Speed only kills if you don't have it!

AM- Snowed again last night and it was about 25 degrees when we met at Monarch for practice.  We did a loop up Main Street to 6400 W and then over to where we could get on the trail and took the trail back.  It was freezing until we turned south about half way and then it was better.  I liked the parts that were not plowed because it was less icy and had more traction.  Started super slow at around 9 min pace but settled into a sub 7 pace for the last 3 miles.  7:30 pace for the 6 mile run.  Kind of fun in all the snow!

PM- Haag came over this afternoon and we went on an easy run up to Butterfield park and back.  8:14 pace for 4.5 miles.  First two a day in a long time.

I needed a long run in to get my miles up to at least where they were 3 weeks ago before I got sick.  I have had such a busy and crazy week with my wife being sick, parent teacher conference, State Basketball, and all of the spring sports starting up, (including Track) it has been hard to find time to do anything. 

I met my varsity kids at Monarch and we went up 13400 S and 6400 W to the Cove.  We ran to the top of the Cove which is always a grind, and you always have the Rose Canyon head wind on top of that.  I was feeling tired from yesterday, not being used to a two a day and all, but I stuck with the guys (Chuk, Connor, McKay, and Jesse J.) fairly well.  The way down was a bit different because we added a loop on Main Street and then an extra .7 at the end to get 11 miles.  That is my longest training run since St. George of 2009, and the longest those kids had been on.  I was pretty tired at the end, but after the run I realized we were sub 6:30 pace for the last 6 miles.  Not bad for me right now!  1:18.52 (7:10 ave.) for the run.

Today is my Birthday and I have so much going on (school, physicals for all spring sports, practice, and a Region planning meeting) I probably won't get home until 8:30pm.  I Woke up at 5:00am and ran out to the Cove and back.  The weather was not too bad, but I am not used to running that early.  I saw several women out running by themselves in the dark at 5:00am.  I ran up on several and scared them pretty bad.  I thinking how I wouldn't let my wife do that by herself, too many creepers around.  Anyway, I got a few miles in.  7:38 pace.

Easy run today.  I ran with Greg and Tanner at practice.  Tanner hasn't been running much because of basketball, my psoas was hurting and Greg just tagged along.  We went up the trail from Monarch and out to the Cove pond and back on Rosecrest and Juniper.  7.2 miles at 7:52 pace.  The wind was freezing cold and blowing hard today, but the run wasn't bad.

Ran over to Rosecrest Park and met the kids today.  The weather was WAY nicer than the past couple of days!  We ran up Emeline to the Res and back.  I ran home after.  7.6 miles at 7:10 pace.  

AM- Got up just after 5:00am.  I was so tired from the week and I played basketball last night for the first time in over a year and a half.  I was sore from that!  Temp was in the 20s and I had a hard time moving, I struggled through the whole run out to Butterfield Park and back, but got it done.  No single women today, they were all in pairs.  Maybe I scared them into in after Monday. 7:42 pace

PM- Ran with Jenny from the school, and before practice, down 6000W and up Main and back.  Nice afternoon and this time the pace felt easy, unlike this morning.   7:47 pace

Easy 10.2 around Herriman with Greg, Jenny and my track kids.  Still sore from basketball, but loosened up as I went.  First half was about 8:00 pace and then 7:00pace the second half.  7:36 ave.  First 40 mile week in 3 years!

Ran with Greg at practice today.  Wow!  Talk about nice spring weather!  It actually felt hot when we weren't running into the wind, which only for about a mile of our 7.5 mile run.  Definitely not used to close to 60 degrees.  We ran the same first part of the run from Saturday, but instead of going around the cove pond we went around Butterfield Park and back on the trail.  Never felt great on the run, but I haven't run 40 miles in a week in sooooooo long that I didn't expect to feel great today.  Had 3 mile under 7 min pace and averaged 7:16 for the run, nothing special, but not shabby either.

Early morning run before work out the Cove pond and back.  Nice morning, but pretty windy.  53:55 for the run

Ran down to Monarch Meadows to practice.  The kids were dead after yesterday's speedwork, so Greg and I led the way on our loop up Shaggy Peak, around Butterfield Park, and back on the trail (5.15 miles). I ran back home the long way up around the Rosecrest loop.  I was going into the wind and uphill for most of it and felt super slow, but actually was running about the same pace.  At about the 8 mile mark my left calf started to hurt, big ole knot in it!  I finished the run kind of gingerly and averaged 7:14 for the 9.5 miles.  I think the calf will be sore tomorrow!

Beautiful day for running today!

AM- Got up early and Chad Robinson came over for a run.  Awesome weather!  No wind, high 40s.  Wasn't sure how the calf  would be this morning after that knot yesterday.  It was tight but the pace was easy so no issues.  We had a good conversation, mostly about old blog vs. new blog.  I am pretty out of the loop after being out of racing for 3 years.  We went out to the Cove pond and back and averaged 7:08.

Lunch- ran out on Leila to Friendship and jumped on the trail and went to the top of the private road.  Came back the same way.  I was tired after running 21 miles in less than 20 hours, haven't done that in years.  I took it way easy and felt like I was crawling, it felt good.  I actually went faster than I thought I was though and averaged 7:27

My wife's Birthday is today so I had my assistants cover practice and we went to Tucanos and played some mini golf in the sun.  Nice day over all.

Easy run after school with the coaches and varsity girls.  No watch

We went to South Jordan to time a 5k for some people putting the race on.  We decided to have the kids do the race for practice today.  After the distance kids ran the race, Greg and I took them out for a cool down.  We ran the course backward and forward pretty much.  7:45 pace for the run.  It was very windy today, but still warm.  I hit my mileage goal again this week with 45 miles.  I feel tired, but not too tired this week, so I am getting better.

Ran down to Monarch for practice.  Long day at work and super busy, especially with the end of the quarter this week and me leaving for a couple of days to St. George.  I really didn't feel like running.  Besides this cold weather sucks!  But I knew I needed to get a few miles at least, and I did a little better than a few.  Greg and I hooked up like usual for some adult conversation.  We ran up around the res and down to Butterfield.  When we got there we decided to add on the loop around the Cove pond, and then we came down the trail.  When we got back I was at 9.6 miles, so I ran home and added around the block for 11.  7:19 pace for the run, not bad for the terrain covered and not wanting to run at all.  I was super congested today and it took me a while to feel good, even though the pace never felt hard.  I think my congestion stems from the weather roller coaster we have been on, the nasty south wind last week, and the 3 birthday parties last weekend with all of the junk I ate.  I ate a lot of junk!

For the 4 people that still look at this old blog I have a question?  My Garmin is 5 years old now and still works fine, but the battery life has went from about 8-9 hours to about 3 hours if I am lucky, and I was considering a new one in the near future.  Any suggestions on which one is the best one?  I am kind of out of the loop.

Woke up this morning and felt like I was going to die!  I couldn't move or get out of bed for several minutes.  I had just watched a Psych last night where Shawn got poisoned and I was sure that is what happened to me.  I was thinking carbon monoxide or something, but my wife and son were fine.   I finally struggled around and made it to school and eventually my Region meetings.  My tummy was yucky all day, but I never puked like I though I would.  I had no energy either.  I got better as the day went on, but the tummy is still yucky!   Must be like some 24 hour bug or something?  Hopefully I am better tomorrow.

I did run with Greg and the boys on an easy 5 miler this afternoon.  We went up the trail to the end of the private road and came back on Mirabella and Shaggy Peak.  7:26 pace.

Missed again today.  It was crazy with the end of the quarter and going to St. George.  I thought we would have time to run, but we got down there at 9:30 and everyone still needed to eat.

Stayed up until 2:00am and got up at 8:00am to run.  We stayed in Hurricane because St. George was filled up.  I ran down the main road from our hotel and out of town to just past where you turn to go to Zion.  I was on the sidewalk the whole run, not that fun.  Just after I turned around my left calf tightened up bad!  I stopped and stretched it a time or two, but it never seemed to help.  Other than that I went at an easy 7:19 pace.  The calf is sore enough I don't know if I will run until Monday.  Disappointed about my running week.  Sick, busy, and hurt makes for a crappy week.  I must still be super imbalanced  to get that knotted up on one side of my body.

On the bright side I have not run 12 miles in a long time.  I also got to chat with Logan, Dave, and Jody Benson at the meet.

One of the all time worst weather runs this morning!  I got up and out the door about 7:00am.  I had most of the day off for end of quarter grading.  The plan was to get 14 miles in before practice with the kids.  I ran up around Butterfield Park, down 6400 W and on to Main.  Going west on Main was windy, but the weather was nice to this point and I took the gloves off and wondered if I was overdressed with my long sleeved shirt on.  At about 5 miles it started to hail on me, and I got pelted good for over a mile before I turned North.  As I turned on Bacchus the wind picked up and it started to rain like crazy!  I was soaked in a couple of minutes.  Not only was I frozen, but I needed to go potty and had no paper.  As I turned off of Bacchus onto 11800 S knew I would never make it down to the high school. Lucky for me I saw a Kennecott trailer with a honey bucket and went potty.   Thank goodness!  The wind and snow picked up this time and I thought the honey bucket was going to blow away with me in it, because it started to tip several times!  I got out and headed for my school.  The wind and snow were hitting me so fast and hard that everything was freezing.  I was getting a brain freeze, and was getting blown all over too.  I made it to the HS and called Haag to send him to cancel practice.  I was going to wait for a ride, but started to get really cold and I really wanted 15 miles not 11.  I went back out and fought the 40 mile an hour head wind and snow for over a mile to Main.  When I turned on Main the snow started to stop, but the wind kept up.  I fought the wind all the way home.  I was so frozen and soaked that I sat in the shower for over 20 minutes to get warm.  It was crazy!  Allison went looking for me, but could never find me I guess.  Not sure I would have quit at that point anyway, I mean I left the school in a flat out blizzard!  Proud of myself for finishing and doing it in 7:31 pace for the run.  I hope I never do it again though!

Ran this afternoon at a super easy pace with my varsity girls.  They were beat up from yesterday's hill workout.  We ran from the HS to Main and up Main to Triple D Ranch and back.  7:55 pace for the run.  Legs were fine, but I was tired all day, so the slow pace felt good.

Sent the varsity kids off on an easy run, while the JV is at Westlake for a meet.  I came home and ran on my own.  The legs are tight and tired from the last few runs.  I went out to Butterfield Park and back.  The run ended up being a progression run.  I went 8:05, 7:31, 7:00, and 5:33.  Then cooled down at 7:30 pace on Leila for a mile.  Felt tired and tight today, but I toughed out one good mile and took the others easy.  Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow.  35:31 for the run.

Easy 5:30am run to Butterfield and back.  I had a hard time getting out of bed today!  Legs were better than yesterday.  We have our first ever Herriman Track Invite today, so I had to get my run in early.  

Sent the kids off on an easy run from Rosecrest.  I waited for Greg because he was running late.  We are both running the Riverton Half tomorrow.  This will be my first Half in 4 years.  Not sure how to approach it yet?   We did an easy run up the trail and around the Cove pond and back past Butterfield to come back.  We met up with Haag at the pond and finished with him.  Warm day.  Not feeling like a stellar time is in me for tomorrow.  I guess I will just have to see how I feel and have fun.

First Half Marathon since 2008.  It was warm and windy this morning and all day for that matter.  This was my all-time slowest half, but still ok for me at this point.  Greg and I warmed up for a mile or so and then found Walter and finished the warm up with him.

The course was not easy like a lot of half courses around here, but I am fine with that if I am in shape.:)  My splits were all over because of going down into the gully and back out several times and the head winds we hit.

Mile 1 - 6:16 Flat with a tail wind

Mile 2 - 6:24 Feel relaxed and settle into a comfortable pace

Mile 3 - 6:23 Caught Greg here

Mile 4 - 6:57 Big hill here coming out of the Jordan

Mile 5 - 6:48 Head wind picking up

Mile 6 - 6:26 Lose Greg going down into the Jordan again

Mile 7-  6:57 By myself and fighting the head wind on the trail

Mile 8 - 6:59 Wind is kicking my but and I am in slow mo

Mile 9- 7:05 Still in slow mo climbing out of the gully in Bluffdale.  I can see several people in front of me but can't get moving to catch them, including the first woman.

Mile 10- 6:42 Catch a guy in green finally and can see the first woman up ahead about 30 seconds.

Mile 11- 6:41 Still can't gain any ground on the first woman, but get lovers lane and the small nasty hill out of the way.

Mile 12 - 6:44 still can't gain and getting frustrated that my body won't respond because there are about 5 people within a minute of me and I feel fine, but can't move the legs faster.

Mile 13 -  6:01 I get mad because the body won't move.  I know if I can pull within anyone that I can out kick them in the last 300m.  I pull up on the first woman with a block to go.

Last .1 - 26 second sprint and blow by the first woman

1:26.55 for the run and I did not get chicked!  Felt a little tired, but strong afterward.  Waited for Greg to come in (he felt back to 1:32 something) and then found Chad and went to cool down for just over a mile. 

Nice to get this one under the belt, and nice to get a 50 mile week finally.  It took along time to get to this point for me.  Give me 6 more months and I should be fine.  I have come along ways since I started running at the beginning of the year including dropping 16 pounds of fat, I now weigh 176lbs.  I would have liked to run under 1:25.00 today, but considering the conditions and how others ran, I am okay with how I did.

Treated myself and the family to Tucano's  for lunch and totally ate until I was going to bust.  Good day!