Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 16.5 miles. What happened to the sunshine?!?! Ran a couple 5 mile loops from SHP, first w/ Andrea/Allie and then Nate/Rossy, then home. Kept the pace easy... just wanted to be on my feet for ~2 hrs today and make sure nothing would feel weird. To be honest, my illness is affecting me more right now that any injuries.

Regardless of what happens in the Super/Puppy bowls later, Mary Cain wins athlete of the weekend. 

PM - OFF. Went to the gym for some hot/cold contrast therapy, stretching, massage, achilles strengthening, etc.

AM - 10 miles up to work.

PM - 4.5 miles down to SHP. 

Bill Simmons' article from late last week is a must read if you missed it - Daring to Ask the PED Question. Andrea started reading Tyler Hamilton's book as well, so this general subject has been a hot topic of conversation lately. 

AM - 20.5 miles. 3 up, 26.2K (16.3 mile) Tempo in 1:29:11 (5:28/mile avg, ~97-98% of MP), 1+ down back home. Splits - 5:33, 5:33, 5:31, 5:29, 5:29, 5:25, 5:26, 5:29, 5:25, 5:29, 5:29, 5:30, 5:30, 5:28, 5:31, 5:20, 1:36.

Can't shake the cold. Woke up feeling junky again, and called in sick to work (I hate doing that, but I work in a cancer hospital, so its not really ethically a good thing to show up to work sick). I still wanted to get in a solid workout today, since I'd have plenty of time to ice / rest afterwards. This was really my only chance to get in a long tempo effort, so I decided to modify the original session which I had planned to do 4 days ago. Instead of running the whole thing at MP, I thought it would be wiser to run at ~95% of MP. I tried that for the first mile, but 5:35 is just too slow and doesn't quite feel right. So I split the difference. I feel like this was a good workout - I got what I needed out of it, but I didn't go to the well. Deposit, not withdrawal.

This little injury / illness setback has really made me think hard about what I'm doing every day - I scrapped my original plan and came up with a new approach for the last month before Phoenix. To a certain extent, I'm embracing the extra challenge.

AM - 8 miles up to work. Feeling a lot better... by yesterday afternoon, my congestion was gone and energy levels were finally starting to come back up. I guess yesterday's workout reset the system.

PM - 4.5 miles down to SHP, met Andrea along the way.  

The first USATF-Utah Circuit race of the year is this Saturday. Come and run one of the only honest 10Ks in the state! I'm going to shamelessly keep promoting the circuit this year, so get used to it :-)

AM - 9 miles. Started easy for 5.5 around the neighborhoods and then threw in a little 2 mile pickup in 10:30 (5:16, 5:14) on the tempo loop. Right as I was finishing up the effort, my eyes were blinded by the brightest pink jacket in the world (Andrea!) and I ran home with her. I was just looking for a little token effort to shake out the legs... this fit the bill. No point in doing anything more strenuous today.

PM - 3 miles w/ Andrea. 

Despite the fact that the layout of Gary Cohen's website hurts my head, he has a good interview with Adam Goucher, one of my favorite athletes.

AM - 9 miles up to work.

PM - 4.5 miles down to SHP, met Andrea on the run. 

Gotta give a shout to one of the young guys on the blog, Mike Finch, who signed w/ SUU earlier this week. I really liked what Coach Holt had to say:  ...it demonstrates how hard work and dedication (everyday, all the time - not just "when I feel like it commitment") really do pay off.

Not sure how I feel about this one. After RnR AZ I figured I'd be cracking 31 minutes with no problem today, but the last 3 weeks haven't exactly gone as planned. My quad seems better, but I'm still very hesitant to run much faster than marathon pace on my achilles. My goal today was to put in an effort similar to what I did last Saturday and try to beat everyone except Riley (figuring he'd end up running quite a bit quicker, which I was right about - he is very fit right now). So on one hand I did the exact workout I wanted to - and my leg actually appears to be getting better... But on the other hand, I hate being in a race and not responding when someone makes a move. I like racing aggressively, so now in hindsight I am slightly mad at myself for not being more aggressive today... of course if I was more aggressive and re-aggravated my foot, then I'd be really mad at myself! I guess slightly mad is better than really mad.

I tried to start conservative and we had a pack until about the one mile mark. Riley was running strong and started to drop the pace around that point... obviously very motivated to get that RRCA state championship coaster :-). I didn't go with him, but still felt like I was putting a gap on everyone else because the footsteps were disappearing behind me. Hit the first 5K in ~15:45 (tailwind), then turned around into the pelting snow-wind and I'll be honest - it was not very pleasant! Riley was gone and it didn't seem like anyone was close behind me, so I ran what felt like tempo effort on the way back. Second 5K was ~16:40, not very impressive!

The good news is that my achilles felt good... actually better after the race on the cooldown than when I was warming up. And it also feels better than it did earlier this week. I got this achilles brace yesterday, and despite the fact that its one of the more primitive contraptions I've ever spent $20 on, it works extremely well.

Afterwards we did a casual cool down (the weather was a lot nicer by that point) and it was nice to chat with all the guys. For a wintery February day, the depth at this race (mainly because it was the first event on the USATF circuit) was incredible. I haven't seen the results yet, but I'd betting Fast Running Blog took about 9 of the top 10 spots on the men's side.

SLC Track Club has some good photos on their Facebook page... here's one from the start:

Seriously - what would you rather be doing with your friends on a Saturday morning?!? :-) 

And the Terminator kicking it in for 3rd place:

Stealing these next two from Matt...

Riley, Me, Matt:

Old Guys: