Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Took Seth up Dry Canyon. Walked most of the way up, jogged most of the way down. We'll call it 2 miles. We were going to hike around at the trailhead, but Seth fell asleep. As usual.

AM - ran a loop around Smithfield. 7.75 miles, averaged 7:02/mile.Did a few strides

PM - ran little bit up Birch Creek. 6 miles, averaged 7:10/mile.

Big Workout today. Ran the Bear River Loop with 10 miles of MP tempo. Mile splits were 5:49, 5:38, 5:32, 5:18, 5:29, 5:22, 5:22, 5:23, 5:21, 5:20. 10 miles in 54:30, 5:27/mile average. This was essentially a progression run, since the first half of the route is downhill, and the second half is uphill (very slight grade). So those 5:20's at the end would have been sub-5:10 had they been going the other direction. Very pleased with the tempo, and other than my calves getting sore near the beginning (and staying sore), I felt very good.

After the tempo, I stopped at home, hydrated a bit, and then grabbed Seth and we did the Forrester Acres out-and-back, 5 miles total at 8:00/mile pace. Slow going, but at least it was a nice morning.

Ran from work, did the Providence Hill Loop. My garmin battery died during the run, but it was pretty slow anyway. Had some great cloud cover that kept things cool.

AM - Birch Creek. Bumped into Carson and ran with him for half of it. 7:34/mile average for 8.25 miles.

PM - 6 miles on the canal trail. Got some welcome cloud cover for part of it. Averaged 6:59/mile for 6 miles.

Ran the Logan River Trail to Guineva Malibu campground with Jon before work. 7:57/mile average for about 10 miles. It was a nice morning, and the run felt good. Need to run out there more often.

Long run today, my first 20-miler of the season. I drove out to Hollow Rd to run on the TOU course. Ran up the canyon for 10 miles, then turned around and came back. Had a headwind for the first 5 miles, and a tailwind for the last 5 miles. Wasn't a huge wind today, but still decent. I got a bit of a late start 8AM, so it was a little warm, but tolerable.

I treated the run as a progression, and notched it up the run went on. Mile splits on the uphill with headwind were 6:26, 6:20, 6:26, 6:23, 6:17. After about 5 miles, the wind let up, and also I got some cloud cover. I got in a nice groove at that point. Next 5 uphill miles were 6:13, 6:02, 6:01, 6:08, 6:24. Had a 6:15/mile average for the 10 uphill miles.

I used the bathroom near the turnaround point (ToU 1/2 start line), then headed back down. The downhill felt pretty nice at this point. Next 5 miles were 5:52, 5:39, 5:40, 5:41, 5:39.

I started to wear down a bit, but also collected a tailwind for the last 5 miles. I was thinking the wind might die completely by the time I got back there, but it was still blowing a little, and it definitely made a difference. My last 5 miles were 5:26, 5:27, 5:25, 5:22, 5:21. Total time for 20 miles was 1:58:11, with a 5:55/mile average. The run felt pretty good, and I didn't have any fueling issues. I generally don't take water or calories during these long runs, and today was no exception. I feel fit, and that feels good.

AM - Smithfield Canyon with Carson. 9 miles, 7:26/mile. Got a classic case of "the Mondays".

PM - Forrester Acres with Seth. 5.5 miles, 7:34/mile.

Big Workout today. Did 2 miles warmup @ 6:25/mile, then did a 4-3-2-1 "interval" workout. Did the run on the Bear River Ranch out-and-back route, which is flat with a few long inclines. First 4 miles were marathon pace (5:26, 5:25, 5:22, 5:29), then 2 minutes recovery. The next 3 miles were marathon pace (5:32, 5:19, 5:16), then 2 minutes recovery. The next 2 miles were threshold pace (5:04, 5:01), then 2 minutes recovery. Finally, one last mile at threshold pace (5:06). This last interval was a bear, since it was all on a slight incline. Woof. Lot of gravel on this route, which definitely slowed things down whenever I was on it. I hate to say it, but I prefer blacktop. 

Cooled down for 3 miles @ 7:00/mile. 16 miles total for the run, average pace of 5:52/mile.

AM1 - Canal Trail, 4 miles, 7:30/mile average.

AM2 - ran from work, Canyon Rd to the River Trail to 2nd Dam and back. 10 miles, 7:09/mile average.

**

I now have something in common with Phil Mickelson. We both take Enbrel. Except he has psoriatic arthritis, which is in the same family, but somewhat different. Same treatments though.

AM - Birch Creek with Carson. Slow. 7:49/mile for 8.25 miles. This is what I hate about marathon training: all of the slow recovery miles between workouts.

PM - Forrester Acres with Seth. It was cool and overcast, very nice for an August afternoon. I felt better than I did this morning. 5.75 miles, no watch.

AM - canal trail, 7 miles, 6:48/mile average. Awesome morning.

noon - Planet Walk from work. No watch. 5 miles.

Long run. Went from my house up Smithfield Canyon. 5.5 miles of paved road, followed by 2.5 miles of rugged dirt road, followed by 1 mile of nice singletrack, followed by 1 mile of not-so-nice single track (but very beautiful). And then back.

Kept it brisk on the paved part going up, about 6:20-6:30/mile until I got to the dirt, and then about 7:00/mile until the single track. Then it slowed down quite a bit, of course. The last mile was a bit of bush-whack in some places, but still pretty nice in other places. It was the furthest I've gone of Smithfield Canyon so far, and ended up about a mile past the wilderness boundary before I had to turn back. Had 4 creek crossings, and also nice views of the backside of Cherry Peak (where Jon and I ran a few weeks ago, and then also of the ridge into Cottonwood Canyon. Elevation at turnaround was 6800', so about 2200' of net climb.

Got my feet a little wet at a couple creek crossings on the way back, which bit me later on, and I got some blisters on the balls of my feet near the end of the run. I picked up the pace a little when I hit asphalt, and averaged 5:40-5:50 on the downhill for the rest of the way in, except for the last uphill mile to my house, which was still a respectable 6:15 or so. Total time was around 2:22:00, 7:08/mile for 20 miles. Although I didn't do any formal workout today, I think the total time on my feet was good to have, and it seems like it wore me out more than last week, despite being the same distance and quite a bit slower.

AM - ran with Carson, an out-and-back on the country roads going north out of Smithfield. Very interesting morning to run, as there were big thunderclouds, and we saw some nice streaks of lightening. And then, mid-run, we were treated to the most awesome sunrise I've ever seen. Due to the thunderheads over the Bear River Range, the clouds were just lit up an amazing orange. Never seen anything like it. 9 miles, 7:21/mile.

PM - Forrest Acres. No watch. 5.75 miles

Big Workout. Did an extended Bear River Loop, with about 12 miles of tinman tempo, or steady state, running. Definitely not marathon pace, but not easy either. Felt a little flat today, but that's alright as I am mainly interested in building miles at this point. Did 2 miles of warmup, then 6:01, 5:49, 5:35, 5:34, 5:38, 5:35, 5:36, 5:39, 5:37, 6:05. Then cooled down with a few miles between 6:20-6:30. Averaged 6:01/mile for 16 miles.

AM - canal trail, 5 miles, 7:16/mile average.

noon - River Trail from work. 10 miles, 6:58/mile average.

AM - Birch Creek with Carson and Todd (Carson's brother). 9 miles, 7:38/mile average. It rained a little bit.

PM - Forrester Acres with Seth. 5.75 miles, no watch.

AM - easy but surprisingly quick run on the canal trail this morning. We are kind of in "any minute mode" for the new baby, so I think that picked up my pace a little bit. 7.5 miles, averaged 6:37/mile.

PM - Planet Walk from work. 5.25 miles, 6:53/mile. No baby yet.

Woof. Glad that one is done. I did a long run this morning. It was already pretty warm by the time I started, which didn't help, but it could have been worse too. Definitely looking forward to fall weather. I intended to begin the run with 6x1600m @ LT, and then cruise the rest of it, but after one mile on the Skyview track in 5:20, I decided that my legs felt like lead, and I wouldn't meet the goal of the workout, so why bother. So I bagged it and did my remainder of my long run at a steady but unspectacular pace, mile splits ranged from 6:00 to 6:30, and they were pretty consistent. Ran all over the countryside, kind of a farmland tour of northern Cache Valley. I did get pretty tired at the end, but still pushed it in pretty well, keeping the last few miles in the low-6s. 22 miles total, 2:22-ish. 6:22/mile average pace. 95 miles for the week, a high for this year (highest since Sept 2007).

Did some really easy miles on Hillside and Summit with Seth. It was threatening to thunderstorm, so we turned back initially, but then went back out and finished the run. It was a nice day. Seth fell asleep during the run, and then Stacy and I could take naps, so mission accomplished.

Long night last night. Stacy had about 10 hours of light to moderate labor, which eventually petered out, so a lot of work for no results. Fortunately we stayed home, so she was comfortable. We played Yatzee to pass the time.

I was kind of a zombie this morning, but took Seth out in the stroller up Smithfield Canyon. Ran 8 miles, averaged 7:31/mile. It was a beautiful morning, and invigorating to get some cool, fresh air.

Got 9.5 glorious hours of sleep last night, and feel much better today. Did a Big Workout: 4-3-2-2-1 @ MP. But I ended up dropping the last interval, so it was just 4-3-2-2. I ran it on the Bear River Ranch out-and-back route.

Warmed up for two miles (6:22, 6:25), then did the 4-mile interval (5:22, 5:15, 5:19, 5:26). Two minutes recovery jog, then the 3-mile interval (5:18, 5:19, 5:13). Another two-minute recovery, then the 2-mile interval (5:15, 5:17). Two minutes recovery. The second two-mile interval was the toughest of the bunch, due to being on a steady uphill, plus my legs were shot by the last mile. (5:26, 5:34). I ended up throwing out the last interval, since I didn't feel up to another mile straight up a hill, and have a race on Saturday. Pretty good workout though. Cooled down very slowly, about 7:40/mile. Averaged 5:53/mile for 16 miles.

Ran from work. Did the River Trail / Canyon Rd out-and-back, 10 miles. Averaged 6:57/mile. Felt surprisingly good after yesterday. No baby yet.

7 miles with Seth, out-and-back up Smithfield Canyon. 7:32/mile average.

We're having our baby tonight.

Zoe Beth Petersen was born at 9:44PM last night. Stacy did awesome. Zoe is 7lbs 1oz, 18.5 in, and has vertical leap of 36" and can run a 40 in 4.43.

Stayed at the hospital last night, and then went back to Smithfield to get Seth so that he could meet his sister. Then Seth and I ran about 4 miles, cemetery loops. It was pretty slow. I actually slept some last night, so feel decent. I think I'll probably do the race tomorrow.

Top of Utah Half Marathon today. I had been approaching this race wanting it to be a big effort, as it will be my last real race before the marathon in November, and also it's an excellent course with excellent competition with excellent weather. You don't want to pass that up. Training since Des News has been good. Lots of miles and lots of marathon-pace running. However, I knew that our baby due date was pretty close to this race, so I didn't want to get too wrapped up in thinking about it. But our baby came on Thursday night, we were all home on Friday night, and I was granted permission to run today, provided that I came straight home!

Not a ton of sleep the last two nights, but given the circumstance not terrible either. Probably about 5 hrs each night. But I was fairly fatigued from all the running around and from coaching Stacy through the delivery. Not really physically tired, but more of the nerves being shot. What Sasha calls "neural fatigue".

Got up around 5AM, and ate my breakfast of oatmeal with brown sugar, vanilla yogurt, and cut-up peaches. Orange juice and coffee for the road. Drove into Providence and got a sweet parking spot on the street that would give me a quick exit right after the race.

Got on one of the earlier buses, shuttled up, used the potty, and then warmed up about two miles up the canyon and back. Took another potty stop. No Narnia this year, but I did get in the fastest line. I considered using another set of hidden toilets, which are pit toilets about 300m down the canyon, but by doing so I'd be risking my life my running on a road with no shoulder with buses going in both directions. Decided it was too dangerous, and more of a Mordor than a Narnia, as far as hard-to-find magical places go.

They miraculously started the race very close to on time. I really don't know how they shuttled 2300 runners up the canyon, and then backed everyone up to the start line, and only started a few minutes behind schedule. My only guess is that Kris Sidoway (RD) is a taskmaster. She is wicked good with that megaphone.

I knew who my competition would be beforehand, from looking at the online start list. The favorite to win would be Patrick Rotich, the Kenyan who's been training in Provo this summer. Also there was Teren Jameson, two-time defending champ and course record holder. If I slipped up, then Steve Shepherd would be there to teach me a lesson. He's a former Weber State runner (I think), whose had some strong showings at the Hobbler Half and Des News 10K this year, among a few other races. But I had beaten him head-to-head at Des News. Patrick had beat Teren head-to-head at several races this summer, and Teren had beaten me head-to-head at a couple races this summer. So we seemed to have a pecking order, although I wanted to overthrow. I like the half marathon distance, and I like my home course, so I wanted to let it rip and see what happens. Although Teren is much speedier and more talented than me, I've been putting in a lot more miles, so I figured this longer distance was my only chance to beat him this year. Patrick seems to have been racing himself into better and better shape over the summer, but I'd be willing to spar with him here in Logan. So hopefully it would be an interesting and fast race. Weather was a little warm (high 50s), but a favorable canyon wind (although not very strong).

The race started, and as I expected, both Teren and Patrick got out hard. Patrick took the lead from the gun. I wanted to keep contact from the beginning, and caught up to Teren during the mile, with Patrick a few seconds ahead. Steve Shepherd joined our pack to make three. First mile split was 4:51. I wanted 4:55's down the canyon, so a little fast, but I'm willing to take some risks on this course.

Teren and I ran side-by-side for the next mile and eventually started closing the gap on Patrick, who was not running tangents very well (he actually got a lot better with tangents as the race went on). Steve remained on my trail-leg. Mile 2 was 5:00, the slowest split during the first 8 miles.

We caught Patrick near the end of the second mile, or maybe the beginning of the third mile. The pace felt hard to me up through now, and then it started getting really crazy. Kenyan runners are known for their crazy surging, and Patrick did nothing to dispel this notion. For the next 4 miles, we would catch him, pass him, and then he'd blitz and pull ahead with a gap. Teren made that worse by surging hard on all of the bigger downhills, and pass Patrick. Then Patrick would pass him back when it flattened, and eventually I would catch both of them. I'm not much of a surger. Steve Shepherd dropped pretty hard during the third mile.

Mile 3 was 4:56, Mile 4 was 4:51, Mile 5 was 4:45, Mile 6 was 4:49. 29:14 through 6 miles. Youtch! But I was feeling good, despite all the games. We had a tailwind for these miles. It was not a huge canyon wind, but it extended up the canyon more than usual, although it did not persist much on Hollow Rd. So definitely a helpful wind, but did not aid things as much as some other years. Probably worth 40s over the duration of the race.

After 6 miles, we near the end of the canyon, Patrick had gapped Teren, and Teren had gapped me by little. Eventually I worked my way up to Teren, and ran alongside him for a little while, but then surprisingly dropped him soon thereafter. Mile 7 was another 4:49.

After the 7-mile mark, we got onto Hollow Rd. Hollow Rd is still nice downhill, more gradual, but just as fast, perhaps faster due to the evenness of the gradient. Patrick had maybe 10-15s on me on Hollow Rd, but he was certainly not coming back. I was hoping he would slow on the hill at Mile 10, but in the back of my mind I remembered that it's usually me that dies on that hill. My pace slowed a little on Mile 8 to 4:54, but still where I wanted to be!

Mile 9 is still all on Hollow Rd. It's a speedy section, but I could feel my pace slowing. This mile was 5:04 for me. Patrick was running faster than that, evidently. I could feel my wheels starting to fall off. Too many sub-4:50 miles earlier, which was a bit out of the zone I'm trained to run in.

During Mile 10 we exit Hollow Rd and run on Hwy-165. Still a very mellow downhill, but close to flat. 5:05 for this mile. Well, if I can at least hold this pace, it will still average out to a huge PR. 49:09 for the 10-mile split, which is on pace for well under 1:05:00. I'm hoping that I will magically bound up the 1.5-mile long hill coming up in order to do this.

Miles 11 & 12 are the hardest in the race. The first half of 11 is still flat, but then we start going up. All of Mile 12 is uphill, and then it crests, and Mile 13 is a net downhill to the finish. As I feared, I slowed even more on Mile 11, to 5:14. But Patrick wasn't pulling ahead anymore, so he was evidently hurting too. I laid an egg on Mile 12, though, with a 5:31 split. We were on the grid system now, and I could see that Patrick was about 2/3 of a block up from me, which is about 25-30s.

We finally crested the painful hill (but not soon enough) right after Mile 12. I tried to get my legs under me, but there was nothing there. It looked like Patrick was pulling away again this last mile. When I looked at my watch at Mile 12, I also realized that I wasn't going to break 1:05, which was a bit of a kick in the pants, after thinking it was a certainty just a couple miles ago. But it's hard to pull out that kind of time while plunking a 5:14 and a 5:31 as successive splits. Those really threw it off. But I bore down and did the best I could. I finally got some turnover near the end. Hit Mile 13 with a 5:12. I've done it faster other years, but I'll have to take it. Again, too many too-fast miles early on.

Last 0.1 was 30s. Official time was 1:05:38, good for 2nd place overall. It would have been the course record, except I got beat. Patrick Rotich won with 1:05:10, Teren was 3rd with 1:07:35, Steve Shepherd was 4th with 1:08:37.

After I finished, I literally kept jogging, and grabbed my bag, and then headed to my car to take off back home in order to not be a deadbeat husband and father. I had arranged for Walter to pick up my prize money at the awards ceremony, so we'll all see how honest Walter is now with 150 bucks! (thanks Walter!). Hopefully he won something good with my bib number in the raffle. I stopped in Logan to get gas (almost empty), and then realized that I grabbed the wrong clothes bag when I opened it up to grab a dry shirt, and there was women's clothes inside! Turns out the bib number on the bag was one number different that mine, and the last name was Petersen. Bah. So I drove back to Providence, put the wrong bag back, and grabbed mine. Ended up bumping into a lot of people and chit-chatted too much, my quick exit and early return home was ruined. Still got home at 9:15AM, but I would have been 8:30AM had I not needed to turn back. Oh well. Stacy still loves me. Took Seth off her hands and cooled down with him in the stroller when I got home.

I'm happy with this race, especially given the what an eventful week it was. I felt sharp; although I paid for an aggressive early pace, sometimes it's worth it to give a hard pace a shot. This time is an aided half marathon PR for me, beating my UVM time by 27s, and beating my last year's TOU Half time by 64s. Moreover, I finally got my sub-1:06, which is a nice stepping stone. Now I just need to stick the last few miles and get a sub-1:05. But it was a nice race amongst other nice races for the year, and does not discourage me from thinking I can get the marathon qualifier.

I've had a nice string of half marathons over the span of 2009 and 2010:

• Indy Mini, May 2009 - 1:08:35 (unaided PR)
• Seattle RnR, June 2009 - 1:08:12 (unaided PR)
• TOU Half, Aug 2009 - 1:06:42 (aided PR)
• The Other Half, Oct 2009 - 1:09:50 (unaided, altitude PR)
• Indy Mini, May 2010 - 1:08:05 (unaided PR)
• UVM Half, June 2010 - 1:06:05 (aided PR)
• TOU Half, Aug 2010 - 1:05:38 (aided PR)

These are all consecutive half marathons, so it's cool to PR every time I race (although I probably shouldn't count The Other Half...). I've also had two 15K PRs and a 10K PR during this time span. So it's been a great couple years, and I'm very thankful and blessed to be given this second lease on running, after thinking it was all over a couple years ago.

No more races until Indy in November. It's just a lot of miles and a lot of workouts for the next two months to prepare for the marathon.

AM - Forrester Acres loops with Seth. Recovery is going very well, and I feel better than I did after UVM and after Des News. It snowed in the mountains last night, and rained a lot in town this morning. The air smells like autumn leaves. I love it.

PM - 4.5 miles after dinner with Seth. Summit-Hillside Loop. Slow.

AM - Smithfield Canyon, with Seth, 8 miles, 7:25/mile. 41 degrees out when I got up this morning, so I waited for a few hours...then it was 48 degrees, much better. Beautiful morning, inspiring for running. This is just what I need for the final stretch of training...some inspiration. I do like to train, but I also hate it, so the weather helps.

PM - running around Smithfield with Seth. 6 miles. I forget the pace.