Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Ran the Logan Loop. 6:51/mile average pace. Beautiful, cool day.

AM - ran the dog around the block

PM - 9.25 miles with Jon and Cody. Did the Planet Walk, then ran around town for the some extra miles. 7:05/mile average pace.

AM - ran the dog around the block

PM - did a Little Workout with Jon on the Young Ward Loop. Started with 7 miles at 6:50-7:00 pace, then 5:58 and a 5:36, then back to 7+ pace for cooldown. Jon complained the whole way about pace.

I've been sick with a cold the last two days. No running.

Still a little sick, but quite a bit better than the last couple days. I ran 6 miles very slow with Cody, 8:15/mile average. Pace increased as the run progressed, so I think I was just shaking off some NyQuil.

A rare morning workout. The Packers play at 5PM on Monday Night Football, so I need to get to work early, and no time for a run afterward. Very cool out; my hands froze.

Ran the dog around the block, then did the Millville Hill Loop (in the correct direction), with 7 miles of tinman tempo.Warmed up 2 miles, and hit sub-7 on the second mile, then started the tempo.

Mile	Split	Comment
1	6:18	uphill
2	6:11	rolling
3	6:17	1/2 down, 1/2 up
4	7:04	The "Millville Hill"
5	6:03	Rolling, then up
6	5:51	downhill
7	5:41	downhill

Definitely not my best tempo, but I tried to keep it at a true tinman effort so that I can work out again on Thursday. This workout is always a fitness benchmark, so I've definitely got a ways to go.

Did a few strides afterward, and cooled down. 6:30/mile average pace for the run.

ran the dog around the block in the morning, then ran around with Jon and Cody in the evening. 7:38/mile.

8 miles on the River Trail with Jon. Beautiful day.

**************

For anyone who's interested, I've updated my personal blog with a couple new postings. It had been over a month, so I figured I was overdue...

Moderate workout day. Warmed up by running to the USU track (about 3 miles). Then did 7x1000m @ CV pace, with 200m recovery (~1 minute). Yesterday I was struggling with allergies (sneezing, runny nose, itchy eyes). Today most of the symptoms were gone, but I was feeling rather lethargic and not sure about this workout. The first interval was indeed a bit lethargic, but the rest felt absolutely great. Took a short water break after the 5th interval, so got 2 minutes rest on that one.

Interval	Split
1	3:24
2	3:17
3	3:17
4	3:17
5	3:17
6	3:15
7	3:10

I'm pleased with this, although I'm not sure why I would be so sluggish on the first, and then feel strong on rest. Guess I needed to warm up. Cooled down about a half mile, then did a few strides, then a couple tempo miles (5:40-6:00 pace), then a few more strides.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and it's my favorite time of year in Logan. It felt great just to be out there today and I praised God for the opportunity.

Easy 8 miles with Cody. Legs were tired from yesterday. 7:57/mile average pace.

Did a long run down Blacksmith Fork with Jon's ATK club, meaning we had food, drink, and a shuttle with the run. Ran with Ruth, Jon, and Cody. Pace was leisurely, and the run went by pretty quick with the banter. Even with the slower pace, I was still really tired and a little sore by the end, mostly due to increasing my mileage this week. And maybe from not taking any NSAIDs since Wednesday. 7:08/mile average pace.

As of 10:30AM I am on the front page of the mileage board. It won't last long, but that hasn't happened in awhile. Don't I get a trophy or something?

Ran the dog around the block in the morning, then ran to First Dam and back into the evening. 7:26/mile average pace.

AM - ran the dog around the block.

PM - Medium Workout. 2 miles warmup, 8 miles tinman tempo (which ended up being at least MP), cooldown with some strides. Ran the workout in the heat of the day, upper 80s in temp. Exact same Millville Hill course as last week, except I added an 8th tempo mile, rather than stopping at 7. When I hit inadvertently hit 6:38 for my second warmup mile (was daydreaming about running Boston), I knew things could get interesting. Splits compared to last week:

Mile	Last Week	Today	Terrain
1	6:18	6:00	gentle uphill
2	6:11	5:53	rolling
3	6:17	5:58	1/2 down, 1/2 up
4	7:04	6:28	THE Millville Hill
5	6:03	5:52	3/4 rolling, 1/4 up
6	5:51	5:41	1/4 up, 3/4 down
7	5:41	5:24	all downhill. Took a short water break at park in Providence.
8	--	5:23	1/4 downhill, then rolling

 I managed to scrape together a few strides during the cooldown, but I was pretty beat. I'm happy to average 15-20 seconds per mile faster than last week, especially in hotter weather. But I think it was a harder effort too, definitely not tinman. I think I'm ready to go for the TOU 5K this weekend; nothing but easy mileage until then. 6:12/mile average pace for the run.

AM - Ran the dog for a mile, then ran to breakfast, then ran back toward the office, and did a couple laps in Merlin Oslen park for fun. 5 miles total.

PM - ran to the dentist, had my teeth cleaned, then jogged over to Cal Ranch to buy some flagging for marking the Bear 100 course. Then ran back to the office, carrying my new tooth brush, toothpaste, and flagging, and grinning like an idiot. But we haven't driven our car since Sunday, and my body's mpg is hard to beat. 4 miles total.

AM - ran the dog for a mile, then ran the Planet Walk. Didn't wear a watch, but pace was very slow.

PM - easy 3 miles on the Planet Walk, with 6x100m strides in the middle. I finally got to break in the racing flats I got back in February. They feel good, and I look forward to wearing them on Saturday.

Met Cody in the early morning, and we went out and jogged the TOU 5K course. Very slow. Finished up by running the dog around the block.

Top of Utah 5K this morning. This was a monumental race for me, as I can now say I've completed every race on earth with the name "Top of Utah ...".

The TOU 5K is our little local side event to the TOU Marathon. It's only about 100-150 people or so, but it is fast loop course with just a couple small hills, and supposedly it is certified, so we can trust the distance too. I was looking forward to running, simply because I haven't done a 5K in over a year (which showed during the race). My top tier goal was 15:50, but I would be fine with anything under 16:20. And I wanted to win, 'cause that's usually fun.

After eating a pear and a homemade no-starch energy bar, I jogged the dog around the block, and noted that it was very humid and rather warm. It rained last night, so the roads were wet. I hoped that wouldn't be a problem with my new flats. Before I left my house, I ensured it would at least be a two-star race.

Then I got my gear together and ran out to the start line, just under a mile from my house. Earned another star, then started my warmup, running the course backward. I saw a guy from behind who looked like Cody, and I ran him down, and indeed it was Cody, so we warmed up together, about 2.5 miles. Tried to earn a 4th star after the warmup, but failed. Right before the race started, I met Joe Furse, a blogger from Hurricane who is now going to USU. We have now adopted Joe into our training group, whether he wants it or not.

They started the race right on time (thank you). It felt like I got out hard the first mile, but I had no gauge on 5K speed, since the shortest intervals I've done lately is 1000's at 5:20/mile pace. Joe, Cody, and I were all right together for about half a mile, then I think Cody got sick of us, and backed off a little. There were no mile markers on the course (at least visible ones), so I wore my garmin. I finally looked at my garmin at about 0.9 miles, expecting to see 4:50 pace or something close, but was surprised to see 5:10. Hmmm. I picked it up.

When through the garmin mile in 5:09, and tried to pick it up more as we headed down a fast flat stretch toward Main Street. Joe was still right with me, but as I dialed the pace up, he dropped. I was sub-5 pace at the half mile when we turned the corner up Main, but then hit the only real hill of the course, around 100 S, and obviously my pace slowed. I tried to pick it right back up when we crested at Center St., but never really got the wheels moving. I was feeling very strong, and felt like I was going fast, but was not actually going fast. My second mile split was 5:08. Sub-16 was not looking good, but on the other hand, I felt pretty good.

I kept trying to push the pace, then I hit the last little uphill when making the turn onto 300 N. The uphill only lasted a block, and again I tried to get the turnover going on the flat stretch, but couldn't get back under 5-minute pace. I finally hit the little downhill stretch at 100 S, but it was not quite enough. 3rd mile split was 5:05.

If my garmin was right, I would at least be close to 16 minutes, but unfortunately all of the sharp turns and tangets threw my gps off. It read 3.17 at the finish, and my official time was 16:17. Cody's garmin read 3.13. Since the course is certified, I will trust the official time over my cheap little GPS.

So I managed to hit my baseline goals, and it certainly felt good to win. (Cody took 2nd, and Joe was 3rd, so 1-3 sweep by bloggers). Sub-16 would have been a great confidence booster, but on the hand, I felt so good and fresh after the race, and that in itself is a confidence booster. I think the problem is just lack of leg speed. I felt like I could have kept going and ran 33:00 for 10K. Oh, and I got virtual-chicked by the virtual Meseret Defar, who won the TOU 5K with 16:00 back in 2006. But she is a world record holder, so I can live with that.

Cody, Joe, and I cooled down for a couple miles, then hung around for the awards. I got a really cool metal plaque thingy for winning. It's actually cooler than the marathon moose trophies, much better than what I expected for a little 5K. Trophies are nice mementos. I don't know when or if my body will completely break down and I won't be able to run ever again, so I don't take wins for granted, even little races.

But the day was just getting started at this point. After awards, Cody, Jon, Joe, and I ran out on the marathon course, took all the shortcuts, and found AndyB near Mile 20 in Providence. We paced him in the rest of the way. Andy ended up catching a half dozen runners or so, and no one passed us, so I considered it successful. And fun too. He did well.

Overall, Ezekiel Ruto (a Kenyan) won the race with ~2:22, Nick McCombs was 2nd with 2:28, and Sasha rounded out the money with 2:33. Steve Cuttica 4th with around a 2:41 or so. So a good day for bloggers. It was a very humid morning, with spotty off-and-on rain showers. I imagine the rain and cloud cover helped out the runners some, because if it had been sunny and humid it could have gotten pretty bad.

******************

After the morning run, I took a nap, worked for awhile, and then headed up Logan Canyon to Blind Hollow. I had "adopted" a portion of the Bear 100, and needed to mark the route for the upcoming race later next week. Stacy dropped me off at Temple Fork, and I ran up the Blind Hollow Trail to Tony Grove Lake. Starting elevation was 5700', peak elevation was 8500', and end elevation was 8000'. So it was mostly, um, climbing. My garmin measured 7.4 miles, but I took short wrong turn, so the actual route I marked was just under 7 miles. 2:17:30 for the total time, which included stopping, eating, walking, wrong turns, and other non-running activities. I probably actually ran about 2/3 of it, so I'm giving myself 5 miles for the excursion. It was a beautiful fall day on single-track, can't be beat. I got rained on a few times, but it was all in good fun. Saw a few rainbows. Stacy and Seth met me at Tony Grove, and we had a little BBQ. A very good, but exhausting day.

AM -  ran the dog around the block, then did the Planet Walk. It was raining, which felt kind of nice. Legs are tired from weekend running adventures, but not too bad, and no soreness.

PM - ran the Landfill Loop (5.5 miles) with Jon, Joe, and Cody. Easy pace, 7:38/mile.

AM - ran the dog around the block

PM - Big Workout; 5x4-minute CV fartlek with 2-minute recovery, followed by 4x30s hill charges. Jon, Cody, and I did this workout on the North Logan Loop. Met at the fairgrounds, then warmed up about 4 miles to the top of 1000 N, then started the fartlek.

Interval	Distance	Pace	Comment
1	0.79	5:05/mile	pretty much all downhill
2	0.73	5:29/mile	2/3 uphill, 1/3 downhill
3	0.73	5:29/mile	all uphill
4	0.77	5:13/mile	slight downhill/flat
5	0.77	5:12/mile	slight downhill/flat

 Jon was flying today, so I was just trying to keep up with him. All in all, a pretty good workout, considering my legs weren't spunky going into it. But I was happy with the pace today. We cooled down a few miles, and then I did my hill charges up the Boulevard. Fun stuff.

This morning I had my quarterly rheumatologist appointment. Not much to report, other than he wants me to take my NSAIDs more consistently. Humph. They also took my weight, blood pressure, and heart rate. I don't remember my blood pressure, but I weighed in at 131 lbs with all my clothes, wallet, shoes, and keys, so I think I've dropped a few. And my resting heart rate was 44, a new PR. The nurse looked a little surprised and asked me if my heart rate is always this low. I tried to think of something witty and clever to say, but could not think of anything, so just said, "Uh, I'm a runner".

Then I wen to the chiropractor. He x-rayed my neck last week, and this week we got to look at the results. My neck angle only changed a little, up from 18 degrees to 22 degrees. But my head is also more "plumb" with my shoulders, and also vertebrae spacing has increased, so all that is good. Just looking at the side-by-side x-rays, I could see improvement. He seemed to think the next month would lead to bigger changes. We shall see.

Easy 9 miles, assembled piecemeal over the morning. Ran with the dog, ran to work, to breakfast, to the chiropractor, back to work, back home, and then a few laps at Logan High grass fields. 9 miles in all.

AM - ran the dog around the block.

PM - Big Workout. I did an 8-mile tinman tempo on the Hyde Park Hill Loop. I wasn't feeling very spunky at all on the warmup, so I decided to relax and take whatever my body gave me today. No need to beat the world with a tempo run.

Warmed up 4 miles, then started the tempo. Splits were 6:21, 5:58, 7:01, 6:31, 5:58, 5:59, 6:05, 6:02. Slower splits represent the bigger hills. Average pace for flat stretches were about 6:05-6:10. I was glad to just to get the workout in the books. Cooled down 2 miles. 14 miles total at an average pace of 6:40/mile.

AM - ran the dog around the block, then went out to the Richards Hollow trailhead (near Blacksmith Fork Canyon) with Stacy and Seth to captain our aid station for the Bear 100. Ultra race aid stations are a lot of work. I basically worked from 6:45-10:15PM last night on picking up and getting gear/food ready, then worked the aid station from 8:30-1:30 today, followed by about an hour worth of tear-down and loading/unloading back in Logan. Then I have to take all the drop bags to Bear Lake tomorrow, and take the gear and supplies back to Smithfield on Sunday. But it's worth it to see the look of joy on ultra runners' faces when they see that I have cooked potatoes and pre-cut honeydew melon.

Last year I manned the aid station all alone, which was difficult. This year I brought my family, and also recruited the Allen family. Jon is a natural at helping thirsty trail runners, and I think I saw a few glimmers of inspiration in his eye as he watched them run off. I told Jon I would crew for him if he ever gets the 100-mile bug.

Jon and I got in a few miles down Lefthand Fork Rd. as we waited for the first runners. Only a few though, because the runners came quick. I took a nice digger on one section, hitting a rock with my foot and pitching head-first in slow motion. It was so slow that I managed to do a barrel-roll as I hit the ground, which dissipated most of the impact. I came out with surprisingly few scrapes and bruises, thanks to my quick thinking. :P. Jon remarked that it was incredibly graceful.

PM - finished out the bulk of my mileage by running out to the end of the Canal Trail and back (6 miles). Then ran the dog around the block again. Very slow pace, around 8-min/mile.

Long run, 18 miles from my house to past Spring Hollow and back on the River Trail and Canal Trail. I ran with my iPod today, and tried to relax and keep it as a recovery day. 7:58/mile average pace.

AM - ran the dog around the block. Noticed my left lower shin was hurting. Odd.

PM - Big Workout. My shin issue was still there, but I decided to start the workout and see if it would shake out. I did my standard 2 miles warmup, then an 8-mile tinman tempo on the Millville Hill Loop. I am doing 8x1000 on Thursday, and want that to be a really good workout, so no pressure for pushing it today. Warmup miles were 7:11 and then 6:38. It's always a good sign to be in the 6:30s during the warmup. Shin felt like it would hold up.

Mile	Split	Comment
1	6:04	gradual uphill
2	5:51	rolling
3	5:56	1/2 down, 1/2 up
4	6:41	The Millville Hill
5	6:04	3/4 rolling, 1/4 uphill
6	5:42	mostly downhill
7	5:33	downhill
8	5:34	rolling

 Splits were a little bit slower than 2 weeks ago, but it also felt easier, so I think it was an appropriate effort (I probably ran too hard last time). Also, I took a couple water breaks last time, whereas today was continuous. So I was pleased with this workout, and did not feel too fatigued at the end.

However, once I started cooling down, my shin flared up more, and became very uncomfortable. I noticed it during the workout, more on downhills and less on uphills, but it did not slow me down. But I was definitely dragging because of it afterward, and ended up packing it in a little bit early (13.5 miles for the day instead of 15, and no striders at the end). I'm a mileage junky, but not so bad that I absolutely need to be right on my schedule just to prove a point. But I must say that I'm a little disappointed not to get it, since today was an "on" day otherwise. I'm icing it right now, and will do some more ice and massage later. Assuming it's a shin splint, I've never had this problem for more than a day or two, so hopefully I can treat it and get rid of it. I don't really know what else it would be. I felt perfect on Saturday, and rested all day Sunday, so am a little surprised to have a ouchie right now.

My shin is still hurting today, perhaps slightly better than last night, but still uncomfortable to walk, and impossible to run. Why can't it be the other way around: impossible to walk but merely uncomfortable to run? I would much rather run than walk. In any case, I will keep up the regime of icing, massaging, and scraping. I think it's a bit of tendinitis.

I rode my bike to the gym in the evening, and did 40 minutes on the elliptical, followed by 10 minutes on the arc trainer. Fortunately, the shin feels fine on the machines, so at least I can cross train. The activity seemed to help the pain levels as well, which makes be think that heat will be a good therapy along with the ice. I'm optimistic I can work through this, and will look at this week as a "rest week"...all part of the training plan.