Everything Counts

7 miles easy in St George from my hotel over to Ben and Dave's and back. Didn't get out until 9 pm. I got pretty sick yesterday and wasn't sure I was going to be able to run at all today. We had also called off the trip down here since our whole family had gotten sick. So I slept in and felt ok when I got up. Amy was also feeling better so we packed up and drove down. I didn't get around to running until late. Felt like garbage most the run, still weak from being sick. Amy is going to still race while I watch the kids tomorrow, then I will try to get a decent run in later in the day.

I had planned my first 100-mile week this week, but that'll have to wait now. I have plenty more chances to do it.

AM: I had several duties this morning for the Snow Canyon Half: babysitter, bus driver, elite bag drop, cheerleader, and photographer (didn't do as well at this as I should of due to duty number one). I dropped Amy, Ben, and Dave at the start line and then cheered at a few spots. Everyone did great! Fun to watch.

After awards they all went to get lunch and I started a run in 70 degrees and bright sunshine. It was hot! It was a climb too out of Snow Canyon up past Bluff and up on top of Red Cliff Parkway I think the name is. One mile at 8% grade climb and I rolled a 6:30. I was happy with that. I got dehydrated later in the run and the sun drained me. So I ended up with just 13 miles. I may head back out later tonight.

12 miles easy on what's becoming our Monday route with Albert, Ben, and Jon. I think it was the coldest morning yet, but when dressed properly it's not bad at all.

AEROBIC BUILDER: PROGRESSION

We had a decent crew for a cold builder this morning. It had snowed lightly up until right when we started. My goal this morning was to do 8 miles progressing from 5:25 to 4:57 dropping four seconds per mile.

Things went according to plan for the most part. The pedestrian bridge in mile five was snowy and slick so I slowed way down there. The last two miles were tough but felt good mentally to be hitting those splits.

Splits: 5:26, 5:20, 5:16, 5:10, 5:24 (5:09 besides slowing on bridge), 5:05, 5:01, 4:57

I really needed a solid run like this to restore my fragile confidence after last week's sub-par workouts.

4.3 more easy miles at lunch with Dave.

10.1 miles on the Riverdale Parkway with Bret, Albert, and Dave. The pace was very easy, but I was still very sluggish from yesterday's builder.

1,000 METER REPS

I met Jon, Albert, and Jason at the pond and warmed up 3.25 miles together to include strides. Then we got into our workouts, with basically everyone doing something different. Jon did 400s, Albert did a 5-mile tempo, and Jason and I did 1000s.

My goal was to average 3:02-3:03 pace or basically 4:52 pace for ten reps. I ran them around the pond which is just over a mile long. So not all reps are equal. The backside of the pond loop is ever so slightly uphill and into a slight headwind, while the front side has opposite conditions. So some reps were almost all in good or bad conditions and some were about half and half. But the effort was basically the same for the reps except I picked the last one up a bit. Rest was 75 seconds.

Splits: 3:03.7 2:59.7 3:02.1 2:59.7 2:57.3 3:02.7 2:58.5 2:59.0 3:02.3 and 2:50.8 for a 2:59.5 avg or 4:48-4:49 pace.

I am really happy with the workout and not just the pace. The pace was good, but it's been awhile since I felt this good hitting a workout. I felt I could've held pace for 15 reps. Hopefully this bodes well for Big Sur.

10.1 miles easy on the trails from Rainbow Gardens with Ken, Dave, Bret, Steve, and Albert. The temps were awesome at 48 degrees. Hello shorts and t-shirt weather, I didn't think I'd see you in the morning again until 2014!

15.1 miles with Steve, Dave, Ben, and Ken from Steve's house in Hooper. We threw in a three-mile tempo in the middle. I ran 14:42. After we put down two gallons of chocolate milk in no time. And Steve was kind enough to make us breakfast burritos. Awesome morning. Thanks again Steve.

12 miles easy from the 21st pond with Dave, Jon, Ken, and Bret.

800 PRIMER REPS

Today I just wanted to get in a light, easy primer workout. I met Albert and Jason at the pond and we ended up doing six 800s. I wanted to keep them around 2:25-2:27, just enough for a good stimulus but easy enough to not tax my body. Splits 2:27 2:24 2:25 2:24 2:25 2:24

AM: 5 miles easy around South Weber

PM: 4.1 miles easy on the base perimeter road on base.

8.25 miles easy with Bryant, Jason, Jon, Albert, and Bret. We found a new path that took us on a journey through Ogden. We hit all the highlights: Historic 25th Street (once home of bootleggers and ladies of the night), The Enchanted Round-a-bout, and the Pet Cemetery with the life-sized statue of Tiffany the dog (its hard to believe she's been gone 25 years). What more could you ask for.

For those that like reading Amazon has "Once a Runner" kindle book for $1.99 today and you can add the audio for an additional $0.99.

4.1 miles easy in some light snow flurries. Afterward went and watched NCAA mountain regional meet at the golf course just down my street. It was fun times. Met up with Bryant, Jason, and Bret. Then I also ran into Matt and Zak. Lots of fast runners spectating fast runners.

They changed the course from previous years that Weber hosted and made it more spectator-friendly and also flatter and faster. They skip the hilly section now. I was blown away from the times because the leader was barely under 20 minutes at four miles, yet finished well under 30.

4.15 miles in Pacific Grove on the course around the turnaround point. Beautiful area right along the ocean.

I feel pretty good. When they picked me up at the airport they drove the course for me on the way to the hotel, and man it looks extremely challenging. It's rolling hills the entire time with basically no flat sections. Looks like it will be very difficult to get into any rhythm. I can see why "only" 1:04 won the race last year.

The field is way stacked. I think eight guys with sub-1:03 PRs. I will get to rub shoulders with them tonight at the elite dinner (which I hope serves food that won't upset my stomach tomorrow).

I'm really not sure what my goal is. I guess its just run hard! I don't feel as confident as I did a few months ago, but my training has still been ok. So I'll give it my all tomorrow and see where it falls. It should be fun, and hey its sunny here with no snow!!

BIG SUR HALF MARATHON

Well, I am unsure what to think of this performance. I know I'm upset with it but not sure how upset I should be. It's certainly not a fast course and nowhere near a PR course. It's rolling hills the entire time. You are never running flat. It was also windy once you got out on the coast. I was really mad with my time until I saw some of the struggles of the faster guys. It seemed like if you had a good day and a group to work with today you were roughly a minute back of your PR. If you had a bad day and were running solo you were 2-3 minutes off your PR.

The field was ridiculously stacked, with like eight guys with 1:03 or faster PRs. I was ranked 13th with my 1:05:16 and finished 13th. The race takes very good care of the elites. They fed us last night and have another dinner set up tonight. It was interesting to listen to some of the faster guys at dinner. I sat at a table with Ben Bruce, Ian Burrell, Sergio Reyes, David Laney, and Fernando Cabado. Yeah I lost to all of them in the race.

They shuttled us to the elite warm up area an hour before the race. I warmed up about 45 minutes before the start with Ian Burrell and Jeremy Freed. After I got a few bathroom visits in and then did some strides and was ready to go. Temps were 55 degrees, overcast, and typical early morning ocean fog and humidity. Wind was somewhat calm at the start and so I was very surprised to turn at 8 into a strong headwind.

The race got off on time to the second and the field went out fast, likely high 4:30s. I let them go and ran by myself in 4:59. I was in like 20th at the mile. I kept the same pace in mile two although it's a tougher mile that drops down into a tunnel and then climbs back out on the other side (like running an overpass only you go down under a road first and then up). Mile 2 was also 4:59 (splits are Garmin which measured course very long in 13.33).

Mile three I tried to just keep rolling at the same pace. I finally passed the first woman in mile three! She was the winner today in 1:11 and also won Grandma's Marathon in June in 2:26. I also moved up to 13th place where I would stay the rest of the race, running the whole race solo. Mile 3 4:57.

Mile four has the beast hill that gains 100 feet. I was gaining on Laney and wanted to try and catch him on the hill, thinking he would be tired from going out too fast. So I pushed the pace on the hill and hit a 5:06 split. Coming down in mile five I hit 4:49.

Now we hit the out and back section on the coast. You have to stay to one side of the road. This is where the Garmin really got off from the mile markers, which makes me wonder if it was certified using the full road. Because it is extremely curvy.

I had closed the gap to like ten seconds on Laney but stopped making ground here. We were basically running the same pace from here until almost the end. These were very lonely miles. Laney was the only runner I could see. Miles 6-8 were 5:01 5:05 5:08.

At 8 you do a 180-degree turn and are hit hard with some wind. My pace dropped ten seconds per mile immediately. Nothing happened really from 9-12. Laney stayed 15-20 seconds up and I chased. We seemed to slow on the same sections as the gap remained very even. Miles 9-12 5:19 5:07 (I tried to surge back to pace here but this mile was HARD with the wind and hills) 5:14 5:16.

Doing math with a mile to go I got pretty depressed, especially with my watch being almost a quarter mile ahead of the mile markers. I was broke mentally and somewhat physically. But I tried to salvage what would technically still be an un-aided PR. Mile 13 was 5:14 and the last 0.33 I ran in 1:35 for a 1:07.53.

I knew I wasn't in top shape coming in. It's something I can just sense even if workouts still look ok. Maybe it's cumulative fatigue. But I still thought I could break 1:07 here despite the tough course. Oh well, it was fun and certainly one of the most scenic races I'll ever run.

There was a lot of talk this weekend about the course record going down. It's "only" 1:02.3x. But with a couple 1:01 guys in the field it held again. The elite coordinators say every year people think they can beat what they perceive as a weak record and every year it stands. I can understand why.

Results:

Jacob Chemtai 1:02:44

Nelson Oyugi 1:02:50

Aissa Dghoughi 1:03:20

Fernando Cabado 1:03:25

Benson Cheruiyot 1:03:37

Ian Burrell 1:03:57

Ben Bruce 1:03:58

Stephen Furst 1:04:27

Geofrey Terer 1:04:39 (out of the money!)

Sergio Reyes 1:05:52

Jeremy Freed 1:06:41

David Laney 1:07:27

Me....1:07:53

PM: 4.5 mile shakeout, first two by myself then ran into Ben Bruce and did the rest with him.

8.2 easy miles with Ben on some trails along the beach and over by Pebble Beach Golf Course.

11 miles easy on the Riverdale Parkway and through Ogden with Dave, Steve, Bryant, Jason, and Ken.

AM: 7.5 miles easy at lunch with Dave on base.

PM: 8 more easy miles with Dave after work on the Rail Trail.

LIGHT AEROBIC BUILDER

We had one of our best groups in awhile for a builder. Dave, Ben, Bryant, Steve, Albert, and Bret all met up at the pond. I wasn't ready for regular aerobic builder speeds, so I ran with the guys. The goal pace was 5:40. Ben and I ended up right on 5:40 average but with a decent negative split in the second half.

5 miles easy. My left achilles is swollen and sore. It's been hurting for 2.5 weeks or so now, but I try not to acknowledge minor aches and pain in hopes they will go away. But, this can't really be ignored much longer I'm afraid. The first two miles were painful.

So I iced this morning in a bucket. My 3-year old saw me doing it and now she has a "sore foot from running so far. I need to ice too". So she dabbed her foot in some cold water as well, and the good news is hers is better already! Wish I could say the same for mine.

No run, only icing.

12 miles easy with Jon. The Achilles felt pretty decent actually. The real test will be how it feels the rest of today and tomorrow morning. If it hurts I will just have to take another day or two off.

AEROBIC BUILDER

We had another solid crew for a builder this morning with Jason, Dave, Bryant, and Albert. I planned on 8 miles at 5:25 avg, but I got out quicker than planned and just rolled with it. I did a 5:16 avg for 8 miles and it felt really good.

Achilles felt good during the run, but a touch tight right after. It feels ok again now, but I will keep icing and stretching etc to heal it properly.

Dave and Jason had their best builder pace ever today. Watch out for those guys next year.

10.05 miles easy with Dave and Bryant on the Riverdale Parkway and into central Ogden. My Achilles was a bit more sore this morning after yesterdays push, but it warmed up after 3-4 miles and felt fine after that.

TURKEY LEG 5K

Well this is my final race of the year. It's a medium-sized (500-600) in Farmington. My goal was to break 15:00 and gain some confidence back in the process, as Big Sur really took a big bite out of my confidence. But after driving the course with Amy last night I realized it was a lot more hilly than I anticipated, so I wussed out on trying for 15:00 and made a new goal of 15:30. I even toyed with the idea of just running fast enough to win and get a workout. But running slower than I'm capable of in a race of any size is really hard for me to do, it's not really in my DNA.

So I decided to go out hard and push hard the whole way unless my achilles acted up. The race started five minutes late and I was immediately out in front solo. I refused to look at my watch until the mile split. I just ran hard on the slight downhill and the watch beeped at the mile in 4:37. Not bad at all, faster than I thought I was running. 

Now you gained about 100 feet in a slow grind in mile two. Again I refused to look at the watch and just wanted to attack the hills. It certainly got my heart rate up and my breathing was labored. But I got to the top and hit the split in 5:06. 

Now some downhill to start mile three, if I can hit around 4:40 for the last mile I think I can break 15, which was way better than I thought I could do. So I ran the downhill hard and ran the last mini loop as hard as I could. I felt surprisingly good and hit a 4:38 last mile. I kicked somewhat hard, not a sprint but certainly I picked it up substantially and ran the last .11 in 28 seconds or like 4:10 pace. My final time on my watch was 14:50, though I stopped it a tad late, so maybe official time will be 14:49. I don't know I haven't seen any results yet. Edit: results finally posted (three days later) and it is officially 14:49.

The race director handed me my $50 VISA Card right when I finished. Now that's a prompt award ceremony! I waited for Amy to finish and SHE WON THE WOMEN'S RACE in 19:26! I can't believe how far along her fitness has come and that's a great time for her on a harder course.

After Amy and I cooled down with Bryant and his wife Lisa who live near the course and had jogged over to watch. Overall a pretty good morning and a great last race of the year. It's nice to finish with a good time after taking that hit to my confidence with my slow Big Sur performance. Now time to stuff my face! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Course map and elevation:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/409741472

10 miles easy on the trails with Ben, Ken, and Bryant. It was a great early morning run on the trails with great conversation and a nice, easy pace.

LONG RUN: BEN VAN BEEKUM SPECIAL (3-2-1-0.5-0.25)

I met up with the crew at the pond at 8:45 for a 20-mile run with a 3-mile breakdown. Ben introduced this workout to us last year and I proposed it for today's run. It's not as difficult as your typical 3-mile breakdown, as you have ample rest (one to one distance-wise).

We warmed up 3.5 miles and then did the start of the breakdown. Steve only planned on doing 15 miles with a 3-mile pickup, but he felt good and liked the idea of the workout so he decided to go the full length.

Splits: 

3 miles (goal 5:15 avg): 5:08 5:12 5:06

2 miles (goal 5:05 avg): 5:01 5:01

1 mile (goal 4:55): 4:50

1/2 mile (goal 2:20): 2:16

1/4 mile (goal 1:06): 1:04

Ben was tearing it up today (as was Steve actually) and on the last 1/4 mile he went with me and stayed with me. I was very impressed, we ran 64.3 which is a new 400 meter PR for him! haha. 

After Ken took an ice bath in the Ogden River up to his waist for 7 minutes...crazy dude! Then we headed to Wal-Mart for chocolate milk and donuts for Albert's birthday. All in all a great run for the crew.