Dave's Addiction

EZ 8 past the gym, missed an invite to Scott's dangit. Good ankle workout though. I was still a little sore from Saturday. I think I will do 10 hard tomorrow.

I did a progressive interval workout today for the first time, it was fun. I did

1 mile wu (7:49)

2 miles tempo (5:49,5:53)

1.18 mile slow uphill (8:30)

1 mile fast tempo (5:46) with uphill at end

.51 rest uphill (9:18)

1200 fast downhill (3:58 or 5:15 mile)

.35 rest (10:40)

800 fast downwind (2:29 or 4:58 mile)

.34 rest (9:01)

400 at 66 (4:20 mile)

.2 rest

.79 at 5:55 (downhill, downwind, easy fast)

EZ run with some stronger long uphill/upwind sections, nice and relaxing (+ upper body at gym)

Ride to water tower canyon, 2.5 miles trail running, ride back

Standard pre race strides, .2 on the flat,.2 on the treadmill at 14, .2 uphill max.

Well first off I would like to thank Walter and Scott and Matt and Zak and Jacob and maybe Brandon and Sasha and a few others for not showing up today. Much appreciated :)

I got to the start and didn't see anybody fast. Bill confirmed it, no fast guys. Looks like my day! I still wanted to try for the course record though to mess with Walter. The race went off and so did I, everyone dropped back quickly. I could still hear people talking after mile 1 (4:59, +3 from last year) though so I did not slack off. Right after mile 1 the course takes the big dive and I just laid out and relaxed, but not too much. I couldn't hear anybody by the end of mile 2 (5:01, +2) so I figured I would drop back a little and see if I could have something left for the rollers in 12. So mile 3 was easier (5:11, +7) but then I just needed to be sure I was running away with it so I looked over my shoulder.

Crap! Somebody's back there, maybe 20 seconds. I better start pushing it. But no matter how hard I pushed it (4:56, +0) (5:10, -1) arrgh (5:03, -5) crap (5:10, -4) good grief (5:15, -6) are you serious, he just stayed right there at +20, nothing I could do. We were getting into the flat part of the course which is my weak point so I figured I would get #$@% second again. Fortunately my body was smarter than my mind and did not quit running (5:23, +1) (5:28, -2) and so I was able to get back in the saddle mentally and cruise across the open space and up the first hill (5:38, -9) with great enthusiasm.

But then I was dead with two miles to go and I didn't even have the energy to check in back of me. All I could do was just keep it redlined and hope for the best. Turned out that I still had something for the rollers (5:47, -8) and even the last mile (5:43, -1) and when I turned the corner for the last stretch he was no longer in view so I could finally stumble up the road in peace. Unfortunately I got +21 doing that and I ended up with only a 2 second PR, should have pushed more. But I really gave it all I had, I think I just didn't run the tangents as well this year so I really only lost 4 or 5 seconds slowing down temporarily.

Then I turned around to see how close it was and Craig (Green) was almost a full minute behind! He must have fallen apart in the rollers worse than I thought I did. It was twice as cool because he beat me at Timp in masters so now I get my #5 ranking back :)

5k was 15:39 (+9) and 10k was 31:26 (+7)

Tried to run to gym, got 2 blocks, aborted, rode bike to gym and around for 8 miles. Wife dropped me off at work after yummy sushi, ran home (or rather waddled, walked, and ocasionally ran for 3.75) Ow.

Feeling better, was going to go for 8, can't get off my heels. Ow. Cut it to 3, 6 mile bike, will do some more this afternoon I hope. Ow. But I won, so who cares? Pain is temporary, glory is forever :)

Hey I can run again! Sort of. Still sore, but a roll out at the gym and another mile had me feeling almost normal.

Running through the airport

3.4 negative ramp on the treadmill, 3.2 ez outside

Paced the 3:05 slot for BC. It was a lot of fun, kind of nice not to hurt at all at mile 20 although I really had to slow things down. There was a bus high-centered on a turn so the race started 20 minutes or so late. The last .2 was actually .33 so I ended up coming in 55 seconds late, even with a really fun sprint down the chute at a 4:10 pace. Perfect weather, really gorgeous run (except the last three miles, yuck)

Hips still pretty sore after trying to keep it slow for 17 miles down the canyon, so I did 15 on the bike and .375 running to get my car from the shop.

OK, ready for an EZ! Still some deep minor soreness in the hammies but I am taking it easy (7:12 avg). Speed workout tomorrow or Thurs.

Full recovery, time to blow the dust off the speed. And it was dusty! I did

1 wu (7:30)

2 tempo (downhill, flat at 5:27, 5:54)

.34 rest (7:51)

1 tempo plus (flat, 5:49)

.25 rest (8:45)

.94 tempo plus (uphill, 6:02)

1.15 EZ (7:55)

.06 uphill sprint (4:40)

A tiny bit sore from yesterday's speed, so nothing for it but to do more speed! I think I am going to do at least a little speed every day for the next two weeks. So I went EZ to Maple Canyon, then did 10x10 hill sprints up the steep part, then EZ back to 1600 N, then as fast as I could go and still do a 3 in 3 out breathing pattern for 1.5 miles (5:48) downhill, downwind, then home.

Hmm, I wonder what I should  do today. I know! Speed! EZ to the gym, then .5 EZ, then a nasty 2 mile climb up Center Street and th water tower canyon done half in grind mode and half in interval mode, then a speedy easy downhill, then some EZ, then an all-out hill sprint for .25, then EZ home.

Ran around Parker Mountain all day high-stepping through the small sage chasing antelope. Turns out that more runners don't make it easier, they make the antelope more skittish. Loads of fun!

Tried the old treadmill 4x1, wow am I rusty. I need to get some serious speed. I got 1 at 11.8, 1 at 12.1, .5 at 12.5, .5 at 12.6, .4 at 12.7, and .25 at 14. Maybe I am just getting a little lazy. As long as I can get back to 1 at 12.8 that's all I care. I'll do it again next week but get the full 1 at 12.5.

Did a KILLER leg weight session yesterday, hadn't gotten sore yet by this morning so I ran EZ. But I got sore later in the day! My feet just ache. This is going to be an awesome winter.

Screwing around with marathon pace, found a really good wayto breathe. Made 6:25 an easy pace. Cool.

8 hard, 5 seconds slower than last year (6:17)

Time to get serious about recovery, lose those sore muscles.

So the question today was "Can I drink pickle juice and gatorade and then run 5.5 decently fast miles downhill?" The answer appears to be a resounding yes.

On to St George!

Hey, my speed is back! I did 11.8, 12.1 and 12.5 miles on the treadmill with a 13.3 kicker for the last .2. I wanted to do 12.8 but I am following last year's taper because it worked so well. Maybe I was slow last week because it had only been one week since the BC marathon. Oh yeah, I forgot about that :)