Everything Counts

I woke up to the sound of booming thunder and hear the rain pouring down at like 4:30 am and I thought we were in for a soaking wet half marathon.  Luckily the weather cleared up and it was a pretty good temperature to run in, although a bit humid.

I met Ben early to warm up and we ran into Albert, so the three of  us warmed up together.  Luckily we found a secret bathroom, because they had only two porta potties for the entire race.

We knew early on it was going to be a deep field with Ben, Ken, Jake, Bret Hales, Nate Hornock, and me.  And if any of us had a bad day Albert would be there to reel us in.  The race started a tad late (due to the lack of porta potties and long lines).  We had a group of seven for the first mile after which Albert backed off.  The group stayed together for mile two as well with some conversation here and there.  But at mile three Ben got things moving when he moved up front and dropped the pace.  We still stayed together as a group but the conversations were over.  By mile four things started to string out a bit.  Brett got a tiny gap on us.  I was in second and Jake was just a few steps back in third.

By mile 6 Brett had a 16 second gap and we were running South into a pretty decent headwind.  Jake got alongside me for a bit and I jokingly said it was easy to tell who hadn't raced last week (referring to Brett taking it to us).

Jake then settled a few steps back again and stayed there for a bit.  Our gap on the next group (Nate, Ben, and Ken) was pretty good and Brett was still pulling away, so it was basically Jake and me running for second.

Around 9.75 or so Jake decided to break me and picked up the pace.  At first I thought I had slowed, but my pace hadn't he just picked it up.  I didn't really have much left in the tank and kind of just watched him pull away.  He got a really good gap on me and then just maintained it the rest of the way, beating me by 31 seconds or so.  My final time was 1:10:43, which meets my goal for the race.

Garmin Splits: 5:26 5:16 5:09 5:19 5:19 5:22 5:27 5:27 5:21 5:28 5:24 5:21 5:20 and 1:01 for final .19 or (5:15 pace)

Afterward I was drenched from the humidity and went to change my clothes and realized I'd locked my key inthe car :(

After an unsuccessful attempt by a police officer to get it open my Dad offered to drive up on his motorcylce and bring my wife's keys to me.  Very nice of him.  It was fun hanging out after with everyone.

I hit my new weekly mileage PR at 78...I'm getting there.  I will do a cut week next week and then hit the mileage hard again for a couple weeks heading into St. George.

15.19 miles easy.  Met up with Ken and Ben and got in an easy morning run.  We did the first 10 miles on the trails then a bit down on the roads.  Great run to start off the week.

8.2 miles easy.  Met up with Ken and Bret on the Riverdale Parkway.  The headlamps were out in full force this morning as it seems to stay noticeably darker each week.  The pace was somewhat brisk for an easy run.  It was also noticeably cooler this morning.

FARTLEK WORKOUT

I did a few sets of fartleks on the base perimeter road.  I set my garmin to autolap every 0.25 miles.  The goal was to alternate every 0.25 miles between goal sea-level 5k pace and marathon pace.  I wanted to do a 2-mile set and a 3-mile set with 3 minutes rest in between.

First Set Splits: 81 72 86 69 83 68 82 69 Total 2-mile time 10:10

Second set was into the canyon headwind and after a mile it proved to be too hard of an effort. So I only did one mile and then jogged three minutes until the road curved and the wind became a cross wind.  Then I did a third set of two miles.  So not as I planned but the headwind was rough.  It took a herculean effort to hit 75 pace into that wind.

Second Set Splits: 88 74 88 75 Total 1-mile time 5:25

Third Set Splits: 74 85 73 85 69 83 70 84 Total 2-mile time 10:23

I wish I would've worn my flats, because it felt heavy running these in my trainers.  Oh well I suppose it was a better workout in trainers.

10 miles easy on the base perimeter road.  I felt pretty decent this morning, I think my legs are enjoying the cut in mileage this week.  But next week it will be back to hitting higher mileage.

6.14 miles easy around my neighborhood in South Weber. 

Well I wasn't expecting much out of this race.  I'm a horrible downhill runner and figured I wouldn't have much of a chance at winning.  But, I figured I'd try my best to not run with my normal arched back running form and try to get my shoulders and hips forward so as not to fight gravity.  But that didn't last long, I run faster getting forward like that but it's so uncomfortable I can't sustain it for much longer than 400 meters at a time, and I end up leaning back again and slowing down.  It was funny after the race my wife said, "Don't get offended by this but yours and Ken's downhill form is night and day.  You just look awful!" 

It was a decent field through four runners.  It was Ken, Teren, Jon Kotter, and me. The race got started and I dashed to the lead.  I led for about a half mile until we hit a steep stretch.  The other three gained 10 meters on me on this steep section.  Then it flattened out a bit again and I zoomed back to the front.  I was in 1st at the mile with a 4:22 split.

Right then my stomach really started rumbling and I had GI problems the rest of the way.  In case anyone is wondering, having GI problems and running a fast, jarring downhill race don't mesh well.  I had two choices, slow down or mess my shorts.  I opted for the former.

The other three guys put 30, yes 30 seconds on me almost immediately in the next mile.  I was 4:40 for mile two and Ken told me after he was 4:12.  My stomach was really hurting and I was looking for somewhere to stop for a potty break.  Nowhere looked good yet so I kept trying to run as fast as I could under the conditions.  Mile 3 was 4:37.

During the next mile there was a port a potty a few yards off the road and I had to stop and use it.  I don't know how long I was in there but I figure it was about a minute looking at my split for that mile.  Afterward I was able to run a bit faster now, at least until the last half mile when my stomach started hurting again.  Miles 4 and 5 were 5:28 and 4:21.

So I finished in 4th and immediately ran into the trees to find a secret bathroom.  Jon ended up winning, with Ken 2nd and Teren 3rd. 

9 miles at a moderate pace along the Mt. Vernon trail in Virginia.  I also crossed over the Potomac and ran along the river on the otherside in Maryland by the National Harbor.  I think this is my first run that has crossed state lines.

12.36 miles very easy.  I ran the southern most part of the Mt. Vernon Trail and ran almost to the end of the trail in Mt. Vernon.  My legs were extremely fatigued and sore still from Saturday. 

AM: 3.75 miles easy just in the area around my hotel in Alexandria.

PM: 11.44 miles easy.  I started just south of Reagan National Airport on the Mt. Vernon Trail and headed into DC, crossed the Potomac and ran part of the National Mall.  I stopped briefly three times on the run at the Jefferson, Washington, and Lincoln Memorials.  I will have to hit the rest of the mall another night; it was getting dark and I had a long ways to run back still.

AM: 3 miles easy on the hotel treadmill.

PM: 11.35 miles easy on the Four Mile Run Trail in Arlington.

6 miles easy around Old Town Alexandria and along the Waterfront there.

20.1 miles all over the place in the Arlington/DC area.  I ran on the Mt. Vernon Trail, up into Arlington, along the Potomac Heritage Trail, and over on the DC side on what I think is called the Tow Road Trail.  I threw in some faster miles in the 5:10-5:30 range.

9.06 miles easy around the National Mall.  There are tons of runners all over the place here at the mall.

FARTLEK WORKOUT

I did a fartlek workout on the Mt Vernon trail.  Goal splits were 75/90 alternating every 1/4 mile.  I did a 3 mile set, one mile easy, 2.5 mile set, one mile easy, and then 2 mile set.

3 Miles: 75 87 74 85 71 91 74 90 76 88 73 86 Total time 16:10 (5:23 avg)

2.5 Miles: 74 92 73 89 75 91 73 87 73 88 Total time 13:35 (5:26 avg)

2 Miles: 74 88 73 89 71 89 75 88 Total time 10:47 (5:24 avg)

9.54 miles easy around Alexandria.

LONG RUN/MARATHON TEMPO

Met up with Ken, Ben, and Scott for a run down Monte Cristo.  We got started in the late evening and it got dark quicker than we expected.  The second half of the run was quite dangerous on a high speed highway with little to no shoulder.  The plan was a 10-mile tempo at marathon pace (5:30s).  I ended up going 9 miles as my stomach was really bugging me toward the end and I thought I was going to puke.  Luckily it was only a bunch of mucous that I hacked up.  I've had a headcold for two weeks now and I've had a lot of mucous in my throat when I run from it.  Anyway, the 9 miles ended up being at an average of 5:33 or so.

I think Scott got a kick out of how many times Ben, me, and especially Ken had to access secret bathrooms along the run.  There must be something in the water up here in the Ogden area.

10.44 miles at a moderate pace.  I ran an out and back on the base perimeter road.  The legs actually felt pretty decent considering the downhill 20-miler we did on Saturday.  Hopefully that means I've trained my quads well in preparation for the pounding at St. George in two weeks.

9.18 miles easy.  I ran out the North Base Loop and added on a bit at the top.  I ran a bit faster than normal for an easy run, but I think that has to do with running in the evening as opposed to the morning.

INTERVALS

Intervals around the base pond loop.  This loop is just over a mile long and one half is very hilly and the other half is very flat.  I started with mile repeats, doing the hillly half as the first half of the repeat.  The first half was consistently 5 seconds slower than the second half.  After four mile repeats I finished up with 4 half mile repeats on the flat side of the pond. 

Mile repeats (1:15 rest in between): 5:00, 5:03, 5:04, 5:06

3 minutes rest

Half-mile repeats (1:15 rest in between): 2:24, 2:25, 2:24, 2:21

The toughest part of the workout was the low rest in between repeats.  I wanted to run at 5:08 pace with 1:00 rest, but after I started quickly I changed it to 1:15 rest and shot for 5:04-ish.

PROGRESSIVE TEMPO

I ran a 4-mile progressive tempo.  I didn't plan it this way, but it ended up being one mile at tinman pace, one mile at goal marathon, one mile at half marathon, and one mile at goal 5k.  So, although I didn't plan that I thought it was cool it turned out that way.  Here were the splits: 5:55 5:31 5:09 4:53

6.14 miles easy out and back on the base perimeter road. 

I'm doing a 5k run tomorrow with Ben up in Pleasant View at 7:30 in the first annual St. George tune-up 5k (so far a race consisting of just Ben and me).  If anyone wants to make the trek up this way to join us, let me know.

The first annual St George Tune-up 5k in Pleasant View.  Ben and I set up a race environment this morning to get a tune up in for St. George.  Bryant Jensen and Jon Heslop both joined us in the race as well.  Ben even made race tee shirts!  Nice. 

We ran the Pleasant View Days 5k course and though not in an official race setting, we simulated a race as best as possible.  We met up at the finish line and ran the course backwards to ensure we knew exactly where 3.1 miles was and where to start.  The course is aided, though almost all the aid comes from 1.1 to 1.6 miles. 

My goal for the race this morning was to attempt an assault on sub-15 minutes.  With an aided course I thought that should be obtainable, even if it would take a solid effort.  Yesterday when trying to talk Scott Keate into running with us I told him I was shooting for sub-15 and he said, "Bless you my son".  Well Scott thanks for that blessing it worked!

I got out very quickly and ran solo the whole way.  First mile is very slight uphill with a couple of dips (quick, steep down and then right back up) on a canal dirt road.  I came through mile on in 4:51.

Now I knew I needed to bank some time on the downhill section in mile two so I kept pushing it. Mile 2 was 4:39.

I wanted to know my time at 2.1, because I knew I needed 10:00 or under so I could run 5:00 on the last mile and still get under 15:00.  I was about 9:58 or so I think at 2.1 so I was right on track and feeling pretty good.

Then I hit the uphill in mile 3 (it's about 200 meters long) and started breathing a bit harder, but I knew that I had a good .6 of flat after the hill and then the last quarter mile was downhill for a finish.  Mile 3 was 4:56 and 27 seconds for last .1

14:55!  I was very pleased with the result and feel like I'm ready for next week!  Bryant was second in 15:38, Ben 15:48, and Jon 16:08.  I laughed at the start when I realized that this was likely the most competitive race in the state today.  It was good times.  Great race, great organization, and great shirts.  And it was free!  We'll have to get more of you out for this next year!