I'm retired from racing. Really.

Twice on planet walk.

766- 503 Retired!!! 

Morning run, low teens temp but actually didn't feel to bad.  Ran to planet walk, met Cody there, did Young's Ward loop, plus a bit, then home.  13 miles in all, 1:32:13, which works out to about 7:05 pace.  Some miles in the middle were as fast at 6:45 pace.  Felt good. 

One of the topics Cody and I discussed was the shape we are in this year versus last year.  I am in a lot better shape than this time last year, plus a lot thinner (20-25 lbs).  Last Jan and Feb combined I estimated I did about 115 miles, with almost all of it in February (I wasn't on the blog till end of Feb) and did 184 miles in March.  I did 199.5 miles in Jan this year, and Feb should be 220-230, with 270 or so in March.  Last year I didn't hit 270 till July.  I will continue slowly building up mileage to avoid injury and am looking forward to a great yeat.

Adrenaline- 94

Giants won!  It's a great day!

Planet walk, then to my new house, then planet walk 1.5 times, then home.  Lightly falling snow, kinda slick roads.  10 miles, 1:15:23.

Adrenaline- 104

Ran to Cody's house, did a 5 mile loop route with him, back to his house, then to my house plus a hair more.  8.5 miles, 1:01:20.  Felt good.

Adrenaline- 112

I finally put my real goals for 2008.  I'm treating the winter series as training only (i.e. no speedwork to try and PR at 5k), with an emphasis on Ogden marathon, St. George marathon, and especially my 3 trail races.  Should be a great year. 

6 miles around Providence, Millville, Logan at 7:15 avg pace.  Actually about 6.25 miles, I think, but I'll round down this time.

Elite- 366

Indoor day.  I wanted a good workout, but couldn't decide between hills and tempo, so I did both.  Did 2 miles warm up at 7:30 pace, then did 4 tinman tempo miles (6:30 pace).  Next, I slowed down to 7:30 pace again but started increasing the incline on the treadmill 0.5 degrees every minute.  After 15 minutes I was up to 7.5 deg and working hard.  I then quickly bumped it up to 10, then 15 just for fun.  Could barely do it.  Lowered back to 10 degree incline and slowed the pace to 10 min miles.  Did this for a bit.  Then lowered down to 5 percent and sped up to 7:30 pace.  Then did a bit more at 2 percent.  Once I got back down to 0 incline, I had 1 mile left.  I did the first half at 6:00 pace and the second half at 5:00 pace (I felt like jtshad).  Might have done a bit more but I wanted dinner (it was after 8 pm) and the treadmill got very wobbly above 10 mph.  Felt good overall- and I got in a good workout, too.

Adrenaline- 122

Easy day, twice on planet walk plus McDonalds to get a redbox.

Elite- 372

Time for the long run.  I kept hoping the sun would come out, but it was overcast all day so I didn't wear shorts.  Temp was about 35-38 degrees, meaning that the roads were extremely slushy and my shoes and socks were wet the whole time, with cold toes.

My legs felt sluggish right from the start and never improved, which was worrisome since I had planned a hilly run.  I ran to the end of planet walk (2 miles in 14 min, though it felt more like 8:00 pace- I guess it's a good sign when you are running a lot faster than you think you are).  Then I ran 1700 S to Highway 238 in Providence.  I ran south till it stops in Millville, then I turned left and ran up that road until it stops near Millville canyon.  Turned left again and ran up to the Providence bench.  Turned east and ran all the way up to the top houses, then wound my way to the mouth of Providence canyon.  Ran .85 miles up the canyon (very muddy and slushy/snowy, with 9% avg grade).  Ran down the canyon, then down Springcreek Road to 200 E in Providence.  Turned right up Center street.  Yes, I was glutton for punishment.  Ran up Center Street to the top- it is a steady climb, getting very steep at the top (14% grade for the last .25 mile- ouch!  This was 13 miles into my run and made my treadmill workout Thursday look easy).   Looped my way down from the top then ran home.  Total run was exactly 15 miles, 1:51:25.  I am pretty darn happy with my run supposing my legs never felt good and that I ran up 1100 vertical feet in the last 9 miles, with some of it very steep.

Adrenaline- 137

Ran 3.5 miles winding my way to Cody's house.  We ran the Providence Hills loop, average effort.  On the way back, I had to take an emergency bathroom stop.  Fortunately (very, very fortunately), we were within 1/4 mile of my house, so I stopped while Cody ran home.  3 pounds later, I changed shirts (it is actually very nice to be able to change to a dry shirt halfway through on a chilly evening) and ran the TOU course to just past mile 23 to give me 3.25 miles more.  TOU mile was 7:30 on the way out (slight uphill and icy), 7:07 on the way back.  Mapmyrun.com says the run was 13.57 miles, so I'll go with that.  ~7:10 avg pace.

Elite- 385

Only had time for 10 miles between the blizzard and having to hurry home to watch McKinley while Marci played church basketball.  70 minutes or so.

Elite- 395

Easy 6 miles, naked (no time).

Elite- 401

Striders 5k.  Not sure what to expect at this race, but I was excited.  Race temp was somewhere between 15-20 deg F, with a slight breeze that put the wind chill in single digits or low teens.  Drove with Cody and ran the course for warm up.  Looked like a great course- very hilly, which plays to my strengths.  Met Chad and Andy at the start, as well as Walter.  Only other fast runner I knew was Tim Wight.  Not as many runners as last year.

Started off at a good pace, with the first mile in 5:59.  Probably slower than it should have been.  There was a group of 6 of us at the one mile mark, though we were spread out over about 10-20 meters.  I didn't push it much up the uphill- decent pace, but not borderline anaerobic or anything like that.  Hit the top of the hills at mile 1.5 in 6th place, then came the downhill.  I quicly picked up the pace and found myself running in 1st place, though I still didn't feel like I was working too hard.  There was another good hill up to mile 2.  It was the first time I felt like I was actually in a race and moving at a decent pace, though Chad passed me around here.  Mile 2 was 6:00 even.  Then there was another downhill, flat, gradual down, then gradual up.  At this point, Ben (the eventual winner) went flying by Chad and myself, getting a 10 m lead in just a few seconds.  Chad caught him and I was about 5 -10 meters back.  I almost caught them on the last downhill, then we turned a corner and had a gradual up followed by a steady uphill to the finish.  Mile 3 was 5:24 but felt pretty good.  I started a kick with .1 mile to go and caught Chad, but then he started his kick and left me in his dust.  Ben came in first, then Chad, then me, with Cody a few seconds behind.

Overall, I am very happy with the results of the race.  I felt great and could probably take off 15-30 seconds if I were to race it again tomorrow.  It was my first race under 9 miles in years, so I underestimated the pace I could have held.  I didn't push hard at all on the uphill and only pushed a bit on the downhills.  I plan to have a faster pace at the 10k.  It gets me excited for this whole race season.  Plus, I don't really feel like I am in shape but I am almost exactly 1 minute over my PR on a course that everyone agrees is 1 minute slower than a flat 5k.  I don't have plans to do another 5k this year, but I imagine I could set a PR pretty easily if I wanted.

Congrats to bloggers- places 2-4, plus Andy just behind!  Good job to all!

Tangent- 101

Ended up not going to work today.  Slept in, then went running at 11 am.  Temp was low teens, but the sun was shining and it felt SOOOOOO good and SOOOOO warm.  In my opinion, 15 deg with the sun shining is tons warmer than 25 degrees in the evening after sunset.

11 am- ran TOU course till Center and Main (Miles 22 and 23 were both 7:11 miles), took a bathroom break, ran to the Boulevard, ran the canal (slowed to 7:30 pace due to running on snow), then went just past 1st Dam to the Hydro park.  Turn around and ran home, picking up the pace for the last 4 miles (3rd to last mile was a 6:40, last mile was 6:25).  12 miles total, 1:26:00.  Felt good.  No soreness from Saturday.

5 pm- ran to Paul's house via 300 W to meet him, then looped through River Heights to Planet Fitness.  Dropped Paul off and ran home.  Very easy :)  not often I can say that about a run with Paul.  4.9 miles per mapmyrun.com, 38:10.

Running twice today made me wish I didn't have a job and could just run- it would be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier to run good miles, including 100+ mpw, if I could do 2 runs per day like this.  Plus I could sleep a lot more.  Where do I sign up?

806- 390

Elite- 406

Ran to Cody's house, then ran with him to Paul's house and around Logan.  Did the last 2 miles on Cody's treadmill.  7:00-7:30 pace.  It's nice to already have more than 25 miles this week- more than half my total from last week (I don't want to talk about it).

Adrenaline- 146

4 easy miles around Providence and River Heights.  ~7:15 pace.

Elite- 410

Ran to Cody's house, then did 5 mile route with him.  Both of us bit it on the bridge at Planet Walk.  He slipped a bit and gently touched his hand to the ground.  I flew sideways and landed hard on both hands and both knees.  Winner: Cody.  First time I have fallen like that in a long, long time.  I even took some skin off my knees even with my pants on.  Then ran home.  9 miles even in 62 min.

Adrenaline- 155

2x planet walk, easy-medium pace.  6 miles, 42:00.

Elite- 416

Met Cody at planet walk.  Nice and warm, with the sun out for some of the run (~35 deg)!!!  Ran into North Logan, up and down lots of hills, up to Green Canyon, ran the snowpacked Shoreline Trail (lots of fun on the big downhills!), then canal trail and home to Cody's house.  Then I ran home but added 2 more minutes to get up to 17.5 miles.  Good pace (sub-7:00 on flats) but avg pace was 7:30 overall thanks to all the hills and snow (2:11:04 total).  Felt good but legs were definitely tired by the end.  I'm glad next week is the Striders 10k and not the 30k yet.  First run over 15 miles this year, and first run over 2 hours.

I am very excited because 2 weeks from today is daylight savings, which means an extra hour of warmth and light for my runs.  I am really looking forward to that.

I also have discovered a new favorite post-run replenishment drink- Nestle Quik!  Yummy!

Tangent- 118

35 degrees and raining when I started.  Ran to Cody's house, then we did a winding, "moderately flat but moderately hilly" (can this really be possible?) run through Providence and River Heights.  About 3 miles into it, the wind picked up and rain turned to heavy sleet.  Cold, cold, cold.  Then snow.  Then rain again.  Then nothing.  Dropped Cody off, then ran 3.5 more miles.  By this time, it was dark, I was soaking wet, and very, very cold.  I started becoming a bit lethargic- I think I would have been borderline hypothermia if I hadn't quit when I did.  The cold was bearable as long as Cody and I could both complain, but then it was just miserable by myself. 

When I got home, I took my temperature just out of curiousity.  Not sure if the thermometer was right, but it said 93.4 deg F.  Like I said, I was FREEZING!  Cold, rain, wind, and running are not a fun combination.

13 miles, 1:31:59 (7:04 avg)

Adrenaline- 168

TOU to canal to first dam.  Much drier than yesterday. 

I had noticed a dull pain in the top of my left foot yesterday.  It was more noticeable today and grew progressively worse as my run went on.  For the last 3-4 miles, it really hurt, bad enough that I could barely run, almost limping on the last mile.  Not sure what to make of it.  If it hurts tomorrow, it could require a few days off.  We shall see.

Anyone have any ideas what this could be?

806- 401

Took a day off yesterday due to concern for my foot.

Planned 4-8 mile easy run today.  My work had other ideas, though.  I left for work at 6 am.  14.5 hours later, I am still at work.  And I still have an hour commute.  In other words, no run today due to work conflict.  16 hour work days will do that to you.   I can't imagine how Michelle L. does this for all of tax season... at least I will be rested for the 10k on Saturday.  And at least my foot is getting some needed rest.