Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Easy run on the planet walk, then a block with the dog. No watch.

(Adrenaline blue: 372 miles)

The Packers defeat the Chargers. 3-0. All is well in Packerland. The Packsquatch is celebrating.

Moderate Workout today. Fortunately, I had perfect weather this time: overcast, mid-50's with no wind. I put on my racing flats and ran from my house up to the USU track (3.25 miles) at about 6:40/mile pace. Then I did 5x1600m @ LT pace, with 400m (2:00) recovery.

Interval	Split
1	5:09
2	5:09
3	5:08
4	5:08
5	5:00

These all felt good, and I felt relaxed for the whole session. Definitely a confidence-booster after last Thursday. My right SI joint is a little tight, but I have a chiro appointment followed by a two-hour deep massage tomorrow, so that should take care of it.

Ran home from the track, a little under 7:00/mile pace. 6:11/mile pace for the entire run.

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Here's a picture of our TOU pace group. To say we were enjoying ourselves immensely was an understatement. The photo needs a good caption.

Ran to the dentist for my 8AM appointment (2.5 miles). Good checkup, no cavities. The dentist looked down my mouth and said, "You're not from Utah, are you?" He is not the first dentist to infer that just from my teeth. I don't know why they don't fluoridate the water out here; every other place I've lived has fluoridated. Oh yeah, I forgot: "Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous Communist plot we have ever had to face?" We wouldn't want to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids, now would we?

Enough ranting about fluoride, or lack thereof. I ran back home from the dentist (yes, carrying my new toothbrush and floss), dropped off my stuff, and then did a few more miles out to the Planet Walk. 8 miles total, about 7:30/mile average, give or take. It was a beautiful morning, crisp and sunny, with caps of snow on the Wellsvilles.

My day of appointments continues this afternoon, with visits to the chiropractor and the massage therapist. Gotta love the taper.

(Triax: 113 miles)

I ran after work again today, and it was absolutely beautiful. Low 60's, sunny, no wind. I did a 9-mile run, down the canal trail to First Dam, and then up Hwy 89 to USU. I had to make a stop at the Merill Library at USU to photocopy a journal for documentation for my professional GIS Certification. Now that I have over 4 years of work experience, I qualify to apply. I could barely recognize the library (or the campus for that matter), since so much has changed over the last 5 years. I used to have to get my own journals from the shelves, but those are long gone. Now you make a request via computer, and some high-tech James Bond-like devices bring the journal to the person behind the counter, and then they give it to you. In any case, I managed to make my photocopies (on new high-tech copiers), and then continued the run home, via 1000W. I was wondering all day if my horses would be neighing. I think I had one horse neighing, but maybe it was wishful thinking. Definitely not two. But that's good, since I have 10 days left. 10 days!! If horses neigh too loudly for too long, they end up losing their voice. 6:46/mile average pace.

(1120: 303 miles)

Moderate Workout today. I wanted a progression run, with a couple honest warmup miles, then to brisk, then to tinman tempo, then to MP, and then a short cooldown. I did the Millville Hill Loop, the old, tough standard. Here's how it went.

Mile	Split	Comment
1	6:43	warmup
2	6:26	warmup
3	6:14	"brisk" pace; uphill
4	5:56	tinman; rolling
5	5:48	tinman; half down, half up
6	6:20	MP; all uphill
7	5:46	tinman; rolling
8	5:06	MP; downhill
9	5:45	half MP, half tinman; downhill
10	5:24	MP; rolling
11	6:33	cooldown
12	6:30	cooldown

It was a really good workout, definitely the fastest I've done this loop. One horse neighing, maybe one and a half. 6:20 is the fastest I've done the big hill mile by about 10 seconds, and it felt excellent. This mile has about 280 ft elevation gain (~5% gradient). After the big hill, I recovered for a while on the flat, and then tore into the big downhill. 5:00 pace felt conversational at times. I hit a bio-break after Mile 8 at a park, and then it took me about another half mile to find my rhythm again, but I was hitting 5:20-pace on the last half of that mile. The last mile of the tempo I just held 5:25. 6:02/mile average pace for the run.

(Triax: 125 miles)

Today I skipped out on work and volunteered at an aid station for the Bear 100, our local ultra trail race. I was at the Fish Haven Road aid station, which is near Mile 34. I left Logan at 10AM and started setting up a little after 11AM (it's a long drive). It was just me and two ham radio guys from Bear Lake, who turned out to be pretty cool. Karl Meltzer came roaring through at around 12:15 PM. I've gone through marathon aid stations slower than he went through this one. Probably 3 seconds between check in and check out. He is trying to break the course record. Best of luck to him. He must be around Mile 75 by now (9PM).

Running the aid station was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. It was painfully obvious at times that I was a rookie, but hopefully I will do it again next year with a year under my belt and be more polished and have more of the "little things" right. It was enlightening to be on the "other side" of a race and serve rather than take. I will definitely never get mad a volunteer ever again, that's for sure. What a neat experience, I hope to do more of it.

Toward the end of the day, when there were only 4 runners left to go through our checkpoint, I started doing little mini-runs to get my miles in. I ran the course backward on Old Logan Road until I saw the next runner, then I would run back to aid station before they got there. After 3 times of doing that, I had 6 miles in. The last runner had dropped out, so we didn't have to wait any longer, and it was time to pack up, at around 6 PM. After packing the car, I did a little out-and-back down Fish Haver Road, which is a nice dirt road that goes to Bear Lake. I caught some really nice vistas of the lake. The aspen are peaked, and it was a wonderful, glorious day to be outside in God's creation. Definitely lifted my spirits. I love fall.

(Hardrock: 89 miles)

Ran with Dan and Cody from Dan's house, up to the Deer fence trail, and went from Millville Canyon to Dry Canyon and back. Pace was slow, although those hills are hard no matter how slow you go. Temperature dropped about 10 degrees during the run. 8:33/mile average pace.

This afternoon I went out to the finish of the Bear 100 to drop off some stuff. Karl Meltzer did indeed break the course record by over an hour, with a time of 18 hours, 50 minutes. That is an average 11:20/mile for 100 miles. Leland Barker was second, with a PR of a shade under 21 hours (I think, I can't quite remember).

(1120: 316 miles)