Denouement

Ran with Mack, Holly and JenH. 8.31 at 7:52 pace.

Met up with Travis, MacK and Holly.  Ran 30 min with all four, then dropped off Mack, then another 15 with Holly, then dropped her off.  Then Travis and I went on canal road toward Payson.  It seemed to get colder (run started at 32, ended at 31F), but it was just my gloves weren't quite enough for my hands.  The run today was 60 min easy, then 10 min DUSA progression.  I wanted to start at 6:40-6:30 and drop from there, last 1/4 mile really hard.  At .5 mile into it we were averaging 6:16, then the first mile split was 6:10 (good, this is a progression run).  I plateaued at 6:10 for the next 1/4 mile and had to go to the bathroom so I did a quick squat at .25 miles, letting my watch run, so it was a quick stop by the time I started going again the lap pace was 6:48.  Got it down to 6:14 before the 10 minutes were up.  Because I did a quick pit stop, I was able to push the last 1/4 mile hard, but the ave pace doesn't show it.  The pit stop was lame, but the pace was nice!  Our last fast finish I was just supposed to do 3-6 min, so we did one mile and I did 6:08, and that was giving all I had.  This workout today was much better.  The amazing thing is that I was trailing Travis.  That kid can run. 

Had a bad night of sleep.  Bleh.  Met Mack and did our Payson loop, I like that loop.  

9.29 in 7:52 ave pace.   

26F at start 22F at the end. Met Travis.  Warmed up 3.14, including a stretching and potty break, then started a 3 x 2 mile tempo interval workout.  This is my hardest workout by far, maybe with the exception of the 35 min steady state.  If I am in shape for 1:25 this Saturday, then I should be able to do this workout no slower than 6:21.  So I was gunning for 6:20 pace, since that sounded hard enough!

First rep 6:15, 6:17.  Felt good, Travis and I were right together, not pushing too hard, in 5 min rest I stripped off one shirt (one remained), my heavy gloves (my light gloves remained) and ear cover. 

Second rep: 6:12, 6:15 Felt really good on this one, felt like I was holding back, Travis felt back a bit but caught up before the end, 5 min jog

Third rep: 6:15, 6:13, First mile went ok, except Travis was ahead by 2-3 seconds at the one mile mark, second mile Travis pulled up at about 1.4 miles, and at that point I was feeling it and hovering around 6:20, but I thought no way was my last mile going to be my weakest, so I pushed through it and got a good split

I feel like I am coming back!  Hopefully soon this will be marathon pace--it needs to be, but baby steps.

Shorter cool down (just 1.26 miles).

Dynamic stretching after.  Ice bath.  I feel wiped out and will hit the bed for a nap soon. 

7.52 in 7:59 ave pace. 

PT appt--worked on right ham and adductor, and left knee/lower itb.  exercises 

Warmed up 3.2, a bit with myself, a bit with AmberG.  Was 34F but sun was out and it felt warm enough for shorts, so I did shorts, singlet, thick knee highs for arm warmers and dollar gloves.  Yesterday Clyde told me he thought the whole Utah Elite running team would be there, including Stephanie Talley, and I thought I didn't have a prayer with her in the field and me only in half shape.  So that kind of took the pressure off.  Also saw and chatted with RAD and the way cute preggie KellieS, who I recognized from her preggie profile.  She was going to do the 5k.

7 minutes before the race start, I was frantically looking through my backpack for my car key, to put my backpack away, and TylerS said hi.  He ended up helping me tear through my backpack, and did the clear thinking for me, and found my key in my coat I had warmed up in.  I don't know what I was thinking. When we were looking through the bag I found my race bib, which was still not on my singlet (oops).  So I got to the start line with 1.5 min to spare, barely remembering to take my last long sleeve layer off.

My strategy was to just keep an eye on #1 girl for the first mile to just see what's up and if I have a prayer.  I thought I might be able to sustain 6:30.  I have barely been able to do this for a 4 mile tempo, but a bit lower elevation, a bit warmer temps and race magic would hopefully make it feasible.  Besides being above 1:25 is different than below, for where I need to be right now.  I will give splits by mile marker, though the miles marked fluctuated a bit between being dead on with my gps, and several seconds long and short.   So perhaps I shouldn't have lapped the watch but I did, so that's the way it is.

Mile 1 -  6:25 started out a bit too fast, but tried to calm down and keep it a decent pace.  This mile felt ridiculously easy.  One girl ahead of me.  Didn't look like Stephanie Talley, going to fast to approach, ended up being Ericka Schramm

Mile 2 - 6:23 still felt easy during the first half mile, then started to feel like a half marathon race pace, not easy not too hard. 

Mile 3 - 6:24 closing a bit on Ericka, I meet a guy from Cedar Hills who's friends with TylerS

Mile 4 - 5:59 (this is one mile that measured short by gps, 6:12 pace per watch), catch and run with Ericka,

Mile 5 - 6:14, somewhere around here I take the lead

Mile 6 - 6:12

Mile 7 - 6:26 sucky steep, but thankfully short uphill at the beginning, watch said 7:30 pace at the top, but gradually brought that sucker down.  Throughout the race I allow myself to take it somewhat easy up hills, thinking "this is just a fun run", a luxury I won't have in future races.

Mile 8 - 6:14, have a lead, but Ericka's behind and I am starting to get nervous about keeping pace

Mile 9 6:36 (this one measured long, but still) this was the suckiest mile of the race, knowing I was going away from the finish line, a bit of uphill, and still many miles ahead.  I am the rabbit being chased! 

Mile 10 - 6:13, much better

Mile 11 6:24, I am confident at this point I am winning

Mile 12 6:27, starting to get hard, but trying to keep splits where I want them

Mile 13 6:18, hard mile, but in mile 12 and 13 I felt like I could have pushed harder, but didn't feel motivated to dig for it.

.12 in 36 sec, wow watch says 4:59 pace.

Final time 1:22:54, two minutes faster than my estimate, but I am very glad I am at this point.  I still have a far way to go to get in OTQ shape, so I am grateful for this 2 minute gift. 

They had a paper I would have ran through, being the female winner, but a woman came in two minutes ahead of me.  The race officials were very on top of it and did some investigation and confirmed that the woman forgot the 5 mile last loop, so I missed an opportunity to break a tape. I hope to some day.  Have never done it.

I cooled down with Ericka, 2.5 miles, got to know her a bit more.  I'm afraid I wasn't successful recruiting her to the blog.  Hopefully she'll call me up so we can run together when she's in UT county, though. 

Wonderful 10 min massage.  I got some good prizes, but I thought there was a treadmill on the line, but it appears there wasn't?  Still not sure what the story is there.