Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 20 miles. 8 miles easy to start, then right into 10 miles at marathon effort in 53:53 (5:23 / mile avg), 2 mile cooldown w/ 4 strides in the last half-mile (to finish on a neuromuscular stimulus instead of just slogging it in). Splits were: 5:21, 5:23, 5:23, 5:34, 5:25, 5:22, 5:23, 5:18, 5:25, 5:18. 

The course for this run was a semi-simulation of the PHX course. Miles 1-3 were downhill, 4 was back uphill (~80 feet), 5-6 were flat, 7 was net downhill w/ a couple short inclines, and 8-10 were flat (tempo loop). I wanted to see how my foot would respond to running a little more varied terrain, since I've been doing all of my workouts on a flat loop. The interesting thing is that due to the lack of ROM in my right ankle, its actually easier for me to run faster on flat instead of downhill. I can live with that. My achilles felt good on the uphill mile as well, which was a nice sign. I should also mention that I was chased by a dog for about 100 meters during the 8th mile... I threw in a little acceleration and the dog did not catch me... although it was like a 25 pounder with little stubby legs, so I'm not getting too cocky about out-running it :-)

Pretty happy w/ the back to back workouts this weekend. I pretty much did exactly what I hoped to do, despite waking up yesterday morning and feeling like there was no way in h#ll I was going to pull it off. I was only going to do a final long run if it was going to be a quality effort, and I feel like today's run accomplished that goal.

Here's your track-dork historical video of the weekend: Ron Clarke documentary.

PM - 4 miles easy. Took a break in the middle of Zero Dark Thirty (long movie!) and went out for a short run in the dark. I've done soooo much PT today... I don't know how Andrea does it. Seriously, running 20+ miles is really the easy part...

AM - 8 miles up to work (in 1:13:40!!!).

PM - 8 miles home.

AM - 10 miles up to work. 

PM - 8 miles home. Found the rear window smashed out in my jeep, lots of stuff stolen. Right outside our condo. They ripped out the stereo system in a busch league manner... not a clean removal! The stereo was worthless, but quite a bit of valuable items were stolen - my portable jump starter, a sweet auto repair kit, bunch of other auto equipment, iPod accessories, 3 pairs of really good ski poles, etc. Not really what I want to be dealing with right now... window gone just in time for a snowstorm!

It should be noted that a pair of 1.5" split shorts were left behind!!! Those were good shorts, and I'm glad I still have them! 

It should also be noted that ANY IDIOT with opposable thumbs and a clothes hangar can easily break into a 2001 Jeep Cherokee. Don't break the windows! A monkey could do it w/out breaking the window. Heck, even I've done it when I've locked my keys inside.

AM - 15.5 miles. 4 mi up, AT Reps: 2 x 4 miles in 21:41 (5:25/mi), 21:34 (5:23/mi) + 1 mile @ LT (5:00). Half mile steady b/w reps. Cooled down 1.5 mi home. 

Usually I'd do a pretty hard workout 10 days out from the marathon, but due to going to bed too late, being up really early, and a mildly hectic day on tap, I modified it to be much more of a moderate session. No sense in risking getting in a recovery hole right now. 

PM - 3.5 miles, easy shakeout. Resisted the urge to run home from work. Dropped off the jeep for repairs during the afternoon... the insurance people could not wrap their head around the fact that I wouldn't accept a rental car. I said I'd take a segway if they had one, and if not, I'll gladly take the bus. They didn't have a segway!

AM - 8 miles up to work. 

PM - 8 miles home. Threw in a spontaneous 2 mile pickup (5:24, 5:19) in the middle. Its been a long time since I've done something like that. This was probably the first run in a month where I just RAN freely and didn't worry about whether I was going to hurt something. 

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I read this study on EPO and running performance yesterday. Pretty interesting. It basically shows what we already expect to be the case, but it was a well-designed trial and actually specific to running (most of the literature in this area uses cyclists as test subjects). Since PEDs are depressing, here's something that will make you smile: Park City's new avalanche dog!

AM - 9 miles up to work. Snowy! Another day for the trail shoes... which are very, very clean because I pretty much only use them to run in the snow.

PM - 8 miles home. Not snowy. 

BUMMER. I was really hoping to start logging some "PM - 4.5 miles down to SugarDaddie.com park" runs. Plus, just imagine how much the value of Fritz's new house would increase if this name change actually took place.

Salt Lake Winter Series 15K 
TREADMILL WORKOUT (What the what?!)

The plan today was the use the SLC 15K as my last moderate workout before the marathon - run the first couple miles easy and then progress into marathon pace for the last 6-7 miles. Rob and I left around 8:45am and the weather was perfect - warm and calm. By the time we got out to SaltAir 25 minutes later, it was an absolute white out storm (graupel) that made the 10K from a couple weeks ago seem downright tropical. We went out for our warmup and were completely miserable and freezing within the first 15 seconds. Rob said that all we needed now was to add some lightning to the mix. No lie, 2 seconds later there was a lightning strike and thunder. Thunder snow!!! 

We decided that the only was to get a quality workout was to either go back in time a few hours and run at 7am when it was nice out or go to the gym and run on the treadmill. The treadmill was actually my suggestion. I'm usually very flexible about workouts (modifying / moving sessions based on the weather during the winter) but that doesn't work when you are 7-10 days out from an important race. You kind of need to do things at more specific time points.

I only have a couple rules when it comes to running, and two of them are: 1) Don't run on a treadmill and 2) No racing in long tights or with a shirt under your singlet. One of those rules was going to be broken today regardless of what I did, so I opted to be warm :-)

About 2.5 hours after leaving home, I was finally at the gym and ready to get running. Rob showed me how to work the buttons (this was my first treadmill run since approximately 2005, other than some random testing in gait labs).

The workout ended up being 15 minutes warmup, 45 minutes at ~AT effort (5:30 pace for 35 minutes and then progressed down to 5:00 pace over the last 10 minutes), then another 15 or so minutes cooldown. 

I kept the incline at 1%, even though I know it should be at least 2-2.5% to truly account for wind resistance. Anything above 1.5% felt like it was straining my achilles a little too much. So the workout obviously was a lot easier than it would have been outdoors, but I do think there was some advantage of running in a much warmer environment than I am used to. I probably should have been doing more of this throughout the winter, being that its probably going to be pretty warm in Phoenix next weekend. It was nice to have Rob to chat with during the run... otherwise it would have just been insanely boring!

I felt like I got a good sweat and a nice little aerobic stimulus today. Definitely a better quality effort than I would have gotten outside. Kudos to those who braved the elements!!

The treadmill says I ran 12-something miles but I'll call it zero since it was a treadmill, after all. 

I should also add that I was "that guy" wearing my complete race uniform at the gym. I sort of felt like a tool, but what can you do? It was the only clothes I had with me.

PM - 4 miles, OUTSIDE on a pleasant evening with some light snow coming down. It was something of a winter wonderland. My spirits were so high that I decided to count this morning's run as "real" miles :-)