Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Day off. 

Congrats to all those who ran SLC races this weekend! 

AM - 4.5 miles to end of paved river trail and back, plus some running with the dog. Did 6x100m strides. Felt pretty good, as far as morning runs go.

(Adrenaline black: 430 miles)

PM - 11 miles - Pipeline trail out-and-back with Jon. Good run. Easy pace. Ave HR was 133, which is quite low, especially for an evening run. It sank into the upper 120s at times. I guess that means that my stroke volume is increasing or something like that. I view it as a positive.

(Adrenaline orange: 273 miles)

Met Cody at 6AM and then ran from my house up to the USU track, where we met James. I ended up doing 6x1000m at CV pace, with 1:00 rest between intervals (200m). I was hoping to get in 8 intervals, but I knew when I started feeling some burn in my legs on the 6th interval, it was time to call it quits, as the workout is supposed to be completely aerobic. No sense in putting myself in the tank if I am already in the tank. I wanted 3:15's, and ended up 3:15, 3:17, 3:17, 3:16, 3:17, 3:17. HR during intervals averaged in the low-to-mid 170s, and peaked at 181. This was a little bit slower than the same workout I did two weeks ago; I just couldn't seem to get going or find a proper pace. Perhaps part of this is due to the early morning workout (I usually do afternoons), but I think it is mostly due to increase and mileage and some accumulated fatigue. But that is part of marathon training, right? I can say this, though, I am already looking forward to tapering! Only two more weeks of hard training...

Cooled down several miles with Cody and James, then took the dog out for his morning jog. A good quality day, all things considered. Beautiful morning too.

I fly to the Twin Cities for a training class later today, so I'll get some more low-elevation running tomorrow and Thursday. Maybe that will help my recovery. I should have a lot more time to run this trip, as I won't be with anyone or have anything else to do in the mornings and evenings. Hopefully I can find a nice trail along the Mississippi River to run along.

(Adrenaline blue: 33 miles) 

AM - 5 miles through the mean streets of Eagan, MN. Actually the entire run was on bike paths; Eagan is full of them. It's a very nice town. Near my turn around point, I found a paved trail system, and took that for a half mile before I had to come back. It was a gorgeous morning and a great morning run. Sometimes I miss the midwest. The terrain here is quite rolling, but the low altitude makes the hills a lot easier, as I could hold sub-7 pace uphill and keep my HR at 140 or so. Coming back was definitely a lot faster, and hit sub-6:30-pace for some stretches. HR in the 120s on downhills. All in all, it was a very enjoyable run, as far as mornings go. I look forward to running again this evening for a bit longer. Ave HR 133. Ave pace 6:55/mile.

(Adrenaline orange: 278 miles)

PM - 9 miles, exploring more of the Eagan trails. After sitting in a GIS web server training session all day, I was quite ready to run. SI was a bit sore from all the sitting, but felt okay during the run. I love these rolling hills out here. Averaged 6:30/mile for the run, HR in upper 140s. Mmmm...oxygen!

(Adrenaline black: 439 miles)

Easy 9 miles this morning. I explored more of Eagan, this time running down a road named "Wildnerness Run Road". Sounded good to me, and it was. I was actually on a bike trail the whole time, since that's all they have here. It's amazing; this town has been planned very well. Trails and parks everyone you go, and the traffic and big box stores were mysteriously missing. Certain Utah towns should take note (Logan, I'm looking at you). Felt pretty good this morning, but slower than my last couple runs. Did 6x100m strides on the way back. Average pace 7:09/mile, average HR 137.

(Adrenaline orange: 287 miles)

Nice easy run with Jon. I'm not sure of pace, but it actually felt pretty good. 30k tomorrow.

(Adrenaline black: 446 miles)

Striders 30K today. I was little concerned about this race, since I have been traveling so much and since it is only three weeks before the marathon. I was concerned about how much fatigue I had from traveling, and also worried about depleting myself too much. At the same time, I wanted to retain my standings in striders circuit, and get some good LDR circuit points as well. In order to achieve all these goals, this race would have to go out slow and be more about tactics than all-out effort.

It was an absolutely beautiful morning, about 50 degrees, sunny, and no wind at the start. It would get to be pretty warm later in the day, but I was pretty sure heat wouldn't be an issue during my race itself. So optimal conditions.

The course is an out-and-back semi-loop, so no net elevation change. But the terrain is rolling and has a long gradual uphill and subsequent downhill in the three miles adjacent to the turnaround. Combined with the elevation (~5000ft), it is not a fast course, but compared to the 5k, 10k, and 10-miler earlier in the series, it is not too difficult either.

The start line was a lot thinner than the other WRC races. A lot of familiar races were missing. From the gun, it was me, Bob, Steve, and Sasha. Pace started very slow (5:50-ish), and gradually inched up each mile, until we were doing 5:20's on the gradual downhill until the turnoff to go around Pineview Reservoir. Sasha dropped around Mile 9, right before the turnaround, so it was just me, Bob, and Steve from there on. On the rolling hills we did 5:30s for a while. Although the pace felt conversational during the first half of the race, I was laboring a lot more by this point, and no one else was talking much either.

Bob put in a surge around Mile 14 that dropped Steve and I pretty quick. I didn't have willpower to go with him, and stayed with Steve. I thought at first we just slowed down, but we were still 5:30 that mile, so Bob must have thrown a 5:20 or so. Bob seemed to have stabilized about 15 seconds ahead of us, but neither Steve nor I were making any moves to fill that gap. I was just trying to finish the race at that point, not feeling particularly great. I think the 5:20s earlier took a bit out of me.

Around Mile 16, Bob's calf went out and he pulled up, so it was just Steve and I to the finish. I still wasn't feeling great, but at the same time the pace slowed to 5:45. It was playing out to be a tactical finish. Most of the tactics were going on in my own head, as two different voices kept trying to tell me what to do. "Slow down more, ease in and take 2nd (which is good enough, after all). Save it for the marathon," said one voice. The other said, "Win the darn race. $25 extra is worth it, and the LDR points are major as well. Quit slacking!"

This basic conversation went on in my head for the next two miles, and in the meantime I sat behind Steve and just tried to stay on him. Finally we hit the 18-mile mark, and I thought, "Nuts to these voices! I'm just gonna go!" I let my body over (since my mind wasn't doing me any good), and went into 1000m interval mode, kicking the last 0.65 miles very hard. Steve didn't go with, and I ended up in 1st. Steve was 2nd and Sasha came in 3rd. I was very impressed with how Steve ran, especially considering he ran a marathon the week before! I think he could have just kept going and finished a marathon under 2:30 today.

It was a very good overall race, and I met my goals. I don't think I gassed myself by any means, but still did some very hard running and got some fast splits, which is good for both the body and mind. It was an interesting race, since it was rather tactical, and we got more surges and pace variations than in most of the other WRC races. I need to obviously work on some of my mental dialog, but it did come through in the end, so I can't complain too much. It's just frustrating (and amusing) how my mind plays so many games with me at times.

1	5:50
2	5:54
3	5:46
4	5:42
5	5:43
6	?? - watch malfunction
7	?? - watch malfunction
8	5:50
9	5:41
10	5:35
11	5:24
12	5:21
13	5:33
14	5:21
15	5:35
16	5:31
17	5:45
18	5:48
0.65	3:21

(Burn: 131 miles)