Run RF

Run up City Creek, still coughing during run but not outside of it which is progress.  The state capitol was popping, must be something about Obama taking all our guns and turning us into Soviet Russia.

Drove down to Lehi for a nice 20 miler.  Ended up being about 10 degrees colder at Matt's house but no problemo.  Nice group, hit the hill at the end well and ended with a sub 6 mile so good all around.

Go Sabres!

Nice run down through Sugarhouse and Liberty. Solid weekend of running.

After getting over my inversion depression I drove out to the oval to

get in the dreaded 10 mile tempo.  With a 2 mile warm up and 10 mile

cool down on either side.  As the track is not a nice round number I had

to get mile splits between the 1,600 start line and the finish then

start over at the 1,600 start.  So I got 9 mile splits starting at 5:55

and ending in the high 5:4x's and I believe the overall time was right

around 58:20 for 10 (5:50 pace) and just kept running to make it an even

60 minutes.  Saw the Utah woman's team finishing their practice during

the first half, and some of them even had encouraging words for me.  I'm

happy with the workout and should just be the first of many 10 mile

tempos before Boston.  The air can't get clear soon enough.

10.3 City Creek Canyon, pretty weird out running with all the fog and the sun barely getting through.

12.6 Another workout day! This one was my 4 mile (mostly) downhill tempo course twice, start with a 1 mile climb to Virginia and 11th ave. then start off down into CCC turn around at the gate.  Continue around past the capitol to State and 2nd.  The first loop was (5:50, 5:26, 5:36, 5:22) Miles 1 and three are more honest <50 foot drop for those.  Miles 2 and 4 have the big drop with four falling off a cliff once you pass the capitol.  Then 2.2 mile uphill jog back to the start then run it again (5:58, 5:27, 5:46, 5:23). Managed to keep the fast miles the same while suffered a little on the slow ones.  I believe both these runs are 1 & 2 all time fastest for me which is encouraging after a nice little 10 mile tempo on Tuesday.

4.3 Easy run around the Aves.

Sugarhouse and Liberty on a clear air day!

Saw a guy in Liberty running without moving his arms, amazing.

Drove out to Saltair, and it looked like a great day out.  Then after the airport the clouds closed in and by warmup time it was snowing pretty good.  Did threeish miles, the last half with Jake, Collin and James joined in too.  The way back was very snowy so I piled on the clothes for the second part of the race.

The gun went off and a bunch of guys went out at what my watch said was very close to 5 minute pace, so I eased off and ran a 5:24 planning on reeling guys in the second half of the race. Fritz came by me around then after his 7 mile warmup and started catching guys.  The next two miles were pretty uneventful in 5:29 and 5:24.  Once I hit the turn around the wind kicked in and I praised science I wore more clothes than usual.  Then I caught two guys in the next mile in 5:41. And could see Walter and Tomy ahead of me, the next mile I lost some focus and couldn't reel them in, 5:45.  At this point I told myself you have 1.25 miles to catch those two and I started picking it up, caught Walter then set my sights on Tomy.  The sixth mile was in 5:31 and by a half mile left I had caught him then he started kicking around the 6 mile mark.  After 200 meters I dug down and pulled him back in and pushed through the line.  For running alone into the head wind I was very happy with how I caught people and was moving on the guys in front of me.  I felt really good today, and definitely had something left in the tank as evidenced by my big kick.  This week contained almost a marathon worth of work faster than marathon pace and leaves me confident for the upcoming weeks of training. 

Then I cooled down about 4 miles with a big group of guys at the end.  Then went to Amiee's for a scrumptious lunch, and I brought the bacon!

Met up with Fritz, Jake, Rob Murphy, Rossy and Nate for a nice Sunday run.  We went out and did the normal loop then I ran back to Jake's with him to get the mileage up.

 Now time for a hot shower!

Nice, though chilly, 12 miler today. Ran into Adam Wende about 1.5 miles in so we ran down to Sugarhouse together and forced him to run a lap with me before heading home for dinner.  Then over to Liberty and back home.

Also I saw Top Gun in IMAX 3D last night, it was awesome.

4.3 Easy morning run, hoping it will warm up for a workout this afternoon.

11.7 Drove down to Sugarhouse for a tempo workout, two laps warm up then right into the workout, first mile was slow in 5:47 (+59 feet), mile 2 5:36 (-33'),  mile 3 5:38 (1'), mile 4 5:41 (11'), mile 5 5:42 (-10') and mile 6 5:31 (-32') which ends up being 6 miles in 34 minutes.  Hard run, especially Rose Hill.  But once I finished I felt good again within about .5 miles and cooled down 2.9 miles.  On the way home saw Adam running down 13 east so I gave him a honk. 

I'm very happy with this workout, it was hard but considering the hills ends up being about the same effort as the 10k on Saturday.  The goal in the next few weeks will to being the 10 mile tempo pace down and lengthen these faster tempos so they become the same workout by Boston.  Less than 9 weeks to go!

10.4 Easy run with Collin to City Creek, feeling the workout yesterday and was plenty happy to finish the run.

4.3 Easy run around the Aves. Cracked the freezing point today!

10.4 Fartlek workout, Did my City Creek loop with 25 surges thrown in.  The last one was up the 2nd ave. death hill.  Feeling a bit tired but tomorrow is a planned eaaassyy day.

4.8 Around the Aves. I even ran in shorts. 

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8943765/rants-raves

Great article on Grantland in response to the PED article by Bill Simmons.  It all comes back to the fundamental question of what is cheating? People have always used whatever they can to their advantage.  Surgery is recognized as being ok, along with altitude tents and Alter-G tredmills.  There needs to be a discussion about what is considered cheating and sufficiently severe punishments established before sport can be cleaned up.

Run through Sugarhouse and Liberty parks, easy day.  Felt pretty tired by the last two uphill miles.  Saw two truants smoking at one of the bathrooms in Sugarhouse...what is this world coming to?

Met up with Fritz and Collin to get in a nice long run in Emigration. Chilly heading up, but once we got into the sun it felt a lot better.  We took it pretty easy heading up, but Fritz and I hammered the last 1.5 up feeling great.  Then we headed back down, taking it pretty easy.  I took a quick break then put in a quick mile to catch back up.  By the time we made it to Ruth's Fritz had started dropping the hammer and I was delighted to go with him.  Back at the car I grabbed a quick gel and some water then went up Wasatch to hammer a four more miles.  The were all under marathon effort, last 7 miles were 6:38, 6:21, 6:11, 5:56 (this took me to the car), 5:58, 5:50, 5:42, 6:09 (big climb back towards the zoo).  Felt great, probably could have kept going but I had to get to Andrea's going away brunch and I didn't want to push it too hard. 

This ended up being my highest mileage week since college (minus a 100-100 beers/miles challenge).  Ended the week feeling good.  My hope is to keep the mileage in the 90-100+ range until Taper time with a 22 and 24 miler thrown in there.  With some solid workouts thrown in there 2:35 might be a bit too slow a goal. Here's hoping.

4.2 Run to pick up my car, because drinking and driving is not cool.

10.3 Ran City Creek Canyon with Collin, he pushed the pace. What a jerk.

14 Workout today and Wednesday to get an extra easy day in before the 15k on Saturday.  The plan was to run down to Sugarhouse and two miles in start the 10 mile tempo (58:30), six in the park and two miles back home with 2 miles cool down.  Went well the splits aren't consistent, but that's to be expected with a hilly course first two were net downhill 5:37, 5:44.  Then the next six in the park were 5:37, 5:51, 5:42, 5:53, 5:43, 5:59.  With the slow miles being net up and fast ones being net down.  Then the last two were 6:03, 6:18 both were about 100 foot climb and felt very hard.  The elevation adjustment thing in Strava puts all the miles at roughly the same effort so I'm pretty happy with this, but think I'm still feeling the weekend. The last two miles were probably a mistake and in the future I'll keep it with the rollers and just do a longer cool down.

The question of where Jon Kotter has been came up on the long run.  I have an answer today, flying by me in Sugarhouse while I'm doing a workout.

I will be celebrating James K. Polk's achievements today. Despite the fact that the State of Utah has declared today Washington and Lincoln Day to avoid support of an unnamed recently elected Executive Branch leader. Manifest Destiny son!

4.5 Easy run around the Aves. Feeling the Tonyburger from lunch, I don't know how the great Dane Rauchenberg does it.

12 Sugarhouse and Liberty, nice and easy. Every little up felt like a mountain.

Solid article on shoes, the best quote comes from the Altra guy. Basically you can tell when shoes are wearing out.

NYT Article

4.5 Around the Aves.

10.5  Everyone's favorite workout 16 by 400.  Limited venues to do it in so I went to the fieldhouse at the U.  My legs were definitely feeling it on the jog down and the first few intervals, but once I got into a groove it went very well. I ran 4 straights and three turns and then about 200m jog between each.  The first one was in 79 then 76 and just kept getting faster.  The middle intervals were in the 70-72 range and the last two were 69 and 68.  With the goofy distance of the track it's hard to tell the exact distance, but it was close enough.  Mostly I focused on form and once I figured out how to run fast again things went well.  It feels good (though it still hurts) to run fast like that again.  I think it's important, even in marathon training, to have a few hard track sessions to remind the body how to move quick.

4.5  Got the new Nike Flyknit trainers so took them out for a jaunt.  Ran into Bill and a few of his East kids.  Felt good, though that hill on Virginia still hurts.

Also got a speedsuit, can't wait to take it out in a race.

10.5 Sugarhouse and Liberty nice and slow like, the slippery surfaces helped keep the pace down in points too.  My left shin is a little off after yesterday, my legs just aren't used to banging around on an indoor track.

7 Fieldhouse run with Collin, mercifully flat.  Hungry now.

Fieldhouse run, avoided the snow except between my house and there.  Felt quite tired, and averaged about 7:45 pace there. Very relaxing. Threw in a few striders in at the end.  Weather looks interesting for the race tomorrow, with winds up to 40mph possible.  We'll see how it all shakes out.

It was pretty crazy day for a race.  Not a flake had fallen overnight and weather.com said the snow would hold off till at least 10:30.  But we all know that the weatherman likes to lie to us.  Right at the Saltair exit the snow started coming down, and I got there just in time to see the early star.  Met up with Fritz and "warmed" up 3 miles. Luckily we were both bundled up so only out faces were getting stung with little snowflakes.  When I got back in to put on my tights Jake and Rob Murphy and decided to take their leave of this race as conditions had deteriorated too far for their fragile bodies ;).  I made myself a makeshift face warmer out of one of my arm sleeves and some pins, and threw on my Brook Cascadias to get some traction out there. 

Like all the SLCTC races this one went off at exactly 10AM Mountain Time.  The wind had shifted and let up some so it acted as a tailwind going out.  From the Start it was BJ, Fritz, Chris (East High all-star) and me.  With about 1" of snow on the ground it ended up being pretty easy going.  The first few miles we stayed together then BJ started gaping up and Fritz went after him.  BJ then lost his glasses around 4 miles and stopped to pick them up being him back to us.  At the turnaround we were still close together, but then the wind started hitting us, and I went from being too hot to just about right (except my face).  The snow would melt on my face and obscure my vision, so I had to run with one eye closed on the way back.  BJ caught back up to Fritz then I caught Fritz too and ended up with about a 15" gap between us the whole way back.  My legs felt heavy the first two miles back, but started coming back the last miles of the race.  But there was nothing to be done, I ended up second in about 56:30, I didn't stop my watch immediately as I had no manual dexterity and the shirt was frozen around the watch.  Unofficially I am the winner of the Winter Series with the lowest overall time, due to a rough day for Fritz after a hard week of PT for him. 

I am disappointed by the weather today, this was supposed to be a good indicator of my fitness going into the last 7 weeks of Boston training and help set goals for the next few weeks.  I know I'm in good shape, but how good?  Right now my goals are at minimum sub 2:35, and best case sub-2:31 good for the American Development corral at Chicago.  The next race is Canyonlands in three weeks, and should tell me a lot about where I am.  This is the grinding part of the training cycle.

My plan for next week is to back off the miles a little bit and give myself a few extra days to recover from the 15k then hit a big long run on Saturday.  Back to back 106 mile weeks have felt surprisingly good, though the easy days have been as slow as I can manage.

Splits: 5:53, 5:43. 5:42, 5:46, 5:58 (turnaround at 4.65), 6:32, 6:31, 6:15, 6:14, ~2:00 (.321).

Meet tomorrow at Highland at 9AM for an easy 10!

Even the birds were flying away from it:

Easy run with the Sunday crew, John, Jake, Fritz, and Collin.  We met Bill Cobbler around 1 mile in.  Snowy, slushy and slippery like too many runs this winter.  Added on a loop of Sugarhouse after to get in a few extra.  Then stopped at Smith's for some necessities, meaning mostly donuts.

Nice easy run out to City Creek, felt nice not to be exhausted heading out the door.  This will be a much needed recovery week after the last two monsters.

7 weeks to Boston!

Took a day off yesterday, and was still struggling to get back into it today.  Put off the workout till tomorrow.  My first mile was blazing (8:47)when it is usually over 9 going up Virginia.

4.5 Easy shakeout run, waiting till warmer temps to workout today.

13.6 Workout day, needed a big day and finally got one.  Ran 2.25 miles until I crossed Sunnyside then started down 1500e to Sugarhouse.  Got stopped for a few seconds at the light then the next 5.25 miles around Sugarhouse for 7 total.  FAST for once, finally got the CR on Sugarhouse loop in Strava in 7:35.  Hold on to your hats for these splits 5:36, 5:25, 5:29, 5:30, 5:26, 5:36, 5:28.  After composing myself and being able to breathe again I began the 4.25 mile jog home.  Once I got back I sat down on the front steps and didn't move for a while.  Then I ate a cupcake when I got inside, it was great.

I needed a day like this, this week was geared towards mental and physical recovery before the last 6 weeks to Boston.  I had been dreading this run for a while and nervous about my fitness after disappointing winter series races (though pollution and weather can account for some of that).  This gives me a lot of confidence going into Canyonlands half in two weeks to shoot for a PR and just hit some great long runs and workouts in the next few weeks.

After some digging I found my last really hard workout (7 mile tempo) from 2 years ago in Sugarhouse when I think I was in 71-72 half shape.  The three laps from today were faster than all of those laps. Booyah!