Everything Counts

17.45 miles at a moderate pace with Ken in swirling wind and blowing snow, avg pace 6:21/mile. We also met Matt, Denver, Ben, and Jon but they kept the pace easy.

12.05 miles easy with Denver, Ken, Matt, and Ben, avg pace 7:25/mile. It was super cold and I was tired from yesterday.

MILE REPEATS

Ken and I did 6xmile off 2:50 jogging rest followed by 2x400 and 2x200. Splits for me: 4:56, 4:57, 4:54, 4:56, 4:56, 4:50, 65, 64, 27 (downhill), 36 (uphill)

AM: 8.05 miles easy with Denver from my house, avg pace 7:33/mile. 13 degrees actually didn't feel too bad this morning.

PM: 6 miles on the Ogden River Parkway, which is not clear yet for those wondering, avg pace 7:23/mile. I was dragging big time and felt quite lethargic.

12.1 miles in some light snowfall with Denver and Matt, avg pace 7:26/mile.

STEADY STATE LONG RUN

I ran from my house to my sister's house in North Ogden via the toll road, terrace, downtown Ogden, Depot, and through Harrisville, avg pace 5:54/mile.

I never know how to categorize just under 6:00 minute pace. It's not easy, but it's also not Marathon pace, so I split the difference.

15 miles on a moderate progression with Ben, avg pace 6:34/mile.

12.15 miles easy with Ben and Ken, avg pace 7:00/mile.

AM: 15x1,000 METERS OFF 60 SECONDS REST

I met Ken, Ben, Denver, and Matt for a workout. Denver and Matt did mile reps at 6:00/mile. Ken, Ben, and I did 1,000s. My goal was 3:07 and theirs was 3:20.

Splits: 3:08, 3:02, 3:06, 3:05, 3:03, 3:04, 3:05, 3:06, 3:06, 3:04, 3:07, 3:03, 3:07, 3:04, 3:03 for a 3:05.2 avg or 4:58/mile pace.

PM: I met a group of local trail runners who had organized a memorial run for Stephen Jones, a trail/ultra runner, who lost his life in an avalance earlier this month. We all ran up Malans Peak in his honor. I didn't know anyone except for Bret and Matthew, but it was fun, avg pace 12:39/mile.

AM: 7.05 miles easy in South Weber, where the morning canyon wind blows away the smog, avg pace 7:40/mile.

PM: 6.35 miles easy, avg pace 7:00/mile.

9 miles was with Ken and Matt, avg pace 7:08/mile.

SALT LAKE TRACK CLUB WINTER 10K

I ran the 10k this morning. I warmed up just over three miles. There was slight headwind from the East, which is abnormal for this race. So once we got started I proposed to Garek that we trade leads. We did that every half mile to the turn. Splits going out 5:08, 5:11, 5:09 and 16:08 at the 5k hairpin turn.

From here Garek and I ran mostly side by side. We traded half step leads thru 9k, but then he had that gear that I just couldn't reach down and find. Splits back 4:59, 4:59, 4:46 and 15:26 5k split. We both broke my previous course record of 31:41. Garek won in 31:24 and I was second in 31:34. So 7-second course PR for me. Good day.

AM: 13.3 miles with Denver on some trails in Santa Clara, avg pace 8:02/mile. We started down at the road, ran up single track to dirt parking lot, then Barrelroll to Sidewinder, and looping Suicidal Tendencies and back. Fun trails with of winding and switchbacks. We ran into Holt and his team on our way back.

PM: 8 miles in the heat of the day with a 3-mile downhill tempo on way back, overall avg pace 6:17/mile. Tempo splits 5:26, 5:12, and 4:36.

12 miles easy, avg pace 7:12/mile.

AEROBIC BUILDER WITH LAST MILE CRANK

I ran a 10-mile aerobic builder on the Virgin River Trail. I did an out and back. So first five miles were slight up and last five slight down. I ran 52:18 total with these splits: 5:24 5:23 5:22 5:18 5:24 5:06 5:11 5:09 5:09 4:47

8 miles easy in perfect weather, avg pace 7:00/mile. It was partly cloudy, sun sneaking through, smell of rain still in the air, and 58 degrees.

PM: 6 miles on random dirt-bike trails behind the condo, avg pace 7:34/mile. Holy wind!

10.55 miles easy, avg pace 6:44/mile.

LONG RUN: 3-2-1-0.5-0.25 BREAKDOWN

I met Ben at the 21st Street Pond at 5:45 a.m. and we headed out West for a long run. We did the Ben Van Beekum Special, which is 3 miles, 2 miles, 1 mile, half mile, and quarter mile pickups with equal distance rest in between. It's a fun workout that isn't too difficult, but breaks the run up and makes it go by fast.

Splits: 3 miles (5:24 5:24 5:20) 2 miles (5:09 4:57) 1 mile (4:46) 0.5 mile (2:18) 0.25 (1:02)

15 miles on moderate progression with Ken and Ben, avg pace 6:21/mile. Ken and I worked the hills at sub-6:00 today, so pretty good effort this morning.

10 miles easy on a Tuesday Trailday with Bret and Jon, avg pace 8:29/mile.

PARKWAY TEMPO

We had a good turnout this morning for a tempo run. We met at the pond, warmed up four miles to the mouth of Ogden Canyon, and the we tempo-ed back to the pond. It's downhill, but we don't feel too bad about that when it's 25 degrees, dark, and at 5:30 a.m. We followed the tempo up with 4x400 and 2x200.

Tempo: 19:54 (4:57 -62 ft, 4:59 -42 ft, 4:59 -24 ft, 4:59 -2 ft)

4x400: 66, 71, 65, 67 (flat)

4x200: 30, 28 (flat)

AM: 7.05 miles recovery with Denver, avg pace 7:47/mile.

PM: 5 miles on Weber River Trail, avg pace 6:55/mile. I tried the Altra Olympus 2.0 shoes I won and I'm not a fan...

8 miles easy with Matt and Denver, avg pace 7:35/mile.

SLC TRACK CLUB WINTER 15K

I met Ben and Matthew at the South Weber Park n Ride at 8:30, then quickly realized I had forgotten my racing flats...oops. Luckily, we were in my neighborhood already. So I grabbed those and we were off to Saltair. We warmed up two miles and changed shoes.

The race was quite competitive. Besides us three from Ogden we had Garek, Anthony, Nathan Peters, Sasha, and Benjamin. My plan today was to take the race out hard and honest. I wanted to be right on the edge, pace-wise. I had run more conservative starts the last two races and Garek outkicked me easily in both of those. So today I was determined to try to have a lead or at least try to run the kick out of him. I wasn't sure what to expect from Anthony. He's a solid runner and was an Olympic Trials qualifier, but I think he's still coming back from some recent injuries. But I figured that strategy would be best for racing him as well.

There was some wind coming from the East so headwind going out, but not terrible. Unfortunately, it turns out it was sort of a swirling wind, so it felt like it was windy the entire race. But we were off at the start. There was a pack of about 5 of us. I led most of the way to 1.5 miles. Anthony and Garek moved up a bit and I filed in behind them for the next mile, take a bit of shelter from the wind. Then around 2.5 miles I took the lead again and really tried to push it. They both sounded like they were working hard, so I tried to keep the pedal down. Anthony backed off a bit at 3 miles and Garek at 4 miles. As soon as I got some separation from Garek and I tried to push even a bit more to create a gap and hopefully give him a mental hurdle. At this point there was tons of dust/sand in the air blowing in our faces. I had sand in my teeth, eyes, ears, etc. It really sucked.

At the turnaround I was expecting tailwind, but as I mentioned it was more of a swirling wind and you felt it most of the race. I had about 10 second lead on Garek and 20 on Anthony. I pushed hard and refused to look back the rest of the way. Mile 7 was really windy for some reason and I slowed down quite a bit there. I was nervous I was losing stamina, but miles 8 & 9 were right back on pace again without any extra effort. It was just some strange wind tunnel I suppose.

With two miles to go I knew I could beat the course record of 48:04 if I just kept running the same pace and didn't let up. So I kept it going to the finish and crossed in 47:58 for the CR. Garek was 2nd and Anthony 3rd. Nathan Peters 4th and Ben 5th.

Splits: 5:09 5:06 5:03 5:03 5:00 5:09 5:14 5:04 5:04 and 5:00 pace last .32

5k Splits: 15:55 16:00 16:03

We cooled down on the salt flats behind the venue. It was a great day; the wind was your normal Saltair wind, but the temperature was easily the best I've ever experienced at an SLCTC Winter Series event.

AM: 15 miles easy with four sets of hill sprints at the end with Ben, Denver, Moss, and Jon, avg pace 7:23/mile.

PM: 5.15 miles easy, avg pace 6:44/mile.