I'm retired from racing. Really.

Ran with Paul from rec center up past the nature center and back.  I don't know what I ate, but after having to take my third port-a-potty stop in 5 miles, Paul couldn't wait and finished ahead of me.  I added some extra miles looping through the island and around Logan High.  We watched the mountains burning.  Ankle hurt pretty bad- I'll have to ice it tomorrow during work.

Omni- 325

1.5 mile warm up, then ran the length of the canal 3 times (1.33 miles each time) as a tempo run with only a few seconds rest in between each one.  First one was 8:17 (6:13 pace), second one was 8:25 (6:19 pace- tired), third one was 7:55 (5:56 pace).  Tired by the end.  Then I ran about 4-5 miles or so with Cody, drove to campus, and ran another couple miles around USU.  Finished with an awesome game of frisbee- very fun with lots of running/cross training.

766- 333

6 miles at 4 am.

Elite- 123

PM- 6 miles with the jogging stroller on planet walk.  Ran naked, no time.

766- 339

Got up early and did a few miles.  Then James came and we went to Garland for a 10k.  Couple miles warm up, then the race.  It was an out-and-back with one highway underpass then gradual uphill to the turn around and slight headwind on a windy farm road.  Mile 1 was 5:43, 3.1 was 18:30, which was rather slow- about a minute slower than I hoped.  I didn't feel like I had much spring in my step but was otherwise ok.  James and I led for the first half with one guy right behind us.  He made a surge at the turn around and pulled away from James and I a bit.  James pulled about 5 seconds ahead with 1.5 miles to go.  I kicked a bit early and pulled to within a second of him but then he picked it up a bit and took second.  Came back in 17:47 (last mile was 5:43- same time as first mile, even though the first mile has a big downhill and the last mile has big uphill).  I finished in 3rd, just a few seconds behind James.  The guy who won is the same high school guy who beat me at the Clarkston 3 miler earlier this year, and I beat him in the Freedom Run.  Ok run, good workout, but hopefully doesn't show my true fitness.  ~3.5 miles cooldown.  Won a pack of 3 microfiber socks as a door prize, and we got a nice breakfast.  I got 4 helpings of the ham.

Went to frisbee afterwards for a few hours- hot but fun, as always.

Tangent- 33

Missed the evening run- didn't get home until after 11:30 pm.  Few miles short this week.  But supposing I was around 30 miles at the end of Wednesday, I did add almost 45 more the last 3 days with no long run.  90+ next week.

6 miles at 4 am.

PM- Met Cody, James, and Dan at Green Canyon after doing 1.5 miles warm up.  We ran up Green Canyon for 6 miles- the last mile of singletrack was rather difficult (entering Naomi Wilderness), with a 12 minute mile, lots of bushes, steep uphill, rocks, etc.  Total elevation gain was over 2000 feet.  Coming back was great- first mile was slow on the difficult stuff (10 min) but then we averaged 6:30 pace for the last 5 miles, including a few singletrack spurts where I really picked it up and was doing ~6:00 pace (most of the last mile) or even sub-5:30 for a minute.  Great run, great trail, great company, not too hot.  Pretty darn good day.  And nobody sprained an ankle.  1:57, with my warmup.

More miles today than Mon-Tues last week.  But, thanks to a slow trail, todays 13.5 mile run was equivalent time and effort wise to more like 16 or so- so running trails will make my mileage appear lower than the road runners.  It's worth it, though, to run in the mountains.  I'm thinking of running mostly trails next year and may change to just a time tracker, rather than mileage.

Elite- 129

Ascend- 85

Ok, here was my running day.  First, I met Paul in the evening and we did 8.5 miles at 7:16 pace through the island, past first dam, and back on the canal.  Saw a helicopter filling its water bucket, and even got dripped on.  Then, I drove to campus and did another mile.  Then, I played 90 minutes of great frisbee, good for some cross training miles.  Finally, I drove to planet walk and ran it with the wife and baby stroller at about 8:00 pace, 2 miles more.  Total was 11.5 miles running, 3 miles x-train.

766- 350

6 miles at 4 am.

Just under 7.5 miles with Paul on the river trail in the evening.  My key fell out of my pocket about 1/2 mile into the run, but someone found it and set it where I could see it on the way back.  Nice people.

Omni- 331

Ascend- 92

Speed day- Hot outside, 90+ degrees.  Ran from my house to the middle of the canal- 4 miles.  Then I did 6 times 2/3 miles (from the canal bridge to one end, rest 2 min, back to bridge, rest 2 min, run to other end, etc).  I wanted to run ~3:50 for each (5:45 pace, my 1/2 marathon pace).  Here are how they went:

1- 4:01 (my legs were sluggish due to no warmup)

2- 3:53- felt better

3- 3:51

4- 3:49

5- 3:49

6- 3:46- legs were definitely getting fatigued by this one.  But I was glad that I was getting faster on each one.  I would say the turns and very uneven, rocky terrain probably slowed me down 5-10 seconds per mile, so it would have been about 5:35 pace on a track, I'm guessing.  After doing them, I definitely think the bridge is smack dab in the middle of the canal- within 5 meters of dead center, I bet.

Finished with 2 more miles, then 1 1/2 hours of great frisbee (played very well for some reason- Marci and I scored the first 6 points after we got there).

766-361

5.5 miles at 4 am. I saw 5 shooting stars this morning, and 3 on Wednesday. I probably look silly running most of my run with my head pointing towards the stars to the east. A few years ago I saw 15-20 shooting stars on one morning run at the height of the meteor showers.

PM- 7.5 miles easy in Idaho Falls 

Omni- 336

Elite- 136 

Great run today even though I was by myself. Slept in a bit till 7, then ran the following: In-laws house (in Idaho Falls) to community park (the park has a marked trail- I ran 1 mile, thought I was doing ~7:15 pace but actually did 6:52- that is a nice way to start, but I had to recalibrate my internal speedometer), winding my way to Pancheri and the Snake river, up the river along the greenbelt all the way to Fremont Park, back 1 mile, cross the river, back to Pancheri, turn around, back to Fremont, back along the snake river to Pancheri, back to community park, 2 miles at the park, 1.5 miles home.

I was averaging 6:50-7:00 pace for the first 12 miles, then tried to pick it up to sub-6:30 pace for the rest. I actually felt real good (though my legs were tired). Mile 16 along the river was on a marked 10k course, with a 6:10 mile exactly. Miles 19 and 20 were on the marked community park course, and I did those in 5:54 and 5:58 respectively. It feels great to be running sub 6:00 pace after 20 miles and a very long week. I was very tired by the end of the run (probably due to the relatively fast pace plus the fact this is my most miles ever- I did 90 miles in a week 2 years ago) but still had my legs. Great run. 2:24:01 for 21.5 miles.

I ate 4 bowls of Lucky Charms afterwards and I am still hungry!

Elite- 157

AM- 6 miles and 9 shooting stars.

PM- Parked at the canal, ran to first dam (6:50 pace- pretty fast start), then met Dan, ran to river trail (a bit slower), met Cody and Paul, ran to spring hollow and back (~7:50 pace), then back to the end of the canal with Dan (7:30-7:40 pace).  Then did another lap plus a bit more on the canal for more miles, running 7:15 pace.  Total was closer 15.5 miles, 1:58:00 exactly.  Good to start the week off with some miles.

Dan and I saw Drew Michener at first dam on the way back and talked to him for a bit- he was just coming back from a trail run.  Good to see him.

Elite- 163

Ascend- 107

AM- 5.5 miles

PM- Very hot.  96 degrees at the start of my run.  Ran to the end of planet walk (2 miles, 14:50), then wanted to do 5 miles at about marathon pace (6:00/mile), back and forth on the path.  Did 6:14 (not warmed up yet), 6:00 (dead on), 6:01, 5:53 (feeling good- stretching it out), then 5:48 (rather fast- LT pace). 

When I finished, I decided I had one more in me and wanted to see what I could do- I busted out a 5:26 and felt great, then ran 2 miles home.  That is faster than my splits in the 5k type races, recently.  Felt good to run sub-5:30 at the end of a run.  And, given that I was running in 95 degree heat on a trail that has some obstacles (90 degree turns, bridges, rail crossings), the "track time" would be faster.  And no GPS to tell me otherwise!

1:04:55 for 10 miles exactly- beat the 6:30 guy.  Fastest run of the year.

Finished with 90 minutes of great ultimate frisbee.

766-366

Omni- 346

AM- 5 easy miles

PM- 8 easy miles with the jogging stroller

Omni- 351

766- 374

Discussion topic: (i.e. I want everyone's opinions)- what do you think of Yasso 800's as training for a marathon?  Too hard?  Too fast (i.e. V02 max rather than LT or MP)?  Worthwhile?  Good indicator?  What do you think?  Anyone ever done them?

Yasso 800's are doing 10x 800 meters on a track, with each 800 ran at your marathon time (i.e. 2 min 40 sec for a 2 hr 40 min marathon), with equal recovery time between repeats.

Bad day.  I was planning to do a good track workout (6x1000m- my first track workout of the year).  I felt real sluggish running to the track, then discovered that a high school girls soccer game was going on.  My foot is sore so I wanted to run on something soft- I ended up essentially slowly looping around the LHS grass for the better part of an hour, occasionally watching the game.  Makes me miss soccer.  But I felt crappy the whole run and couldn't get going fast- probably a combination of high miles and 4 hours sleep last night.  But at least I got miles in.

Tangent- 43

AM- 6 miles.  Still sluggish, plus my left foot is hurting again.

PM- Planned 9 mile run was scratched.  Injury precaution.  No 100-mile week, but that is ok.  Healthy is more important.

766- 380

Did 1 mile warm up, then Cody, Dan, Logan, and James came to my house and we drove to the metropolis of Newton. We met my work running club there for a nice 18 mile loop through the rolling hills of farm country. Good run- my foot didn't hurt too much and my legs felt pretty good- not as fatigued as at the end of some long runs. Relaxed for about 12 miles, then we picked up to about 6:00 pace for the rest of the run. Finished with 2 miles to get us to 20, though I cut short a bit and probably got 19.5. 20.5 total today, I will round down. My watch said 2:10:10 but I forgot to start it twice, and I know Cody's said 2:15. If my foot hurts later, I will rest an extra day or two.

90 miles for the week- I could have made my goal of 100 if I ran yesterday afternoon, but I would rather be un-injured for my races than meet some meaningless mileage mark.

Elite- 183

Day off to rest foot. I wasn't planning to let up at all this week, even with TOU 1/2 marathon on Saturday, but I would rather make sure I am injury free than fight this for the next month.  Plus, I can just act like it is a planned taper, of sorts.  I'll make sure I get lots of sleep, too.

Day 2 of injury rest.  Start running again tomorrow.  I will have 100 hours of no running, so hopefully it did some good.

First run since Saturday, so my foot got over 100 hours of rest.  Started out feeling very sluggish and rusty running the TOU course, but my first mile was 7:09- surprisingly fast for how my legs felt.  Maintained 7:00-7:15 pace for 6 miles (TOU to mile 24, up to canal, past first dam a bit) plus 1 mile back.  Then I picked it up for 2 miles of tinman tempo (6:30 pace), then 2.5 miles of 6:15 pace.  Last .5 was easy.  Good run.  The best part was there was a pretty good thunderstorm, and I got rained on pretty hard for about 4 miles.  Felt great!

Elite- 195

6 easy miles (2 with the jogging stroller), plus 4 cross train frisbee miles.  I'm getting excited for Saturday's race.

Omni- 357

7 easy miles with Paul on river trail, 55:46.  No snakes or moose or badgers, probably cause James wasn't with us.

Ascend- 114

Race day.  Woke up all night with anticipation.  Got up at 4:40, did 2 miles to warm up and get the bowels loose.  Ran to the finish line and rode to the start up the canyon, then 2 more miles warm up.  Perfect conditions- just under 50 degrees, with a very strong tail wind for about 2 miles out of the canyon.  Lots of runners, including many bloggers (Logan, Paul, James, Cody, Walter, etc).  I hoped to break my PR (1:15:35).  Here are the miles:

1- 5:32 (felt good but I was worried it was too fast)

2- 5:46 (relaxed- running with Cody)

3- 5:45

4- 5:33 (caught James and Walter)

5- 5:28 (not sure why I was feeling so good, but I let it ride)

6- 5:20 (fastest mile this year, including workouts)

7- 5:21

8- 5:33

9- 5:43 (Hollow road- I was really hurting here and could feel my 5:20's, but knew 6:00 pace to the finish would give me a PR)

10- 5:46 (started feeling a bit better at 10.5)

11- 5:58 (uphill and tired)

12- 6:09 (uphill and tired)

13- 5:35

0.1- 0:33

Walter and I were duking it out from mile 4 till the end- he was ahead 15 seconds, then I got 10 seconds ahead, then we ran the last 3 miles side by side.  Both pushing very hard, wanting to beat the other.  We saw someone gaining on us at mile 12 and were wondering who it was- it ended up being Logan, who took a wrong turn.  I got a few yards on Walter with a mile to go and beat him by 5 seconds for 3rd place overall.  The time- 1:14:07, crushing by PR!!!  One of the better races of my life.  Plus, I have never placed lower than 3rd in this race (3rd, 1st, 3rd) and continue my streak of 3rd place finishes this year (5 of 7 races). 

Overall I was very happy with the race, and I think many other people were, too.  Good race.  I think I am on track for my marathon goal in 3 weeks as long as I can keep running on my foot.  3 mile cool down.

Tangent- 63

14 easy miles on the canal and river trail with the guys (Cody, Dan, Paul).  Easy pace- 7:30 on the flat, 8:00 on the river trail.  Hip flexors were sore at the start, everything was sore by the end.  But it was worth it for Saturday's race.

Ascend- 128

Repeat of yesterday, somewhat.  10 miles on the river trail.  Easy-moderate pace up, moderate to hard pace down with 8x20 second striders.

Ascend- 138

6 easy miles.  Planned to do 2-6 mile runs, but my left foot started really hurting again right at the start of my first run.  Worrisome.  I'll have to decide how to deal with this.  I have noticed that my foot hurts a lot more when I wear my NB 766, so I will semi-retire them until after the marathon.

766- 386

10 miles at Green canyon.  Real hot (90+ deg), but I felt great.  30 seconds faster to the 2 mile mark than usual.  Not many people, great trail.  8:30 pace up, sub-6:30 pace back.  Felt good.  I think my 766 shoe really exacerbates my foot problem.  Finished with some great frisbee.

Ascend- 148

6 easy miles.  Hot.

Elite- 201