PV = nRT

from Crockett ave. up Canyon road to first dam, LC, river trail to SHCG. 8:08 pace up, 46:42; 7:40 pace down, 43:38. 11.4 miles total in 1:30:20, 7:54 average pace

left foot got a little sore at nine miles. iced it fast. still have that mild sore spot on shin, doesn't seem to be getting any worse, but I wish it would go away completely... debating running tou half for fun depending on foot and shin.

evening run 6 miles home prov millville loop up the big hill 48:00

packed the truck hooked up the fishing boat and drove to Carmel cmpgrd on Sheep creek by flaming gorge reservoir for some family camping

AM/day- boating/swimming on flaming gorge reservoir

PM- ran up sheep creek drive from carmel campground. 3.6 miles up at 8:10 pace. then turned around and ran down at a 6:44 pace.

one of the dumber runs I have ever done. drove from sheep creek/carmel campground over to the dam, rented a raft and floated with the fam down to little hole. On the way back to camp around 6PM I had the bright idea to run the sheep creek geological bypass while my family drove back on the main road to camp. so I hopped out at the upper entrance to sheep creek road. I forgot the elevations on the loop. Started at 7690 feet. Climbed hard for 2 miles then easy for another mile up to about 8325. Then it was just a nasty 6 mile downhill shin pounding killer descent to about 6350 feet. I just took little steps and tried to protect my legs. dumb. Loop was longer than I anticipated. the "map" says 10. it is actually closer to 13. my wife came and picked me up after I had run 10.6 miles, 7 of them downhill and drove me the two additional miles to camp. soaked feet in sheep creek. appear none the worse for wear but it was not a fun run withthe steep descent. a better workout would have been to go the other way.

return from camping. tired. too old for this tent camping stuff. need a big RV with AC and a shower. too tired to run. and there is a lot of smoke in the air. I also return to find big dogs and wasps attacking fellow bloggers. planning to go rottweiler hunting tomorrow morning with a can of grizzly bear pepper spray. 

interval workout 6 x 800: target 2:50 per interval with 400 recoveries

1.9 mile warmup to track in five fingers, then switched into shoes.

intervals 2:50, 2:47, 2:48, 2:51, 2:58 (slow) 2:47

average 2:50.2

recovery 1.9 to work in five fingers

felt good, fifth interval was slow just due to not paying attention. next week i will try to drop them to 2:45 average.

I think I am ready to run a sub 18 minute 5K. Shooting for the one in Nibley, I just don't know when it is, maybe a few weeks. Then I will do TOU 5K and also shoot for sub 18.

a little further than last week, canyon road to spring hollow campground.

51:51 up

48:52 down

7:55 average

yawn.

repeat of last fridays workout, back on my regular schedule after camping last week.

1.9 mile warmup to track in five fingers.met our "newly-recruited to Cache Valley" blogger Allie at the track for intervals. great to have a new member of our USU blogging team.

 6 x 800: target 2:45-2:50 per interval with 400 recoveries

intervals 2:42, 2:43, 2:48, 2:45, 2:50, 2:50

average 2:46

river trail to spring hollow CG. the usual wednesday. 28:59 up (vs 29:15 last time), 26:53 down (vs. 27:47 last time) for an average 7:59 pace.

more on the five fingers debate here.

tempo run , Island area.
1.2 mile warmup 8:06
4.5 mile tempo: mile splits: 6:34, 6:41, 6:31, 6:37, 0.5 @ 6:43; 6:37 average.
1.2 mile cooldown 8:21

just a short run on grass in the five fingers. used the zollinger park soccer and baseball fields. legs weren't turning over very well.

then I skipped work and took the family innertubing down the Oneida narrows.

central park to spring hollow campground via river trail. left foot starting to hurt again. I just can't seem to shake this thing, it reappears when I hit the 12+ mile range. 

up, 53:43, 7:57 pace
down 50:28, 7:29 pace
average 7:43

first dam up river trail and a bit of single track. 22:15 up, 20:53 down. the five fingers are fun on the stretches that are packed dirt, but they are not so fun on the stretches with the gravel, which is most of the way, ouch.

intervals on the USU track, ran with Carol Rowe. 4 x 1 mile with 400 recoveries. target pace about 5:55. we switched lead on alternating laps to keep the pace up.

Intervals 1-3: 5:54, 5:55, 5:53. Then on the last interval I kind of zoned out on the last lap, and thought I had only run two when actually we were on the final lap. Carol came blazing by me with 200 to go, I thought she was going to run a fast final lap and I didn't follow. then she stopped and I thought she had shortened the interval to 1200. Then I looked at my watch as I continued and realized I had already run a full mile. oops. So I guess my final interval must have been about 6:03 or something, I could have run the 5:55, I just wasn't paying attention. I guess it is better to think you have a lap left when you are actually done than thinking you are done when you actually have a lap left. if that makes any sense.... good workout anyway, was glad to have Carol to help me keep the pace, even though I messed up the final 200 meters of the final lap.

the usual... river trail to spring hollow. ho hum. sluggish up, 29:56, 8:33 pace
picked up the pace down, 25:36, 7:19 pace

average pace 7:56

tempo run. drove to central park but then found I had forgotten my GPS watch I use as a crutch. So I decided to run some of the first dam course hoping I could find the mile markers. But they have largely disappeared. So I finally hit one at mile 3. Time 19:28. Was happy I was running a solid 6:30 without my crutch. Then I saw mile 4!! 6:25. I am the man. I decided to quit at mile 5, but couldn't see the mark. So I ran the last leg in 7:50. I know I passed mile 5 and don't think I slowed down, so I will assume I ran 1.2 miles here at 6:30. Who cares anyway. Then I cooled down the  rest of the route and a little more. What do I call these- threshold or marathon pace miles? I think threshold is more like a cruise interval which would be about a 6:15. But hoped-for marathon pace is 6:45. So I am right between. again, who cares?

Time is a precious commodity right now with school starting next week, just trying to squeeze in a run when I can as I am now in panic mode.

just a short five finger run around zollingers park.

my biggest concern now is the monster blisters on the bottom of my feet, in particular the big toe and sole of my right foot. The newest one blew open this morning, inevitable. Got em at stupid DN 10K, and they just keep getting worse. probably exacerbated by all the speedwork I am doing in minimal shoes and downhill running.

got up and put off running as long as I could, didn't really feel like getting out with my blistered feet and not looking forward to a long run. bored with river trail so I just took off from my house at 8:30, ran up to Canyon road, through millville, picked up the TOU course, and ran out to the end of Hollow road  and back home the same way. There were a lot of runners comng down Hollow road, I then realized it was Jon's work running group coming down the canyon. There was an incredible wind coming out of the canyon this morning, if we get it next week we will be very fortunate.

I saw Jon, Cody and Allie at the junction of the highway and Hollow road, recovering from their run so stopped to say hi. Jon probably ate three or four bagels in the short time I was there.  I then took off and ran back home, including about a 3 mile continual climb back to the providence bench. I figure my 14.8 mile out and back is the same intensity as their 21 mile aided downhill canyon run with the 30 mile an hour tail wind.  Yeah.

14.8 miles, 7:35 average pace.

I taught chemistry 1210 at 8:30 and chemistry 5700 at 10:30. The computers in both classrooms were messed up. Typical. Now I am off to run. I advertised my blog in my classes. We will see if my quantcast numbers go up as a result. If all my students check my blog I should get up to the 370 range. I hope they don't let me down.

OK, went running from work up LC and up river trail to single track and back. It is exactly 8 miles and I finished in exactly one hour and zero seconds. I can set my watch by this run, which I typically do within 20 seconds on either side of one hour.

I forgot my shoes today and it was track day so I did my first real interval workout in five fingers. Paul Wolf and Carol Rowe had the plan, 6 x 800 but with only 1 minute recoveries. I was going to do miles but what the heck went along with the program. We ran a little slower than when doing 800s with full 400 m  recoveries: 2:57, 2:51, 2:50, 2:50, 2:50, 2:48. Good solid workout though short.

Then ran a 400 in 1:26 and a 200 in 43. Feet held up fine running on the track in the five fingers, but I found some new places on my feet to insert new blisters.  Two mile cooldown back to my office, by the time I got there I did not feel like running barefoot anymore.

7 really easy slow river trail to spring hollow. my calves are absolutely trashed from the five finger track workout yesterday. It is obvious that a five finger workout, though equivalent form an aerobic standpoint, works your lower legs much harder than when wearing shoes. Whether this translates to a higher quality workout and provides higher training benefits I don't know. I will find out eventually I guess, if I keep it up.

I think I am going to be really really sorry about tuesdays five finger workout.. my calves feel like raw hamburger. 

Oh well, I decided to run 8 x 200 as a final speed tuneup for my "crash and burn" half on Saturday. About 39 seconds each. 

absolute chaos at work today. no time to run if I wanted to. will just rest for tomorrow I guess. 

I was nervous about this race, as I have only run twice over 13 miles since March, plus I decided to run in some pretty worn out lightweight flats, and wasn't sure how the leg would like that. My goal was anything under 1:23, and my original plan was to run at about a 6:15 pace down the canyon and then see what happened when I hit Hollow road. The plan changed quickly when I joined up with Carol Rowe, and she set a blistering pace down the canyon. Since she was going for the women's overall, I stayed with her to watch her race develop, and to see if I had what it took to stay with her. We ran in stride the first seven miles and came out of the canyon at a 6:02 average pace, along with the woman she was racing. Then they dropped me like a ton of bricks. I was pretty sure Carol was going to win, as she was pulling ahead, but apparently the other woman runner caught her and beat her by just six seconds. Quite an exciting womens finish, but I missed it as I was a minute or so back by the time they finished.

After the canyon, I was really out of gas, had bad stomach cramps, and just ran on sheer will power. But I don't think I got passed by anyone and did manage to pick off a few people, so I guess I wasn't doing too bad.  I struggled on the hills, but once I turned onto 200 west I was on my home turf and that gave me the energy to pick it up. I looked back behind me with about a quarter mile to go, and there was a  younger guy bearing down on me, so I cranked it up as fast as I could and managed to outkick him at the end, which felt good. My leg seemed to hold up fine though my calves are pretty trashed.

There was some confusion with some of the posted times right after the finish, and they kept getting changed, which was weird. I forgot to stop my watch when I came through the chute, and stopped it probably 20 seconds after I finished, after taking off my chip, and it read 1:21:45 at that time. The official time that is posted at milliseconds is different than what they had for me initially on the preliminary results and at the awards, but now appears correct based on what my watch said (the official time says 1:21:23, consistent with my ~20 second lag in stopping my watch). I'm glad they got that sorted out, I worked hard for this time, and it is a half marathon PR for me.

Didn't get a chance to see as many of the bloggers as I hoped to, with a hectic schedule after the race as well, but did talk to Allie, Dave, Paul and Cody at the start. Dave ran a great race finishing in the top 3 in our age group. My wife got some good pictures of Jon, Paul and Cody coming in, I will have to send them proofs along with instructions on how to order copies if they want them.... maybe I will release the copyrights for a bagel or two.

LATE ADDITION- great local news write up on the race, with great comments by Jon Allen, and a nice coverage of the amazing women's race. Great to see Carol's picture in the paper too. See this link if interested.

back to the grind after a fun Saturday. Now I am thinking of signing up for the new Mesquite marathon, it will be held at just the right time for me to train properly. Will wait and watch the leg for a few long runs to be sure.

Ran from my office to RT up to single track and back. two minutes and 47 seconds slower than last week. oh well. body feels OK overall. thinking of running intervals in five fingers again tomorrow.