I'm retired from racing. Really.

Since I joined the blog, I have never had a month where I didn't miss at least one day of running.  In June, I had not missed a single day... until yesterday.  I thought about going running, but decided against it.  My muscles have minimal soreness from Saturday, but the top of my right foot has a somewhat worrisome, acute pain.  I decided that running streaks exist to help us run and get better.  When we keep a streak going only for the streak's sake, even though it will likely do more harm than good when flirting with an injury, then it is silly.  So I took the day off.  I may run later this week, I may not- depends on how my foot feels.  But just coming off the longest race (time and distance) of my life, I have a lot more to risk injury-wise than I have to gain fitness wise.  My next race is in 6 weeks, so I have plenty of time to recover properly.  I will be conservative.

I decided my recovery was over and it was time to get back to work.  Picked up Cody and we did about 30-40 minutes of pool running (3 cross train miles).  Then we ran 6 mile landfill loop, about 7:30 pace.  Felt good though I could tell I had a few days off.  My foot did not hurt at all during the run, although it still bugs me at other times.  I don't think it is skeletal (I hope).  Easy runs Fri and Sat, then back to at least 60 miles next week, pending no foot pain.  Good to be running again, though the time off was nice.

767- 300

In Idaho Falls for the weekend, so I was able to run with jtshad.  I always look forward to our runs.  We did just under 12 miles together, kind of just cruising around town and the river.  Very quiet, peaceful morning- most of the people are still asleep, resting their ears and eyes from the amazing firework display they do here.  Good run with him- started off pretty fast and gradually slowed a bit.  Stopped by his house, then I ran back to my car with a small loop around Community Park to try to get around 13 miles.  Nice day out.  Thanks for the run, Jeff, and enjoy staining your deck!  1:35:31.

My week of R&R is over- next week I plan to be around 60-70 miles, depending how I feel, then up to 80+ for the rest of the month.

767- 313

PM- 10 easy miles, 6.5 of them with Paul.  ~7:15 avg pace.  Hot outside.  First run with Paul in a long time.  Although, we did almost get hit by 3 different cars (three!) and Paul almost stepped on a rattlesnake- runs are more exciting with him around, apparently.

768- 60

AM- I sure haven't missed my morning run for the past 10 days.  But, back to work.  Left 5 minutes early, so I got in an extra .5 mile.  6.5 miles, 51 min.  Saw 2 people out for a walk- who in tarnation goes for a walk at 4:30 am???

PM- 4 miles with Cody, then 3.5 more alone.  Well, all of it with the jogging stroller.  With a stop at the grocery store and the playground, where McKinley took a good 6-ft tumble off some equipment.  Ouch.  She's ok, though.  Slow- between the 88 deg heat and the stroller, any speed was impossible.  1 hour.

Adrenaline- 411, 767- 320

Trail run- Ricks Canyon to Steel Hollow loop.  I felt ok going up Ricks, but then once I reached the top I didn't have anything in my legs.  I felt increasingly tired the whole way down, till I was crawling at the end.  Nice views, fun trail, but my legs were too shot to enjoy it much.  I am definitely not recovered from my trail race a few weeks ago.  Added a bit to the end to make it 13 miles, 1:50:00.  I did see a dead beaver on the way.  And I pulled a tick out of my leg afterwards.

806- 467

Semi-long run today.  Started in the wee hours of the morning at Hollow Road.  It was chilly enough that I wore a tech t-shirt, tech long-sleeve, and stretchy gloves.  I was real glad I had them as the wind out of the canyon was rather cool.  Ran up Hollow Road and Blacksmith Fork Canyon till Left Hand Fork turnoff (8.3 miles), where I met Paul.  Pace was relaxed on the way up- 7:25-7:55 miles, except for one 8:15 mile at the mouth of the canyon due to the wind.  The wind was typical, meaning rather strong for a number of miles.  I added about .75 miles on LHF waiting for Paul.

Paul gave me a drink, then it was time to go down.  I had wanted to run between 6:15-6:30 pace on the way down.  Per Paul's entry, we ran 6:40, 6:18, 6:10, 6:07, 5:53, 5:59, 6:09, and 6:11 (6:12 avg on the way down).  Felt good- still talking some, though I was breathing a bit hard.  The sub-6:00 miles felt pretty fast (Paul was pushing the pace) but I wore him out by the end so I was pushing him.  Very nice to have someone to run with.  About 17.5 miles total, 2:01:18.  Finished up with a post-run donut.

Tangent- 273

AM- had to do a bit of hard self-motivation at 3:59 am, but finally dragged myself out of bed and onto the road.  Somewhere around 6 miles in 47 minutes.

PM- Hot, 87 deg.  Wanted to get in a decent 10 miles, 7:00-7:30 pace.  First mile was 7:00, next 8 were 6:52-6:58 (at least the ones I got marks on), then did the last one in about about 6:20 or so.  10 miles, 1:08:44, 6:52 avg.  Pretty good for that hot out.

767- 326, 768- 70

It was a long, long night with the kids.  No way was I getting up for my morning run.

PM- Big workout.  Paul recommended 4 miles warm up, 5 miles tinman tempo pace (~6:10-6:15), 4 miles cool down.  I waited till 7:30 to start but it was still 88 deg out.  I carried some water and ran ~3.8 miles to the canal.  The canal is 1.33 miles long with a bridge at the half way point.  It is dirt/gravel and rather lumpy and uneven, plus I would be doing 180 deg turns at each end.  It slows me down ~5-10 seconds per mile versus flat road.  I wanted each 1.33 mile to be between 8:15-8:20, though between the heat and some sluggish feeling legs, I wasn't sure what I would get.  I thought 8:30-8:40 may be more realistic.  Here I go:

First .66 mile- 3:59, second 4:15 (6:11 pace for the set)- started out a bit too hard and slowed down a bit too much

4:01, 4:08 (6:07 pace)- came off the turn around very fast but didn't slow down as much.  Took a quick drink at the end of this one before starting again.

3:58, 4:11 (6:08 pace)- Felt easier than the first set, but was faster.  Hmm.

4:02, 3:58 (6:00 pace)- Working hard but felt good.  Could have gone faster.

Overall I was very pleased with the workout.  I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to maintain the fast, even pace with the heat and lack of umph in my legs on the rough trail.  It is a good baseline for future tinman tempo runs.  3.8 miles cool down. 

~13 miles, 1:30:24. 

767- 339

AM- 6 miles on a rather dark (no moon) and very warm (69 deg) morning.  First mile was 7:57, last was 7:40. 

PM- 6 miles in the heat with the jogging stroller.  Easy.

Adrenaline- 417, 767- 345

Big workout- ran to the fairgrounds where I met Paul.  We ran easy till I was at 4 miles, then started 2 miles of (semi) tinman tempo pace (supposed to be 6:15 pace, was 6:30 pace).  I was purposely going a bit slow so we could keep talking, cause it was still hot out even though we started at 7 pm, and to save some for my later workout.  We finished the tempo and Paul dropped me off at LHS track, where I warmed up a bit till I was at 6.5 miles.

Workout was 4x4 min at CV pace fartlek (supposed to be 5:30-5:35, though the heat put a damper on my expectations) with 2 min slow jog recovery.  I messed up the watch on my first one, so stopped at 1100 meters and estimate it was 5:45 pace.  Second one was 5:46 pace (based on hitting 1100 m at 3:58- that is how I calculated my pace for all of these).  Third was 5:43, and the last one was 5:26 pace- I pushed it a bit more on that one and actually came with about 20 meters of hitting 1200 m before the clock struck 4.

Cooled down by doing just over 1 mile on the track, then jogged home.  Counting everything, I figure it was 13.5 miles, 1:36:29.  Good workout, though it would be nice to do this in 50 deg weather.

Tangent- 286

AM- 6 easy miles on the golf course under a full moon.  Sore back for some reason- probably from my workout yesterday plus not enough sleep this week.

768- 76

Supposed to be a long run today.  Went camping last night with my family and Cody's family.  I was hoping to find time to do my run in the morning, but it didn't happen.  Finally went at 7:30 pm, though it was still 90 deg.  Parked where Bonneville Shoreline trail meets the road to Green Canyon and ran 6 miles up the canyon.  This included yet another new mile of singletrack!  Awesome!  In 2 years, they have gone from 1 mile of singletrack to 3!  Turned around and got back to the car at 9:15.  It was too dark to keep running trails, so I tried to decide what to do.  Finally drove to Planet Walk and intended to run it 4 times, for 8 more miles.  It didn't happen- I was absolutely exhausted, my legs tightened up, and I slugged through 2 more miles.  At that point, it was after 10 pm and I just was way too tired to keep going.  I think this was due mainly to lack of food today (after breakfast, all I had was one pbj sandwich and one apple) and lack of sleep this week.  I am disappointed I didn't hit my planned 80 miles, but I just didn't have anything in me today and it wouldn't do any good to crawl through 6 more miles.  I'll make sure to do my long run in the cool morning next week.

806- 469, 800- 12 (new shoes!)

PM- Evening tinman tempo.  I ran to pick up Cody, then we ran to Paul's.  We headed towards the canal and the canyon.  Once we hit 4 miles (for me), we picked up the pace to ~6:20/mile.  Cody and Paul turned around 1.6 miles into the workout while I took a bathroom break.  Then I continued up the canyon by myself- I was working pretty hard, especially once I hit the trail.  I probably pushed it a bit too much- 19:40 for ~3 miles.  Turned around and ran the 3 miles back in ~19:00.  I was working very hard- breathing hard and sweating A TON (a lot more than usual, for some reason).  Not sure why it seemed so hard.  I was dead by the end of the workout.  I limped 4 miles home at about 7:45 pace.  80 deg and humid (for Logan) when I finished at 9 pm.  Tired, tired.  Sleep now.  Ok workout, nonetheless, and very nice to run with Paul and Cody again.

14 miles, 1:38:54.

768- 90

Late, late night with the kids means no morning run. I'm not sure when the last time was I got more than 5 or 6 hours of sleep- probably July 4 weekend.

PM- 7 miles, 4 potty breaks.  One of those days.  But even though I felt crappy (pun intended), I still had a funny experience.  As I passed a rather slow hispanic runner, he looked at me, reached out his hand, and said "Quiero, quiero".

Adrenaline- 423

PM- Ran to Paul's house, then ran just under 6 miles with him. Took a long route home to give me a few extra miles. Mapmyrun put me at 10.44 miles. Paul said we averaged 7:16 miles, and I know my last one was 7:00 even. 10.5 miles, 1:16:05. I'm really looking forward to the day off tomorrow (I don't get it off, I'm taking vacation hours) so I can do my speed workout in the cool morning. Not 90 deg- yeah! Then I get to spend all day watching my kids!

767- 355

AM- Oh, it was SOOOOO glorious to do a speed workout in the cool morning rather than the hot, hot afternoon.  SOOOOO nice!  I still sweated enough as it was.

Big Workout- I did 3 miles warmup, then 2 miles tinman tempo pace (~6:30, which was a bit slower than it should have been), then .5 mile more.  Then it was time for 6x1000 m on the track, with 200m slow jog for recovery (~1:30).  My splits were 3:30 (5:36 pace), 3:30, 3:31, 3:26, 3:26, 3:21 (5:21 pace).  Felt good.  I was really having to concentrate hard on my breathing the last two, but my legs were not near as dead as they were after my Monday workout.  About 3 miles cool down, bringing the total to 13 miles in 1:31:52.

PM- 6 easy miles with Paul on the Logan River trail.  Warm out.  I had a rock in my stomach from a late lunch at a pizza shop.

Tangent- 299, 800- 18

AM- 5 easy miles.  Ran the back 9 on the golf course.

PM- 6 easy miles with the jogging stroller.  94 deg here- I hate to think how hot St George is.

Adrenaline- 428, 767- 361

Long run today.  Left at 6 am and ran to Paul's house.  We ran to the canal and up into Logan canyon.  There was a very stiff wind coming out of the canyon, strong enough to almost stop us moving a few times.  It was strong enough that even though we were 2 feet apart, we couldn't hear each other (I asked him 3 times, "Do you think Favre will get traded this weekend?" and he thought I kept asking, "How far are you training this weekend?").  The pace up was slow- I don't think we ever went faster than 8 min pace on the way up, and I imagine the wind and hill miles may have been 9 min pace.  Paul turned around at around an hour just as I paid an emergency visit to a bush.  Then I continued on up the trail to Guinavah Malibu campground- just over 11 miles in 1:32:58, a whopping 8:27 pace.  I was thirsty and getting tired so was excited for the downhill.  Ran home via the same route, picking up the pace along the way.  By the time I hit the canal I was running just under 7:00 pace.  1:19:05 for the return trip (I added on a little to hit 22.5 miles), 7:10 average.  Not too bad- 1:17 faster per mile on the way back!  2:52:04 for the run- 7:38 pace.  My legs were tired but still moving well by the end.  Good run.  It was nice to run with Paul, even though it was only for 1/4 of the run.

84 miles for this week- my highest mileage of the year and highest since last August.  85 miles next week, then up to the 90's for a few weeks.  This week was the end of my race-free training, with 4 races in the next 6 weeks.

806- 491

AM- 6 easy miles.  Ran the front 9.  Rather dark out.  I got the living bejeevees scared out of me when I unknowingly got within about 20 feet of a deer sleeping in some brush.  He woke up and noisily darted out of there.  Made my heart rate peak at about 850, I think.

PM- 11 miles with Cody and Paul.  Good run.  Easy pace, 1:26:32.  Although Cody and Paul have a new strategy of not stopping when I have a potty break, making me have to work hard to catch up.  It evens things out a bit so I won't beat them by too much like normal.

Adrenaline- 434, 768- 101

HELP NEEDED- I will be running races in Park City on Aug 9 and Sept 6.  I am looking for a place I can crash the night before both races, either in Park City or somewhere in SLC that is near Parley's canyon.  I have my own sleeping bag and I don't snore.  Any leads?

AM- Ran the back 9 plus 1-4.  Dark.  One shooting star, no deer.  6 miles.

PM- 8 miles with the jogging stroller, 5 with Cody and his kids.  Very slow.  70 min, 8:45 pace.

Adrenaline- 440, 767- 369

AM- 6 miles on landfill loop, very warm and dark.  At one point I found myself running alongside a skunk, 10 feet away with his tail held high.  I'm just glad I was in the middle of the road rather than the right side.  Watched the sliver of the moon rise over the mountains.  Q:  I'm trying to think of the best words to describe when I ran.  What is earlier than "the butt crack of dawn"? :)

PM- Big Workout.  Stacy was kind enough to let Paul join me even though their son was born earlier today.  Congrats!  Anyways, I warmed up 2.5 miles to Paul's house, then another mile with him.  We did a 7 mile tinman tempo (Paul only did 6)- pace was supposed to be 6:10-6:15 in normal temps, so I was hoping to be ~6:20 with the 90 deg heat.  Yup, it was hot, though not as bad as last week.  Ran First Dam 10k course- splits were 6:11, 6:14, 6:18, 5:54, 6:07, 6:08, then 5:56 last mile by myself (6:07 avg for the series).  First 3 miles were slight uphill, last 3 were slight downhill.  Last mile was hard by myself but I really pushed it on the last quarter even though I was getting very light headed.  We were also talking the whole way, so that was a good sign.  1 mile cooldown with Paul, then I ran to LHS track and did 1.5 miles with 6x100m strides.  Ran 2 more miles home with 2 more strides.  Total time 1:39:51 for 15 miles, 6:39 avg for the run (smoking!).  Very tired but good workout.  I couldn't have done it without Paul- huge help for him to pull me along.  Plus, with the heat and tired legs I thought we were tempo-ing at 6:30 pace, so to be doing faster than that was great.  Like Paul said, if we did the same effort in the cool morning we would probably average 5:50-5:55 pace!

52 miles for the first 3 days this week!  Wow.  Now 2 easy days then a 10k on Saturday. 

768- 116, Adrenaline- 446

AM- 6 miles, 1 shooting star. Need to eat more food- after about 2 months of always weighing between 137-141, my weight has now dropped to 134-136 for the past week.

PM- 7 slow miles with the jogging stroller, Cody, and his stroller.  94 deg.  58:30.

Adrenaline- 452, 767- 376