Training for a Belt Buckle

2 miles early this morning with the dog.

Drove up to my old stomping grounds and ran the Bonneville Shoreline Trail between Kaysville and Layton and back (starting 3.5 miles of the Wasatch 100). 

Went to a Mental Mastery seminar at my old personal training gym.

Woke up this morning with a rash all over my upper body and torso.  Never had that happen before.  The only thing I can think of is maybe a combination of sun allergy and wearing a running tank that I have not worn in several years (and having it on for several hours after running ended).  

Supposed to be a day of rest, but got online and found our website and application were not up and running and had to get the Michigan IT people online and go to our colocation facility for a couple of hours.  We have it running again, but need to order some emergency parts first thing tomorrow morning.

Took benadryl last night and finally got a good night sleep and was able to get out the door around 5 this morning.  Ran 5 miles alone, then another mile with the puppy as a cool down.  Did the quarry loop to get some hills in.

Got a lot done at work today.

PM - 1 mile walking the dog in the heat.  Ate dinner. 1 hour at the gym working hard on chest/triceps/core. 1 more mile walking the dog in the lesser heat of the day.

Got out the door by 5 and did 5 miles running on a route I have not done in a while.  Down 7th East to 80th South then to the Trax trains and alongside the trax trains to 90th South and then back.  There is one section alongside the trains where there are no lights and the road is really cracked and pitted and had to feel my way along in the dark in the FiveFingers since they are not as stable as running shoes.  I felt like I was in a cheap horror movie when (in the same stretch), a car suddenly started up as I ran next to it (never saw the owner come out) and then a few minutes later a couple of bikers started up on the road without making a sound.

1 more mile walking with Twilight as a cooldown.  At work now and drinking my milk/protein/spinach/blueberry/pomegranate shake for breakfast.

PM - started off walking to the gym for an abs class.  Met up with Steve Ashbaker and talked with him for a while and then ended up running the remaining mile to the gym. Did a 20 minutes abs class, then 50 minutes of back and biceps.  When I came out the temperature had dropped over 13 degrees in the 70 minutes I was inside and there was a nice tailwind, so ran home 1.3 miles from the gym.

I planned to do more than 1 mile today, but slept until 6 this morning and ended up doing 12+ ours at work (busy week - don't ask). Too lazy to do more tonight.

It's going to be a low mileage week this week. Just walking this morning. Race at midnight tonight.

PM - walked the dog over to pick up my race packet at the Rec Center.  T-shirt is not half bad (for a non-techie shirt). It glows in the dark.  If it cools off tonight and doesn't rain I may actually race in it.  I'm going to try a new light my sister gave me that hooks on the bill of my running hat. It pays to register early - my bib number is #4.

I wasn't sure what to expect on this race because I am normally exhausted by 10 p.m. and staying up for a race at midnight was questionable.  I convinced Melinda Aaron from the blog to run with me and we met part way through my warmup.  

1.5 mile warmup.  I was wearing a new headlamp my sister gave me that clipped onto my bill cap and it worked well for checking my garmin.  They had 300 people signed up this afternoon and I think there were about 350 total entrants.  Between injuries and sickness I didn't expect a PR - I wasn't really planning on racing - just staying sub 30 minutes for the race.

Lost a few seconds at the start because we didn't hear the start and then had to pick our way through the pack.  We split up quickly because Melinda is younger and faster than me.  I was a bit ahead of pace the first quarter mile because I knew it was a gentle uphill - looking back I wish I had pushed that first quarter mile more.  After the second corner, I realized the gently uphill was followed by a long and not so gentle uphill.  I kept passing other runners and lots of walkers, but was frustrated because my pace was above 11 mm pace at times. (OK - the guy pushing the double stroller that blew past us on the uphill was pretty annoying). Finally at .95 there was a bit of flat and then another small uphill. 

Passed one mile at about 10:22 and knew I had some ground to make up.  I was also a bit concerned because my right achilles tendon was still very tight.  A little after the 1 mile mark the course flattened out for a couple of blocks and then started the downhill.  I tend to be conservative on downhills, but was feeling the racing bug and started pushing myself relatively hard.  I passed about 30 or more people in mile 2 and didn't get passed by anyone.  The tendon loosened up sometime during this mile and finished mile 2 in 9:18.  (7:37 best).

Mile 3 was a combination of flat and about a quarter mile of gentle uphill before a final downhill section.  I was passed right after the downhill ended by about 5 other runners, but managed to pass them back and about 15 more in the final mile.  Caught one guy I had been chasing down most of the race at about 2.5.  The last several blocks were on a paved path that had a lot of weeds and ruts and I had to try and speed up to shoot gaps and pass runners.  Finished the mile in 9:12. 

Two teenagers caught me right near the end, and I was not able to get enough of a kick to gap the final runners about 1/4 block ahead of me. 

Melinda high fived me in the chute and was excited that she had finished 4th in her age group, but mentioned that she wished she had pushed a little harder to get a prize.  I was shocked and pleased to find that I was 4th in my age group and also wished that I had pushed a little harder to get an age group prize.

It was a nice, but tough course and I think I am going to train on it some during the day time in order to come back next year and really race this course.

AM 2 - couldn't sleep in even though I desperately needed it.  Just did 2 miles with Twilight and picked up some breakfast along the way. I ache from lack of sleep - so an Ibuprofen day.  I'm going to do pushups/biceps/triceps and core before I start getting ready for the wedding (not mine :-))

1 mile jogging warm-up followed by 4.5 miles of pushing the pace on my hilly quarry route. (11:51/10:11/10:25/10:28)

1.17 miles jogging cool down with the puppy.

PM - 11 miles biking to Draper and back.  Stopped at the gym and did chest/triceps/calves for 45 minutes.  I didn't eat enough today and could tell it was affecting my strength.

1 mile walking the dog to her training class and back.

Not feeling the love yet this morning.  Walked 1.5 miles fast with the dog and was in the office by 6:15. I'll walk another 2 miles at lunch and then do some pool work and weight training tonight.

Wish I could lose 2.5 pounds every day. (too bad it will never happen). 

Problem with speed walking at lunch - I was soaking wet beneath my clothes for an hour after getting back at work.  Luckily - no one is in the cubicles next to me :)

Tonight I did 30 minutes swimming, followed by 20 minutes of abs. 

1 more mile with the dog.

The plan was to do a 3 hour workout this afternoon. Coming home from work I wasn't sure if I could do it because I was bonking without even working out.  Ate a big tuna fish sandwich with some milk and after an hour was feeling stronger.

Part 1 - Treadmill workout.  .3 mile at 5.0 mph.  Had to take a potty break because I figure Gold's Gym would not appreciate a VPB.  1.0 mile further warmup at 5.0 mph.

Tempo/speed workout (for me): 1 mile at 6.0 mph. 1 mile at 5.5 mph.  Kicked the speed up to 7.0 mph and for the next 2 miles decreased the speed .1 mph after every 10th of a mile until I got to 5.8 mph and then started back up.  1 mile cooldown at 5.0 mph. During the speed portion my heart rate was between 80-95% of my max heart rate (near the end it was up to 173 at times and my max heart rate is about 177).

Part 2 - got some shot blocks in my system and immediately started a hard leg strength workout. It was supposed to be tomorrow, but I figured it would be best to pound my legs all in one day and then do tomorrow as a recovery & back/biceps/stomach day. (50 minutes)

Part 3 - Arc trainer for 30 minutes - keeping the heart rate under 132.

Part 4 - Walked the dog for 2 miles.  We stopped for a sugar free snow cone on the way home and that was so delicious.  Now we are sharing our 100 calories of popcorn as I blog and stretch.  Twilight's favorite flavor is mango and she is crazy about popcorn (no spoiling of the dog at my house).

4.5 miles brisk walking with the dog this morning.  Nice day out so far.

3.75 miles speed walking in the AM with Twilight around Wheeler Farm.

PM - decided that I needed to get some hill work in if I am going to survive TOU and St. George (and if I survive Park City next Saturday).  Ran 4 miles up Millcreek Canyon (walked maybe 1/10 of each of the worst uphills - able to keep on trudging otherwise). Rested for a few minutes and then ran down those same 4 miles.  I felt like I was in a race - people were applauding me on the uphills as I passed parking lots.  The piriformis in the left hip bothered me a lot and I felt the left knee for about the second mile of the downhills. 1/4 mile cooldown.

Splits: (comparing the same mile uphill and dowhill)

Miles 1/8  13:28/8:57

Miles 2/7 13:06/8:59

Miles 3/6 12:39/8:52

Miles 4/5 13:26/8:59

Mile 8 was a struggle - the legs were definitely tired from all that uphill and downhill.

Now I'm trying to decide on the rest of the week's schedule and Park City

AM - 1 mile walking the dog

PM - 5 miles running, 1 mile walking the dog.  Still concerned about the left piriformis.  Just stretched really good. In a while I will roll it out and then ice it.

Should have run this morning. Wasn't feeling the love and the entire run was a struggle this afternoon.

Not feeling too well today, so going to take a rest day to recover before Park City on Saturday.

1 mile walking the dog in the morning.  1 mile walking the dog in the afternoon.  She did not like the heat of the day.

Ran 3 miles in a roundabout way to Wasatch Running Center. Some hormonal teenager skateboarded alongside me for about a block watching me and then finally said, 'Nice Bouncing Betties' and skated off.  I resisted the urge to call him a little perv and just smirked and said Thank You.

Picked up my race packet for Park City (finally - tshirts sizes that someone other than Smooth can wear!).  Bought a bunch of gus and blocks.  My favorite marathon shorts developed 2 holes this afternoon, so bought 2 new pairs to try out.  

That reminds me of a funny story back in 2007 when my 17 year old was training for St. George. Most of his long runs would start at 10 p.m. on his day off (he worked nights cleaning Lagoon) and I would either meet him every hour or so or we would drop water.  The last 5 weeks, I did a couple of runs with him to get him used to drinking every 2 miles like in the marathon. I would drive my jeep ahead 2 miles, park, then run back to meet him and run back to the car and give him drinks and gus and then leap frog ahead.  About 10 miles or so into the run he started complaining that his compression shorts were torn.  I had mended them a month or so earlier - but I guess he was too 'manly'. :-)  Anyway - about 2 stops later he really was complaining because he was starting to chafe on body parts that he didn't like being chafed. I finally came up with the idea of trading shorts.  He climbed in the front of the jeep and I climbed in the back and we threw jackets or blankets over us and traded shorts.  Needless to say - I had a nice breeze the remainder of the run (luckily they were shorts with compression shorts inside the outer short).

2 more miles walking home.

Too tired to go into detail now - but finished the race as a long training run and was pleased with my fitness considering how crappy my health has been this summer and that I have not felt good since Wednesday morning.

Details and pictures to come....

OK - I rested for a while, so will post more details.  I am not going to post my splits because I did not 'race' this race.  I went into it as a training run for St. George.  This has not been my summer for running between injuries and illness. Even this week I battled being sick Wednesday through Friday and my cough kept getting worse. 

Leslie and I decided to start a little after 5:30 and I was going to pace her at a run 4/walk 1 pace through the marathon.  It turns out they changed their early start method, so we inconvenienced the RD a bit, but she let us start as a second wave.  I think we finally headed out between 5:40 and 5:45 a.m.  Luckily it was warmer up there than the past two years (49 when we started) - so on top I had my UVM shirt, sleeves, and gloves and was pretty warm except for right around sunset.

The first four miles were a challenge in the dark, but we found the course okay with headlamps.  Gary was running as a bandit and Leslie's pacer.  I had planned to stick with Les the entire race, but the first few miles gave me an indication that I was going to move faster than her and since she had Gary, I finally told her I needed to take off at 6 miles.

Continued with the 4/1 schedule and was enjoying getting the legs moving faster after that.  The first runner passed me right at 8 miles and was already about 100 yards up on the second place runner, then another 100 yards before the next two runners.

Shortly before that the 4 hot air ballons were up in the air. I always enjoy watching them as I run.

AmberG passed me around 9.5 miles as the second female runner.  She was only about 50 feet back from the number 1 female and I hope she won.  I saw the former #1 & 3 runners at the turn in Park City and never saw Amber, so hope she was in the lead by then.

Davy Crockett passed me around mile 10 and said hi.  I can't believe he ran the equivalent of another marathon on Friday.  He is awesome.

I was really hungry about mile 11-15, so started popping in a bit more shot blocks.  I decided the Park City Marathon course is a bit like having a baby.  I only remembered a few uphills, but when you get on the course, you find out most of the first 16 miles is uphill, with a few more thrown in later for fun.  I forget about them after the race. 

Did a little more walking on the steeper uphills through the backside of old Park City and up to Deer Valley.  It is sure nice to get to the top of the parking lot and get some downhills after that. It was starting to get really warm then, but I had a woman offering free showers hose me down pretty good and that helped a lot.

About mile 19.5 I was cruising down the city street when some runner rudely elbowed me. Almost said something not nice when I realized it was RAD, accompanied by a posse of Smooth and Bec.  We said hi and then got our picture taken together at the mile 20 aid station (where I was grateful for bananas and oranges).

The legs were starting to feel a bit tired and I had a few tiny twinges in what felt like the ITB area on the left knee, but knew I just needed to keep pushing and get done.  Shortly after the old barn, we turn and head through a culvert and I saw my sister up ahead waiting on her bike.  She accompanied me the rest of the race and took pictures for me.  It was great to have her along and see her looking healthy and having fun with me.  She is a great support system (especially since she had to be a nurse tonight from 2-10 and again tomorrow from 6-2).

The mailman from my work, Mike DeWaal caught up to me around mile 22.  He pushed me for a mile until Marcia caught up and took our picture and then I dropped my pace again. Mike was running this as marathon number 49, so that St. George will be number 50 for him. 

It was nice to pass the final uphill right before mile 25 and get near the end.  I had a great kick at the end - which leads me to believe I had more in me than I knew. But - again - this was a training run, so that is how it should be.

Stood around the finish for a while, then walked back out a half mile to meet Leslie and Gary and run back to the finish with them.

My sister then took me to lunch at the Cottonbottom Inn for their yummy garlic burgers.

I plan to ice bath tonight and then tomorrow do some ultra marathon prep by doing 11-13 miles slow to get my body used to moving on tired legs.

Not feeling the love nor very ambitious today.  Last year I did Timp with my son the day after Park City. Today I just feel old.

Took the puppy and ran/walked 8.1 miles on the Pipeline Trail.  This was her longest run ever. Put a cat collar on her so I could hear the little bell and know where she was an not worry about stepping on her.  She is one tough dog - couldn't even get her to take a drink on the run.  I think I am more worn out than she is.

Nice weather today. Some wind and light rain on the trail.  I was surprised to find my car and the road totally soaked - the trees must have blocked the worst of the rain on the trail.

Rest day today.  My knees are feeling every bit of their age today and are not very happy with me.  

I may do some weight lifting tonight - but I may also decide that watching a movie with Leslie is as strenuous as I want to get.

65 minutes pool running followed by 2 miles brisk walking with the dog.

1 measly mile tonight between work and starting a shift at the temple. Gonna try and get up early tomorrow and do 7-8 miles.  Time to put my database work to bed for the night.

Did a hilly route this morning up to 13th E, over to 94th S, up past where my sister used to live above AltaView Hospital and then back home. 6.75 miles running, then another 1.25 miles jogging with the dog as a cooldown.

Did 4.5 miles easy running around Wheeler Farm tonight. 

I noticed the Walk to Cure Diabetes is there tomorrow and looked it up on the Internet. So - maybe this is just me being fussy, or maybe this is a sign of the obesity times.  When I was younger and they would have 'walks' such as this, people would get pledges by the mile and people would walk between 15-30 or more miles in a day for one of these.  Now, they are 5K's.  So - no one is really putting forth an effort, just money.  I was wishfully thinking it would be one of the old 'by the mile' walks and I could go and do a 50K run at the park to earn money.

3 miles down to the Trax trail and back with the puppy.  She ran 2.5 of it.  I have her in training now for her 5K PR attempt in November. :-)

I was thinking about the run at Wheeler Farm with the dogs. Les (I know you will read this) - maybe if you drop Odee off early at my place and pick up Twilight for me, I could burn off extra Odee energy and then we could each take each others dogs during the race. What do you think?

My knees and ankles have been really achy all week (maybe from the marathon?).  I massaged the ankles last night and that helped some, but need to work on them more. Time to also get serious about losing weight.  I think some of my motivation problems have stemmed from weaning myself off anti-depressants in March.  Probably time to break down and realize I will function best on a low dose the rest of my life.  Too much family history of mental illness (man - leaving myself wide open here :-) ).

Time for some work on my balconies.

Les - thinking of doing the Pipeline Trail tonight.  Do you think Odee could handle the full distance?  Would you want me to pick him up?

PM - 9.35 miles on the Pipeline Trail with Leslie and Odee.  Funny story about that.  I went ahead and Leslie planned to run until I met her on the return loop and then turn around.  I turned around at the end (4.75 miles) and was Leslie and Odee about 1/2 mile away turning around. I decided to push harder to see how long it would take to catch them.  I was sure I would do it way before the Church Fork trail (1.5 miles to go). Nope.  That defeated me and I slowed down.  I was amazed at how much Les had picked up her speed. Got back to the car and she was resting there.  When I 'bowed to her greatness' she remarked that they only did about 6 miles total because Odee was wiped out.  Either I imagined it or there was another runner in a pink shirt with a dog that turned off on another trail.

Rest day today.

The right knee is really bothering me today.  I taped it up with corban and that almost makes it hurt more, but I think I need to take it easy for a few days.  I will try and get some swimming in on Monday and Tuesday and do my weight training and hope a few days off (with some dog walking thrown in) and anti-inflammatories will let it heal quickly.

The right knee is still pretty sore on the inside of the knee when I try to straighten it fully.  I am going to do an upper body workout tonight and a little walking, but nothing to blog about.

I have a doctor's appointment for tomorrow afternoon just to make sure that I am letting the leg heal correctly. With two marathons and a 50 miler in the next 6 weeks, I can't push the leg and have it recover in time.

My plan right now is to not swim or run until I go on vacation on Thursday morning.  Then, lots of hiking on vacation and maybe some gentle running. 

I do want to do some pushup and core/abs work every day while on vacation.

Exciting - we have tickets to Wicked on Sunday night!