Every Race is an Adventure!

Cue music:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgDrJ5Z2rKw&mode=related&search=

James Brown's song "I Feel Good!" describes well how I feel after today's run.

I ran the Eagles View run with Nathan and Tom. For the past few weeks I've been focusing on distance more than speed in preparation for the St. George marathon. Today I intentionally skipped my normal Monday morning run and decided I would push harder on the noon run.

I didn't mention my intentions to Tom and Nathan. I figured even pushing it I might barely be able to keep up with Nathan (I was right). Tom had already run this morning, and commented that he wasn't going to hang with us when we "sprinted" because he's got a fast run planned for tomorrow.

We started out pretty easy. I didn't mind because I wanted to loosen up. Then Nathan made a comment about the slow pace, and it gradually began to pick up. Nathan always pulls away on the long steep hill before the turn around. My goal was just to stay a little closer to him than usual. I stayed with him pretty well for most of the hill, but he pulled a little ahead at the end.

We waited briefly for Tom then started the downhill return trip. We maintained a pretty good pace down to the State St. intersection. I decided I'd try to push the pace a little the rest of the way in once we got across the street. This is where Tom let us go and Nathan and I pushed ahead as we went up and down over the two overpasses and then pushed the last flat stretch back to Novell.

I didn't have my Garmin, but I think our overall average pace was around 7:37/mi (not including the short stop times at the light and at the top). That's a pretty good pace for me for this run, considering the long steep hill. Nathan said our pace for the last 0.93 miles was 6:47/mi. I feel good about the run today. It felt good to run faster than I have been recently, and to feel so good doing it. I recovered quickly afterward and my legs feel strong.

Maybe Nathan and I should try to push hard every run (at least when Tom's there) so he'll start telling his SF running buddies that he needs to take it easy with them to save up energy because he's planning to run with the Novell guys. (Just kidding, Tom)

I ran with Larry and Wayne this morning. None of us had a strong preference of where to run, so Larry got creative again this morning. We started by climbing the big hill up 2000 N then dropped down the steep road to the former WordPerfect buildings. Wayne and I then exerted some influence (and Larry groaned a bit) when we turned and headed up the frist big hill up the water tank road. We were at about 5 miles at this point so we looped around some flatter streets in Orem and ended up back home at about 6.85 miles. I pushed hard up the water tank hill and again the last half mile (sub-7:00 I think). The rest of the run was at an easy pace.

When I got up this morning I discovered I had left all my running clothes in the washing machine last night. I had intended to put them in the dryer before going to bed. They were still pretty damp, and it was a little chilly this morning, so I threw them in the dryer and delayed my run a while. Fortunately, technical clothing dries pretty quickly so I was only about 27 minutes late starting my run. We have family prayer at 7:00am. When I left at 6:12am I only had 48 minutes to get in my 6 mile run. That would mean a minimum pace of 8:00/mi. I decided to try to hold a fast marathon pace for the 6 miles. My splits were:

7:42 - included my warmup

7:34 - includes a stop and walk through road construction

7:21 - slight downhill with tailwind

7:53 - slight uphill with headwind, includes a brief stop at a busy intersection

7:21 - 1/2 slight downhill/tailwind, 1/2 slight uphill/headwind

7:32 - slight uphill, includes a brief stop at a busy intersection

1:24 - 7:01/mi pace for the last 0.2 miles

I ended up running 6.2 miles, and finished the 10K in 46:47 (7:33/mi). The average pace was 5 secs/mile faster than my goal marathon pace, so I met my goal of running at fast marathon pace. I very much enjoyed the cool morning and the faster paced run. I feel pretty good. I hope I have enough left to keep up on the noon run today.

Nathan asked if I could head out at 11:40 today instead of 12:10 today as he had a 1:00 meeting. I agreed, but totally spaced on notifying Tom. We called him from the fitness center, but he was in the middle of some work and couldn't pull away just yet, so we reluctantly headed out without him.

Nathan also wanted to do the 10K Lake View run instead of the cusomary 5 mile run. I agreed, but was a little nervous about keeping up with him after running pretty hard this morning. I also thought it would be interesting to compare the two same day 10K's.

I managed to stay with Nathan until the last mile, when we stepped on the gas and pulled away. The whole run is pretty flat, the weather was a little warm but comfortable with a bit of a cool breeze. I pushed along pretty well without much discomfort. My splits were (morning splits in parenteses):

7:53 (7:42)

7:34 (7:34)

7:29 (7:21)

7:23 (7:53)

7:16 (7:21)

7:15 (7:32)

1:17 (1:24) - 6:30/mi (7:01/mi) for the last 0.2 miles

Overall 46:10 (7:27/mi) - This morning 46:47 (7:33/mi)

So for the two runs, a total of 12.4 miles, I averaged 7:30/mi. I'm very pleased. I'm pleased with the pace, and that I had enough endurance to do it twice in one day.

My legs still feel good and strong. I felt so bad about leaving Tom that I ran back and ran in with him. He had come out later and we had seen him on his way out as we were coming back. Actually, Darin was on his way out so I ran with him until we met Tom and then I ran back in with Tom. This additional run was about 1.6 miles at 8:13/mi.

I guess it was good we missed Tom, because I think he said he averaged just over an 8:00 pace for the whole run. He has his last run with the fast SF guys (Darin Cable, Steve King, et al.) tomorrow and wanted to save himself a little. I think he said he hopes to stay with them for at least 4 miles this time. I don't envy him (well I do a little) but I'm confident he can do it.

I ran the water tank run with Larry and Wayne this morning. My legs were definitely feeling a shortage of zip after yesterday's dual 10K tempo runs. I still managed to get to the top in under 30 minutes (barely), but there was no charging the hills this morning. I did manage a 1/2 mile at 7:55/mi near the end...on the gradual downhill where I often run closer to a 6:30 pace. Today was definitely an easy pace recovery run, but still very enjoyable. Other than the expected fatigue from yesterday's hard runs, my legs still feel pretty good. The minor tightness in my right calf that appeared after the Nestle 5K months ago, and had been in remission, has made a bit of a comeback. But it isn't too bad and I've been massaging it with The Stick. With the taper still ahead of me, it shouldn't be an issue at St. George. I plan to run easy tomorrow, then do a moderate to easy 10 miler on Saturday, then proceed to gradually taper over the next two weeks until race day.

I ran an easy solo run this morning. I went west on 1600 N to 400 W, north to 2000 N, east for a mile up to the top of the big hill on 2000 N, south down to the former WordPerfect buildings on 1600 N, then west until I wandered over to Northridge park, around the path there, then followed the neighborhood 5K course around and back home. My legs were still a little tight from Wednesday's workout so my goal today was just to get some easy miles in, with some hill miles mixed in to prep mentally and physically for St. George. How did I do big hills in an easy run? I averaged 9:59/mi. Even though I was running at a slow pace, I still focused on maintaining good form and foot turnover. I read recently (can't remember where) that occasional training in a more relaxed state had some benefits related to training the muscles to perform their tasks while expending less energy. I don't know about all that, but it was an enjoyable run anyway.

Larry is off camping with his wife and a bunch of young women this weekend, so Wayne and I ran together without him this morning. We wanted to get some good hill running in, but not too much distance, so Wayne suggested we start at Bridal Veil and run up to Trefoil and back.

It was still pretty dark when we started at 6:13am, and we were a little nervous about running into a skunk or something along the way, but it wasn't too long before it got lighter. It was a little cool, but never really cold, and stayed cool the whole run.

Going up South Fork we saw four wild turkeys in the middle of the road. There were two runners coming the other way. The startled birds were between us and fluttered off into a field. The runners were old guys like us. As they approached I said, "Look, Wayne, two more turkeys." One of them smiled and said, "I was just thinking the same thing." On the way back we saw a couple of more turkeys on the hillside (birds, not runners). A little farther down we saw a flock of 20 or 30 turkeys off in a field. I personally had never seen a wild turkey in Utah and it was pretty cool to see so many.

On our way up and down we also passed a recently killed skunk in the middle of the road. The stench was pretty bad.

I forgot to mention in yesterday's blog that I saw three bats hunting insects near a street light and then later briefly ran alongside four deer I startled as I passed a home in the foothills. I don't know that I want the startling animal encounters Kerry sometimes has in Cedar Hills, but it's kind of cool being able to see wildlife during a run.

We ran a total of 13.27 miles this morning in 1:54:24 (8:37/mi). We went up in 1:02:52 (9:28/mi) and down in 51:32 (7:46). We didn't ever really consciously push hard, but still ended up running the last couple of miles at around a 7:30 pace. We both felt good about the run and really enjoyed it.