Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Caught a break in the rain, and was loving the 70-degree weather for Aug 1. Ran Smithfield Canyon, 9 miles, 6:34/mile average. I feel fresh after my 29-mile week...

Big Workout. Warmed up the long way to the Smithfield Cemetery, then did 8x1000m with 60s recovery jog. Splits were 3:04, 3:06, 3:03, 3:05, 3:03, 3:08, 3:04, 3:03. Cooled down for about 5 miles afterward. Averaged 6:30/mile for 14 miles.

Ran to Logan and back. 14-ish miles, no watch. Sluggish and tired due to the workout yesterday.

AM - canal trail, 7 miles, no watch

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

AM - Smithfield Canyon with Zoe. 8 miles, 7:34/mile.

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

Ran up Birch Creek Canyon and met Cody at the end of the road. We ran the single-track up to near the top of the bowl, before the ascent to the ridge. Good run, beautiful trail as always, although abit overgrown on the upper part. Good to ru  with Cody, and he was patient with my slow trail running. 18 mile for the day. I did some brisk-pace ruuning on the road segments, at the beginning and end of the run.

Ran out on the canal trail into North Logan, and then back. 10 miles, averaged about 7:10/mile. 

AM - easy 7 miles, ran a loop around Smithfield. 7:14/mile average pace.

PM - Forrester Acres, 6 miles with Zoe, no watch.

Ran to Logan, had breakfast, had an eye appointment, ran back. I am now very close to 20-20 from LASIK. But I am not any smarter or more handsome. 14.25 miles, 6:58/mile average.

Big Workout. Did 3x2-mile at threshold pace, 2:30 recovery jog, on the Saddleback out-and-back route. 9:59 on the downhill segment (4:59, 5:00), and then 10:11 (5:06, 5:05), and 10:07 (5:03, 5:04) on the flat/rolling intervals. I was winded at the end. Cooled down for 5 miles afterward. Averaged 6:14/mile for 14 miles.

AM - Birch Creek Canyon, 8 miles, 7:22/mile average.

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

Long run. Ran with Walter, up Smithfield Canyon, until the single-track was completely washed away by the flooding this spring. Did some tempo on the way back down, on the road. Did about 4 miles at 5:30/mile pace. 20 miles total, averaged about 7:10/mile for the run.

AM - canal trail, 7 miles, no watch.

PM - Forrester acres with Seth, 6 miles, no watch.

Big Workout. Warmed up 2 miles to the Smithfield Cemetery, and then did 10x1000m with 1-minute recovery jog on the cemetery road loop.. I should call this workout "aces wild" or something like that. It was a decent workout, although it started slow and sluggish, probably from the increase in mileage over the last several weeks. But I felt like I could keep going with the intervals, so the endurance is probably getting better. Splits were 3:20, 3:14, 3:09, 3:09, 3:06, 3:07, 3:06, 3:08, 3:06, 3:04.

Cooled down for a few miles afterward. Averaged 6:24/mile for 14.25 miles.

AM - Smithfield Canyon, 9 miles, 6:50/mile average. Felt surprisingly good.

PM - canal trail, 5 miles, no watch.

AM - Birch Creek Canyon, 8.25 miles, no watch.

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

AM - random route around Smithfield. 7 miles, 7:25/mile average.

PM - Forrester Acres with Seth, 6 miles, no watch

Long run, 18 miles, Hollow Rd to BSF Canyon to TOU Half start, and then back down. Got too hot at the end, due to starting the run too late, and a canyon wind that made me overheat a bit on the downhill. But a good run. Averaged 5:53/mile overall. Splits were 6:25, 6:14, 6:14, 6:39, 6:26, 6:29, 6:10, 6:12, 6:06, (turnaround), 5:37, 5:21, 5:20, 5:18, 5:18, 5:10, 5:26, 5:42, 5:38

AM - 9 miles easy up Smithfield Canyon. No watch.

PM - Forrester Acres with Zoe, 6 miles, no watch.

Did a workout today. Warmed up for 4 miles, and then did 6 miles at marathon pace, followed by 4-mile cooldown. Ran the workout on the Bear River Loop. Splits for the tempo were 5:25, 5:18, 5:17, 5:14, 5:13, 5:12. So I guess it ended up being a bit of a progression run, especially give that the first part is net downhill, and the last couple miles are net uphill. Felt really good. Averaged 6:17/mile overall for the 14-mile run.

Ran Hillside to Summit down to McDonalds to meet a friend for coffee. Then finished off the day by going up Birch and back. 12.75 miles total, averaged 7:25/mile.

AM - canal trail, 7 miles, no watch.

noon - Smithfield Loop with Zoe. 5 miles, no watch.

AM - canal trail, 5 miles, no watch. Did a few strides

PM - 5 miles with my birthday girl Zoe.

Top of Utah Half Marathon. This was my 5th attempt at this race, and the best outcome. Until this year I had never won the race outright (I don't consider the year Logan took a wrong turn as a "win"), so it was really nice to finally get that top spot.

Got up at 4:20AM and had oatmeal with peaches, and coffee. (actually, kids woke me up at 3:30, and I didn't sleep much after that). Drove over to the busing area, picked up my packet and boarded one of the middle buses. I had a bit over an hour to kill once I got there, but made several good potty stops (including the "hidden" potty below the start at the picnic area), and a good 2-mile warmup. So it was time well-spent.

Temperatures this morning in the valley were abnormally high, about 70 degrees. Usually it is mid- to low-50s this time of year, so I was a little worried about heat. But up the canyon it was quite a bit cooler, and quite nice, plus I think the temps dropped a little by the time the race started. Still a little warmer than ideal, and in previous years, but not bad at all.

Cache Sun 'n' Snow really has the management of this race nailed down by now, and they started the race right on time. I knew coming in that my primary competition would be Jake Krong, and I didn't see anyone else at the start to make me think otherwise. But I figured Jake would give me everything I could handle and then some. I really had no idea what the outcome would be, other than that we would probably push each other a bit.

We both agreed before the race that 4:50-4:55/mile pace in the canyon sounded pretty good. (as long as I don't think about it too hard). So when the gun went off, Jake tore down the canyon and I followed the best I could. It takes me a few miles to really warm up some races, and it was one of those races today. The pace felt REALLY hard the first mile, and I was breathing heavy for only one mile in. We went through Mile 1 in 4:48, which made me feel a bit better. It felt hard because it was.

Jake backed off the pace a little and I was able to catch back up alongside him (had been trailing a few meters before that). Mile 2 was 4:57, followed by 5:03 for Mile 3. Although Blacksmith Fork is a nice downhill gradient, not all miles are equal, and splits can vary a bit, despite even effort. I assume that was the case, rather than us biting the dust already.

We were running a pretty steady pace together, no real surges or anything, although I was still having trouble getting going and was no feeling comfortable at all, so was periodically falling off Jake's shoulder (mostly on the downhills), and then catching back up on the flats or slight uphills. Mile 4 was 4:56.

Not much tailwind at all up until about Mile 5, where I could see it blowing the grass and even feel it against my back. We had it for the last mile or two in the canyon, plus the first mile of Hollow Rd. It was a decent canyon wind, although certainly not the longest-lived I've experienced, or the strongest, but for a few miles it was certainly an aid.

And it was Miles 5-8 where I finally snapped out of my funk and hit a good rhythm, started feeling really good at last. Mile 5 was 4:50, followed by 4:59 for Mile 6 (about 30:35 for 10K). During Mile 7, we exited the canyon and turned off onto Hollow Rd, which is always a fast mile, due to ideal gradient and good canyon wind. Mile 7 was 4:49.

Up through this point, Jake and I were running together. During Mile 8, in the middle of the Hollow Rd section, he dropped back from me a little bit, and eventually I  couldn't hear him anymore. 4:57 for Mile 8.

At this point I started thinking ahead to the hill after Mile 10. Although not steep, it is a long, challenging hill, and I usually bite the dust on on it, and then am a wounded duck on the downhill mile after the hill. I knew I needed to relax and keep something in the tank for that part of the race. At the same time, I'm thinking how Jake is still right on my heels, and if I let up, he'll catch me. And if he catches me, I'll probably just let him go and forget about the whole thing. Ah, the psychology of racing. Point is, I needed to both relax and keep the hammer down at the same time. Easier said than done. It's not even that easy to say, since it makes no sense. But that's what I tried to do, balance the two things.

Mile 9, the last full mile on Hollow Rd, was 5:01. I was a little disappointed to be back above 5:00, but still feeling okay. During Mile 10, the course leaves Hollow Rd, and then goes down Hwy 165, which is still a mild downhill, although it does not feel like it. Hit a 5:04 for this mile. (10 Mile at 49:27). I was okay with it, since I could not hear Jake...although knew he was still in range since I could hear people cheering for him. Maybe 10-15s back?

During Mile 11, we turn into Millville, cross the Blacksmith Fork, and then start up the Millville Hill. I managed 5:11 for Mile 11, and was fairly pleased. Tried to push the pace a little bit more as the hill continued, and keep things moving. Couldn't afford a lull at this point. This hill goes on FOREVER (or seems like it), for all of Mile 12, which ended up being 5:27. I was not happy about losing this much time, but was in "finish the darn race" mode, and kept plodding onward.

The "plodding" became much more urgent, however, when I gauged from crowd cheering that Jake was a bit closer, easily in striking range if I could not come up with something good on this last mile. The last mile is mostly downhill, and I've ran it as fast as 5:00 one year, but as slow as ~5:15 other years. I figured: a sub-5 would win the race, a 5:10 would lose. I respected Jake's speed and conditioning (fairly intimidating to read his weekly volume and workouts, actually), and knew I absolutely had to put the hammer down.

And I managed to do this, thankfully; Mile 13 was 4:56, my fast closing mile for this race. Last 0.1 was 28s. I held off Jake by about 10 seconds, and surprisingly, set a my course best and personal best with 1:05:30, 8 seconds better than last year.

Looking back at my past TOU Half races (and I've had some good ones), I was a little surprised (but pleased) to see that this year I ran my fastest Mile 11, Mile 12, and Mile 13 splits out of 5 attempts. That is how I got a PR, since my first 10 miles were a fair bit slower than last year, which went out crazy fast. So this year, it was all about keeping a steady pace, more or less, and being able to come off the hill with a little bit left in the tank. I'm especially happy with this, given that my mileage has been a bit lower this summer than last summer, but on the other hand, by staying healthy I've been able to build off last summer, so in some ways the mileage doesn't matter as much. Consistent, injury-free training trumps everything, IMO.

I think if the temps had been 10 degrees cooler, we all would have run 10-15s faster. It was still a pretty good day to run, but I've had so many "perfect" days for this particular race that I'm a little spoiled. I was able to mitigate the slight heat by dousing myself with water at each aid station, which kept me cool as the sun came up overhead.

Anyway...good day. My main goal coming into this race was to beat my time from last year, and I was able to do that in conditions not quite as good as last year. My "A+" goal was to break 1:05, but that's okay. Gotta take any PR I can get. But I was hoping that breaking 1:05 would give me a reason to think that going after Hobie Call's 2:16:30 course record at TOU Marathon is not idiocy. Sounds pretty dumb to me as I write it. I think I can run 2:18:00 there, maybe even 2:17, based off of today's performance, but 2:16 is really pushing it. May try anyway, what the heck?

AM - Smithfield Canyon, 8 miles, no watch. Felt pretty good considering the hard race on Saturday.

PM - Forrester Acres with Seth. 6 miles, no watch.

AM - Birch Creek Canyon, 8.25 miles, no watch

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

Big Workout, although not very structured.  It was hotter than I expected this morning, so I ran up Smithfield Canyon to stay in the shade. Averaged about 6:40/mile on the uphill part. Then turned around and did about 5 miles at MP effort, and averaged about 5:30/mile. Legs probably still have some residual fatigue from Saturday, so sometimes you just have to go through the motions and not worry about the splits. Averaged 6:25/mile for 15 miles. And my Saucony Kinvara's turned over 800 miles today. My goal is to get to 1000, which I should do pretty easily. The thing about minimalist shoes, is that by definition, they should not wear out!