Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Easy shake-out run today. Ran around the block with the dog and then did the Planet Walk. Didn't wear watch. I felt little better than I thought I would today, considering the race yesterday. My calves are not very sore, a good indicator for wearing flats at St. George. Both adductors are fairly sore, which I've never had before. But nothing is today bad, and today was an enjoyable, slow run.

(1120: 202 miles)

AM - easy 7 miles on canal trail loop. Groin in still very sore from yard work. 7:48/mile average pace.

(Adrenaline orange: 482 miles)

I'm heading out to Montrose, CO for meetings later this morning, so will be running from there through Thursday. This time I will have my car, so will probably check out Black Canyon of the Gunnison Natl Park and see if there are any worthwhile trails to run on.

PM - stopped at Sasha's house in Provo on my trip south. We ran about 8 miles on the river trail. Today was my first time ever in Provo. I always drive by on I-15, but have never actually entered the town. Rough place.

(1120: 210 miles)

I finally arrived in Montrose at 9PM. What a long drive. Early meeting tomorrow, but I should have time for a few miles before, and then a good quality run in the evening. Lots of miles this week.

AM - easy 4 miles in Montrose. 7:27/mile average pace. Nice, cool morning.

(Triax: 4 miles)

PM - 11 miles at Black Canyon National Park. I was disappointed when I got there to find that none of the trails are over 2 miles long, so I mostly stayed on the scenic driving route...er...scenic running route. The world looks better from foot anyway. I did diverge on a few short trails though. Definitely a beautiful area. Altitude ranged from 7800 to 8300 ft and the road was very rolling and challenging. I was surprised to hold sub-7's on most of the uphills, despite the altitude. Mostly I relaxed on the downhills. 6:44/mile average pace for the run.

Adductors are feeling much better today, almost normal. I would say I'm 95% recovered from the race. I'll try a big workout tomorrow. I've eyeballed a potential route in the National Park that could be a lung-buster. 

(Cascadia: 298 miles)

I got up early this morning and drove north to Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area. It took awhile to get to the place I wanted, as nothing seemed to be clearly marked. On the other hand, I didn't see a single other person the entire run, so that was an upshot. I parked my car just off the main road, then started running up Dinosaur Rd, which was a 4x4 jeep trail through badlands. My Forester definitely wouldn't have made it, and my legs had some problems too, as I had to walk a lot of the uphills. Finally I got to the ridge and ran south on the ridgeline trail. Sweet views of the gorge, but the single-track proved to be very tough too, to the point of walking some uphills again. Once I got to a real trailhead, I looked at a more detailed map and realized that I wanted to be a different trail, so then I backtracked north to where I started on the single-track, and then kept going north a couple more miles on the ridge trail until I got to the Ute Trail trailhead. This was where I wanted to be.

Once on the Ute trail, I descended from about 6300 ft down to the Gunnison River at 5300 ft over a little less than 4 miles. I finally got the river just as it was time to turn around. It was beautiful and well worth the effort. It was getting pretty warm by this point and I had gone through half my water, so I jumped in the ice-cold river to cool off and get all my clothes good and soaked for the return trip up out of the gorge. I could have stayed there on that beach all day, but I had things to do. Like write this blog. And work.

Running out of the gorge wasn't too bad, and the gradient in most stretches was quite manageable and even fun for running. I managed to average sub-9:00 out of the gorge and got a good workout in doing so. Not much walking here, just a little. Once I was on top of the ridge, I got on Ute Road and descended down about 2.5 miles out of the NCA. Pretty steep downhill here, and I was doing about 7-minute pace. Finally I got to the "main" road and had to run about 1.5 miles south back to my car at Dinosaur Road. Averaged about 6:15/mile pace on this last rolling gravel section. It was a good run, but I'm glad to be done. I'm beat. 9:22/mile average pace for the entire run.

Kind of a quasi Big Workout today. A lot of distance and a fair amount of effort, but not as controlled and formal as my normal workouts. That's probably a good thing, as it provides a mental break. I'm using this week mainly to build mileage, and most of my speed focus is being put on my Big Workout this Saturday.

(Cascadia: 314 miles)

AM - did a nice 12-mile loop on the west side of Montrose. Felt pretty good. I found out last night that my morning meeting is canceled, so I am heading back a little early. That will be nice. 6:56/mile average pace.

(Triax: 16 miles)

PM - got home from my trip and did the Planet Walk to shake out my legs. I didn't wear a watch, but my legs felt fresh and the pace felt snappy, maybe 6:20-6:30 range. Odd.

(Adrenaline orange: 486 miles -- retired)

AM - Logan Loop, 8 miles easy, plus a block with the dog. It is chilly here this morning, cold enough for long sleeves. 7:13/mile average pace.

(1120: 218 miles)

PM - River Trail with Jon, to Spring Hollow and back. Easy pace, no watch.

(Cascadia: 321 miles)

Today was an interesting day. I did a Big Workout within the Top of Utah Half Marathon. I've been wanting to run the TOU Half for awhile, but figured I needed a workout more than an all-out race, so I decided to combine the two. The other idea was to add "race day magic" to a workout, which would make the workout a lot more fun and easier to complete. My Big Workout today was:

4 miles @ MP (2 minutes recovery)

3 miles @ MP (2 minutes recovery)

2 miles @ LT (1 minute recovery)

2 miles @ LT (1 minute recovery)

1 mile @ LT

The course layout for the TOU Half is a good one. The first 7 miles or so are a gentle downhill in the canyon. The next 3 miles flatten out a bit, but are still a gentle (but imperceptible) downhill. There is a relatively long uphill through Millville from Mile 11 to 12 or so, and then gentle downhill to the finish in Providence.

Weather was absolutely perfect. I mean perfect. 50 degrees at the start line, with promise of a tail wind coming out of the canyon. If the weather is remotely like this for the TOU Marathon, people will qualify.

To warm up, I ran from my house to the busing area (about 1.75 miles). We bused up to the start line up Blacksmith Fork, and I did some more jogging and got my porta-pot stops in. Ready to go. They started the race right on time.

My workout/race went as follows:

Workout Segment	Mile	Split	Comments
4-mile @ MP	1	5:13	out a bit fast
4-mile @ MP	2	5:16	settled in
4-mile @ MP	3	5:15
4-mile @ MP	4	5:16
2-minute recovery	0.35	5:52/mile pace	faster than expected
3-mile @ MP	1	5:10	starting to get tailwind
3-mile @ MP	2	5:09	this is fun
3-mile @ MP	3	5:10	tremendous fun
2-minute recovery	0.33	6:00/mile pace
2-mile @ LT	1	5:05	Hollow Rd
2-mile @ LT	2	5:09	Hollow Rd/Hwy 165
1-minute recovery	0.16	6:08/mile pace
2-mile @ LT	1	5:09	Hwy 165
2-mile @ LT	2	5:37	Millville; uphill; yuk!
1-minute recovery	0.23	6:15/mile pace	1:25 rest
1-mile @ LT	1	5:00	nice downhill

The first 10 miles of the workout/race was quite a bit of fun, and I felt fantastic. The cool morning and downhill start really made things fast, and then picking up the tailwind on my second MP interval made it feel like some sort of weird video game. 5:10 was effortless in those conditions. I was having a ball, and the MP sets went great. The first LT 2-mile interval went very well, and I held a good pace. The second LT 2-miler was a bit harder, mostly because of the long uphill through Millville. This was the only point during the workout where I felt like I was struggling. By the end of the uphill, I managed to find a good rhythm, and hit 5:25/mile pace, but the first half of that mile was a lot slower. I knew I had a downhill mile to end the workout/race with, and I was looking forward to it. I waited to the race's official 12-mile mark to start my last interval, which gave me a little bit extra rest. I ended up running the last 1.1 at LT to compensate, and was happy to hit 5:00 pace for it.

So that was my workout. The race itself was interesting too. I was a bit ahead of Logan during the first 4-mile MP interval, but I could hear him, so I figured he was just 10 meters behind or so. When I eased up for my 2-minute recovery, Logan went by, and looked as though he wasn't working at all. I was inwardly cheering for all my friends to hit big PR's, so I was happy to see him zoom by. Logan pulled away a bit on my recovery, but then when I started my next interval I really didn't close on him at all, so I knew he must be doing 5:10's. I hoped that everyone else was enjoying the tailwind as much as Logan and I.

This trend continued for the rest of the race, until Logan's fatal wrong turn: he would pull away on my recoveries, and I would gain nothing on the intervals. In fact, I think he was pulling away on the intervals as well. By Mile 10, I was so far ahead of my own schedule, that I thought breaking 1:10 would be probable, and Logan was a good minute ahead. He clearly had 1:08 in the bag. The left turn into Millville was around Mile 11. Logan was so far ahead of me that I didn't see him miss it, but did see him up around Main St. I was a little confused, as there was no volunteer at the corner, but I was pretty sure the turn was at 100 W (it is for the marathon). Plus the sun was directly in my eyes, so I couldn't see the course markings. I actually slowed down a bit and looked behind me as I entered the intersection, and then saw the marking to turn. Logan was too far away to yell at, plus I was breathing too hard to yell, or talk for that matter. And I sure couldn't catch him. I figured he would turn at Main St., which would give him the same distance, and all would be good. Alas, this was not the case. I finished the race, and started asking everyone where the winner was. I seriously thought he was just that far ahead of me. Everyone looked at me as though I was hallucinating. "You're the winner, you idiot." I was pretty bummed, because Logan had such a sweet PR going.

I ended up about 10 seconds off my own PR, which I was quite happy with. Had I tapered, worn flats, and raced all-out, I think sub-1:08 would have been in the works. But that was not the goal today. Jon, Cody, and Walter all got sweet PR's, and I was really stoked for them. Big things coming at TOU and St. George for all those guys.

Cooled down with the guys afterward, sat around for awards (didn't win anything in the prize drawing, and then ran home. 21 miles total for the day, capping off a 104-mile week, my first 100-mile week since 2004, and my most mileage in a week ever. 6 more weeks until St. George. 4 weeks of good, hard, quality training. Every week of training gives further opportunity to grow stronger and get faster.

(Burn: 242 miles)