Training for a Belt Buckle

8 miles in 1:29:??  then 1/4 mile cooldown with Twilight.

I did 25 stride sprints at each road crossing of the trax trail and at each mile marker starting at 1.5 miles - so 14 sprints in all.

Ave 11:12  Max 7:20

11:44/11:22/10:45/11:09/11:18/10:58/10:57/11:12

Went in to work early so I could make my doctors appointment this afternoon and I am going to Phantom tonight, so no workout today.

Summary of the doctor's appointment:  I either have a hernia or a tear that will probably become a hernia. There is a 'slight' chance things will heal on their own if it is a tear.  I can do whatever I want as far as working out, as long as I don't feel a tearing motion and should try to avoid things that cause me pain (gee - I wouldn't have figured that out on my own).  He recommends trying compression shorts for the long runs.  Until the hernia gets bad enough that I can't push it back through the opening, then just keep on doing what I am doing.

One of those beautiful runs that make all the painful, miserable one worthwhile.

I took a long lunch and ran over to Wheeler Farm and ran on its trails for an hour. The trails are no longer covered in ice and just had patches of snow and mud and soft soil. (The mud was a bit sticky and slippery, but my hobnail shoes conquered all).  I was just pushing a little past my comfort zone and really felt great. Legs were strong and feeling good overall.  The fifth mile I could start to feel the effort from pushing and had to fight off slowing down.

11:19 (stupid stoplights and traffic)/10:23/10:10/10:18/10:10

Tried out my new running pack (it is a Nathan running vest) that I am hoping to use for the 50 miler.

Oh - and in case you are curious - 17 days until my 50 mile run.

Tonight I am hoping to do additional miles running uphill on the treadmill.

Ran up to Leslie's house to take Odee for a run and ran him back down to my house.

I only walked 25 steps of the run to Les' place - pretty good since less than half a mile of the 4.65 miles is flat or downhill.  I reset my watch for the run home because I thought I would really have an impressive negative split, but my running companion had a lard butt and wouldn't run fast at all.

1st 4.65 miles (mainly uphill) -11:44/11:31/11:16/12:07 (killer uphill)/7:42 (.65 miles - on course for 11:47)

2nd 4.65 miles (mainly downhill) - 7:50 (.65 miles - on course for 11:55 including an Odee Potty Break)/10:27 (trying to get Odee under control and passed 5 dogs)/10:58 (2 dogs and one OPB)/11:49 (killer uphill and Odee refused to run it + another OPB)/12:02 (luckily Odee got to rest for 4 minutes at a stop light)

Brought Odee in the house for a few minutes.  Twilight came running down to greet me and about died of shock when this monster came in the house.

Feeling a bit of a pull on the outside of my right quadriceps - so going to take today off in prep for a long run tomorrow.

16 miles on the Jordan River Parkway Trail - 12 of them with Leslie.  I parked on Winchester and ran 2 miles to where Leslie was going to start and then ran up 5300 until I met her.  It was a nice day out - a bit on the cold side. 

I started getting calls while on the trail and found out my son's car had been broken into and stuff stolen out of it.  

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Information regarding the 50 miler - 14 days from today.

The race starts at 6 a.m.  I plan to be done with the first 18-19 mile section before 11 a.m.  If anyone wants to come out and run sections with me - that would be great.  Striders is also looking for volunteers at aid stations - which gets you a free t-shirt and entry to the island.  You can do both (volunteer and keep me company).

My plan is to run between 4 and 4.5 mph.  Places you could join in are at the start/finish line (I pass it again at 18-19 miles), the aid station on Mountain View, the aid station at Frary Peak, the Fielding Garr Ranch, Frary Peak aid station, Mountain View aid station, and Bridger Bay Campground aid station.  There are also a few places where the trail gets near the road.  You can run along, bike along, whatever.  Please let me know if you want more details.

There are maps of the trail at www.buffalorun.org with approximate mile markers.  As I have told Leslie, figure on 4-5 mph to give you a window of when I might be at any aid station. I expect that I will finish close to the 6:30 p.m. cutoff - so will be out there all day if you want to join in the fun.

PM 1 - took Twilight on a 1.5 mile run

Went by Wasatch Running and picked up a pair of the CR-X running shorts.  They are about the best compression shorts available and I went with the smaller size for even more compression.  I also picked up some trial sizes of various topical analgesics and glide/lubricants for my running pack.

Les - turns out I was trying to open the wrong portion of the valve on my running pack. That's why it didn't work.  The freezing shut earlier threw me off mentally (doesn't take much).