Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 9.5 miles. Met ACorn at Highland HS - we ran 5-6 miles on the roads, then finished up with several loops around SHP on the grass. Good run and conversation on a nice warm morning.

My legs felt like they had some spring in them today. I honestly thought yesterday's tempo would have made them a little stiff, but it didn't! Good sign. Still, I'm not doing any faster running for a few more days. I also stuck to my new plan of only eating 1/2 as much pizza as I think I should at The Pie last night, and therefore didn't feel like junk this morning. 

PM - 8 miles. Ran a bunch of horsepark loops on the grass/gravel. This was just a really enjoyable run... really nice outside, tons of dogs running around, and I felt great.

I'm 50/50 on whether I'm going to run the 5K at UVU this coming Friday. It kinda depends on who else enters the meet. If there are other fast guys running, I'm in. If not, its not worth leaving work early and driving down to Provo. I have a feeling most college guys are going to be saving it up for Stanford... part of me really wants to just buy a plane ticket and go out there and run a 5K or 10K... but the I'm concerned about the travel and carnival-like atmosphere wearing me down even just a little bit. Gotta stay in the orb until Boston, not get into any exciting situations until then, and then let it all out.

AM - 10 miles, up to work. It got progressively lighter outside during the first half of the run, then darker again as the clouds started to roll in. Thunderstorm? That probably means thunder-snow up in the mountains, which is really cool (and scary!) when it happens.

PM - 7.3 miles home.  

AM - 8 miles. Horsepark loops.

PM - 10 miles. Warmed up 3 miles around SHP, 20 x 200m (hot/cold) on the track, then cooled down 2 miles. Average for the 200s was 33.1 seconds (as it seems to usually be). I think I'm sort of just locked in at 33-flat 200s, whether I am running 4 or 40 of them.

Goal for today was to just get my legs loosened up for the last couple harder workouts coming up, without doing anything very taxing. Going through the full range of motion and running with good form on this workout seems to always make me feel better afterwards.

On my cooldown I saw a guy that looked like fiddy from a distance and I was excited... but it turned out to be a false alarm. I kicked the guy in the shins for getting my hopes up.

AM - 8.5 miles, up to work.

PM - 8.5 miles, back home. 

Anyone see the new course for the Provo City 5K? I gotta say that I am a fan. Straight shot down University, no tangents! That will be a fast, but not overly-aided one.

AM - 8.3 miles. Usual warmup, 5 mile tempo in 25:59 (5:12/mile). Splits - 5:17, 5:15, 5:14, 5:10, 5:03. Ran home for the cooldown. Checked my email when I got back and saw that Andrea ran an awesome tempo run this morning, so that got me pretty excited for her. 

PM - 8 miles around SHP on the grass. Originally the plan was to do some faster stuff this afternoon, and Kevin (Redd) was going to join me at the track. But the forecast for the weekend is not looking great (hurricane wind, again!), so I decided to move Saturday morning's planned workout to Friday afternoon, and therefore could only run easy this afternoon. Two workouts in one day is a good training stimulus, 3 workouts in 2 days is stupid. Kevin was cool w/ the change of plans so we just ran loops around the perimeter of the park. 

AM - 6.5 miles. Horsepark loops.

PM - 14 miles. Warmed up 1.5 miles, did a few strides, then went right into the workout - 2 x 5 miles in 26:16, 26:15 with a one mile jog in-between. Splits - 5:14, 5:19, 5:17, 5:17, 5:10, easy mile in 6:50, then 5:16, 5:17, 5:16, 5:14, 5:12. Cooled down another 1.5 miles.

Hot and windy this afternoon. I felt like I was battling a head-wind the whole time. I was very salty by the time I was finished. For both marathons last year, I did this workout 10 days before the race, and had a tendency to really hammer the second 5 mile segment... maybe too fast when I did it before Philly, looking back at that workout now. Since I did it a little further out, and on more tired legs this time, there was no point in being a workout hero today. I feel like I put in a good effort and got what I needed out of this without over-doing it. The wind made it more challenging than the previous times I've done this. The key for the next 2 weeks is the find the balance of enough faster running, but err on the side of doing slightly too little. Next week I'll do one workout, most likely, where I let 'em rip a bit. 

Found out today that I will not be getting any fluid bottles on the course at Boston, "due to the depth and strength of the field." I didn't make the cut. Honestly, I think its fair. If I want to be get these kind of perks, I should run some elite-level times before I go asking for special treatment. Walk the walk before I talk the talk. I'll get my chance to do that very soon. 

Group run tomorrow (10-15 miles) - 8:00am at Highland HS.

AM - 16 miles. Met Fritz, Allie, James, Kevin, Adam (another new Adam), and Rob "hold on guys, we need to run by my house so I can get my sunglasses and look cool" Murphy. We ran a ~7.5 mile loop through Millcreek/SHP, at which point the all the shirts came off when we ran by our cars (suns out = guns out). Then we ran up through Tanner Park / Parleys Trail and finished up with a grass loop on the perimeter of SHP. Best part of the run was probably passing a bunch of little kids who were running in the park, cheering them on and giving them high-fives.

Great run this morning. Lots of dorky running banter. I love it. The last couple Saturdays I've been out hammering workouts solo, so it was really nice to have a relaxed, fun run with friends today. Felt good after yesterday's workout - I slept like a freaking rock last night, so that definitely sped up the recovery. 

PM - 7 miles, horsepark loops, working on my tan. 

If anyone is interested in a Sunday run... tomorrow I'm meeting AdamRW and ACorn for about 10 miles - we'll start from Dan's Supermarket / Starbucks on Foothill, 8:00am.