I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- 6 miles, mostly on the Willow Park baseball fields.  Not bad weather, actually- ~30-35 deg, slight wind, no precipitation.  When I left for work 30 minutes later, there was a dang good snowstorm raging.  Welcome to May, everyone.

PM- Planned to run 10 miles in the mountains, but decided last minute to run around town with the kid.  Big mistake.  We bundled her up cause it was only 45 deg but she got real ornery.  Ran about 4 miles, then she got out to look at some ducks and really didn't want to get back in the stroller.  Did 3 more miles, then she got out to go down some slides for 10 minutes.  Again, she really didn't want to get back in the stroller.  I ended up cutting my run about 1 mile short due to excessive whining from the kid.  I don't think I'm going to take her again for a while.

Adrenaline- 316, 767- 187

7 miles in 48:46.

Elite- 470

Long run today. Ran 2 miles at ~7 min pace to Paul's house, where I met Logan (not Paul). We ran most of the first leg of WBR, then ran back to Paul's house- just over 7 miles at around 7:10 pace or so. Ran around the block with Logan, Paul, and his dog, then ran to Logan High and did Paul's endless grass loop- about 7.5 miles or so at ~7:25 pace. Then ran 3.5 miles home at 7:00 pace or so. Total- ~20 miles, 2:23:29. Felt pretty good, tired and hungry by the end.

This is my highest mileage week since Aug last year, and only my 3rd week of 70+ miles this year. I'm planning on 65-70 miles next week, then a one week mini taper for Ogden, the get back up above 70 mpw as soon as I can afterwards. In related news, I weighed myself after my run (I usually weigh before) and after breakfast, and was down below 140.  Lowest in a long time- I guess this is my racing weight now, though I don't want to go much lower.  Which means I get to eat more!  Yeah!

767- 207

Time to try out the trails!  Drove to Green Canyon, sunny and 70 deg.  Perfect.  The first mile of singletrack was great, and the first half mile of dirt road.  Then I started hitting patches of snow that became larger and more frequent until most of the last two miles or more was entirely on snow.  It was compact enough that I didn't sink in too deep, but it was slow going.  Water was often running under the snow and I would occasionally break through and soak my shoes.  Reached the top and discovered a yurt- never saw that before.  I went north into the watershed area for another mile.  5 miles up, 45 minutes (very hard work but slow pace).  Coming down was a lot faster (34 minutes), though still difficult- any momentum I had would disappear as soon as I hit a snow patch and started sinking in.  But it was a very, very enjoyable run that got me excited for when I can go running on trails more.  Knee felt improved, but the uneven terrain and downhill made it painful by the end.  10 miles or so, 1:19:07.

Ascend- 232 (first time wearing these trail shoes since January)

AM- 6 early morning miles on the landfill loop.

PM- I really didn't feel great after work.  I had planned on 10, but finally pushed myself out the door hoping to just manage 6 or 8.  I felt light-headed and dizzy the whole way, and had to stop 3 times to go number 2.  But I managed all 10 miles (canal route) in 1:13:32.  Glad to have that run over.

Elite- 476

767- 217

AM- 5.5 easy miles.  Tired and sluggish.  I am getting a cavity filled after work, so this is my only run today.

Adrenaline- 321

AM- 6 easy miles at 7:45 pace. Couldn't get moving faster at that time of the morning, today. Rained much of the night so I stayed on the pavement.

PM- 9 miles in 62 minutes around Logan, RH, and Prov.  Felt much better, though my knee irritation/pain is continuous.  I even ran 1 mile on the LHS track (first track run in a long time)- didn't try to run fast, just a hair faster than the rest of the run.  It was a 6:40.

Elite- 482

767- 226 

AM- I have been going to sleep 30-60 min later than I probably should most of this week, and it finally caught up to me. I was very, very close to bagging my 4:15 am run this morning. In the end, I forced myself out of bed and slogged through 5.5 miles on the golf course, running holes 5 thru 14. Maybe I'll get all 18 holes one morning, though I will need more than 45 minutes.

PM- Man, it is a TON easier to run 7:00 pace at 5 pm then it is to run 8:00 pace at 4:15 am.  Anyways, did the Willow Park/Planet Walk 6+ mile loop.  6.3 miles, 6:49 pace.  Round down to 6, since I'm sure some of my morning runs have been short.

Elite- 487

767- 232

12 easy miles with Cody to the canal and up Logan canyon a bit, mainly talking about how great Cody will do at Ogden.  Ran into Drew- he is doing great.  My knee really tightened up after that- I'm going to take Monday and maybe Tuesday off to hopefully let it get all better before the marathon.  I do have to say, this 2-a-day thing is great, even with early morning runs.  This is the easiest 70 mile week of my life.

12 miles, 1:27:32 (and no bathroom breaks!)

Adrenaline- 333

6 easy miles on a nice morning- 50 deg, no wind.  Great day.  Ended up winding my way to LHS and decided to do 2 miles on the track, just for kicks.  Did a 7:15 and a 7:05 (the first one felt a lot harder than the second for some reason).  I am pretty sure I just set my pre-5 AM 1 mile (7:05) and 2 mile (14:20) PR :)

My knee felt a bit better, but not as much as I was hoping.  For Ogden this week, I missed too much training in March/April due to sickness to be competitive, plus don't want to aggravate my knee.  I am running it at an easy pace as a training run to build on for the rest of the summer.  My first marathon ever, 2003 TOU, was a 2:49:59.  I will aim to crush that time by 1 second this week.  I will go out at 6:30 pace or so through the first 18 miles, then see if I can pick it up a bit.  If not, no worries.  I'm just going to have fun and enjoy seeing all the FRB-ers compete!  I did give myself my pre-race haircut last night, though, so watch out.  It is not as short as Clyde's or Logan's, but it is still pretty short to cut down on any wind resistance from the head wind we had on the 1/2 marathon.

676- 238

5 easy miles with the jogging stroller.  Knee really bugged me.  IB should make it fine for Saturday, though.  1 more easy run tomorrow.

Adrenaline- 338

2 easy miles with the stroller as a final shakeout.  Leaving for Ogden in 1 minute.  Here we go!

Elite- 489

Going into this race, I just wanted to treat it as a good training run, run a first 1:25 half (6:30 pace), then even or maybe slight negative split, and I didn't want to make my knee worse.  Goal time of 2:49:58 (1 second faster than my 2003 TOU).

It was lots of fun to see the bloggers at Logan's party last night (thanks Logan and Katey) and to see TONS of bloggers at the start.  I didn't want to go out fast so I stood a few rows back and went out with Andy Browning for the first 5 miles.  Mile markers were uneven but we were at 39:10 at mile 6 (6:31 pace).  Andy dropped back and I ran with Carre Joyce for a few miles.  After mile 7, I was in ~28th spot and was never passed again.  I met Jake Saunders at mile 8, and we ran the next 10 miles together.  He is a nice guy from North Logan- I was excited to meet another Loganite to train with Cody, Paul, and I.  He had a few cheering sections along the way, too, which was nice.  Next 6 miles were all 6:22-6:38 over the rollers, with a 1/2 marathon split of 1:25:15 (6:31 pace)- I felt pretty good and was excited how close I was able to stay to my goal pace.  My internal speedometer (no GPS for me!) was right on.  I knew a negative split was doable, and started to think 2:47 was in my capability if I worked hard after mile 18.

Mile 14 was a bit fast with the crowd and downhill, 6:01, then mile 15 was slower up the hill, 7:31 (marker may have been off, too).  Jake and I ran 3 miles at 6:00-6:10 pace, then one relaxed 6:25 right before the downhill.  At this point, I wanted to see if I could get a good negative split and even run some sub-6:00 miles, so I wished Jake luck and started picking off runners.  Ran 3 miles of 5:51-5:57 down the canyon, which I was happy with.  Mile 23 was out of the canyon on the bike path, flatter, and I thought I slowed down, but it was 5:50.  I passed lots of runners in the canyon, finally getting the last guy (Bill Cobler) at mile 24.  I had never run sub-6 this late in a race and it felt great.  Then my speed burst and the heat (plus 23 miles) started to hit me a bit, so my last 3 miles were 6:10-6:23 pace, with a final .2 of 1:18 for a final time of 2:46:55.  I felt fatigued at the end, but it was definitely my strongest finish ever and I never hit the wall- 6:03 avg for the last 7 miles!  All in all, I ran a 3:50 negative split, passed 15+ guys in the last 19 miles while never being passed, felt great (minimal knee pain, partly due to a super-dose of IBprofin before the race), and am hardly sore now.  It was a great workout.  11th place overall, 3rd in age group.  And even if I raced right from the start, it's doubtful I could have caught Walter who was 2 minutes ahead of me. 

This is my 3rd fastest marathon ever, though my 2005 St. George of 2:46 is probably slower when you account for difference in difficulty.  So, it was a somewhat easy race/workout that resulted in my 2nd best marathon performance ever.  Hopefully my knee will get better and I can have a great race season.  Back to work on Monday!

Bloggers did great.  10 of the top 12 guys were bloggers, and Michelle took 2nd.  Plus lots of other good races on a hot day.  Congrats to everyone! 

Tangent- 215

Planetwalk- 4 easy miles with the stroller at ~8:45-9:00 pace.  I could feel every muscle fiber in both quads with every step and felt the normal sensation in my knee, but felt fine other than that.  No post-marathon runner's asthma, either. 

Tomorrow I am scheduled to get my first-ever real massage, and even signed up for 2 hours!  It should be painfully wonderful.

Elite- 493

6 easy miles on a beautiful morning with a brilliant full moon lighting the way.  Ran 13 holes on the golf course.

In some sad news, my beloved port-o-potty is gone.  It was about a mile from my house and very convenient to use on many of my routes, which I did many, many times over the past 7 months.  Now the construction is complete and it is gone.  Farewell, old friend, you will be missed.

Adrenaline- 344

8 miles with Cody on the river trail.  I hadn't been on it for a long time- it was wonderful.  Overcast and drizzling, 50 deg, only a few other people on the whole trail.  The leaves are really coming out and the Logan river is full.  Good run, almost no soreness now.  The massage yesterday helped my quads a lot.  65 min.

Ascend- 240

AM- 6 easy miles in 45 deg weather with the jogging stroller.  47:00.

Elite- 499

Didn't sleep well again because of a sick, screaming kid.  Decided to skip my 4 am run to get some extra sleep.  I should have just gotten up and gone running, cause she kept me up that whole hour anyways.  Oh well, at least it is Friday.  And it is a 3 day weekend.

Cody picked me up this morning and had a surprise guest- Walter!  He is in town for the holiday and joined us.  We drove to Millville Canyon and ran the very hilly deer fence trail to Dry Canyon, then back almost to Blacksmith Fork.  About 900 ft elevation gain and 900 loss.  Very nice to run on a dirt road/trail the whole time and it wasn't even too muddy from all the rain.  Lots of cows and cow pies, though.  Nice cool temperature.  Pretty easy pace, plus the hills made for slow going.  13.25 miles, 1:53:05, 8:30 avg.

806- 424

Ran with Walter and Cody early this morning.  Met at First dam and ran Bonneville Shoreline trail to Green Canyon, then up all the way to the end of the main road.  Perfect running weather- 50 deg, breezy at times, overcast, with one rainstorm for about 30 minutes of the run.  Unlike the very snowy May 5 run up this trail, the snow was all gone.  It was a very peaceful, quiet morning- there were relatively few campers due to the bad weather.  Cody's foot hurt him real bad the whole run so he was very quiet, too.  6.5 miles and ~1500-2000 ft up in 58:30 min (9:00 avg), down in 46:20 (7:07 avg).  Finished off the run with 2 donuts!  What a great way to start the day.

Ascend- 253

I wanted to start doing some speed work again.  I decided to do a 4 mile tempo run- weather was 70 deg and sunny.  Since I am currently the only operational member of the Logan FRB, I did my workout solo.  Did Young Ward loop.  Ran 2.8 miles warm up at 7 min pace, then started my tempo.  I wanted to be at or below 6:00 pace.  First mile was 6:00 dead on, mile 2 and 3 were both 5:59, last mile was 6:03.  By the end I could definitely feel that I had done a marathon 10 days earlier, but was overall happy with the workout.  4.2 miles home at 6:55 pace, giving a total workout of 11 miles in 1:12:49 (6:37 avg).  Easy day tomorrow. 

Marci was having pretty severe labor pains last night.  Bubba Gump is due in 2 weeks, which means she could appear any day.  I'm looking forward to that, partly since I will take a whole week off work and can spend it with my family and running!

Tangent- 226

6 easy miles with the jogging stroller.  49 min.

Elite- 505 (retired!)- these were by far my oldest shoes.  I bought them as a pair of semi-lightweight racing shoes and used them at St. George 2005.  Meaning I bought them 33 months ago- wow!  They were ok, but not my favorite.  They lasted so long because they were first racing shoes and then were relegated to easy day shoes (6 miles at a time).

PM run- Logan Peak Run practice.  Ran up Dry Canyon- I had forgotten how steep it is.  And rather snowy- my last 10 minutes were on pure snowpack and I didn't really know where the trail was- I just ran uphill.  2 feet or deeper of snow, and it was rather cold and windy up there.  I ran up 4 miles with about 2900 ft vertical rise.  It took me 63 minutes.  That means I was going just under 16 min/mile pace up a 13.7% avg grade.  Truth be told, I probably speed walked 70+% of it, especially once I hit the mud and snow.  Time down was under 30 minutes.  It is real fun to run down deep snow- you just lean back and take real long strides.  Much easier than running down rocky trails.  After, I added a couple of miles on deer fence trail.  Total time was 1:43:32.  Kind of sad- I could usually do 14+ miles in the time that I did 9-10 on trails.  It is worth it because is is so enjoyable.

I noticed that my entry from exactly a year ago gave my weekly totals for the YTD.  I quickly compared to this year.  Here is what I found:

	2007	2008
Miles YTD	656.8	1052
Weeks 50+	4	11
Weeks 60+	2	7
Weeks 70+	0	4

It seems pretty obvious that I have done a lot more work already this year.  In addition, if I didn't get sick in Mar/Apr, I would have 3 more weeks in the 60-70 mile range already for this year. 

This time 2007, I also had my same pair of 806 shoes, the same Elite shoes, and 2 road shoes.  Now I still have my 806's (with only 129 more miles added), the Elite's died yesterday, and I have 5 other pairs of shoes.  With 2 more arriving soon.  Wow.

Kind of mid-year goals- run 70+ miles every week through SGM, spend most of June-Sept at 80-95 mpw, win a trail race or two, and break 2:30 at St. George.

Shoe count (so I won't have to keep looking back)- Tangent 226, Ascend 262, 806 424, Adrenaline 344, 767 238, 768 new.

6 easy morning miles.  Temperature was a bit cool, but not too bad.  Knee hurt somewhat from yesterday's run, but was bearable.

PM- 6 easy miles.  Knee hurt fairly bad, and I definitely had DOMS in my quads from yesterday's run.  Took it easy to be ready for the long run tomorrow.

768- 6 miles (first run!)

I had debated with my sore knee if a long run would be good or if an extra day off would be better (since I was only 2 weeks removed from the marathon).  I planned on running, but had a busy day so it didn't happen.  I'm not sad, though, since I think the rest will do almost as much good.  Lots of ice on my knee.  And a big ol-goose egg.