Speed only kills if you don't have it!

I went early in the morning about 6:00am, and it was freezing like usual.  It started to snow the last couple of miles.  I went into River Heights, looped through the south end of Providence, came back on Boulevard, and finished with 800 North hill.  Felt okay, but was fairly tired at the end.

1:01:56

I went on a morning run, but it was a bit later because I didn't start clinicals yet, so I was actuallty in the light.  I was a little sore from yesterday, but even with that and the cold nasty wind I ran okay.  I did the canal trail, 1st dam, Hillcrest loop,and ran a little more carefully than normal because of the snow and ice.

35:49

I got up earlier than normal and ran the Providence hill loop.  I hadn't ran that run since before St. George last year, and forgot how nasty that hill is.  I felt okay, I think that the weekend rest helped me out.  Most of my run was in the dark, but it wsn't below 0 degrees like it has been.

1:09:58

I went to the HPER gym and lifed my upper body tonight.

Day off!  Wanted to lift my legs today, but ended up playing a couple games of Racquetball instead.

I needed to get a little bit of tempo in so I ran a bit later, which gave me more light but less time.  I did my version of the Dynamic Fitness 4 miler from home.  When I hit Hillcrest elementary I did tempo the rest of the way.  Man I am out of shape!  Although it was hard it felt good to be running that fast again.  I did the tempo portion of my run in 9:12, and the total time was 26:01. I felt good about my effort.

I ran early morning again today.  I decided it was time to run a 10 miler even though I am not in any kind of shape yet.   I went down Boulevard, though the Island, River Heights, Providence, and into Millville.  I went far enough to make sure I had plenty for a 10 miler and turned aroud and came back the exact same way until I hit 800 North and I finished with the hill.  I was pretty beat when I finished, but it is good to get the first one under my belt.  It was raining the whole run, and I was wearing my new shoes, so they are well broken in after going through all of the mud puddles.  I came back 5 sec. slower than what I went out in.  38:01 and 38:06

1:16:07

I did the HPER, Hillcrest,Cemetary loop with 6x100 meter strides this morning before school.  I felt tight at first but the strides loosened me up quite a bit.  I hope I feel okay tomorrow in the Striders 5k.

19:04

The Striders winter racing circuit started today with the 5k.  I got to the start in plenty of time to get my number, warm up for a mile and visit with Cody, Dan, and Russell Bennett for a few minutes.  The weather was perfect, and I was glad because these races aren't known for being on days with good weather.  Although it was nice, I still didn't think it was quite warm enough to strip down to my nothins, like a lot of people did.  

I didn't really know what the course was like until everyone started to talk about the 10% grades and that sort of stuff.  I wasn't too concerned because I wasn't going for the win today or even run a fast time, I just want to have fun and get back into shape for bigger and better things this year.  I was surprised by the amount of hot-shot runners that shhowed up today, it was one the most quality fields of runners that I have seen in in a 5k in the last 10 years. 

I took off pretty easy, not wanting to gas myself in the first mile.  I ran hard (for me right now), but still kept a steady, semi-comfortable pace.  I went through the first mile in 6:31 and knew that the next one would be a little slower.  It was (6:45), as the second mile had some pretty good climbs in it.  When the down hill came I felt alright so I just relaxed and let gravity do it's job.  I caught up with Dan with about .4 to go and told him to come with me, and he seemed to for the most part (he was only about five seconds back at the finish).  I cruised in and finished around 19:28.  I missed the 3 mile split, so my last 1.1 was 6:11.  I didn't have any one pass me the whole race, and I bet I caught about 25 people over the course.  It was fun being back where I shouldn't be and knowing it, and having those around me wondering why I would eventually fly by them. 

I was happy with my run, considering my conditioning.  I just wanted to run under 20 minutes, and I did that on a tougher course.  I was pleased with how all my Del Sol team (Dan, Cody, Sasha, and Paul) did today, I thought that everyone ran well.  I was especially impressed with Paul.  I know he is a modest guy who doesn't like the spotlight, but he kicked some serious asphalt today! ( I hope that is family friendly enough)

I ended up 7th in the age, 23rd overall, with a 19:28.5

I ran a mile warm-up and a mile cool down with my race for a total of 5.1 today.  31 miles for the week, one mile better than what I had scheduled.  35 is on my schedule for next week.

I also played a full court Basketball game this afternoon with two 20 minute halves (played the whole 40 min. myself), we won 70 to 55, and are now 8 and 1on the season.

For those of you who didn't get up at 5:45am and run on the dark streets of Logan, you won't know what I am talking about, and you definitly didn't miss out.   It had rained, snowed, and frozen last night, and every inch of roads and sidewalks were covered with black-ice.  It such a joke trying to run, and probably not worth my time. I needed my hockey skates on, not my running shoes! 

I went down Boulevard, into the island, through River Heights, and looped around Providence.  I came back the exact way I went out, because I didn't dare run up any kind of hills.  I spent more energy trying to not slip and fall than I actually did running.  I wish I could have run later on in the day because it ended up nice.  Slow time: 1:03:52

I lifted my upper body at the HPER tonight for an hour.

Lifted my legs pretty hard today. I didn't have time to run, and it is probably a thing because I was trashed after lifting.

I went early this morning on a Center street/River Heights loop and ended with the Old Main stairs.  It was very dark, and colder this mornig but at least the roads were clear.  I was pretty sore from lifting my legs yesterday but loosened up as I went.  I did the run easier because of soreness, but I still ran a fair time.  I pushed it a little on the Center Street hill.  I figure I need to hit some kind of good hill every time out so I don't die on the 10k and 10 miler course for the Striders circuit.  I am thinking that I might be pretty sore tomorrow from yesterday's workout and today's run.

50:40

This morning I went on a modified version of my out and back to Millville run, that I did last week.  I changed the part where I run up 200 west ( the highway) and stayed on 100 west until it ended before hedaing down to 200 west .  This was better because it has a bit steeper grade to it and there is no trafic, however, there are several loose dogs roaming around ( the one Dave has never been bitten by).  I also went on  the 800 North hilll on the way home, other than that it is pretty much "out and back" the same way.  I was feeling the soreness from lifting and running the last couple of days, in fact I think I was more sore today. 

 It was snowing my whole run except for the part where I got hailed on.  The snow wasn't  too bad though because it wasn't super wet, so the streets just had a light skiff on them, and I didn't get soaked.  I ran out slower out,  39:20 and came back a bit faster, 37:13.

Total time: 1:16:34

I felt a bit better today, I wasn't very sore any more.  I did another early run in the dark.  I went up 1000 North hill, then down and up 1200 East and turned it into a Lundstrom park 5 mile loop.  As I was running the dark streets of North Logan, on the corner of 1200 East and 1900 North (that heads upto Green Canyon), I ran head on into what I thought was my end.  It was pitch-black outside, and all I new is that the creature was bigger than I was by what I could pick out from the body outline and the position of the glowing eyes.  I was relieved when I realized that it was a four-point buck and not a massive cougar or something else that could eat me.  We about ran right into each other, and I scared him as bad as he scared me.  My heart rate probably went up 50 bpm after the startling.  I was able to maintain a good strong pace after my encounter and ended up with a good run and a good scare.

35:42

Tonight I ran to the Field house and played Basketball for over an hour, and ran home.

I was way tired and could hardley pull myself out of bed to run at 6:00 am today.  It has bean a long and hard week with everything, especially school.  I really would have liked to run with Jon, Paul, and Cody this afternoon, but since I had Basketball game at 11:00 am and we are trying to leave town to go see my family for the weekend, so I figured I had better get up and get things done. 

My left leg was sore and aching this morning and made me alter my stride a bit.  I don't know what is going on with it, because it hurt last night when I was climbing the rock wall at the Celebration center, and after when I ran upto the Field house to play Basketball.  I think that I am just getting old have have arthritis in my ankle or something! 

The run wasn't too bad even with the added discomfort.  I went down Boulevard, past the old house on the Island, and upto the bench at the top of River Heights.  I came back along Canyon road and the dug-way, and finished with the 800 North hill.

Time: 37:14

I felt fatigued today after a good hard week of training.  I reached my goal for mileage again this week (35).  I am finally feeling like I am getting in better shape after a whole month of running now.  I think adding 5 miles a week is working good for me, so I will do it again next week.  About 36.5 for the week, 40 miles are scheduled for next week.

We spent the weekend down in Mona and Provo with my family.  I was in Provo this morning and almost talked myself out of running because of the snow fall. We got dumped on pretty good.   I did finally get out late morning and felt pretty mediocre.  I think that my solid 36 miles last week wore on me worse than I thought it would. 

I ran a variation of a course that I used to run in Provo and Orem with the Sojourners called the "Grandview loop".  It loops though neighborhoods in Provo and Orem, onto the Provo river trail, up the hill (little Veyo) by the University mall and past Runner's Corner.  It was kind of fun to run that course, it was my first time in almost three years.  It used to be my bread and butter course!

1:01:30

I had Monday classes today because of the Holiday and it kind of messed my schedule up for the week.  I didn't lift this morning, so I decided to go on a run at about 7:00pm when we got back from Allison's soccer game.  It was dark and the traffic was a pain, but I felt alot better tonight.

I ran my Lundstrom Park 5 miler (no big killer deer this time).  It is a good little loop with some good up and down in it.  I felt good enough when I got to the last mile and a half or so that I decided to do some tempo.  I pushed the last stretch as much as I dared for the visibility that I had.  I am not sure how long my tempo was (between 1.5 and 1.6 miles for sure), I need to go clock it sometime.  9:19 for the tempo and 33:56 for the run.

This is the first time that I have done back to back runs.  I went out this morning at 6:00 am and did the Center St./River Heights loop with Old Main stairs at the end.  I like that run because it has a few good climbs, and I need all the climbing I can get for Striders circuit.  I felt okay, a little fatigued from last night, but better than Monday. 

 I had some dog follow me from RiverHeights clear until Old Main and then it wondered off after some college girls.  The stupid dog will probably end up in the pound before it makes it home.  I tried to ditch it, but it seemed to think I was it's friend even after some blows that would have ended any friendship.

50:31

I ran at 6:00am today. It was not quite as cold as it has been and toward the end of my run it got light.  I did the same Millville out and back as last week accept I turned off of 100 west in Providence and headed down to 200 west a block or two sooner.  I felt really heavy in my legs today and never really felt like I got in rhythm.  I did however, run a bit fast than last week  38:44 out and 36:33 back.
 Total run-1:15:18

Day off.  I was going to run a couple of miles and do some strides, but I am feeling a little beat up.  Played some Quadball at school.

I picked up Paul on the way down to Ogden.  It was nice to have someone to visit with on the drive down, I had my 17 month old son (Jaren) with me but he isn't much for conversation.  We dropped Jaren off in Willard with his Grandparents and made it the start of the race about 45 minutes early.  I did about a 2 mile warm-up with Paul, Cody, and Dan.  The weather was colder today than for the 5k, but still wasn't too bad for this time of year.  I stayed in my warm-ups until the race and then stripped down to tights, two shirts, and some gloves.  I didn't see anyone getting down to there signets.

Once again, there were a lot of hot-shots there for the money, so I didn't even worry too much about my place.  The course seemed tougher than the 5k and had a lot of up and down.  I didn't mind the hills, but there were a lot of small loops and very tight corners that I thought were completely unnecessary, not to mention they all had ice.  I thought they could have done a better job in mapping out a decent course with out loops and tight icy corners.  I had to slow down a lot in places and take really wide turns on corners, and on a well thought out course that would have never been the case.

I took it out pretty easy and worked my way into a decent pace.  I came up on a lot of people during the race, and the only person who passed me was Bob Henze and I caught him in the last 300 meters.  I felt okay today I never really pushed myself too hard, and probably should have because I didn’t go under 40 minutes like I wanted to.  I never paid much attention to my time after the first mile (6:55) and missed about every split.  If I would have been a bit more serious I could have at least shaved another 17 seconds off of my time.

I ended up 21^st over all and 8^th in the age, so I pretty much got blown out.  I’ll take it though for the amount of training time I have and the 5 weeks of total training that I’ve done.  40:16 total time.

I did about a 2 mile cool down.  I ended up with my mileage goal again this week.  I know that finding the time to run isn’t going to get any easier but hopefully the miles will.  45 miles scheduled for next week.

Paul (4^th over all, 34:47), Cody (17^th overall, 38:59), and Dan (27^th overall, 41:47) all seemed to be okay with the race.  Paul won the age and was a couple of seconds out of overall place and money.  Dan got bumped up to 3^rd in his age because the first three guys were overall. So Paul’s loss was Dan’s gain.

I got up this morning and decided not to run because of the snow and ice, so I waited a few hours.  I went about 10:00 am in between my classes, so I only had time for a shorter run.  I went on the Lundstrom 5 mile loop.  I felt okay, other than some tightness in the hamstrings from the 10k on Saturday.  I ran good and probably ran the right amount for me today.

34:27

Day off.  I spent too much time shoveling the 7 inches of snow we got.  I did make it out to lift my legs this morning before ex-phys lab.

I went early morning and it was butt cold, it felt like I had gone back in time one month.  The roads were snowy and icy so I took it easy.  I am very sore from lifting my legs yesterday. 

I went on my south Providence loop, and although I was so sore I ran okay.  I came back up the 800 North hill.  I am glad that when I go out at 6:00am I am not running my whole run in the dark.

1:01:20