Kerry's Running Blog

Easy run on trail behind the high school and along the creek. Planning to add an extra day of running this week (Friday) and get ready for the Bridal Veil Falls 10K on Saturday.

Weekly temple route tempo run. Improved average pace by six seconds from last week with slightly less effort (average heart rate dropped 2 bpm). Felt pretty good, although I occasionally have a twinge of pain in my right achilles tendon. I do need some new shoes.

Took it easy today because of the race tomorrow. This is kind of a drop back week for me overall, partly because of some scheduling conflicts. I hope to start on a six day schedule for next week.

Ran the Bridal Veil Falls 10K. Took about 15 minutes or so to warmup. Felt pretty good. No soreness or pain to speak of. The temperature was perfect. Nice and cool for the start. The race started before the scheduled time, so I'd just barely finished my warmup. There was a bit of confusion at the start as everybody just started running. I started my watch and was just settling into a comfortable pace when everybody came to an abrupt halt. Apparently that wasn't really the start. Curt Catmull was saying something about staying on the right of the road, but that was about all I could make out. When he got back in his SUV he honked the horn and I'm guessing the race started at that point. A nice downhill at the start. Felt quite relaxed through the first couple of miles even though my heartrate was creeping up to about 95 percent of my maximum. I backed off a bit and it slowly came down. I felt like I was dragging a bit at mile three, but then I slowly starting better. The last two and a half miles I felt great. I was able to sustain a pretty decent pace for this point in my training. I could have pushed it more at the end, but I wasn't really sure how much distance I had left as the mile markers were not accurate and I'd lost the GPS signal for a while. Finished in 46:46 (2nd in age group, 15th overall). I was fairly happy with my effort as my pace was about 25 seconds faster than the 5K I ran last month, but I realize I still have a way to go before I'm in top shape.

My daughter remembered a German assignment that she needed to turn into today and she needed some help with it, so I only had time for a short run. Normally, I might have skipped it, but I really wanted to try to get in the habit of running six days a week. Everything felt good. No lingering soreness or pain.

Ran temple route. Imp

roved my average pace from last week by three seconds (from 8:24 to 8:21). First mile: 8:22 (rolling); second mile 7:49 (downhill); third mile: 8:13 (rolling); fourth 9:06 (uphill); fifth: 7:54 (steep up then down). Average heart rate was 159 which is a rate I can sustain for 26 miles or more.

Easy run through the Adventure Park and up around Kohlers. A beautiful morning. Perfect cool temperatures. I pushed the pace the last two miles. Felt great.

Easy run through the Adventure Park, back behind the High School and then picked up the creek trail. Cool, almost perfect temperatures. Scared up a couple of deer in the park. Average pace was 9:08.

Easy run through Adventure Park and back along the creek trail. Pace was a little faster than yesterday (8:53 compared to 9:08). Generally felt great, but seemed to be dragging a bit at the start of mile 5. Felt better after a few minutes. No pain or soreness during the run to speak of, but I felt a little soreness in my left ankle a couple of times during the day. I'm planning on signing up for the Salt Lake half marathon today and doing 12 miles tomorrow.

Greg and I met at 7 and decided that we'd do 12 and push the pace a bit if we were still feeling all right after the first mile or so. First mile was at 7:40 pace, which was faster than I was planning on, but we actually picked it up the next mile (7:32) and the next (7:30). On the fourth mile we make the turn onto 1st East in American Fork and start the long uphill. Our pace for the next three miles climbed into the 8:30 range. We were both tired by the time we made the west turn at the Highland City park and got a drink. Also got some relief with one mile of slight downhill, then headed north and east for a couple of miles of gentle uphill. Felt pretty good the last mile and could have pushed it a bit more, but was happy with the overall effort. Average heart rate was 156 which has been my target marathon heart rate (my lactate threshold has been around 162). Total descent 795 feet mostly in the 2nd and 3rd miles, total ascent the same, mostly from 4 to 6 and 8 to 10.

With the increased mileage, I've started to drop in weight. I'm at 160.0 now and would like to get to 145 or so by mid-September. Thinking about maybe going longer next Saturday as it will be my last chance before the Wasatch Back Relay. That'd give me a little more than 40 for the week.

Beautiful, warm morning for a run. Probably should have opted for a sleeveless shirt. Lots of seagulls flying around making quite a racket, so I was happy when I got to the park and could only hear a few birds chirping and an occasional duck. No pains or soreness to speak of, except very briefly in my left ankle (which is only worth mentioning because I feel it a couple of times a day for maybe a minute or two). Average pace was a little under 9:00.

Tuesday temple run. I wasn't especially energetic when I got up. I was even dreading having to do a tempo run this morning. Felt OK once I got going. First mile 7:33 (flat to downhill), second mile 7:24 (slight downhill), third mile 7:46 (rolling), fourth mile 8:49 (uphill) and fifth mile 7:52 (uphill then downhill). I know I was pushing it a bit today, even felt a little nauseated by the top of the hill on 40th. Recovered fairly quickly at the top. Took off more than two minutes over last week (39:25 compared to 41:26). Average heart rate increased, however, from 159 to 161 and spent more time above my lactate threshold (31:16 as opposed to 27:41 last week).

Loop through the Adventure Park. Legs felt fine. No pain or soreness. Nine minute pace.

Ran loop through the Adventure Park and down to Kohler's intersection. Started out slow and easy, but started to pick up the effort a bit on the long gradual uphill. Average pace was 8:22. Ran the last two miles at 7:52 pace. Felt fine during the run. No aches or pains to speak of.

A little more cloud cover this morning. Warm and a little breezy. Seeing more people out getting some exercise. Usual loop through the Adventure Park.

Ran by myself this morning as Greg was doing a 5K. Ran at a fairly relaxed 8:00 minute pace until I turned the corner at the log cabin and headed up the long hill. Pushed it fairly hard to the top and dropped to a 6:15 pace heading down the hill. Waved to Greg P. on the way down and stopped to talk to Laureen near the bottom. Felt OK running down to Kohlers and looping through Alpine, but feeling a bit tired. Pushed it from the light to the high school and then ran into Verdon heading the other direction. Stopped and visited for a few minutes and he decided to turn around and run to my house with me to get a drink for himself and his dog. Average pace was 8:31 which was slower than last week, but this week's run had a much longer and tougher uphill.

Recovery run. Started out slow and then started to pick it up more towards the end. Occasional aches and pains, but they were all gone after a couple of miles.

My left knee was sore and the muscles around my shin were tight and a little sore so I decided to take an extra day of rest. It's feeling OK this morning.

Took it easy today to see if my knee, shin and ankle were feeling OK. No pain to speak of. Pushed it a little the last mile or so just to make sure. Didn't seem to be a problem.

Started with an easy one mile warm up, then pushed it to a 7:17 pace through the downhill section. Chatted briefly with Greg P. and Chad L. Dropped back to an 8:44 and 8:15 pace through the uphill section, then ran 7:35 pace for the last two miles. No real aches or pains. Now that it's lighter in the morning, I see a lot of people out before six. Saw a fox running across the road in the Adventure Park. I should be in pretty good shape for the Salt Lake half marathon next week, but I'm still packing a lot more weight than I want to be.

Another beautiful morning for a run. Saw two foxes and a skunk by the park.

Ran with Greg. Met at 7:00 am. Were a little surprised that the temperatures were so pleasant after hearing the forecasts. Took it fairly easy for the first three miles (8:05, 7:38, 7:35) before we turned the corner and headed north on the long uphill stretch. Pushed a pretty good pace. I was feeling more sluggish than usual, possibly because of the hard run on Thursday. It was helpful to be running with Greg and just trying to keep up. Ran fast down the hill to the mouth of American Fork Canyon and then cruised for a a mile or so before pushing it to the end. when I weighed myself later I was happy to find that my weight has finally started to come down. I've lost an average of pound a week for the last seven weeks (now at 157). I'd like to get down another ten to twelve pounds.

Met Greg at 7:00 am. Ran a couple of easy miles and then pushed it the last mile. Tapering this week for half marathon on Saturday.

Nice run through the park. A little chilly starting out, so I picked up the pace a little more than usual. Felt good. No aches or pains.