All it takes is all you've got

10 miles around Standley Lake.  Warmed up, did 4X25 sec. strides and ran the remainder of miles.  7:41 pace

I am loving how easy it was to get up at 6:00 a.m. this morning.  It had been becoming progressively harder since it wasn't getting light until 7:00 a.m. but this morning I ran in complete sunlight!  Yeah!  I love daylight savings.  

All that 2+ feet of snow we got last week: GONE.  There are just a few traces of it in the fields and random spots, but the trails and sidewalks are completely clear.  Gotta love Colorado sunshine!  We're back to our usual mid-50s/low 60s Fall weather.

Ran with the Running Republic group in NIWOT this morning.  Yes, NIWOT is pronounced just how it looks.  Nice name for a town, eh?  I think it is actually just a Boulder zip code, but more rural and upscale.  

We did some shorter faster stuff with hills mixed in;

20 minute warm-up/stretch/4X25 sec. strides

4X45 sec. quick turnover/75 sec. easy. 2 min. easy after set.

4X75 sec hills/60 sec jog down. Then 2 min. steady down and 2 min. easy after set

4X3 min. steady/hard/90 sec. easy. 2 min. easy after set.

Ended with 4X45 sec hills/60 sec jog down. Then 60 sec. steady down and a 10 minute cool down.

My watch froze at some point before I got to the workout and I didn't get it reset until after the 20 minute warm-up.  After I got it reset I was a bit nervous about pushing buttons too much, so I didn't bother getting splits.  This would have been annoying workout to push splits on anyway because of the high volume of repeats and short duration.  I'm guessing I did all my tempo pushes in 5:15-6:15 pace though.  It was a pretty intense workout.  I really enjoyed running shorter faster stuff.  It reminded me of training for the 800 and 1500 M races only more volume and not as great of intensity.   The last set of 45 second hills was TOUGH.  I was definitely tired after the workout. 

Easy 8 around Contryside.  I went to bed early last night because I was super tired and Aaron was working late anyway.  My body just needed the extra rest.  I was feeling a little sore throat coming on for the last couple of days but then this morning after my run it was gone. 

Decided not to race a 5k this weekend after talking to Coach Darren.  He urged me to save my racing legs for the Longmont Turkey 10K next weekend and just stick with the workout plan this weekend.  So now I'm trying to round up a group of former BYU teammates together to run a tempo run with me on Saturday morning.  I'd love to see some friends while I'm in town and I would much prefer to have company on my run in Utah.  So far I only have one committment from my former teammate, Kristen Ogden (ran 2:55 at St. George last month).  We're hoping to get a couple more to join us.   If anyone reading this wants to join us for a tempo run in Utah County Saturday morning, let me know!  Meeting spot is yet to be determined.  It'll probably be somewhere between Lehi and Provo though.

12 miles on Big Dry Creek.  7:57 pace.

My right heel was hurting me until about mile 5 when I stopped and stretched my calves and hips really well and the heel pain seemed to subside.  This foot has given me plantar fascia annoyances in the past and recently has been complaining a bit after my speed workouts.  Some nights I sleep with a night splint on to keep my foot stretched out and that seems to help.  I also ice and massage when it gets bad.  Speaking of which, I think I'll grab some ice right now. 

OH burr...thats cold.

In other news, during the last mile of my run I saw a Mom walking her middle-school-aged son to school.  She didn't walk him all they way up to the school, they stopped 250 meters away from the school and proceeded with their good-bye ceremony.  No hug or kiss like normal people but instead a very complicated, long, drawn out possibly gang-related hand shake ending with a pound that fizzled out.  At first I wondered if the Mom was leading some sort of gang and her son was the President.  Then as she turned around I noticed the cheezy grin on her face and I actually saw a thought bubble above her head reading, "I'm such a cool Mom!  My son totally thinks I ROCK!"  And my mind was eased of any concern that she may be a Gang organizer.  She was in fact just another loving Mother desperate to be liked by her hip, too cool for his own beanie, teenaged son.  Hey, I can relate.  I just want to be liked by my cool son too.  Way to connect, Handshake Mom.  Word out.

9 miles around Countryside. 

Packed up the car, cleaned the house, and went to the gym to lift weights since Aaron couldn't leave until Noon.  After lifting weights, I drove to I-70 and Colfax to meet Aaron, leave his car there and drive to Utah together.  The best part of the long drive was having something interesting to listen to.  The day before we left I decided to purchase Born To Run, by Christopher McDougall.  There has been so much talk about barefoot running and the ideas in this book that we decided we'd better get it so we could form our own opinion about it. It was a very interesting listen.

Met with former BYU teammates Lisa Antonelli-Pratt, Kristen Ogden, and Devra Vierkant at Lisa's condo in the Riverwoods and ran on the Provo River Trail.  Its been years since I've run on the Provo River trail with teammates.  It was a very nostalgic and enjoyable run for me.  We did a 20 mintue warm up, 4 strides, and went into some tempo work. 

12 minutes at 10k effort, 4 minutes easy

4X5 minutes at 5k effort, 3 minutes recovery

I didn't hit the lap button at all, just looked at my timer, went fast when I was supposed to go fast and jogged when I was supposed to jog.  I really enjoyed the conversation and good company.