Wheeler Farm Loops

those pics are pretty amazing. miss those mtns...

i'll counter that with some beauty from ATL --

http://goo.gl/ldhbJz

What's in the bag?

ground beef

Piled sacks of ground beef is what we are using to keep Roo in the kitchen anytime we leave the condo this week, instead of a baby gate. Don't tell Amiee.

Nice plan for 2015! I will be in phoenix in February for the full. Heard it's a good, fast, downhill course. Got some of my friends from OK heading that way as well. Looking forward to it

Yeah you'll like the course. The marathon has enough downhill to make it pretty fast, but not enough to beat up your legs... especially since you are coming from somewhere flat.

I've got the same plan this year. Use how my body feels to guide my training and what races to run. Having fun is always the most important part.

Thanks for the company and hanging back with me.

I was hardly hanging back... that was my fastest long run since Chicago!

Beware the month of January.

Back in the days of a 10 month calendar, January didn't even exist.

average 7:05 wow. How guys do it in this cold weather.

Yasir - it's all about a good pair of mittens and one of these things - http://www.buffusa.com/

In all honesty, we've only had a couple cold days. In my 5 years in SLC, this has probably been the easiest Thanksgiving to New Year's stretch for running.

Yep, +1 mile, -1 sec. Nice work -- 18 more weeks to 26 @ 5:15.

25M @ 5:16, 24M @ 5:17, 23M @ 5:18, etc all seem like terrible ideas for workouts! :-) So maybe I'll skip the 17-25 range.

You just have to carb load beforehand.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh, like this?

http://goo.gl/ZsUL16

marinara sauce? ew.

Catsup. Duh.

More like this

Http://goo.gl/N5nFwK

I can't believe allie died (dyed? diyed?) her hair red. Crazy Atlanta Hawks fan now, I guess!

Dighed

i started dieghying in november.

if you need a recipe that makes 1500 donuts at a time, hit me up.

I actually got a good picture of the ice moguls! http://bit.ly/1xJf2vG

I still can't figure out where they put all those moguls in the summer.

Thanks for letting me crash date night. I titled my Strava activity - Date Night w/ My Two Besties :)

I don't have a stratava but from my understanding, this is what I'm supposed to give you:

http://goo.gl/YHuOTc

That's a long way. Like me, you must have sacked out on the couch the rest of the day watching football.

I caught the last two plays of the Patriots-Ravens game. That seems like enough. No skiing today because the conditions are less than ideal at the moment, but plenty of dreaming and planning for upcoming ski tours.

Great photos. Makes me almost wish I owned touring gear.

It's the best gear you can own from December to May if you like being in the mountains! :-)

(until they interconnect the resorts)

Looks purdy! Sick day on Wednesday?!?

I wish. SIV. But game on this afternoon (Tuesday)!

Ughhh I so should have gotten sick this afternoon. Even if there was a few too many inches! Great pix.

Man, beautiful views. You are just living the life out there, aren't ya? Making me jealous.

Beautiful pictures.

Kuhn - I've been out West for almost 7.5 years now. It never gets old. The scale of the landscape is just mind-boggling. Occasionally you get a little lazy and start to take it for granted, but luckily those moments don't last too long. If you want it and are willing to get after it, the opportunity for big adventure is almost always there. So yeah, absolutely living the dream :-)

mygod it's beautiful.

That's an incredible amount of snow. Sweet pics!

We are looking good as of right now -

http://goo.gl/5zS74x

Although the rest of January could be dry. At least we're not in Tahoe!

Wow, pretty nice views for a Tuesday.

I saw a skunk today.

Beautiful pictures! I love how you and Andrea "live" life--it motivates a lot of us to get off our butts :)

Sitting is like smoking Scott... possibly worse for your hamstrings :-)

c u @ ragnar wb

U running on the same team you did Ragnar Georgia with?

http://goo.gl/l2Hft1

I think you beat Riley's builder.

Kewl. Nothing beats winning a virtual workout. Maybe I should join strava.

Not maybe but when. You are already on all other social media platforms and a darling of pinterest.

I made amends for the accidental pinterest signup and deactivated the account. Keeping my talents locked on instagritter.

Turned off Tinder too. Hope you uninstalled :-)

I think Strava has it's uses (neat things, I guess), none of which you are really interested in. I like that I can track a route that I do frequently against other runs on the same route and I like that I can turn my auto split and average pace off on my Garmin and get my splits there if I need to.

As for taking down course records, it feels pretty good but there are PLENTY of guys (and gals I have no doubt) around here that are faster than me. I do like that it gives running a local feel though.

Strong tempo. Movin away from dat baseline, fo sho.

Still going!

I bet you have 100 of the top 100 performances on your tempo loop.

The only thing I'd like to see just for kicks is the running route map. The exploding line between home and work and the horsepark and tempo loops (which are along that line) would probably stand out a little bit :-)

The whole course record thing seems kinda dumb to me.

The heat map is really interesting. It's not real mystery where we run but it's still intriguing to me. You can use a free version. Riley posted it back a while ago. I can find it.

Mine is all forbidden drive, the tempo loop, and the college hill loop. It's interesting because you could swear you've run every street in a 2 x 2 neighborhood like mine. Not quite!

You're kinda dumb Jake. I uninstalled tinder that very evening as I got more and more depressed. I should probably unregister somehow online too.

What are you racing for if not the shirt?

The first year I did the Zoo Run 5k I got the shirt because I didn't think I could opt out. It's an ugly shade of light blue, 100% cotton, and it reads, "It's Otterly Awesome" (complete with otter, of course). The next year the guy at registration said, "no shirt?" as if he was a bit miffed.

The ones for Beach to Beacon are decent for race shirts, in case you are still toying with that idea. Too early I know.

We will absolutely be in Maine that weekend. Our friends' wedding in that Saturday afternoon in Southport. So ideally I'll get to run B2B this year.

If you are looking to ski, I can pretty much guarantee Utah will get hammered with a couple feet of snow from Feb 6-8 since we'll be out of town :-)

Good luck dude

#xtremebouldersadness

Boulder T-Shirt update: they were out of all men's sizes except XL by the time we got here, so I ended up having to take a Womens shirt. It's flattering!!!

Who the fudge racing in Boulder wears an XL? That wouldn't fit me! Although if they are throwing them away I'll make a cape.

#pleasebuyracingsetupasap

We already own more racing gear than the last time we saw you and this post was written :-)

Huh? What'd you get? What'd you get?

thanks Jake.

You live far enough away... more snow here won't affect you! :-)

Are you sure diving into the shark tank is really that good of idea?

http://bit.ly/1Ep6Hi5

That's pretty much what it looked like at the top of the 3rd climb, as 10 guys (and Andrea!) went past me as I spent an hour (felt like it) messing with my bindings. Aferwards the Dynafit guy said "oh yeah, sorry, those demos are really beat up". Can't wait until Euro-package arrives... my gear is in Brussels right now!

That is awesome and based on your tempo this morning it definitely isn't hurting your running. If anything I think it's a great mental break and just something new and fun. Also probably humbling to get beat by a girl. :)

Go Andrea!

Here's the part I've mastered :-)

http://goo.gl/efG4Vb

You're not the only one jumping into the shark tank. Although I didn't jump all the way to France...

Excellent workout Jakester. And a big hearty congratulations on meeting your target pace.

A little too cold this morning to continue the progressive series of AT workouts I've been doing this morning. Gotta keep these hamstrings happy throughout the whole marathon buildup.

Solid workout for sure. Did you see that the WSU student qualified for the olympic trials on sunday? I was looking for a post from you about it.

Yeah she ran a very good time... like 2:38ish? I don't think she lives in Utah anymore though.

Several guys from Utah ran really quick times in the half, but I think they had all already hit the OT standard in 2014.

i will comment after checking the PM run I know its coming :-)

Yasir - I caught a ride to work this morning after the workout so the PM run is my only way home :-)

Nicely done Jake. Must be weird for you, going that fast without skis.

It's certainly less technical, and I didn't even crash on this run like I did yesterday afternoon.

I love reading this blog before every run just to get me fired up 90% effort in AM another 6 pm!!

To be honest Yasir, I shouldn't really be doing PM runs after workouts/long runs during this cycle of training... if I want to get my hamstrings fully healthy again. I was pretty beat up by the evening (especially when you toss in the ski race on Tuesday). I'm going to probably cut down to 9-10 runs per week, instead of my typical 13-14, and do a lot more skiing.

you are not trying for the Xgames too? just watching it on Espn while bloging this.

Skinned up to the top. I will have to google this one :-)

Not a common activity in Kansas City? :-)

"Skins" are material you put on the bottom of your skis to give you traction, so you can climb up the mountain with your skis on. Then you take them off at the top and ski down. So skinning is essentially hiking up wearing ski boots/skis. When I mention ski touring, it's basically the same thing. When I mention "SkiMo" or "rando", it's the same thing only at race pace instead of leisure pace.

There is 0% chance that any of this new vocabulary will someday be useful to me! I'm glad you're having fun though, Jake.

One day I'm going to do a detailed post on wasatch and beyond about how all this backcountry / touring / racing ski equipment works. My parents had no idea what Andrea and I were doing for years until they finally saw it in action. But that day will probably come AFTER all the snow melts. So look for it in July.

Oh and one term I didn't explain - "mountain lion". It's like a giant housecat with paws the size of your face and if you see one... it's already been watching you for an hour :-)

So THAT's what a cougar is! I have been misled, it seems. Thanks, Jake!

Jake, what is this picture of? I am trying to picture Brighton and where they have night skiing and where Great Western is, but this photo is confusing me. It has been a while since I have been up there.

This is looking back towards the center of the resort from near the top of the GW lift

http://goo.gl/5pPQyl

Brighton does night skiing off their Crest and Majestic lifts.

We skin up far to the left (looking at the map I posted) - roughly following the GW lift to just below Clayton Peak. Brighton's ski patrol is really cool about letting people use that area in the evenings for uphill skiing.

Thanks. That makes sense. For some reason I was mixing up the Crest and Great Western in my mind. I used to go there a lot as a kid, but it has been years now.

The best way to keep cougars away and not fear them is to wear a Utes shirt.

Dynafit shymnafit! More importantly, any new BLASTS flavors?

No new blasts flavors - disappointing!

Get those 6s out so I can start the deep discount downward spiral can start on the 5s! Although those 6s are looking pretty sexy.

Any new features you are able to divulge?

I love Gluten full food! "Get in my belly!"

While I actually don't know for certain, my guess is that the Kinvara 6s will be very, very similar to the 5s. Probably just some cosmetics and new colors. I don't think there was much need to alter something that was already such an upgrade from the previous version.

Will they pre-chance come in wide?

Don't know. I hope so for your sake.

I need a pair of those zealots!

Josh: my feet are pretty wide. Size 11 dress and size 12 Saucony. My foot measures roughly 10.5. I know you had some tearing issues. I've torn a few earlier version (though still runable). 500 miles on a pair of 5s and BY FAR the best. They feel broken in but lots to go.

This makes my 12 miles a recovery run. Another crazy workout jake.

Great work. Seems like you should almost jam an early spring marathon in the schedule if you keep up this good momentum. then you could start your Ragnar training block!

Joe - I'm planning on a little twentysixpointtwo-er in the United Kingdom called "London" (pronounced "LUNN-DIN") on April 26th. That should give me plenty of time to bounce back for the RAGNAR relay.

I use this phrase pretty judiciously, but I feel it's appropriate here...

OH NO YOU DI'INT!!

Wait, are you using that phrase because of the marathon? Or because I am seriously doing the ragnar this year?

Now I don't know what to believe. Is ANYTHING written up there true? Jake, if that IS your real name, are you really racing in London?

I updated my race calendar for you Tom. No lies. You can check entries for USA XC (why am I doing that by the way?!?!) and PHX 1/2 online.

Here's the best proof I have for London - http://instagram.com/p/ySDPvrP7tL/

And I've committed to running on the Intermountain Transplant team for the RAGNAR.

I heard the London marathon isn't even in this country. Don't know if that's true...

I think it's in Ontario

website says the hero turtles will be at aid station 12

I wonder how much it costs to get hero turtles at your birthday party?

Cool! Give those Canadians hell, Jake! Seriously, watching you build up these long / tempo runs has been great. Keep it going!

Nice!

I was shirtlessly circling the park. Crazy!

Amazing photos Jake. I gotta get out more thats for sure..

Yeah it feels like spring.

If we get a couple days of smog or it snows a bunch in the spring, I hope people don't freak out. It's been a really, really pleasant December/January. I think there have been 4 cold days by my count!

Do I see a LONDON on your race schedule?!?!?!?

Yeah, Ontario. Go back one day in the comments ;-)

Please keep the Pics coming we have noooooo mountains nor snow around here. I hope the hamy is getting better. u gonna line up next to Kimmeto and Kispsang Really!!!

written by Michael or James Bond sorry I had to do that one. Nice back on the doubles

Jake - this would be a good data point to correlate Utah races with a nice course in Europe.

There's zero useful correlation between the Utah downhill bombers and legitimate courses like London.

Probably more reasonable to compare it to something like Chicago, which I've run more recently, or maybe even CIM, which is at least in the realm of being a realistic indicator of ability.

umm, fiddy is a waay better guide than paddington. i'll send you some of his old journal entries.

I'm looking for someone to dress up as Paddington for my b-day party, if you know anyone. I'll pay $30 for 45 minutes and that includes health insurance.

http://goo.gl/n24xbX

Jake - there is definitely a strong correlation between performance on any Utah course (although more TOU/UVM/Ogden than St. George) and London/Berlin/Chicago. If you take 200 consistent runners and have them race a Utah course and a sea-level course, and then calculate the statistical correlation by computing the average time , standard deviation for each course, then covariance, then divide covariance by the product of standard deviations you will get a correlation coefficient that will be very close to 1, in other words close to 100% correlation.

Without fancy statistics, if runner A beats runner B by 10 minutes on the Top of Utah course, then very likely runner A will beat runner B by the same 10 minutes in London. So there is absolutely a very very strong near 100% correlation. The question to answer, however, is if a runner does 2:30:00 on the Top of Utah course, what will he run in London? We currently do not have enough reliable data to nail it within a minute, which is what your run in London will help with.

The answer will depend on whether the runner is used to running downhill at altitude or not. I do have some reasonable data on runners that are not used to running downhill at altitude, but not on the ones that are.

I understand how statistics work. You can correlate anything. But a one person sample size isn't going to tell you anything about Utah vs Europe. I ran hard on Utah marathon courses in 2011 (UV) and 2012 (TOU)... far too long ago to even be meaningful. For example - Ryan Hall ran 2:04 at Boston in 2011 and 2:17 in 2014... Boston 2011 wasn't 13 minutes faster.

But use my data as you please. My guess is that London is about 10 minutes faster than a Utah course :-)

I AM SO JEALOUS!!!

Or I am a tiny speck in the universe!

Pretty pic! How did the whole new setup work? I expected a bit more STOKE with this post :)

The full PDG package feels like cheating :-)

They ski really well - especially on freshly groomed snow. Bindings are a work of art, and the skin tip bungees that we made work like a charm for quick ripping. Remember how I wasn't buying more gear 6 weeks ago? Glad I didn't stick to that!!

Good luck!

Wow with crit that high - you'll be set up nicely for London.

I have a pretty good general foundation and have been feeling strong aerobically. Was still surprised to see HCT that high (there's always fluctuations in these things, but it's definitely trending well right now). Now I just gotta do something with it :-)

Good luck keeping up with her :-) love it looks like a lots of fun. Great pics

Nice work, I can see the increase in RBCs from here!

Now you know what I feel like in running, getting continually crushed by the opposite sex.

Definitely a perspective change compared to running. Even in big races like Boston/Chicago when I'm not truly competing for a top place, I still feel like I'm IN THE RACE... in this one I never really felt like I was in it (if that makes sense). Especially after Andrea blew past me on the first long downhill :-)

But that being said, I still like being out there and I know with some time I'll get somewhat more competitive. For now I can't get over the mental block of "you have London in 3 months" and that especially prevents me from taking chances on the downhills (probably a good thing).

... I added a little more about CROWBAR on Wasatch and Beyond.

That is awesome Jake. Must be all the skinning at high elevation whipping you into shape!

lets keep on skinning the tops. 14 in 01:19:36 really. wattch out london.

14 miles at a great pace. Lots of aerobic stimuli lately! Or maybe I just wanted to say "stimuli."

I think the correct word is stimulusus's

Congrats on a nice, smart race. Good luck in your training toward London.

Like to see you run the Tokyo Marathon some year. Then I could go and watch you run.

Love your attitude these days Jake. It's going to work for you, I can feel it.

Nice one Jake

Thanks guys. I expanded on my original one sentence summary.

Mark - I'd love to run Tokyo someday and then spend a week skiing powder in Hokkaido. On the bucket list.

Congrats on a strong and smartly run race. Good to see a runner can recover from hammy tendonitis and get back out there! Gives me some hope!

Dang dude, passing 40 people in a race with only 114 is pretty impressive. You got my fired up to want to get out a do a race now too!

Jake, there is some great powder snow in Hokkaido, but if you are going to do some skiing in Japan, you have to try the Zao ski resort. There is nothing like it.

Nicely done Jake. Solid effort and a wise plan well executed.

Nice work. Great hair. Sounds like a fun trip!

Congrats on a great race and hitting your time goal. Your control is always so impressive.

Wow, nice work! 70s in Colorado in February is nuts. You are really clicking along well.

I bet Andrea had fun with all of those pups and you looked way too natural holding that baby!!!

Actually Amiee, several million years of human evolution predisposes most of us to baby nurturing.

You're welcome.

Careful using the "E" word, Rob. You're an educator in Utah. Would hate to see you get fired.

The flowing locks of Krong.

the E word :-) nice pic

Great run! Those longer efforts in the 5:40s are very beneficial. You're looking strong and seem to be getting stronger. It'll be fun to see your results at London (just running London alone is pretty dang cool; you doing London and Hales and Jason Holt doing Paris makes me very jealous).

Nice run! We need to hang out...like for realzzzzz.

Cool that those guys are running Paris. Didn't expect to hear that! Logistically from Utah, the best of the Euro marathons, as there is actually a direct flight to Paris.

Yeah Jen, I know. Like soon. I would tell you to take up skiing, but it's not worth it right now! We should go to Moab :-)

It's a long story on them running Paris. Basically Jason just beat out Hales on a treadmill competition last year at the Outdoor Retailer for a trip to run Paris. But then they ruled Jason a "professional runner" and disqualified him and gave it to Brett. Jason fought the ruling and they eventually gave in and gave him a free trip as well.

Kind of interesting how the western half of the country has had a hot winter, while the eastern half has suffered a colder one.

Good thing climate change isn't real!

I'm going to tell Al Gore you said that. You've been warned...

It doesn't show any improvement if you were running with the wind :-)

Seriously, are you hoping to be able to knock out 5:15 pace for that workout?

Tempo "loop"... even though it's more of a rectangle. The wind ends up being more of a mental battle, because its at your back as much as its in your face.

If I keep progressing, I imagine I'll be able to do this at 5:15 pace by April with no problem. But I'm not going to force that issue. I'll do a variety of workouts to get myself ready for the one day that counts.

Holy crap! Nice workout. Beast mode.

Hey Jake, when you do a long run with tempo, at which mile do you start the tempo? That is the run/workout I am planning for Saturday and thought maybe a 4 mile warmup or so before the tempo...

James - sort of depends... on this one I did the tempo in the middle (5.5 up, 10 tempo, 4.5 down)... that's pretty typical... but sometimes with this workout I also like just doing the tempo on the back end (ie. 10 up, 10 tempo). In general I'd rather have more warmup than cooldown. It typically takes me a good 30 minutes to loosen up.

Rob(K) - compared to the old days (2-3 years ago), these kinds of workouts are definitely on the conservative end of the spectrum. My hope is that I've built a strong enough infrastructure over the past 4 years, and I don't need to hammer like I used to. I just need to get myself to 95% shape and then let the magic happen. And be smart enough to not force the magic.

Rob(M) - looking at the calendar, I could see this workout fitting in again towards the end of March. Ideally I'd like to be able to do it for ~13 miles feeling smooth about a month out from London.

That seems like about the right pace. Of course you have the altitude factor.

How are you feeling today?

Yeah, altitude makes it a touch harder. I don't think it makes a giant difference for someone who has lived/trained here for a long time. Especially at aerobic paces.

I feel good today. Had a nice easy morning run and looking forward to the Banff film festival tonight.

banff ff! holy moly time flies.

my favorite thing you said (other than the mason jar comment) -- "be smart enough to not force the magic"

it's easy to do when you don't know the magic is there. sometimes experience can be the downfall. i'm definitely guilty of trying to force what i *think* should be happening based on past colorful google calendars.

i like the approach you are taking -- seems like it's working really well (and all that skiing! secret weapon, no doubt).

i believe in the power of the tramp.

"not forcing the magic" is something I need to remember 4-5 weeks from now... that's the time period where I've gotten myself into trouble in the past, when I start to finally feel in shape and justify saying "if I jump ahead a bit and run these workouts faster, I'll race faster." Usually doesn't work that way for the marathon.

Last summer, I was in awful shape in June. I was patient w/ my buildup in July/August, then got greedy for a couple weeks in September (esp w/ volume). That hurt me in Chicago. Trying not to repeat that. Just taking it step by step, aiming for small but consistent improvements.

Nah, I'd aim for big, inconsistent improvements. I know a great Kenyan "doctor" that can get your EPO levels up. Totally legit if you don't go by "conventional thinking." Let me know - first syringe is 50% off.

We missed you at Artisto's, allie. Our waiter was John Stamos!

The festival was excellent but nothing was quite as good as the arctic surfing one from last year.

Good big boy workout!

I think I learned this last buildup that in your final workout (a 10 + 10-12) you need to hit your paces and being able to say "I can run faster right now, but I don't need to." The above discussion seems to be an application of that idea throughout the buildup, which I guess is the way it should be. It's hard to remind yourself of that during training though.

The film festival was great..I liked SufferFest 2 and Into The Empty Quarter best but they were all great.

Into the Empty Quarter wasn't on the list last night. Assuming you saw it in Ogden?

We wish they would spread out the 3 SLC shows over 3 months, instead of 3 nights in a row, so we could see a bigger variety of films. I can't sit that long or stay up that late for more than one night.

Here's Sufferfest (1) if you want to check it out -

http://goo.gl/yqvLG6

Yeah, I saw it in Ogden. I'd recommend looking it up. Thanks for the link...

I watched Sufferfest 1 last night. Clearly they just shot it on an iPhone or something and weren't trying to win any awards... didn't have the production quality of the desert towers. But still a fun story.

I'm with you. Sufferfest 2 was perfect and Delta Dawn was an unexpected favorite. Cerro Torre was a bit disappointing in dialog and story but I loved the sequence of Lama freeing the last pitch of the Compressor route. Made my palms sweaty.

Delta Dawn was refreshing in a lot of ways... it gave a sense of hope, and showed how resilient nature can be, despite man's best efforts to ruin it.

Re: Cerro Torre - I'm not expert in post-production, but you would think there would be a button you could press to CHANGE THE FREAKING FONT on the subtitles!

The film had more potential - if it had been produced by Camp 4 Collective or Sender Films, I think the story would have been more captivating and exciting. All the elements were there for a sensational film, as opposed to just a good one.

And moonbeams?

No moon out last night -

http://goo.gl/vQVigc

Dang man, you're really cranking out the long quality workouts lately! Good one.

I'm liking the approach of doing a long/quality run every 4-5 days (or thereabouts). Mentally I'm always very fresh for it, and honestly the idea of doing shorter/faster workouts isn't super-appealing (at least right now). Then again, the marathon is something of a long/quality run, so this should work, right? :-)

Yes. It almost seems as if you're training for some kind of endurance race where you're required to run a long distance at the fastest feasible speed.

Doing the PHX half? Got a crew doing the full, pretty pumped for it! What are your thoughts on the course?

Yep, back to PHX. The course is really fast. Roads aren't crowned, not many turns, gradual downhill gradient. It's pretty much ideal.

In the full, just use caution in the first 4 miles. Don't beat up your legs there and you'll be cruising after the only uphill section (5-6).

Good luck at the half.

Graceful! The last time I was on skis Dad tried to teach me but I was nervous. To be fair my first concussion came from my first ice skating lesson. I won't let go . . . wack. Wasn't long and I was throwing up in the emergency room.

I am the worst ice skater in the entire world, although it sounds like you could give me a run for my money!

Good. I can beat you at something. I did learn to ice skate and can stay on my feet most of the time.

I remember the first time I went ice skating in Beaver Creek. My sister was visiting me. She immediately called home - "Mom, guess what? We found something Jake is REALLY BAD AT! This is awesome."

I debuted and retired in the same evening :-)

Speedy. I think it's coming together. Don't want to jinx you or anything.

How hard does that pace seem? Can you cruise through a 5:05 with little strain?

Yeah 5:05 isn't as easy as when I was regularly running mile reps in the 4:50s, but I'm not killing myself to do it either.

Small steps... I have two months of training ahead of me.

Half marathon training complete. Good luck on Saturday!

That's it Joe... I started the HM-specific training block around 6:40am and wrapped it up about 19 minutes later. 100% success.

Looks like a good primer for Saturday. Phoenix has been good to you (two victories in two attempts at this event, plus a great time at Rock n Roll), and I expect this weekend to be no different. Have fun.

Phoenix has been very good to me... although all bets are off now that my parents don't live there anymore!

RnR 1/2 in '13 and the MTF 15K in '12 are probably tied for my best races in Arizona. Although the XTerra 25K at McDowell Mountain is the race that got me back into competitive running, so that one deserves some love too :-)

I'm sure your analytics team is hard at work dissecting the data and will have a plan for London.

Yeah we (Andrea and I) decided a week ago that I had to be sure not to read anything into this, regardless of whether it went great or bad. I'm just sticking to what I've been doing and have planned. I'm happy with my progress over the last 8 weeks, so this isn't a setback by any means. I've been lazy w/ the hamstring rehab recently and that bit me today. Gotta be more disciplined so it doesn't limit me in London.

Sorry about the bummer race. At least you didn't lose your sense of humour.

Thanks Jon, but nothing to be sorry about. I didn't elaborate in my report (obviously) but I knew I didn't have a fast time in me today. I would have been pretty happy in the 1:08s considering where I'm at right now. I got in a good effort/workout even though it wasn't an impressive race performance, and I'm back in Utah ready for a good day of skiing tomorrow :-)

Hey, there was a time when you and I ran 5:19 pace for some 5Ks and were considered pretty good. I would kill to run that pace for a half. Nice work and you're right, one race does not a season make. You always have a few clunkers. I think a lot of my best races actually came not too long after some of my worst (not sure why). Keep up the good work man.

Wow. I can't believe it right now, pretty much dumbfounded.

You had a chance to receive messages from ITS at Cincinnati State and you opted out. SMH

Hey in a couple hours, I'm about to run a half with similar lack of race-specific training. Thanks for the inspiration!

If it's any comfort, every race I ran leading up to Duluth last year was absolute garbage.

Still a good race Jake. I trained my guts out back in my younger days and never ran that fast.. Unless you count the parachute drop at Hobble Creek:) I think you will eventually pull it off. Good luck in London.

Chin up. Hair pulled back. Keep pressing forward. You're racing far less than you usually do, which makes a difference.

Yesterday I looked at the times and it seems most were positive splits. Not sure if that's course design or the rhythm of the field this year.

I've heard streaking is more acceptable in Europe. Sounds like a plan.

You've got great determination, Jake. It's inspiring!

I'm not too worried about this race looking bad on paper, in isolation. In the grand scheme of things, it's perfectly fine. Going back about 2 months, I felt like I could get ready for a good marathon this spring, but I only had ONE really good race in me, and that's what I would prepare for (not the intermediate checkpoints). So I don't think I've used it yet, and I still definitely believe I have it in me.

I won't be doing lots of climbing on skis for 10 of the 14 days before London like I did here :-)

--------------

Jason - I think you see a lot of positive splits in the marathon b/c of the elevation profile... the full course has quite a bit of elevation drop in the first half, the flattens out. If the splits were wonky for the half-marathon, it's because the 6.9 mile timing mat was placed a solid 30-40 seconds after the 7 mile mark.

And who knew Cincinnati State was in control of race tracking updates? Lot of "take homes" from this one, for sure!

Sorry I messed the weather up here again this year. I guess I was mad that I wasn't running it. Anyway, start brushing up on your British now. Try the Rosetta Stone.

Oh also, I was wondering what time you would have considered "good"?

Always poised, unruffled, and deliberate...good qualities! Best of luck with the next 8 weeks before London!

Burt - upon reviewing my splits, I clocked the "Finish Line / Talk to you and that other British guy / get my warmups" at 60:00/mile pace. I guess that's pretty good?

That's spot on. What you really want when you're talking to me is a nice even pace. You don't want to push yourself. Settle in to a good rhythm and focus on the task.

I approve of this layout, very nice. Allie might have some critique of the color palette, but I say A+.

What's an overdistance long run...26+?

I probably didn't use the right term there. In the summer I would do a couple 26s... but for this buildup, I'm thinking over-distance more in terms of over-"time"... so like 2.5 hours. That BETTER be over the time it takes me!!

Oh and I have calendars like this going back 4 years. The fonts and colors have changed over the years, but they are the best way to look at trends in training and big picture stuff. I'll post them all in one giant file when I retire.

Pretty cool. I plan stuff out in excel but usually dump the file after whatever buildup I was doing. So FRB is my master file...good thing it will definitely always be functional as long as we live.

I never ski on Mondays either.

Big enhancement to my calendar this winter was the addition of the little orange cloud, which represents a smog day. Fortunately we hardly had any.

I hear ha Rob... Mondays are always too busy for skiing, which is OK if you use your Sundays appropriately :-)

you'll need to make a custom color for banff days. my vote is cobaltish.

I'm working on an extension that will add all crayola crayon colors to google docs.

Enjoy the rest of your night on buzzfeed...

http://goo.gl/533j1A

This post is sponsored by Skier'sHigh (TM).

Those are some great photos on the blog Jake. Looks like a blast.

Your ski marks are all curvy - were yall drunk?

Great run Jake! Bike support is the best! Andrea is awesome!

Great long run Jake! And you can't beat the weather today...I was in a sports bra and capri's. Should have planned that better and worn shorts.

Thanks! I will not argue anything contrary to that assessment, Tara. Especially the last part :-)

Are you friends with all the people on that block by now? Or do they just roll their eyes at you..

Excellent run Jake! That's a long, quality effort.

Joe - long delayed response, but thought of this b/c we're at the airport in Houston... you didn't come to see me this time!

Everyone on the loop knows me. Most roll their eyes or ask how many miles/marathons I'm running that day. The kids (always playing on west center of loop) usually yell stuff to me for the first few laps, but then quickly become very bored with my progress! ;-)

Man, that is pretty.

amazing pics. looks like it was a really fun time.

andrea said i can live in your jeep when i'm in utah.

It was the least I could offer. When was the last time you slept in a car for an extended period of time?

I'm trying to grow my hair out even longer and sneak into girls' weekend.

Wow, beautiful pics Jake! And you are totally welcome to join us for girls weekend...as long as you bring the beer and wine ;)

yeah, you can sneak in. just be aware that your hair WILL get braided and hairsprayed and possibly dyed rainbowy colors.

That's what I wanted Andrea and I to do in Mexico - matching hair braids!

I can do a mean french braid...just saying. I've been practicing on my leg hairs

I can't believe she let a GIANT bird sit on her head and she is afraid of sweet little Frank!!!

It took some negotiating :-)

To be fair, these birds were definitely on xanax.

Nice Beach! Running 22 miles in sand would lay me out for days. That is some strong work, Jake. That bike ride sounds rough, too.

The run wasn't all sand, just the really pretty part :-) But it was really packed down and run-able.

Nice wow really nice.

Pictures look great, looks like a fun trip. I never got my invitation to join yall, must've gotten lost in the mail.

Really awesome that Andrea is running too!

Aren't all massages naked?

Wow.. decadent:)

Wow. That's living!

How's the hamstring? It's the right one, yes?

The right one is the troublesome one. It's good right now, but that's entirely b/c I haven't done a harder run in 2 weeks and haven't even run in 3 days. I have to catch up on the rest of my entries, but I got pretty sick when we got back home on Tuesday night and I'm still too weak to even think about jogging. So the hamstring isn't the biggest concern at the moment :-0

Amiee - in theory, I believe you are right, but when I get a massage in Utah, I don't trust the massagers, so I keep my speedo on.

This is most unfortunate.

Yeah, I'm not thrilled when I'm limited to filing taxes and washing the jeep, instead of long runs and ski descents, as primary weekend activities! :-0

From a training perspective, it's not the end of the world to miss a few days... but I know how these kinds of illnesses go - once the acute phase passes (usually a full week), it takes a lot of time to regain strength again (usually an additional week). So not ideal timing. And it seems like that's the best case scenario trajectory I'm on right now.

Dang, sorry about the plague. Never a welcome thing a month before a big race. You drank the water over there, didn't you?

100% bottled water... and cerveza w/ the meals we ate out!

Chances are it was a food thing - we tried to make sure we washed fruits and vegetables really well, but obviously something slipped through the cracks. Bacteria are apparently very small?

Hey Jake- over the last summer I felt like I had gotten to a great place, and was stricken in my pride with a terrible flu. It was like nothing I had ever experienced - I even wondered if I was dying for a brief, dramatic moment.

Naturally, running went into the gutter for a couple weeks. The point of this story is that things came back together, really fast. Fast enough to PR in a marathon? Probably not. But encouragingly fast.

good lord! have you been able to trace it back to anything? geez, i hope things are getting better.

when you can eat again, get yourself a few dozen pints of gelato from vinto.

Drink some Japanese green tea. It will kill what ever stomach bug you have.

Pfffff, antibiotics... Leeches. That's what you need.

At least you're down to a good racing weight. Hope you get better soon.

Allie - I think we traced it here... the guy in blue behind Andrea:

http://goo.gl/KVZjxr

Delicious ceviche for 65 pesos at a cool little outdoor restaurant! Last night of the trip, and the only meal where we ate something different. And it turns out ceviche is a haven for death plagues. Wish I had known that before!

Jake - based on this graph, I should be in about 2:13 marathon shape now :-)

Drew - I agree with you. The infrastructure doesn't go away. Honestly, trying to PR this spring was a big longshot (before getting sick) anyways.

guy in blue needs to come to ATL to take my food safety/how to make egg rolls class!

day 1 lecture:

"have you ever had food poisoning?" "ok, and how was that?" "ok, and would you ever, ever, ever, ever want to be responsible for inflicting that on someone else?" "ok then."

This sucks Jake...I'm so so sorry! I'm never going to Mexico, like EVER! Unless Michael Jackson resurrects from the grave puts a concert on in Mexico City...then I'd go.

Mexico is GREAT! And I'm not just saying that because I was threatened by a cartel. We already want to go back next winter. Do a google image search for Punta Allen and Sian Kaan Biosphere. Totally worth a little food poisoning! :-)

Real sorry I hope this goes a way soon.

Great attitude Jake!

Good to hear you are back on your feet - and Andrea is too!

Sucks about the plague, but I'm happy to hear Andrea is running again too. How is everything feeling this time around for her? Does it seem like it'll all finally be resolved?

I hope I don't jinx anything by saying this...

She started running regularly when we went to Mexico (she thrives in heat and humidity). So far, so good, this time around. We feel like the second surgery worked, it just took a lot longer to recover from than anyone could have anticipated (6 months instead of 6 weeks). Fingers are crossed, to the point where they are turning blue, that this is behind her. She still needs to be (and is being) pretty cautious about how much she can run and it will have to be a very, very gradual ramp up.

And for the record, at this moment on April 2nd, she is faster than me on a 3 mile run.

I like it. I mean, I hope you get better really soon, and I'm legitimately disappointed you won't be at your best for London, but picturing Andrea leaving you in her dust makes me smile.

It makes me smile too. I can just shrug my shoulders (like MJ in the '92 Finals) as I try to keep up around the horsepark :-)

I just came in to check how you are doing with that plague you contracted (boo!) and am SO STOKED to learn about Andrea. No one would want to jinx it Im sure, but wow. Pain free running (even slow or short) must feel like heaven to her (and you) right now.

I have everything crossed for you both to continue onward and upward!!!

No doubt you have "jinxed" her. When Andrea re-injures herself it will be because you expressed optimism on the internet.

You need to cancel these comments out ASAP with some doom and gloom pessimism.

Penny - Yeah... it's been a full year since we've been able to run together (and since she's been able to run at all!)... so we are happy and just hoping it sticks this time, and she's doing what she can to make sure it does. We were just looking at your Paris photos yesterday... I loved the impetus for the trip :-)

Good luck Jake. Keep us posted on everything.

Sorry to hear that Jake. I was really looking forward to seeing you run well in London. I think you were really stoked for it too. However, it takes some courage and wisdom to bow out of a race like that - and for that I think you are to be commended. Were I to have your talent, and be in your position, I would have a tough time making that decision.

The good news is that you will have other opportunities and perhaps be back in London next year. Stay strong.

I appreciate that, Bret.

I don't think it's fair to say I was courageous or wise, though. I have a lingering injury and backed myself into a corner.

If I felt like I could even run/jog 26 miles just to enjoy the experience, I would do it. But it would cause a lot of damage. I'm in the 3-5 mile range at the moment ;-)

Didn't realize the hammy was plaguing you that much. Sorry to hear that - starting over and fixing it sucks but sounds like the right call and the only way to reach your full potential.

Heal up fast - I'm running out of blogs to post my stupid comments on.

I've been dealing with high hamstring tendiopathy since August. One of my cause was weak/arthritic hips and speed work.

I've had electro-acupunture done - acupuncture needles inserted into the hammie/glute. The electric clamps are then attached to the needles. A small electric current is turned on and the needles shake. Dr Eric Brady in Provo does this.

Dr Brady suggested have a PRP injection once a month for 1-3 months, no exercise, and therapy. Dr Brent Rich in Provo does PRP injections - $350/shot.

There is a great article about HHT on Runner's Connect.

Not sure if this is helpful. Good luck!

Thanks Toby. I definitely have weak hips, and that contributes to the issue. Hopefully I won't have to go down the road of professional treatment. Luckily I live with the queen bee of PT and she has guaranteed me 100% success if I actually stick to her program for once :-)

Joe - it's been manageable over the winter, primarily because of the skinning. But let's face it - look at my workouts... they have been very slow compared to the past couple years... part of that was fitness but a lot of it was mechanical limitation. I couldn't run under 5:15 pace... heck, I've been afraid to even try and do strides for the past four months! I was essentially trying to steady-state my way to a halfway decent marathon (and might have pulled it off if I didn't get so sick), but I can imagine that it would have done major damage to my hamstrings and back.

sorry to hear Jake please rest and recover you are going to come back even better runner than before. sorry about London I was excited to so you next to Kipsang and Kimetto :)

I'm sorry Jake, injuries really suck. Running through them is fine and I've been on that train for over a year now...but you simply cannot compete at the level you know you are capable of with them! I'm really proud of you for making this hard decision.

I'm sure your an expert on the injury by now but in my opinion scraping really helps with tendonitis and soft tissue injuries. Like deep I want to cry like a little sissy scraping. Best of luck to you and the PT queen.:-)

Hope you can get over the HHT soon. It has been a bugger for me, but through following my PT my hammy feels the best that it has in several years! Good luck.

Bummer, man. Injuries are an unfortunate part of hard running. You'll bounce back.

Good luck Jake. It really sucks getting that sick/injured and recovering. Patience truly is a virtue although easier said than done. I was out for 5 months for my achilles tear, now I'm back, faster than ever but it sure as hell took it's own time to heal.

Was that 7:15 from the starting blocks, or a running start? Certified?

Glad there is some progress - I guess in the big scheme of things, a few months is not a long time...except while you're going through it, probably feels like forever.

Skateboard start, Garmin* certified, 2 gels.

*so probably 7:22, which is still good! :-)

Yeah, that's what I meant - Garmin Certified. Is there any other kind?

There will be, once everyone has an apple watch.

Well, I'm not trading my Casio calculator watch for that piece of junk.

Wow, that's enough snow depth to bury Manute Bol.

In a really good year, the base depth in Little Cottonwood Canyon can approach or exceed 200 inches. That's like Manute Bol standing on Shawn Bradley's shoulders, and then some!

Fantastic.

Sounds like a great trip. Have fun!

Vienna?! Have a good trip!

Cool.

Sounds like a cool trip! Bring me back some sausages, or maybe a life-size statue of Arnold Schwarzenegger...whatever's on sale.

There's a surprising lack of Arnold stuff here. Maybe because his dad was a nazi?

I can get you a 25 pound chocolate shaped Mozart. That good?

Maybe they like David Hasselhoff more than Arnold....or is that Germany? Anyway, I'll take a 25-lb chocolate Hasselhoff, as he is obviously more musically talented than Mozart was.

World class wiener schnietzel is world class. That is a cuisine that is lost in translation in the U.S. but extremely good there.

Yeah it is not at all what I thought. I'm not sure what exactly I expected - more of a fancy hot dog? I guess I just associated "wiener" with foods in that shape?

But in any case, it's a really good dish!

There's a Der Wienerschnitzel on 123rd South in Draper that's world class.

I'll make sure the ILC organizers know that... they already selected Barcelona and Prague for the next two years, but now I could see Draper being in the mix for 2018!

Great pictures, especially from the hike, wow.

Yeah it was pretty much the best week of work ever :-)

Those aren't even the "good" mountains in Austria. It's a beautiful country and they really take care of the outdoors.

That looks awesome. My coolest conference was way over in Minnesota. :) Enjoy! I think it'd be tempting to spend a few years abroad if you visited some of these places.

I sympathize Matt; who goes to Austria for work? Let me think of some of the places I've gone for work over the past few years...Leesville Louisiana, Barstow CA (Mojave desert), Baghdad, Shreveport LA, Rapid City SD, Vegas, Qatar, Albuquerque NM... I'm glad I don't travel in my current job anymore!

Matt, Joe

There are certain professions that do a better job than others in taking care of people with cushy conferences in exotic locations. There's tons of money in the medical profession, so there you go. $20,000 for a bag of chemo goes a long way for hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.

Unfortunately education is not one of those fields either what with being accountable to the taxpayer and all!

Matt - It would be pretty cool to live in that part of the world (Austria/Switzerland)... the lifestyle there really jives with what Andrea and I like to do.

Joe - have you ever been to a place with water? :-)

Baghdad has the Tigris River.

Forget the Tigris.... where I was, there were some great man-made lakes to run around - Saddam had siphoned water that farmers needed so Uday and Qusay could have a place to waterski. It was great!

http://goo.gl/qdku6i

That's awesome. I've never delved in SlowJoe2010, and within 2 clicks I see a picture of you sitting in Saddam's living room chair!

The canal in Baghdad reminds me of... Phoenix.

Trained for my first-ever marathon there...good times. Good, weird times.

I hope we have a really good snow year, and I don't even enjoy the snow like you do. I remember those high snow years, one of them I was learning to drive in. The great thing about a lot of snow is all the other seasons are beautiful. It is good to see Andrea running:)

rad...MIH

Is that Mt. Baldy in the Uintas that you are skiing, or some other Mt. Baldy?

There are so many Baldys in Utah. This Mt Baldy is the eastern-most one in Little Cottonwood Canyon, between Alta and Snowbird. When Alta closes the lifts for the season, it becomes fair game for human-powered skiing. Just a mile or two along the ridge to the west you'll find Red Baldy and White Baldy, which are also very cool peaks.

Bald Mountain in the Uintas isn't really accessible for skiing until the Mirror Lake Highway opens (still closed and probably will be through Memorial Day). Skiing off the top of Bald is high on the checklist for the spring... hopefully the roads open up while those High Uintas peaks still have plenty of snow for skiing. We'll be heading that way as soon as we can.

I could see how this picture would make you think Uintas... with that red, crumbly rock behind Andrea. Didn't really even think of that before. You don't find a ton of that rock in the Alta periphery... it definitely looks like it belongs a hundred miles east.

Does not look like fun skiing. Sugar snow. But the hike looks awesome!

It was definitely fun skiing. Sugary and unconsolidated in a couple spots but that's just what you get in the Wasatch this time of year.

Beautiful trail. Have you biked the new Ahab trail? Technical and fast.

We like biking blues and greens - non-technical and mellow speeds :-) Captain Ahab is out of our league. That's serious riding!

I doubt that, you two look good at everything. Ahab is one of my new favorites. That's the one Walter Brown did a yard sale crash on when we went early Spring.

Looks can be deceiving :-)

I don't have the skills (or interest to practice enough) do technical biking like that. I don't know... it just doesn't appeal to me at all. If you saw me ride anything challenging you'd see why I wouldn't even attempt Ahab. I'd be walking more than riding.

Looks ominous! Winter's over btw...

In a lot of places, like our neighbor state to the east, mid-April to mid-June is the apex of the human-powered ski season.

come visit georgia. it's human powered mashed potato season year round.

It's over, let it go. Time for trail RUNNING season at Alta. Melt snow, melt!

Wow that top pic is so stunning! Too bad it's no longer ski season in St. George... been about 11,000 years.

My thoughts exactly Rob! Speaking of Trail Running... does anything look runnable up there yet?

allie... lol. The south!!!

11,000 years??? - what are they teaching you in school, Preston?

I don't know if anything is runnable up there. I'm sure it is somewhere. Still plenty of snow on northern aspects above 8500'. South/West are dry. I guess it's somewhat selfish to want to extend the ski season but it's something that Andrea and I really enjoy doing together, especially since neither of us can run as much as we'd prefer to at the moment, and we love being up in the mountains. You guys will get your wish very soon, don't worry.

You may need a new history teach Presto! Oh Wait😁

11,000 years ago is the approximate time St. George slid down from the North Pole so it could be Brigham Young's summer home.

I think I read that on a historic marker next to the Cafe Rio on St. George Blvd. once.

And the last wholesome stop off before you get to Nevada.

Fog skiing isn't bad... you can't grip it and rip it, but it forces you to be in tune with your body and the snow. Still, it's more than likely you will crash at some point, which happened to both of us. Me on the first run of the morning (second turn!), and Andrea just before we got back to the parking lot at the end. Smooth operating!

Zero visibility skiing, woohoo! Sounds almost as fun as highway fog jogs.

i'm on a sweaty bus in georgia.

btw, your jeep is so tough to make it up LCC without exploding.

[i still love you, jeep] #neverforget

The white wolf has been on fire lately (in terms of working, not actually catching on fire (surprisingly)). Since Andrea's car got totaled a month ago she's been driving it to work every day... It's been to Moab, up and down LCC a bunch of times, etc. Super greatfull.

I'm sure the jinx has already taken effect within seconds of posting that response and the jeep is currently being stolen (again)

I hope you locked it when you went skinning.

As if locking it ever stopped anyone before!

Impressive adventuring Jake!

Yoinks

You skiers and your crazy language..."booted the couloir..." "Stoke chasing..."

Anyway, pictures are totally radical!

right?

Can you imagine what a hard time skiers have understanding running lingo?

But to break down some mountain-talk you a Texan like yourself...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Couloir

and

"Booting" = walking in boots :-)

Stoke chasing is hippie dope smoking lingo.

Ok I think I understand everything now - smoking dope while walking in boots up the corridor. I have so much to learn about life in the mountains.

You pretty much have it figured out now after this exchange. With your hand tan, you'd compliment the goggle tan crew nicely.

it probably just FELT close to all out since you haven't had the uncomfortable efforts lately.

It was a good cap to my spring workout block :-)

My friend is having a one mile race the morning of his wedding in two months. I need to get in good enough shape to win that.

Hopefully it's < -3% downhill. ;) Lately I just stop over here to take a look at the sweet pictures. Today didn't disappoint.

Thanks Matt. Being in places like these is my biggest passion so I try to spread the stoke (not the drug kind :-) a bit.

A 92-year-old woman ran a a marathon in 7:24 today. That's an age-graded 1:59:34!

Those pictures & your report are incredible!

Not being very good on the skis myself, all I kept thinking when I was looking at the photos was ...Insanity...utter, utter, insanity.

Looks like you all had quite the day!

Bret - I wouldn't recommend Pipeline for a southeasterner :-) In fact if you tried to ski this during Snowbird's operating season, you might get arrested.

It took us a full season before we felt confident to ski steep terrain like that. But its sort of like anything else, once you have your skills dialed, you can do a lot of things you wouldn't have expected even a few months before.

cool pics. i remember one of your first posts on here was a recap of your morning ski and your afternoon by the pool.

this was my view from up high this morning: http://goo.gl/gIyK85

The blue roof looks pretty steep. When that fills in with snow, I bet you could slay it.

We were actually saying over the weekend that this spring has been like 2009-2011 again, which is a good and fun place to be. Chasing adventure more than splits. And I think that means we also get to subtract 5 years off our ages?

I'm still amazed that snow exists somewhere in this country right now. If you weren't so good about posting pictures, I'd probably say you were full of it!

There's actually a TON of snow in Colorado's high country right now... according to Lou Dawson, the most in decades for this time of year (he would know). We have commitments the next couple weekends (like Ragnar) but I'm 30-40% optimistic that we could be doing some early July skiing off Independence Pass. Fingers crossed... not cleaning / putting away any equipment yet :-)