Trying to keep up with you

Canyon run, easy.  Recovering from 3 days in the Uintas with a heavy pack.

Moderate effort up City Creek Canyon with Jeff and relaxed stride down.  Calves loosened a little more during this run.  No left knee pain.  Light wieghts after run.   Calves should be in good shape for the Provo Canyon Half Marathon this Saturday.

On the the uphill I noticed my ability to maintain a pace that requires labored breathing has increased and my recovery times have shortened.  This is likely due to the medication.

Two days to the Provo Canyon Half Marathon!  Don't want to make any predictions since it has been a very long time since I've raced a half marathon and a little over a year since my last marathon (which went very poorly).  I am optimistic given the way I've felt with the long runs for the past 3 months and how the Des News 10-k went.

Today was the last run prior to the race.  I ran up to the guards gate (City Creek Canyon) faster than I should of and then turned around till I met up with Dick.  Took it easy back up to the guards gate with Dick and coasted back down.  Everything feels ready to go this Saturday.  I just need to get a good noghts rest tonight since I am sure that I'll sleep poorly tomorrow night.

Great Race!  I was shooting for a sub 1:40 so I'm happy with the result.  The plan was to run at a 7:30 pace for the first 10 miles and then run as hard as I could the last 3.1.  However, I'm either blind or the race organizers didn't not provide mile markers for each mile.  So I ran on feel.  The first 4 minutes or so was very slow, trying to get around the slower runners.  But once I got into the right crowd I managed to find an ideal pace. 

Here are the splits I could manage to record:

Mile 1 - 6    44:31  7:25 ave pace    44:31 total

Mile 7 - 9    22:36  7:32 ave pace 1:07:07  total (didn't slow down much in the uphill portion)

Mile 10-11  14:47  7:23 ave pace  1:21:54 total

Mile 12          7:40  7:40 ave pace  1:29:34 total

Mile 13 to end 7:31 6:49 ave pace  1:37:05 total

My best guess is that Mile 12 was measured long and the last 1.1 miles was measured short.  I don't trust the markers much given the commetary that others have blogged.  However, I still managed a even split (first half of the race = second half of the race). 

As I parked my car at the mouth of City Creek Canyon I see Becky run by with a friend.  Since Becky is a sub 3 hour marathoner I decide not to run with her.  I needed a recovery run.  So I head out with Dick and Jeri, which would be just right pace wise.  That lasts about 100 yards and Jeff comes by wanting to talk about the half marathon on Saturday.  So I keep pace with him.  And then Jeff decides we need to catch up with Becky... 

What was suppose to be a recovery run turns into a close to threshold run on the way up.  We did catch Becky and slowed the pace a little.  We ran back down at a moderate pace.  It actually got rid off all the lingering soreness in my legs so it just might have worked perfectly for a recovery run. 

Another City Creek Canyon run.  Started out too fast with Jeff.  Found myself reaching my threshold pace for the first 2 to 2.5 miles.  I let Jeff turnaround at the 1 - mile marker and headed up to "Stuart's crack", our 3.5 mile mark and returned and a very slow and easy pace.  Quite honestly yesterday was a hard effort and today's first 2.5 miles was a hard effort, specially after having raced last weekend.  I was planning on a tempo run tomorrow but I don't think I've got the legs or lungs for it.  I may just spin tomorrow and then do my tempo on Thursday.

I took yesterday off to let me legs rest a little from the race last weekend and two runs that were more intense that intended.  It work.  Ifelt fresh for todays tempo workout.

Mile 1 - 8:35 warmup

Mile 2 - 7:23

Mile 3 - 7:24

Mile 4 - 7:24 

Mile 5 to 5.5 - 3:58 recovery jog

Mile 5.5  to 6.5 - 7.16

Mile 6.5 to 7.5 - 7:17

Mile 7.5 to 8.5 - 7:15

0.25 cool down jog

I did the second 3-miler a little faster since I didn't feel like I has hitting the ideal tempo exertion level.  Good run.

Easy pace up City Creek Canyon with Stuart, Dick and Jerry.  Left knee felt a little tender which is probably the result of all the down hill running last Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.  Tomorrow's run will be a flat course.  I'm been doing some research on exercises to strengthen the knees.  Let me know if you have any that worked for you.

Slow run at an aver. pace of 8:35.  Low  energy today.  Flat course. 

Speed workout day. For anyone that may have read Sasha's indications as to adding miles before doing speed work, with a minimum of 56 miles per week before including speed work, I politely disagree.  The theory goes that at a marathon distance endurance is the main limiting factor rather than speed.  It is my view that it is always an equation of endurance and speed.  5k and 10k times tend to corrrelate to marathon times for all runners so speed is always going to be in the mix.  My PR in the marathon, as humble a time it is, was reached thanks to added speed work to my weekly training and never exceeding 55 miles per week.  I am positive that Sasha can talk circles around me regarding this subject but you got to go with what works for you.

So I did my Yasso 800s (really Yasso 804.672s since I was doing half miles):

Mile 1 - warmup at 8:40 pace

Mile 2 to 6.5 - half mile at 6:35 pace with a 2.5 min recovery at roughly 8:45 pace. A total of 7 repeats.

Mile 6.5 to 7.5 - cool down at 8:45 pace.

I felt like I had a couple more repeats in me.  I will build up to 10 repeats prior to the St George Marathon.

On the subject of speed it was REALLY INCREDIBLE to watch Usain Bolt demolish the 100 meter world record by 0.11 seconds.  We will probably see him break his own record again and again in the coming years.  What talent...

Run up City Creek Canyon.  I ran on my own today which enabled me to control the pace.  Whenever I run with Jeff or Becky I find myself pushing the pace to hard.  On top of that both Jeff and I tend to be "alpha" runners and tend to turn it into a race. 

Moderate effort up to Stuart's Crack and low to moderate back down.  The intention was to run down at a low exertion pace but half way down I came across a fellow runner and that alpha runner surfaced...

Mile repeats today on the treadmill (ugh). 

mile 1- warm up (8:30 pace)

mile 2 to 7.44 - 5 mile repeats at 6:53 pace with a 3 minute jog between each mile

mile 7.44 to 8.5 - cool down (roughly 8:53 pace)

I was soent after mile last repeat but glad to have achieved the goal.  Would like to build this upt to 7 or 8 repeats prior to the marathon.

Hopefully I will be completely recovered for this weekend long run.

Run (jog) up city creek canyon. Kept a recovery pace the whole way. Faired better than expected since I felt pretty exhausted after yesterdays mile repeats.

This run should have taken place on Saturday morning but my daughter was headed out of the country to spend sa semester studying at Universidad de Belgrano in Buenos Aires, Argentina that afternoon.  It became a rush of last minute things that needed to be done.  She got off on to her trip well but I ran out of time for a run.  Oh well.

So Sunday morning became the long run day.  This means I will have two long runs this week.  Lets see how the body fares.  I will reduce my training from two to one track session this week to accomodate.

The run was on a hilly course (home -farmington and back) that did push me more than I anticipated.  I ran the 16 miles too close to marathon pace.  I couldn't find my garmin so I was going on feel.  My left knee was very sore at the end of the run, probably due to the uneven surface of the edge of the road. 

Total time: 2:12

Average pace: 8:15 per mile

Run up City Creek Canyon at a light to moderate effort.  Left knee still a little tender.  Recovery about 65% from yesterday's long run.  Will run at a light to moderate pace tomorrow to complete recovery.

Run up to Stuart's Crack in City Creek Canyon.  Light to moderate effort up and light effort down.  Left knee continues to be sore, a little less so than yesterday.  The first mile was particularly hard for some reason. 

I was feeling fatigued and lathargic all day.  In reality the last thing I wanted to do was my Yasso 800s.  Nonetheless, you got to do what you got to do.  After the first mile warm up the adrenaline quick in and I was ready to get some work done.

mile 1 - warm up @ 8:49 pace

mile 2 to 7.2  - 8 repeats of 0.5 miles at 6:31 pace with a 2.5 min jog at 8:49 pace in between each repeat

mile 7.2 to 8.2 - cool down @ 8:20

The last repeat was strenous but I felt I still had one or two left.  No problems with left knee.

Easy run at av pace of 8:30.  Need to save my legs for tomorrow's long run...

I ran the Salt Lake Running Co. teaser run at Jordan River Trail.  Overall a very good run.  I forced myself to start at stay slow the first 15 miles (average pace 8:45) and than pushed a little the last 5 miles (average pace 7:42).  I hadn't ran a long run on a flat course for a while and was not sure what to expect.  I have been running my longs on very hilly courses, which has given me some added strength.  At the end of this 20 miler I felt much better than anyh other 20 miler in the last year.  In comparison the flat course was much easier than the hilly courses I've been doing. All in all I felt that I could have easily continued running for a few more miles. Good sign.

Total time: 2:49:45

Overall av pace: 8:29 per mile

East recovery run.  Av. pace 8:35 per mile.  It took a couple of miles to loosen up the muscles but soon after I was in a rythm.  Left knee a little tender.