Everything Counts

AM: I met Bryant, Bret, Jason, and Jon at the Dee Events Center parking lot, where Ben was just finishing his Strider's WRC 5k. We picked him up and headed out on a run. Bryant, Bret, and I were planning some mile reps. But as soon as we started running the snow started falling. After a four mile warm up Ben, Jason, and Jon headed out to finish an easy run and Bryant, Bret, and I started some mile reps.

Those two wanted faster reps with more rest, while my plan was high quantity on reps with very little rest. So we only ran the first one together. I was planning on 10 by one-mile at 5:10 with 1:00 rest. So I started on that quest. The first one wasn't too slick and I ran a 5:08. The second one got more slippery and I still managed a 5:11. But the third one got dangerously slippery and I decided it wasn't worth the risk of taking a bad fall to get this workout in. Plus it was extremely difficult to see with the snow blowing in my eyes. So after a 5:15 third one I called it off. Not finishing one workout is not going to kill my plans, while one bad fall could kill my plans.

It's frustrating because I feel like this week has been a waste. I wanted higher miles and I wanted better workouts. But, the week just felt blah and the workouts just didn't go according to plan. I feel like it was an important week in terms of PHX marathon prep and I just didn't really get the job done. I tried, but the travel, the lack of sleep, and the weather just didn't cooperate. I hope to get back on track next week as I feel I haven't had a good workout in like three weeks.

PM: MILE REPEATS

I couldn't help myself. I wanted to finish the workout I had to abandon this morning. So, I headed to the base gym and ran seven by one mile with 1:00 rest on the treadmill at a 1.5% incline (which according to this website is the incline most comparable to outdoor running: http://www.hillrunner.com/training/tmillchart.php) 

I ran progressive splits. I started at 5:10 and figured I would ramp it up a couple seconds each rep until I got to seven reps or couldn't handle the pace anymore off the short rest. It went very well: 5:10 5:07 5:05 5:02 5:00 4:57 4:51

I'm glad I went back out again and got in a good workout. I feel much better now!

LONG RUN

A little Ogden Crew long run with Jon, Bryant, Bret, and Jason. 25 miles on a very hilly route in 2:37. I felt strong.

10.2 miles easy. It was cold and slick out there this morning.

11.25 miles easy with Dave on a loop around base. It was quite chilly out.

HALF-MILE REPS

I did some half mile reps on the treadmill at the base gym on 1.5% incline and with 90 seconds rest. I ran eight reps ramping it faster on each one. It was an ok workout; nothing special but still some decent turnover. Splits were 2:25 2:24 2:23 2:21 2:20 2:19 2:17 2:14 for a 2:20.3 avg.

My knee has been bothering since last Thursday due to me trying to get too many miles out of a pair of shoes I should've retired already. I've been icing and avoiding doubles, and I thought when I woke this morning I was in the clear but it started aching a bit again at the end of my cool down this morning. So for now still no doubles, which stinks but gotta get this healed up.

10 easy miles with Ben. My knee is still bugging a bit but seems a little better. I may end up having to bite the bullet and take a couple days off and just get rid of it so it doesn't drag on and nag.

SLC TRACK CLUB WINTER 10K

I looked for every excuse I could yesterday to not run this race. I was already registered, but with my knee bugging me lately and the storm-that-never-was approaching I figured I would do an indoor track workout with Ben for his birthday (30x400). So, when I woke up this morning and my knee felt ok and the weather was pretty decent, I figured I had no excuses and I needed to head down and race. Sorry Ben (hope you enjoyed your 30-mile run that was your plan B).

Coming in I wanted to run a negative split and work on attempting to win a race without leading start to finish. I sometimes have a hard time when I want to win a race of being patient early and letting others get out to a lead. But today I was really focused on a negative split. Well, when I got out of the car at Salt Air I knew that wasn't going to happen as there was a ferocious wind that would serve as a tailwind going out and headwind coming back. So I settled on "negative" effort split, meaning even though the splits would be worse in the second half, the effort would be greater.

I had a good warmup, just shy of 4 miles with strides. The race started and Bryant got out quite quickly with Jason right behind him. I settled into 3rd and tried to remain patient and just run comfortably. By the mile I had caught up to Jason and was running side by side with him. The mile split was 4:59. I decided that was just a tad too slow with tailwind, so I sped up a bit. Jason dropped around 1.25 in and I was gaining ground slowly on Bryant. By mile two I caught up to him and after a minute or so of running with him I took a slight lead. Mile two was 4:55. I opened a tiny lead in mile three and focused on not getting too excited and saving some for the trek back into the crazy wind gusts. I hit mile three in 4:53 and I think the 5k was around 15:20 give or take a few seconds (I know my first four 1k splits were 3:07 3:06 3:03 and 3:02, so 15:20 is probably about accurate).

At the turn I immediately got hit with some strong winds. I saw that Bryant was only 2-3 seconds back and Jason and Jake were still in striking range as well. I tried to keep my head down and really work on that negative effort split. I hit mile 4 in 5:18, which may not seem impressive to any that wasn't at the race, but this was actually the mile that I put a good gap on Bryant and the race was really won in this mile.

The wind wasn't quite as bad in mile 5 and I was able to hit a 5:15. I tried to really work the last 1.21 miles to accomplish my negative effort split. I kept my head down in the wind and as I looked at the ground I just focused on eating up as much ground as fast as I could. I felt strong in the last mile and managed a 5:03. The last 0.21 I ran in 5:01 pace and finished in 31:41 with a course record and five seconds faster than my time last year. 

I had a good cooldown after with Bryant, Dave, Matt, and Spencer. It was a good morning and I am happy with the effort. I would have liked to see what I could run in good conditions, but it is what it is. I got ice on my knee immediately after the cooldown and it feels the best it has all week. So, hopefully with being off tomorrow it will be even better come Monday.

15 miles easy with Bret, Jason, Jon, Bryant, and Ken. Nobody wanted to be the last one up the toll road (long uphill with 300 feet gain in one mile) so it ended up being another good effort for that mile. The rest of the run was pretty chill though.

4.35 more miles easy after dinner and FHE. I ran the last 200 meters in 29.6 for a fast finish.

200 METER HILL REPS

I met Jason and Dave at the pond and 4 miles in we met up with Bret. We did just over 8 miles easy and then did 8 200-meter reps on a 5%-ish grade with about a 380 meter slow jog for rest. Splits were 34.2, 34.7, 32.5, 32.9, 31.2, 32.6, 31.2, and 29.9 for a 32.4 avg which is 4:21 pace.

We found Jason's favorite workout I think where he pulls me at the end. We ran first seven together and then he blew me out of the water for first 150 meters of the final one and then I made a little ground over last 50 meters but still finished a few tenths behind him. Fun workout with the good burn/hurt.

11.65 miles easy with Dave on the base loop. We held a pretty decent pace without trying or meaning to. Pretty nice weather minus a little wind.

AEROBIC BUILDER

I met up with Jason, Dave, and Jon at the pond. Three mile warm-up with strides and then into the builder. Jason and I started at 5:30 pace and slowly worked the pace down. I ended up hitting 10 miles in 53:03 or 5:18 average pace. It wasn't quite as fast or easy as I had hoped. But its a great workout 2.5 weeks out for PHX.

My knee hurt after the most it has since it started hurting, which sucks because I thought it was slowly getting better. I may take tomorrow off. I don't want to but it may be wise.

I am taking the day off. I hate missing days but I need to keep the long-term perspective in mind and not let this knee pain get any worse.

LONG RUN

I met Jason and Bryant at 5:30 at the Dee to get a long run in. We ran 9.5 miles looping back to the Dee to meet Dave and Ben for their warm-up for the Strider's WRC 10k. But then I realized how late it had gotten and I was on a time crunch to finish so Amy could meet her friends for her long run. So instead of doing the warmup with them, we picked up the pace to get the miles in faster. We did 8 miles at a 5:55 avg on some rolling hills. It's nothing special, but a decent pickup effort (not quite marathon pace, but not easy so I labeled it MP). Ben and Dave ran well in the 10k easily taking the top two spots on a brutally tough course! Nice job guys...Ogden Crew!

My knee is still pretty :(

14.5 miles easy with Ben and Dave in North Ogden in some pretty awesome weather for Feb! My knee felt better than it has, but it's still a concern. I will stick to singles this week and may take a day off if I need to. I hope I can shake this before Phoenix next weekend.

HILL REPS: 6X400 & 2X200

I met up with Bret, Jason, and Dave at Smiths and we did 5+ miles easy then looped back to the end of Glassman Way by the hospital and did a hill workout, and it was a doozy. The hill was steeper than last week for the 200s.

400 Splits: 79 79 79 76 76 77 with 400 jog down for rest

200 Splits: 36 35 with 200 jog rest

Tough workout that really got the heart rate elevated.

No improvement with the knee but no setback either.

10.45 miles easy with Dave on the base perimeter road. I broke in my Brooks Transcend this morning. They felt pretty good and will serve as a recovery day shoe for me with its extra cushion.

My knee is a mystery. It feels 100% fine in the evenings and has full range of motion, doesn't hurt to fully bend or anything. You wouldn't even know it was aching. But then two miles into the run it hurts to bend it and my stride gets shorter to accommodate. I really need this to heal up. I may take more days off and if it slows me down a bit for phoenix so be it. I'd rather kill it at Boston anyway.

Well we're just over a week out until a big race for Riley. You know what that means! It's time to play spin the wheel of sickness and illnesses. That's right, this is where Riley spins the wheel to see which sickness/illness/disease he'll contract before his race this time. This is exciting folks, what will it be? Flu? Cold? Strep? The wheel is slowing down and it's stopped on...Shingles!

That's right Riley you've contracted shingles which means you may wake up looking like this:

With some of this going on too:

Congratulations, and have fun with your race next weekend.

No run today.

No run - shingles, knee issues, and travel day.

I woke up with my eye swollen shut, the worst it's been since I got shingles. I had planned on meeting the St George Crew (Clyde, Dave, and Logan) at 5:45, so I decided to still go out for a run despite my eye. It probably wasn't the safest drive, but I made it to the Dixie Center and met the guys.

After a few miles my eye started to open up more and I could see out of it a little better. The run was great, mostly a nice leisurely pace with a few pickups. They are a great group of guys to run with, the time went by quickly with a few good laughs.

My knee never hurt too badly during the run, so the two days off with shingles was beneficial to the knee. It's not healed fully but I hope it's on its way. I also think this run somehow helped my eye a lot with the shingles. Friday was completely miserable and my eye hurt all day long. I just wanted to keep my eyes closed the entire day. Saturday morning was bad too but during the run it got increasingly better and by Saturday night it improved a lot. It's still swollen but it's substantially better than it was, maybe the anti-viral is finally kicking in. I'm not looking forward to the blisters and scabs on my eyelid, eyebrow, and the rest of the area though!

I'm not high on my hopes for PHX anymore. I have missed a decent amount of volume with the knee. The shingles aren't as bad as a cold or the flu for zapping energy, but I'm definitely more tired and fatigued than when I'm fully healthy. I've also gained a few pounds by not changing my eating habits with the drop of volume the last three weeks. I thought I had read that eating tons of junk food, sugar, and eating out was good for shingles, but then realized I made that up when it was too late! But, I'm ok with PHX not going perfectly, if nothing else it will serve as a great stimulus for Boston and help me to figure out where I'm lacking and what I need to work on in the next six weeks. Also a poor performance more so than a great one will fuel my internal fire to run well at Boston. Don't get me wrong I am still all in on PHX and will do my best, but it may serve as a win-win regardless the outcome.

10 miles easy out and back on the base perimeter road. After not running three of the last four days I had hoped my knee would feel a lot better, but basically feels the same as it did early last week again...frustrating.

On the shingles front, it hasn't hurt my energy levels too much. I'd say I have 80-90% of normal levels. My eye is much better and now I just have to put up with scabs on my face. That and my neck is super stiff from swollen lymph nodes. But I won't complain because the shingles is less detrimental to my running than I anticipated. So I'll take it.

Note: highest weigh in since June = bad news week of a marathon! I allowed myself way too many depression binges once I got the shingles. But Monday weigh ins are always high for me, hopefully I'll see a 153 or lighter tomorrow.

Fantastic group this morning for an easy run with a couple marathon-paced miles throw in the middle. We had Bret, Dave, Bryant, Jason, Jon, Ken, and Jon Coyle all show up. We ran Ogden parkway out and back. Two miles in 10:50 in the middle. I'm loving the earlier sunrises and warmer temps.

6 miles easy around our hotel in Henderson, NV.

4 miles easy with Dave and Jason down by the Mesa Riverview, while the family played at the Riverview Park. Feeling the typical taper fatigue and a little knee soreness, but otherwise I feel ok. I think my energy levels are at 95%, so hopefully by the time the race comes the shingles will not have even been a factor. The forecast calls for rain and wind from the South, which would be some headwind and some cross wind, but certainly not a favorable wind.

2 miles easy in Mesa. I felt surprisingly decent for a day before a marathon. Usually I feel like garbage...good or bad omen? We'll see.