Every Race is an Adventure!

Boy, it sure seemed warm this morning, even though I started my run at 5:21am instead of the normal 5:45am. I also had a really hard time getting my legs moving this morning. I ran alone up into Lindon and then back along the canal road. It took me 3 miles before I could get under a 10:00 pace. Of course, the first 3 miles were mostly uphill, but even coming back along the canal road I struggled to barely get under a 9:00 pace. I ran 6.2 miles overall, average pace 9:31/mi. I'm pretty sure I was still feeling the effects of the long hard run with Wayne on Saturday. I could feel it in my legs all weekend. I don't know how else to explain averaging 8:10/mi for 16 miles (7:40/mi for 12 of those miles) on Saturday and then struggling to average 9:30/mi this morning.

At lunch time I decided to try running again. I wasn't sure if anyone else would be running today, and they weren't. I ended up running Eagles View alone. I ran the 5 miles in 42:45 (8:33/mi average; 8:52/mi up, 8:14/mi back). It wasn't quite as hot as some recent days (upper 80's instead of 90's), and a little overcast, but it was still plenty hot. My pace during this run was about a minute per mile faster than this morning, but still not very fast.

I like to think of days like today as mental conditioning days. It's hot, there's nobody to run with, my legs are tired and my mind and body are trying very hard to convince me not to run. When the runner in me wins out and I run anyway (which isn't always the case) I think it builds a mental strength and endurance that shows itself in other areas of my life when things get hard. I was just telling my sister-in-law (who is staying with us this week) this morning as we were talking about running, that I have an imaginary chalkboard in my mind. Every time I want to quit (slow down, stop, not run), and I don't, I put an imaginary tally mark on the "I Won" side of the board. It's silly I know, especially since I can't ever remember putting a tally mark on the "I Lost" side of the board. Maybe that's why it is so helpful to my confidence and self-esteem. In my mind's eye I have various tally marks on the "I Won" side, and few if any marks on the "I Lost" side. Even though I ran slow today, I did get out twice and finished the runs, and earned a couple of new tally marks.

We went to the track again this morning. Kent actually came this morning when he heard we were going to the track. He hasn't run at all since the St. George marathon last year, but he loves the track workout so he came. It was Wayne's first time at the track last week and he was back for more. I'm not convinced it helps as much as a good tempo run, but I do enjoy it, too, and it's a nice break from the routine. We haven't had four runners out together in the morning for a long time. Actually, Larry's wife Jolene came along but didn't do the intervals with us. Having some company today sure beat running alone yesterday.

We only did four 1/2 mile intervals again this morning, but will start adding more. My times were 3:02, 3:09, 3:17, and 3:00. After struggling to get my legs moving yesterday, it felt good to be able to move along at a faster pace.

I wasn't sure whether to log this run for yesterday or today, but since it was just after midnight, I'll log it for today. I was up late last night and just before I was going to go to bed I heard our wind chimes on the front porch. I stepped out. The wind was blowing strongly through the trees and blowing a light mist from our sprinklers. The night seemed to be calling to me and I got the urge to go for a midnight run. Karen was up late with her sister who is staying with us, and I wasn't really sleepy (I had a brief nap after dinner), so I headed out.

I decided to head to the high school track to reduce the danger of getting hit by traffic or stepping on something in the dark. There was a light near one end of the track, and it was just light enough to make out the white lines against the black track on the dark end of the track. On the way over I had enjoyed listening to the wind and the crickets. The sprinklers were on in the center of the track so that's what I heard there, and some pennants flapping in the wind. The wind and the mist from the sprinklers kept things relatively cool, but it was still a little warm. I only got one direct hit from the sprinklers near the end, and it felt good.

I decided on a 3 or 4 mile tempo run at the track. During the third mile I decided to go four. I was hoping for mile splits between 7:00 and 7:15, and felt like I ran close to that level of effort, but I think the strong wind hampered my efforts (even though I know it was helping me half the time since I was running in a circle). Actually, my Garmin said I was running between 6:50/mi and 7:10/mi, but it also registered around 1.08 miles per 1600 meters, and its really only 0.994 miles. My 1600 meter splits were 7:34, 7:42, 7:39, 7:18.

I enjoyed the run, and I enjoyed sleeping in a little this morning.

At noon I ran Lake View with Tom. I guess we sort of ran with Will and his buddy. We started at the same time but they stayed in front of us until they took a detour to the fountain at the park (Tom and I were both packing water), and then I guess they headed back. We didn't see them again until we got back to the fitness center. They were already inside stretching.

Neither Tom nor I felt like going very fast. It was hot with the temperature in the mid-90's. We still managed to finish the 5.2 miles in 41:54 (8:03/mi). I'm not sure I enjoyed the running all that much, but it was nice talking with Tom as we ran.

Ran the water tank road with Larry and Wayne. Wayne pushed pretty hard today. I've put in a few extra miles this week and my legs didn't feel up to it so I didn't go with him. It still required some pretty good effort. It's never easy going up those hills. It was warm this morning so the cool breeze at the top was a nice reward.

I ran up Provo Canyon with Wayne this morning. Larry dressed to run and met us but his toes were really hurting so he decided not to do the long run today. Tuesday his doctor diagnosed his condition as Morton's neuroma. I hope he can recover quickly.

Wayne's newer Garmin measured our distance as 12.3 miles. Mine only registered 12.09 miles and warned about a poor GPS signal quite a bit this morning. We ran it in 1:40:24 (8:09/mi by Wayne's watch, 8:18/mi by mine). Splits up were 9:06, 8:30, 8:38, 8:46, 8:23, 8:17, and 1:18 for 0.17 mi (7:35/mi). Splits down were 2:40 for 0.22 (12:04), 8:39, 8:24, 7:45, 0:47 for 0.10 (7:38/mi), 7:45, 7:20, 4:03 for 0.59 (6:52/mi). As I mention, the GPS was a little flaky on some of these numbers.

Neither Wayne nor I felt much like pushing as hard this week as we did last week. Even though we were slower than last week, we were both actually a little surprised that we ran as fast as we did and were quite satisfied with the run. We started running at 5:45am, and the best part may have been that it never really got hot before we finished.