Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 15.1 miles. Andrea and I met Rob Murphy at this house and started from there. Our original plan was to run all the way up Emigration Canyon to Little Mountain and then down to the Mountain Dell golf course (where his wife would pick us up), but by the time we got to the zoo, we realized that it was going to be a 25-30 mph headwind all the way up the canyon, so that wasn't going to be fun. Instead we cut up onto Wasatch and ran around Sugar House until Andrea stopped at a little over 10 miles. Rob and I did a few more laps in the park. It was a really nice run - great to have Andrea back out with us again!

Then we had blueberry & chocolate chip pancakes w/ Rob's family - great morning!!

PM - 4 miles shakeout after an afternoon of watching track, going to Costco, and watching football. A much needed lazy day. 

AM - 9 miles, up to work. The usual. 

PM - 11.5 miles. From work to Olympus HS (~7.5 miles), rolled into a casual 8 x 200m in 33.7 seconds average, then ~2 miles home from there. Chest congestion is still driving me nuts.

Andrea posted this thread on the forums. We're going to Mammoth Lakes at the end of July for vacation. Its going to be the ultimate week of trail running and playing in the mountains. If anyone is interested in joining us - we are 100% serious about opening this up and trying to get a group to head out there with us. We could rent a big house and really have a great time - check out Andrea's post and even if you are remotely interested, let us know.

AM - 6.5 miles. Easy morning. 

PM - 12.5 miles. Warmed up 3 miles, then 8 mile tempo run - splits were 5:14, 5:17, 5:16, 5:13, 5:16, 5:14, 5:13, 5:10 (Average pace  = 5:14 / mile). Cooled down 1.5 miles w/ Andrea, who was running by as I was finishing up. Did this run on the new extended (1.3 mile) version of the Winder Loop, where I've done my last couple tempos.

Today was one of those days where I just didn't feel like doing a workout. Everyone knows what that feels like. I tried to justify my sickness as an excuse. When I got out the door, I told myself I'd just do a short tempo and see how it felt... well, I'm glad I decided to suck it up and do the tempo, because once I started it felt nice and smooth. I got in a great rhythm right off the bat and felt like I could have kept it up quite a bit longer. Right now it feels very natural to lock into that "5:15 +/- a few seconds" pace.

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Functional path training is an interesting blog to follow. Its not necessarily about running - but some of the lessons and thoughts can most certainly be applied to our sport. I won't copy and paste the whole thing - but their recent post on "Level of Expectation" was especially good.

AM - 18.5 miles. JAJA+ run. Nice to have the group back together this morning, with Andrea and James off the injured list. Andrea dropped off at 7, James at 10... ran another mile w/ Allie, then we each headed home. Once I got home I just ran a couple extra loops around the neighborhood until I hit 2 hrs 15 mins.

Decided to stay home from work today and try to kill this chest sickness. I always feel terrible calling in sick (and rarely ever do), because I figure if I can run, then I can go to work. But considering I work in a cancer hospital, being tough isn't exactly very ethical. Andrea wisely convinced me to stay home. I should listen to her more often :-)

PM - 7 miles in the mist. I think I would go stir-crazy if I stayed home for more than one day. My big accomplishment of the day was buying some new walking shoes for my grandma w/ the New Balance gift card I won at the 5K. I figure Saucony won't care if she is rocking NB. Plus they lead the market in really plain, white leather sneakers.

250 pushups, 75 pullups today - both year to date bests. It will be a while before I beat those totals again! 

AM - 8 miles easy (64 minutes). First mile was 9:42, so it was actually quite a negative split run!

PM - 10 miles. Tempo reps on the track - 2 x 5K in 16:25 (5:18, 5:15, 5:14, :38), 16:19 (5:16, 5:14, 5:11, :38). Jogged a lap in-between. Had a harder workout on the schedule for today, but since I had a good workout on Tuesday, then a big mileage day yesterday, I thought it would be wiser to not push the envelope too much. 5K reps @ MP were a good substitute - quality miles, but not overly taxing... doing these on the track is excellent practice for the monotony of the marathon.You just zone out. 

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One of my favorite blogs, Sweat Science, has moved to Runner's World. This is from Alex's first post at the new location, on a topic very relevant to those of us who live in the SLC valley: If you have the choice between running alongside a river or running alongside a four-lane highway, choose the former every time. But if you're choosing between running on a polluted day or not exercising at all, this study should tilt you in favor of lacing up the shoes.

AM - 15 miles. HCI-Sunnyside-Wasatch-Parleys. Really nice morning with no crazy wind coming out of Emigration or Parleys canyons. Half day of work, then flying to AZ. I'll be doing my afternoon run in Sedona later today!

PM - 4 miles in Sedona at sunset. Andrea biked along with me. Perfect temperatures. Looking forward to running on some dirt roads and then exploring / hiking tomorrow. 

The USA XC Champs are this weekend in St Louis. Since almost everyone who is fast either ran the marathon trials or is in one of the big indoor meets this weekend, I probably should have thought this through a little better and run the XC championships - it would have been a opportunity to cherry pick a good finish :-) ... although I think I'm probably a better road runner than cross-country runner, anyways.

AM - 12 miles. Ran from where we are staying in West Sedona to the Vultee Arch road. It was a pretty awesome run - I would describe it as taking the Jeremy Ranch road, and plopping it down in the middle of Zion National Park. Rolling hills and stunning scenery the whole way.

I didn't take a camera (I'm not an ultra-runner!)... but here's what it looked like, thanks to google images...

PM - 6 miles. Ran to the Sedona high school (which is one of the nicest sports complexes I've ever been to).  Andrea biked along w/ me for the 3.5 miles over there... then I did 10 x 200m in 31.9 seconds average. That's faster than I've been hitting the 200s lately, and its at the end of a couple more big weeks, so a good sign. 

During the day we went hiking for a few hours, then went on a nice leisurely bike ride. Fun day... I took a ton of good pictures which I'll put up in a day or two. Really enjoying Sedona so far.

Andrea took some photos while I was running at the track... pretty nice setting, huh?