Denouement

Aw, man, I did not get good sleep last night.  Had a hard time falling asleep.  I got out of bed after tossing and made sure all my recipes were printed out and all ingredients were accounted for (I am hosting Thanksgiving).  Then I researched races in Paris (we are going in about two weeks) and it looks like I found a 10k, so that should be really fun if I can swing a race while I'm there.  

Two white dogs faintly illuminated as they ran toward me.  I am so scared of dogs.  My spray doesn't seem to be as helpful as I'd like it to be as they run at me, I turn around and run away. Chicken.

ave pace 7:52

weight 123

goal for week:  hit 90 miles, then I shouldn't gain weight, right?

eve: 4.2 miles around the park, 7:58 ave, it is getting cold earlier and earlier in the day.

easy run in the morning.  Nothing exciting.  8:16 ave pace

weight 123

My mom has been in town since Saturday, and this morning we made pies for Thanksgiving.  We made Pecan Chocolate and a fancy version of Pumpkin with the usual spices plus ginger and scalded whip cream and evaporated milk in it. I don't like pumpkin pie generally, but I'll be trying it to see how it turned out.  We had enough filling and crust to make mini pies in my cupcake tin, so I got to preview that pie.  I can't imagine pecan pie without chocolate in it. Yum yum.

 I have been feeling half sick, but woke up feeling ok.

Workout:  s/b 5x1000m @ 3:30 with 2 min rest, then 6x400m @ 77s w/ 3 min rest

SteveK and TylerS joined.  Perfect company.  They are fast and strong.  The last time Tyler and I did intervals, we totally went out too fast and kind of ruined the rest of the workout, so we were both wary about starting out too fast.  I had marked the 400m, 800m and 1k marks on the road the day before, and this morning I put out glow sticks at each point, which was so nice and enabled us to see splits and make sure we were on track.

1k's

1 - 3:27, felt easy

2 - 3:26, felt easy

3 - 3:28, ok, starting to feel hard

4 - 3:26, after #4 legs are feeling wobbly, concerned about the balance of the workout ahead

5 - 3:30, went through the 800m in 2:50ish so did a kick to hit my time

8 min rest between sets

400m

1 - 75

2 - 74

3 - 76

4 - 75 (This is Tyler's last due to time constraints)

5 - 75

6 - 71 (laid on whatever juice a marathoner has, ok that one hurt)

Yeah!  I am happy with the workout.  I appreciate having Tyler and Steve there, I couldn't have done it without them.  Steve was obviously holding back.  Tyler would often start faster, but I would most of the time close the gap, though a couple of his might have been a second faster.  Steve's last quarter was a 68!

 I calculated my mileage for the week and I don't need to go out on a second run today so that's good news.

After the workout, and because my kids don't have school.  I had time to go to the store to buy myself a treat - my very own bag of ice!

Stretching, ice bath, endurox.

Weight 122

Boring notes for self on 400m, 800m, and 1000m marks on treeline road for future reference.

All start at stop sign.  

400m stop at four stumps after the H20 marking.

800m stop at five poles before the opening in the fence.

1000m stop at second to last double bolt on the bridge guardrail.

Oops, forgot to blog this run.  I ran 8.25 on my own, then met up with the SF running club for the annual Thanksgiving Day run.  We meet at 7am, run then do a gift exchange and have hot chocolate and donuts.  There were bagels there, but heck, it's Thanksgiving, so it was a chocolate donut for me.  This was the first time I was able to attend this even though I've been running with this club for years.  There were lots of people and it was very festive.  

 Josse and MacK came, and I ran mostly with them but chatted with other folks.  My friends from my Provo neighborhood came down and it was so nice to see them.  They're the ones who convinced me to run my first 1/2 marathon in March of 2005.  

I got a frozen turkey in the gift exchange, so its turkey for Christmas too.

Paul's family were at my home for Thanksgiving, but we were only 17 in number, so it wasn't that big of a group.  Of course we cooked enough to feed 40 and most of the leftovers are in my fridge. 

We went around the table and discussed the things in our lives that we are most thankful for this year, and it was very touching.  We really are blessed to have family to love and support us and to live in this great nation, where we have opportunity and plenty.

I met Julie Esplin in Springville and we ran up and down HobbleCreek.  It was drizzly the first half, and quite dark.  It lightened up and stopped raining by the end (and course went from uphill to downhill), so I guess I'd have to say the second half was better than the first half.  It was quite a drive for both of us, Hobblecreek is just ot convenient, but it was pleasant and so nice to run with her again.

ave pace 8:08

I went to Wal-mart afterward and bought a big something without any waiting in lines.  It was my first Black Friday experience.  It was easy and great. 

I was very cold by the time I got home.  Very, very, very long hot shower.  I had light eggnog as a recovery drink.

weight 124 (for sins of commission, felt really stupid as I ate my ice cream while looking up how Emily did on her 1/2 marathon)

Ran with a huge group in Lehi orchestrated by Kelli and Scott.  Thank you so much Kelli and Scott for the effort it takes to coordinate, for the yummy treats, the water and gatorade.  My family was thrilled with the extra muffins.

We went north from a parking lot up the Jordon River Trail for 5 miles.  Pretty hilly (rolling hills( and net uphill, Scott was kicking our trash up all the hills.  He was the king of the hill for sure.  After the turnaround and some water, we did 2 miles at tempo (5:59, 5:58, net downhill), then we were supposed to do two minutes rest, but TylerS and I turned to catch up Scott (not far behind us) and Kyle and JonA, so the rest was actually 3:27.  Then 2 more miles tempo (6:04, 6:03, more rolling hills and tougher), and then we ran 48 minutes, but had a water break and two potty breaks in there, so I bet it was about an hour (I was following a Jack Daniel's workout that called for an hour of easy running between 2nd and 3rd tempo piece).  At the 15 mile turn around I had 16.75, and JonA had set out water and we couldn't find it.  We started our three mile tempo (s/b 6:05 pace, but it was a slight uphill so 6:10 is ok).  My splits show how it went down (6:11 - ok, 6:21 - not so ok, 6:02 - that's better, 6:11 ave pace).  So some weakness in the middle, and Tyler pulled away then.  I closed the gap but never got to him in the last mile.  We cheered Scott as he finished his 3 miles.  He is a real trooper.  Scott's prior long run was a 15 miler, probably without a tempo, so Tyler and I really worked him over today, but he was a good sport about it.

Costco muffins and orange juice awaited us at  the end.  My legs are shot.

 The bad news is at the very beginning of the run my left knee popped, then it hurt for a little.  That went away (I think) but below my knee is really sore and sometimes makes even walking painful post run.  It feels muscular/tendon related, not in the knee.  Good thing I have a dr. appt already scheduled for Monday.  I think 90 mpw is my body's limit for now.  This week felt good until today.  I guess 20 milers will always make me feel like I am falling apart, esp if there's fast stuff in there.

ave pace 7:39

ice bath, oh so cold

weight 123