Dave's Addiction

Hike to the Y plus hill sprints

Fartlektreadmill

Snowshoe to Woodland Hills overlook

Easy before race

I can't believe I let people talk me into doing this stuff. It was cold, colder than it has been in years. 1 below to start, 4 to finish. I have been getting ready all week though so I was curious to see if I would die or not.

Mile 1 - screw going fast, I just want to finish. Face hurting, everything else pretty good. Trying not to breathe too fast but the first 2.7 miles are uphill 500 feet. Got a 7 minute anyway.

 Mile 2 - teeth hurting, throat a little cold. Really glad my wife knitted a nose flap onto my Where the Wild Things Are hat. End of nose flap starting to get hoarfrost. More steepness, 7:30 mile. I am in front and starting to go away. As long as I concentrate on blushing or radiating heat through my cheeks, I can still feel my face.

 Mile 3 - Get to the top and going down. Feet feel good, hands feel good, face coming back. Teeth are fine. I am going to go for it. I bag the aid station and keep going.

 Mile 4-8 - better and better, down in the low 6's, feeling warm, just have to keep remembering to force blood to my face.

Mile 9 - Aaaa! Acid fog! Cough sputter stumble. Gag this stuff is foul. Entire face mask is now covered in delicate frost 1/8 in thick.

Mile 10-11 - I am getting blinder and blinder, can't even read road signs any more. Still warm, face a little numb.

Mile 12 - Wooo. Temple hill and I am a little tired running with all this gear. Oh well, I am so far out in front a little walk up this hill won't hurt and maybe I can start to see again. Crap! Where did Tony come from?!? He did it again! Arrghh ow ow ow come on get back on track.. Downhill, catching back up, now around the corner to the home stretch, dangit he got me.

 Oh well, I still got a crock pot :)

Intervals, still tired from Saturday

10x10 hill sprints on treadmill, end at 14 MPH 10.5%

Treadmill negative ramp, 13.3 last minute

Rock canyon with some hill sprints

Treadmill fartlek with a 14 MPH kicker

Parents house to Orem fitness center, 48 laps around the %$#@$ track, back to parents house for breakfast. I'll never do that again.

4X1 Intervals on treadmill, 11.7 12.0 12.3 12.7 but had to slow down to 10.5 halfway through the last one so I sped up to 14.0 for the last quarter

10x10 treadmill hill sprints, up to 14.0 at 10%

30 min treadmill progression run from 8.9 to 11.7 with a 13.3 final minute, ended at HR 164

I think I need to bump the whole thing .1 again

Easy run up and down Slate canyon, getting ready for St George Half

3 easy miles but the last .15 of each mile is 14 MPH for mechanics, good result

1 mile on Saturday cooldown after the race

I had to get out of here or I was going to stop running until spring. Or go postal. Thankfully Trace Lund had a hotel room and a car and I had the brains to escape, so we did. Four guys in one room of the Fairfield is a bit much but I slept fine on the thin mattress by the sink and nobody had to use the loo until 5:30 so all was good. The pub next door had surprisingly good Salmon to the nutrition was all in order as well. All we needed was a decent temperature and everything would be perfect.

 23 degrees. Imagine four guys staring at a TV screen at 6AM, 3 hours to the start, just watching slides go by of temperatures in nearby towns. Shouts of glee when they go up, boos when they drop. Worse than the superbowl, and no chips. Turns out that 25 degrees felt downright toasty to all of us so no worries there. Heck by the end of the race I was in shirtsleeves lying on the grass and it was 42.

Anyway the whole fast group showed up again, almost as if it was planned, this is starting to get freaky. I hung with the front group effortlessly for the first mile (5:21) but I started to think that since this was my first flat half I should probably run slower than my mile interval pace (5:30). Oh screw it I don't care I am going to go for it. But the first 6 miles are uphill. On mile 2 people started to pull away, but I still managed a 5:47 even with some significant uphill. Mile 3 the same (6:01), now I was 13 seconds off my all time best 5K and up 80 feet over the start to boot. I started to wonder whose body I had borrowed as this was going really well.

Then Tony passed me. Usually he waits to the end but he was having a good day I suppose. I knew Steve and Walter were way up front, so I had hopes to hang on to 3rd in the division again. With miles to go until the top I just tried to hang on. But usually I run tempo miles this fast and only 4 of them so really pleased still. Next miles were 5:57, 6:05, and 6:28 on a very significant hill. Now I could start down. Hooray!

Except then I came around the corner and Who put that bloody hill there?!? It just goes and goes and .. Arrgh. Up we go, and that breathing sounds female. Yikes! I've been passed by TWO girls running together! Finally at the end of mile 7 (6:23) we were at the top of the 100 foot hill and the downhill started in earnest. I tried to catch them but Kodi and Kassi were very fast and would not be seen, let alone caught, for the remainder of the race.

The course map showed the last 6 miles as downhill but what really happens is about a mile of downhill with everything else perfectly flat. The next two miles were exceedingly zippy (5:59) and I managed to catch air when I grabbed the post on the switchback in mile 8 and did the 180 with my arm. Wheee! Then a long slog through the flats, which I bet just bake in the summer, and I got lost for a moment in mile 11. Then suddenly the finish line just popped up and I did the last quarter at a 5:05 pace.

Trent Jensen passed me at the end again. This time he didn't puke.

Now I think I can deal with the weather again.

Treadmill recovery after killer Sat workout

10x10 hill sprints up to 10.5% and 14 MPH

Excellent mile interval workout

11.7

12.0

12.3/12.4

12.7/12.8/13.3 kick

Didn't think I was going to get one in today but it cleared up in the afternoon and I had time for a quick run up to the Y. Bloody weather.

New treadmill progression record start point (9.0)

up to 11.8 with a 13.3 final minute

It was a bit cold for a run, but I've almost made it through the winter so why stop now. 5:45 AM, ice fog, 29 degrees, I'm going to run up the canyon. Noone else is stupid enough to try this or even drive, which is fortunate as they didn't shovel the canyon trail this winter and there is ice up and down the sides of the roads so I have to run in the middle. Only three cars in 20 minutes. I try to get 7 up the canyon but I am stopped by a foot of packed ice at mile 6.2, and it is still too dark to see footing. So I run up the other for a ways and back home for 14. At least the fog cleared at the canyon mouth! 7:05 pace, not bad for ice skating uphill

New treadmill interval record! I should move mile 2 up .1 next week. It was still easy. Sort of. OK not.

11.7

12.0

12.4

12.7/12.8/13.3

10x10 Treadmill hill sprints, new record (11.0 at 14MPH)

Treadmill farts

Run from MTC to Squaw peak trail

New record treadmill progression, 9.1 to 11.9 with a 13.3 last minute

Surprisingly cold and surprisingly comfortable and surprisingly easy long run. I don't feel a bit tired, and got under a 1:30 half. Negative split too. Office to Kevin's house and back

I think I just got to a new level - every run was a record this week in some way. Now how to make the most of it?

4x1 Treadmill 11.7 12.1 12.4 12.7 fartlek last

10x10 Hill sprints, end at 14.0 11%

Fun run around the empty irrigation reservoir, smoking last half mile (almost sub 5)

Run straight up and down the mountain by the gun range, then easy afternoon run home from work

Morning was progression treadmill, kept it slow to avoid getting a cold that it trying to get me, except last minute at 14.0

Afternoon was showing Trace Lund how do to hill sprints, they work better when you are racing someone. Ow. 10X10

Feeling a bit oogy and the roads are crap, so I did a fast three to wake me up and get a nice rest in.

% miles on TM in morning, 1.5 more running all over BYU campus

Best mile intervals ever, was a interval relay race by the running store. I partnered with Chris we took second with a bunch of 5:17 and 5:30 miles. I had 5:17, 5:30, 5:32. Then lots of warmdown.

7X10 hill sprints on treadmill, still a little sore from last Friday's hills so had to stop

MTC to past the Squaw Peak trail cutoff and back

TM Progression run 9.1 to 11.9, then 13.3 for minute 30

I meant for this to be a moderately easy 15, but in the dark and the cold and the wind it's a little hard to pay attention to the watch so when I noticed that mile 5 went off at 6:13  I figured I would push it. 6:36 average, lots of 6 teens, one 7:30 into the 20 MPH canyon wind (-10 or so wind chill, good grief when is January going to end) Went through Spanish, Hi Brandon..

TM 4 mile interval, 11.7/12.1/12.4/12.7 but couldn't hold it so dropped to 10.0 at .55 and then up to 14.0 for the last .23

I'll get this new level yet, just need a slightly better attitude.

10x10 hill sprints on TM, up to 14 MPH at 11%

Street is way better, spring please come

Almost broke 5k and tempo records in this one, missed it by 2 seconds per mile. Great first tempo run for the year!About 2 degrees too cold to do it as well.

Nice Yeti practice run, came in under 30 mins for the 5K in jeans and taking it easy. Then practiced for the leopards run by slamming the last 800 in 2:30. 

Yeti is 3/9 for all those who want to run up a mountain in Woodland Hills

Hey, he says, I have an idea - let's run 10 hard this morning so we avoid the snow tomorrow! Oh my heck it's cold. I really need to wear thicker gloves when it's under 25. And stop listening to the voices in my head so much.I only got 6:26, too many speed workouts in one week. Probably a good time for a rest break.

Easy 5 to qualify the boy for the Yeti, and what do you know, he made it up the hill! And he still wants to run the actual race. He was slow, but he'll still beat some people.

I was going to make this a rest week because I did 5 speed workouts last week and I haven't had a week off since November, but I felt too good so I ran 3.5 home from work super slow. Not even enough to break a sweat. 

Nice rest over the last 4 days, now back to it with a new record on the treadmill intervals!

 11.7 - 12.1 - 12.4/5 - 12.8/13.0 for last minute

Last shot at getting the Yeti faster, I cut 9 seconds per mile off and felt easier at the end. I even got a 2:25 last half mile to practice for the downhill 5K, could have kept that up for 2 miles easy.

Feeling a bit sore from the last two awesome days, so I took it easy and did three hill sprints in the middle. Whatever.

I figured I would finish out the rest week with a nice easy 14 so I ran up the canyon and back. But there was a lot of wind, so it wasn't too easy, so after mile 13 I figured I had blown the easy (again) so why not see what I can do for the last mile? 5:38 it turns out. 60 foot elevation drop, but still, not bad!

Nice TM intervals, 11.7-12.1-12.4/5-12.8/10.0/14.0 (last 2 tenths)

Fun evening 10X10 hill sprints on Quiet Meadow Lane with Trace Lund and the Boy. I figured he would come in about 10% slower than Trace, but good grief he has gotten fast. I had to really push to stay ahead of him on the first 5, then he started to drop off a bit. He will do fine in the Yeti.

Early morning mixed Threshold and Interval run. Kind of hard so soon after the hill sprints, sort of a two-a-night, but whatever. I only have easy runs now until the Yeti. I still managed to put in a 5:56 on the uphill mile, so not too bad!

Snowshoe practice for the Yeti

Easy 3 with pickups to sharpen for the race tomorrow

Funnest 5K of the year. We started with a much larger group than normal, looks like the coach gave the Salem Hills Track Team the choice of doing a speed workout yesterday or running the Yeti today. First mile was passing all the bikes and the guys who thought they could bomb it up the hill. This left two track team guys out front and three bikes or so by the end of the short flat bit at the last of the mile. (7:14, 275 feet climb)

 Mile 2 is the serious hills, I walked a lot more than I wanted to here because I thought powerwalking would be faster. I added 20 seconds to the time though and got passed by Jen Hughes. The two other guys were long gone. (11:37, 585 feet climb)

 For mile 3, less intense hills with a nice flat bit in the middle where I almost got back down to a 6 flat pace. I could see Jen off in the distance about to finish but I had to stop and tie my shoe. (8:29, 300 feet climb)

 I blazed the last .12 into the transition and Jen was still there! I slammed on the snowshoes and quickly caught her. One of the track team guys did not do the snowshoe portion, but Cody was 3:18 ahead of me at 5K finish. Jen was keeping me close so I had to push and I found a sweet spot in a trotting zone. I gradually pulled ahead of her on the 7 switchbacks and saw Cody, now less than 1:30 in front, coming down. You are mine! (16 flat pace, 1245 feet climb)

Now the descent. I quickly found a nice speed, but I was throwing snow all over my bare legs and it was very painful,until it suddenly stopped hurting. Oh well, not going to take much more than 15 minutes to get down anyway. I could smell victory though so I kept going faster and faster, achieving a 6:29 mile on snowshoes. As the human snowstorm passed the people going up, they kept telling me I was closer and closer and finally I saw him on switchback 3! Two more switchbacks and onto the flat, then he made a mistake and stumbled and I swept past him. Then I hit the last little hill, and we both crawled up it, but he crawled faster and got 10 seconds ahead of me. Finally we were at the top and in the downhill, and I started up the snowstorm again. He had seen my style though and was copying it, and even with stumbles I was only able to gain 2 seconds on him. Across the street and into the final field, in full view of the finish line, I turned on everything I had but he still beat by 5 seconds. If I had known he was going to get the Yeti head from the standing 3D Yeti cake, I would have tried much harder in the 5K!

I hate daylight savings time.I got to the gym to do my intervals, and everything seemed harder than normal. I was going to push anyway, and did pretty well - 11.7, 12.1, 12.4/5, and 12.8 but at .8 miles on the last I had to drop it to 10.2 for .1 miles, then I brought it back to 14.0. Then I realized I had taken my trail shoes, which is why it was noticeably harder. I hope.

10x10 hill sprints on Quiet Meadow Lane

 Got to 17 MPH on the 9th one!

Practicing downhill miles for the Leopards race. I found two that dropped about 100 feet each, and I got 5:19 and 5:10. Looks like I will be around 16:10 on the 5K unless I can find a way to stretch my stride a bit. Breathing was pretty easy though, maybe I can push it under 5 in the race.

Amusing little tempo run before Pi day festivities with the running club, got a 5:57 average in the flats of Orem. Looking good!

Progressive TM run from 9.1 to 11.7, then 13 and 14 with 9 and 10 thrown in there.

I was going to run up Squaw Peak Road with Bill but he decided to do it at crazytime so I ran the McDonalds triangle (just try not to grab hash browns as you pass)

 The middle is 5  miles of glorious ups and downs on the Bonneville shoreline trail, good in this case for about 1200 feet of vertical, NONE of which I walked. Ha! I am ready for the Timp Trail half now, and Mr Varga will be hard pressed to beat me this year :)

Too bad it's still 2 months away and I am actually trying to get ready for a downhill 5k next Saturday. Oops.

Hey! I got the full speed mile intervals again! Those things are hard. But I need to be peaked for that Leopards race this weekend.

11.7 - 12.1 - 12.4/5 for last .5 - 12.8/13.0 for last .2

10x10 hill sprints with an easy run around the library

Tried the Garmin 910, altitude is way off.

Did the downhill miles thing again, but got 5:15 and 5:10 so a little improvement. I still hope to break 16 on the Leopards 5K but we'll see.

To work and from work, nasty wind/nice wind

Super easy 3 on the treadmill with 14 MPH pickups, .25 to cap it, ready to take masters in the Leopards tomorrow

Nasty day for a race, half inch of slushy ice on the roadat the start. I wassure somebody was going to die at the starting line, and it felt really hard to accelerate. But I guess it wasn't because I went out at the customary 4:30 pace and kept it under 5 for the first four tenths, until it flattened out. Even with the hill in the second half mile I still got a 5:12 thanks to Carl pulling me up behind him. I got a little overtired and he started to slip ahead, but he's awesome and I was still in front of most of the track team.

At the second turn I was totally lost and it was a good thing Carl was still there or I would have gone off into who knows where. I am too busy trying to run my best to figure out where the course goes you know :) Unfortunately it was another flat to uphill bit so I had to dig again and he got way ahead. I was still in a little debt going around the corner to the final downhill at mile 1.7, so three guys who were chasing me got past. We maintained that order to the end, slipping and sliding around the final corner (had to stop almost) and when I saw that 16:12 on the clock as I came around the corner I was quite pleased, considering the ice and the fact that my flat 5k record is 17:32. Don't know how to count this one.

Ran another 2.5 slow to kill time before the awards. I blasted the Masters. Does that make me Master Blaster?

Got my thumb caught in the nail gun slide, ran a half mile yelling before pain started to fall off, no broken bones but a nasty shatter in the middle of the nail, won't be playing piano for a few weeks

10x10 hill sprints plus an attempt at a 2:08 880, got a 64 quarter and died

Most awesomest mile intervals ever! That Leopards run really put me on a new level. 11.7 - 12.1 - 12.5 - 12.8/13.0 for the last third. I need to bump the beginning to 11.8, 11.7 isn't even waking me up any more, and I should have done 13.0 for the last half. I couldn'teven feel the effects of last night's hill sprints or fast 440 either. Did I accidentally sleep for 32 hours instead of 6?

I guess those mile intervals yesterday were a little too awesome, I was really flat this morning. Ran 7.5 easy anyway, kept accelerating without realizing it, got down to 6:10 on the mile pace.

Cut the TM progression off at 25 minutes, was feeling lazy and decided to indulge.

Nice run with the guys out and back on the Murdock canal, then slightly more vigorously up and back Provo Canyon. I only wanted 15 so I turned around, they were going for their last 20+ before Boston. I feel like I should have gone the 20, not tired at all.

It sure is easier to run these mile intervals down here at sea level, but the heat and humidity make it just as hard as the altitude does. 

11.8/12.1/12.5/12.8-10.0-13.8 (had to back off, getting too hot)

Hill sprints in Florida? Where? Only hill was at the treadmill. Got 10X10 up to 11% at 14.0.

Nice threshold run in the morning, I could hold a 5:25 if the weather wasn't so hot. Got 5:55s instead. Lots of easy running everywhere.Including past a Dairy Queen where I grabbed a chocolate dipped cone for old times.

Running around the golf courses + 3 more in Universal studios,doesn't count. 

Attempted long run on the beach, went barefoot, after 2 miles was starting to get bad friction spots, easy pace was dropping to 6 flat, could have smoked the 2:08 half mile if I hadn't torched the feet. 1 day recovery, stopped just in time

Running through the airport, + 4 hours of heavy yard work

Another 4x1 intervals on the TM, 11.8/12.1/12.5/12.8-10.0-13.1 (only 2 tenths at 10.0 this time)

I gotta hit it hard this week.

On the TM 2 miles easy (9.5), 10x10 hill sprints at 14 MPH at 8% to 11.5%, 1.7 miles easy (10.2), .3 miles 14 MPH at the end to finish (flat)

TM Progression session, 9.1 to 11.9 then 13.3 for the final minute (30 total)

Excellent tempo run on the flat course, new record (5:55 pace) splits were 5:43, 6:06, 5:58, 5:54, 5:39 for the last 1/4, super zippy cooldown 

EZ to gym, then to track, then 4X440. I thought I would put some in the high 60s easily, but I couldn't get under 70 until the fourth one. I guess I know why my 5K is so slow now! Time to add these to the rotation big time. 2 more 440s on the way home, one uphill, one downhill.

Toni talked me out of the reverse Powerhouse, but this one was almost as bad. We ran with Mike and someone else who I forget, and it was super slow going up the canyon (7:40) but they are all training for next week's Salt Lake Marathon with Mike going for the win. It got more interesting going down as Mike wanted to do 6X1 and I had left my Garmin at home because it was out of gas. I just kept up with him, which was a little challenging but not too bad, but he was doing 5:40s which is usually almost my VO2 Max pace so I was kind of surprised when I could even hold it on the 4th interval on the flat. We went slower on the 5th one and I was about dead so I hung back with Toni, but then he let his secret slip.

 Now I know how to beat the Tongan Tornado. No, more properly, I know how he will beat me. Once you are in his sights, it's too late. The drums start up and the staffs start hitting the ground and he just increases the cadence more and more until the job is done. Before I knew what was happening we were blowing past Mike at the end of the 5th interval and I was totally toasted. We jogged back to the park where I did a 65 second 440, thinking I was done, but Toni made me do another mile straight uphill and a mile back down, then I was truly done. Great workout.

4x1 on TM, 11.8/12.1/12.5/12.8-10-12.8, still having to drop down to 10.0 for 2 tenths in the middle of the 12.8. Maybe the 5x1 on Saturday in the middle of the long run has something to do with that :) Everyone should do 6 speed workouts in a week sometimes. What could possibly go wrong? I think I'll double this afternoon.

And I did! 3 miles easy, let's see if it stimulates faster recovery.

10X10 hill sprints on the TM, 14.0 MPH, 7.5 to 11.5% grade

Were tougher than usual, took up to 1:15 to recover on the last ones

TM Progression run 9.1 to 11.9 .1 per minute with a 13.4 last minute. Tough workout today, had to slow down twice to 9 or 10 for a minute but got the last three minutes OK. Maybe I am just down a bit.

16+ on the bike (1:05 at a moderate to strong pace) really

Was feeling run down, needed to hit those 440s hard tomorrow

440 workout today, ran 1.25 to the gym for upper body then 1 to the track. First one was a 66! I backed off a little, got 70,71,72,left the track,75 (uphill), 83 (super uphill) 73 (downhill). I think I need to be a little faster on these. 68s would be killer.

New 10 hard record! 6:10 average pace. Maybe it was the new Kinvaras, I don't know. The new Garmin tracks the course .06 shorter than the old one, so it was really closer to 6:09 pace, but whatever. There was no tailwind on the last 2 miles like usual either. This should translate into some improvement in next week's half. I also wasn't fighting a cold or something any more. Whatever it was going to be, I killed it :)

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Tried the TM intervals today but after the first one pointed out the soreness I knew it just was not going to happen today. I did the second (12.1) anyway, and started the third (12.5) but 2 tenths in I bagged it and ran some decently fast stretchy miles outside, then did the upper body. I guess I can't have two record days in a row :)

But I can do an afternoon  workout, 25 mins on the bike, calling it 3 easy

10x10 hill sprints on the road again, finally! I just don't trust the treadmill, even with an 11.5% grade - I can't get the monster extensions like outdoors.

Excellent threshold run on the slightly downhill course, tied the record (5:48) splits were

5:10 (100 feet downhill), 5:51 (down and up), 5:51 (up and down) 6:11 (slightly up), 6:10 (up and a bit down)

 I am so doing St George this year. And I signed up for Provo City Half. Might as well turn the long runs into races :)

EZ 8 beside the disturbingly large moon. Slow as I could, 7:33 average page. Breathing 1 for 4, felt very good after being sore yesterday.

Tried to do 5x880, but the first one turned into a 440 because I am so rusty on speed at this distance and it took two to get the guts to feel the pain. So, 440 at 75, 880 at 2:30, 440 at 74, 880 at 2:33, 440 at 76, 880 at 2:29. I can just start to feel the right place for these, I hope to get 5x880 at 2:26. I have to if I am to beat the most annoying nephew in the universe on July 4th.

Timp trail test run this morning, easy on the flats on down, crushing the uphills. Knocked 2.5 minutes off the Dry Canyon ascent! That should be enough to win it this year.

Best mileage week ever, or second! Best three week period ever I think!

4x1 on the treadmill, 11.8-12.1-12.5-12.8 and 13.1

 Or rather I should say, attempted 4x1 because my legs were just not there. No soreness or anything, but it felt like I was missing a cylinder. Not wanting to quit, I just stepped it down to 10.2 for 3 .1 intervals in each of the last two miles, and ended with a .2 at the normal speed (started with a .3)

I'm going to do a lot of bike this week and get all pumped for the half.

And 8 on the bike this afternoon, calling it 3 easy

Zippy warmup run to Orem Rec Center, then ran some 880s. I wanted to be slightly faster than HM pace, but not too much. First one was 2:30. Oops. Thanks Carl. So I dropped back a bit and got 2:50, 2:45, and 2:53. Then I was bored so I ran a 32 220. Then I ran back to Runner's Corner but in the middle I got a 2:02 660. Not bad for having no goals for the day! Maybe a little intense for what is supposed to be an easy week though.

Just going to and from the gym, going to lighten up this week, bike tomorrow.

+ 3 bike with Abigail, counting it a 1 EZ

57 minutes of moderate bike and easy trail running, calling it 5 EZ

Three miles with three strides, first on the flat, then 14 on the TM, then max up the steep hill. Ready for HM tomorrow!

Well if all the races this year are this fun I'll have a really great year. I took a blanket up on the bus because future me was yelling at current me that it was too freeking cold at the start. Well maybe next time future me can tell current me to take something better than a @$#% blanket. Anyway after a very long wait almost near enough to a fire to feel some heat, and a shorter wait in front of a running schoolbus where some heat was coming through the air intake, the marathoners started off with their slow lopes. How anyone manages to go that slowly at the beginning of a race mystifies me. 

So they lined the halfers up and we waited three or four minutes while the ladies streamed in from random very odd locations downwind of the start, then we were off. I ran a bit with the leaders, then they seemed to drop back a lot, then it was completely silent. I didn't think I was really going that fast. After passing mile 1 (5:12) Brett finally caught up to me. He was very tall. I don't think he saw me. After mile 2 (5:25) we had come out in the flat part of the canyon and three more guys passed me, looking very strong and intimidating. I tried keeping up a bit but I started to feel a small bit of pain and it was too early in the race for that so I just concentrated on weaving in and out of the marathoners. I was worried about running into bad blockage, but the only places where the trail was completely blocked was around the pacers and they were alert and moved their crowd out of the way.

Miles 3-7 passed uneventfully (5:50,33,36,44,52). I could tell I was gradually losing energy so I backed it off ever so slowly. All I needed to do was accumulate 180 seconds of sub-6 time and I had done half of it on the first two miles so I wanted to save a little for the last two miles on the highway.

Mile 8 was whacked. Some hot little bobtail job came screaming by at what had to be a 5:20 pace. I had never heard of Kodi before but I had also never been so thoroughly chicked before on a race where I was doing well. (She ended just under 1:13 - insane, almost 5 minutes faster than Kassi's record) I got 5:51. Miles 9 and 10 took me to the 5k start (5:53, 6 flat) where I saw Brandon and Mike. Mile 11 contains the only real uphill in the race but sets you up for the final gentle downhill into down town, I got 6:06, quite respectable!

I turned on a little more energy at that point but I was already getting pretty near the limit. I could feel Collin's eyes in my back just like at Leopards though so I just focused and watched the Zions Bank building get closer (5:55,5:54). Not too many marathoners to pass now so the street was totally empty and I burned it in to the line at a 5:20 for the last tenth. Waited around for 5k which Matt took second and Brandon took fifth in but it looked like they were on an easy run so I don't think it counts :) Then waited for prizes but lost patience so I gave my number to Brad and left so I could see Iron Man. Great fun!

Now I get home and see that the course only dropped 870 feet or so. Are you serious? I thought it was like 1300. Now I am really happy with my time.

Heyy - this was supposed to be low miles rest week. Not sure how I ended up with 41 but I sure felt rested!

Still a little sore in the calves, going Krong easy except for the middle 2 got a bit fast. Felt like lying on the massage table with gentle whacks on the muscles for 46 minutes

OK, so I tried the downhill threshold workout today. I did it on the Hobbler Half course, just to start getting a good benchmark. Last year I got 1:16:45 for 1100 down vs this year's Provo 1:15:19 with 870 down, so I figure I have about 7 seconds per mile fitness gain over those 10 months. I haven't recovered completely from the Provo, but no muscle soreness today - knock about 8 per mile off. There's nobody racing with me, so knock another 6 or so off. Last year's first three miles were 5:19,35,42 with an average pace of 5:51 so if I can hold an average pace of 5:26 with as little variance as possible then it's good. The 3 miles in question is mostly down with a few tenths of nasty up scattered randomly throughout, one in each mile.

The first mile I immediately dropped to a 4:35, which I usually do in the first 2 tenths of a race, and ended with a 5:21. The next two were 5:34 and 5:37 but the third wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be - I almost counted it as threshold instead of VO2 max. Really it was just the end that was somewhat difficult. I think there might be something to Sasha's mental block thing. I almost tried another two mile down after the run back to the car, but it was too late and I wanted to start slow. Next time I will step up the intensity for miles 2 and 3 and try to make them level with mile 1.

Actually, a descent review shows that mile 1 drops 130, but miles 2 and 3 drop 70, so that was a pretty good job of keeping the intensity level. I'll still try to step it up a bit, but I think I only need 4 seconds or so on the second two to get a flat output.

The Brandon Dase Memorial Treadmill Progression run has been completed, 9.1 to 11.9 with a 14.0 kicker. Sorry but I had to drop down to 10.0 for 2 minutes, so I extended the end by 30 seconds :)

10x10. Legs were kind of dead the first 4 miles, then I did the hill sprinst, then they were less dead. They feel positively zippy now. I think I will do the Powerhouse on Saturday.

35 minutes on bike, really, decided to bag threshold workout and pound it tomorrow

Powerhouse, yeah!

 OK not the full powerhouse because  I had to be back in time for the baptism but I drove to the base of the mountain and did it from there. Stage 1 is 3.6 miles up the canyon for a gain of 1970 feet (13:49, 12:16, 16:42, 9:42). The only goal - don't stop running, except for 100 meters of really steep part. Did it! Then go easy until mile 4 and go hard for 1, easy for 1 four times (5:12 (392 down), 6:49, 5:06 (309 down), 7:03, 5:31 (92 down), 7:07, 5:38 (109 down)) then MP for the rest (6:32, 6:19, 5:26 for .4)

The top never disappoints and today was no exception, as the rising sun was a ball lying on the ground right in front of my feet. Made it hard to see though :) I feel pretty zippy now so I am thinking I am ready to rock the Timp Trail Half next week.

Calves still pretty sore after Saturday, so going Krong easy (7:55 avg). Felt much better at the end.

Sasha was kind enough to show me his course this morning and have a go at diagnosing my weak points. We left his house and ran 5.2 or so up Provo canyon, super slow (8s). Then he told me to take off back down at a speed I could hold for 3 miles, like half marathon race pace. So I did. But having him there triggered a full-on case of the out too fasts and I did the first mile in a holy smokes 5:06. Felt pretty good at the end of it too. But after the middle of the second mile, the wheels started to come off. It's not very downhill  (65,69,60 feet down) but even so I got 5:31 and 5:32 - that third mile was bloody murder. I started it at 102% and finished it at 105% and when Sasha called for a kick I wondered to myself if he meant "the bucket". Also I thought I was going to take a dump right there on the trail and let's hear it for UCCU for leaving a door open so I could get to business before, well, things got worse. 2 easy miles back and I felt like a million bucks on the way home. Except the intestines are still complaining a bit. I know I got a few seconds faster on my 5k today!

Ran to the gym the long way, upper body, then more running up to the canyon trying to keep it EZ. But then I noticed that I was going to be late to drive the kid to the piano lesson so I picked it up to 6:10 but it was downhill and downwind so still super easy. It was like swimming in a clear cool stream for 55 minutes, but that's Utah in the summer for you! Then I ran another .14 after dropoff to make it an honest 8.

I wanted to do another 8 today but I fell under the "four sore no more" rule which cancels all workouts until soreness goes away after four days in a row of muscle soreness. So I did some aerobic bike this morning (30 min) and the soreness was gone by the evening, so I ran another 1 with my wife riding a bike.

Standard pre-race day 5K with 3 strides, 1 on the flat, 1 on the TM and 1 uphill at the end.

Plus another 1 in PM, feeling a bit peaky

I was going for a big W and a course record, but the rain had just stopped before I arrived and things were looking grim. But none of the people who beat me last year were there, and I was feeling at the top, so all there was to do was to run it!

Mile 1 - with a 220 foot gain in the first half mile we don't start this race fast :) I was tiptoeing lightly up the road but rapidly left everyone in the dust. However a few hardy souls started feeling the pace and knocking on the door in mile 2. 7:19, 1 second faster than last year, road in good shape. Could be good!

Mile 2 is flat until the little 80 foot bump up to the meadow, you go easy to recover from the climb. I got 7:05, 7 seconds faster. There are four of us duking it out now and nobody else is even close. Looks like a 4 man race! (no peeking at the top)

Mile 3 has the fairly docile 440 foot climb to the upper road. I walked it a few times just to conserve, probably should not have done that since I practiced not walking two weeks ago. I got passed by 3 and 4, 1 passed me on the lower road at mile 2. 9:39, 22 seconds slower. Finding a bit of mud but nothing big yet.

Mile 4 has the last 40 feet of the climb and then you are on the upper road. Auuggghh!! Mud!! Nooooooo! Looks like CR is out of the question but let's see. The two guys 150 meters in front of mee had never run the course before and did not know that the grass on the side of the road, while unpleasantly wet, did not hide any rocks or holes so while they were slogging it out I was a little less sloggy. 7:17, 20 seconds slower, easy 40 second mud penalty.

I moved back into second with first in easy reach at mile 5, none of these guys knew about the mud secrets and it was costing them. But they figured it out as I passed and they fell into line behind, even with the sheer drop off the left side of the slippery grass it was still better than the sucking swamp of doom in the middle of the road. Still, my 6:38 was 11 seconds slower than last year - wet feet are still heavy.

At mile 5.5 the mud mostly ends and there is a fast 1 mile descent to the low point of the mid-course at the gun range. I had to stop and tie my shoe, which dropped me back to 3rd. Mile 6 was 5:50, 5 seconds slower.

Miles 7 8 and 9 wind gradually up the front side of Timp and then steeply up Dry Canyon. I walked once more, falling to fourth, but then I found my uphill mojo and was able to run. Splits were 7:43, 10:30, and 15:02, 19 faster, 14 slower, and 1:01 faster (!) than last year. I am definitely in better shape :) But rhose guys were getting further ahead, I never saw them again no matter how crazy I got.

During mile 10 it started to hail. Seriously? Well I guess there isn't much left to the race. Unfortunately the Mario Kart tracks filled quickly with running rocks and water, making things interesting to say the least. Mario Kart mile splits were 7:14, 6:27, and 6:38, 18 faster, 15 slower, and 11 faster than last year. Very surprising given last year's flawless conditions.

Mile 13 and the last half were the ugliest of all. The hail had turned to rain, filling my glasses with water and making it nearly impossible to see the trail. To top it off we get a half mile of the mud road again before the final descent into Timp Park, that was nuts doing it half blind. I had to stop and wipe my glasses out several times so I wouldn't fall over the 40 foot cliffs on the first part of the descent. Once I made it to the main road I burned it in down to a 4:28 pace on the mud-free road and the grass at the end. Splits were 7:02 and 2:46 (47 slower, 2 faster, all weather related). The last half mile was a 5:19 pace.

So I didn't beat my old record, although I felt like weather adjusted I did. But I did win masters! And in operation domination, all I need is the age group award. So there. I ate a bowl of chili and bailed before I got too chilly.

Rain shut me down at 4.5, I'll do the other 3.5 tonight with the wife on a bike. I can't believe I have absolutely no soreness from Saturday! I guess I really left it on the hill. I'll try harder next race.

Very illuminating run today, thanks again to Sasha for taking the time out to do it, in this case he took 9 seconds out of last week's 3 mile time. 5 super slow up the canyon, then we started off and immediately clamped it to a 5:20 pace which was pretty hard at first because I am used to touching the ceiling before settling in. First mile was only 90% instead of 96%, second mile climbed to 97% average, third mile went from 99% at beginning to 102% at end instead of 102 to 105 like last week. I even had a very tiny kick sort of. Recovery was similar to last week but I felt very zippy driving home, although slightly fatigued right now and drinking a lot. I can see that going out slower doesn't make the last mile a whole lot easier, but it does make it decently faster. It felt like he was speeding up all through the second mile but in reality it was a bit slower, as splits were 5:17, 5:23 and 5:21 (totaling 16:00 and change) I didn't hit the lactic painwall until 2.25 instead of 1.75 this time. I can see what needs to be done but it will take many many high end workouts to get the pacing right and balance adrenal output with push. Also I kind of had a bad mental attitude in the middle two quarters of the third mile and would have slowed significantly without Sasha's presence.

So at least the lights are on, but there isn't anybody home yet :)

8 EZ AP 7:32 ran by Mc Donalds. Still a little tired from yesterday, but not much.

OK, so the idea was to conquer the Art City hill of doom today. Oooog. Started out with 1 mile jog to the track and 2x880 on the track, which is the finish line of the 5k, targeting 2:30. Got 2:29 and 2:32. Not bad, but something new - I got to the second lap of the 880 and instead of going into full respiratory distress it was like I just stopped getting more tired and could keep going and even push a little. Freaky. Love it.

Then I jogged 1.5 to the middle of the race, a quarter before the hill. Then I accelerated to race pace and turned left and pounded up the hill. I was to do this three times. The first one I hit 5:42 on the "flat" (really a bit uphill, and into a nasty wind) and dropped to 7:20 by the end of the fence. Then I got 5:51 and 7:25. On the third one I had to continue past the hill run back down on the upper road as fast as I could. I got 5:53 and 8:05 and it took a full minute to recover enough to get back under 7 and push again. That hill is nasty. I jogged towards home and found one more slightly less nasty hill, cresting it at 6:49. Then a slow jog that gradually went to 6 flat and back to 7 again to the house. So 2 880 and 4 660 with hills. I feel really good now.

Very enjoyable EZ run with Brandon And Jacob this morning, showed them the nice parts of town. (Wouldn't want them to see the crack hos down on the south side, ha ha) We went up on the bench and then down the 4th north canyon, then rode the tailwind back to the house, Three strides at the end, hit a 3:15 pace on the last one. Wheee! We really must do this again in June. I swear running with fun people makes it feel like you ran half the distance. Hobble progression (14 miles out and back) tomorrow at 5:45 if anybody wants to come.

Super freaky long run today, not sure what is happening to me. Goal was 7 7:45s up and 5 6:45s down Hobble Creek with the last two at threshold. The wind was decently string over the first three miles, then the grade takes over for the last 4 to provide a nicely increasing effort. Uphill miles went from 7:35 at the start to 7:08 at the end, moderately easy. Downhill miles locked in at 6:26 plus or minus a few. Then I put the hammer down and found that sweet spot from the 880s the other day. 5:26! 5:30! Faster than my old VO2max on the same course, and back to back, and not too difficult. I pushed it a little more on the last mile because the wind and hill were less but wow! And to top it off I barely feel like I ran today - usually I am much more fatigued. And this week is my all time volume record by a significant (10%) margin. I was going to give my body a break before the 5k next Saturday but now I am not so sure. Looking forward to the 8EZ on Monday and the negative tempo in Provo Canyon on Tuesday.

Fun EZ run in the Mapleton flats with the wife on a bike, started Krong easy at 7:45 and gradually sped up to 7:15, keeping breathing insignificant. Wife got bored at the end and rode ahead, I decided to let it unwind and see how fast I could go without getting lactic. I got under 6 easily, passed through 5:20 and still wasn't feeling it much. I had to get to 4:36 before I actually started to feel significant accumulation. This EZ stuff is psycho. I had no idea it could do that.

These Sasha runs are habit forming! We took Benjamin this morning, and went extra slow for the 5 up the canyon. The goal today was to do negative splits on the tempo run, starting at 5:30. I was excited to see what the new and improved body could do, and was not disappointed! The first mile at 5:30 did not feel like 5:30 at all, in fact it felt like we were starting at 6:20. By the end of it I was still in the green, mostly. The second mile accelerated to 5:23, that was enough to put me into the yellow but I was really shocked to come on its end so suddenly. Ben was having some trouble and I wanted to get to the red and maybe black zone so I immediately accelerated past them to 880 pace and held it for most of the quarter, like 4:58 or something. Then I started getting the lung bands, but not the tiredness in the legs! I kept hoping I could maintain this speed to the end as I was now solidly in the red. Sasha came up and passed me and I accelerated again to match him but that put me in the black and he ended up coming in 1 second before me. I got 5:11 for the last mile. That's a pretty cool trick considering that 2 weeks ago I was slower and in much more distress for more of the run. I can hardly wait for Saturday's 5k!

Knees were whining a little bit about the huge volume over the last 10 days so I switched up the 1 hour EZ to moderate bike, knees thanked me.Calling it 6

Nice 8EZ around the Springville library and Mapleton park. Can't barely wait until Saturday

Standard pre-race EZ 5k with three strides, one on the flat, one at 14 on the treadmill, last one up a hill. Tomorrow will be very interesting.

Showed up to the race, saw the Moodys and Carl so I knew it would be a tough race but if I could just get within a minute of Steve Sumsion it would be a good day. Lots of SRC jerseys! Everything went according to plan, but I never got the afterburners lit after the big hill. The lead group provided a perfect wind shield on the uphill leg and seemed to run at just the right speed, almost too fast to keep up with. But they finished the first mile in 5:35 instead of 5:31 like last year - must have been more wind. I got to the bottom of the hill still in the orange and passed the fence at 8:10 pace, 1 minute faster than last year. When I got to the top I was pretty nuked but still within 100 meters of the group and able to accelerate within 20 seconds. But I never got the mojo I have been feeling the last few weeks - I was stuck in the 5:40 to 5:55 level and unable to clear the lactic.They pulled away slowly and I was passed by 1 additional person.

Wait a minute. I just looked more carefully at the track and I spent a lot of time in the 5:30s on the way down. It wasn't the 5:19 I was hoping for, but it looks like this race got blown away by the wind up the first leg. The lead group dropped to 6 flat for about a half mile whereas last year they were at 5:45 at that point. In fact my splits were 5:34, 6:10 with the big hill, and 5:36. I am really annoyed that I didn't get 17 flat, but pretty stoked about my recovery on the second half of the race. Also the GPS was reading a bit slow and short today so those splits are actually a bit faster. I got within 1:17 of SS (2 seconds closer) and I beat last years time by 3 seconds. Bleah. I should have done much better. Maybe I should not have run to the race.

EZ 8 with a break at the gym for upper body. Tried to run slow but averaged 7:20. Still annoyed by Saturday, going to run angry at AF. It will be fun :)

I am going to go for 60 this week. But today was a run with Sasha and Ben - same workout as last week. The first mile felt like less than tempo pace, forgot to breathe a few times. (5:30) The second mile got into the yellow, but not too far. I did have a little hunger because I was trying to get under 150, looks like my base muscle weight has come up 3 pounds and I will just have to deal with it. There just isn't any fat to burn. Anyway, felt a little weak there but it went away after 2.25 because it was time to push. I tried a little too hard, kind of coasted on the third quarter, and then decided to give it everything on the last. They passed me anyway but it felt good to give everything I could. (5:23, 5:13) Unfortunately not enough of the run was in the yellow or better zone to count as a sufficient speed workout for the week, so I will pace Ben in the last four miles of UV half. Maybe I will bring a 1:16 pacer sign just to look legit :)

Getting bored with the 8 EZs so I threw in an 8X10 hill sprint at the end. That was different. Harder and easier at the same time.

I didn't want to do another EZ today, but with a nasty workout coming up Saturday I didn't want to go all the way to 10 hard either. So I split the difference and did a 10 HardEZ. Ha ha. I ran 1 easy then 1 hard on the 10 hard course, hard being somewhere between marathon and half marathon pace except the last one which I pushed a little past HM and almost to Threshold. EZ average as a little under 8, hard was a little under 6. We'll see how that goes for tomorrow.

Well what do you know - it really is exactly 5K to John's house.

 EZ 6

OK, so today's goal was to pace Benjamin Pachev in on his first run of any kind longer than 10 miles. It was hard to do the math for some reason, but I knew that if I started running at 5:30 at Provo Towne Center I could go up 8.5 and catch MM9 52 minutes into the race, just before he passed it, assuming that it was 2 miles to the finish line from PTC. Which it wasn't. So my careful pacing plan went out the window and I just ran up the canyon to Timp park at 8.25. And to my surprise the leaders were passing right at that moment!

I had never had the pleasure of accompanying the leaders this far into the race, usually being dropped by mile 2:), so I took advantage. I had to go at a 4:36 pace for a bit to catch up to Josh and Jonathan, who were running flawlessly in sync. It was awesome to behold, the perfect form, the submaximal effort. I ran out front for a little while but then I realized I needed to keep the speed in the tank for Ben so I dropped back in the gravel and tried to jog down SLOWLY. Then Jake came by, and Riley, and Matt, all looking really good, except Jake looked better than everyone, and with each person it was really hard to keep it slow, in fact I kept getting down in the 5s by accident. A group of 4 guys came by and I figured that Ben could be coming up any moment. So I ran backwards for a bit to see if I could see him. It turns out that the fastest I can run backwards is about a 5:40. I almost had a most embarrassing moment right there at mile 8. I saw Karl, then I was at mile 9. Waiting. For only about 2 minutes yikes he is moving! Looking kind of hashed but hanging in there great.

Turns out Sasha just couldn't let him run the first one solo, ha ha. So I joined the windbreak and hoped I still had the juice to keep up since they were running 5-10 seconds faster than I was in the Provo Half at this point. It was decently hard, but not too bad - perfect tempo pace! Ben went right up the hill and the finish line came into view. He was right at his max but the pace picked up to a punishing 5:44 for the last two miles, which put me into VO2max by the 13thmile. I backed off so they could cross the finish line without me falling over next to them and it was most triumphant! 1:15:26 is most impressive for a 14 year old. Then I realized that if I had actually entered the race I could have won Masters. ARRGH! Oh well it was really fun anyway.

So I jogged the last 2 miles back to my car with them and Steve, including a 64 second quarter at mile 16.5 just because I was still feeling great. Had to run around the parking lot to get my First Ever 60 Mile Week! Woohoo! I still feel great. This is really psycho. Splits were 7:04 to 7:25 for the uphill 8, 6:30s for the trip back to MM9, 5:57,5:58,5:44,5:44 for the last 4 of the race, and 9s back to the car.

To the gym, Springville Library, Mapleton city park, home.

Anyone is welcome to come an a downhill practice run with me tomorrow, my house 5:30 or driving to mile 1 of Hobble Creek course 5:50, up slow 1, down fast 3, up slow 3, down fast 2, up slow 1. I promise a brutal workout.

This one was pretty nasty but informative. I started at the bus dropoff for HCH, run up to the start, then down three fast. The three miles drop 160, 120, and 105 and took me 5:16, 5:20, and 5:16 so a good increasing effort across the three. I then ran back three to the HCH start slow and tried two down fast with the first moderately hard and the second very hard. I got 5:25 and 5:18. So, it looks like the endurance is coming up and even better I didn't go sub 5 on mile 1 of HCH but I am not guaranteeing it wouldn't happen in a race :)

Uphill miles were 8:15-8:30 except last one back to the car at 7:45.

Looks like yesterday was ideal, my calves feel ripped up in a million tiny places instead of two or three big ones. Nice 8 Krong Easy to make things feel good, looks like I'll rebound perfectly in time for Sat! Walter I am coming for you :P

1 hour moderate bike, really. Just getting the elasticity back to 100% for Saturday. Going to be a party! Goal is 1:12

Standard pre-race EZ 5k with three strides, one on the flat road, 14MPH on the TM, and an uphill sprint to cap it

This one was a slugfest. I figured with Walter just having done a marathon last week, all I had to do was glom on to him and follow him to his doom, then run the rest of the way on whatever I had left for the overall W. Or maybe let him pull me to a great time within my capability. Or failing that, run a disciplined 4x5:20, followed by 4x5:10, followed by 4x5:30 or until I couldn't hold it any more, followed by a disasterous last mile on the flat to uphill but still enough to do well.

It was not to be.

First off Scott showed up. Yeek. OK, maybe second. Then Lindsay Dunkley. Yikes. OK, third. Then Zack. Crap. Fourth. That's OK, operation domination is still intact for age group. So off we went to the starting line! I got a little tangled up in the starting crowd, looks like everyone wanted to be like Dave today. But Scott and Zack and Walter were all being a lot more like Dave than Dave wanted to be, in fact, after running with them down the initial big hill at a pace that once dropped to 3:53, I figured that discretion was the better part especially as I was using energy at twice the normal pace to stay in the group. Walter was beyond awesome and clearly completely unaffected by last week's race, and the other two were just plain psycho. So I dropped back but stayed in range, also being passed by Matt and Mike and one more person I believe. The Garmin wasn't working but when I passed mile 2 I saw it was at 10:10 so thank goodness I was running pretty slow, 5:35.

Oh crap that's not 5:35 that's 5:05. Math is hard in a race. OK, so now that all three plans are out the window at mile 2 and I am feeling a little tired already from going too fast now what do I do. I go to plan Z, just go to the firewall until you die and hope it's close to the finish line. I am focusing on Hobbler to be the disciplined half anyway, so this will be a good experiment to compare to. My only hope of passing any of these guys was if they accidentally brought laundry soap instead of gu, and the first thing I think of when I see a quivering pile of suds on the side of the road is not that I've passed a leader, so it probably wouldn't help all that much mentally anyway.

At mile 4 I had to stop and tie my shoe. I was shocked that Lindsay hadn't passed me yet. My cold hands moved like frozen noodles and it took me 30 seconds to do the deed. Then I got to chase Lindsay until she drifted out of sight. Now a bunch of 5:10 miles to the mouth of the canyon, just like I planned, ha ha, but Steve Andersen blew by me at+20sec or better near mile 7. Good grief, it's not bad enough to be chicked by somebody who belongs at the OTQ now I have to be beaten by a Steve too :)

But he settled in 100 yards in front and I kept gaining. Unfortunately, I hit the little wall at mile 8.5 and had to start walking the uphills. But it was only for a few seconds and he was getting killed on the hills too, especially the one at mile 10. But whenever I started back up again I would still be closing the gap, down to 20 yards at one point. He was like my own personal torture master. He had no mercy. Then the wheels totally fell off and I stopped caring. But I had to finish better than my Hobble Creek Half - I had banked 5:20 of sub-6 time so far and just a little more would put me in the 1:12s which was my goal for the day. Then Skip showed up with a magnificent 5:40 pace and dragged me .3 miles further down the road. I tried to pick it up but the aerobic just wasn't there. Maybe these high mile weeks aren't so good.

Mile 13 was beyond brutal, felt like mile 25 of St George. I really paid for the beginning miles at that point. I stumbled up the street, twisted around the turns, and cruised up the chute which just went on and on and good grief Who's the Comedian? I mean really? Oh, there's the arch. One last burst of speed and I was there. Ran some cooldown with the early arrivals, got my prize and bailed. Now we get to see what a disciplined half will do! Plus I will tie my shoes better. Here's the splits, as good as possible with the G troubles:

4:56,5:14,5:32,5:36 (shoelace)

5:11,5:09,5:20,5:32

6:11 (walk a bit),6:02,6:26 (walk more),5:51

5:47, 5:25 pace for last bit

Hey, mile 13 was brutal because I actually ran faster :) OK, that's better.

Started an easy run to the gym, sore legs said hold off a bit so I did. Hopefully I feel good enough to run with Sasha tomorrow, I am thinking yes.

Nice speed workout with Sasha this morning, we ran 5 up Provo Canyon slow. This fixed the leftover calf fatigue from AF. Then we ran down 3 miles at 5:30 except the last 500 meters at max, trying for a 73 quarter. I got a green mile and a yellow mile, followed by an orange 1100, a red 300 and a black 200, and we are talking 105% here. I haven't run that intensely in 6 years. It felt like an asthma attack at the end because I was trying to breathe so fast (but it wasn't). Times were 5:29, 5:28, and 5:15 with the last 800 in 2:28.5 and the last quarter in 71, even splits on the 110s. Sasha was pleased and so was I. Now I have to heal my calves up the rest of the way for Ragnar. It's going to be awesome.

EZ8 to the Gym and the Canyon

EZ8 down to 1600S and past parents old house

Ragnar legs 1, 13 and 25 with some running around before each leg  to get ready. The course watchers were a lot more tense about things this year, looks like somebody told them to tighten things up or else. Lovely. Anyway, the first leg started out with a smart uphill and then a trail flat/downhill, then through the canyon and town to the first exchange. I got out in front of the other six teams who had our 2:30 start by about mile 3, and widened my lead to 200 yards or so by mile 6. I somehow misread an arrow half a mile out from the exchange and turned left early, going off course. To make things worse, the Gatorade I was drinking combined with my first afternoon run in a while to turn my insides to greased rocket tubes, so I was having to hold my butt cheeks together with a truly Herculean effort, making odd Herculean noises as I went. I finally found the course again after adding .4 to it and ran from the exchange to the portapotties, where freedom promptly rang. Loudly.  Ooog. I had to visit portapotties in five additional exchanges before I started seeing tomatoes from lunch and things finally started to settle down.

Leg 13 was a leg I had wanted to run for a while, the one that descends Snow Basin to the gas station. It started off well marked with reflective arrows placed with loving care every 20 or so feet into the well manicured lawn of the lower ski slops, but quickly changed to arrows hidden like valuable Easter eggs in the tufts of grass. I was quite resolved to not get lost again though, so a bit of tiptoeing through the tulips andI found my way back to the trail and on to the road, where I Monster Mashed down the 8 miles of rolling hills and finished with a tremendous sprint that was straight from the heart. What fun!

The Nazis had decreed that if they saw our 27 foot sleeping arrangements anywhere on course we would be DQed, so I ended up sleeping in the car with Toni and Spencer. I suppose sleeping is a strong word, we each caught about eight winks or so. I finally saw dawn begin to brighten the east and waited until 5:30 when I could start to stir. Unbelieveably I still had enough in me to generate a sizable morning offering to the Honey Bucket, making what must be a record seventh successful portapotty exchange. I forgot to hydrate before my final flat 5 mile tempo run but it did not matter, I was spent and barely managed to squeeze out a 6:30. But nothing else thankfully.

We met up with SRC at the finish and it was a drama to the end as to who would come in first, but they beat us by two minutes or so. Plus the 90 minutes they started after us. Now I shall sleep.

8 EZ to the gym, found Franz on the way back and ran some pickups with him, nice .25 max pickup at the end

Excellent hill workout on the McDonalds BST route this morning, moderate run to the base, then threshold effort all along the trail. BST splits were 7:52. 8:51, 7:52. and 7:46, hills, rocks and twisties notwithstanding. A darn fine performance. I blew by two high school kids on one of the uphills like they were going the other direction. Still feeling good on the warmdown so I did a 5:18 pace for .4 miles. Calling it VO2 max but it wasn't. Why am I so much faster after the buttkicking than before? Ready for annoying nephew round one this weekend at Big Springs.

EZ7 around town and the gym,also 5X10 hill sprints and a 770 smoothly increasing screamer at the end, down to 4:20 pace

EZ8 around the town, these were really easy and clustered mostly in the 7:15-7:20 zone. Not sure why, but I felt better today than after any other run in the last month so it looks like my body thinks 50 is the new 40 now. So I'll stick in the low 50s for a few weeks, then look at moving up to the 60s for St George training in August and Sep.

I felt even better today than I did yesterday, didn't think that was possible. In fact I don't think I have felt this good in years. So I added a VO2max mile and .75 EZ on top of the normal prerace 5K to make for what was still a negligible workout - 1 hill sprint, 1 flat pickup, 1 TM mile at 5:04, and a 64 440 (also TM)

Both me and my A game are coming to Big Springs tomorrow, the nephew better be ready :)

The race so nice I ran it twice. I started off easy but it didn't matter, I was leading by10 meters at the bottom of the little hill. I quickly slowed  down on the climb and almost immediately was passed by a bunch of people, including my dang nephew who I so wanted to beat. And Seth strode by everybody like he was in a completely different race with more downhill. Good grief. Crossing the big meadow I managed to keep the nephew in range but I had to walk momentarily and he did not. I fell back to 10th place or so by the water stop in the second meadow, but my climbing legs were getting happier so I was barely walking at all. Uphill splits not too bad, 8:22, 9:08 and 9:29 OK maybe a little trouble there on the last big climb but the best was yet to come.

I was alone like usual at the top so I went into downhill monster mode right away, hoping to make up at least a little time and not get totally smoked by the little butthead. I got 5:48 on the first mile down, so decent. Then at the top of the big meadow I caught sight of him just leaving in front of Amber, totally phoning it in! Only 40 seconds in front with a little over a half mile to go. I cranked the downhill machine into 5th gear and upped the turnover, and as the pace fell through 4:30 I could see that I was visibly gaining on them. I blew by Amber at a 4 flat just after the little meadow and came around a corner and there he was, not 20 meters in front. No freeking way!! I immediately slammed it to the firewall and blasted him with a 3:45 surge, but he was not going to let me get it that easily. With less than a tenth to the park we Mario Karted at ridiculous speed. I knew that if I could jump the rail at the end of the trail before he did that I had him because nobody smokes me on downhill grass ever.

I did it! I was 6 feet in front - he's toast. I went to max speed + and to my horror I could hear him catching me! We were already at a 3:20 and dropping but I tried to eke out just a little more - no dice. I thought I was going to tumble into the finish as we passed through 19 MPH but fortunately we ran out of course before he caught me and I beat him by like two feet. Totally awesome finish. To top it off I got a 20 second PR on the course and broke my 1 mile record by 9 seconds, 4:46 for the last mile.

I am so toast at Freedom 5k next week :)

I ran the course again to cool down and did course cleanup.  46 minutes is much easier than 36.

Long way to the gym, then long way home. Too bloody hot to live. 

Speed Grab Bag

I accidentally left my car at work so I figured I would interval run and retrieve it. But it's not far enough so I started at the track. Once there (1 mile easy) I started intervals of various lengths with 3-4 minute jogging rests. The first 800 was on the track, the rest were on the road. Goal pace was 5 flat. I got

.5 at 4:52 pace

.5 at 4:58

.5 at 5 flat (finally nailed it)

.28 at 4:51

.36 at 5:13

.27 at 4:57

.23 at 5:05

.37 at 4:52

Traditional pre-race pickups, .2 on the flat at 4:20, .2 on the treadmill at 4:16, .12 uphill at 5 flat

I am so stupid. I thought it started at 7:30 so when I got turned away from the parking areas by the cop I was surprised. At 6:57 my sister called me an told me she was headed to the starting line with my bib and BY THE WAY IT STARTS IN 3 MINUTES. AUUUUGGHH! I ran the 3/4 mile to the line but it was too late - the huge crowd was shuffling through the gates. So the only thing I could do was wait around until 800 North was clear and then take off, hoping I could pass everybody on University. But it was tough - I was weaving and sudden stopping all over the place. Still got a 5:12 first mile, feeling a little tired but not too bad. Then everything got totally jammed up and I actually had to slow down for a time. Urk. Well it doesn't matter the @#$ nephew is going to smoke me even at my best anyway but I still have to try to break 18. The hill on 900 East was murder like usual but the crowd was starting to thin out since I had passed most of them (5000 runners) and I made it through the arch with a supreme burst of speed right at 17:59. Whew!

Then I found out that the Nephew of Darkness ran a 17:46.

 SaasaFRassWIggaNooga Riccken Raccken Frassa Rassen Ricca Frasser FudgeFudgeFudge Candycane Gumdropit crap.

I ran an extra 13 seconds on the distance alone, and probably lost 10 or so in the crowds. I know I missed another photo finish for sure.  But one cool thing - my Dad, whose mile time I am still trying to beat (4:27 high school) got in the race and actually ran in some places, finishing in 50 minutes. And I still got masters. I think. Better check the results. No, I'll just claim it :) OK I checked and there's a weird glitch with a 67 year old coming in at 15:50 who normally runs a 5K in 32, so I am adjusting my place accordingly.

Splits were 5:12,5:54(people),6:11(hill),5:25(bombing the finish)

Top of calves (or bottom of back of knees, not sure) oddly sore so I took it nice and 8 EZ to the gym.

Excellent run with Toni this morning up Hobble Creek, wouldn't have gone that magic 9th mile without him, felt like we were being pulled uphill. I did 4 fast from 12 to 16, got 5:45s (including a 5:51 on the mile that includes that nasty hill of the Hobble Creek Half) then at mile 17.5 I got a 67.5 quarter. Great way to finish the week.

EZ pace starting to degenerate from pure Krong to something a bit faster (7:17 today) but it still feels like I'm in the blue zone. Just ran around the town, will do gym later

Fun speed workout with the Lehi crew. It really is easier with the group. We warmed up 4 (seemed a little long) then farted around the track for a bit and got to work. Scott and Mike were out front setting what seemed like a deceptively easy pace, I can tell I need to go out slower on my 800s. I was feeling it by the end of each one though, but not as much as usual. I was shocked how easy it was to get through a 2:30 and a 2:28, but by interval 3 (2:30) the shorter than normal rests were catching up with me and I had to take a break for 4. Then I slammed a 2:23 with Scott for 5, possibly the fastest 800 I have done (well maybe not but it's pretty close). I was running out of time and wanted to do a 440 at the end so I did a 69 and took off to grab the fridge for the rental. I felt like I should have done one more at the end, so I didn't overdo it for the Hobbler Half on Saturday. Great workout, I need to do speed with other people more.

Now I have a new theory as to how you can win races. In training, you have to run really fast. Then don't stop for very long Then don't quit after just a few times. 

I couldn't bear the thought of three days without speed, so I ran to Whiting canyon EZ and did 10x10 hill sprints. Then I decided to simulate downhill race pace, which at Whiting is a bit faster than the Hobbler. I ended up with a 5:01 pace for 1.25 miles, felt pretty relaxed. Then I did EZ back home, which turned out to be a bunch of 6:30s (was 7:50s on the way up, nothing wakes the legs up like 10x10)

8 EZ past the candlemaker's mansion, down into the flats of eternal wind, then blown home along the highway.

Traditional pre-race pickups, .2 on the flat, .2 @ 14 on the TM, 5 flat on a 50 foot hill

I held it back!

I ran to the busses (about a mile) then did another mile in various warmups before the race. Too much - already sweating.

When the race started, Matt reminded me to hold back. And Iwas ready, even though it was really easy. My first two miles were according to plan (5:42, 5:38) and then I let it go (5:30, 5:42, 5:34) but then it started getting hot and thirsty so I stopped for a few sips of gatorade (5:53). I got back on the horse (5:44) but it was really getting miserable (5:59) and even with the slow start I was still feeling it a lot (5:51,5:49). I stopped for another drink (6:06) but once I hit that uphill and a last drink I felt like I weighed 200 pounds (6:06, 6:33). The finish finally came and I burned the last grass bit (4:58) but to my disappointment the clock had already gone to 1:16. But I still got a 28 second PR with the heat so maybe it wasn't so bad. I almost caught Mike Nelson in 4th place too! Right after I got in Mike, Matt and Justin did a cooldown run. I showed them a 3.5 mile course, but cooldown my eye - they were running 7:15 by the end and I got too dehydrated. Took me 10 minutes to run back to my house and three hours to get back to equilibrium, but got my second longest week ever!

Just about ready to head to Cheyenne tonight, in Nauvoo this week. Brutal workouts coming!

8 EZ in the humid soup south of Des Moines, Walnut state park. Not so EZ. 

Woke up a tad later than optimal for a speed workout in muggy Nauvoo. Sun shining the entire time, the original goal was four tempo miles. I stopped after the first one (5:44) and made a new goal of 4x1. Got the second one (5:47). Dying slowly, sweat dripping off shirt. Tried for a third, turned into a 2:52 half. Fourth was .82 at a 5:40 pace, not bad. Then I did .76 at a 5:25 pace. Then I swam across the lake to get back to the RV park. I believe this has had a good effect on my heat tolerance.

Time for the easy workout, out and back along the Mississippi river. Getting a little more used to the heat. Got up earlier too. Trying to get to Iowa City today to get emergency root canal. Camper blows out tire north of hwy 16, missed appt. Bummer. Ibuprofen handling it.

Out and back to the police station in Kearney, Nebraska. Much cooler, trying for a tempo. Still not feeling it.

6 bike and 8.6 run, really. Back home for emergency root canal with home dentist, cancels appt 1 hour before because wife is in labor, new appt Monday at 7. Down to 4 ibuprofin per day now from 12, I think the root is completely dead. Starting to feel odd pain elsewhere.

Diamond run, it's 4 uphill to the bench, 5 on the BST above Mapleton, 4 down Spanish Fork Canyon, and 4 back home. Kind of brutal today, ran the whole thing fast instead of tempo at the end.

I have been feeling a little fatigued in the workouts so with two races this week I am going to cool it a bit. 3 EZ around the original workout route from 7 years ago.

Traditional pre-race strides, .16 on the flat, .2 at 14 on the treadmill, 45 sec hill blast

A decent performance for me, but not what I was hoping for. Splits were 5:28 (downhill), 6:04 (uphill into wind) and 5:48 (neutral to downhill)so the effort was pretty constant and controlled. I hung out between the top two MMHS track guys for the first quarter, then it seemed likethey were dogging it so I passed them and almost lost contact but they caught me in the upwind portion. I let one of them pass me so i could use him as a wind break but it was the little one dangit (Hayden Cooper) so I didn't get too much advantage. Keeping up put me way past red so I backed off a little and the second one passed me shortly. We stayed pretty close, but steadily widening, and I missed the W by about 15-20 seconds. It's the fastest I ever ran that course by a second or two though.

Nice recovery run to Hobble Creek canyon

Pre-race strides again, .16 on flat, 14 MPH on the treadmill, 45 sec up the hill

Showed up at the start and could not believe my eyes - the battle of the titans was about to commence! I had so wanted to see this matchup, although I could never be there in person to witness the results for obvious reasons, but Scott Keate and Iain Hunter were about to duke it out for Scott's entry ranking in masters next March. I'll leave it to Scott to post the whole story, but since Iain was able to put him three feet under after Scott took the lead with a titanic 4:30 mile 5, I'm going to say that he debuts at a very solid number two. Fortunately his wife and the EMTs were able to dig him up in time and all looks to be well as I write this. I'll also say that I will never be bummed by getting repeatedly stomped by Scott, since it is crystal clear that he is willing to go wayyyy further into the pain locker for the W in addition to being a top tier athlete.

Anyway.

I have had an odd pain in my right adductor for the last few days, almost as if I kinked it or something. It goes away after I run for a tenth or so but otherwise it is there like an annoying kinked neck. So I warmed up super slowly, got everything shipshape, and went off super easy to make sure that nothing really got messed up down there. I was still with the lead guys, just not so much. Scott and Iain were way out front looking like they were on a fun run, gradually pulling away. I eased down the big hill and settled nicely into a 5:30 or so pace, 5:20 for mile 1 and 5:45 for mile 2. I didn't want to go too slowly though so I started picking it up off the couch. S&I went out of sight by 1.5, never saw them again. The high school kid I was running with hit the wall at mile 4, but a newly minted masters dude followed me and passed me at mile 7, hanging on nicely for what I thought would be third but ended up being second. Splits for 3-8 were 5:35,5:20,5:15,5:10,5:20, and 5:48.

Then we got to the nasty part of the course. Just at mile 7.5 at the fee shack, the temperature jumped 5 degrees and the humidity jumped 20%. It felt a little like Iowa again, and I knew that there would be no more speed today. Still though I wanted to try to tough it out but I could not get away with my no water trick in these conditions so I had to walk and drink through 3 aid stations to make sure I got enough to not crash. 9-13 splits were all 6:20, even with the walking breaks. Note that splits are (close) estimates because I ended with 12.98 as the course because the Garmin freaks in AF canyon.

We tended to Scott and taped Spencer's heel, then ran some cooldown while waiting for the interminable awards ceremony to finish. It was cool to be on the podium, but I would rather have not done it THAT way...

Muscles a little sore from Saturday so I did 1:10 on the bike, counting it as 8 EZ. Felt like a dip in an energy pool. Muscles still sore, but happy sore, not whiny sore. 3.5 of it was riding with my daughter to drivers ed. Fear the reaper, people, fear the reaper.

1.6EZ with 10 bike, not quite ready (still creaky calves)

I was thinking of a speed workout tomorrow, hopefully it will work out :)

Thought I was going to have to cut it short after 2 to the gym but the roller set the calves straight and everything felt great for the last 6. Time for some fun speed tomorrow.

Great run with Toni, Matt, Mike, Spencer, Reed, and others. Why do they have to be so far away? Matt did an uphill tempo at Provo Canyon, we had gone ahead so when he passed us I glommed on and held on for dear life. It felt good, but I could feel the lactic reservoir gradually filling and by the time I had gone .6 or so it was at the top so I dropped back. He's amazing - 5:40s and 5:30s uphill? Yoinks. I can't believe I actually beat him at HCH last year. I will be shocked if he doesn't go under 1:11. I ran a 2:20 880 with Reed on the way down, that was nice. Everything else was 6s, 7s, and one 8.

Pre-race strides with an extra mile thrown in there while waiting for Abigail to drive me to her driver's ed class. But since it's GG, instead of 14 MPH on the TM I did 15% and 7 MPH for 70 seconds.

I thought sure I had a rock in this race based on last year's times. But then we had a few track teams show up and Toni and Karl. So I switched to my original strategy - stick with the leader no matter what, then when I recover consciousness, jog it in to the finish.

So I jammed it in there with the lead pack and sprinted up the first switchback, in about 10th or so. They were already pulling ahead, but they all missed the turn! Hee hee. I was momentarily in first again but they only lost about 50 feet or so and so they all passed me in short order. I maintained distance until the grizzly hill, then they all began to pull away and I was passed by Summer and Amber and somebody else. But the top came soon enough and I began to grind forward at 6:10 on the flat, first picking off the guy that passed me and then Amber with another guy, putting me into 8th or so. About half the people missed the turn to the Mario Kart and ended up running though the weeds, they got redirected for a short extra loop after the meadow to make up distance. I got waaayy ahead of  Amber and the other two guys, and started getting close to the next group so I really jammed it on the final downhill but could not quite seal the deal. 1:27 PR though! (from 2010)

Then Toni dragged me on a nice easy run down-canyon to the water fountain. Then he decided we should run sixes back up it. Ow! No master! Please have mercy! I almost made it but not quite :) Maybe I'll go on a short run this afternoon to make it 50 for the week.

EZ run except I did HM+ on the Hobble Creek course uphill portion and a nice stride down 1600 . First time I have been at 100% since Timp, that was brutal. Felt great.

Now here's a workout I haven't done in forever. I had to get a baseline for my secret weapon on Thursday, so I ran the old 4x1 on the Maple Street square. Got the record, 5:39 average (5:32,5:40,5:57 uphill, 5:27 downhill) 3 minute rests. Now I know why I am not breaking 17:30 on the 5k but at least I am getting so very tiny gains down at that distance. At least for now :} 

8 EZ around the town, then 5 quick hill sprints. First two felt kind of sluggish.

Nasty little tempo workout, caught some brutal wind in the fourth mile. Splits were 5:48, 6:07, 6:05, 6:27, 5:58

Terrible sleep last night so not surprised at the mediocre performance.

Secret weapon test, day 1

I tried to run easy on my standard 8 mile course that intersects the gym. The weapon's neural feedback is extremely funky, but I found that when I just forgot about running things would work well. Usually I would look down and see a 6 where I would ordinarily see a 7, and a 7 for an 8. I also had enough energy left at the end to do a 5:42 up the short hill without too much effort. Course time as 3:05 faster, for a gain of about 22 seconds per mile. But I might have just been excited to try it. The real test will be next Tuesday's speed workout :)

Everyone on that run this morning is crazy. Just so you know.

Secret weapon test stage 2 - long run

Met up with a huge group, Toni, Brandon, Matt, Mike (we need a Luke and a John I think), Spencer and 5 or so others - mostly shirtless and getting well deserved catcalls all the way up the trail. The goal was 10 up, then a tempo of whatever you want down. Mile 9 was once again oddly magical, running at a 7:15-7:30 pace up South Fork and barely breathing. Not sure if it was the secret weapon, my good attitude, or some odd uphill mile 9 magic. Really nice weather, great running team, could have gone til sunset.

But it was not to be, for the Provo River Half had started while we were getting ready to turn around and here came Sasha! And it was on for Matt, Mike, and myself. We tried to catch Dave Holt but he was uncatchable at tempo pace, even when I pushed it a teeny bit faster (5:21 mile). Sasha eventually caught up to us and I was worried about pushing it to stay with everyone so I let them go a little bit, almost catching them again at Vivian Park. He was looking really strong too. I hope he passed but I doubt it :) Got 17:28 for the 5K. I figured I would go 5 at tempo because I was feeling pretty good, even with the cold that has been trying to attack me for 2 days now. So I got 5:32, 5:43, 5:39, 6:31, 6:01 and then I slacked off. Or tried to. I couldn't slow down! The weapon wouldn't let me. So I got 6:13, 6:08, 6:29, 6:48 (including the gas station hill, check that out) and 6:42. I was getting pretty tired though so I don't know if I couldhave finished the marathon today.

Then just now I was at WalMart and unconsciously ran from the parking lot to the door. I had forgotten about the 20! That never happens. I think the energy return is really helping recovery. Trippy.

Longest week ever, woohoo!

EZ 8 route, control run for last Friday. 34 seconds slower per mile without the secret weapon.(7:26 AP) That seems a little outside of psychological, but tomorrow will tell all.

Secret Weapon Test Stage 3 - VO2max 4x1

I was kind of dreading this one, because there's no psych component to it - it can't be faked. I always push my hardest on this one and the standard deviation is only about 2 seconds with a gradually declining trend. With last week's test at the all time record (and 1 standard deviation away from the running mean) there would be no hiding the results, and I wanted the dream to not die.

Mile 1 would set the tone, so I pushed it to max, and got 5:28. 4 seconds faster and all time PR (for mile 1)! OK, looks like we might have something. Mile 2 was 5:40, same as last time, but a slightly weaker push and some headwind.Mile 3 was 5:46,another PR and 11 seconds faster! Mile 4 felt slower but ended at 5:23, 4 seconds faster. Overall average was 5:34, a complete smash and almost 3 SD south of the mean.

I am forced to conclude that these shoes provide a significant advantage across the speed range with the smallest improvement at the highest speeds. Lower bound at any speed is 5 seconds per mile and likely faster due to sickness during the test period.  Downhill tempo test follows later in the week. Weapon deployment for HCH is approved :)

Not feeling it today, 5 EZ

I hate camping so much. From here on I think my wife can drag the kids herself. I don't think they like it either though...

After getting about 45 minutes of sleep, I got up and ran about 2.8 miles up Diamond Fork and then played on the downhill so I could determine if short quick or slow long strides were better for the secret weapon. It turns out that long quick strides are better. OK then.

Sleep now.

Feeling much better all around, got a solid 6 hours of sleep last night. Hip alittle sore so I just ran easy with no strides. Ready for tomorrow!

I had hoped for top 10, but this field was way too deep. Amazing race. I saw everybody at the start, but only wanted to do 1 or so for warmup so I left them to it and adjusted the Spingblades so there would be no rubbing on the top of the feet. I did find the perfect comfort zone, so that was cool. I was worried about cutting people up at the start so I blew out the beginning as quick as I could, then hung with Zak and Jacob for the first half mile so I could get some more great running pictures of me for Facebook. Thanks for the photo op guys :) Even with the big jumpback in the start position I blew past the mile 1 marker at 4:45, looked like the secret weapon was putting in an appearance.

 But then my thingy didn't dingy until 5:02 so I wasn't sure. Whatever. I was still feeling pretty fresh so I pounded mile 2 decently hard for a 5:27. But now I am 4 seconds behind last year. I lost another 8 seconds over the next four miles, 5:35,5:38,5:40,5:45 and one second on the flat seventh mile, 5:59. It was there that Scott passed me showing Brandon how to use his new superpowers. They invited me along but I was maxed. Scott stopped and tied his shoe and passed me again at mile 9, just so he could be sure to be in front mentally :)

Miles 8-11 were 5:48, 6:04, 6:00, and 6:09 - 1,4,4,and 5 seconds slower than last year. The final miles were at a 6:12 pace, but I made up significant ground from last year's last mile.

This year's GPS is about 0.6% slower to grab miles than last year's - I have noticed this on all my workouts. That was good for about 2 seconds per mile. The heat was somewhat significant, but probably only grabbed 6 or 7 seconds during the last part of the race. The move of the start line was good for at least 20, that was over 100 meters back. Overall I think I actually did a little better or just the same as last year, so not too bad. The secret weapon, however, does not do well on downhills. It is magnificent on uphills and good on flats, especially when you are accelerating strongly (even downhill for that). However, I have essentially no muscle damage from the race because of the shock absorbing it gave me so now I am not sure if I should bring it to the calf crusher (Nebo) or not. Probably not St George, the added weight of the shoes would become a definite drag by mile 16.

I totally blew out masters by like 6.5 minutes, kind of surprising. But I know I have fondled my last HCH masters plaque, unless Scott takes up hang gliding or something.

We had a huge group cooldown on the reservoir loop afterwords, got the awards and bailed. Fun day!

Surprisingly little damage from the HCH, did anEZ run today but I might be ready for speed tomorrow. If so I think I will do uphill intervals at Maple canyon.

Super fun speed workout alert!

Rode 3 miles to base of Maple canyon

10x90 seconds uphill VO2Max with 65 second rests (.22 miles avg)

.8 downhill on trail at 5:50, .5 on road at 5:40, 1.5 ramping from 5:10 down to 4:10 pace at end (strong downhill)

Practicing for Nebo!

Rode 3 miles back home

Relaxing 8 EZ to the gym and the canyon, 69 quarter at the end just for fun, grabbed a nectarine from the tree on the way in. Dang those things are big this year.

10 hard Springblade Megasuck.

OK so maybe my mind is waaay more powerful than I thought. I figured I would do my 10 hard route, but try it with the Springblades. Now that I no longer thought of them as a secret weapon, my body reacted in a neutral fashion and I was 15 seconds per mile slower! Good grief, makes me wonder what I could have done at HCH with the Kinvaras. I think next Tuesday I will have to have an uphill 660 with 3 in the Kinvaras and 3 in the Springblades.