Run RF

Easy run after nursing a hangover most of the day.  Saw an orangutang at the zoo!

Treadmill

25 mph sustained winds so a bit on the tread.

Tread, last day of easy then the next 14 weeks will be geared towards Bahstan!

to grams house

On the tred.

Run before flying back to Utah.

Doing some errands in my trail runners.

Workout at the oval, 4 by 1600 with the Alta kids.  Best thing to say about it is that I finished, very unevenly paced.  505, 518, 514, 510.

Postponed the run this morning to 11:30 to avoid the worst of the bitter cold.  Andrea, Allie, Colin, Jake and Rob Murphy all showed up. It was a great call, sun and no wind made it pretty tolerable.  First half was running around the neighborhoods by Highland then loops of Sugarhouse, met Bill the East coach and he joined us for the last few laps.

Very cold, so I headed to the fieldhouse.  Knocked out 8 there, then back home.

Workout day, third hardish effort in four days and feeling it.Went to the fieldhouse since there's few options available right now.  Did a little jog in the fieldhouse to get sufficiently warmed up, and did plyos then it was into the workout 3 by 2 mile with 800 jog inbetween.  First one was 11:05 (5:30, 5:35) second 11:18 (5:35, 5:43) and 11:22 (5:40, 5:42). Saw about the same drop off between miles one and two, and after finishing the second and third intervals felt like I could barely breathe.  Most likely a side effect of still getting into the swing of altitude again.  Shuffled through the cool down and run home, didn't feel much faster than a walk. I'm happy with the results and will be taking tomorrow eaaasssssyyyyy.

Easy day at the fieldhouse, I need to get outside tomorrow to mix it up.  Thinking some kind of fartlek workout.  There were some guys running then doing some of the worst push-ups I have ever seen.  Made me fear for their backs.

So I'm awesome and managed to tweak my knee playing paintball.  Yesterday it was feeling pretty not great so I took the day off, today it was sore for about the first half mile.  Hopefully it was just a strain and will be gone on its own soon.  Got outside today to help too, by staying away from sharp curves.  So I did 4 miles on my normal tempo loop 5:50, 5:34, 5:47, 5:31.  Lost a few seconds on the last mile due to unplowed sidewalks by the capitol.  Was planning on doing it again, but the turrible air swayed my decision to fartlek intervals, knocked ten out before the end.

This is the worst time of the year, really important for training.  But super unhealthy to do it outside.  Looking at the forecast the conditions will be sticking around till at least next Sunday when there may be a storm.  Everyone who got out of town for St. George looks even smarter than usual.  Good luck down there.

Nice run with Chad, Collin, Fritz and Adam (new ones keep popping up all over).  Pretty chilly out, and still polluted but once I got out there I got into a nice groove.

Nice run with Fritz, Collin, John, and Nate.  Still very cold out, and ended up with icicles on my eyebrows by the end.  Couple miles around 6:30 thrown in there.

Fieldhouse run (I think there's going to be a lot of these this week, with 6 striders at the end to mix it up.  

Sabres won yesterday, and play again tonight. I love hockey!  Also saw a fellow Buffalo fan at the fieldhouse.

Planning on a Oval workout tomorrow morning should anyone be interested in joining.

Tried to go to the Oval for a workout, but it was closed for Speedskating all week.  If only the website had highlighted that fact before I drove out to Kearns.  I guess I'll go the Utah Fieldhouse later today. 

Yesterday on my run I watched a news truck drive by and thought to myself "it would be cool if they stopped and interviewed me about running during the inversion." Then I saw the truck pull over and the camera guy set up, the reporter asked me to stop and I talked about running outside during this muck.  Then I left and the camera guy ran behind me to get a nice shot of me running away. 

Facebook link to the Video

Well I headed down to the fieldhouse to knock out an 8 mile tempo, did 2.5 up with the jog to the FH and another mile on the track. Did a set of plyos then jumped into it.  Definitely not easy, but by the end of the 8th mile felt like I could have made it another mile if needed.  First mile was 5:53, then steady to slightly faster where the last two miles were at 5:45 pace (didn't get exact splits).  For a total of 46:27, felt good about the workout especially in the tight confines of the indoor track and a bit of a cough from all the crap in the air.

Another fieldhouse run, getting very antsy about the storm rolling in tonight.  Hopefully it clears out some of the stuff, and will warm us up a little.  Was considering a double, but after slogging through 8 miles (62 minutes vs. 46:30 yesterday) makes me reconsider especially with all the garbage out there.  I'm starting to develop a cough that I think is inversion related, ugh.

Yesterday was a day off, due to an Ice storm, poor air quality, inversion cough, and hurt knee.  Felt better today so after letting thing thawed out put in some miles at the fieldhouse.  Race tomorrow.

Was looking forward to this race before my cough came back in full force.  But I was going to get out and run anyway.  Warmed up with Fritz then got ready to race.  Felt crappy the whole race, and struggled to breathe well, still managed a 5:05 then 5:25 and a 5:30 and finished 5th overall, 15 seconds off my best time at the winter series so it's a good start.  Cooled down another 4.5 with Adam and Fritz.

Up to PC to escape the remnants of the inversion with John, Fritz, Bill, Chris (E. High runner) and his sister.  Did a huge loop out from Newpark to downtown PC then jumped on the rail trail and then hit the frontage road that took us back.  I declined to do the extra half mile because of my wonderful cough, and the goal is to get in a long tempo on Tuesday.  

The inversion is dead, yay!

Well got up on Monday and felt pretty terrible.  Tuesday was better but the cough was still nagging so I took both days off to try and get back into it.  Finally forced myself out today with the trail shoes on to give some semblance of traction.  Went ok, definitely slow going in parts and the cough was still hanging around.  I think plan for the rest of the week will just be getting in as many miles as I can manage and possibly throwing something hard in on Saturday if I'm on the up and up.

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!

Sun out and almost 50 degrees? Yes sir. Hammys are still sore/tired from yesterday.  Ran very easy and grateful that we ended up pushing the long run to Sunday since I don't think I'd be ready tomorrow.

Shortz baby!

10.3 Nice day out, left a little later to enjoy the relative warmth.  Ran City Creek Canyon, saw a lot of people out.  Legs still a little tired/sore from Thursday, long run tomorrow.

4.3 Too nice to not run again, so I ran again.

Ah the Sunday long run, staple of any training regimen.  I met Scott and Fritz at the Mt. American Credit Union with a light drizzle in the air.  Then we set out up Wasatch, still feeling Thursday a little bit.  We talked a little bit about all the important topics, religion, drugs, porn. Helped the miles stream by.  The trail at Parley's canyon was still quite a mess so we got slowed down there, but we got into a stretch of low 6's in there.  At least Scott and I were a little off today so once we added on a little bit at the end top hit 20 we called it quits.  Today was one of those days where it was just good to get the run in, we still manages 6:37 pace feeling tired and less than ideal weather.  Great start to the week, picked up some McDonald's on the way home.  It just tastes so good at the end of a long run.

Nice run out through Sugarhouse and Liberty. Saw the Highland track team doing hill reps as I ran through. I had my first ElliptiGo spotting in Utah in Liberty Park.

Right hamstring was not feeling great yesterday, stretching and stick made it more tolerable today.  No pain but still tight, I guess? It just felt off, I'll keep on it and hopefully have it all worked out soon.  Still time for a workout, with a planned tempo during the long run on Saturday I decided to do my 4 mile tempo then the hill workout of doom today, and planning on 5 or 6 by mile on Thursday.

I have put together that one mile uphill is not an ideal warmup and will be adjusting that in the future.  My times were around the norm for the 4 mile tempo, legs felt a bit stale but got going pretty quickly.  5:54, 5:29, 5:31, 5:32 then a little over a mile easy to the start point for the hills.  Starting from I St. and S. Temple did 7 intervals climbing 900 feet in about 2.5 miles including the short rest breaks. It felt very hard, but I always remember Rule Number Zero and push through.  Then jog from the top of Terrace Hills back to the house.

Garmin Route because I think it looks cool.

11.3  Fantastic day out, almost makes me forget about the terrible prior two months...almost.  Easy run up City Creek Canyon, added a mile up there to enjoy the outdoors a little longer.  I forgot to mention I saw a guy wearing an U of Alabama winter hat dressed for 10 degrees yesterday while it was hovering near 50.  Silly southerners.

4.4  Ran again to enjoy my favorite weather of the year.

11.5 Workout in Liberty Park, two miles down then 6 by mile at HM pace with 400 jug rest then run home.  After last Thursday burning me out for the better part of a week I decided to embrace more of the fast but not hard mantra.  So I settled on miles around 5:30, on the 'crete as the grass is still thawing out.  Didn't look at my watch for the first one and ended up running 5:49 but treated it as more of a warmup.  Next five were 5:31, 5:30, 5:27, 5:29, 5:33.  I was tired but not blasted after the last one, the park climbs from 13th S to 9th S, not really noticeable when running easy but during workouts it's tough. 

On my last interval two woman with 3 dogs between them managed to occupy the entire path.  I said "come on" as I negotiated my way through them and they were like "so, whatever".  After passing through I may have called them something that rhymes with witches, the pace was too crisp to remember clearly. 

4.4 Nice run in the Aves.

Felt great so I did the extra lap in Sugarhouse.  Not too much else to say, getting pumped for long run tomorrow.

Great Scott! I have enough miles to get Back to the Future!

Here is a great example of why Garmin data is a nice tool, but not the end all/be all of distance.

Met Fritz at Shopko at 7:20 to drive down and meet the Utah Co. guys. Got a call from Scott saying it was windy down there, but barely a flutter in Sugarhouse.  We drove down to Reed's house where it was crazy windy.  So the decision was made to trek up to Riverton to do the run on the Jordan River Trail.  Mike, Scott, Reed, Dan, Fritz and I started out south and did 10 out and back to the cars in 70 minutes. 

Then after fueling up we headed north for the workout portion of the run, five miles into the wind at 6:00 pace then whatever we could muster coming back.  Fritz and Scott took off and Mike and I worked our way back up to them to get some of the wind break.  Fritz and Scott did a lion's share of the work while Mike and I helped out when we could.  Ended up running 5 miles out in 28:18 (5:42, 5:44, 5:38, 5:36, 5:38). Took a short break then headed back, my legs were extra sore the first mile and Fritz and Scott ended putting a few seconds on me in the three miles out hard.  My splits were 5:22, 5:25, 5:25 then we eased back and while it felt like 7+ minute pace ended up running 6:11, Mike caught back up with about 1/2 mile to go and we started picking the pace back up and the last mile was 5:45 with the last half a lot closer to 5:00 pace. So the last five was run in 28:08. Great workout and couldn't have done it without everyone there, not time to have some pizza and beer and watch some basketball.

9.5  First run of the year on the shoreline trail. Still needs a few days to completely thaw out but it was a good run. Went really slow and easy after blasting my legs yesterday.

I also ate a whole pizza yesterday, half for lunch and half for dinner. I feel like a true American.

3.3 To my friends house and back.

Super nice out, so I ended up running three miles into City Creek before turning around. Felt pretty good, but my quads are still a bit tired from Saturday.

4.3 Nice shakeout run to get the day going right.

8 Workout, was thinking two by four miles but the legs said one was enough for today.  Ran up to Popperton Park jogged around the Footie Pitch to get to two miles then started my four mile tempo course.  I really wanted to focus on making the first mile faster than normal, ended up running 21:52 (5:40, 5:20, 5:33. 5:09). Happy with the performance, but the legs were still feeling Saturday. Especially noticed some weakness in the left leg that lead to the early end.  I think I'll do some fartlek stuff on Thursday and then Canyonlands on Saturday.  Saw Mike during the run, but was a wee bit too tired to say a proper hello.

Just saw my Boston Bib number #676, hopefully I can beat this by 500+ spots thanks to running with a lot of fast people here.

12.1 Sugarhouse and Liberty run, fantastic out. 

4.5 Nice run in the aves. Followed the old maxim "Sun's out, guns out"

10.5 City Creek run with 10 1 minute pickups thrown in. Feeling tired but it's all about recovery now. Oh science discovered the God particle (Higgs Boson) today, that little particle that gives everything in the universe mass.

4.5 Easy aves run, while on 11th by the graveyard I saw two motorcycle cops giving someone a ticket.  At I got to Terrace Hills a pizza delivery guy rips out onto 11th, I give him the slow down sign to try to help him out.  In return he revs the engine even more, I don't know if he got pinched but I hope he got punished for his meekrobish behavior.

Gorgeous day out, did Sugarhouse and Liberty. Pretty tough going the last few miles climbing back home.  But feeling good about Canyonlands half tomorrow.  And I'm entitled to two(!) free beers after the race.

Good race, quads felt tired second half. Fell apart a bit outside of the canyon. More to come once I get home. PR baby!

Got up early and took care of business then ran over to the busses, got stopped by Fritz, Scott and Brandon as they were finishing getting ready.  We got bussed up to the start and then proceeded to hang out for an hour and a half.  Wind started blowing a little more by the start of the race.  Chatted with a bunch of people at the start line and then the gun went off.  Fell off a cliff at the start, but made sure to stay back from the fastest guys.  Then after a few miles started working my past a few people.  I was gaining on Scott until Fritz came back to him and they took off right around mile 6.  So I sat in sixth place till the finish, my quads started getting fatigued again as usual, but throwing water on them seemed to help for about a half mile.  The hill of the race came right around 9.5 which was very painful.  After that it was pretty boring, went under the road then ran into town.  That seemed to take forever, those last miles outside of the canyon were tough.  I tried to pick it up going into the chute to make sure I got under 73, but the legs just didn't have much left and ended up running 73 flat.

I'm excited to PR and see some of the results of this training cycle.  But I felt like I could have gone faster if my quads didn't poop out.  But on the plus side I ran a half marathon faster than I ever have at altitude on a rolling course with a headwind.  So probably could have been sub 71 back at sea level.

Splits: 5:13, 5:32, 5:28, 5:23, 5:34, 5:31, 5:37, 5:39, 5:38, 5:43, 5:41, :48.

6.1 Easy run in the aves. Legs were pretty demolished yesterday so I took it off.  They felt much better today.  Hopefully I'll get somewhere between 80-90 miles in this week.

6.4 Up to school, back from school and then around the aves.  

One funny thing from the race, a guy was wearing Born to Run sandals.  And said he was going to run the race in an hour.  He blew up hard.

7.1 Easy run around Liberty, the place I feel the race most is in my knees.  I think I'll end up working out Thursday in Liberty so I can have access to a softer surface. Something like 2 by 3 mile tempo or some such.

6.3 Another easy run around the aves. Feeling ok, starting to bounce back.

8.5 Nice run in the drizzle, it felt wonderful to get in some easy miles on the woodchips in Liberty. Knees coming back, but not 100% yet.

10.5  Took yesterday off, and ended up in the fieldhouse where my knees were still feeling a little crusty.  I eventually got in a groove and threw in 8 striders that took more out of me than they should.

I have to admit I was getting a little worried about how I was recovering after the half.  My legs only really started coming back to me the second half of yesterday's run.  And I hadn't run a mile under 7:20 since the race.  So I made sure to be ready for the run today, and ready to ease off if it got to be too much.

We had a nice crew ready to go this morning, Mike and Scott up for Utah county.  Fritz, Jake and I from the normal crew.  Rob Murphy, Adam H, and Jon Kotter rolling up as it was time to head out.  The first part of the run was 11ish warmup down to Hollah!-day and back.  Only a few miles were over 7 minute pace, but either my legs were numb from the cold or they were feeling good.  We got back to the cars and everyone took care of their business then we headed into Sugarhouse to start the fun part of the run. 

It was about 6 laps to get us up to 20 over the rolling hills.  Jon took off like a bat out of hell not telling us how far he planned to go (3 miles) and Fritz went with him.  I stayed back with Jake, Scott and Mike for the first lap.  I did the first three miles hard (5:21, 5:34, 5:24) then eased back planning to do one one off for the rest of the run.  My easy miles ended up being a little slower than MP with my hard miles a little under so it made for a nice change of pace workout (6:08, 5:28, 5:57, 5:34, 5:59).  It was pretty surprising how good the "easy" miles felt.  And how my legs responded overall.  I hit mile 8 right at the top of Rose Hill and finished with Jake.  Then we all got rounded up and did an easy lap.  Still managed 7 flat pace, which felt like a shuffle after the last 8 miles.  Ended up with 21 in the books at 6:28 AP, great run after the not too great week I had running wise.

Also, probably one of the sickest plays I have ever seen. While it may have ruined my bracket it was a spectacular game with FGCU upsetting Georgetown.  FGCU has existed for 11 years, had a D1 team for 6 and are only in the second year of postseason eligibility.  Pretty unreal, those white boys can ball!

Boston Packet came in the mail today!

Met up with Collin, Fritz and Oliver (2nd at Canyonlands) at Highland to put in some miles this morning.  Fritz wanted to do at least 18, so I sucked it up and grabbed some chomp blocks.  Collin turned around right around 5 and the three of us carried on.  Got to the mouth of BCC and headed up Wasatch back to Highland.  I felt surprisingly good, and the fact that the second half wasn't at tempo effort helped a lot.  I put in over 40 miles in two days, in two runs.  While finishing up climbing the hill at the I-80 underpass Fritz and I both discussed if we were running 140 a week this would be a typical day (though likely broken up).  It's good to know I can handle this stuff as I have plans for 110-120 mile weeks this summer.

I dropped Oliver off after his longest run of the year and went to Barnes & Noble to pick up some books for my flight on Friday.  Looking in the running section there were about 10 copies of Born to Run with the covers facing the customer and one copy of Running with the Buffaloes so you can only see the spine, because people are stupid.  So I put Running with the Buffaloes in front of the Born to Run books to help support one of the best running books ever written.

Feeling surprisingly good after two long runs, today was just nice and easy with an option for a second loop of Sugarhouse if I was feeling up to it.  Tomorrow is a planned workout so only the one run today.

My training advice today is how to run/race hills.  The key to beating someone on a hill isn't running really hard up the hill, it's recovering quickly and throwing in a surge after you crest the hill.  It's pretty impossible to respond to immediately and helps open a nice gap that discourages people from moving back up to you.

11.6  Last lonesome workout in SLC for a while.  With two long runs this past weekend and another planned for Friday I wanted to do put in a good effort without killing myself.  So I decided on 4 by 1.5 miles on the dirt path in Liberty.  The dirt path is a little slower, but much easier on the legs.  I jogged 2 miles to the park then got right into with 800 meter rest in between.  My first mile for the four loops were 8:39 (5:48,2:51), 8:25 (5:40, 2:45), 8:35 (5:34, 3:01), 8:16 (5:28, 2:48), the third interval was a little long, effort felt the same.  I felt like I was working pretty hard without excessively beating myself up too much.  Which is where I want to be three weeks out from Boston.

Nice interview with Ryan Hall talking about mileage progression. I think it's important to restrict mileage in High School to foster long term development, running too much just puts a damper on long term development and causes early burn out.  Seventy miles would be the max, especially when the longest race run is 5k.  Even in college the first two years should be spent carefully bringing along someone to that magical 100mpw total.  That kind of mileage is really only necessary to race 10k+.

Ryan Hall Interview

6.1 Run around City Creek, then immediately dove into some candy because I'm starving.

10.3  Easy run up in City Creek, starting to feel the last few days on the legs.  Luckily today and tomorrow are recovery for Friday's long run.

6.1  One of my roommates was out of town the last week, he is very loud and uncourteous.  He returned last night and today invited a bunch of random people over in the afternoon.  So the great weather and awful company meant head out for another run.  Legs felt tired for the first mile but quickly got their act together.  Great day out, and I remembered seeing a guy in Liberty with 2 half liter bottles on a fuel belt running laps.  Passing an everlasting spring 1.5 miles.

Easy run down through Sugarhouse and Liberty, gotta be ready to long run with Jake and Fritz way too early tomorrow morning.

Early, though not by Scott's standards, run up Emigration.  Fritz and I are both going out of town this weekend so we knocked out our last long run today, and of course Jake is always up for a run.  Went well we went about 3.5 miles up the canyon then came back on Wasatch and through Tanner Park to hit some of the death hills.  Everything on the way back came in around 6:00 pace, which less the hills felt great.  Last 7 days add up to 116.5 miles, which is a non beer related record.  I feel strong and am excited for Boston in a 2.5 weeks.  But tonight I head out to Florida to start some humidity training so I'm ready to kick all the Utah guys butts back east.

Red eye flight to Detroit, four hour layover in DTW, then 2.5 hour flight to Florida. Got in at the same time as my brother then changed into my running clothes and gave my bags to him. I started the run our place and he took a cab. Oxygen is pretty awesome, and ended up running 12 in 1:15. Two eventful occurrences in the run, around 3 miles encountered a large group of bros and brosephinas. They were impressed by my speed, and implored me to go faster, a little over six was fast enough. Then about a mile out from our place I was quickly catching up a slow runner who avoided three dudes. When they saw me coming they politely got out of the way of the guy running sub6 pace. Also I was dressed like a badass with my compressin socks amd Ragnar shirt. It's awesome to be here with my family and more than a few beers.

8 Plan was to do three by two miles at MP, after two mile warm up I jumped into it running 528, 528. But I was pretty crushed by the end, humidity was brutal, so ended up running another four. Hopefully I can throw in some quick miles tomorrow, and a few extra later.

3 Easy run around the island.

Nice run on the beach

Run down to Turtle Beach.

Run out to a rail trail with 7ish miles of Fartlek thrown in, felt surprisingly good for the inhuman amount of Humidity.

Run on the beach and down towards Turtle Beach.

Nice way to end a week on the beach.  Got up ran and got my stuff came back home then ran back to the start.  The race is just an out an back along the beach back towards where I was staying.  It looked like some fast guys had showed up, but they were all flash but no substance.  The only person near me was a high schooler but I dispatched him by the torn around.  Calves were really tired from the sand, even if it was hard packed, had to run around a ton of people on the way back.  Perhaps a pace bike would have been prudent.  Splits: 5:07, 5:16, 5:26 second half was into the wind.

Run up City Creek, really getting down to the last few miles before Boston.  I fly back on Thursday!

Cold rainy run, fingers don't work too well right now.

Easy miles at the fieldhouse, feeling good.  Switched today and tomorrow due to the wind/frigid temperatures.

Last workout, Collin joined and we jogged down to Liberty.  It was 3 by mile at MP, with the rest of the loop as rest starting at the water fountain.  It felt great, didn't feel any harder than a normal run and did them in 5:40, 5:48, 5:46. Was considering one more, but the point was just to get the legs moving at marathon pace with the least strain possible.  I've been working a long time to get my legs to this point, this has me very excited for Monday.  I fly back east tomorrow, and will probably get in some miles tomorrow morning then Friday off.

Looks like Abdi is out for Boston too, now I got a real shot at the win!

8.3  Up nice and early to get in my last SLC run, up a mile into City Creek and back.  Pretty nice weather out, felt good and excited to fly out this afternoon.  I will see the Boston guys out there!

0.5  My flight out of SLC was very delayed, so once I got my gate checked bag I ran through the Chicago O'Hare airport with my roller bag and backpack holding my coat and ticket like a football dodging people from gate F4 to gate C23. There is a shuttle from E/F to C, but I knew the only way I would make was on the strength of my own legs.  They had shut the door, but the gate agent was coming back up the sky bridge and let me and several other people who came jogging/walking in on the plane!  I was quite sweaty, and unfortunately I didn't have my Garmin on so the mileage is approximate.

Seacrest out!

Six from my brother's place on the Charles River with five one minute pick ups thrown in.

Easy run on the Charles, saw Kara and Shalane out there. Then saw Nick Willis dominate the elite mile after.

Very scary, everyone that I know is safe. Pray for those affected.

My garmin had the course at 26.4 so my garmin splits will be a bit quicker than the course would have said.

Splits: 5:55, 5:46, 5:44, 5:46, 5:53, 5:47, 5:51, 5:50, 5:52, 5:49, 5:48, 5:43, 5:46, 5:42, 5:45, 5:36, 5:55, 5:48, 5:46, 5:49, 6:20, 5:49, 6:04, 6:12, 6:20, 6:34, 2:34 (.4).

This race is still kind of a blur and it's taken me a week to really want to write anything about it.  The start was crazy, I haven't been in a field this competitive ever.  Only college cross country races have felt similar.  The crowds were amazing, Wellesley was unreal. My brother and his friends were at the last turn.  The first half I just tried to keep a constant effort and not go to crazy because I knew people would come flying back to me the second half.  Once I got to Wellesley I flexed and slapped hands until my arm got tired, I started speeding up at this point for obvious reasons and just felt great, like I haven't just run a half marathon in 1:16:30 which was exactly on pace. 

So I started moving, I flew up the first three newton hills, but my quad issues were intruding even as I passed people like they were standing still.  Even on Heartbreak my legs still felt ok and the pace wasn't too off.  But the last five miles where I wanted to fly were just some of the most painful running I have ever done.  Every stride was painful and I really wanted to stop, but in the end it would have just hurt the same but for a longer period.  I was dousing my legs in water every aid station, and started Gatorade a mile 23 (should have switched earlier).  Both those things seemed to help a little, but it was just a grind it out phase then.  Even sort of blowing up I and feeling like I was standing still I was keeping it pretty well together, caught a few guys and got caught myself.  My legs are still roughed up, owing mostly I think to different muscles getting recruited the last few miles that aren't used to doing what I was asking them to do.

I was on pace for my goal, and if my legs hadn't gone I would have been able to probably gain a minute or two and end up somewhere around 2:31:xx and get into the top 100.  But live and learn, I got a few good pointers from my college coach the next day about some strength training and good ideas for a few workouts to try to simulate a marathon load as closely as possible.

After the race I saw Scott, and found out I was catching up to him.  Once Brandon finished and I said congrats to both of them I made the stumble back to my brother's place about 1/4 mile from the finish line.  After helping my up the stairs and replenishing myself, we were about ready to head out when we heard the two bangs.  About 10 minutes later we found out what happened on Twitter and we hunkered down there for the rest of the day and a lot of his friends checked in back at his place before heading back home.  I was diligent about answering all my texts to make sure people didn't worry about me, and I was very relieved to know everyone I knew was safe. 

30 minute spin bike.

30 Minute spin bike.  Harder than yesterday and the quads agreed.

Easy run at Slippery Rock during my sister's field hockey tournament. Took me 25 minutes to do it, but I managed to get in three miles.  My legs still feel pretty rocked, at least yesterday I got to go to a Beer Fest.

Ran with one of my college teammates. Only could muster about 8' pace, but felt like I could have gone longer. Progress I guess. Gotta get in shape to run Running with Ed with Jake in a few weeks.

Nice run on an old reliable route, slowly feeling better. Will most likely take tomorrow off and bike or something.

30 minute spin on my day off of running.

St. Bernadette's loop, felt good and getting towards a more normal pace.  Quads a little tired, but biggest thing is tightness in my left calf.

One thing I don't miss about home is manure season, otherwise the run was great.  First sub-7 since the marathon!

Run with my college team.

Run out to Bussendorfer loop.

Quads feeling tired, did my secret trail run along the 18 mile creek.

Legs were not feeling great, so took the day before off.  This was the first run back where I felt almost normal.  After the run there was a sore tendon on my quad but that's about it.

Legs were still feeling good, a little tired by the end but starting to feel like a runner again.

Southcreek loop, legs felt ok.  Back to SLC tomorrow, going be a rough adjustment to altitude.

Last day in Buffalo, so I bought some new running shoes and went to Chestnut Ridge to get in my run.  It's a great park with a ton of hills and has the distinction of being the largest county park in the USA.  

I should change my treadmill routine to include this.  Then I could probably last more than 30 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLfUgXcvq4g&feature=player_embedded

Met Collin up on campus, when asked trails or roads I chose roads due to my absence from altitude.  Felt pretty good, nice day out for a run if a little overcast.  Legs held up pretty well so perhaps I can get back into this training thing soon.

Ran with Collin up on the Shoreline towards N SLC, felt surprisingly good though the loooong downhill was a bit taxing.

Easy run around City Creek, feeling the altitude a bit more.

Nice run with Jon Kotter, Jake and Adam H. Altitude left me a little gassed at the end.

Run with Nate Krah, Rob and Jake. Better known as the Sunday Morning Heathens.  Beautiful day out, a couple of the hills on our Tanner Park death loop took a bit out of me with the altitude.  Plan for this week is to build towards 60-70 miles this week throw some strides in and Running with Ed relay on Saturday.  

Boo Yah!

Seven days in a row meant it was time to take a day off.  Then up BST through Dry Creek, ripped me apart pretty good. Heat + altitude = tired Kevin.  Found this article yesterday, some pretty solid workouts that don't need a gym.

7 Minute workout

Nice run up City Creek Canyon with Jake.  Probably one of the fastest times on the loop, helps when you run with a 2:20 marathoner.

Ran to Sugarhouse and Liberty parks out around 5, perfect weather out.  Felt really good to boot, after Running with Ed I will finally add in some quality sessions again.

Nice FLAT run with Jake. Hung around their place for a bit before I head to Star Trek, thank science.

Not the best day for a relay race, but you just gotta make do.Ran with Fernando Ramirez, Karl Siebach and Carlos Trujillo (2:14 guy(!)).  We started in the last time and it looked like our competition would be the Olympic Nordic ski team.  I ran the 1 (2.9), 5 (3.8), and 9 (6) legs which got progressively longer.  Had to pick up the third leg since we were down a runner.  Altitude took a bit to get used to, but the last two legs went great.  Feeling a little more confident about running UV half in a few weeks.

Legs were a bit beat up bu the weekend so took a two days off.  Nice run on BST above the U, saw a whole mess of people waiting in line for a Red Butte concert.

5.7 Ran after dropping my car off, felt really fatigued so I cut it short. Will probably attempt more when I get my car back.

2.4 Ran back to the auto place, felt better than the morning.  Nice driving a car with new brakes and tires.

Under 40 this morning so I decided to wait until later to run.  Felt better than yesterday but still dragging a little bit.

Loops of Liberty with Jake and James before jamming out to Boulder.

Bolder Boulder course preview run.

Easy run out at the Boulder Res, first few miles with some of Brad Hudson's guys then four striders at the end.

Nice day for a race, wasn't planning on going too hard and the legs agreed. My left quad was getting fatigued up the hills around miles 3-4 so I eased back, cardio wise I felt pretty good. Only got chicked thrice, hopefully once I get back into training it will come back quick.

Seacrest out!

5 in Boulder before I left

5 starting at Jeremey Ranch Road, was going to do the dirt road but that proved impossible so I went back towards Kimball Junction.

City Creek Canyon, after sleeping half the day recovering from my Boulder trip I got out the door and ran pretty well.  I averaged about 7 minute pace with 1000 feet of elevation thrown in.

Well just got back from Boulder and got roped into heading to Bend tomorrow.  I wanted to stretch out the legs today and see what they had.  After one of my faster first miles up Virginia, I started it up.  Miles were 5:53, 5:31, 5:28 and 5:08 1 and 3 were more or less flat while the 2 and 4 had some good drop.  It feels good to see that I haven't lost everything from my Boston training, but there's still a ways to go before I'm back in the saddle.

Easy 6 around the aves before heading up to Bend, OR for the weekend.

4 miles during my biddies softball game.

Hike at Smith rock with some of my HS buddies in Bend.

Couple hour bike up a pass between Bend and Eugene.

Glenwild trail

Bike from Basin Rec.

Run around the Aves.

Sugarhouse and Liberty, not used to heat yet!

Run with one of my college teammates on my favorite trail run in Utah.  Up Armstrong to Mid Mountain and down Spiro, consistent quad burning climb and some awesome views. Best part is bikes are only allowed up on Armstrong so no bikers crashing into you.  I'm excited for Pinecone to be completely open and run up to the Crest again.  We averaged a sprightly 8:52 pace.

J. Ranch Road

Bryce Canyon rim run

Run around Zion Ponderosa Ranch.

Run along the rim of the Grand Canyon

Easy with Jake

Group run from Highland, locked my keys in my car mistaking my house key for my car key.  Graciously was allowed to direct the run by my house and we were rewarded with an exact 10 mile run.

Then played Ultimate Frisbee in the park with some friends, hot one!

Run around the aves, while running by the capitol a van drove at me on the large shoulder between the road the parking spaces.  As I held my ground he proceeded to put me between him and the actual road.  As he passed he gave me a face that said "What the F are you doing?" While I responded with some language that would probably get me kicked off this blog to inform him that he was indeed the one in error and not driving between the solid white and double yellow lines.  Sadly this happens more often that it should and just goes to show how deficient many Utah drivers are.

Run up City Creek, saw my first rattler in 4 years in Utah.

BST above the U with one of my college teammates.  I felt awful, about as bad as I've felt on a run in a long while.  

Laps of Liberty, park was refreshingly empty thanks to Ragnar!

Ran City Creek, there was a pretty quick guy with two dogs so we ran near each other for a bit.  Last night hiked up to Desolation Lake drank some beers and had a fire.  That is what life is about.

Nice run up City Creek with Nate.  Also checked on Amiee's bird Frank who is all good.

Around City Creek.

Loops O' Liberty with Jake, James and Nate.

Run around the aves very hot out, yet not as hot as it soon will be.

HOT. Ran 6.5 with Jake and the Alta kids then Jake and I added another 2.5

4.5 in the aves including a stop by Amiee's to drop off her key.

Met with James, Allie, Jake and Andrea at 630.  It was already pretty warm, we did 9 miles then grabbed my flats and went to the track.  2 laps of ins and outs then 4 by 200 with 200 rest (~31) then one more lap striding the straights.  It was tough, I hadn't kicked the tires like that in a while and was pretty well gassed by the end.  But I'm going to try like the J. Smith to break 60 tomorrow at the SUGARHOUSE RELAYS!

REGISTER NOW THE FLYING SPAGHETTI MONSTER COMMANDS IT

Jogged tow miles to warm up then did the 5k as a little tempo then changed into my racing onesie to chug a 400.  Did two strides and got the baton from Rob Murphy and took off, probably somewhere around 30 at the 200 and felt pretty good but still couldn't get under 60, I ran a 60.2 according to Jake.  I actually felt pretty good so I'll probably try again sometime in the near future, it would be really nice to be a sub 60 400 guy again.  Then a big group of us cooled down two more miles.

2.5 with Jake and Andrea, then Andrea retired from the run while a hoarse Jake and I kept going.

Ran with Jake Rob and the Alta guys up at Alta.  Nice 11 miles in the bank.

Six at night, feeling good.

Run up and back City Creek Canyon all the way to the turnaround. It was a nice morning if a bit humid. The hills after mile four get quite a bit steeper which added to the difficulty.  I was ~64 out and ~53 back.

 I will be celebrating our nation's independence with a shower beer today. Go America.

Aves run

Sugarhouse and Liberty, quite a bit more humid than the past few weeks.

Run around city creek, Salomon is hosting a run from their City Creek location today with some giveaways.  Should be a good time, starts at 6:30

Run Up CCC with the ragnar group, did not win anything.

Aves

Alta run with Jake, Rob and coincidentally the Alta boys team.

4.5 doing shoe testing for Jake

Four loops of liberty in Jake's SSS (Secret Saucony Shoes). Stopped at the 7-11 1/2 mile from my house to get my free slurpee, great recovery drink.

Easy run around the aves before the TOUR DE RUN tonight.

But much more importantly

STAR TREK 2: THE WRATH OF KAHN

is playing at the Tower this weekend in SLC, words cannot describe how excited I am for this.

10k was rough, my quad went dead on the climb portion, but felt better on the descent and flat the second half.  I wasn't really winded from it either.

4.4 for stage 3 went better, after losing 5th position I put 1:30 on the guy to finish on the podium as it were.

Rest was WU/CD.

Ran down to 9th and 9th, Watched TWOK, ran back home.

Legs are a mess after the Tour, just going to take er easy.

Seven in Liberty, not great super gassed after.

Legs finally starting to feel better, good since Des News Half is Wednesday.

J. Ranch with Krah-dad and Pete, felt pretty good despite being out way too late for my friends going away party.

Quick 6 before my sister and mother get in and we head down to MOAB.

Was down in Moab and ended up hiking Devil's Garden (Back on primitive loop) and Delicate arch. Ran a mile back in town to my friends house and back who graciously picked up my number for me.

I'm amazed with how fast I ran, after barely being able to run last week and a full day of hiking and driving yesterday.  My garmin was dead so I don't have any splits or an official time yet, but I felt better than I have in a half marathon and was actually catching guys for once.  I finished a few seconds behind Ben Van Beekum and just didn't have enough in the legs to kick that last bit.  It was great seeing pretty much everyone that runs in Utah out today.

Hiked Desolation Lake with mom and sis, legs didn't fall off.

One mile is a shade under 10 minutes, legs hurt too much to do more.

After yesterdays disaster I threw on my calf sleeves and tried not to move much. I met Josh, Adam H and Fritz at Steiner then ran up to Wasatch and back. Legs were more cooperative but still sore. Now getting an oil change and inspection!

Ran down to Sugarhouse and tested some shoes for Jake, my L quad was still a bit off so I got a ride back instead of getting over 12 today.

6 around the aves in SSS.

Two loops of Liberty in the SSS.

Quick run around the aves, saw Amiee at 11th and B, she had taken the tougher road to get there.

Run in Millcreek with Collin. We managed 12.75 in 2:47, that should tell you all you need to know about the run. Tired now.

15 at J ranch, my legs are not very happy with me right now.

After pretty thoroughly destroying my legs with back to back long runs I took two days off.  Using the old Jake method of seeing if I could get up and down stairs to see if I was ready.  I went up to Pipeline with Nate and knocked out a run in the SSS, but probably would have been better off bombing around in Vibrams so I could really feel the trail.

4.2 around the aves in the SSS.

Liberty Park Loops with Nate, saw Allie when we were there.

Pipeline with Nate in the SSS.

Run around the aves and stopped at the capitol to check out the Start/Finish of today's stage.  Picked up a snap on koozie and leg strap from Sierra Nevada before running the rest of the way home.

Met Adam, Fritz, Nate, Pete and Jon for a J ranch run. While running we discussed our different philosophies about number two. Everyone except Fritz enjoys it and uses it as a time for contemplation and self discovery.

Loops of Liberty, apparently there is a beach volleyball tournament happening there this week.  That or people are dumping a bunch of sand in Liberty for no good reason.

City Creek Canyon, I don't think I have ever seen that many people walking/running/biking in the canyon at one time. Crazy.

Loops of Liberty with Nate.

City Creek Canyon run, ran into Nate during the run.

Rail Trail with Nate and Pete, found $10 dollars!

Run around the aves. The last 1/4 mile with with little Lola, she ran like a champ.

Sugarhouse and Liberty, The path around the park is a mess in Sugarhouse and the lights were all out so a Bit of an adventure traveling through.

Fritz, Josh, Adam H and Nate Krah are starting to meet at East High Tuesday mornings for track workouts at 6:30AM.  Any interested should feel free to join and learn from the best (Fritz).

Met Adam H at the track this morning for a workout.  We decided to keep it nice and easy and do 5 by mile with 400 jog rest.  5:38, 5:37, 5:38, 5:35, 5:34 happy with this as a first hard effort out.  Also I had planned a double last night, but at 6:55 I remembered I had my fantasy football draft at 7, I didn't get in a run but I did pick up C.J. Spiller.

Another run, apparently there is a Utah Republican party a block from my house.  Got a few yells trudging up Virginia. Eventful run.

Liberty Loops son!

2 miles to lunch and back

Fartlek run, with about 8 miles with a little longer on than off, the last one was hard up 2nd Ave hill. Still a beast.

Emigration with Josh and Fritz, after feeling great earlier this week felt pretty pooped this whole run.  But I made it through.

Easy and short run to shake the legs out.

Liberty, learned that Tuesday night LARPing is now Monday night LARPing. 

Met Adam, Fritz, and Nate at the U for a workout I ended with three up and down and 6.5 in the workout 2x400 (76,76) 2x800(2:37, 2:39), 2x1600 (5:36, 5:35), 2x800 (2:40, 2:40), 2x400 (77, 74) didn't feel near as good as last week but some descent efforts.

Sugarhouse and Liberty, hotter than I thought it would be.  But this was good training for my trip back home this weekend.  Alumni going to beat up on the current team!

Redeye then sleep, knocked out a quick 3 at night.  I think I'm becoming nocturnal.

Southcreek.

Humidity Sucks.

Race, we beat the current team.  Humidity/general unfitness contributed to my poor performance.

Southcreek

Aves

Liberty

Aves. run in the morn.  Alta will commence tonight.

Fun race, hard on the legs. Keg of beer at the end, awesome.

Tried to run, legs said no.

Stumbled through 7 today, Alta Peruvian did a number on my calves.  Even Compression Gear is struggling to heal me up.

I registered for Boston today!

Aves run, legs feeling somewhat better and didn't collapse on the downhill parts of the run.  Progress.

Alta Peruvian did a doozy on my legs, feeling closer to normal but there's still a few twinges left.

Run down to my bike.

Jog/hiked out in Naturalist basin, with the 10,000+ feet and very rocky trail I'm going to call it 7 in a 13 mile tromp.

Little wiped from yesterday so I skipped track workout and just did some Liberty Loops.

Track workout with Nate and Fritz, not great.

Aves run.

BST above the Aves.

Liberty Loopz

Yo

Sunday Morning Heathen Run with a dozen people. Nice day for a big group run.

City Creek, was a little winded after a big weekend.  My buddy Jeff drove by after the 2nd ave. hill of doom and started the "Let's Go Buffalo" chant and almost got rearended.  Good times.

Tuesday morning track workout with Nate, Fritz and Adam.  Nate and I did 4k (14:45), 3k (11:10), 2k (7:23), 1k (3:33) while he was a bit faster.  WIth jogging at the track and to and from home I got a nice little half marathon in today.  My legs are certainly feeling it too.

Liberty Loopz

City Creek with Collin, still a bit tired from Tuesday.

Liberty and Sugarhouse, note the reversed order of parks.

Good Luck to everyone at St. George tomorrow.

PC Long Run with Jake, Nate, James, Andrew, Allie and Andrea.  First part was out and back on the rail trail then out to Mcleod creek trail to the backside of Round Valley, with a very difficult climb up to the trail.  Then back to PCMR, felt surprisingly good since thsi is my longest run since Boston, really only 15 milers thrown in between.  And longest duration since last year's Top of Utah marathon.  I think like Stella I have gotten my groove back.

11.3 Liberty Loopz with Nate and Pete.  Tried to Snapchat Collin about the run, but he didn't respond.

2.1 Short and easy later run.

City Creek, nice run.

Tuesday Morning Track workout with Nate, 10x800 between 2:44 and 2:47 with 200 jog rest.  My legs were just not moving today, still feeling that monster long run on Saturday.

Cherry Creek Reservoir

Eerie

Southcreek

Boston State-N. Boston

Tred with a few 800 pickups thrown in

Grand Canyon...of the east. Letchworth State park.

Lehigh Valley Trail with friends, pretty quick.

Nice little run, winter is coming.

Tred

N. Boston-Boston State loop

Easy run by the Lake, I saw Canada on my run today!

I'm racing a honest to god Quarter Marathon tomorrow, jealous much?

tred

Got High, saw all the way to Buffalo proper.

Today reached 67 degrees, that is basiclly unheard of.  I will see you again 67 degrees, perhaps in March or April.

Around town.

Nice little race put on by the local running club, tough course in Chestnut Ridge Park, largest county park in the US.  Very hilly, 500 feet of climbing.  Not a Utah certified course.

Jaunt around the village, had to stop and pick up my award for the race yesterday.

tred

Boston State-N Boston loop

Bussendorfer, 65+ degrees out thusly I took my guns out.