Long May You Run

14 out and back from home, about 4 miles were along the Legacy trail.  1:55:34  8:15 ave.  Wasn't going to run this fast but it just kind of happened.  Last two were 7:53 and 7:31.

10 miles, 1:25:37  8:34 ave.  B Street route, along 11th ave, behind Capitol.  Wore shorts, yipee!

5.15 am miles  46:39  9:08 ave

4.65 pm miles  40:52  8:47 ave.  worked late, no extra miles, ran straight home.

6.15 am miles  53:11  8:39 pace

10.1 pm miles 1:30:46  8:59 ave pave.  B St route, 11th ave, behind Capitol, home. 

Went to bed at 9 last night, I love when that happens! 

5.65 am miles 53:18  9:26 ave

7.1 pm miles 1:07:11  9:28  B St. route 

really feeling the miles this week.  Lyman, if you see this post, this is "unforced" slow running.  I could not run faster if my life depended on it.  Slow, grinding pound today. 

6.15 am miles  56:33  9:11 ave pace

6.15 pm miles 55:55  9:06 ave pace

dead legs.  rare Friday afternoon run 

20 miles 2:49:31 8:29 ave pace.  For some reason I wore my Kinvaras today.  Turned out to be a good move.  Once I hit Legacy trail it was snow packed.  Had i been in Crocs I would have turned back and only logged an 11 mile run.  The snow pack was perfect, only about and inch or two deep.  The triangular cleats of the Kinvaras dug in nicely.  beautiful day for a run, it was nice to wear sunglasses.

4.65 miles 43:58  9:28  

slow and tired today.  No energy or will to run up B Street and make this the usual 7 mile run.  It's good to have Monday behind me.  There's another run waiting for me in the morning. 

6.15 am miles 55:01  8:57 ave

10.1 pm miles  1:34:36  9:22 ave pace  B Street, 11th ave, Capitol route.

Usually I feel terrible when I run this slow, it means I'm beat up in a major way but for some reason I felt pretty good, I'm actually a little surprised I was running this slow.  The morning run felt about right. 

5.65 am miles 52:42  9:20 ave

10.1 pm miles 1:36:06  9:31 ave.

Oh yeah, good and beat up.  I guess starting out your week with a 20 miler takes the spunk out of you.  This afternoon was wonderful, I could see all the way to the point of the mountain from 11th ave.  Clear days like this have been rare lately.  However, the act of running was a little on the painful side but a good workout.  I'm a firm believer that running on tired legs builds strength and speed, at least for me. 

5.15 am miles

5.15 pm miles

No watch today, i'm sure I was slow.  Cut the pm run short.  It was still light when I got home, what a treat. 

5.15 am miles.  No watch, beautiful clear morning.  Looking forward to a relaxing weekend.  4 NFL games, a little college basketball and the US Marathon trials.  I doubt we'll be leaving the house this weekend, except for a run or two.

5 miles on the track.  41:55 8:23 ave pace.  Beautiful Saturday, sunshine and everything.  I almost did not run today but I couldn't hold back.  I'm very tired but I figured 5 miles wouldn't hurt.

It looks like i'm going to lose a big toe nail, or is it bigtoe nail or big toenail?  Anyway, it's starting to die.  I ruined it on my 20 mile run last Sunday in my Kinvaras.  I knew at mile 15 I was in trouble.  Luckily, even though it's sore, it's not an issue at all in my Crocs.  I guess that's what I get for wearing a stupid 90 dollar running shoe!

Well, the Olympic marathon trials are about to start, then a couple of NFL games plus a little college basketball.  I think the Jazz are playing too.  I've got a heck of a workload that probably won't end until about 11pm. 

4.65 miles.  direct route home from work.  42:04 9:03 ave.  No desire for extra miles today.  Skipped B Street mountain.  Didn't run Sunday.  I accomplished my goal of watching all the NFL games and not leaving the house with the exception of a little 5 miler late Saturday morning.  Rough re-entry into the world today, glad to be home, safe and sound.

5.15 am miles, no watch.  Cold morning.  The type of hand warmer/mitten type thing I wear makes it practically impossible to wear a watch.  No problem, it's nice to just run.

10.1 pm miles.  Took the B Street mountain.  No problem today, well rested with low miles on Fri, Sat, Sun off and Monday was also a low mileage day.  I want to hit about 75 miles this week which means I'll have to make time for a 20 miler on Saturday.  It's looking like about 80% right now. 

5.65 am miles 49:39 8:47 ave.

10.1 pm miles 1:33:29 9:16 ave pace B Street route.  My achilles tendons were very sore.  I think it was the ace ankle wrap things.  At least I hope so.  I felt much better once I got home and took them off, and saw my wife.

5.15 am miles  47:19 9:11 pace

5.65 pm miles  49:48  8:49 pace

Nice warm day.  Shorts!!!!

Cut the pm run short, had a few chores at home to take care of.  The reduced mileage is welcome as well, especially if I run 20 on Saturday. 

5.65 am miles 51:13  9:04 pace.  Warm morning, shorts again.  I'm still thinking about 20 tomorrow morning.  If it's windy, I might bag it.  I hate running in wind.  What will probably happen is that I'll head out from home for an out and back, I'll hit the 5 mile out mark and say "well, just 5 more" then before I know it I'm involved in a 20 miler. 

20 miles 2:52:05  8:36 ave.  The way the wind was howling this morning while I was still in bed had me thinking I was going to bag this 20 miler.  I don't like to run long in the wind.  It had died down by the time I got out of bed at about 5:15.  It was warm and breezy so I figured the run was on.  Rain and wind was in the forecast so I didn't want to do an out and back.  I decided to run at the track so if the wind kicked up I'd only be dealing with it half the time.

The first hour was warm and calm.  The rain started to fall lightly, stayed that way for a while and the last 4 miles were in heavy rain.  The last mile was my fastest at 7:50, the prior 4 were eights.  My body is thanking me for doing this run on the soft, flat surface of the track.  I'm thinking of staying away from the B Street mountain for a while and do more miles on the track. 

6 miles behind the Capitol.  54:50  9:08 ave.  After 20 yesterday I felt surprisingly good.  What a beautiful day, got to wear sunglasses!  I probably could have gotten away with shorts but I knew I'd be running short and slowly.  5K next Saturday so I'm only going to log about 50 miles this week.  I want to have fresh legs and run well during the race.

4.65 miles 40:42  8:45 ave pace.  Glad to be home.  Tired, didn't feel like running at all but it's the only way to get home.

5.15 am miles 48:39  9:27 pace

4.65 pm miles 41:51  9:00 pace

Keeping on the low mileage plan this week. 

5.15 am miles 

4.65 pm miles 39:58  8:36 ave 

5.65 am miles 48:59 8:40 ave pace, no pants today, yipee!

5.65 pm miles  48:41  8:37 ave pace.

Stopped by the track and ran 2 x 200 and 1 x 400 at a 6 minute per mile pace.  I wanted to feel some fast pace so I would know what i'm in for on Saturday.  My legs felt better than they have felt in a long time, should be race ready.  We'll see.  

4.65 am miles slow and easy  43:51  9:26 ave.

I'm a little worried I didn't have the fire in my legs like I did yesterday.  I only ran .75 miles hard and fast yesterday, I hope I didn't drain too much juice.  Need it for tomorrow. 

The goal was sub 20.  As usual, the running gods keep messing with me in order to keep me motivated.  I knew i was going to be close but I didn't get the extra second that was lost somewhere on the course.  According to my watch i was 20:00.10.  I didn't write up my report yesterday because I was hoping that the official time would have me at 19:59.  My watch time is always the exact same time as the official time, but I held out hope anyway.  

First mile 6:18.  This was perfect, I could not have asked for a better 1st mile, this is exactly what I wanted.  A 6:25 pace was my measuring stick.  I felt really good after this first mile, I felt like I could maintain this pace the rest of the way, maybe even pick up a few seconds.

When I got to the turnaround I was at 3:32, which still close to a 6:25 pace (only two seconds off).  I felt like I was speeding up the 2nd half of the 2nd mile because I was slightly closing the gap on the people in front of me, plus it felt a tad faster.  2nd mile was 6:28.  One of my age group competitors was was about 20 feet ahead of me the whole time, of course I was trying to catch him.  This was unusual because he is always at least a minute faster than I am.  I was encoraged because he was not gaping me, in fact, I gained a several feet on him during this mile.

 3rd mile, I know I only have about a 5 second buffer for my sub 20 so I'm giving it all I've got.  I'm still gaining on my competitor, he's maybe 15 feet ahead of me with about a half mile to go, I'm hanging on with everything I've got.  I think I'm slowing a little bit because I'm passed by two other runners.  This is discouraging but at this point I'm trying to hang on to my sub 20 and my AG competitor is beginning to gap me.  I hit the mile marker, 6:33.  My 5 second buffer is gone and now it's a 10th of a mile race with the clock to get back under 20.  It's a tie, I finish in 20:00.

This is a course PR for me so I have that to be happy about.  Looking forward to the 10K and trying to pick off one of my AG competitors.  I love this series for that reason.  You become familiar with your competitors and it's fun to race against them.  I love racing, competing and getting beat more often than I win.  It keeps me training hard and coming back for more.  A top three finish and a ribbon does not look likely this year but I'm sure as heck going to try! 

10 miles on the track.  1:27:07  8:43 ave.  Another day in shorts, what a weird winter we're having.  

10.65 miles 1:33:28  8:47 ave.  6 miles of this run was on the track.  I'm going to lay off B Street for a while, it's really beating me up.

5.15 am miles 45:33  8:51 ave

10.65 pm miles 1:35:38  8:59 ave 6 miles on the track.