Kerry's Running Blog

July 2007

Previous MonthRecent EntriesHomeJoin Fast Running Blog Community!PredictorHealthy RecipesKerry's RacesFind BlogsMileage BoardTop Ten Excuses for Missing a RunTop Ten Training MistakesDiscussion ForumRace Reports Send A Private MessageWeek ViewYear View
Graph View
Next Month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
200620072008200920102011201220132014
15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

Location:

Cedar Hills,UT,USA

Member Since:

Apr 08, 2006

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Age Division Winner

Running Accomplishments:

5K: 21:39 (2006) Half marathon: 1:33:45 (2006) Marathon 3:31:49 (2006)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Lose some weight and get back into racing shape. Run more races this year.

 Next race: St. George Marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

Stay healthy and in good enough shape that I can more or less keep up with my youngest daughter.

Personal:

My wife Laureen got me into running. She went into the St. George Marathon Ten Year Club last year and I should go in this year. I have two daughters (15 and 21).

Favorite Blogs:

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Cumulus12 Lifetime Miles: 10.65
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
133.3050.2214.000.00197.52
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.002.040.000.007.04

Kohler's loop. Mild temperatures with the usual canyon headwind heading east on the Highland Highway. A little tightness in my right calf starting out, but no real aches or pains to speak of. I'm going to try to do seven miles a day through Friday, then a 15 miler on Saturday. I have a lot going on this week, however, so that may change.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.002.040.000.007.04

Kohler's loop at 5:30 am. Temperatures a little warmer this morning with the usual canyon breeze. It's gradually getting a little darker each morning, so I may have to start wearing my reflective vest again. I'm hoping to get in a tempo run tomorrow before heading out for the Freedom Festival parade.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
2.841.602.600.007.04

Kohler's loop this morning at 7:07 a.m. Warm-up: two miles, tempo: four miles and cool-down: 0.57. Average pace: 8:01. Average pace during tempo section: 7:33. For some reason my heart rate monitor wasn't working and I didn't push it as hard as a result (it beeps when my heart rate falls below the lower threshold limit). My last tempo run average pace was 7:55 and the temp section was 7:22. It really didn't feel that hard today. I guess I now know why.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.002.040.000.007.04

Kohler's loop at 5:30 a.m. Light breeze out of the south that helped it feel a little cooler. As this run is starting to feel very easy, it's probably about time to bump it up a bit. I'll have to try some different possibilities next week to come up with another mile. I'll also have to start getting up just a little earlier (and to bed a little earlier).

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.002.040.000.007.04

Kohler's loop. Warm this morning with fairly strong canyon wind on some sections. My legs felt good this morning (even springy), but I had a hard time getting up and going. For at least the first three miles I just kept thinking how tired I was and how little I was looking forward to a long run tomorrow. That feeling never entirely left me, but I started to think that that's what training is all about -- refocusing your mind on your goals and pushing through pain and discomfort. I'll do at least ten tomorrow, but I have a wedding to go to in the morning and I'd like to sleep in a little past 5:15 :)

Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.002.100.000.0012.10

Ran early with Laureen, south around the corn maze, through the golf course, south along the mountain and back along the canal road. We were a little pressed for time (as my nephew was getting married in Bountiful), so we cut things a little short. Over all, it was a nice morning despite the smoke and a chance to just spend time with my wife. She has had some lingering aches and pains, but she seems to be running stronger all the time. It's great to have something that we both enjoy doing that gives us some exercise as well. It really helps to have a couple of hours to just talk without any interruptions. Some couples have a little time just before drifting off to sleep, but if I'm just laying in bed with the lights out, I could only maintain consciousness for about 60 to 90 seconds. I can't count the number of times that I've been talking to Laureen and have fallen asleep in the brief pause between something I've said and her reply (which usually startles me to the point that I jump halfway out of bed). Come October I'm going to take a whole week just to catch up on sleep :)

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.002.040.000.007.04

I woke up just after five and realized that I wasn't going to get back to sleep before my alarm went off at 5:15, so I quickly got dressed and headed out for a run. It was dark enough that I couldn't really see how smoky it was, but there was a slight smell. After a couple of miles I noticed that my throat was a little sore, but that might have been due to the fact that I was a little dehydrated. I was going to explore some extensions to my daily route, but I forgot to put on the Garmin before I left. It was just as well, as I had to get back a little early so that I could drop my daughter off at the church for the start of girl's camp.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.002.040.000.007.04

Kohler's loop. Warm and smoky, with not even a hint of breeze. Left the house around 5:25 which is now kind of dark. I seriously thought about sleeping in this morning as I figured the extra rest might do me more good than the exercise, but my body is so used to that time schedule that I knew that I'd at least have to get up and go to the bathroom and that I was unlikely to get back to sleep anytime soon. I guess that's why it's best not to develop bad habits, as they can be so tough to break. I'll try to get a tempo run in tomorrow.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.040.004.000.007.04

Tempo run this morning on Kohler's loop. I got to bed a little earlier last night and it seemed to make a difference. It's kind of amazing that I almost always wake up at 5:14, about one minute before my alarm is set to go off. I just wonder what part of my unconscious brain has the task of monitoring my internal clock and waking me up at exactly the right time. I know that chemical processes in my body happen at precise intervals, but what is that tracks a particular process and correlates that to external, mechanical clocks. I'm also amazed that I can generally think of a time before going to bed and that most of the time I'll wake up just at the time I was thinking about.

I usually think about things like that on my morning runs. I guess that running the same course most days (and not paying too much attention to the scenery) gives me more of a chance to think. Sometimes I'm hardly aware of the fact that I'm even running.

Warmed up this morning for 2.5 miles and then pushed the pace up past my lactate threshold and held it there for another 4.0 (average pace 7:23). Cooled down for little more than half a mile. Overall average was 8:02.

Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.002.460.000.007.46

Kohler's loop including a run around the pond. I'm looking at ways to increase my daily run from seven miles to eight. I think if I start out heading south towards the elementary school and then down to the canal and out to 48th that I'd have it. I didn't run yesterday because even though I went to bed about a half an hour earlier, I woke up with abdominal cramps and generally feeling sickly. The cramps bothered me off and on throughout the day, but were gone this morning. I'm not quite sure what brought that on, perhaps some little bug (that might also have been the reason I was feeling so tired earlier in the week). Today's run went well, but it was a little bit more of an effort than I expected.

I'm going to try to get 10 to 12 in tomorrow morning before I run with the family in the Cedar Hills race. My youngest daughter Amelia is quite excited about it as it's her first race. She hasn't trained very much, so I'm a little bit afraid that she'll be discouraged to find that she's at the back of the pack. I'm hoping that it will be more of motivator to work harder for the next one. 

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.002.240.000.009.24

Extend Kohler's loop and one mile fun run with my wife and daughters afterwards. I previously wrote up a long description of the day, but apparently it timed out on me and I lost it all. Oh, well. 

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.003.140.000.008.14

Ran the extended Kohler's loop this morning (which consists of an extra section south to Deerfield Elementary and then along the canal and a loop around the pond in the middle of Highland Glen Park). Average pace was 8:17. No aches or pains to speak of. There were times when I felt a little extra energy and other times when I seemed to be dragging a bit. I stopped for a few seconds as I was nearing the Kohler's turn when I noticed three quarters in the road. When I run with my wife she always stops to pick up money, as it not only gives her a chance to rest, but  also because the coins add up over time. The last time I helped her count it out, she had well over a hundred dollars just from money she's collected on her runs.  

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.003.010.000.008.01

Explored a slightly different route this morning as I wanted to avoid running along the rutted and sometimes rocky canal road in the dark. After running south to Deerfield Elementary, I followed Harvey Blvd. west to 48th. Then followed the Kohler's Loop course except I didn't run around the pond. On the way back down 48th I kept going to the nursery and ran back east along Harvey and followed the trail back home. Almost exactly eight miles as it turned out. Laureen was just heading our for a five miler as I was walking up to the house. It was warm and humid morning with heavy cloudcover, so I was pretty hot and thirsty. Today the uphill sections just seemed to be a lot easier for some reason.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.002.010.000.008.01

Extended Kohler's loop at 5:20 am. Warm with clear skies. I thought I'd skip the tempo run this morning as I'm still getting used to running eight miles every morning. I was tired starting out, but I just noticed how pretty it is in the morning just as it's getting light and how nice everything smells and I felt a bit more energized. I pushed the pace at times just for the fun of it, but for most of the run I was just lost in thought. During the last mile I could tell that I was a bit tired as my running form started getting sloppy. Picking up the pace seemed to help. My weight this morning was 153.2 which is where I've been stuck for a while. Prior to the SGM last year I got down to 146. I'm guessing that the pounds will start to come off again as I start to consistently hit 50+ miles per week.

Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
5.611.600.800.008.01

Extended Kohler's loop on a warm, partly cloudy morning. I got to bed a little earlier last night so I was feeling more rested when I got up, but I felt the effects of having bumped up my mileage to eight a day as I was getting started. My legs were sore or anything, I just didn't have much spring in my step. After about four miles I started feeling more energized and felt strong finishing up. It might have been due to a little extra energy gained from swallowing some gnats in my run through the park.

In the past that might have grossed me out a little, but I've watched a few episodes of Man versus the Wild (or whatever it's called), where they drop this ex-special forces commando off in the middle of some wilderness area armed only with a knife. Over the course of several days, he finds food, water and shelter and makes his way out to civilization. He'll eat just about anything that will give him some energy and not make him sick, like live snakes and scorpions (after biting off the head and stinger), grubs, termites, ants and even squeezing drinking water out of elephant dung (I missed his explanation of how that could be safe). After watching some of the things he's done to survive, swallowing a few gnats doesn't seem too bad.  

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.902.102.000.008.00

As Laureen wanted to do her long run this morning and finish before it got too hot, she got up with me and ran with me for the first mile and a half or so. We stashed some water at a couple of points along the way. It was sure nice having her company starting out. It made it so much easier to get up and get going. She turned before reaching the high school and I kept heading north with the idea that I'd catch up with her somewhere along the way. Knowing that she was ahead of me and that I'd started out a lot slower than usual, I started pushing the pace right away. Giving her more than a mile of headstart meant that it was going to take a little while to catch her. It wasn't until I'd rounded the corner at Kohler's and was just about to the light on 48th that I caught her. We ran together again for a little while and then needing to get back, I pushed the pace the rest of the way home.

I was surprised after I left her to see so many other runners out. And even more surprised to see that they were all women. For a minute I thought there must be some kind of early morning race going on, but they didn't have any numbers on and were going in different directions and besides, who ever heard of race on a non-holiday Friday morning? It must have just been a weird coincidence as I hardly saw anyone else the rest of the way. Anyway, it was a nice morning and a slight break from the routine. I'm really hoping to get in 13 or so tomorrow, but we've got a couple of things going in the morning so I'll have to see how it works out.

 

 

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.113.000.000.0011.11

Got up and ran the extended Kohler's loop around 5:20 am. Pushed the pace the last few miles and felt a bit ragged by the end. After taking my oldest daughter to help out at a fund raiser yard sale in Pleasant Grove (she needed to be there by 7:00), I came back and ran another three as I needed to get back to drop my youngest daughter off before the start of the Cedar Hills parade. I'd hoped to do more this morning, but I felt pretty tired by the time we got back home, so I just stretched out on the couch and took a nap (also knowing that we were going to be spending most of the hot afternoon painting the garage :)

Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.002.010.000.008.01

Extended Kohler's loop this morning. Temperatures were in the high 60's or low 70's with smoke in the air and partly cloudy skies. Left the house around 5:25 am. I was just a little stiff getting out of the bed this morning, but my legs felt pretty good throughout the run. I pushed it harder the last couple of miles and felt a bit ragged the last half mile or so. Before hopping in the shower I was happy to find that my weight has dropped to 150.8. Even though I still have a little ways to go before the marathon, I'm finally moving in the right direction (those 50+ weeks seem to help).

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
1.501.510.000.003.01

Just ran the short high school loop this morning as I needed a break from the eight milers. My legs have actually felt fine, but I just needed to sleep in a bit this morning and do something different. I felt like this morning was like a drink of cold water in the middle of a long run, like standing in the shade for a few minutes. I was going to just run easy the whole way, but I ran into another runner just west of the football field and by reflex I started picking up the pace. I kept imagining that he was doing the same and was right behind me, but when I turned onto 48th I could see that he was about a quarter of a mile back. It just felt like a good pace so I kept it up the rest of the way home. I wasn't wearing my watch so I don't know what my pace was.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.212.802.000.008.01

Extended Kohler's loop, temperatures in the upper 60's, low 70's with heavy cloud cover. An easier day yesterday and the extra rest helped me to feel a lot more energetic this morning. I left the house without any time goals in mind, but after a few miles of warming up and being lost in thought, I started picking up the pace heading up to the Kohler's intersection and pushed it harder after making the turn on 48th and heading down the home stretch towards Harvey Blvd. Luckily there was a cooling breeze blowing from the south. Turned the corner and tried to maintain pace the rest of the way home. Usually I average 8:30 to 8:20/mile for the whole loop. This morning I was 8:03. Increasing the miles and losing a couple of pounds (I'm down to 150.8) have both helped. I may take an easier day tomorrow and push it again on Friday, with a long run on Saturday and back to 50+ next week.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.010.000.000.003.01

Rest day. Lone Peak, creek trail loop. Clear skies, cooler temperatures after yesterday's rain.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
3.012.402.600.008.01

Extended Kohler's loop under clear skies. Temperatures in the mid to upper 60's. The streets were still a little wet in places from last night's thunderstorm. It was a little humid, but everything smelled so good. It's nice to see the stars out as start out. Started out a bit slow as I noticed a little unexpected stiffness. I think it might be from bicycling with my daughters nearly every night. As they're getting in a little better shape, we end up going a little farther and on more challenging trails. Last night we rode to the mouth of American Fork Canyon and back to Deerfield Elementary and then back home. Racing along the creek was a lot of fun.

Anyway, after warming up for a couple of miles, I started picking up the pace, not only because I felt good, but also because I realized that the Provo River Half is only about two weeks away. My average pace dropped a little (to 8:00 even) and I spend a little more time at faster than marathon pace. On the final climb along the path, I felt pretty tired and had to start counting (one-two-three-exhale!) to keep myself going. As I was walking to cool down, my neighbor Doug and a friend (brother?) were just heading out for a run.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.052.000.000.0015.05

Had a nice early morning run with Laureen (at least it started in the early morning). We ran down to the canal and then through Highland Glen Park and looped around by Kohler's and back to the golf course. Then we followed our typical route to the mouth of American Fork Canyon, up Canyon Road and then along the foothill trails until we got back to the canal road. I went a little farther than Laureen as I took a detour by the high school to drop off some water for our return trip. I pushed it harder on that section so that I could catch back up with her.

Some couples like to get cleaned up and go out to a movie or dinner on Friday nights. We get up in the dark on Saturday mornings to jog along a dusty trail for miles, swat gnats and get good and sweaty. I guess there are different ways of keeping true romance alive...either that or I'm just a cheap date.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.012.000.000.008.01

I felt a few aches and pains on Sunday morning as I was getting ready for my early morning meetings, but they were all gone this morning. I woke up about 3:30 thinking it was about time to get up and had a bit of a hard time getting back to sleep. Other than feeling a little extra tired starting out, it was a beautiful early morning  with the full moon and stars (the temperature was in the high 60's or low 70's). For the most part I ran  at a nice even pace for the most part, but picked it up as I got closer to home, particularly when I spotted another runner up ahead (who turned on to Cedar Hills Drive before I could catch him). Lloyd came around the corner about then and I ran into PN walking along the path and my neighbor Doug just as I was finishing.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.012.000.000.008.01

Woke up just a little earlier than usual this morning. It was nice to just sit on the front steps and look at the stars before heading out. I felt very discouraged this morning as I found out last night that registration was closed for the Hobble Creek Half. I'd held on registering until it was close to my birthday (as an early present) just because I'd been spending so much on running and we had some other large expenses to consider. It has been one of my favorite races and I was really looking forward to it as I was moving into a new age group (and even had a chance to place for a change). I'll just have to find another challenge. Anyway, today's run went well. Eight miles a day is getting easier. 

 

Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
133.3050.2214.000.00197.52
Debt Reduction Calculator
Featured Announcements
Lone Faithfuls
(need a comment):
Recent Comments: