Training for a Belt Buckle

6 miles in 1:07:28.  Can I take 7.5 minutes off my 6 mile pace in the next year?

12:10/ 12:02/ 10:46/ 10:24/ 10:54/ 11:05

Perceived Effort - uphills 7-7.5  downhills and flats 6-6.5

Taped the foot before the run and used my new insoles.  It was nice to get out and run. Focusing on eating well - so that means I'm hungry and need to adjust my caloric balance.

Hopefully I will get to the gym and do an hour on arms/core in a couple of hours.

Felt sluggish tonight.  It was getting dark as I ran the last mile - but nobody ran me over.

PE - 1st 4 miles 6.5-7   next 3 miles 7-7.75

I think it is kind of humid out right now - I was pretty wet when finishing. Nice headwind for about the last 3 miles.

11:48/11:20/11:27/11:17/11:21/11:26/12:12 (cool down time rocks!)

Getting some protein in me now - then I will head over and take Odee for a walk.

Leslie fed me a healthy, nutritious dinner, then we walked Odee around the park for a while.

Trying to decide if I can eat a dessert - I'm at 1650 calories for the day and really tempted.

I have had a hard time this week getting up in the morning and keep sleeping in.

Went to the gym at lunch and ran 3 miles on the treadmill.

3/4 mile at 4.5 mph (1.0 incline)

2 miles at 6.1 mph (1.0 incline)

1/4 mile at 4.5 mph (1.0 incline)

More to come later....

Ran 3.25 miles after work - trying to keep my pace around 12:30 for consistent effort.

Lifted weights (arms and shoulders) for 30 minutes.

Was finally able to wake up today after only one attempt at the snooze button.  The left knee was tender the first half mile or so, but then quit hurting.  I felt really tired today and just took it easy, but my body was feeling the effects of increasing my mileage.  I am trying to start doing 40 mile weeks this week and then maintain them through the end of January and I can feel that will take some getting used to.

Very slow::13:33/12:48/12:37/12:27/12:35/12:31

As I left work today I noticed a sign across the street about Sporting Goods closeout and stopped in to check it out.  The store is only open for 90 days but has a lot of running and exercise clothes at what seems like reasonable prices.  If anyone is interested - it is in Murray - up the street from the Fashion Place Mall at about 800 E Winchester Street (right before RC Willey) on the north side of the road.

Worked late tonight and shopped for puppy supplies on the way home - so it was after 6 before I started running.  I wanted to do very slow miles tonight, so I explored every inch of several subdivisions (lots of turns and culdesacs to slow me down) around my home tonight.  I checked out 3 small subdivisions and 1 large subdivision.

13:55/13:33/14:00/10:00 (.75) (I'm trying to convince Marion she is a speed demon)

Yay - I only have to do 11 miles tomorrow to hit the 40 mile mark!

I picked up Odee at 7 this morning and we headed up to Davis County to run on Antelope Island.  His saddle bag pack was so full of water and treats I had to help him in the back of my jeep. And - since I took out the back seat - I kept having Odee literally looking over my shoulder.

We ran the WhiteRock trail and part of the Lakeside Trail.  Odee's leash kept shutting off my Garmin until I finally switched it to a position it wouldn't hit it - so relied on other's readings for some of my mileage.  Odee did not allow for any warmup at all - he was ready to run, so we rushed through the first mile - with numerous doggie pit stops until he settled in.  I made him run pretty well non-stop until the bench at mile 3 (this includes a long - but not steep - uphill). Odee was so thirsty he drank an entire water bottle full of water at this break.  I did give in and let him walk part of the next uphill (it wasn't for me - honest :) ).  Jim Stead caught up to us at this point and told us he just got permission for us to run a new section of trail.

This section follows the northern side of the valley around White Rock Bay.  It eliminates a pretty tough uphill, but also a long section of downhill switchbacks I really like. It was sweet running new trail.  This was gentle up and downs and I let Odee set the pace on this section. For about a mile we circled 6 buffalo - but other than Odee and the bison eyeing each other they just ignored each other.

When I came down the backside of the trail - Odee could see my jeep and he was setting a good pace. He wouldn't drink anything because he thought the run was almost over.  Sucker! There were still 4 miles left.  He was enjoying the treats his mom packed in his lunch. We saved most of them for after the run.

Met up with the other runners at the jeep after 11 miles of running (and 1/4 mile of walking uphill) and Odee cadged beef jerky off a few of them until I gave him his treats and boosted him up into the car.

Went to lunch at IHOP afterwards with my sis, BIL, niece and her hubby and Odee came out into the parking lot and met everyone and was admired. After lunch we stopped at Petsmart and it was fun watching people's eyes get big when they saw Odee and hearing 'wow - that is one BIG dog!'.  Lots of people wanted to know what he was and pet him.  He probably saw 20 or more barking dogs and totally ignored them all.  Les - that's the secret - make him run 11 miles each morning!

On the way home Odee and I debated about whether we qualified for the HOV lane (it says 2+ occupants - not people) - but we decided to not push our luck.

Another Sunday and a chance to rest from running.  I did walk about 4 miles this morning and Leslie and I hiked 2 miles this afternoon - but they were all easy miles.

Trying to get some Christmas decorations up so that I can feel the reason for the season.  At least I got my Christmas Cards done today and a package ready to ship to Afghanistan and another package ready to ship to Italy tomorrow.

Hoping I can do another 40 mile week this week. 

Have a great week everyone!

Struggled with depression this morning and couldn't get out of bed, so I rushed home from work as soon as I could to get my mileage in before it was dark.  Switched my one pair of sunglasses over to the orange lenses for snow and put on some of my reflective gear.  I think I am stuck in tights for a while now (sob). I was glad I had on my compression tights because they are the warmest and kept my thighs pretty warm.  I modified one of my 4 mile loops to make it a 6 mile loop and threw in a couple more uphills.

12:36/12:04/10:44/11:29/11:53/11:15

Off to the gym to work legs and abs and back and then shopping to get a few more gifts to mail a second package off to Italy before the mailing deadline hits.

Headed out early from work to get my run in before it was dark.  I ran down to the Trax Station at 90th South and then ran the Queens Pigeon Trail for a couple of miles and back.  I got nice and warm on the way out and was able to unzip and take off some layers.  My left knee was very toasty between my compression tights and a neoprene knee brace. As I turned around to head home I ran into a slight headwind and the sun was off my route, so had to start adding back on layers.

About 5.5 miles I started feeling tired. About 6.5 the left knee started hurting if I picked up my pace, but as long as I maitained a certain pace it quit twinging.

1 hr 29 min total - 12:03/11:54/11:47/11:48/11:48/11:44/11:53

Off to hit the shower and then back to the office for the evening.

Have a nice night everyone!

Leslie conned me into running a tempo run today.  I was supposed to be her pacer, but I think I turned into a nag and a coach somewhere in there. The course was relatively hilly. Not significant hills, but I really don't think there was any flat terrain in the entire run.

Mile 1 (warmup) 13:08

Tempo 3 miles: 11:03/11:05/10:54 (we were pretty consistent given the hills)

Mile 5 (cooldown) 13:11

Leslie's goal was to run faster than her previous average.  I forced the warmup mile to be slow. Tried to give her mantras for the hills and rough parts, have her look at perceived exertion and tried to motivate her with creme brulee near the end. As I mentioned to Leslie, I think she can actually go faster, but she psychs herself out.

Good job, Leslie.  You are definitely improving.

I woke up about 4:45 and was out the door a little after 5 this morning.  I was running along when I passed a sign that said it was 6:40 and realized I had run longer than I thought and rushed home to get to work.

Now - back to work.

Ran another 4 miles this afternoon. I'm ready for a nap.

May not make my 40 miles this week.  Went to the gym and ran 6 miles on the treadmill.  I was coughing a lot last night and still doing so this morning and my chest feels tight, so probably getting sick. I was planning on 10 - but no energy and decided to be smart and quit while I was alive.

I am sooooooo excited!  My sister just called and said that the person who was buying the one remaining puppy is picking it up tonight (his girlfriend said she is buying a puppy this week - and he can't hold off any longer). So - she is bringing Twilight over tomorrow morning!  

I'm going to be a mommy again!

Regretting taking a long nap yesterday afternoon.  I am so psyched about the puppy coming that my brain won't shut down.  Read an entire book, then laid there trying to sleep for an hour. Finally at 1:30 I got up and went running.  It was nice and quiet out.  Clear sky with lots of stars. I was enjoying my Christmas songs as I ran and looking down on the valley.

3 a.m. - beat that folks!

12:50/12:36/12:46/11:55/11:41/11:25

(I'm going to regret this at work tomorrow)

Slept in with the puppy this morning. After work I made her do her training. My sister is spending the night and said the longest she has seen the puppies play is for about 15 minutes.  We had Twilight playing for nearly 90 minutes and she was so much fun - running all around. She is already a lot more comfortable.

After dinner, I went to the gym and hit the treadmill.  1st mile - warmup - starting at 4.5 mph and increasing every 2 minutes to 5.0 mph. Mile 2 at 5.0. Mile 3 at 5.1. Mile 4 at 5.2. Mile 5 at 5.3. Mile 6 increasing every minute from 5.4 up to 6.2 mph.

The puppy kept me awake a lot of the night wanting to play - so I will run this afternoon.

Here are some puppy pics - as ordered:

Just after arriving:

Posing at 7 weeks old:

The mighty hunter :)

Treadmill again. I was too tired from the annoying baby last night to dare run on icy roads.

1 mile warmup between 4.7-5.0. Kicked the treadmill up to 6.3 and started dropping the speed .1 for every half mile. Last mile went to 6.5 and dropped the speed .1 for every minute.

Off to meet my exDH and son for a dinner for our son's 19th birthday on Saturday.

Got more sleep last night with the puppy.  

After work I headed out running - hoping to get off the bigger roads before dark.  The wind was only really cold when I headed south each time.  I felt like I was running really slow with the yak trax on - but that might have been because I did speed work the previous two days. Legs got a good workout in snowy and slushy areas.  It was just starting to freeze again as I finished.

12:17/12:00/11:11/11:36/11:47/11:51/12:19

Still have to work out later today. I went across the street at lunch and bought a treadmill for days that are really bad.  I still plan to get outside most days, but if I think I have a chance of getting injured - give me a treadmill on that day.

PM - just finished running all around the neighborhoods by me.  My 6 mile time was more than 10 minutes slower than yesterday and the last mile was really tough - this wore me out.

I bought a NordicTrak Water Resistant/Wind Resistant shell at the discount sports place that is temporarily across from my work. I had it on over a long sleeved running shirt and it kept me nice and toasty.  Only cold part of me was my chin.

I was heading over to the oval to run and stopped by to see when they might deliver my treadmill. Rob told me to go ahead and run on the treadmill in the store - so I did.

Visited with Sasha, Sarah and family in the afternoon.  They gave me great information on eating better and Sasha overloaded my brain with information on training, diet, my proper weight, and computer geeky type stuff.

Sasha told me that he thinks I can run faster and farther than I think I can.  His first challenge was for me to run my 'target marathon pace' (for a 4 hour marathon) as long as I can on the treadmill (or until I flew off or dropped dead or something fun like that).  

Last December Leslie and I both did a sub 30 minute 5K on a treadmill and I thought I was going to die at the end.  I really didn't think I had improved much - but I have to admit Sasha's training methods are working.

1 mile warm-up at 4.5 mph.

Kicked it up to 6.6 mph (~9:04 minute miles) and settled in for the long run (small joke). The first quarter mile was easy. The second quarter mile I was sure I wasn't going to make it much more than a mile or so, but my body adjusted to the tempo.  The first two miles I was probably around a 8 on the Perceived Exertion scale. The third mile I could feel my breathing start to get a little rougher, but could focus on it and calm it down somewhat. PE was 8.25 most of this mile and the breathing was more strained towards the end. Unfortunately, I looked at the clock and realized I had to get back to work. Heart Rate was 168 immediately after the 3rd marathon mile.

My heart rate monitor strap has not worked on my last two runs.  Is there a battery in them that might have run out?

Sasha - I could have probably done another 2+ miles or maybe more before exhaustion set in. Do you want me to redo the test when I have more time?

PM - went to the gym and did 21 miles on the stationary bike. At 12 minute miles that totalled 5 running miles.

Easy recovery run down to Trax and along the paved trail there.  Lots of ice - definitely had to be careful even with yaktrax on.

Only 4 miles this morning since I like to run late on Christmas Eve.  Not sleeping soundly at night with the puppy bothering me leaves me tired - but we are gradually training each other.

It was cold outside! My calves were still tight from running in my FiveFingers on Monday. Tried to speed up the last 2 miles, but instead working on 25 step striders again and again.

11:43 avg/Max 6:49

13:06/12:29/10:55/10:17

Christmas Gift Suggestions (Oren Arnold):

• To your enemy, forgiveness
• To an opponent, tolerance
• To a friend, your heart
• To a customer, service
• To all, charity
• To every child, a good example
• To yourself, respect

Did 3 miles on my treadmill starting at 5.0 mph and increasing the speed every 1/4 mile.  I will do more after I get back from the movies with my son.

Ran to my office to get some database maintenance done and then ran home.  A couple of people stopped their shoveling to applaud my efforts.  (I though they were the ones deserving applause).

My yaktrax are already breaking, so I am going to go by Wasatch Running to get the better running tracks they sell.

12:24/11:37/11:20/11:39/11:44 (uphill through some deep snow at times)/11:36/11:47

I went with Leslie and her friend Gary to the Olympic Ice Oval and ran around the track there for 3 hours. I was able to run 15 miles without any walking breaks. This is 5 miles longer than my previous longest 'run' of 10 miles. I felt good about that, but my legs are really tired now.

Rest Day.  Got set apart as a nursery leader.  Entered all the previous mileage I had logged for the first half of the year before I joined the blog (missing a lot of treadmill runs).

My clothes have been feeling tighter this week and I couldn't believe the scale said 150 when I got on it this morning!  Threw out all the junk food in the house (except my Frango mints which I have not opened and are in hiding as a reward).

Breakfast - banana, milk

Lunch - ww wrap, ham, avocado

I will run later, but wanted to point out two of our blog members will be running the Across the Years race down in Phoenix this week.  Jim Skaggs (UltraJim) and Davy Crockett (Crockett). Jim is running the 72 hour race starting at 9 a.m. this morning (this is a lap race on an estate) and is attempting to run 200 miles.  Davy starts on Tuesday morning for a 24 hour race and is hoping to make 110 miles.  If you go to the Across the Years web site - you can see their times and pictures.  Both of them have told me they would appreciate emails with encouragement, telling them to eat, funny (or stupid) jokes, etc to read as they run their laps.  The link for these emails (send greetings link) is at http://www.acrosstheyears.com/.  Thanks!

PM: I went out for a 3 mile run and got motivated and did 5.5 miles.  The roads were not too bad, but started icing up as it got darker.  After just one week I can already tell that daylight is lasting a teensy bit longer.

11:03/10:37/12:07/11:40/12:04

4.5 miles easy on my treadmill.

I'm racing this afternoon, but wanted to mention that Davy Crockett is approaching 103 miles in his 24 hour race (www.acrosstheyears.com).  The race ends for him at 9 a.m. He has set PR's at 50K, 50M, 100K and 100M. Right now he is in 3rd place.

Jim Skaggs is in the 72 hour race there and at 120 miles. He appears to be struggling, but is still continuing to keep on moving.

Go post some emails there and cheer them on!

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Race Report:

1 mile warmup

OK - Sasha wanted me to do a 5K time trial to see how fast I can go.  I was really scared about this because I knew I would have to be uncomfortable the entire race.  I also knew that I had to overcome a mental block I have that says I cannot run fast on the road.

Mile 1 - I started out pretty fast, but was kind of bummed that I was soon in last place.  I decided that I needed to keep pushing myself and would look at my watch and sometimes say 'wow' and other times say 'push'. 9:10 - the body was warming up.  I was breathing hard, but not feeling tired - so far so good on the mental block.

Mile 2 - Sasha passed me on the out and back shortly after the start of mile 2. I was speeding up at times, but still dead last and making no progress at picking off other runners. It looked like they were all running easily.  Benjamin encouraged me at 1 3/4 saying "you can do it." That was nice.  Shortly after the turnaround, one of the guys that was running with a girl about 20 feet ahead of me, slowed down to a walk. Chicked him.....9:07

Mile 3 - I kept telling myself I could push harder. Breathing was really difficult at this point in time. I was really spent.  Chicked another guy right around 2.5 miles.  There was a small uphill and I tried to push up it. I could see the church where we finished and kept saying "get me to the church on time." With two turns to go I was pushing hard and feeling like I wanted to quit but refusing to quit. Shortly after that turn Sasha and Julia came back and got me and kept telling me to catch up and give them 5. I think I caught up twice. Sasha also guided me on the fastest area to run in to avoid ice.  8:51

Home Stretch:  Sasha was telling me to sprint.  I couldn't get anything else out of my body and was trying hard, but just didn't have any get up and go left. (on pace for 8:10 - so I guess I did sprint some).

That was just plain HARD!  But so satisfying.  I took almost 3.5 minutes off my previous PR and that was on a short course.  It sure felt good to quit running. Sasha kind of looked at me like 'I told you you could do it.' Sarah said he must have been pleased at my effort because he wasn't yelling at me. :)

Avg: 9:01/Max 7:07

2 miles cooldown with Sarah (12:00 avg)

I won a blue ribbon and $2 in prize money for winning my age group (ok - I was the only old person there). I am going to frame my award and prize money.