Training for a Belt Buckle

Good run to start the week with.

My speed work on Saturday started me thinking and I realized that I probably do too many of my training runs as easy runs.  Today I decided to start 'pushing' myself out of the comfort zone a couple of runs each week.

After a 1 mile warmup (including a swing back to my house for a bathroom stop) I started throwing in some speed striders at the start of each mile (for 5 miles) and was trying to keep my pace under 11:00 per mile.   Somewhere around mile 4 I decided to see how closed I could come to a sub 60 10K. My previous 10K PR was 1:17:21 back in 2006.  It probably would have been smarter to decide to run this pace a little earlier - because I wasn't watching where my mile splits were.  Even as I write this, I haven't figured out my time - but considering at 7.2 miles I was at 1:15:05 - I think I can safely say I PR'd. :)

13:05 - mile 1 warmup

11:38/10:17/9:59/9:49/9:35/9:26/9:16(.2) - I'll call it a 1:02:00 10K - Blew the first couple of miles - but I think I did negative splits.

I spent last night organizing my paperwork and office and cleaning up my house.  I then slept 10 hours to make up for not sleeping a lot the night before. So - woke up to the dog barking just in time to shower and go to work.

I'm just wondering about how I can adjust my life to still have a life and get all my workouts in.  If I go to the gym tonight - I will be doing cardio for 1-1.5 hours and lifting weights for an hour. I still have to eat, walk the dog, play with the dog and try to get some scripture and computer studying in.  I look at some of your training out there and am just going wow - how do I keep on handling all of this.

PM - ran .8 miles with Twilight

Tried a new route tonight. Ran nice and slow - which was good - because there were a lot of uphills. I went up 7th East to 90th South. East on 90th past where it become 9400 South and up to Highland Drive. North on Highland to Creek Dr. Back west on Creek Drive until the little road going up, up, up to 1300 East. Over to Gold's Gym. 6.4 miles at this point in time. 

Worked legs hard for an hour. Ran home drinking a protein shake for dinner.  Finished at 8.2 miles. 

Did 35 pushups in 5 sets with Twilight running up and down my back. Had to do a lot of them as girls pushups because I had a groin muscle that didn't like men's pushups.  Did the ab workout  from Runner's World.

Going to bed. Les is coming by early tomorrow morning.

Leslie came down and joined me for a morning run. Since we left a little later (5:30) - I had some time to play with the puppy and sit over a heat vent to get warm.

6.2 miles total - 1:12:46

2 miles warmup

3 miles speedwork - 10:07 / 10:04 / 10:08

1.2 miles slow/cooldown

Leslie at first only wanted to do under 11 minute miles, then she decided on 10:30 pace.  I told her to tuck in behind me, but she was doing pretty good and actually running faster, so I just stayed next to her and called out the pace every 25-50 steps.  About halfway through she started getting tired, so I had her tuck in behind me because we had a slight headwind. She thinks that helped a little.  She wanted to do the last mile at 10:30 pace, but her pacer had other ideas and I actually was keeping her between 10:00 and 10:15 - with a final sprint at the end.

Great job, Leslie!  I am proud of you.

3/4 of a mile with Twilight.  Off day - so day off.

5.4 miles in 1:02:39.  I hit the snooze button one time too many and have to be in at work early to take the puppy to the vet for her shots tonight.  Left Achilles Tendon took about 3 miles to warm up.  I'll put in more mileage after work.

PM - had a lot of energy tonight, so went out for a 2-3 mile run that ended up being 3.4 miles. As I walked in the door, one of the ladies from church called with an extra ticket to the Draper Temple Open House tomorrow for my sister, so I ran to her house and back.  She lives about 100 feet from me - but it was almost a mile and a half there and back because we are separated by an 8 foot tall fence.

Race day today.

I got up early and headed down to Provo and watched Sarah and Sasha's children while they went on a running date.

At 10 a.m. I met Marion at the park and we got our numbers and did about 1.8 miles warmup on the trail and then did some strides before the race started.  I was feeling pretty warm, so stripped down to shorts and a short sleeved shirt. I regretted that during the race - wish I had kept on gloves at least because out of the sun it was cooler.

The 5K and 10K both started at the same time.  It think there were 3 people running the 10K and Marion's main goal was to beat Sasha getting done (he was planning a 33 minute run).

The race starts out in a parking lot and then you take the sidewalk for a block or two and have to loop around under the road.  That loop slows you down both going out and on the way back in. Once you were on that loop - the rest of the run was on the Provo River Parkway. That is good and bad - good because there aren't a lot of cars - bad because we had to dodge casual runners.

Marion and I started off well and finally settled into our pace.  We might have gone out a little quick, but it is hard to tell. She kept in contact with me until the end of the first mile and then I started surging ahead. As usual - the first 1/2 to 3/4 mile is awful because the body has to come to the conclusion that you are not going to let it stop running that fast.  That trail there is also quite undulating, so you don't get any great places to get comfortable in an uphill, downhill or flat section.  I passed the one mile mark at 9:04 with Marion right behind me. 

Going into mile 2 I could hear Marion drop back and then couldn't hear her breathing anymore.  I swear all the uphill sections on the way out were also uphill on the way back.  Shortly after the turnaround point I high fived Marion and pointed out to her that she was not in last place - she didn't want to finish last and there were several people behind her. Mile 2 was also in 9:04.  I felt at this point in time like I was out of gas and regretting the extra miles I put in last night.  I did keep trying to put on some speed anytime I noticed myself slacking off.

The last mile was a struggle.  I could feel my breathing getting raspy and was almost wondering if I was having an asthma attack. I seriously wanted to give up and slow down a little and run with Marion, but I kept going on. It was nice to pass the 1/2 mile left marker. The loop back to the sidewalk was a pain, but I was actually starting to get a tiny bit optimistic that I might PR.  My 3rd mile was 9:17 - so I can tell I was struggling. 

I swear as I got back into the parking lot that my body was in slow motion.  And I was trying to hard to PR, but heard that previous mark just before I crossed the line - I was 2 seconds slower.  However, I felt that this was a tougher race than the one I pr'd in and Sasha seemed to agree on that one.

Grabbed a quick glass of water and ran back to the end of the parking lot to cheer Marion in and motivate her for that last sprint.  I was very proud of her.

No age group awards were given out, even though MaryAnne advertised them.  I won my age group solely on the basis of being the only person in it.  I think Marion did pretty good in her age group - we will have to see when the times are posted.

After talking with Sasha a bit, we ran down the Provo River Parkway towards BYU and then I showed Marion where the Pachev gang lived and we visited for a little bit.  I was pretty tired and Benjamin was thoroughly trouncing me in chess when Marion finally pried herself off the couch.

Hot chocolate with Marion. Then I raced home, took a quick shower, we headed off to the Draper Temple Open House and dinner (dad, sis and me) and just got home.

Earlier I was going to do more mileage tonight, but I am tired.

5K's - good on speedwork, but tough on the body.  My lungs are almost as tired after a measly 5K as after a marathon because I have to breathe so hard.