In search of old age PRs

Out and back course from house up Emigration then Pine View early this morning.  Relaxed, easy pace up then marathon pace back down.  This is the longest run I've done this year.  I will try to get a 22 and 25 miler in before the Pocatello marathon.

Speed work at East High.  The track was very crowded this morning.  There were about 10 runners and a large group of middle school cheerleaders on the track.  Ran 1.5 warm up and cool down with 7 x 200.  My legs were sore from the 20-miler on Monday.

The miles are coming easy this week.  Ran 10 late in the day without water.  I also ran in new Asics Cumulus 10 shoes.  These are my current favorites.  I've been looking for a new shoe for over 3 years.  I use to run in Filas, until they changed the design and I've been looking for a new shoe(s) ever since.  I still have a pair of Saucony Pro Grids I need to try.  I like my Saucony Fast Twitch for races, so hopefully it will be my second training shoe.  If you need a review on any neutral, high-arch shoe, let me know and I can fill you in.

My 2 year old has a virus.  I hope I don't get it.  I can not afford to lose another week to the flu.

Tempo work at East High.  1 mile warm up and cool down with 8 x 800.  The track was packed again this morning.  A group of middle school cheerleaders took up most of the track after turn 2.  There were also 3 or 4 fast runners with a coach.  I'm not sure what the they are training for, but they looked to be young college guys.

Long run from house to Emigration.  The temperature was perfect.  I had a good pace coming back down into the Valley.  Just one more long run, then Pocatello!

My legs felt pretty good after yesterday's 22 milers, so did some speed work at East High (7 x 200).

Evening run from House to Sugar House Park.

Hard hill work out this morning.  Ran from home up to Wasatch/Devonshire drive on the East Bench. 

I also found out today that my Aunt can not go on an Alaskan cruise with my mother and her other sister.  It kind of stinks since we purchased it as a gift and it is nonrefundable.  I debated about going myself, but it is the same weekend as the Pocatello marathon.  I would be OK with it if my Aunt had a good reason or would have told me "NO" last month when I bought her tickets.

I decided to try a new trail run today, but unfortunately I chose unwisely.  I ran/hiked up a very steep Mount Olympus.  Coming down was not much faster and I fell once...hard.  Also, I did a poor job planning my hydration needs.  One bottle of Gator-aide is not sufficient to run Mt. Olympus in the middle of the afternoon.  Elizabeth was pretty worried when I called over 2 hours late.  I had to promise to run with my cell phone on all future trail runs.  The view at the top was incredible and I saw a really neat snake.

I was planning on 10 x 800 repeats in the morning, but it may have to wait until evening.

After my disaster of a run on Wednesday, my body is ready for a break.  I was planning on 10 x  800 on Thursday, but my toe and legs were killing me.  It was all I could do to run 4.5 easy today.  I have a 24 mile run planned tomorrow, so I hope to be over the "hurt."

Nice run in the rain this morning.  I was sore the first 3 miles, but the pain went away in my foot, toe and leg (Mt. Olympus fall).  I ran at a good pace, about a minute slower than marathon race pace.  I felt great and fresh at the end , probably from the cool temperatures and rain.  

7 x 200 at East High School with warm up and cool down

Easy run from house to Sugar House park.  The weather was nice and chilly.

Tough interval work out this morning at East High track.  This was my final track session before my marathon.  The track was packed with the Salt Lake Track club, cheerleader camp and the normal walkers.  I ran 12 x 800 with a 2:46 average pace.  I gradually speed up with the first one being the slowest and the last being the fastest (the track was slowly clearing out through out the morning).  I hope I'm not too sore for Hobble Creek on Saturday.

Early, lazy miles to Sugar House Park then faster back home.  I tried out some new shoes that may become my racing "flats."  They are the Asics Speedstar 3.  They weigh about 1 ounce more than the Fastwitch, but have a lot more cushioning.

Taper run around Liberty Park

A new PR on a very fast course.  Things started late, so it was already hot at the start.  I was feeling really sorry for the 2+ hour guys out there today.  We had an interesting exchange at the start of the race.  Apparently, some dude and his family rented the "entire" campground and did not want people using the bathrooms at the start line...good luck with that.  He actually asked the runners to "keep it down," because his family was sleeping...seriously...wake their arsses up and come watch the start of this race!  BTW-we all used the bathroom. 

Mile 1: 5:46  We quickly formed a group of about 10 runners with two females (one was Mary Anne, but I do not know the other).

Mile 2: 5:47  The group stayed together and people took their turn at the front.

Mile 3: 5:49  I was feeling pretty good, so lowered my race target from 1:18 to 1:17.

Mile 4: 5:45  My running friend Craig begins a little push and we start to break away and lose runners.  Craig is out front by himself but there are still 5 of us in a pack with one female (we lost Mary Anne here; I believe she was having a tough day).

Mile 5: 5:49  Still in a good group.  I can still see Craig.  He has become my race target and I follow him all the way to the finish.

Mile 6: 5:48.  We lose the other female runner and begin to prepare for the climbs.

Mile 7: 5:53 First climb up toward the golf course.  Things are getting very warm now.  A Runners Corner guy takes off from the group after his friends on bikes ridicule him about going slow.  He quickly gaps me, but I try to stay close.

Mile 8: 5:44 Nice recovery after a small climb.  The Runners Corner guy is now cruising.  He was sandbagging the top.

Mile 9: 5:57 We are now on the trail and it has some tough little rollers.  The RC guy has passed Craig and is probably running sub 5:00 now. 

Mile 10: 6:05 I'm on my own now for the rest of the trail.  I can hear a couple of runners behind me, but try to focus on my pace.

Mile 11: 6:13 A very gradual uphill section.  I get passed by another runner that appears to be flying.  I know I'm slowing down and try to focus on getting back up to speed.

Mile 12: 6:17 Turn into the sub-division when side-stitch pain hits.  It has been a couple of years since I've had one of these in a race.  I did a very poor job hydrating at the water stops and I was now going to pay the price in the hot sun.  Two more guys pass me.

Mile 13.1: 5:33 Home stretch running hard.  I do not want anyone else to pass me and I'm trying to catch Craig and the other two guys between us.  My side-ache was still hurting, but I tried to run through it.

Total time in at 1:16:30.  The last mile was work, but I didn't feel completely spent.   This is a fast course and if they would start earlier or on-time this could yield even faster times.  Nice run and nice finishing area.  Most of our Runamok group PR'd today.  The awards ceremony was delayed and the race officials kept complaining about age group placers or male/female bib changes.  If you are going to bandit the race or run with someone else's bib number, please don't let them scan you or take your race number...better yet...don't go through the finish!  I'm sure they will be even bigger Nazis about the race bibs next year.

Mike Vick won the Men’s divisions.  He seems to win it every year.  They should probably change the name of the race to honor him.  Also, Lindsey Dunkley won the woman’s around 1:12…that’s incredible-almost a course record.  She could easily qualify for the Olympic Trials with that speed.  Meet a few bloggers at the start and can say I beat Walter-lol.

Recovery run from house to Sugar House Park.  It took several miles before my legs began to work again.

Short run from house around Liberty Park.  Legs feel a little more recovered today, so will try to do a good run on Wednesday.

Marathon pace work on the track at East High School.

I drove the Pocatello marathon course yesterday evening.  The second half is going to be challenging.  The course actually starts on the East side of I-15 then runs south of Pocatello before following the highway north back into town.  I had no idea of this by looking at the course map!  Here is a quick overview:

The start is rural and steep.  It will be hard to hold back the pace the first 3 miles.  It probably drops a total of 600 feet the first 5K.  Also, I believe the road is open to traffic, but you really need to cut the tangents on all the curves up top.

There is a slight out and back at mile 7, but not much of a climb.  Also, a nice hill around 10.5 that stretches for 0.2 miles followed by a steep, short climb up to Inkom road around 12.25 (0.1 long).  Most of the course elevation drop ends at mile 13.5.  At this point you follow the freeway north back into Pocatello.

From mile 14-20 there is little shade as you have RR-tracks on your left and I-15 highway on your right.  Several rolling hills on this section between miles 15/16 and after mile 19.  There is a good drop at mile 17.5 to the 18.0 mile marker.

At mile 20.5 you go under the freeway and up a long hill (0.4).  This will be undoing of most runners.  Once you reach the top you are now on 5 lane highway!  You won't leave the 5-lane road until mile 25.5 where you turn into the park.  There is also a gradual 0.4 hill after mile 23.  This will be a very hard section.  You can also see the road for a very long ways!

The finish is at Ross Park and is heavily shaded.  It looks like a great place to finish, but is flat.

I'm excited to run the race next week and hope it will be fun.  It seems very comparable to Top of Utah, but it has some very long road stretches on the second half (places where you can see the course for miles).

Run from house to above Hogle Zoo (Kennedy) then MP back home.

Met the group at the Porter Rockwell trail early this morning.  I ran the first 5-6 mile easy, then the remainder at MP pace. 

I volunteered to drive the Sag vehicle after my 11.5, but had an issue with finding REVERSE in a Coach's old Toyota 4x4 truck.  It was pretty aggravating and embarrassing.  The 4x4 gear selector was labeled on the upper transmission control, but it was actually for the bottom gear selector...a little detail that took me 15 minutes to figure out.  So, I spent 15 minutes trying to get 2H, 2L and 4L into REVERSE!  I missed the runners on the next to last Sag stop and felt horrible.  So, here's some good info for the next SAG driver of Coacc's truck:  Use the gear selector labeled 4-WD (also the BRAKE light stays on all the time).

PS: Coach Bill recommended 5/4/3/2/1 of 200's five days out before my race in Pocatello.  I will give this a try starting Sunday.

Warm up and cool down with 5 x 200 at East High School

Warm up and cool down with 4 x 200 at East High School