running for my mind

AM - hot bath, stretching, stick of pain.

PM - hot tub massage session in park city at my folks. if and when i purchase a hot tub, i will make sure i have a dual pump system. the stronger the jet the better for massage and recovery.

12 - so begins peak week

AM - 10 along the parkway. Felt good. Legs a little heavy. 

PM - 3 to loosen up. Foam roller and stretch session. 

11 out on the parkway with 8x0.5 mile repeats.

My initial goal was to just hold the 0.5 mile repeats at about a 6:00 pace. When I got out there, I decided I should push them harder than that. I have not done a speed workout in a couple weeks and my left leg doesn't seem to love the top gear turnover. Today was the same. I felt ok and could have continued to push the pace of the repeats, but as soon as I get down into the 5:30 range, my left leg gets a little upset. So, I did 5 at a quicker clip and then backed off and did the last 3 at about 6:00 min pace.

2:53, 2:49, 2:47, 2:49, 2:48, 3:00, 2:59, 2:56

I am not too concerned about the leg because I don't need to run in the 5:30s for Ogden. It has been a lingering issue for some time now and I don't know what the cause was. My goal is to finish this week at 80 miles with a possible tempo tossed into the middle of the 20 miler on Saturday. Next week I will drop my mileage by 30ish% and again the following week. I will have a couple more workouts, but I think I will avoid faster than 6:00 unless someone thinks otherwise. Let me know. I also plan on doing one more 8-10 mile tempo likely next week. That will be my last confidence booster headed into Ogden.

12 easy. Took a few miles to loosen up from yesterday's workout. My legs are pretty fatigued from this training cycle. I feel like they are going to appreciate the taper. 

Crossed the 1,000 mile mark for the year. On track for hitting my goal of 3,000 for the year. Though, that might be tough because I don't know how much I will be running the last quarter of this year.

10

legs are slow and tired

does anyone else feel pretty drained by the end of a marathon cycle?
 

Wrapped up peak week with my final 20 before Ogden. 

Left my house at about 5:30 and headed to Ogden. I wanted to run part of the course because it has been 2 years and I have spent nearly every day trying to suppress my memories of the rainy fiasco known to me as Ogden 2013. 

I parked just below the dam at the top of Ogden canyon, and my buddy Nate who lives in Huntsville drove me 20 miles up the course. We ended up a couple miles past the starting point, but I wanted to get in 20 without having to double back or anything. Nate went home to eat a nice breakfast and read a book and I started running. 

Took the first 3 miles easy, though I still averaged a 7:22. I have really been wanting a 10 mile tempo to boost my confidence and last night I decided to toss it in today. My legs had 61 miles this week already so I knew it would be a challenge. I ran the next 10 of the course wanting to stay sub-6:30. My left leg was aching in my quad from that first mile but it never really got worse. I just kept plugging along and felt ok until the last mile. I was spent. It was the slowest of the ten, but I still averaged 6:23 for the tempo. 

I cruised back easy to my car 7 more miles on the course. Those averaged a 7:30 nice and easy. So overall I was under a 7:00 average for the run, the tempo boosted my confidence, and I am ready to start my taper and recover. 

6:21, 6:28, 6:20, 6:19, 6:16, 6:19, 6:24, 6:18, 6:23, and 6:36