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Top of Utah Half Marathon

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Location:

South Weber,UT,

Member Since:

May 09, 2012

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Local Elite

Running Accomplishments:

Personal Records:

800 Meters 1:50.14 (Track-BYU)

1500 Meters 3:42.07 (Track-Stanford) Likely the best race of my life; converts to a 3:59.85 Mile

5000 Meters 14:20 (Track-Stanford)

8000 Meters 23:53 (Cross Country-Pre Nationals Iowa)

10000 Meters 29:57 (Track-Stanford)

Half Marathon (Mesa-Phoenix Half) 1:05:11

Marathon (St George) 2:16:09

Short-Term Running Goals:

2017 Races:

Mesa-Phoenix Half - 3rd Place 1:05:11 PR

Ogden WRC 10-Miler - 1st Place 55:46

Provo City Half - 1st Place 1:06:33

Ogden Marathon - 2nd Place 2:25:46

Long-Term Running Goals:

My main goal is just to stay healthy.  I was injured every year in my college career except for one.  I would like to reverse that trend and always stay injury-free.

 

Personal:

I am a family man.  I am married to my beautiful wife Amy (who also ran at Weber and is quite the runner).  We have four beautiful daughters named Evelyn (6 years old), Hannah (4 year old), Nora (2 year old), and Iris (5 months).

Twitter handle: @RunnerRiley7

Instagram RunnerRiley7

I am supported by Brooks

I am a Generation Ucan elite athlete

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Salomon Pro Wings 2 Lifetime Miles: 161.10
Brooks PureCadence 5 Lifetime Miles: 101.85
Brooks Adrenaline 17 Lifetime Miles: 161.85
Brooks Transcend 4 Lifetime Miles: 219.45
Brooks Ravenna 8 Lifetime Miles: 225.10
Brooks PureCadence 6 Lifetime Miles: 188.10
Brooks Launch 4 Lifetime Miles: 107.50
Brooks Glycerin 14 Lifetime Miles: 101.47
Brooks Hyperion Lifetime Miles: 92.13
Brooks Caldera Lifetime Miles: 31.10
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
323.9758.6221.560.00404.15
Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 94.10Brooks Adrenaline GTS 15 Miles: 39.70Brooks Transcend 2 Miles: 4.60Hoka One One Constant Miles: 44.25Salomon S-Lab XT 6 Miles: 10.85ASICS DS Trainer 20 Miles: 27.70Altra Provision 2 Miles: 33.85Asics GT 2000 3 Miles: 54.90Adidas Supernova Sequence 8 Miles: 63.85Brooks PureCadence 4 Miles: 30.35
Weight: 154.03
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
9.300.005.200.0014.50

16.4-KILOMETER FARTLEK ALTERNATING 400s

I usually do workouts on Wednesdays and never on Mondays. But, we've been walking around a lot and my legs have been really tired. But, yesterday was the least amount of time we'll spend on our feet all trip, so I decided this morning was my best shot at getting a workout in.

The plan was 24k fartlek alternating 400s between sub-5:00 pace and 6:15 pace. But I had no energy and struggled the whole time. I only ended up with 16.4k. I hit 4:58 pace on the fast sections and 6:18 pace on the moderate sections. But the last 1-2k was really slow and off pace, so I called it. It was getting ugly fast. Quite a few factors may have contributed to the poor performance: I'm not completely over the cold I've had for the last 1.5 weeks, the weather was not ideal (72 degrees with 89% humidity), and my legs were exhausted from all the walking/standing you do when sightseeing in NYC.

Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 14.50
Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.550.000.000.008.55

8.55 miles slugging around Central Park, avg pace 8:29/mile. I was completely exhausted and my legs were toast. I stopped three times on this run to sit down.

Brooks Adrenaline GTS 15 Miles: 8.55
Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
0.000.000.000.000.00

No run. Early flight, tired legs, and zero enthusiasm equals no run for the day. It's been a really long time since I've just decided to be lazy and not run out of sheer lack of discipline, but it happened today.

Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
18.600.001.000.0019.60

AM: 15 miles easy with Jared on the Terrace loop in what was 57 degrees of heaven! Perfect weather. I did 7x8 second hill sprints at the end, avg pace 7:15/mile when taking out rest for Hill Sprints.

PM: 4.6 miles after dinner. 1.6 was with Hannah and Evie at a slow jog. Then I did three more miles on a progression ending with a 5:25 mile, overall pace 6:07/mile.

Brooks Transcend 2 Miles: 4.60Hoka One One Constant Miles: 15.00
Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.850.000.000.0010.85

10.85 miles on the trails easy with Dave and Jared, avg pace 8:07/mile. Another beautiful morning with cool-ish weather.

Salomon S-Lab XT 6 Miles: 10.85
Weight: 155.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
17.205.000.000.0022.20

PROGRESSIVE LONG RUN

I originally had a race and a tougher workout later in the day scheduled today. But I've been really tired and I wasn't going to be able to run again later in the day since I needed to help my brother move. So instead I joined the rest of the crew for the long run down Monte Cristo to Huntsville.

I wanted to run on a progression as long as I could, up to 20 miles if I had it in the legs. I felt terrible the entire run, but I kept grinding and managed to squeeze a pretty good run out of it. Overall pace was 5:48/mile to include the cooldown (mind you this route drops 2,300 feet over the 22 miles. We also ran one mile up toward Causey and back down to simulate a hill at mile 10.

Splits: 628 609 555 553 546 543 543 544 542 552 532 528 539 538 538 536 528 528 518 504 then cool down miles 659 638 and 621 for last 0.2.

ASICS DS Trainer 20 Miles: 22.20
Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
20.450.000.000.0020.45

A.M. 15.15 miles easy on the usual Monday route, avg pace 7:17/mile. It's getting pretty dark at 5:00 a.m. these days, which means it's almost headlamp season.

P.M. 5.3 miles moderate with 8x8 second hill sprints, avg pace minus rest sections was 6:30/mile.

Altra Provision 2 Miles: 5.30Brooks Adrenaline GTS 15 Miles: 15.15
Weight: 154.80
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.000.0013.00

13 miles easy with a huge crew, Ben, Ken, Dave, Brayden, Jake, Henry, and Addison, avg pace 6:58/mile on the Uintah-Toll-Terrace loop

Hoka One One Constant Miles: 13.00
Weight: 152.40
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.9111.190.000.0023.10

AM: LONG INTERVAL REPS: 6X3K WITH 1K MODERATE PACED REST

I met Ken and Ben at Kneaders at 4:50 then Dave, Jared, and Henry at 5:00 at Ken's office. We hit the restrooms then started the warm-up. We warmed up 4k to Beus Trailhead. Then started the workout. It went really well. I was hoping for a 5:10/mile average and I ended up with 5:11/mile, so really close. Splits: 9:39 9:38 9:43 9:39 9:46 9:34 Avg of 9:39.8 or 5:11/mile. 2k shuffle at 8-9:00/mile pace cool down and then immediately drank a protein Ucan to start the recovery process. Good times this morning!

PM: 5 miles after work with Jared and Taylor from Harmon's in Roy, avg pace 7:13/mile.

Brooks Adrenaline GTS 15 Miles: 5.00Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 18.10
Weight: 154.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.000.000.000.0014.00

AM: 8.85 miles easy in South Weber with Matt, avg pace 8:06/mile.

PM: 5.15 miles easy on Centennial Trail, avg pace 7:18/mile. I stepped on a small snake, which startled me a bit. But it was just a tiny fella and he's ok. No harm, no foul.

Altra Provision 2 Miles: 5.15Asics GT 2000 3 Miles: 8.85
Weight: 152.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.200.000.000.0010.20

10.2 miles easy with Dave from the Hess, avg pace 7:11/mile.

Adidas Supernova Sequence 8 Miles: 10.20
Weight: 154.20
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.1014.000.000.0022.10

14-MILE QUICK PACE TEMPO (DOWNHILL TRAINING FOR STG)

I ran a 4-mile warmup, 14 miles at 5:15/mile, and 4-mile cool down for a total of 22.1 miles at 6:04/mile pace. We ran down Monte Cristo again and the weather was perfect. I felt substantially better than last week and the first ten miles felt easy.

Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 22.10
Weight: 155.40
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
20.700.000.000.0020.70

AM: 15 miles easy on the normal Monday route from Smith's, avg pace 7:19/mile. I was pretty tired and just slugged it out.

PM: 5.7 miles easy with 8x8 second hill sprints, avg pace 7:08/mile excluding sprint rests.

Altra Provision 2 Miles: 5.70Adidas Supernova Sequence 8 Miles: 15.00
Weight: 0.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
13.000.000.000.0013.00

13 miles slugging around Ogden with Jared, Dave, Matt, Ben, and Ken, avg pace 7:39/mile. So tired!

Asics GT 2000 3 Miles: 13.00
Weight: 153.40
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
11.3212.430.000.0023.75

LONG INTERVALS: 5X4 KILOMETERS WITH 1K MODERATE-PACED REST

It was a tough workout this morning. I was hoping to successfully extend the 5:11/mile pace I did on the 3k reps last week. But, I got a bad side-stitch on the last rep and really bonked pretty good.

Splits: 12:48 13:01 12:46 13:26 13:47 overall pace was 5:17/mile for the reps and 5:29/mile to include the MODERATE-PACED rest. Not what I was hoping for, BUT it was 1 second per mile better than same workout in April for Ogden buildup. Considering the warmer weather this morning, we'll call it progress.

PM: 5 miles easy with Denver, Jared, Taylor, and a tiny bit with Ken and Janae, avg pace 7:25/mile.

Brooks Adrenaline GTS 15 Miles: 5.00Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 18.75
Weight: 155.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
14.250.000.000.0014.25

AM: 8.15 miles easy in South Weber, half of it with Denver, avg pace 7:52/mile.

PM: 6.1 miles easy in Riverdale, avg pace 6:59/mile.

Hoka One One Constant Miles: 8.15Altra Provision 2 Miles: 6.10
Weight: 153.00
Comments(3)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.050.000.000.0010.05

10.05 from Walmart grocery on 193 with Jared and Jason, avg pace 7:47/mile. We ran Kay's Creek Parkway and it was at least 20 degrees cooler down there in the hollow; you could see your breath. Then Jared told us there were mountain lions all the time down in there, so then of course every sound in the dark was obviously a mountain lion ready to get us...fun times. So, when you see the Strava pace, those aren't strides :)

Asics GT 2000 3 Miles: 10.05
Weight: 153.80
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
4.6516.000.000.0020.65

16-MILE QUICK PACE LONG RUN

We had a large group meet up at OHS including Ben, Jason, Moss, Dave, Jared, and Matt. Ben, Jason and I warmed up to Burch Creek trailhead and then did a 16-mile quick pace tempo. We ran down into Uintah, up into the Terrace, and the into downtown Ogden. My goal was to average 5:30/mile, which is net downhill but has the toll road which is 300-foot climb.

Splits: 524 527 523 535 532 509 522 520 528 620 537 522 523 522 522 521 for an avg of 5:28/mile.

Ben ran very well too and is rounding into shape nicely for a huge marathon PR at STG! 

Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 20.65
Weight: 155.00
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
15.750.000.000.0015.75

AM: 10.15 miles easy with Ben, Dave, Jared, Ken, and Matt, avg pace 7:07/mile.

PM: 5.6 miles easy with Denver plus 8x8 second hill sprints.

Altra Provision 2 Miles: 5.60Adidas Supernova Sequence 8 Miles: 10.15
Weight: 155.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
10.500.000.000.0010.50

10.5 miles easy in Layton with Dave, Jared, and Jason, avg pace 7:24/mile. We were passing a guy jogging and when he saw us go to pass him, he stared down Dave and then broke into a 100-meter dash sprint...it was hilarious. Lucky for him his turn was right there, because he slowed again and we would've made the pass again shortly had he kept going straight on our route.

Asics GT 2000 3 Miles: 10.50
Weight: 153.40
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.750.002.250.0010.00

10 miles total, consisting of 4 warm-up, 4 mile fartlek, and 2 mile cool down, avg pace 6:46/mile.

The fartlek was alternating quarter miles between 5:00 and 6:00/mile pace.

Splits: 76.9, 91.1, 73.1, 88.6 (5:29 mile) 73.6, 87.3, 73.5, 90.1 (5:24 mile) 75.2, 87.9, 72.8, 86.0 (5:21 mile) 73.6 86.9, 74.7, 72.7 (5:07 mile)

So for the fartlek it ended up four miles at avg of 5:21/mile. It should serve as a good primer for Top of Utah Half on Saturday.

Brooks PureCadence 4 Miles: 10.00
Weight: 155.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
8.100.000.000.008.10

8.1 miles easy in breezy and chilly South Weber, avg pace 7:14/mile.

Hoka One One Constant Miles: 8.10
Weight: 152.40
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
6.000.000.000.006.00

6 miles easy at work, avg pace 7:04/mile. The legs are feeling good for tomorrow.

Brooks Adrenaline GTS 15 Miles: 6.00
Weight: 153.40
Comments(2)
Race: Top of Utah Half Marathon (13.109 Miles) 01:06:41, Place overall: 1
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
7.240.0013.110.0020.35

TOP OF UTAH HALF MARATHON

This is simply the best half marathon in the state. The competition is good, the course is awesome, the weather is borderline perfect most years, and I really like races with a five-person podium, which helps the competition aspect a lot. The community really supports the race too and the organization is always spot on. Anyway, I thought I could put down a pretty good time this year.

I went out just over 5:00-flat pace with Ben. About three miles in Ben started to fall back just a bit and I was in front alone. I ran somewhat well down to Hollow Road. I took a peak at the turn there and could only see Fritz, who looked maybe 30-40 seconds back. Somehow I didn't see Ben and Bryant. I kind of fell asleep mentally on Hollow Road and really ran pretty poorly on that section. I thought I had a good sized lead but then heard cheering about 15-20 seconds behind me. I peaked back at the turn onto the highway and saw Ben about 20 back (again Bryant was there but I didn't see him). I tried to run steady and in control until the hills at 10.7 and then I'd try to put the hammer down and put the race away. I ended up doing just that and finished the last 5k pretty well, winning the race in 1:06:41.

I expected to see Ben in 2nd, but then Bryant came in. I never saw Bryant once that whole race and he even has a bright yellow singlet! Ben was 3rd and it was close for 2nd-4th as Nate and Fritz both ran really well too. I wasn't too happy with my time, but I'll take a win when I can get it!

Splits: 501 502 458 502 452 452 456 504 513 505 509 519 504 and 502 pace for the leftover change.

Newspaper Article here

Brooks PureCadence 4 Miles: 20.35
Weight: 0.00
Comments(2)
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
21.000.000.000.0021.00

AM: 15 miles with a ton of guys (Ken, Ben, Jason, Henry, Dave, Matt, and Manny), avg pace 7:11/mile. My legs felt better than I thought they would.

PM: 6 miles easy from home, avg pace 7:15/mile.

Altra Provision 2 Miles: 6.00Adidas Supernova Sequence 8 Miles: 15.00
Weight: 153.60
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
12.500.000.000.0012.50

12.5 miles easy with Ben, Dave, and Bryant on our Davis County loop, avg pace 7:25/mile. No stare down today; we looped past before our friend did.

Asics GT 2000 3 Miles: 12.50
Weight: 152.20
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Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
19.000.000.000.0019.00

AM: 13.5 miles easy in Ogden mostly with Ben while the others did a workout, avg pace 7:25/mile. It was certainly warmer this morning.

PM: 5.5 miles with hill sprints. The sprints felt really good, nice and smooth.

ASICS DS Trainer 20 Miles: 5.50Adidas Supernova Sequence 8 Miles: 13.50
Weight: 155.20
Add Comment
Easy MilesMarathon Pace MilesThreshold MilesVO2 Max MilesTotal Distance
323.9758.6221.560.00404.15
Brooks Pure Cadence 4 Miles: 94.10Brooks Adrenaline GTS 15 Miles: 39.70Brooks Transcend 2 Miles: 4.60Hoka One One Constant Miles: 44.25Salomon S-Lab XT 6 Miles: 10.85ASICS DS Trainer 20 Miles: 27.70Altra Provision 2 Miles: 33.85Asics GT 2000 3 Miles: 54.90Adidas Supernova Sequence 8 Miles: 63.85Brooks PureCadence 4 Miles: 30.35
Weight: 154.03
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