Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Canal Trail, 8 miles, 7:10/mile. Feelin' fine.

Ran Smithfield Canyon this morning. 14 miles. It was a beautiful morning, lots of fall colors and a nice temperature. The workout was brisk, but slower than MP. Averaged 6:30-6:40/mile on the 7-mile uphill stretch, and then about 5:40/mile on the downhill. Felt pretty good and snappy. 6:16/mile for the entire run.

Thus ends my "easy" week. Big Week starts tomorrow.

Got a 2-hr massage yesterday. Hit the spot.

Ran an easy 6 miles this afternoon on the canal trail. No watch.

AM - Big Workout. Turned out to be a beautiful morning, as the change in weather appears to be holding off at least for a few more hours. I warmed up for about 3 miles, including a potty stop at Mack Park. Did some brisk pace stuff and a few strides to try to prime the engine.

The workout was 10x1000m at CV pace, 60s recovery jog between reps. CV is slower than 10K pace, but faster than half marathon pace. The workout went quite well. I had a bit of a slower start (as usual), but got in a groove for the majority of it. Just tried to let the workout come to me and not force things, and waited until the final rep to open things up a bit, and that felt great.

Interval splits were 3:12, 3:12, 3:11, 3:07, 3:07, 3:07, 3:06, 3:07, 3:05, 2:59.

Cooled down for 5 miles afterward. 15.5 miles total, averaged 6:21/mile.

noon - Planet Walk from work. 5 miles, no watch. Got rained on, but then it quit, so it was actually fairly nice out. Fly to Denver this afternoon for work.

Ran in Westminster, CO this morning. We have a client here, so I make this trip once or twice a year. Usually I just plod my race through some random run, but this year I asked Nan for a little bit of direction, and she referred me to the Big Dry Creek Trail, which I was able to find just a couple miles from my hotel. Did an out and back on the trail, and ran about a mile past City Park. Very nice trail for running, and it was nice to avoid traffic, and also get some dirt. The creek, by the way, is neither big nor dry. Saw a coyote and about 300 prairie dogs. Averaged 7:00/mile for 12.5. Beautiful morning for running.

AM - canal trail, 7 miles, 7:22/mile average.

PM - ran home from work. It was a little stormy, but I had a sweet tailwind the whole way. 8.25 miles, 6:50/mile average.

AM - Birch Creek Canyon. 8 miles, averaged 7:20/mile.

PM - ran home from work. 8.25 miles, averaged 7:30/mile.

AM - out-and-back on the county roads north of Smithfield. 9.5 miles, averaged 7:15/mile. Did a few strides in the middle.

PM - canal trail, 6 miles, 7:30/mile average

Big Workout / Long Run / Race Simulation. Caps off a Big Week. Et cetera.

Drove down to Forrester Acres and parked. Warmed up for a couple miles, then changed into my racing flats. I've been doing most workouts in the Saucony Kinvara's, but wanted to do this workout in my Type A's, to get a better feel for them. Plus, the Type A is a much faster shoe. The Kinvara's are great for workouts, but they are rather "squishy", like running on a gym mat, as someone else put it. The Type A's are a true flat, and I was curious to find the difference.

I set out a squeeze water bottle with Emergen-C mixed with water, and 2 Hammergels attached via rubber band. One Hammergel was caffeinated, the other "tropical". I intend to use all of these things (water bottled, emergen-c, h-gel) at Indy, so want to make sure they will work okay, not upset my stomach, etc. I set up the mini aid station on my car.

The workout was 3x5-miles at MP, with 1-mile recovery jog between intervals. The last interval could be a little faster than MP if I felt okay. I had sketched out a perfect 5-mile loop on the county roads from Forrester Acres. At the end of each interval, I would hit my "aid station", take a full gel, and a fair amount of liquid.

The route itself is kinda-sorta flat, but not really. Long gradual downhill toward the Bear River for the first 2 miles, then flat for about half a mile, then uphill for 2 miles, then flat for the last half miles. The long gradual climb is kind of a grinder when you're tired, although not really noticeable if you're just jogging. It's about as flat as you get around here, and the closest I could get to the Indy course.

I dialed in 5:20/mile as "MP". Yes, I will need to run faster than that at Indy, but given that I'm at 4600' altitude and at the tail end of a 107-mile week, I thought 5:20 would be pretty ambitious.

The workout itself went really great. I love how the Type A's felt (other than on the 1.5-mile gravel stretch...uggh! hate gravel!). There is a reason they are a racer and the Kinvara's are trainers.

Interval splits were: 

• 26:38 (5:15, 5:20, 5:22, 5:24, 5:17)
• 26:35 (5:17, 5:20, 5:19, 5:22, 5:17)
• 26:14 (5:08, 5:13, 5:19, 5:19, 5:15)

The first two set felt pretty easy and controlled (relatively speaking). Breathing was really good all the way to the end. Mile splits generally followed the topography, although the gravel tended to slow down Mile 2. The last set I let it out a bit on the first couple miles, and probably paid for it on the last 3 miles, but I survived, and was happy to keep all 5 splits under 5:20. It was hard though, but I guess since I substituted this workout for a race, hard is good.

All my accessories (drinks, bottles, gu) worked out pretty well.

Changed shoes after the last set, and cooled down for 2 miles. 21 miles total for the day, averaged 5:52/mile for the entire run. 107 miles total for this week, my most ever. The next 2 weeks are just maintenance (mid-90s), then a two-week taper, so I've seen the worst of things at this point.

AM - Smithfield Canyon, 8 miles, 7:15/mile average.

PM - Forrester Acres with Seth, 6 miles, no watch. Bumped into Carson halfway, and ran the rest of the way with him, which was nice. Seth saw a lot of dogs. Doggeee! Doggeee!

AM - canal trail, 8 miles, 7:20/mile. Passed a rouge horse, and then an old farmer carrying a rope and a fistful of hay in a hand about 50 meters later. 

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

Big Workout. Ran from work and did an extended Young Ward Loop. 2 mile warmup (6:50, 6:26), then did a 10-mile tempo at marathon pace. I figured I'd be a bit tired from last week, and indeed the first couple miles were a bit off, but I just took what my body would give me. After the first few miles, it actually started going really well, and I ended up with a nice overall workout.

Splits were 5:35, 5:31, 5:21, 5:15, 5:18, 5:24, 5:22, 5:19, 5:15, 5:14. Time for 10 miles was 53:38 (5:21/mile).

Cooled down for 4 miles at about 7:30/mile. 15.75 miles for the entire run.

AM - Birch Creek Canyon, 8.25 miles, 7:50/mile. Tired from yesterday.

PM - ran around. 6 miles, 7:30/mile average.

AM - out-and-back route to the north side of Smithfield. 8 miles, 7:12/mile average. Legs felt a bit better today.

PM - Forrester Acres with Seth. No watch.

Blah, last 20-miler before the marathon, and I'm glad it over. Was feeling kind of worn down from the last two weeks, so just jogged my way through it. Ran from my house out to the Logan River Trail. Got to do about a quarter-mile on the single-track before it was time to turn around. Did 10x150m strides on the way back, which felt okay, but I was ready to be done. I've had a great string of workouts, so didn't mind taking it easy today. 20 miles, averaged 6:59/mile.

Easy run on the Upper Smithfield Canyon Loop. 5.5 miles, averaged 7:15/mile. Fall colors in town are peaked, and everything is beautiful.

AM - Smithfield Canyon, 8 miles, 7:05/mile average. Felt good.

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

Big Workout. Not too many more of these things, thank goodness. Today I did a 4-3-2-1 long interval workout (4 miles at marathon pace, 4-minute recovery jog, 3 miles at marathon pace, 3-minute recovery jog, 2 miles at threshold pace, 2-minute recovery jog, 1 mile at threshold pace).

It was about 35 degrees and sunny this morning, with no wind, perfect for a hard workout. Temps warmed to the 40s by the end.

I warmed up briskly for 2 miles (6:34, 6:29), then started the workout.

• 4-mile: 21:04 (5:18, 5:15, 5:15, 5:16) - MP
  
• 3-mile: 15:46 (5:16, 5:17, 5:13) - MP
  
• 2-mile: 10:15 (5:06, 5:09) - LT
  
• 1-mile: 5:13 - LT
  

Good workout, felt good except for the last mile, which is all uphill. Bleh. But the rest felt pretty snappy.

Cooled down for 2.5 miles, about 7-minute pace. Averaged 5:53/mile for 16 miles.

Ran from work. Did the Providence Hill Loop. Averaged 7:19/mile for 10 miles. Lovely afternoon to run.

I woke up around 2AM, with some stomach discomfort. Escalated into some true nastiness when I tried to change Seth's diaper at 7:30AM, and realized that I couldn't stand up properly, and was having waves of nausea. Ended up on the bathroom floor, pretty much incoherent. This major stuff passed a few minutes later, but I was wiped out. Temperature was 94 degrees. Stayed in bed until 4PM. I feel better after a shower, eating a banana, and hopefully the ibuprofen will kick in to ease my headache, my sore lower back from being in bed all day, and a bruised shoulder from pitching myself into the floor earlier in the morning. My best guess is some sort of food poisoning, based on the GI distress.

So...I didn't run today. Or really do anything. At least I feel well enough to type, so that's an improvement. Hoping for a better day tomorrow

AM - feeling about 90% better, although stomach is still little raw and achy. Did an out-and-back to Hyde Park. 7:14/mile average pace for 8 miles.

PM - Forrester Acres with Seth. 6 miles, no watch. Stomach is still not feeling well. Had to stop once at a park bathroom. Legs feel okay though. The last time I had something like this, it took a few days to go away.

Big Workout (last one). Picked up our Bountiful Basket at 8:45AM, and was able to head out the door to Hollow Rd by 9:15AM. I was concerned about rain, but it held off for the most part during my run.

Circumnavigated the stupid USU homecoming parade, and eventually parked at the start of Hollow Rd and ran up the TOU course for 9 miles, turned around and came back the same way. First half was all uphill, last half all downhill. Very weak canyon wind on the way up, but didn't see the leaves moving on the way down (think it died out due to the rain).

The workout was moderate/brisk pace on the way up, and then progressed into tinman tempo on the way down, with the last few miles at marathon pace or better. I was a little skeptical on how I would feel, since I hadn't eaten much since Wednesday, due to food poisoning (or whatever it was). But I was feeling back to normal when I woke up this morning, which was a great relief. I hate the feeling of not feeling well.

Felt okay on the way up. The uphill splits were 6:23, 6:18, 6:30, 6:46, 6:38, 6:26, 6:14, 6:16, 6:16. 6:26/mile average at the turnaround. Looking at those splits, it's pretty obvious where the canyon wind died out!

I was looking forward to going down, and feeling pretty decent. Hit mile splits of 5:54, 5:46, 5:43, 5:40, 5:32, 5:31, 5:21, 5:08, 5:08. So a nice progression. Averaged 5:32/mile for the downhill part. Once I hit Hollow Rd, I popped into into a higher gear to finish the run. This felt really good.

Averaged 5:58/mile for the 18-mile run. Passed the 6-minute guy on the last mile. This was a nice workout to start my taper with. Not incredibly hard, but this out-and-back tempo up Blacksmith Fork is always good for my confidence. I think I enjoy the uphill more than the downhill. It's a very nice gradient to run up.

AM - Smithfield Canyon, 6 miles, 7:00/mile average pace. Did few strides coming back down. It was a beautiful morning. Snow line was down to about 6000', so the mountains were quite striking. Cold enough this morning to wear running pants, long sleeves, gloves, and a headband, and I enjoyed the change in wardrobe. Glad I'm getting to run through the nicest part of fall, and then turn it off by the time things get dark and nasty.

PM - easy 4 miles, Summit Dr.

AM - canal trail, 6 miles, 7:15/mile average.

PM - random route. 4 miles, 6:55/mile average.

Medium Workout today. Last real workout before Indy. Warmed up for 5 miles, then put on my flats and went to the Logan High track. Fortunately I had the oval to myself today.

The workout was 6x1600m @ LT pace, with 2 minutes recovery jog (1 lap). Interval splits were

• 4:59
• 5:04
• 5:01
• 5:02
• 5:03
• 4:53

The first one was a bit fast, then I settled in for the next four intervals, and then opened it up a bit on the last one. Everything felt good and well-controlled, and this is pretty much the kind of workout I like to pop off at the beginning of a taper.

Cooled down for a  couple miles. Average pace for the entire run of 14 miles was 6:14/mile.

AM - Upper Smithfield Canyon route. 6 miles, 7:05/mile. 25 degrees this morning.

PM - easy run with Seth. 4 miles, 7:45/mile average.

AM1 - canal trail, 6 miles, 6:58/mile.

AM2 - Zoe had her two-month appointment, so I took Seth out for another run while Stacy was out. Kind of lame to do my two runs so close together, but I call it good time management. We ran to Forrester Acres and back. 5 miles, 7:48/mile average.

Ran with Cody this morning. We discussed it, and we're pretty sure we haven't ran together since February or March. So we were due. We ran from my house and up Smithfield Canyon and back. 15 miles total. Kept it pretty easy for the most part, until the downhill, where Cody started getting frisky, and we did a couple sub-6s. Ended up averaged 6:58/mile. Felt okay, but not great. But since my race isn't for another week, I don't necessary want to feel great yet. Have a 90-minute massage later this afternoon. The hay is in the barn.

Beautiful day to run today. Did an easy 4 miles on the canal trail, no watch.