

AM - 12 miles.

PM - 8 miles. 

AM - 11 miles. 

PM - 8 miles. 

Need to spice up my entries for the week. I've been running super easy everyday (lots of horsepark loops on the grass) in an effort to be 100% recovered before doing another workout. You can't really make significant fitness gains between races two weeks apart anyways, so I'm just looking to do about 2 more moderate workouts before Duluth. Probably tomorrow and Saturday, and then just a light session at the beginning of next week.

I took Lacie (our 16 year old foster puppy dog) to the vet this morning. She's made some big improvements since she moved into our convalesence home and the vet was really please with her recovery. Her weight is going down, but she still weighs 72 POUNDS!!! That is gigantic for a GSP! She's a pretty sweet girl and has no idea how old she is. I was walking with her in SHP during XC practice this morning, and she about pulled me into the pond chasing after ducks. She wants to kill all birds. Her hatrid of birds actually reminds me of Andrea :-)

AM - 13 miles. AT/LT Reps: 6 x 1 mile - 5:11, 5:08, 5:08, 5:09, 5:06, 5:04. Tempo loop. Sort of a progression within each rep... came through the half-mile in 2:37-2:39 on all of them and dropped down to LT pace over the second half. Hamstrings a little tight on the cooldown... need to start doing more workouts on the track instead of the roads. 3.5 up, 2 down.

PM - 4 miles. 

AM - 8 miles.

PM - 8 miles. Broke 60 minutes, so that was my fastest 8 miler this week. 

AM - 9 miles. 5K LT Tempo on the track in 15:54 (5:05, 5:07, 5:05, :36). 3 up/down. Maybe not quite lactate threshold, but in the ballpark. Need to just hold that pace for 10 more miles next Saturday!

PM - 6 miles. Horsepark loop with Kevin. 

AM - 10 miles. Easy run w/ Kevin, Sandy, and Josh. We did something other than the Holladay loop for once, since Kevin locked his keys in his car right before we started. So we ran up to his house and then back through Liberty Park. Nice morning.

PM - 6 miles. Andrea made a pizza while I was out. Then we independently wrote out what we thought my upcoming week of training should look like and compared notes. The two versions looked almost exactly the same. Scary. Her version actually had me running a couple more miles than mine. 

AM - 7 miles.

PM - 5 miles. 

Go Utah!

AM - 9 miles. LT Reps: 5 x 1000m (200m jog) in 3:08, 3:06, 3:05, 3:04, 3:01. 3 up, 3 down. The Highland football team was doing some drills on the track but they left lane 1 open for me and I didn't even have to ask them! Good kids.

PM - 4 miles. 

Entry lists for the USA Half Champs are posted. The men's field is twice as deep as last year... and a lot more loaded at the top end with big names, too. I find it strange that there are 162 men entered and only 66 women. 

At the beginning of this year, my goal for this race was "Sub 65, Top 15-20". Obviously I'm not chasing that kind of time, I'm really just hoping to move back into the 1:06s. But I'm going to guess that 1:04:XX doesn't even crack the top 25 this year (last year I was 27th in 1:06:02). Its a pretty talented field, definitely one of the more competitive road races in the country.

AM - 4 miles.

PM - 4 miles. 

AM - 8 miles. Easy with a 1/2 mile LT effort (2:27) towards the end. A little quicker than it needed to be (according to the watch, but I don't expect precision on anything under a mile with a garmin). So it was 5:05 pace as far as I'm concerned. 

If you're interested, here's tracking and the results page for Duluth. 

On a side note/rant, I got several Groupon type e-mails for fireworks today! I'm all for patriotism via blowing stuff up, but is the goal to burn down the state for the second summer in a row? It hasn't rained in weeks. How are fireworks even allowed in June/July?

AM - 6 miles. On the bike path along the lake in Duluth with Paul and Scott Wietecha.

PM - 1 mile + strides.

Forecast for tomorrow is 50/50 - either awesome (cold w/ a tailwind) or character-building (torrential thunderstorms). I like those odds.

Just a quick report for now... Will write more and add some photos when we get home. Happy with how it went this morning. Felt like I ran a smart race, stayed in control, passed a lot of guys. Finishing 60th is humbling... this was the deepest half marathon championship in history. It took sub 1:05 just to break the Top 40 (Results)! Running 5:05 pace when I've done almost no training that fast in the past two months is pretty good... 
---------------------------------------------------------

With my fitness starting to come around the past couple weeks and after doing a few workouts that gave me a decent idea of what kind of shape I was really in, I figured 1:06:20-50 was my realistic target range. Andrea guessed 1:06:38 a few days ago and she was almost exactly right. I made sure to barely beat her prediction.

The big topic of discussion the day before the race was the weather. Race officials were worried it would be a torrential downpour, runners were optimistic there would be a favorable tailwind. In the end, it sort of fell in the middle, and was just right. No precipitation, not much wind, nice and cool. Pretty much as good as you could have hoped for. It was definitely very humid (we were running through a cloud of fog), but that isn't a problem when the temperature in in the low/mid 50s. 

The thing you have to pay attention to when racing a half-marathon without doing much LT or faster running leading up to the race is that you can't cross that threshold too early or too often. You don't recover. So it was important for me to stay in control early, go out a little slower, and try to maintain an even effort throughout the race. I felt like I did a good job of that, and this race was a good reminder that smart racing pays off. Even when you feel like you are in peak fitness, a somewhat conservative start is usually the way to approach longer races. That's  a no-brainer, but I need to be reminded of that at times. 

The race was obviously stacked in terms of talent (way deeper than last year) and the start was absolute madness. I just tried to make sure I didn't get tripped and also avoided getting sucked out too fast. I stuck with my no-Garmin racing philosophy, and felt like I hit the first at the right effort (5:03). I caught up to Paul and ran a mile with him (5:06), then he started moving up during the third mile. I let him go a little bit, but still ran 4:56 for that mile and came through 5K in 15:36. At this point I had to decide whether to try and move back up to Paul or maintain my own effort. I chose the latter and it was probably the right decision, although for the middle portion of the race I was sort of in "no-man's land" - running somewhat solo, stuck between the guys chasing sub-66 and everyone else. The next 3 miles were 5:06, 5:06, 4:56 and 31:21 at 10K. From that point to 10 miles is the hardest part of the course. I just tried to stay stead and pass some of the guys falling off the early pace (by the way, the leaders ran the first mile in 4:21!). Next 4 miles were 5:09, 5:08, 5:12, 5:09, and 50:52 at 10 miles. I wanted to be under 51 at 10 so this was encouraging. Passed a few more guys as we worked our way into town. The last 5K is net downhill but it never feels easy on this course. Mile 11 was 5:09, then I saw Andrea and picked it up for the next mile (5:01). I knew I would get under 1:07 and while I didn't have as good of a finish as usual, I still ran 5:34 for the last 1.1 miles (5:02 pace). From 5K to the finish, I passed 24 guys, which isn't too bad.

I felt good at the finish - not that "beat up and legs filled with lactic acid" feeling. More of a "that was pretty good, and now I'm just getting rolling" feeling. I don't want to get too optimistic, but I'm starting to feel like myself again. Still, this race was an indication that my "old self" isn't going to cut it. The bar was raised across the board today. 1:06, 1:05... those times don't really mean anything on the national level. You've gotta be running quite a bit faster to compete. That isn't discouraging, its motivating! I gotta give a shout out to my buddy Scott Wietecha, who came into this race with a 1:04:35 PR and ran 1:03:12 to take 9th place today. He's an example of what can be accomplished with consistent hard (smart) work and not getting down after setbacks. 

After watching Rob finish, then cooling down a few miles with Paul, Andrea and I spent the rest of the day enjoying all that Duluth had to offer. Hung out with Rob and his better half a bit too. It was a nice day, despite the gross weather. I even skipped my afternoon shakeout run in favor of hanging out in the hot tub, having a couple beers, and eating all the excellent food that was thrown in our faces around every corner. The Grandma's marathon (and the entire city) really puts on a world-class event. I'm kind of sad they aren't hosting the championships again next year. I'd be back in a heartbeat.

I'm debating between a couple of options in terms of a fall marathon, but in the short-term (this summer) I'm going to focus on more shorter races (5/10Ks). No half-marathons until TOU 1/2. I'm very comfortable running comfortably hard right now, so now its time to start transitioning towards running uncomfortably hard.

Splits: 2012 vs 2013

Weather. No, it wasn't a 20mph tailwind like some of the peanut gallery on Letsrun was saying...

Course profile... you can see why even effort results in splits that aren't that exactly tight...

Beautiful day! Here's a photo of Lake Superior...

AM - Mad dash across the MSP airport to make our connection after sitting on the runway in Duluth for way too long. Probably my fastest half-mile of the weekend.

PM - 6 miles. Easy jog while Andrea biked along. Was inspired to run really slow after watching the Men's 5000m. At least Ben True had the balls to make something of a race out of that. I suppose it would have been Lagat/Rupp in some order no matter how the race played out, though.

AM - 7 miles. Started off the morning running 2 miles with Andrea! Yahoo!!! Then I went down to the gully and ran 5 with the Alta XC team. 

PM - 5 miles w/ Andrea (bike). 

Been thinking a bit about the second half of the year, and where I want my big focus to be. A month or two ago I was toying around with the idea of trying to go after the TOU/STG double. Luckily, that idea only remained interesting for a few weeks. Over the weekend I started thinking about the USA Championships (Twin Cities), especially since they'll cover my expenses and championship races have a certain allure to them... but I don't really want to start a marathon buildup as early as August. Too soon. And with Andrea getting back to normal, we want to travel and go on fun vacations during the summer. So I think CIM is the likely long-term objective for a fall marathon. I want a fast marathon on a legal course. I'm not putting the pressure on myself to start chasing the OT standard this fall (its a long qualifying window!) but I really want to run under 2:20 on an honest course and start moving in that direction. For July/August, though, I'm going to run the local races, and then decide how to move forward based on where I am at that end of the summer. One step at a time. I'd love to somehow fit the TOU Marathon back in the picture, but I don't know if that is realistic, without compromising my chances at accomplishing some of the other goals I have.

AM - 8 miles. Met the Alta XC boys up at Alta. Ran the road up to Albion Basin, a couple loops around the campground, then back down (I got dropped hard on the descent by Kramer!). Other than a few random snow drifts, its all clear up there. The rest of the snow will be melted by the weekend. First run of the summer at 9000 feet is always less conversational on the way up :-)

Afterwards, since I was already up in LCC, I decided to make a little jaunt (hike-jog) up to Red Pine Lake. Ate some breakfast and then headed back. [~6 miles r/t, 2000']

PM - 5 miles w/ Andrea (bike). 

AM - 9 miles. Easy Liberty Park grass loops w/ Kevin, James, and Nate.

PM - 5 miles w/ Andrea (bike). 

HEY! Sign up for the Sugar House Relays! Only 3 days away. 

AM - 9 miles. Dimple Dell gully. Upper section w/ the xc team and then Kevin and I added on a few more miles in the lower section.

Skipped the PM run and hiked up to Lake Blanche. [~6.5 miles r/t, 2500']

AM - 11 miles. JAJAK run! With Andrea on the bike, but close enough. Kevin and I finished on the track with 4x100, 4x200, 4x100. I did manage to break 16 seconds for one of the 100s. Legs felt good, nothing was sore/stiff. I've been kind of sick this week, and last night it finally kept me up since I couldn't breathe. I had a good book to read though (Merle's Door). Luckily we never run faster than 8:00 pace so being sick doesn't really affect me too much at that effort level.

PM - 4 miles.  

Sugar. House. Relays. Register. 

The Sugar House Relay Carnival is the best event of the summer, everyone who wasn't there missed out on a good time! Allie and James did a wonderful job setting this up again... hopefully next year the turnout will be bigger.

I ran 15:59 for the 5000m and then 4:54 for my 1600m leg of the DMR. My goal as the anchor leg was to not let our team GARMIN BELIEVERS get lapped by the BYU team. I had to kick (for 50m) with 450m left as we almost got lapped, but I held off their anchor leg, dropping the baton in the process! Ah what a blunder... it was pretty funny though. Only cost me a few seconds. Our total time for the DMR was 12:15 so its not like we were qualifying for NCAAs anyway :-)

PHOTO GALLERY 

Good workout - I wanted to get in one session between Duluth and the July 4th 5K so today fit the bill perfectly. And we had a awesome group cooldown that included Andrea! Yay!

Team Garmin Believers (Rob, Me, Fritz, and Kevin (60.2!!! ahh so close))

5000m start

DMR Start

I dropped the baton like 3 seconds after this...

Allie and James had the course marked very well

AM - 10 miles [3 up, 3 race, 1 easy, 1 race, 2 down]

PM - 4 miles. 

AM - 14 miles. First 10 w/ Kevin (2.5 of those with Andrea as well) and then ran home... and right into the pool.

PM - 4 miles.