Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Day off. Today I focused on taking naps, sitting in my hammock, and working my way through The Lore of Running. My legs feel pretty good after yesterday. Noakes makes me paranoid about overtraining and destroying my body, since that seems to be all he writes about, but so far I'm not exhibiting any symptoms.

For anyone who's interested, I've posted a profile graph comparing Ogden, Top of Utah, and St. George Marathons on my personal blog. Click here.

I slept in until 7:15 today (hurrah, Labor Day!), then ran the dog around the block, ate my oatmeal (complete with James' awesome peaches), and headed out to the River Trail. From the River Trail parking lot, I did a route I haven't ran in awhile: River Trail to the single track, then took the upper route of the single track ("Bridger Lookout"), which goes to the rock fall above Spring Hollow. Ran/stumbled down the steep rockfall about a third of a mile to the Crimson trailhead, and then ran the entire Crimson Trail.

I was particularly happy because I was able to make it up the ascent without walking at all, except for when I bumped into Logan Fielding's wife and mother-in-law and stopped to talk to them for a while. I had the top of the Crimson Trail to myself, and enjoyed the nice, rolling single track before descending back down to River Trail just above Guineva Malibu Campground. I didn't bother going to the campground, but just ran back on the River Trail.

On the last bit of single track coming back on the River Trail some mountain bikers came up behind me, which lit a fire under my butt for some reason, and I started cranking to keep ahead of them. Mission accomplished, I made it to the end of the single track ahead, and then let up. It was a nice little spurt, and proved once again that legs are better than wheels.

I passed Drew Michener near the end of my run and stopped to talk to him for a little bit. He was just beginning the same route as me, except he was going to go the other way (probably a smart idea).

Caught the 9-minute guy during the last mile, and finished the run averaging 8:53/mile. Considering the route contains a lot of rocky, steep single track, and has 1400' of total relief between the trailhead and the summit (with plenty of ups and downs in the middle), I was pretty happy with that, and felt really good today.

(Hardrock: 63 miles)

AM - 9-mile Logan Loop, easy. 7:13/mile average pace.

(1120: 252 miles)

PM - 6.5 miles on the canal loop. It was pouring buckets a little bit earlier, but then I got a little window of calm to run in. Unfortunately, the window only lasted 30 minutes, and I needed 40! I was thoroughly soaked when I got home, but happy to squeeze the run in despite the weather. I didn't wear a watch or GPS, but pace was "brisk" to say the least, as I did not want to hang around long enough to get struck by lightening.

(Adrenaline blue: 340 miles)

Big Workout today. It was raining this morning, so I waited until the afternoon to do it. This is all good, because I always feel better in the afternoon or evening, plus the temperature was quite nice.

From my house I warmed up half a mile, and then did a 2-mile tinman tempo, averaging 5:40/mile. I ran easy the rest of the way to the USU track, where I did 8x1000m @ CV pace, with 200m (1:00) rest between intervals. The intervals went quite well, and I felt strong, smooth, and in control the whole way: 3:11, 3:12, 3:10, 3:10, 3:10, 3:10, 3:09, 3:05. I took 400m (2:00) rest after the 4th interval, splitting the session into two sets. There was a slight headwind on the backstretch, and tailwind on the front stretch. There was also a big throwing cage in the middle of the backstretch, so I had to cut into the infield for about 10 meters every lap, which may have cost a little bit of time. I also got to watch the Aggie football practice. I think I saw about 50 dropped passes during the short time I was on the track. They should really consider going D-I AA or maybe D-II.

After the intervals, I bumped into Taylor Price (USU runner), and talked to him for a few minutes, and then headed back toward my house. I did another 2 miles of tinman tempo, averaging 5:40/mile again. After that, I kept a "brisk" pace for the remainder of the run, which involved doing an out-and-back on the Planet Walk. Pace averaged around 6:30/mile. I ended up with 16.5 miles for the run, with an average pace of 5:54/mile. According to my GPS, I hit the half marathon mark in 1:16:00.

I'm glad to have this Big Workout in the bag. It will probably be my last 1000m CV interval workout before St. George. This workout is one of my "keystone" workouts that I can use periodically to gauge my fitness. It's nice to be able to compare it to the same workout throughout the year. It is even nicer to see that I am smashing the workouts I was doing before Ogden. Here is the breakdown:

	3-19-07	4-13-07	4-24-07	7-9-07	7-31-07	9-5-07
1	3:14	3:13	3:15	3:15	3:12	3:11
2	3:16	3:15	3:17	3:16	3:12	3:12
3	3:16	3:13	3:17	3:16	3:12	3:10
4	3:15	3:15	3:16	3:14	3:12	3:10
5	3:15	3:13	3:17	3:14	3:11	3:10
6	3:16	3:08	3:17	3:14	3:12	3:10
7	3:15				3:07	3:09
8	3:11					3:05
Ave Time	3:15	3:13	3:16	3:15	3:11	3:09
Pace	5:14/mile	5:11/mile	5:16/mile	5:14/mile	5:07/mile	5:05/mile

(Burn: 259 miles)

AM - easy 8.5 miles on Providence Hill Loop, with a block with the dog afterward. A bit stiff and a little tired from yesterday. 7:34/mile average pace.

(Triax: 61 miles)

PM - 7.25 miles easy. Ran most of it with Jon and Cody (and their kids in jogging strollers). Did the Planet Walk a few times. Beautiful day.

(1120: 259 miles)

AM - landfill loop plus a few blocks with the dog for 6 miles total. 7:39/mile average pace.

(Adrenaline blue: 346 miles)

PM - Planet Walk with 4x150m barefoot strides in the grass at LHS.

(Triax: 66 miles)

AM - easy 6 miles on the River Trail. Beautiful, chilly morning in Logan. Hopefully it will be like this for TOU next week. I am running the Alta Peruvian Dash later this afternoon. I love PM races.

(Hardrock: 69 miles)

PM - Alta Peruvian Downhill Dash 8K. This is a rare afternoon race, but they can pull it off because it is up Little Cottonwood Canyon and starts at just over 8700'. It finishes at 6800' ft. For those of you keeping track, that is an average grade of -7.2%. Weather was beautiful, upper 60s with a very slight headwind.

I warmed up a couple miles with Bob, Sasha, and Cody, took my final bathroom break, and then warmed up a little bit more to the start line. This is a small race, about 80 people every year, but it is an LDR Circuit race, so it tends to be top-heavy. I was most worried about Sasha and Bob, but in general liked my chances for a good finish. My unofficial goal was to break 22:00. My course PR is 22:55, from 2003. I also ran 23:30 back in 2005.

Here is the race breakdown:

Mile	Split	Comment
1	4:30	honest pace to start; ran with pack
2	4:19	hit a bigger downhill and made a surge, and soon found myself alone. Legs already regretting the move.
3	4:23	Very painful, but holding pace
4	4:25	Horrible pain. Why did I make a move with 4 miles left??
5	4:08 (4:10/mile pace)	Make it stop. Feet on fire. Trying to slow down, but it's to steep for brakes.

Final time was 21:46 (4:21/mile average pace), so I made my goal, plus won the race. There are great prizes here, such as free night stays at the Peruvian Lodge during ski season, so I'm all about that. I also won some Wasatch Running Center socks in the raffle, to go along with my three other pairs.

This was definitely one of the most painful races I've ran in a while. The downhill is simply unrelenting, but even though my pain level kept increasing, my speed held. It's intimidating seeing that "9% grade" road sign with a mile to go, and your quads and feet are already burning. But I'm pleased with mentally hanging in there, and with the last mile split (a PR - ha ha). Looking at other peoples' performances here over the years, I'm right on track where I need to be.

I would have like to have waited longer to make my surge, but my body just kind of does its own thing during some races. Seemed to work at least.

My garmin measured 4.99. Cody and Sasha had 4.99 and 4.98 as well. An 8K is 4.97 miles, so this is a very close, consistent measurement. I ran tangents pretty well, but there's always room for improvement in that area. The mile markers were all way off, but at least the finish was right. It's funny: starting with Mile 2, the miles got shorter and shorter. For instance, my Garmin read 2.86 at the Mile 3 sign, and then 3.82 at the Mile 4 sign. I was sincerely hoping for the finish to come at 4.80! It was disappointing to have to run for almost another quarter mile, but it's probably best that the finish was honest.

A good finish for the Wasatch Running Center: 1, 2, 4, 5.

I cooled down by running back up to the Lodge. Did about half of it with Bob, and then the rest on my own. Running up hurt almost as bad as running down! 

(Burn: 272 miles)