Wheeler Farm Loops

AM - 8.7 miles in Spanish Valley.

Spent the day at Island in the Sky... we never lost the Syncline Loop trail, I swear! :-)

AM - 8 miles up to work.

Feeling some pep in my step after a fun weekend playing outside in Moab. Updated the last couple days w/ some pics...

Saturday - Arches

Sunday - Canyonlands

PM - 8 miles home w/ 12 x 1/4 mile (hot/cold). The "hots" were on average ~4 seconds faster than when I did this on Friday. Amazing what a weekend playing outside will do for you.

AM - 7.5 miles up to work. 

PM - 5.6 miles to SHP, then walked w/ Andrea for a while. 

AM - 10.5 miles up to work w/ 6 mile uphill tempo in 34:31 (5:45/mi). Net uphill of ~300 feet - course tool says 5:45 pace on this route is equivalent to 5:25 pace on flat, which seems like about the effort I was running. Got the HR into the right zone w/out pounding the joints.

My plan for the next two weeks is to ease back into the workout routine without pushing it too hard. I feel pretty good right now, but I know the well isn't bottomless... I probably only have a few (hopefully two!) good races left in me this year, and I want to make them really count. A short but higher-intensity cycle from mid-October to mid-November, then 2 competitive half-marathons. I'd really like to end this year w/ a half-marathon PR.

PM - 5 miles down to SHP, met Andrea there. 

AM - 8.5 miles up to work.

PM - 4.7 miles down to SHP w/ a 2 mile pickup in 10:23 (5:12, 5:11). Then 8x8 second hill surges (not quite fast enough to call them sprints yet) on the grass (north end of the big field). Walked backwards back down the hill in between efforts.

Mountain Stoke that popped up in my Google Reader - Rae Lakes Loop. We were there two summers ago - Day #9 of the JMT.

Running Stoke - check out this article Running Times just posted on Dathan Ritzenhein: Whatever it Takes. Incredibly interesting. That guy works his tail off. I hope he can finally run the marathon up to his potential this weekend.

AM - 3.8 miles slowly, then rode my bike up to work.

PM - 5.7 miles on the grass at the Horsepark. 

Today we had a work "retreat" (at the Red Butte Gardens, about 3/4 of a mile from our building). But that meant free breakfast, lunch, outside time, and heading out for my bike ride home at 2pm. Not too shabby.

I had a free entry to the Great Pumpkin Run to Benefit the Utah Council for Exceptional Children joins the Derek Zoolander School for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Want to Do Other Stuff Good Too 2.97 mile XC race at Wheeler Farm. I decided to go since the race started at 9am (so I could get my 10 hours of sleep) and if I ran from home, I would have just jogged 9 minute miles this morning instead. My goal was to run an average pace faster than the TOU Marathon, which seemed like it might be quite a challenge. 

I warmed up a bit w/ Andrea and didn't really feel like running hard. I thought I would just cruise and win easy but then I saw Nate Hornock and realized he would probably kick my butt (which is what happened). I was also shocked that Allie and James weren't there. Aren't Saturdays for 5Ks?

The course is 2 laps around the farm on the dirt path. Our first mile was 5:16, and it felt harder than the opening mile of the marathon a couple weeks ago, despite being the exact same pace. Then Nate surged and opened up a big gap on me! Second mile was 4:58 and he put about 10 seconds on me. I was content to go back to cruising along at that point... my body does not want to run sub 5 pace yet. Plus we had to dodge lots of strollers - who takes a stroller on a XC-style course?!?! The last "mile" was 4:54 but I'm 100% sure it was short. Definitely not a 5K! 

Fun to shock the system a bit as I get myself back into the style of training that shocks the system all the time. All things considered, this is actually a good indicator that I'm bouncing back pretty well. Nate ran really strong today (14:59)... congrats to him. 

I'm also glad I did this race instead of a tempo run on the roads - the softer surface is still better for my legs right now. Also, I won a $25 gift card to Buca de Beppo. Score!

PM - 5.2 miles w/ Kevin and Roller-Andrea. Stopped and chatted w/ Fritz's sister and we all agreed that he is a marathon slayer. Great running by so many of the bloggers at StG today! Looking forward to reading some recaps of how it went down.

We took an afternoon hike up to Mt Aire today. Its a short but steep one (climbs about 2K feet over ~1.8 miles). Perfect weather up in the mountains and the fall colors are popping in certain spots...