I'm retired from racing. Really.

PM- 7 easy.  Merlin Olsen park to the canal to almost the start of the river trail.  Not many people out despite the nice weather- I can tell that USU just finished.

Now these shoes are officially retired.

I'm going to admit that ever since St. George marathon last year, I hate running in the rain- at least anything more than a sprinkle. So when it was 45 deg and a continuous downpour today, I went to the gym. It is actually my 2nd 20-miler on the treadmill in a month. I am trying to build up a tolerance so that my training for ultras next winter won't be so bad. And today was much, much easier than any other long treadmill run. I didn't do any hard workouts this week while resting my achilles, but I wanted to challenge myself today with a 10 mile tempo.

I did 9 miles warmup at 7:30 pace, then picked it up to 6:30 pace. I increased the pace each 1.25 miles until I was doing 6:00 pace at mile 17.75. With .5 mile to go in my tempo, I increased to 5:30 pace, then 5:00 pace with .25 mile to go. I was working hard but still felt good, though sweat was flying off me in voluminous amounts.  1 mile cooldown, giving me 20 miles total in 2:17.  I felt strong at the end, much different than my last long runs where I bonked at mile 16.  Good workout.

First 80 mile week of the year.  I'm going to be cautious with my achilles mainly by avoiding big uphills, but I think I am improving.

AM- 7.  I changed vans to work effective today.  The new van leaves 40 minutes later which means A) I can extend my morning range to 11-12 miles, B) I can sleep in a few minutes and still get my 6-7 miles, or (my personal favorite) C) I can sleep in till 5:50 am and not run!  Yeah- more sleep is good.  Although I imagine doing C will make getting up at 4:05 to do option A that much harder...

PM- Wanted to run some trails.  Ran 8 miles on Green Canyon.  No snow for the first 1.5 miles, then just a few patches till 2.5 miles.  The rest of the way to the top was slow going with lots of snow.  It was packed enough that I didn't sink past my ankle, but sometimes what appeared to be snow was just slush over a stream- always a good foot-wetting experience.  Up at 8:30-11:00 pace (yes, running uphill in the snow is very slow), down at 7:40-6:00 pace (yes, much faster).  Then, I dropped by Planet Fitness for pizza night!!!  Ate 2 pieces of pizza, ran 2 miles, ate another piece (while running), 2 more miles, then 2 more pieces.  Yummy.  I get some funny looks since I am running the fastest of anyone there AND am eating pizza at the same time.  It's a talent, I guess.

AM- 9.5 miles, with 3.5 at 6:30 pace and 1 at 6:00 pace.

AM- 11

PM- Big Workout.  I had a hard time motivating myself to start and felt sluggish on my warmup, though the cloudy sky and 55 deg temp was perfect.  Ran tempo repeats on the canal- started at the bridge, so the first leg was 2/3 mile, then did 5 legs of 1.33 miles, then the last leg of 2/3 mile.  Goal was about 6:10 pace (which is pretty good for this time of year and given the poor footing on the trail which slows me down ~10 sec/lap versus a track).  Times were 4:16 (6:24 pace- slow at first), 8:24 (6:21), 8:13 (6:13), 8:10 (6:13), 8:07 (6:06), 8:04 (6:06), 3:47 (5:47).  Felt good- working fairly hard but not strained, and didn't notice my breathing until the last two.  I was glad I sped up the whole way.  14.5 miles in all in 100 minutes (6:55 pace).

AM- 7.  My weight has finally dropped below 140.  It was 138 this morning.  My SGM weight last year was 133-134, then I got up to 145-148 over the winter.

AM- Long run with Paul.  Slept in a bit (till 6:30, I think) which was glorious.  Ran to Paul's, then we ran a leisurely pace to the canal and up the canyon to just short of Guinavah Malibu.  Weather was very nice, and I really liked my new arm warmers and handheld water bottle from SGRC- thanks, Steve!  We blabbed at each other the whole time, mainly running related with a few random topics thrown in the mix.  After a few faster long runs, it was nice to be a bit easier on this one- 7:54/mi to the turnaround, 7:42 avg on the way back (though we did a few sub-7 on the downhill before slowing as we tired out).  22 miles, 2:51:37 total.

AM- 12.  Good start to the week.  Planning on ~87 this week with only 16 on Sat.

PM- 10, ran the whole Logan River trail while Marci pushed both kids in the jogging stroller.  Ran in my brand new Saucony Progrid Guide TR shoes, from the St. George Running Center.  Good shoes.  Nice day for a run.  McKinley loved throwing rocks into the river afterwards.  1:14:46.

AM- 6 miles.  I had to do the last 3 at ~6:15 pace in order to have time to eat bagels.  Because, for the first time ever, I was able to participate in Bagel Tuesday at the gym!  After working out, I at a nice Einstein's bagel- blueberry with blueberry cream cheese.  Then, after my shower, I figured I should eat one for Paul, so I had a cherry with almond cream cheese.  On my way out the door, I decided to eat one for Cody, as well, so had a cinnamon sugar bagel with strawberry cream cheese.  Supposing I only pay $8/month for my gym membership, they didn't make any money from me this month.  And that doesn't even count what I ate on Pizza Monday.  Of course, I don't think I lost any weight with my 3 bagels, either.

PM- Thought about a big workout but my legs immediately said "no".  Ran around Logan for 10 miles.  Wanted 14, but ran out of time before I had to go home with the kids, and I'm too tired to go out again.  I can easily make up the miles tomorrow and Fri.

AM- 7.  I was dead tired when I got in bed last night at 10 pm, but then could not fall asleep for 2 hours.  I hate it when that happens!  So now I am very, very tired today. 

PM- Marci was hosting a baby shower, so the kids and I were banished to the outdoors. I ran an easy 6.5 miles at 9 min pace with the kids, and included a 45 minute stop at McD for food and playplace. It was my first time getting more than ice cream at McDonalds in probably 5 years. I still prefer Wendy's.

I just noticed I am at exactly 1000 miles for the year right now.  Cool. 

PM- BTW (big trail workout)- started .8 miles into the Logan River trail, ran to Guinavah Malibu, then did a hard hill climb up to the Wind Caves- 1200 ft climb in 1.75 miles.  Then ran down 1.4 miles, back up 1 hard mile with 700 ft climb, then all the way down and back to the car.  14.5 miles in 2:07:47 (yup, a whopping 8:48 pace).  About 3000 ft climb on the whole run, and my legs were pretty tired by the end.  We'll count the 2.5 miles as MP, even though it was about 11:00 pace.

Reason #492 that I love trail running:  About 1/4 mile up the wind caves trail, a spring had burst from the ground and washed out the trail on the side of a steep hill/ravine.  The stream is big enough that you can't jump across and has no dry rocks, and it caused the hillside above it to sluff off such that it is very steep (maybe 60-70 deg angle) and curved (like the bobsled turn from he%@), bare, loose dirt with no plants other than one overhanging tree branch.  It took me about a minute on my way up to carefully climb up, across, and back down and was rather difficult with lots of slipping.  On my way back down, I came tearing down the mountain with a head of steam to find a big group of college students trying to cross.  The guys were all linking arms while the girls were shrieking and slowly climbing over the guys, trying not to fall or get wet.  Well, without losing my momentum, I simply ran straight up the side of the loose dirt, angled around, turned straight down the mountain (sliding and almost falling, but just barely, barely hanging on), ducked under one very low branch, and flew on down the trail.  The whole thing took me maybe 3-4 seconds and (in hindsight) was rather dangerous- if I had slipped, I would have fallen about 8 feet down and landed right on them.  As I kept going without looking back, I heard some unprintable mutterings from the group that essentially amounted to, "That guys is *bleeping* nuts.  Completely insane.  Suicidal."  It was great!  I'm sure they now think all trail runners are crazy.  Which we may be...

PM- WPPWWF easy 5.

AM- Medium run with Cody- 16 miles from the start of the canal to First Dam to BST to most of the way up Green Canyon.  Temps were about 35 deg with a headwind till we got sunlight just before GC, where we shed all our clothes.  We neglected to think that it would be shady, windy, and below freezing up the canyon... so we were rather cold in just t-shirts and shorts.  I heard all about Cody's marathon, we talked about my 100 miler, and our summer racing plans.  Good, easy run- very glad I wasn't aiming for 20 miles today, especially since my quads still were sore from Thursday's workout.  8:48 pace up, 7:23 pace back, 2:09:38 for 16 miles. Finished with 2 cinnamon rolls- yummy.

AM- 10 around Logan, most of them with Cody.  We would have gotten more miles except I had four (!) pit stops.  Bleh- I think that is a non-long run record for most stops.  Very nice to have someone to run with in the morning- thanks, Cody.  Don't have my watch so I have no idea how long it took, except I know we were pushing the pace a bit (some sub-7 miles).

PM- Ouch ouch ouch. I was supposed to do about 12 miles, but my achilles was painful. This was the first time it was very painful, not just tight. I hobbled through 1 mile before deciding it wasn't going to loosen up and hurt too much. Walked back to the car. Nuts. I think I'll rest tomorrow morning and re-evaluate tomorrow night. It seems that 1 hilly run per week is ok, but doing a second with only one day in between seems to set this off.

AM- After 2 days of lots of ice, plus using the trigger point massage and ultrasound that Paul was kind enough to lend me, I'm back.  I couldn't walk up stairs on Monday, but am almost pain free today (and hopefully will be tomorrow, after this run).  Ran around Idaho Falls, from Marci's parent's house to the greenbelt to the far side of Fremont park, with some loops.  13.5 miles, 1:39:05, 7:21 avg.  Felt pretty good, tired by the end.

AM- 20 miles with Jeff Shadley around Idaho Falls.  Had some stomach issues, and my legs felt tired the whole time- 1 hr into the run they felt like the end of a long run.  But, they didn't get worse, so that was good.  Had a good conversation with Jeff the whole time.  We started at 8:30, so it was hot by the end.  Finished with 3 laps around Community Park and then pushed hard the last half mile to make my legs work a bit.  Not sure how many miles I will do tomorrow. 20 miles, 2:25:01.

AM- 8.5 easy recovery miles, most of it on grass.

AM- 17.5 miles, most with Jeff and Lynette around Idaho Falls greenbelt.  Nice weather, decent pace, nice scenery, lots of good conversation.  Great way to start out a holiday.  And we started early enough that I got home before anyone was awake (admittedly, my in-laws are all night owls and like to sleep in), which means no one even knew I was gone.  Thanks for letting me join you for the good runs and discussion, Jeff and Lynette.

PM- Less than 5 hours after getting home from the first run, Marci and I did a 1 PM run.  Ran to Community Park together, then I did 3.5 miles while she did about 2, then home.  5.5 miles.

AM- 7

PM- Had the mow the jungle known as my lawn when I got home from work- very, very long.  However, the most awesome neighbor in the world (Cody) brought over his mower and helped, so it went rather quickly.  Then we went running together, both of us pushing two kids.  Ran 4 miles with Cody, then ran 3 more miles with just my kids.  We had to run to Planet Fitness to get the water bottle I left there.  I think we just barely snuck under 9 min pace for the run- smoking!

AM- 6.5, fairly easy.  Legs are tired.  I hope they have enough juice for the BW later today.

PM- Big Trail Workout.  Started at the canal and ran up to Guinavah Malibu.  Did almost 5 miles warmup, then started a tempo at the start of the singletrack, up to GM, and finished .25 mile after the end of the river trail.  Averaged 6:51 for the tempo (pretty good considering the hills and rough singletrack), with a slowest mile of 7:54 and the last two at 6:00 pace.  Finished with 15 miles total, 1:49:43, 7:19 avg.  Legs held out ok through the tempo, though the uphills towards the end were hard.  As soon as I finished, though, they were absolutely pooped and I crawled through my cooldown.  I think the 58 miles is a personal 3-day mileage PR.

AM- 6 easy.  My legs were kind of tingly (sp?)- it's a good feeling, means they have been pushed.

Last year on May 29 I did a YTD comparison of 2007 vs 2008, so I decided to do it again this year, counting as though I get all 90 miles this week.

So what is the conclusion?  I don't feel like I am in great racing shape yet and have only done 100 more miles than last year.  However, I have a lot more high mileage weeks.  Last year it was Aug 9 before I had 4 weeks of 80+ miles and 1 week of 90+ miles, while I already have that this year.  And my schedule for this year shows 9 weeks above 90 and 3 above 100 miles.  Last year I didn't do any speedwork (other than tempos) until mid-July, while I should be starting those in June this year.  So overall I should be better prepared to race.  My first race is in 2 weeks at Wahsatch Steeplechase- should be fun.

PM- I had to mow the lawn again after work.  I just did it 3 days ago but it still took 2 hours today.  Finally got in my run at 9 pm- 5.5 very easy miles (8:40 pace).

AM- Long run with Cody.  Ran from our house to canal to just past Spring Hollow.  Not real fast but still tired, lots of gabbing.  Ran into Mark, and later into Joe and Scott- it's the first time I've met Scott.  7:46 avg for the run.  Cody had the idea of getting a sub-7 last mile, so we picked it up to 6:30 pace, then up to sub-6 for the last bit.  6:25 last mile.  20 miles in all, 2:35:26.  Legs feel somewhat tired, about as expected for the highest mileage week of the year.

Found an awesome trail running video...