Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Top of Utah 5K

Previous WeekRecent EntriesHomeJoin Fast Running Blog Community!PredictorHealthy RecipesPaul's RacesFind BlogsMileage BoardTop Ten Excuses for Missing a RunTop Ten Training MistakesDiscussion ForumRace Reports Send A Private MessageMonth ViewYear View
Graph View
Next Week
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
2003200420052006200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018
15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

Location:

Fort Collins,CO,

Member Since:

May 15, 2003

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Unaided PR's:
5K: 14:48 (Track - 2001)
10K: 30:45 (Track - 2001)
10K: 31:32 (Bolder Boulder - 2013)
Half Marathon: 1:06:09 (Duluth - 2013)
Marathon: 2:17:54 (Grandma's) - 2014)
Marathon: 2:19:47 (Indianapolis Monumental - 2013)
Marathon: 2:19:49 (Indianapolis Monumental - 2010)

Aided PR's:
10K: 29:38 (Des News - 2011)
Half Marathon: 1:05:30 (TOU Half - 2011)
Marathon: 2:18:09 (St George - 2007)
Marathon: 2:17:35 (Boston - 2011)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis in June of 2008. Started taking Enbrel in March, 2009.

Run as much as I can, and race as well as I can. Make the most of however much time I have left as an able-bodied runner.

Training for the 2018 Colorado Marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

  Run until I'm old, and then run some more. Stand tall.

Personal:

1 wife, 2 kids. 1 cat. Work as a GIS Specialist/Map Geek

Endure and persist; this pain will turn to your good. - Ovid

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. - Romans 5:1-5

 

 

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Saucony Trail Shoe Lifetime Miles: 247.50
Hoka Clifton Lifetime Miles: 491.50
Saucony Type A6 Lifetime Miles: 186.50
Saucony Zealot Lifetime Miles: 478.75
Saucony Kinvara 6 Lifetime Miles: 433.50
Saucony Kinvara 6-2 Lifetime Miles: 358.75
Brooks Pure Connect Blue Lifetime Miles: 337.25
New Balance Trainers Lifetime Miles: 314.50
New Balance 1400 Racers Lifetime Miles: 65.00
Brook Pureflow Lifetime Miles: 99.50
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
56.908.000.003.100.0068.00
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.000.000.000.000.009.00

Ran the dog around the block in the morning, then ran to First Dam and back into the evening. 7:26/mile average pace.

Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
5.008.000.000.000.0013.00

AM - ran the dog around the block.

PM - Medium Workout. 2 miles warmup, 8 miles tinman tempo (which ended up being at least MP), cooldown with some strides. Ran the workout in the heat of the day, upper 80s in temp. Exact same Millville Hill course as last week, except I added an 8th tempo mile, rather than stopping at 7. When I hit inadvertently hit 6:38 for my second warmup mile (was daydreaming about running Boston), I knew things could get interesting. Splits compared to last week:

 Mile Last Week
Today
Terrain
 1 6:18 6:00 gentle uphill
 2 6:11 5:53 rolling
 3 6:17 5:58 1/2 down, 1/2 up
 4 7:04 6:28 THE Millville Hill
 5 6:03 5:52 3/4 rolling, 1/4 up
 6 5:51 5:41 1/4 up, 3/4 down
 7 5:41 5:24 all downhill. Took a short water break at park in Providence.
 8 -- 5:23 1/4 downhill, then rolling

 

 I managed to scrape together a few strides during the cooldown, but I was pretty beat. I'm happy to average 15-20 seconds per mile faster than last week, especially in hotter weather. But I think it was a harder effort too, definitely not tinman. I think I'm ready to go for the TOU 5K this weekend; nothing but easy mileage until then. 6:12/mile average pace for the run.

 

 


Comments(5)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
9.000.000.000.000.009.00

AM - Ran the dog for a mile, then ran to breakfast, then ran back toward the office, and did a couple laps in Merlin Oslen park for fun. 5 miles total.

PM - ran to the dentist, had my teeth cleaned, then jogged over to Cal Ranch to buy some flagging for marking the Bear 100 course. Then ran back to the office, carrying my new tooth brush, toothpaste, and flagging, and grinning like an idiot. But we haven't driven our car since Sunday, and my body's mpg is hard to beat. 4 miles total.

Comments(1)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
8.000.000.000.000.008.00

AM - ran the dog for a mile, then ran the Planet Walk. Didn't wear a watch, but pace was very slow.

PM - easy 3 miles on the Planet Walk, with 6x100m strides in the middle. I finally got to break in the racing flats I got back in February. They feel good, and I look forward to wearing them on Saturday.

Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
6.000.000.000.000.006.00

Met Cody in the early morning, and we went out and jogged the TOU 5K course. Very slow. Finished up by running the dog around the block.

Comments(7)
Race: Top of Utah 5K (3.12 Miles) 00:16:17, Place overall: 1, Place in age division: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
19.900.000.003.100.0023.00

Top of Utah 5K this morning. This was a monumental race for me, as I can now say I've completed every race on earth with the name "Top of Utah ...".

The TOU 5K is our little local side event to the TOU Marathon. It's only about 100-150 people or so, but it is fast loop course with just a couple small hills, and supposedly it is certified, so we can trust the distance too. I was looking forward to running, simply because I haven't done a 5K in over a year (which showed during the race). My top tier goal was 15:50, but I would be fine with anything under 16:20. And I wanted to win, 'cause that's usually fun.

After eating a pear and a homemade no-starch energy bar, I jogged the dog around the block, and noted that it was very humid and rather warm. It rained last night, so the roads were wet. I hoped that wouldn't be a problem with my new flats. Before I left my house, I ensured it would at least be a two-star race.

Then I got my gear together and ran out to the start line, just under a mile from my house. Earned another star, then started my warmup, running the course backward. I saw a guy from behind who looked like Cody, and I ran him down, and indeed it was Cody, so we warmed up together, about 2.5 miles. Tried to earn a 4th star after the warmup, but failed. Right before the race started, I met Joe Furse, a blogger from Hurricane who is now going to USU. We have now adopted Joe into our training group, whether he wants it or not.

They started the race right on time (thank you). It felt like I got out hard the first mile, but I had no gauge on 5K speed, since the shortest intervals I've done lately is 1000's at 5:20/mile pace. Joe, Cody, and I were all right together for about half a mile, then I think Cody got sick of us, and backed off a little. There were no mile markers on the course (at least visible ones), so I wore my garmin. I finally looked at my garmin at about 0.9 miles, expecting to see 4:50 pace or something close, but was surprised to see 5:10. Hmmm. I picked it up.

When through the garmin mile in 5:09, and tried to pick it up more as we headed down a fast flat stretch toward Main Street. Joe was still right with me, but as I dialed the pace up, he dropped. I was sub-5 pace at the half mile when we turned the corner up Main, but then hit the only real hill of the course, around 100 S, and obviously my pace slowed. I tried to pick it right back up when we crested at Center St., but never really got the wheels moving. I was feeling very strong, and felt like I was going fast, but was not actually going fast. My second mile split was 5:08. Sub-16 was not looking good, but on the other hand, I felt pretty good.

I kept trying to push the pace, then I hit the last little uphill when making the turn onto 300 N. The uphill only lasted a block, and again I tried to get the turnover going on the flat stretch, but couldn't get back under 5-minute pace. I finally hit the little downhill stretch at 100 S, but it was not quite enough. 3rd mile split was 5:05.

If my garmin was right, I would at least be close to 16 minutes, but unfortunately all of the sharp turns and tangets threw my gps off. It read 3.17 at the finish, and my official time was 16:17. Cody's garmin read 3.13. Since the course is certified, I will trust the official time over my cheap little GPS.

So I managed to hit my baseline goals, and it certainly felt good to win. (Cody took 2nd, and Joe was 3rd, so 1-3 sweep by bloggers). Sub-16 would have been a great confidence booster, but on the hand, I felt so good and fresh after the race, and that in itself is a confidence booster. I think the problem is just lack of leg speed. I felt like I could have kept going and ran 33:00 for 10K. Oh, and I got virtual-chicked by the virtual Meseret Defar, who won the TOU 5K with 16:00 back in 2006. But she is a world record holder, so I can live with that.

Cody, Joe, and I cooled down for a couple miles, then hung around for the awards. I got a really cool metal plaque thingy for winning. It's actually cooler than the marathon moose trophies, much better than what I expected for a little 5K. Trophies are nice mementos. I don't know when or if my body will completely break down and I won't be able to run ever again, so I don't take wins for granted, even little races.

But the day was just getting started at this point. After awards, Cody, Jon, Joe, and I ran out on the marathon course, took all the shortcuts, and found AndyB near Mile 20 in Providence. We paced him in the rest of the way. Andy ended up catching a half dozen runners or so, and no one passed us, so I considered it successful. And fun too. He did well.

Overall, Ezekiel Ruto (a Kenyan) won the race with ~2:22, Nick McCombs was 2nd with 2:28, and Sasha rounded out the money with 2:33. Steve Cuttica 4th with around a 2:41 or so. So a good day for bloggers. It was a very humid morning, with spotty off-and-on rain showers. I imagine the rain and cloud cover helped out the runners some, because if it had been sunny and humid it could have gotten pretty bad.

******************

After the morning run, I took a nap, worked for awhile, and then headed up Logan Canyon to Blind Hollow. I had "adopted" a portion of the Bear 100, and needed to mark the route for the upcoming race later next week. Stacy dropped me off at Temple Fork, and I ran up the Blind Hollow Trail to Tony Grove Lake. Starting elevation was 5700', peak elevation was 8500', and end elevation was 8000'. So it was mostly, um, climbing. My garmin measured 7.4 miles, but I took short wrong turn, so the actual route I marked was just under 7 miles. 2:17:30 for the total time, which included stopping, eating, walking, wrong turns, and other non-running activities. I probably actually ran about 2/3 of it, so I'm giving myself 5 miles for the excursion. It was a beautiful fall day on single-track, can't be beat. I got rained on a few times, but it was all in good fun. Saw a few rainbows. Stacy and Seth met me at Tony Grove, and we had a little BBQ. A very good, but exhausting day.

Comments(16)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesCrosstraining milesTotal Miles
56.908.000.003.100.0068.00
Debt Reduction Calculator
Featured Announcements
Recent Comments: