running for my mind

4.4 easy miles with Adam. 

4.66 miles with Adam. Avg pace was sub 8 so I felt good about that. Not super fast but felt good to break 8 without calf pain.

10 miles with Adam and Brayden.

4.5 with Adam.

5.05 with Adam.

5 miles with Adam.

Solo run at 11am in between classes. I tried to step it up a little for miles 3 and 4. Mile 3 had a decent hill in it so I was happy with the pace and that I did not have any calf pain.

6 miles with Adam. There were crazy amounts of snow and it felt like we were running in the sand. Calves and quads were burning during this one.

10.85 - Half solo and half with Brayden. It was still pretty snowy and a little slow but was not as bad as yesterday. Felt good to get this longer run in even though I was a little sore from the run in the "sand" the day before. 

5.7 solo. Was 0 degrees during the entire run. This was the coldest I have ever run in. Felt good though. I might have dressed a little too warm though with the neck warmer I wore.

5.01 with Adam. Clocked one of the fastest miles I have done in a long time. I have not run one that fast since my last speed workout for my marathon back in September. Sub 7 felt good.

5 with Adam. We mixed up the route just a bit which makes mile 4 more of an uphill. Felt good to still average in the 7:30s.

5 miles with Adam. It was a good run. Felt a little sluggish but did the same route as yesterday but 46 seconds faster.

10.63 with Adam and Brayden for part. It was eventful. See Adam's blog for all the details but to say the least, it was fun! The first mile was a little slow because of the water that we encountered and then had to change Adam's shoes.

Planned rest day today and I am excited to have it. Going to spend some time icing, sitting in the hot tub, and stretching. I have developed a couple of weird soreness areas that I want to work out. 

Both knees hurt a little but never when I run. The ache is right on the front of the knee and not down inside the joint. Also, my left foot/ankle had been sore. This is also a unique ache to me. I feel it more in the top left of my foot near my ankle. Because I am starting to log more miles I am going to get back in the habit of icing and I think these slight aches will subside. 

--runmehappy-- 

Nice  7.67 mile run with Adam and his brother this morning. It was a little longer than our typical weekday run but it felt really good. I really like that we have been running negative splits for nearly all of our runs lately.

I just got back from the park with the fam. We did a mile loop and then came home to let our daughter nap. Felt good to just walk the snow covered trail and stay loose.

 --runmehappy-- 

 5 mile run at about 11 o'clock in between my classes. 

This was my first "official" speed workout of my training. I set out wanting to get to the track on campus and run 5 miles with miles 3 and 4 at marathon pace (6:55). I got to the track, which was about .5 miles from where I started. Unfortunately the track looked more like a white field of snow. So, I decided to stick with the plan and still try and run my tempo 2 miles on the roads. I don't love to do this because it is more difficult than the track because of the ups and downs. It does make me stronger though. I was glad that I met my goals on miles 3 and 4 despite mile 3 having a 100ft climb. 

 --runmehappy--

4.36 nice miles. It felt really cold this morning but somehow I was feeling really good. I kept my watch under my jacket and decided to just run based on how I was feeling. I knew my first mile was a quick one but I just got on cruise control and held a quick pace. At about mile 3 I turned a corner and fell on the black ice on to my hands and knees. Luckily I was not going fast and didn't get hurt. Knees feel better today because I spent some quality time with the foam roller last night so I am happy about that. 

[update] I think a slightly pulled groin is manifesting itself now later in the day. I am pretty sure this happened when I slipped on the ice. Hopefully it is not bad and I will feel alright tomorrow morning for 5 miles with Adam. I have to remember that it could have been a worse result from today's fall. 

Easy 5 miles with Adam this morning. We were lucky to get out before the freezing rain hit. My commute that normally takes about 45 minutes took me an 1hr 45min today! I felt pretty good, but was a little sore from the previous two days I think. My knees were a little tight again. I need to be more consistent with the stretching/foam rolling. I will hopefully get a little yoga and stretching/rolling in tonight so I am more loose tomorrow.

(If you ever wonder why our 4th mile is always slower, it is because it is a gradual uphill. I looked today and it is about a 130ft climb.) 

5 easy miles with Adam. It was still a little slick out on the roads so we had to take it a little slow. I was happy about this because I wanted to try and stick to about 8 min miles. As it turned out our AP was 8:04. My left foot is still bugging me, but it is not horrible. I can feel it ache for the first half mile of a run but then it goes away. I then can feel it during the day a little when I simply walk around. Going to try and take tomorrow's run pretty slow and see how the foot feels.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	40:22.2	5.00	8:04
1	8:43.3	1.00	8:43
2	7:59.9	1.00	8:00
3	7:39.6	1.00	7:40
4	7:56.3	1.00	7:56
5	8:00.7	1.00	8:01

11 easy miles this morning. I was amazed by how thick the fog was when I went out. I couldn't see street lights until I was within about 100 meters. Pretty unusual for SLC. 

I really wanted to keep my average pace around 8 min or so and just focus on form and feeling fluid. I managed to do that for the most part. Every so often I caught myself going a little faster here and there and I would have to slow up a bit. At about a mile and half left I looked at the time and realized I was supposed to be home in about 10 minutes so my wife could go spinning. So, I tossed the whole 8 min thing out the window and cruised home. 

Overall I felt good. My foot didn't really hurt and my knees were only a little tight. I will get some good stretching and foam rolling in today and enjoy my day off tomorrow. 

PMish- Just went on a 2.5 mile hike with the family. It was super nice to get out and breath some fresh Park City air and to see for a few miles across the valley by my folks house.

Today was another scheduled rest day. Felt good to be off of my feet, but I was itching to go on a run. I am early in my training for Ogden so I need to continue to be disciplined and stick to my plan.

Iced my knees and ankle/foot tonight just for preventetive measures mostly. I need to get back in the habit of icing. I was good about that last training cycle.

My goal for this week is to hit 40 total miles and to get in a speed workout with some 400 meter repeats. I might also try and squeeze in a 2 mile tempo at marathon pace like last week in the middle of one of my runs depending on what day the repeats fall on. I will probably shoot for 11-12 miles on Saturday.

I skipped this morning's run because of the storm and because I wanted to give my wife a break so I fed Grey for her so she could sleep in a bit. (Grey is our 10 month old daughter-FYI)

PM - 5.85 - Headed out late afternoon down some pretty snowy/slushy roads with Brayden and his wife Ashley. I also brought Grey along in her stroller. She is a trooper! I felt like a was pushing a shopping cart through sand at times. (not that I have experience with that, but I could imagine it would be difficult) Needless to say, the snow and the "shopping cart" made for some slower miles, but it was a great workout.

5 miles - Pretty good run this morning with Adam. It was a little snowy and slushy in places which slowed us down a little, but it was a good easy pace. Started to snow more by the end of our run and once again I had an hour and 45 minute commute. Wondering how I am going to get in my speed workouts this week if the snow keeps up. Might try and hit up the indoor track or maybe just the roads if they dry up enough.

7 mile treadmill run this morning. This was my first time on the treadmill this year. Adam and I had planned to run outside but the storm changed our plans. I wanted to get in a speed workout this week and I thought today would be the best opportunity.

I warmed up for 2 miles and then did the next 3 miles in 1/4 mile repeats of 1/4 on and 1/4 off. I ended up doing 6 1/4 miles on at 6:00 pace and the 6 1/4 miles off at 8:00 pace. I felt pretty good, but was definitely worn out. I ended with another 2 mile cool down. I hope to still work in a couple tempo miles at marathon pace this week.

question for blog readers - would my 1.5 miles at the 6:00 pace be considered Threshold Miles or VO2 Max Miles...or neither?

Split	Time	Distance	Calories
Summary	53:34.0	7.00	0
1	7:57.0	1.00
2	7:47.8	1.00
3	7:00.2	1.00
4	7:00.5	1.00
5	7:00.8	1.00
6	8:26.6	1.00
7	8:20.4	1.00
8	:01.0	0.00

6.2 easy miles. I tried to keep things right around an 8:00 pace, but once again I failed at that. My average pace was right at 8:00 but the 3 in the middle were too fast. AP was a 7:54 if I add in the last .2 that i purposely did a little faster. (the table below shows the AP without that .2)

I headed to the indoor track on campus to give it a shot. I was moderately impressed and moderately disappointed. How is that for vague?

The track is not full size, but is close. 5 laps equals a mile. This was not as bothersome as how hot it was in there. It really needed to be 10+ degrees cooler...or 20+. I wore my typical shorts and a short sleeve shirt and felt way over dressed. I really wanted this track to be a good place for me to go for speed workouts but don't know if I could handle a more intense workout in there. I would just get too hot I think because I even felt a little sluggish because of the heat on this easy run today.

5 easy miles with Adam this morning. It was good to have someone to run with again. Adam's knee has been bothering him, but he said it felt quite a bit better this morning. My quads were feeling a little sore. I think it is just part of a good run week. I am a little worried my long(er) run tomorrow will be more tough than I had hoped. Oh well.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	40:30.6	5.00	8:06
1	8:40.0	1.00	8:40
2	7:57.4	1.00	7:57
3	7:48.7	1.00	7:49
4	8:09.4	1.00	8:09
5	7:54.2	1.00	7:54
6	:00.9	0.00	7:58

12 miles - From my house past Oly high and back. I wanted to keep things under an 8:00 pace and gradually pick up the pace until the half-way mark. My 5th mile I slipped back on the pace a bit, but I am still happy with it because that mile has the longest hill on the route. I also wanted to run 2 miles at marathon pace so I am stoked that I got those in. The first 1.4 of those 2 miles had a slight downhill so I actually ran them a little faster. Overall I felt good, but was definitely sore by the end. My quads were feeling it which I think is just built up fatigue from this week. The good thing was that my calves didn't hurt at all which made me feel great!

I am glad that I hit my mileage goal this week along with my 400 repeats and the 2 mile tempo. I feel good at where I am in my training so far. 

Scheduled rest day today. It was a nice break. Crazy thing is that we went to bed last night at 8:30 and woke up this morning at 7:30. Yup, we all slept 11 hours! Took a hot bath in the middle of the day and did some stretching. Then I iced a little during the super bowl as I read a running book and worked on my training schedule.

Goals for this week:
45 total miles
800 repeats
Tempo run longer than this past week

6 easy miles this morning. I went out just for an easy run not worrying about my pace. I also wore my heart rate strap for the first time in a long while. (the last time I wore it I had all kinds of problems where I was getting a reading of 225bpm while at an 8:20 pace)

The heart rate strap must have been working this time. I averaged a 154. I actually felt pretty sluggish the first 3 miles. I think I have a mental block when I wear my heart rate strap. I start to worry too much about my heart rate even though I am not looking at my watch. I think this worrying naturally causes my heart rate to rise. By mile 3 I must have finally forgot I was wearing it and everything seemed a lot easier. I finally got in a rhythm and the next thing I knew the run was over.

I think part of feeling sluggish at the beginning was the fact that I took yesterday off. Might have taken my body a few miles to work out cobwebs.

Split	Time	Distance	Avg Pace
Summary	47:58.5	6.07	7:54
1	8:03.2	1.00	8:03
2	8:01.9	1.00	8:02
3	7:59.1	1.00	7:59
4	7:58.3	1.00	7:58
5	7:43.1	1.00	7:43
6	7:42.4	1.00	7:42
7	:30.5	0.07	6:59

6 easy recovery miles. Felt nice to just mope along after the 800s yesterday. 

8 miles - 2 mile warmup, 4 mile at marathon pace, and 2 mile cool down. 

Overall I felt pretty good on this run. It was the longest tempo I have done. I was super glad to have Adam there to help pace me. If I was solo I probably would have slacked when it start to get tough. My heart rate peaked on the tempo at 177 and probably averaged in the low 170s for the 4 miles. Full HR data.

My quads are pretty tired and sore so I spent the last hour rotating from the sauna to the steam room and stretching and massaging. Hopefully I can hit the foam roller for a bit tonight and get a good night's sleep.

5 easy miles on the treadmill. Woke up and fed Grey and then it started to rain/snow/sleet. Decided the treadmill sounded nicer than having to get bundled up to run in the elements for an easy run. Felt good overall. Gave the new shoes a go and really liked them. I think I might wear them on my long(er) run tomorrow.

AP - 8:15 

12 easy miles - some with Brayden. This was a weird run where I didn't feel 100%. Now that I am writing this almost a week later I know why. I was getting (more)sick. I wanted to go out and not worry about my pace and just cruise at what felt comfortable. Tyler suggested this at lunch on Friday. As it turned out I ran slower than I thought I was going to. I just was feeling weak. I still averaged faster than my long runs in the summer last year so that is good. Full HR data.

Took a scheduled rest day today. Not feeling so healthy right now. On Friday and Saturday I woke up in the middle of the nights having sweated through the sheets. I am either hot or I am really cold during the day. I hope that taking it easy today makes me feel good enough to run in the morning and I can have another good week. 

 Overall, I feel really good about this week of running. I hit all of my goals. I wanted to run 45 total miles, do 800s, and get a 4 mile tempo run in. I am stoked that I did all of this!

Goals for this coming week (if healthy) - Maintain at 45 miles - 1 mile repeats - another 4 mile tempo. 

6 easy on the treadmill.

Wow! So almost a week went by without running. I was crazy sick with some odd virus that I couldn't kick. I am glad for modern medicine that finally got rid of it.

It was good to get back moving again. Chose the treadmill so I could bail and just come upstairs to bed if I needed to. I felt pretty good, but could tell I was still weak. Will be interesting to see how I feel on tomorrow's long(er) run. I am not stoked that I lost 4 days of training, but I have been feeling lousy since the first of December and was in a really bad way at the beginning of this week. I don't think the time off will really have any negative effects on my training because I have a decent amount of time left before my race. At least that is what I hope.

AP = 8:26   - Full HR data.

12 easy - Fun run in bear lake. Was more frosted than I have ever been by the end. Felt good overall and held a decent pace. Felt good for just coming off of the sickness. This run helped build my confidence. Going to try and post a pic below. Hopefully it works. 

planned rest day up here in bear lake. good to rest and get away.

7 easy

Felt good on this run. I just went for it and didn't worry about my pace much. I knew I went out a little fast so I backed it off, but then just ran the rest of the run by feel. 

AM - 4 miles - 2 mile warmup, 1 mile at 6:00, 1 mile cooldown. - Ran this across Wasatch because the tracks are all covered in snow still. Felt decent, but was a little bothered by how hard the 6 min mile felt. 

PM - 4 miles on the treadmill - 2 mile warmup, 1 mile at 6:00, 1 mile cooldown. - Because I wanted to get more in this morning but didn't I hopped on the treadmill for round 2. I would have liked to do the 1 mile a little faster but my treadmill maxes at 10mph. Once again I felt pretty burned out by the end of that mile. I think my legs were feeling sore from this morning. Looking forward to an easy day tomorrow.  

6 easy on the treadmill at 8:37. was nice to just get the legs loose. watched part of the count of monte cristo. that is a good flick. maybe I will finish it on my next easy run if I hop on the treadmill again.

7 miles

fun run this morning with Adam. It was good to run with someone again. I have had a lot of solo runs lately. We kept it casual with some faster burts here and there. It is always good to run fast with Adam because he pushes me down under the 6:00 pace. Opted for this workout over a tempo segment. I think it is good for me to mix it up every once in a while so I don't get so bored and burned out.

5 miles - 2 mile warmup and then 2 miles where every .2 miles I sped up the treadmill .2/mph. Got up to 6:40 pace and ran that for a half mile, then did a 1 mile cooldown.

Opened the door to join Adam for a run and was upset to see the snow falling. Decided it was better to hit the treadmill.  

I listened to the podcast yesterday that Adam posted by Rich Roll with him talking to Brian Mackenzie. Interesting stuff in there. I might try and pick up Mackenzie's book. The thought of crossfit endurance does not sit very easy with me yet though.  

12 miles - today felt good. glad i woke up and got out when i did. the storm and wind rolled in right after i finished. my left hamstring started to hurt yesterday but it was not impeding today. it took a few miles for it to loosen up and for me to not notice it anymore. I mixed up my route a little bit and it caused for the first half to be almost all a gradual uphill. the climb was not miserable but it was about 375 ft. with a couple of long hauls. I feel really good about my splits though and my AP of 7:48. I just ran off of feel again and didn't look at my watch. I would hear it beep every mile and would resist looking. I am looking forward to the coming week and the speed workouts that I have planned. 

Planned rest day today.

I am feeling pretty good in my training. I have been a little surprised because I feel like I am having to fight more pains and aches than last summer. I need to be better about stretching and icing. That is one of my goals for this week.

Weekly Goals - 45-50 miles - 400s - tempo run 

7 miles with Adam. 

Had a good 7 mile run with Adam. We averaged a 7:38 pace, which I was stoked with because we were just taking it easy and chatting along the way. We mixed up our route a little, but we still covered some of the same miles. We ran our first mile almost 40 seconds faster than we normally do. Our "hill" mile we ran considerably faster too. I can't remember the exact time, but will post the splits when I get home from work. 

Feeling pretty good overall. My hamstring didn't act up at all on the run so who knows what that little thing was that I felt over the weekend. Glad it is gone though. Maybe the light kicking around the pool and hot tub at the Lion's club on Saturday night helped.  

9 miles with Adam.

This was an intense run with a mega hill going up fort union blvd. Total climb was 487ft, give or take.

We had set out to do some 1/4 mile repeats hoping to do 8 of them, but the snow changed that plan. When we started it was not coming down too bad and we thought that after the hill at the half way point we would be able to pick up the pace and get the repeats in. The snow worsened as we went. We clipped the last 4 miles off at a decent pace, but didn't get the repeats in. That is ok though. We had a great run, it was a great workout, and we will sneak the repeats in on Thursday.

Going to head to the steam room and sauna and stretch and relax a little in between my classes today. I always look forward to that! 

5 easy with Adam. 

We ran our normal route today and it was a lot of fun. It was fun to have dry roads to enjoy. Interestingly we just kept an easy pace and chatted along the way but our average pace was 7:32. I was way stoked for this because I think it shows that I am getting faster. This is still a crawl for Adam so I am glad he doesn't just ditch me! 

6.5 easy on a pretty big loop. Nice to get the legs loose from yesterday's repeats.

Scheduled rest day.

I was tired all day today. I hopped in the hot tub at my folks and tried to relax, stretch, and massage a little. When I got out I laid on the floor and fell asleep for 30 minutes. Decided that was a pretty good sign I was worn out.

Goals this week - 50 miles - 800s - 4-5 mile tempo.

8 easy miles.

Ran my typical route, just a little farther. A nice out and back. I didn't take my watch and just enjoyed the run. Felt good to just get the legs loose and enjoy a clear morning before the sun came up.

8 easy miles - 

I just did my typical route but I tried to take it as easy as possible. (I think I was right around an 8:30 to 8:45 pace, but will check and post my data when I get home later.) This was actually quite difficult. I was forcing myself to slow down. I have read/listened a lot lately about the importance of taking your easy days easy. I want some feedback on this so if you happen to read this please let me know your thoughts by commenting below. A lot of people refer to the grey area as a pace where it is not really pushing you too much, but it is not really easy either. If you always train in this area then you will not progress. Now, I am not worried about always training in the "grey area" because I am doing speed work and tempo runs pretty regularly. I am more worried that I am doing more harm by going a little too hard on my "easy" days and really letting these runs be recovery days. I have heard that "easy" days should be between 1:00 to 2:00 slower than marathon pace (6:55).

For example, yesterday I ran 9 miles, during which I ran 8x800s. It was my speed day. So, today I should theoretically run "easy." I could pretty effortlessly go out and clip along at an average pace of 7:45-8:00 and not really feel like I as pushing myself too hard. However, If I am going to truly take it "easy," I could run as slow as 8:55.

So, my 2 thoughts are these: (1) 7:45-8:00 really is my "easy" pace as I have gradually become a faster runner and I should not worry so much, OR (2) I need to be more disciplined and I should try and slow down on my "easy" days like I tried to today.

Thoughts? Advice? Tips? 

6 easy miles with Brayden and Ashley. Average pace of 8:05.

16 miles.

I had a good long(er) run this morning. Left my house at 6:10 and met up with Brayden after 4 miles. Ran 8 with Brayden and then the last 4 back home solo. My average pace was a 7:44 and that felt nice. I pushed myself once at the beginning for half a mile and then I ran at marathon pace for 2 miles around miles 13 and 14. 

I wanted to push a couple miles to marathon pace near the end of the run to see how it felt. Surprisingly I felt good and could have gone another mile, but I wanted to have the last two be a little slower to "cool down" a bit.

At the beginning of the run my quads were a little sore and I mentioned to Brayden that I was feeling a little tired/weak. I attributed it to having a good running week and it just being cumulative fatigue. I loosened up and overall felt good. My knees were a little tight near the end as well, but that is to be expected from this distance for me. I iced them up when I got home and they feel fine now.

I feel good about this week and having hit all of my goals. I look forward to a rest day tomorrow and then starting another week. Only 2 months until race day. 

[update] After uploading the data from my watch and looking at my splits a day later, I am super pleased with this run. Brayden and I started speeding up around my 10th mile and the rest of the run was a decent pace for me. 

Scheduled rest day today. 

We got a ton of sleep last night even with it being daylight savings! 10 hours is solid for sure. After a hearty breakfast of pancakes and a little time playing with Grey I took an hour nap too!

Goals for this week - I think I am going to stay right around 55 miles and not try to push it past that yet. I week of maintaining, as it were. I am going to stick to speed on Tuesday with the goal of 1 mile repeats. Thursday I am going to shoot for another tempo of 5 miles. If I am feeling up for it, I might push that to 6. My Saturday run will either be 16 or 17. 

8 easy miles

I ran over to the track to meet a buddy over there that wanted to run 400s for his first time. I mostly just took it easy like I had planned for today, but I did pace him on one 400 so he could get a feel for how fast he wanted to go. Being on the track made me want to get my speed work in today, but I have it planned for tomorrow so I decided to stick with that. It was nice to just get out and get the legs moving after taking yesterday off. 

8 miles - 2 miles and a bit warmup, 3 x 1 mile repeats, and a cool down of just under 2.

It was nice to have Adam to run with again. Company is good, but company on speed days is great!

I have kind of felt like there has been a mental, more than physical, wall at the 6:00 min mile. I wanted to try and break that wall down a little bit today and it felt good. We ran the first mile right at 6:00, the next at 5:55, and the last at 5:52.

I am happy about this speed workout and I hope that this workout boosts my confidence and I won't be afraid of the 6:00 min mile barrier anymore.

8.5 easy this morning.

Felt good to take a nice easy pace and to be with good friends. I ran 3 miles before meeting up with Adam and Tyler. Adam turned east to head home when Tyler and I only had about .3 back to my house and his car.

Avg HR - 141 and Avg Pace - 8:24 

10 miles - 2 mile warmup, 6 mile tempo at marathon pace, 2 mile cool down.

This morning was the first time I have worn shorts on a morning run this year! It was nice to not pull tights on. I felt good during the tempo and was having fun while I was doing it. I am glad that I hit the 6 miles under marathon pace.

I don't know exactly what my goal is going to be in the next two months before my race with the tempo runs. I originally thought I would work my way up to 10 and stop there, but now I am considering maybe continuing to up it each week by 1 mile. That would push me to 13 or 14 miles depending on when I do my last tempo before tapering. What do people think?

8 easy miles

I met up with Brayden and Ashley to run 8 easy this morning. I wanted to test myself and go with Adam on his tempo, but I knew that would not be the smartest thing for me or my training. I am sure he killed his 5 miles though.

Because I was running a little late this morning, long night with a sick child, Ashley took off before I got to their house. Brayden and I ran a little fast the first mile and the second mile way too fast for this easy day so we could catch her, but I knew we would have 6 slow ones after so it was ok.

17.5 miles. 

Logged 17.5 this morning, 12 of which were with Adam. It was super nice of him to tag along for as long as he did. He only planned on doing 8 with me so he might hate me tomorrow.

Overall, I felt good with this long(er) run. The first 3 miles I had a few kinks to work out but they vanished once Adam and I got into our conversations. I felt similar the first few miles of my run last Saturday.

Now that is is 8pm I realize how this run and this week have worn me out. I have felt pretty sluggish all day and I am excited for a good night's rest and the day of tomorrow.

Goals - I feel great about this week and hitting my goals. I pushed a little past my goal of 55 miles, hit my mile repeats on Tuesday, and my tempo on Thursday I pushed to 6 miles. I will post my goals for this coming week tomorrow. 

Planned rest day.

I was still pretty wiped out from yesterday's long(er) run.

Goals for this coming week - 10 to 12 400s on Tuesday - Tempo of 7 miles on Thursday (I am going to be playing this one by ear because we are headed to Jackson Hole for the day. So, I might bump this to Friday.) - Saturday long run of 18 - Total miles of 60 again. 

8 easy miles with Adam this morning.

I was feeling a little tight in my knees, but nothing out of the usual little tightness. For some reason my stomach has been unsettled on almost all of my runs lately. Even this slower easy run gave me some issues. I need to figure it out.

9.25 - 2 mile warmup - 10 x 1/4 mile repeats - 2 and a bit cool down.

Well, the last 24 hours have been less than desirable. I have been working for almost a year for a firm downtown. I have technically been a clerk waiting for a full-time offer. If you know anything about the process of law school and finding a job, up to this point I have done everything "right." I have tried to check every box. I was in the top of my class, got on law review, and got a clerkship my second summer. That clerkship has continued and I have been working part-time during this school year. Yesterday, I met with the managing partner of the firm and he told me that they will not be extending me an offer. His exact words were, "don't count on it." He was kind enough to say that he would write me a good recommendation though!

So, when I got home I wanted to put on my shoes and just start running until I couldn't go any farther. I then realized that that type of a run would not fit well into my training schedule! (stupid logical mind got the best of me) So, instead I just waited for this morning's run. However, when I woke up I just didn't have the fire that I did last night. 

It is hard to do a track workout when you get to the track and it is locked. I tried to not let this bug me, but I was really looking forward to trying to shred the track apart with my 400s. I improvised and decided to just do some 1/4 mile pickups or repeats on my normal route. Because my route has a decent amount of change in elevation, I decided that I would be happy with running my 1/4 miles in 80 seconds, and hoped to run some in 75. (75 was my original goal for the track)

Overall, I felt OK with this run. I didn't feel great, but I finished it. By the end I was pretty spent dodging cars at a 5:00 min pace!

Sorry for such a long post. I guess I needed to vent a bit.

 [update] Tyler pointed out that this post doesn't make me seem too stoked on today's workout. I am. I just am still upset about the work situation and that obviously has shown through this post. Sorry.

PM - Came home from school and ran 2.5 miles with Whit and Grey. Whit is just getting back in to running so it was a nice slow pace. She did great though. It was nice for me because I was, and am still, feeling pretty tight in my calves from this morning. This short jaunt loosened them up a bit. I look forward to a nice easy run tomorrow.  

9.75 easy miles this morning. Met up with Adam but he had to head downtown for work so we only ran 5 together. Felt great on the run but my legs are still sore from yesterday as I write this (it is about 8pm).

We left Salt Lake about 1pm today and drove up to Jackson Wyoming. I am going to still try and get in my tempo in the morning but I have no idea on which streets to run.  

8 miles behind Adam. 2 mile warmup, 4 a little quicker than marathon pace, 2 mile cool down. 

Had thought and was planning on doing my tempo this morning in Jackson but we awoke to snow and wind. We luckily wrapped up there early and headed home.

Adam hadn't run yet so we headed to Wasatch for a tempo session at about 5:15pm. Lack of sleep and driving almost 600 miles in 24 hours showed on this run. It didn't help that there was a headwind for part too.

Overall, I still feel good about the run. Because it was a little shorter tempo than last week I think I still might try and run several miles at marathon pace during my long(er) run Saturday.

8 easy, 2 solo and 6 with Tyler.

It was a good morning. Nice and clear and crisp. We finished just in time I think. Small flakes started falling right when we finished. Tyler told me it is supposed to snow a lot tonight. Should make for a fun long(er) run tomorrow!

18 miles - 10.5 of the miles Adam was nice enough to join me on. 

I feel better right now after 18 this morning than I did last week after my 17.5. That is a good thing. It was a fun run overall. We had snow coming down pretty heavily for the first 9 miles. It was then nice and clear with the occasional nasty road condition.

Mile 10 was actually a good 30 seconds or so faster, for those of you who really want to get nitpicky. I managed to step in a huge puddle and completely soak my right foot. I thought I paused my watch while I was assessing the situation, but didn't.

We clipped off 4 miles at marathon pace to see how my legs would hold up. It felt good to let the legs loose for a bit. Every once in a while it was a little sketchy at that pace with the road conditions and cars flying by, but overall it was fun. We slowed up for mile 15 and then I tried to close the last 3 miles strong after dropping Adam at his house.

Overall, I feel good about my goals even though I didn't hit them right on the head. I mixed them up a bit and feel fine about that. I ran a few more miles than I had anticipated, which is fine with me. I got in my 400s, but missed the full tempo. That is ok though because my tempo ended up being at a high exertion level and then I got in another 4 at marathon pace during my long run. I feel like it was a successful week.

Scheduled rest day.

I am feeling better today than I did last Sunday, even though I ran more miles and had a little longer run yesterday than the previous Saturday.

Goals for this week - Maintain right around 60-65 total miles. - Speed work on Tuesday, shooting for 800s. (I don't know how many I will do. I might do around 6, but try and do them a little faster than my previous set of 800s) - I would like to get a tempo in of 7 miles as well on Thursday.  

9.25 miles this AM. - Fun to get out with Tyler and Adam.

I felt great on this run. Nice to have an easy day after last week's miles and long run on Saturday. I still am feeling a little tight in my right lower calf from last Tuesday's speed workout I think, but it is not inhibiting my running. Those 400s really blew up my legs last week.

I need to be better about stretching!!! There is always something to work on. 

9.75 miles - 2 mile warmup - 6 x 800s - 2 x 200s - cool down.

I feel really good about this workout. I planned on doing 6 x 800s and doing the first one at a 5:45 pace and then doing each one 0:05 faster. I was stoked to pull this off. After those I decided to do a couple 200s to just rock at full speed for a bit. It felt good to let my legs fly.

repeat distance time    avg.pace goal pace
1 800 3:01.3 5:46 5:45
2 800 2:59.1 5:37 5:40
3 800 2:56.1 5:33 5:35
4 800 2:54.6 5:29 5:30
5 800 2:51.8 5:22 5:25
6 800 2:46.7 5:15 5:20
7 200 0:30.1 3:55 n/a
8 200 0:30.2 4:02 n/a

Here is a link to all the workout data. Each of the 800 repeats came in at .53 of a mile, aside from the first one. (maybe that makes the math make more sense?)

9 easy miles this morning - Planned on running a few miles before meeting Brayden and Tyler. They both had to bail so I ended up running solo. If you missed it, the moon was awesome this morning.

10.75 miles - 1.5 mile warmup - 7.5 at marathon pace - 1.75 mile cool down.

Tempo Thursday - I felt really good on the tempo. I could feel the hills a little but was stoked to keep all of my splits faster than my goal marathon pace. For whatever reason that is about all that I have to say. Overall, it was a nice time!

8.25 easy miles - roughly 2 solo and the rest with Brayden and Ashley. Ran a loop from my house. It was a fun morning run and was awesome weather! My phone said 50 when I went out at 6:15.

20 miles - Ran 10.75 solo and the rest with Brayden

This was a fun run and it was great weather this morning. I feel really good about this 20 miler. I feel like there is this mental fear with running 20 miles and today was my best 20 miler to date. Last year I felt good on my 20 milers but always struggled the last couple of miles. Today I was able to finish strong so I am happy about that. The other day Tyler said that I need to remember that I am in better shape and I am a better runner than last year. I am starting to believe him a little bit now.

Today is Grey's first birthday so we are having a little party etc. I can't believe she is already a year old.

Scheduled rest day.

Felt good to have a nice relaxing Easter!

I felt good this past week. Was probably the best running week I have ever had. I was able to hit all of my goals or exceed them in a bit.

Goals this week - I am going to bump up the miles just a bit and shoot for 70-73. I am shooting for mile repeats on Tuesday. I think I will do 4 x 1 mile repeats at a 6:00 min pace or just under. This past week I did a 7.5 mile tempo so I want to bump that up a bit, but don't know by how much. I will either do 8 or 8.5. I plan on doing a 20 miler on Saturday again too. Should be a good week!

10.5 easy miles this morning. - 4 solo and 6.5 with Tyler.

When I left my house at 5:55 the wind was blowing and it was starting to rain. It got worse and during the first mile I thought about calling it quits many times. I looked up at the clouds and said, "You can rain all you want in an hour and a half!" By mile 2 the wind had stopped and the rain was easing up. The last 5 miles were completely dry with no wind. I doubt the clouds listened to me at all, but it was a nice outcome! 

10 miles - 4 x 1 mile repeats sandwiched between a warmup and cool down. 

I went to bed last night hoping that I wouldn't wake up to a complete downpour. Luckily it was only drizzling so I headed to the track. Thankfully, Adam met me there. He ran casually around the inside of the track on the turf so it was nice to chat with him in-between each of the repeats and to run the warmup and cool down with him.

I had a goal to run the first repeat at a 6:00 min pace and then run each of the 3 following repeats about 5 seconds faster, running the last one at 5:45. I was stoked to pull this off and do even better by a couple of seconds. 

Repeat Distance Time
1 1 mile 5:54
2 1 mile 5:49
3 1 mile 5:45
4 1 mile 5:40 

10 easy miles - It was a super clear morning. Felt a little colder than what my phone said it was. Ran 1.5 solo and then 8.5 with Tyler.

11.75 miles - 1.5 warmup, 8.5 tempo, 1.75 cool down.

Adam was nice enough to join me for the majority of the tempo. It was nice to have some company on this tougher run for sure.  

Overall, I felt good on this tempo run. However, I went through some ups and downs during the run. The third mile of the tempo was actually our fastest even though it had the most uphill. I pushed it up the hill and felt good about it, but then I felt the worst during mile 4. That mile was mostly flat with a little uphill, but I did not feel great during it. My left quad felt a little odd for about a mile. Thankfully, around mile 5 I loosened back up and felt really smooth. I was only planning on doing 8 miles when I awoke, but decided to go an extra .5 because I was feeling good enough at the end. During the run I mentioned to Adam that 4 months ago I never would have believed anyone if they told me that I could do this workout successfully. Needless to say, I am stoked that I did it!