Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

AM - Forrester Acres loops with Seth. 10.5 miles, averaging 7:03/mile.

PM - Smithfield north loop with Seth. 4.75 miles, averaged 7:02/mile. Lots of stroller miles this week.

Big Workout. Ran up Smithfield Canyon, 15 miles total. Kept the pace at a brisk to Tinman Tempo effort. Not too intense (being a recovery week from TOU), but it was a long effort. Averaged 6:16/mile for the run. Hit sub-6 for the last 6 miles. Uphill part of the canyon was 6:15-6:30, and the dirt was a bit slower.

AM - out-and-back on Saddleback Rd, with Seth. 9 miles, 7:45/mile average.

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

Long run. I kept the pace brisk and steady, but nothing intense, as I'm trying this as a "recovery week", but not necessarily a low-mileage week. Thus, keep the volume, but everything is slower than MP. Did an out-and-back from my house to the canal trail to 1600 E to USU to Logan Canyon, to the River Trail. Was a little suprised to hit the River Trail before 8 miles, so I actually got up on the single track before it was time to turn around. Had a good run, and felt good, although tired at the end. Averaged 6:18/mile for 20 miles. Nothing faster than 6:00 and nothing slower than 6:30, so it was pretty even.

AM - Smithfield Canyon with Seth. 9 miles, 7:25/mile.

PM - Forrester Acres with Seth. 6 miles, 7:22/mile. Beautiful day, upper 60s for the high and sunny. So glad that summer is over. Sad that winter is coming. Better enjoy the moment.

Big Workout. Did a 12-mile progression on the Bear River Range out-and-back. Warmed up one mile (6:46), then started at brisk pace, then went to tinman pace, then went to MP, and then the last couple miles at LT. It was tough. Splits were 6:12, 5:55, 5:41, 5:40, 5:29, 5:19, 5:23, 5:19, 5:12, 5:19, 5:07, 5:06. Legs were burning on those last two, as it was mostly on gravel, which made it tougher. Hit 13.1 miles in 1:13:15. Cooled down the last 4 miles at about 6:50 pace. Averaged 5:53/mile for 17 miles. 

AM - Forrester Acres loops with Seth. 10 miles, 7:25/mile average. Very humid this morning.

PM - north Smithfield out-and-back with Seth. 5 miles, 7:20/mile average. A high school kid yelled at me from a moving vehicle to "put a shirt on". That makes twice for this week. I take great comfort that some things never change.

AM - ran with Seth. It was threatening rain, so we did a little short out-and-back around town. Lo and behold, it began raining right at we got back to the house. Took a hiatus until the shower ended, then we did our second segment. Again, the rain started up once more when we were almost home. Saw an awesome double rainbow. The rainbow ended right at the Birch Creek Golf Course clubhouse, so that must be where the pot of gold is. 6 miles total, 7:35/mile average.

PM - caught a break in the rain. I took Seth for a few miles, then he nodded off, so I dumped him into bed and did the last 7 miles on my own. Felt good to be baby jogger free. Ran up Birch Creek Canyon a ways. The smell of the fresh, post-rain air was awesome along the trail. Good afternoon to be out, although I'm a bit tired. 10 miles, averaged 7:16/mile.

AM - Smithfield Canyon with Seth. Sluggish this morning, but it was nice out at least. 8 miles, averaged 7:47/mile.

PM - canal trail. 7 miles, no watch.

This is the last day of my 2-week paternity leave. I'll be sad to go back to work. I kind of like being a stay-at-home dad.

Long run. Described by one word: woof. Got up early today to pick my parents up at the airport (90 minute drive each way). Then went over to help a friend move for a couple hours. Then went home and ate kind of a lame lunch. Digested for an hour, then started by long run at about 3PM. Fortunately it was not too hot out today. But I was probably undernourished and underhydrated before starting the run today.

I needed some tempo miles, and originally intended to do some sort of downward ladder. I was not in the mood, though, and didn't have a lot of spunk today, so I had to trick myself. I made a deal with myself: I'd do 5 miles at Tinman pace, and then take it from there. If it was terrible, I'd stop and just jog the rest. If it was okay, then I'd extend the workout to another 4 mile MP after 2 minutes recovery. If that was terrible, I'd stop, but if it was okay, I'd do 3 miles at MP. Then 2 miles. Then 1 mile. So a 5-4-3-2-1 ladder, with an "opt-out" at any desired increment.

The first 5-mile segment wasn't so bad (6:15, 5:57, 6:15, 5:54, 5:48). Felt like I definitely had some marathon pace running in me, and decided to do more. Recovered for two minutes then did the 4-mile MP segment (5:30, 5:27, 5:30, 5:29).

Decided that wasn't so bad, and continued with the next segment: MP for 3 miles (5:25, 5:26, 5:45). This went decent, although the last mile was slower due to getting a little bit lost and having to backtrack (new route today), and also starting an epic bonk. 

During most of the 3-mile segment I was confident that I would extend the workout to the next segment of 2 miles @ MP, but went I started by 2-minute recovery jog, I soon realized that I was completely done. Legs were gone, and I was in bonk mode, something I haven't dealt with in a few years. The bad news was that I still had 7.5 miles until the run was over, but I just tried to keep a decent pace home. Somehow hung around 6:50-7:10/mile for most of the rest of the way in (22 miles total), but it was a terrible feeling. Averaged 6:20/mile for 22 miles.

Today's route was very flat, except for the last 2 miles back home, so that helped. Stopped at Mack Park to rehydrate, and that helped a bit. I generally don't take water or gel during these long runs, but it would have made today less painful. Glad it's done. First 100-mile week since September of 2007.

AM - Birch Creek Canyon. 9 miles, no watch.

PM - Canal Trail. About 7:20/mile. 6 miles.

AM - Smithfield Canyon, 9 miles. 7:25/mile average.

PM - Forrester Acres. No watch. 6 miles.

noon - ran the Fairgrounds/Planet Walk from work. 5.75 miles, averaged 7:29/mile.

PM - ran home from work. Did a few strides and a couple faster miles near the end. 9.5 miles, averaged 7:10/mile

Big Workout. Warmed up by running Hillshade to Summit, and then down to the cemetery. Not feeling very snappy today (likely due to mileage of the last couple weeks), but I knew if I let myself ease into the workout, I would feel better as it went on.

Did 8x1000m @ CV on the cemetery loop, 1-minute recovery jog between intervals. A rare interval workout for me, but I figured I'm due, and don't want to get slow from too many long tempo runs. Interval splits were 3:20, 3:18, 3:14, 3:13, 3:06, 3:10, 3:06, 3:03.

So the first half of the workout was pretty slow, but I finally got things humming on the second half. Felt pretty decent, thanks to not trying to overdo it and be a superhero. Sometimes you just have to take what your body gives you.

Cooled down for about 6 miles. Ran back to the canal trail so that I could run on dirt and flat topography. Kept the pace honest, about 6:30-6:40. 15.75 miles total for the run, averaged 6:29/mile.

AM - camped with Seth and my dad up Smithfield Canyon last night. After breakfast and breaking camp, I send Seth back down with my dad in the car, and then I ran home. It's nice to do a downhill run without having to invest in the uphill. A preview for tomorrow, I suppose. 7:05/mile for 6 miles.

PM - Birch Canyon. 9 miles, 7:18/mile average pace.

Ran the Top of Utah Marathon today. Did it as a combined long run and also (more importantly) pace my buddy (and sometimes brother) David to his first sub-3hr marathon. Great morning to run, perfect temps.

We planned to run at 2:55 pace, using my pace chart, but we were bleeding about 5s/mile on all of our splits...but bleeding in a good direction, as each split was faster than it should have been. Hit the half in about 1:25:10, and then did the second half in about 1:28:02.

So running faster than we were supposed to worked out for good, as Dave "stuck" the pace, and pulled out a huge 9-minute PR or so. 2:53:12 for the official time, and we were 18th and 19th overall, beating our seeds of 37 and 38. And we were also 2nd and 3rd in the age division, which is cool.

Had a lot of fun this morning, and Dave ran tough and really deserved the PR. Also enjoyed running with the big sub-3 pack, with folks including Allie, Scott, Jason Mc, Keith Anderson, and meeting other folks at various points of the race. Had a lot of support along the course from bikers and people watching the race, something that I think has improved about TOU over the years.

27 miles for the day, rounding out the week's mileage to an even 103. Will post splits tomorrow.

Here are splits:

First Half: 6:26, 6:29, 12:55 (2 miles), 6:33, 6:31, 12:52 (2 miles), 12:55 (2 miles), 12:48 (2 miles), 6:48 (1:25:10 for half marathon)

Second Half: 6:16, 6:13, 6:27, 6:23, 6:32, 7:00, 7:03 (2:10:18 for 20 miles), 6:38, 7:05, 7:00, 6:43, 7:15, 6:56, 1:15.

AM - Smithfield Canyon, 9 miles, 6:59/mile. Felt surprisingly good. I guess my body has adjusted to the mileage.

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

AM - Birch Creek with Dave. 9 miles, averaged about 8:10/mile.

PM - Willow Park / Planet Walk from work. No watch. 6.25 miles.

Big Workout today. Ran from work, and did the classic Millville Hill Loop, with 10 miles of tinman tempo. Cooled down on grass at Logan High for a few miles. Averaged 6:12/mile for the 16-mile run. Tempo splits were 5:52, 5:49, 5:46, 6:02 (the hill, new PR), 5:52, 5:54, 5:48, 5:39, 5:53, 5:39. Kept things pretty steady and didn't gas myself early, so the hill went pretty well, then I just cruised the downhill. Good run, and a nice day for it. Got rained on a little bit.

AM - canal trail. 9 miles, 7:09/mile.

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

Helped out at the Leatham Hollow aid station for the Bear 100 this morning. Dave and I went out and watched the start to cheer Jon on. Then we got breakfast and headed up to Leatham. Set up the aid station, and then I decided to get a few miles by running up the trail. I did that a few other times, and got about 6 misc miles that way. After we shut down the aid station, I rounded out my mileage by running down Lefthand Fork, and then up Blacksmith Fork. Got a big tailwind going uphill, and then fought the headwind going down hill. Got 9 miles for that run, and 15 miles total for the day. Averaged 6:56/mile for the 9-mile run.

Long Run / Big Workout. Warmed up for 2-miles, then did 4x3-miles @ MP, with 3-min recovery jog. Ran on the Bear River Ranch out-and-back. It went pretty terrible. The first few miles were okay, but the last half was a death-march. My legs had nothing to offer today, so I just completed the workout and didn't worry about pace. It was an MP effort, but my MP on race-day better be a lot faster! Splits were (5:28, 5:20, 5:24), (5:20, 5:34, 5:39), (5:30, 5:45, 5:42), (5:38, 5:56, 5:52).

There was a post on therunzone.com, where Tinman responded to someone else about a workout during high-mileage weeks:

Remember to not race the intervals. You are running high mileage, which is good, and there is never a need to run super-hero workouts while doing high mileage. You need lots of weeks of steady training, moderate workouts, and over time your body will continue to transform. Let the pace come to you, and never push your body to achieve a pace. Keep going strong!

Although this was not directed to me, it may as well have been, so I've been keeping the phrase "let the pace come to you" in my head this past week.

6:18/mile average pace for 20 miles today. 96 miles for the week. Next week is an easy week, hurrah! Only 60 miles during this "recovery" week, and then a couple more hard week before my taper. Starting the smell the barn...

One other note: today I passed up my total mileage from last year. Always a good benchmark to achieve in September.

Smithfield Canyon, 8 miles, averaged 6:52/mile. Did some strides at the end. Felt quite good this morning, temps were perfect, upper 40s.

Medium Workout today. Ran the Bear River Loop, and 8 tempo miles. Warmed up with 6:23, 6:29, and then did a tinman tempo mile in 5:50. Then did 7 miles at MP (5:25, 5:24, 5:29, 5:18, 5:20, 5:24, 5:27). Cooled down for 3 miles at about 6:55/mile. Felt decent today.5:56/mile average for 13 miles.

Landfill Loop (from work). 8 miles, averaged 7:07/mile.

Birch Creek Canyon, 10 miles, 7:48/mile.