Every Race is an Adventure!

4.25 @ 9:54/mi. Sub-10:00. I'm back moving in the right direction. My back hurt more at the beginning than at the end. I suppose that's a good sign.

I was thinking the other day about the old glass half full or half empty thing. The thought came to mind that that glass must be pretty big, because sometimes the empty half seems pretty big. I guess that just means I need to look for that other big half that's full. If it's that big it shouldn't be too hard to find, and it usually isn't. I just have to stop feeling sorry for myself and look.

Cascade golf course route. 5 miles @ 9:42/mi. The last half mile was @ 8:50/mi. That's the first time I remember seeing the numeral 8 at the beginning of a pace for a long time. I pushed hard the whole run again. I think my legs can handle it, and today apparently my back, but I sure have to work at getting enough oxygen to keep going.

Walked 4.1 miles @ 16:24/mi with Karen. It was our anniversary so I took the day off and we started by doing our walk up Provo Canyon from Vivian Park down to Bridal Veil Falls and back. We also watched The Avengers later in the day. Good day. Good decision to marry Karen 28 years ago. Good thing she hasn't given up on me yet.

6.1 miles @ 10:38/mi.

It was a little windy and chilly as I headed out with Larry and Wayne this morning, but it was good to be out with them. I'm feeling stronger and seem to be going a little faster each time I run. Thursday I saw an 8 at the beginning my pace on my watch, if only for a half mile stretch near the end. Today about 5 miles into the run I succumbed to the urge to push hard for about a 1/3 of a mile and saw a 7 at the beginning of the pace (7:50). It's good to know my body remembers how and is still capable of running like that. Now I just need to start gradually increasing the mileage.

I've only been running T,Th,Sat to allow my body to heal between runs. I think I may add some short runs on M,W next week, and bump up to 8 miles on Sat, and see how it goes.

Sometimes it's tough to find the right balance between "too much too soon" ("line upon line", "don't run faster than you are able") and "no pain, no gain" ("no risk, no reward", "no guts, no glory").

I'm just grateful to be back to where I am. Running is getting back to being an adventure again for me, instead of just a past memory and a future dream. 

I ran 3 miles @ 9:54/mi this morning on the neighborhood 5K course (mostly). Our annual neighborhood 5K is in a couple of weeks. In past years I've tried to give the young bucks (and does) a challenge, but one or two of them always seem to beat me. I've run it in sub-20:00 before, but this year it will be closer to 30 minutes. I'm okay with that. While I enjoy competition, my ultimate goal on race day is always to pull out my body what it's capable of giving me. Whether it's a 20 minute 5K or a 30 minute 5K, the challenge and adventure is the same.

My mile splits today were 10:18, 9:54, and 9:27. I maintained a moderate effort throughout. The splits reveal where the hills were.

Later walked 3.1 miles @ 16:32/mi with Karen. 

4 @ 10:44/mi with Larry and Wayne.

I ran the same 3 miles as Tues, again pushing the effort moderately. My avg. pace two days ago was 9:54/mi, today's was 8:58/mi. I felt like it was roughly the same effort. I can't explain the nearly 1 minute per mile faster pace, but I'll take it. I've been trying to  be careful not to do too much too soon as I get back to running. Maybe it's muscle memory. Maybe my body's beginning to remember how it feels to run fast and efficiently. I'm definitely not at 100% yet, but I'm beginning to feel stronger. It feels good.

2.3 miles @ 9:12/mi with Wayne. Met Larry. 4 more miles @ 10:54/mi.

Walked 3 miles with Karen.

Provo Canyon trail. 3 miles with Larry (11:21, 11:20, 12:03). 2 miles with Wayne and Colby (9:40, 9:26). 5 miles back down with Wayne (9:12, 8:52, 8:59, 8:43, 8:34).

Avg. pace up 10:45/mi, down 8:52/mi, total 9:49/mi. 

This was my first run up the canyon this year. I really enjoyed it. It was also my first double digit run since I started my recovery. I felt good at the end. I am encouraged. 

Went to the THS track with Larry and Kent. They were running 1/4 mile speed work. I tried one 1/4 mile @ 6:55/mi. It felt good to go that fast again, but I could tell I wasn't prepared for that kind of speed work at this point. I opted to do a couple of mile repeats with 1/4 mile rest in between instead. Splits were 8:01 and 8:04, which is great for me at this point.

Total: 4.5 miles @ 9:55/mi. 

Walked 3.1 miles @ 16:33/mi with Karen. 

6.25 miles @ 9:30/mi. First two with Wayne then met Kevin and Larry. Larry's hip wouldn't allow him to run so he turned back.

First time up the water tank hills for me this year. I've felt like the fitness in my legs has been ahead of my aerobic conditioning. Today I pushed them both to the limit.

A last second return trip to the bathroom left me trying to catch up with the others (Larry, Jolene, Kent, Kevin, Lyle) going up 1600 N.  As I was pushing along I realized I was going to be exhausted before I even started up the hills. Larry's hip was letting him run today, but he was a little behind the others. I was relieved to slow a little and run with him for a bit before he sent me ahead after the others. They were about 1/2 way up the first hill when I started at the bottom. Jolene walked some of the first big hill so I caught her near the top and ran a bit with her. I then pushed on but had no hope of catching the others. My calves felt like they were going to explode going up the steep hill 3 so I walked a bit, at twice the pace I was running. I managed to run the rest of the way through the top of hill 5.

I took it easy on the way down. As weak as my left ankle still is, I was nervous going up the hills in the first place. I was especially careful on the way down. Still, my legs felt dead as we approached what is traditionally the "fast half mile" near the end down 1600 N. I managed 8:32/mi pace. I'm still about 2 minutes per mile slower than where I used to be, and would like to be again, but progress has been steady...knock on wood.

Later in the morning I walked 2.75 miles @ 16:12/mi with Karen. 

6.2 miles @ 9:36/mi with Wayne.

Our annual neighborhood 5K was today. It was this race that got me back into running after 20+ years. I look forward to it every year. In recent years my role has been to challenge whichever youngin' is out to win it that year. I've never won, but have been near the front most years.

With my long time off and slow recovery, I knew things would be different this year. My fastest year was sub-20:00. Recent years have been around 21-ish. This year my goal was to be somewhere around 25, as close to 8 minute pace as I could manage, and finish in the top 10.

As we started down the first hill I watched as Brandon, Breanna, Lecy, and Brad pulled away. I briefly longed to be with them, but I knew the challenge for me today would be a personal one. As usual, there were a few other youngsters ahead of me down the hill, but I knew they weren't experienced runners and would probably fade. I passed Clark and Nathan pretty soon, but they ran well. It took me about 1.5 miles to get past Justin. I could see Brad quite a ways up ahead running strong and knew I wasn't in good enough shape to catch him. I just tried to maintain form and pace and run strong the whole way, which I feel like I did. As I entered Northridge Park for the final stretch I saw Breanna sitting on the grass. I quickly asked if she was okay. She told me with a smile that she had just vomited but was okay, so I continued on. She got up and finished not too far behind me.

The course is really 3 miles instead of 3.1, but the course has been used for so many years (before GPS) that we just keep it the same. I finished in 24:34, in 4th place. Brandon Davies won it easily in 18:32, followed by Lecy and Brad. Breanna was well ahead of me until she lost her breakfast. My splits were 7:41 (downhill), 8:32 (flat), 8:23 (uphill then flat finish). Avg. pace 8:12/mi.

I feel this was a good performance for me given where I am in my recovery. The best part was how good and strong I felt before, during, and after the race. I had no significant pain or injury. I haven't felt like that for a long time. I was going to try to get some more miles in today, but decided to enjoy feeling good and not press my luck.

I read the article "A Lesson in Feel-Good Training" on active.com this week. I have kind of trained this way for years (I think I remember Tom calling me zen runner). I try to listen to my body and push to the limits my body can handle. For me it feels good to push hard, so pushing hard isn't my problem. My problem is usually pushing too hard.

A recent example was Monday at the track. I ran one 1/4 mile at about 7 minute pace. It mostly felt good to push hard and run fast again, but my right calf sent me a warning. It was a little tight and warned me that continuing at that pace was not a good idea. I asked my body how fast it thought it could safely go and it told me about 8 minute pace. I said okay and started a 1/2 mile repeat at that pace. Part way into it my body said it thought it could hold that pace for a mile, so I switched and did two 1 mile repeats at that effort.

My plan is to continue my recovery, increasing my speed and mileage as my body tells me it's okay. I have to say again how great it feels to be running again. What a blessing it is to be able to run.

I ran a few mile repeats at the track. I didn't feel like pushing too hard so I didn't. I averaged about 8:10/mi for the splits. Overall 4.5 miles @ 9:41/mi.

Met Wayne @ 5:30am. Ran 2.25 miles. Nobody was waiting back at the corner at 5:50am so we continued on to the 4 mile Lindon Loop. We found out later that Kevin had come out at 5:45am and missed us. He probably ran a lot faster than he would have with us...I should say with me. Wayne could go faster but 9:30/mi is about all I can muster as yet for a 6 mile training run these days.

Later walked 2.5 miles with Karen at about 16:20/mi. 

I was a bit surprised that nobody showed up to run the hills with me. Last week there were 5 other runners. I managed to make it all the way up the 5 hills without walking this time, in 19:38...just slightly faster than last week's 20:02. Lyle was a little late getting out and had apparently chased me up 1600 N to the base of the hills then up the hills. I noticed him behind me as I started up hill 4. He was gaining quickly but I must have subconsciously pushed harder because he didn't catch me. I was just trying to stay focused to the top.

I'm still considerably slower than I'd like to be, but I've been seeing pretty steady progress and I'm feeling pretty good.

Same run as Tuesday with Wayne, at about the same pace, 9:27/mi. These are supposed to be easy days for me, but with Wayne being faster than me at this point, I feel bad slowing him down so I push at a pretty good effort.

I wish the effort was producing a better pace than 9:27/mi for 6.2 miles, but only a month ago it was only 11:26/mi for 3.5 miles. I feel good about going 75% farther at a pace 2 minutes per mile faster. If I improve that much in the next month I'll be going 7:27/mi for nearly 11 miles. That would be great...it's not very likely...but it would be great. I'm content with just being able to run again, and seeing pretty steady improvement while feeling stronger.

Wayne and I ran 12 miles from the mouth of Provo Canyon up to the Vivian Park cabins and back. The plan was to take it easy on the way up and push a little on the way back down. Wayne did this, staying back at 10 minute pace on the way up and pushing several miles at 7:35 pace on the way down. At this point running 9:30 pace for 6 miles on a weekday morning takes a pretty good effort from me. I would not classify my 6 miles run up the canyon at 10 minute pace as easy. It took a quite a bit of effort. I managed to average about 9 minute pace on the way down...no 7:35 pace for me...yet.

I ended up averaging 9:27/mi for the 12 miles. Two weeks ago up the canyon I averaged 9:49/mi for 10 miles. Two miles farther at 0:22/mi faster pace. My weekly mileage also went from 27.7 to 34.5 over those two week. Progress.

Karen took the girls shopping in the evening so I headed up the canyon for a run.

There were a lot of people on the trail...skate boarders, bikers (quite a few families biking together), walkers, and some runners. The weather was ideal. The parks were full of people eating, playing, visiting, and just enjoying a beautiful day.

I felt pretty good so I push the pace a little (for me). Saturday I averaged 10:00 pace going up the canyon. Today I averaged 9:18/mi, though it was only for 3.36 miles instead of 6. I ran from the mouth of the canyon to the second fountain at Nunn's Park.

There was a "Your Speed" sign at the entrance to the park to remind people to slow down to 15 mph. When I was ready to start my return trip back down the canyon, I waited until nobody else was around the sign and took off as fast as I could to see if the sign would register my speed. I managed to get it to read 10mph.

Of course that pace didn't last very long, but I did hold a pretty good pace going down. For the two miles between Nunn's and Mt. Timpanogos Park I pushed hard and my mile splits were 7:52 and 7:54. That's much faster than what I've done previously this year. As I ran along I pretended all the people on the trail and in the parks actually noticed me and cared how well I was doing. I tried to hold my form and look good for my pretended audience.

After a stop at the Mt. Timpanogos Park fountain, I "coasted" in the last mile or so at 8:38/mi. My average pace for the 6.6 mile run was 8:44/mi. I think this was my best run since I began my recovery this year. I really enjoyed it.

My son Andrew called as I was walking to my car to say the chicken was ready to come off the grill. I took a quick shower when I got home and enjoyed a great dinner on the deck with my family. 

It was tough running this morning after running hard last night. I managed to get in 6 miles @ 11:16 mi. The first mile was rough at 12:00/mi but I managed to gradually speed up until the last mile at 10:49/mi.

I got out a little early so I got in about 3/4 of a mile before I went to meet up with anyone else getting out this morning...which was nobody again. I planned for this to be my last hard run before the marathon a week from Saturday, and my downhillers definitely need more work, so I decided to do the hills anyway.

It was an effort all the way up. I felt like I was slower than last week but got up the hills 5 seconds faster (19:33). My legs were so dead I didn't even try to push the last fast half mile back home like I normally do.

Overall, 6 miles @ 11:18/mi. (13:48/mi up the hills). 

Solo again this morning. I meandered a flat course around north Orem for 6 miles @ 10:10/mi.