From Newby track out over youngberg hill and back to the track.
I didn't really feel like a long run, or really any run for that matter, this morning but I went anyway. I'm glad I did as it turned out to be a very pleasant run. Weather was chilly but I was able to go with shorts and 2 shirts. I used my water belt for the first time (just needed one bottle on it). It worked great, hardly knew it was there. Didn't see a single dog which is unusual for this country route. All and all it was good.
3 Miler on TM at lunch. Intervals with fastest 6.0 and slowest 5.2 at 1% incline.Watched sports center on ESPN. The gym was pretty empty. I was expecting the big new years resolution crowd that we normally have every January.
TM at Aqt Center during lunch. Did hill intervals. 2 min hill/2 min flat all at 5.2. Hills progressed in increments of 1 from 1 to 7. Felt great. Probably ought to do at a faster speed next time.
I am getting excited about Painters. My plan is to run 14 this Saturday, then 7 the following Saturday and then the next Saturday is race day. Is that too much of a taper??
I had planned to do it in the morning but my wife had a 4H meeting with my daughter and needed me to help out with the other kids and I would have been too pushed for time so... well, you get the picture...man it's tough sometimes to find a way to squeeze these runs in! So with everything else we had going on I ended up not being able to start my run until about 9pm. It was dark and cold and I was tired and full of food. But I thought hey if smooth can polish stainless steel for half the night and then entertain a house full of primary presidents the next morning and then pop off an 18 miler, if she can do all that, surely I can do this. And so I did. My legs were sluggish and achey (probably had something to do with my bad attitude) after only a few miles. Finally at about mile seven I blurted out loud to myself "tonight you are going to dig down and find out what you've got." And I stuck it out. The last 3 miles were very tough. I tried everything to deal with the fatigue and pain. I counted steps. I sang songs. I quoted verses of scripture I counted telephone poles. I recounted every house my wife and I have ever lived in (total of 10). These things helped a little but not enough. It was just really tough and I'm not sure why when two weeks ago the exact same route was easier. But I made it. I finished by the football stadium. As I limped past the highschool to my truck at nearly midnight a couple of rough looking teenagers walked by in the dark and looked real close at me. I thought "if they attack me, I'm dead. I have zero energy to run away or fight." Thankfully they just kept walking. I went home took a hot bath and fell in to bed at about 1:00 am and then got up for my church meetings at 6:30am. I will sleep good tonight! Outside of all of that personal drama, it was a pretty routine run.
It was very dark and quiet. Didn't see a single car. It was a beautiful night but I felt kind of tense and stressed from the days activities and and never really settled into a rhythm. After, I sat in the living room and read and enjoyed the pleasant feeling that come after a good run.
Another nice 3 mile TM run at about 1030pm. Lifted weights with my son until midnight (biceps and triceps).
I swear that some day I will figure out a way to get to bed at a decent hour and get more than 6 hours sleep. How do the normal people of the world do it?
I hate to do this but I am going to just paste the same report that I put over on the forum flyers board. Here it is:
I came to St George with two goals, meet some forumites and
finish in under 2 hours. I came very close to reaching both.
My friend and sometimes training partner Rich and I met up
at about 8am (he had flown in from Susanville,
California). We walked over from
the hotel to the start and froze for a while before we realized we could go in
the Dixie centerOnce inside I scanned
the crowd looking for anyone who resembled a forumite but found that when all
you have to go on is a picture it is hard to pick someone out in the flesh.
We got out to the start line just in time and bang we were
off. I made a very dumb, rookie garmin owner mistake of not turning it on
enough ahead of time to get a signal. It took the first quarter mile or so to
acquire one. As a result, it’s only value became to give me my pace and to
challenge me with difficult math problems in trying to calculate what my actual
time and distance might be at any given time. I found that as the race wore on
the math became increasingly fuzzy. I also saw the horse on the loose at the
start. I hope he got back in the pasture without any harm.
The first couple of miles were not comfortable. My legs felt
heavy. My legs finally started feeling better at about mile 5. Soon after Rich
and I crossed under the freeway we saw the leaders coming towards us. It is so
cool to see what these guys look like and how fast a 5 something pace really
is. I told Rich that there was a guy named Rhett whom I had never met who was
probably going to be coming by somewhere in the top 20 or so. So I started to
quietly say “hi” to any one of those leaders who looked even remotely like
Rhett. Going that fast most of them looked like they could be him. As each
zoomed by I said “go Rhett.” I got mostly blank stares or weird looks but one
of them smiled and gave me a slight wave. Turns out it was Rhett and he was
flying!
I kind of liked that long loop that turns you back around.
About half way through it (the gentle uphill part) I found a comfortable rhythm
and sped up a little. My friend Rich faded behind me. I ran the rest of the
race alone. The downhill part of that loop felt great. My pace slipped under 9
and I thought “wow this is fun, I can hold this pace forever.” By mile 12 the
euphoria was gone and I was hurting. My pace slipped down to around 9:30.I saw a small lady with black hair in front
of me and even though I knew speedy Smooth would probably be far ahead of me I
took a chance and in a kind of loud voice said “smooth.” She didn’t look back
and when I passed her I could see that it was defiantly not her. Oh well I
guess I can’t be lucky every time with the name calling thing.
The last mile or so was really tough and I just kept telling
myself to hold on and finish strong. That downhill bridge at the very end was
only a few steps long but it made my quads scream and for some weird reason
that made me chuckle to myself. I crossed the finish line with a chip time of
2:00:54. Average pace 9:17. Even though I missed my goal by 55 seconds it was
still a pr for me.
I like the course and the weather was the kind that we have
all winter long up here in Oregon.
There could not have been any more familiar and ideal weather conditions for
me.
All and all it was a lot of fun and worth the trip. Next
time I am determined to reach both of my goals.
X train. 15 Min on bike at level 5 and 15 minutes on rower at brisk pace. Harder than usual pace in an attempt to blow off some stress and irritation that occured this morning at work.
