Dave's Addiction

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.