Every Race is an Adventure!

Basketball in the morning. Shane was playing a lot better than me (as is normal), but I had a better morning. I left uninjured. His face collided with somebody's elbow. I think he broke his nose. He bled quite a lot and seemed to be in quite a lot of pain. The quick application of a bag of ice seemed to help. I hope he's okay.

I was going to run yesterday morning, but woke up to a blanket of snow, with more still falling. I was going to try to run later in the day, but it being a holiday with the kids out of school, there was never time for it.

I was afraid today was going to be the same. I was planning to run at lunchtime, but just before lunch there was a problem I needed to handle and ended up working through lunch. Fortunately, I managed to find time to run after I got home from work. It was light when I started but quickly got dark.

I ran just over 6 miles in a loop around 1600 N, 400 W, 2000 N, Heather Rd., and 400 E, running the steepest part of 2000 N (Main to the top of Heather Rd.) twice. My average pace was 8:10/mi. The distances and paces were:

0.52mi - 7:16/mi - slight down - Home to 400 W on 1600 N

0.50mi - 7:24/mi - slight up - 1600 N to 2000 N on 400 W

0.50mi - 8:31/mi - gradual up - 400 W to Main on 2000 N

1.00mi - 9:56/mi - steep up - Main to Heather on 2000 N

1.00mi - 7:15/mi - steep down - Heather to Main on 2000 N

1.00mi - 10:04/mi - steep up - Main to Heather on 2000 N

0.85mi - 7:01/mi - steep down - Heather & 400 E to 1600 N

0.50mi - 6:53/mi - gradual down - 400 E to Main on 1600 N

0.21mi - 6:08/mi - level - Main to Home

I felt pretty strong throughout the run and really enjoyed it. If things go as planned, I decided this will be the first of 3 runs in 24 hours. Tomorrow I plan to run in the morning with Larry and Kevin, and then at lunchtime with Tom, Cory, and/or Nathan. I figure this is an opportunity to get in some good training for the Wasatch Back Relay.

I ran a few easy miles with Larry and Jolene in the morning. It's good to see Jolene out running again.

At lunchtime I ran with Tom and Cory. Tom wanted to do a tempo run of 3.25 miles at 7:00/mi. We ran 0.93 miles over to the other side of the freeway to warm up. Shortly we got off the trail and onto pavement we start the tempo run. My mile splits were 6:59, 6:58, and 6:58, with a 6:46 pace for the last 1/4 mile. We then cooled down running back across the freeway.

The first mile wasn't too bad, but then I had to start working. It got progressively harder to the end. Tom ran strong. He was the pace setter the whole way and finished a little ahead of me. Cory ran the first mile with us then backed off the pace. I know Cory is a little discouraged that he can't hang with us, but Tom and I think he is doing great. While we've been running 25-35 miles a week all winter, he's been laying off trying to get his foot healed (which is still hurting him). I don't think he's run a dozen times since the St. George marathon. I ran at least 4 of those runs with him and I was impressed with how strong he ran all of them. He just needs to give himself some time and build up his training base.

Kevin and I finally hooked up for a morning run, but Larry was a "no show" this time. The temperature was in the upper 30's but a breeze made it feel colder.

Our pace started slow. It picked up a little the last couple of miles, but neither of us felt very fast this morning. We averaged 8:17/mi overall, warming up a mile or so at around an 8:50 pace, averaging around 8:20 for most of the run, and ending at 7:36/mi.

I wore a heart rate monitor for the first time on this run. My heart rate was around 160 for most of the run, rising to around 180 when we pushed harder the last couple of miles.

Basketball in the morning (no broken noses this time).

At lunchtime I ran 4.5 miles on the treadmill. I averaged about an 8 minute pace for 4 miles and then cooled down for 1/2 a mile. My heart wasn't really in it (metaphorically speaking).

Nathan was there at the same time. Afterwards he asked something like, "So, is it worth it?" I wasn't sure. I sure don't like running on treadmills much. They were showing episodes of "Northern Exposure". At least it was distracting. I did find myself running in time to the theme song at the beginning. I think it could be a pretty decent running song.

I had a basketball game at 8:00am. I would have preferred to have skipped it, but I have family reasons (playing with my son) and duty reasons (I'm sort of in charge of our team) for feeling I need to be there.

Because of the game, I missed running with Larry, Wayne, and Kevin. I talked with Kevin later and I think he said they went about 10 miles or so at an easy pace. I saw them getting ready to start out as I headed to my game. I missed the sociality, but it sure looked cold.

I ended up running alone at about 3:15pm. My wife Karen gave me a ride down to Utah Lake State Park and I ran along the Provo River Parkway trail up to the mouth of Provo Canyon and then on up through Orem to home. It was just under 12.5 miles overall. My average pace was 8:49/mi.

It was chilly, but I was dressed well for it.

There's an interesting fact about running upstream on a river trail, it's a gradual uphill the whole way. I feel okay about the 8:49/mi pace. I maintained a pretty steady effort; my heart rate was right around 145 most of the way. It would rise temporarily to around 155 when I would speed up going down an underpass under the road and push up the hill on the other side. Climbing the hill to University Ave, and then later climbing from the mouth of Provo Canyon up 800 N to Orem, also took a little extra effort.

At mile 6 (heading N on Univ.) I took an eGel and I think it helped. I was feeling pretty low on energy at that point. I ate a bowl of cereal after the game this morning, but was reluctant to eat too much after that because I usually run on an empty stomach (early in the morning or just before lunch). At mile 10 I was feeling some stomach cramping, but I eased off the pace for a half mile or so and felt better.

The average paces for each mile were:

1 - 8:32/mi

2 - 8:19/mi

3 - 8:23/mi

4 - 8:07/mi

5 - 8:26/mi

6 - 9:05/mi (climb hill to Univ. Ave.)

7 - 9:01/mi (feeling pretty tired)

8 - 9:26/mi

9 - 9:28/mi

10 - 9:36/mi (stomach cramps)

11 - 9:20/mi

12 - 8:39/mi (slight downhill-feeling better)

12.5 - 7:29/mi (downhill home-pushed pretty hard)