El Burro Blanco

8 miles in the cold, slippery snow.

12.25 miles in the early evening.

The treadmill needs to get some more oil so we are waiting on that to come.  Can I get any oil for a treadmill at any sporting goods store?  I did my Sasha type run today due to running around the block and then up around Ben Lomond in the snow.  One loop consisted of about 1 mile.  I don't mind running in the snow but it is slick and unpredictable on the legs.  That is why I usually do my runs in the morning on the treadmill.  I was going to push it on the dry parts of the road but their really wasn't to much of the dry stuff.  It is supposed to warm-up later this week so I happy about that.

I went up to Weber State for my workout with Paul Pilkington.  I warmed up with a 3 mile jog.  He had me do 10x 1000m right around 5:00/mile pace with a 1:15 recovery jog in between each one.  The last time I did 1000's I was only able to do 8 and my fastest was at 3:07.  I did all 10 of these tonight under 3:06.  My fastest was 3:03.  He wanted me to try and stay consistent over each of the 1000's.  I felt really good after this workout.  I feel more comfortable going faster.  The body seems to be taking it well.  I made sure I got a good 3 mile cooldown in afterwards and then drank plenty of fluids.  Today is in the books.

8 miles in the morning.

12 miles in the afternoon.

It was extra chilly this morning at 5:00 AM.  The roads were dry and that made me happy.  I did my little loop around Ben Lomond High School 8 times.  Everything felt good this morning.  On the way to work I noticed the temperature was -3 degrees Fahrenheit.  Sweet!  I need a vacation to someplace warm.

I had the distance runners do an hour long run today.  The weather was sunny and only a little cold.  I had them do a 3 mile tempo run in the middle of the run.  The boys hit 5:57, 6:08, and 5:53 for their 3 mile tempo run.  It was a good push for them.  We ended up hitting 9 miles for the run.  I then did another 3 easy miles to get me 20 miles for the day.

8 miles in the morning.

12 miles in the afternoon.

I got outside and it started to snow very lightly.  The roads were not bad at all until about mile 6.5 or so.  I was glad to get the run finished before the heavier snow came.  I hope the forecast is correct for nice weather this weekend.

It was nice this afternoon running outside with the track team.  We did an easy 35 minutes.  I then went home and ran around the neighborhood looking for a couple new routes up along the mountain.  It was pretty crazy with a few really steep hills.  Nothing to exciting to report about today.  Sorry!

8 miles in the morning.

12.70 miles in the afternoon.

I did the same route as last night where I basically ran around the neighborhood along the mountain.  It was a little windy so it made things extra cold this morning.  I didn't worry to much about pace because the legs were stiff as a board due to the cold weather.  I seem to be complaining about the cold weather a lot lately.  I need to try and be more positive.  I am supposed to do a 5 mile tempo run but the snow is really coming down out there.  I will have to wait and see if I will do it or not.

I ran with the distance kids today for just over 5 miles at an easy pace.  I came back to the school and did an ab workout with them.  It felt good.  I then went outside and it was snowing little pellets all over the place.  The weird thing was their was sun on the horizon.  The wind was blowing which always makes me nervous when I set out to do a big workout.  I decided to do my 5 mile tempo run anyway.  My miles were: 5:29, 5:27, 5:24, 5:29, and 5:29.  This averaged out to 5:27/mile.  I planned on hitting under 5:20 for the tempo run but with it being cold and windy I guess it wasn't meant to happen today.  I will take this workout and call it a day.  I finished with a .70 cooldown and hurried home to get some food in me.

10 miles in the afternoon.

I woke up this morning and was not feeling very good.  I had a slight sore throat and the stomach wasn't feeling that great so I ended up getting a good breakfast with some extra sleep.  For track "practice" today we shoveled the track.  Yes, we shoveled the track.  We only got 200 meters shoveled and then called it a day.  The things we do in order to run.  I got home and felt much better so I went for a 10 mile run around the neighborhood.  It is really hilly but I felt good.  I averaged 6:18/mile overall with a couple miles under 6:00/mile pace.  Glad to get this run in.

My run today just may have trumped one of James Barnes' infamous runs.  I was looking forward to sunny skies with 45 degree weather.  It didn't happen.  It was overcast and not terribly warm.  Oh well.  I decided to go up to Ogden Valley and run part of the marathon course.  I got up there and couldn't believe how much snow they have up there.  I thought I did a lot of shoveling!  I turned on my Garmin and it didn't work.  I don't think it was charged completely.  Paul Pilkington wanted me to run 2 hours and 10 minutes and not worry to much about pace.  I was happy with this.  I started at the Huntsville Park and then went out towards the Monastery.  I looped back around and went towards Eden where you get some of the rollers in the Ogden Marathon.  On the rollers is where it gets interesting.  I saw a car going slow and something running down the middle of the road.  It was 40-50 yards in front of me and coming in my direction.  I thought it was a fellow runner just running down the street.  It turned sideways and ended up being a huge bull moose coming towards me!  I stopped and luckily it turned down a residential street.  I waited a second or two and then sprinted by to get away from the animal.  It was huge.  I went out and then turned around.  I came by the same spot and sure enough the moose was down in the river bottoms and looked up at me.  It slowly started walking in my direction and I sprinted again to get past.  I survived and don't want to have to deal with this again.  I was almost done with the run and then a dog came out of a house and started chasing after me.  It was not happy to see me.  I sprinted again and it stopped chasing me.  I was happy to have this run done.  I ended up doing just over 20 miles for the day.  Not a bad end to the week.  Good old running stories!