Rhett

I sure hope that when I wake up 5 weeks from today I feel a whole lot better than I did this morning.  I could tell right when I got out of bed that it was going to be a tough run today.  I was hoping to get in a nice mp run today, but just wasn't feeling it.

I headed out the door anyways and did one warm up mile which helped get me feeling a little better.  The wind this morning wasn't any help either.  Then I started into my mp paced miles and I just could not quite hit mp this morning.  This lead to negative thoughts, wondering how I ever ran a 1/2 marathon in Jan. averaging 6:25 per mile and if I needed to adjust my marathon goal pace.  On the 9th mile at mp when I only hit 6:59, I did do one smart thing.  I called it a day and did a cool down mile.  I was planning on 11 mp miles, but I figured there was no use hurting myself trying to get in those last 2 miles.  

Total run 11 miles, 1:17:35

9 miles at not quite mp,  AP 6:51

I'm hoping my legs were just tired from my race/run on Saturday. 

ab and core work

40 minutes elliptical

I was suprised that my legs were still a bit sore.  Hopefully they feel better tomorrow.

Slept in again this morning.  Boy did that feel good!  I'll get my run in this evening.

I took the kids to the gym while Doone went to young women's.  I decided to get in some speed work on the TM.  1% incline

warm up 2.5 miles at 8:00

1 minute jog at 5.5mph then 1 minute jog at 11.0 mph... repeat 20 times for a total of 5.6 miles

1.9 mile cool down at 8:00

Total run 10 miles 1:15:00

It felt really good to get in some fast running.  My right hammy started getting a little tight on the last few repeats though.   

Abs and core work

1  hour elliptical

Legs felt great this morning.

I'm going to take tomorrow off, so I have fresh legs for Saturday.  My tri relay team is counting on me to run a quick 10k.  Hopefully I don't let them down.

Today was the Lake Havasu Triathlon.  It is a collegiate event that others are welcome to participate in.  We had 5 BYU mens triathletes stay at our house.  The top BYU guy was at our place and did the olympic tri in 2:04.  That is really fast.  He took 7th overall.  I didn't want to get into the cold water, so I organized a relay team and only had to run the 10K at the end.  There was another local relay team we were trying to beat.  

Our swimmer did great swimming a 24 minute 1500m, and we were only 1:30 behind our competition.  We had to get a last minute cyclist since ours was sick.  The new guy claimed to be able to do the 40K in 1:05.  We were counting on him to match or better the cycling time of the other team.  Unfortunately he was significantly slower than advertised and we were almost 15 minutes behind by the time I was given the timing chip.  I knew the most I would be able to make up on the other runner was 4 or 5 minutes, so I just tried to run a good steady 10K.  I started strong even though the first mile is brutal with a run through deep sand and up some steep stairs climbing the London Bridge.  I hit 6:15 on the first mile which is way faster than I thought I would be.  I thought I was feeling fine and had not pushed too hard, but that first mile took more out of me than I thought.  As the race went on I gradually faded and finished the 10K in a disappointing 39:50 which was about 8 seconds per mile slower than I ran the St. George Half Marathon.  

This leaves me wondering why I am getting slower instead of faster.  What do I need to do to get my legs back before Boston?  I felt fine during my 2 mile warm up and at the beginning of the race, but I just couldn't hold the pace like I should have been able to.   My legs didn't feel dead or anything.  I was hoping this race would give me a good confidence boost heading into the last few weeks before Boston, but it seems to have done the opposite.  I guess I have 4 weeks to figure it out.  I figure I'll try and cut miles but maintain intensity (speed) and hope to be feeling good on race day.

We ended up about 9 minutes back of the guys we were racing, so I did make up some time, but really never had a chance being so far back.