Everything Counts

500-METER REPEATS

I met Ken and Ben at Bues Pond (not to be confused with 21st street pond) for some intervals. Plan was 16-20 500-meter reps at 4:39 pace with 200-meter jog for rest (every 4th rest ended up inactive as we got a drink and reset mentally).

My left calf was quite tight at the start, even during the warm up, but it held on to the end. I didn't feel like I had my "A" game today. I was struggling more than I had anticipated.

Splits: 86 90 85 86 85 85 86 87 87 87 87 87 85 86 87 84 for a 86.6 average or 4:39/mile pace.

10 recovery-paced miles through Central and East Ogden with Ben, Jon, Denver, and Matt, avg pace 7:37/mile.

10 miles easy in Fernley, NV en route to Lake Shasta, CA for a family reunion, avg pace 7:24/mile. I was super dehydrated from traveling yesterday and felt pretty terrible on this whole run. I need to focus on drinking more fluid today as we drive.

LONG RUN WITH 11x2-MIN PICKUPS

We were in Shasta Lake, CA for a family reunion. Luckily, for me, right near the ranch where we stayed, was the Sacramento River Trail that went for 11 miles in one direction to Redding. I got up early before everyone else was awake and went out on my run.

The River Trail is beautiful, but in the early morning by yourself it's also a bit creepy with constant rustling of wildlife in the bushes literally every minute. I felt way way sluggish the first half of the run. I don't know if it was the long travel affecting my legs or what. But I just had zero zip. So on the turnaround I decided to mix in some speed and see if that would flush out the lethargy. After one or two pickups of two minutes they finally started to feel good, and soon I was running low 5:00 pace on the pickups.

One the second pickup I turned a corner and there was a coyote just sitting in the middle of the trail about 100 meters ahead. I clapped my hands loudly and yelled and he just looked at me. There was no way around either; the river was on one side and a 15-foot cliff on the other. Coyotes are pretty harmless, but can fight if they feel cornered. Well with nowhere to go but the trail I didn't want to sneak by him, so I waited him out 10 minutes and he finally went up trail a bit and into some bushes. I looked into the bushes as I cautiously went by and he was glaring right at me. Most of the other wildlife was jack-rabbits and tons of birds. There were some swans out on the river too, luckily no signs of bears.

In all I did 11 pickups ranging from 4:50s to 5:20s (except first two were closer to 5:30).

10.5 miles easy in Winnemucca, NV (one more stretch of driving today back home), avg pace 6:41/mile.

10.65 miles easy with Matt, Jon, and Ben on Tuesday Trail Day, avg pace 7:53/mile. The nice, cool weather was very enjoyable.

SHORT TEMPO EFFORT

I met up with the guys at 5:30 at Smiths. Tyson Jex, who writes for Weber State met us to interview the Ogden Crew for the next edition of the University's magazine, "Bleed Purple". Should be fun to see how that turns out. Then we did a run in South Ogden, avg pace 6:48/mile. Ben, Jason, Ken, and I threw in a 3-mile tempo in the middle. I ran 5:12, 5:04, 4:55.

10 miles easy on the parkway with Ben and Jon, avg 7:20/mile.

5 miles easy around my neighborhood, avg pace 6:40/mile.

HOBBLER HALF MARATHON

Ben and I caught a bus to the start fairly early, wanting to get up to the start with plenty of time to warmup a little and use the bathroom. While warming up we saw Justin Park, which was a nice surprise. I haven't seen Justin in quite awhile, so it was good to catch up. We did a few strides and then we were off.

I got out pretty quickly, in hindsight probably too quickly since conservative starts have really been working well for me lately, and I split mile one in 4:58. Ben and another guy were with me in that first mile. By mile two I had a bit of a gap running a 4:54. Mile three was more of the same in 4:58.

Then in mile 4 I had another throw-up burp (like what started my problems at Ogden in May). I was pretty annoyed since I had literally only taken 1-2 ounces of GU-brand electrolyte drink. There's no way that should bother me like that, just like a couple ounces of Gatorade shouldn't have at Ogden. But it does for some reason. After this point in the race I was constantly supressing the urge to throw up from time to time in the race. Luckily it never happened. But mile four suffered a bit on pace with this happening (5:06).

Mile five was back to sub-5:00 miles in 4:58. During mile six you go off the road and hit a dirt trail and eventually the paved pathway down the canyon. I could hear cheering behind me at the aid station I had just passed and it wasn't as far back as I would've expected. So either Ben was killing it today or some guy I don't know was running very well. Mile six was 5:02. The pathway, especially early on before crossing to the South side of the road, is very rolling with some steep up and downhill. But overall it still drops pretty good, so the rolling nature only slows you down 5-7 seconds per mile than the previous miles in the canyon. Mile seven was 5:02, mile eight was 5:04, and mile nine was 5:06.

Around mile ten you turn left and start heading out toward Mapleton. You drop down a hill and then climb back up another one. This mile has the biggest climb in the race, but it's really not much (maybe 30 feet). I hadn't anticipated running the course this direction. The original course doesn't turn here. Last year due to construction they re-routed South like this, but I thought the website had said they were going back to the original course this year...well apparantly not. The course last year was short, according to Fritz's race report it was around 12.9? So now I was kind of annoyed that I was probably running a short course. Anyway, mile ten was 5:12.

Miles 11-13 was just me kind of holding on and trying to stay motivated to run fast. If it wasn't a full length course then the time really didn't matter much, just place. But I stayed as motivated as I could, and actually in the end the course was pretty close to the full distance, as I had it at 13.09. After Justin mentioned that he thought they added one extra small block, which likley made up the distance (he also ran last year). Mile 11 was 5:05, mile 12 was 5:16, and mile 13 was 5:01. After I realized the course was close to accurate I pushed the last little bit at 4:33 pace to finish in 1:06:10, which is the fastest time to ever win the Hobbler Half. But I don't know if you can count it as a course record since the course was modified this year and last.

I finished and was catching my breath when I heard the announcer say that the second place runner was coming in. I looked and saw Ben finishing. I was blown away at how fast he'd run! He ran something like a 1.5-minute PR. It was awesome!

For some reason, even though this was my best time of the year (and actually my second best time ever), I feel like I didn't run very well. I didn't think those early sub-5:00 miles would feel as fast as they did on the downhill. I also thought with the cool weather and another month of training I could run substantially faster than I did at Utah Valley. But the effort in the end is about the same since this was basically a 1:06:25 effort (I add 15 seconds since it was 13.09 and most certified courses show up 13.15-ish). Then you also have more downhill in this one (about 200 feet more). But, I'll take it and move on. 

AM: 12.25 miles easy on Monroe Your Boat with Ken, Ben, and Jon, avg pace 7:03/mile.

Lunchtime: 5 miles easy, avg pace 6:29/mile.

It's time for me to slim down to racing weight. I've been carrying around an extra 3-4 pounds and eating horrendously. And so far, it's been fine as I've kept improving. But now being on what seems to be a plateau, it's time to shore up the nutrition.

AM: 10 Tuesday Trail Day miles with Ben and Jon, avg pace 8:10/mile. I was very sluggish with some heavy legs. I was pretty happy to be done at the end of this run.

Lunchtime: 5.25 miles easy, avg pace 6:41/mile.

10 miles easy on the Riverdale Parkway with Ben and Moss, avg pace 7:24/mile. My legs are still really heavy and tired in the mornings, but have felt great on my two doubles.

AM: 10.1 miles with Ben, Moss, and Jon on the trails. We met at Wheeler Canyon just below Pineview Reservoir, ran up Ard & Nord, did the Green Pond Loop, then came back down Icebox Canyon back to the start. Great morning run with spectacular views of the sunrise. We saw a couple of moose off in the distance as well, avg pace 9:04/mile.

PM: 3.5 miles easy around home, avg pace 6:51/mile.

6 miles easy with Denver from his house, avg pace 8:04/mile. I felt absolutely terrible the whole time. I need to get more sleep; I've slacked off on sleep the last two weeks and I can feel the difference.

MORGAN VALLEY MARATHON

I signed up for this race earlier this week. I was trying to decide between this and Draper Days 5k. I could use the circuit points in the USATF LDR circuit with the 5k, but long-term this would be by far a better training stimulus. So I took the long-term approach and used this as a "practice" marathon. I did the same thing with this race in 2012 and I thought it was beneficial that year. My plan was to ease into it and try to run most of the second half under or at 6:00/mile pace. I figured 2:40 would be ideal for not running too fast to make my legs sore, yet fast enough to be a really good, quality long run in my training.

It was me out in the front the whole race. The course is a loop course at 5,100 elevation and it's soft rolling hills almost the whole way (20-40 foot rollers throughout). Nothing too eventful to report. I took about an ounce of water at each aide station and I took a Gu at mile 8 and a half Gu at mile 18. I had a pit stop during mile 10. Other than that it was just me and road on what was honestly kind of a lonely run.

1st half splits: 620 612 622 609 607 602 603 603 604 655 (pit stop) 553 557 551 for a 1:20:50 1st half

2nd half split: 553 552 554 549 551 550 556 556 558 553 547 555 147 (last .32 on garmin) 1:17:44 2nd half

12.15 miles easy on Monroe Your Boat with Ben, Jon, and Bret, avg pace 7:12/mile. Legs were a tad heavy, but not too bad and no soreness at all from Saturday.

10.3 miles easy on the trails with Jon and Ben, avg pace 8:32/mile.

8 miles easy with Ben on the parkway, avg pace 7:29/mile. We had our closest encounter yet with a skunk. I heard something move in the bushes one foot away from me, looked down and saw a skunk. Needless to say the next 50 meters were covered quite quickly. I'm surprised he didn't attempt to spray because he seemed as startled as me.

5 miles easy at work in the morning, avp pace 6:40/mile.

DESERET NEWS HALF MARATHON

I stayed downtown in a hotel for this race. Normally I don't, since it's only 35 minutes from my house to the buses, but the girls wanted to do the parade in the morning, and this made it easier on Amy to take them to the parade and fore me to save a bit of sleep (also the girls love sleeping in hotels). Jason was cool enough to pick me up, and we were off to the buses, where we ran into Brett. At the top we also ran into Taylor and we all hung out and warmed up together and ended up with the 1-4 spots in the race.

I figured I could run 1:05:xx on this course, it has a lot of downhill. But the goal was to throw time out the window and run for place. I know Brett is very tough to beat, but I wanted to challenge him and see where it led. I knew I was likely to fade, but WHAT IF?

We started the race and Brett and I got to it straight off. We ran side by side down the first mile with the exhaust of two Harleys blowing in our faces (this would continue...). First mile was 4:44 (I only have Garmin splits, which overall was 13.21).

I felt decent and thought I could roll off quite a few miles at this pace. Brett surely wasn't slowing down, so we kept the pace. Mile 2 4:51. Still side by side we ran and came through mile 3 in 4:48. I was just focusing on my form; keep the shoulders and hips forward and let gravity help.

During mile 4 Brett picked up the pace just a tad and got about 5 meters on me. I quickly closed the gap. Another slight pickup and again I responded. Mile 4 was 4:45. During mile 5 Brett got yet another 5-meter lead. Mile 5 4:48. Another mile and another small gap, this time I decided to not only close it but to take the lead and just see what happens. I got a 5-meter lead and Brett quickly closed that. Mile 6 4:37.

Several thoughts were going through my head. How do I feel? Can I keep this blistering pace much longer? Can Brett? Did I just overdo it with a 4:37? I probably overdid it, right? But he had to feel that mile too right?

We came through 10k in 29:35, which is 22 seconds faster than what I came through 2 years ago when I ran this race. Finally during mile 7 Brett got the gap he had been searching for and I couldn't close it. Mile 7 4:44.

I just got dropped running a 4:44, it was kind of deflating. Now we were out of the canyon and there was some slight headwind. Mile 8 5:01 and mile 9 4:52.

Then the wheels just came right off! I was sooo done! I had 4 miles to go and I was just exhausted. The pace had been too much, and now I had to pay the price. But hey I would've never known, unless I tried right?

The rest of the race was just terrible. I was holding on for dear life. The last 1/4 mile I was dry heaving and gagging on some mucous in my very dry throat. I managed to cross the finish line, just barely! I keeled over 2 inches over the line and wanted to just fall over! Miles 10-13 5:10 5:11 5:11 5:25 and 5:31 pace for last bit.

So, it was a 1-minute course PR over 2013. I was 2nd place, which is a nice $500 payout. So all in all, I can't complain. But it was quite miserable at the end. I probably could've run faster if I was smarter about pacing, but I had to at least take my shot at the win. Jason ran a very good race for 3rd in 1:06:01.

Cooled down with a huge crew. Fun day.

12 miles on the trails with Jon, Jason, and Hales, avg pace 8:21/mile. Legs are a bit sore, but not terrible.

AM: 12.2 miles easy on Monday Funday with Jon, avg pace 6:44/mile. My legs were sore Saturday night and yesterday morning. But I rolled them out yesterday morning and used Denver's new air massage machine last night and the legs felt quite decent this morning.

PM: 5.45 miles easy at work, avg pace 6:58/mile. HR 130 beats/minute.

10.55 miles easy on Tuesday Trailday with Jon, avg pace, 7:41/mile. One of the coolest July mornings I've experienced in Utah; I almost needed gloves.

Lunchtime: 5.45 miles at work, avg pace 6:16/mile. I picked up the last mile in 4:34.8, which isn't bad for the 16th mile of the day, in trainers, and hurdling a cement barrier.

12 miles easy on the Parkway out into West Haven on the new section with Ben, Ben, Justin, Denver, and Jon, avg pace 7:15/mile.

400-METER HILL REPS

I met up with Jason, Ken, and Ben at Smiths and we ran 7 miles easy before Jason and I did some hill work. The plan was 6-8 reps. But after the first few it became obvious that eight wasn't happening. Jason did four reps and I did six. The hill is a 5% grade, where you gain 68 feet over 400 meters.

Splits: 75.6 77.6 73.4 72.1 78.6 71.7 for a 74.83 avg.

Jason and I did these two weeks before Phoenix last year where we both had a PR in the marathon and thought we were pretty fit. Back then I averaged 77.95 on this same workout/same hill. I couldn't break 75 on any of them and I remember really trying hard on the last one. So I'm pretty pumped for today's result.

10 miles easy with Ken and Jon on the Riverdale Parkway, avg pace 7:07/mile.