Everything Counts

10.6 miles easy on the canal path, up Badger Mtn, over to Little Badger Mtn, and back to Amy's Mom's house, avg pace 7:40/mile.

20.8 miles from my Mother-in-law's house to the Badger Mtn parking lot, two ascents up Badger, and then back, avg pace 6:05/mile with 2,300 feet of elevation gain.

I'm feeling fit again for the first time since late September or early October. I felt quite strong on the run and was holding pretty quick paces up the steep climbs.

The weather was pretty dang frigid with some cold windchill.

15 miles easy with Ken, Ben, Denver, Bret, Jon, and Manny, avg pace 7:08/mile. Towards the end I started feeling the long run from Saturday and the 10-hour drive yesterday in my legs.

11 miles easy with Denver, Matt, Ben, and Ken in Central Ogden, avg pace 7:09/mile.

FARTLEKS: 3x3,200 METERS

I met Ken, Ben, Denver, Matt, and Jon at Skyline Walmart. We warmed up three miles and then did differing workouts. I did three sets of fartleks, alternating 400s with one fast 800 thrown in. The workout went reasonably well. It was quite a bit faster than last month, but just shy of matching my pre-Chicago times for the same workout.

Set 1: 69.1 86.7 69.8 86.0 71.4 70.6 82.2 70.3 (10:06)

Set 2: 69.5 84.8 69.2 86.4 70.5 72.0 85.0 70.1 (10:07)

Set 3: 68.5 80.5 69.7 82.3 70.7 85.2 72.7 77.7 (10:07)

11 recovery-paced miles in a slushy ice rink which was the roads of East Ogden with Ken, Matt, Denver, and even Dave, avg pace 7:27/mile.

MALAN'S PEAK

I met Denver at his place and we drove to the 36th Street Trailhead and then ran from there to Taylor's Canyon, up and down Malan's Peak, and back, avg pace 10:41/mile.

13.5 miles with Ben and Jon in North Ogden with a 2-mile downhill pickup, avg pace for whole run 6:49/mile. Two mile pickup was 9:11 (4:44, 4:27).

12.1 miles easy on Monday Funday with Denver, Ken, Matt, Ben, Jon, and Bret, avg pace 7:05/mile.

10.4 miles easy with Ben in the Terrace and South Ogden, avg pace, 7:26/mile. Cold!

11.05 miles easy with Denver, Ben, and Matt, avg pace 7:22/mile.

7.65 miles with two pickups, avg overall pace 6:09/mile. First pickup was 1.25 miles at 4:59/mile and then another 1-mile pickup at 4:50/mile.

6 miles easy in 3 inches of fresh snow, dodging snow plows, avg pace 7:50/mile.

2 miles easy at the hotel, avg pace 7:15/mile.

ROCK N ROLL ARIZONA HALF MARATHON

I decided to take one last shot at an OT-qualifying time, even though I didn't feel quite ready. But that's what happens when you run out of time. I knew going in that it'd be a long shot to qualify here. The course is not ideal for a PR. It's not crazy hard, but it's a gradual uphill for 9.5 miles and it's not quite at sea level. Ideally, you'd want pancake flat and sea level. But, I procrastinated and by the time I decided to give it a shot, Houston was no longer accepting elites. So, Rock n Roll Arizona it was.

I made it quick, fly out Saturday, hit the Expo, eat food, check into hotel, wake up, race, shower, check out, and fly home. They had places to park at the start line, but I was paranoid it'd fill up and I'd have nowhere to park, so I got there pretty early. I reclined the seat and napped for 30 minutes before getting out and doing a short warmup.

The race got out quite quickly. There were several 1:03 or faster guys in the race. I was ranked 18th according to PRs. I wanted a bit of a conservative start, as I seem to race better that way. I turned the autolap off on my watch and manually took splits at the mile markers. This turned out to be a mistake as the markers were all over the place! One of them said I was running 4:09/mile pace and another 6:25/mile pace, just totally unreliable. So, I'll post the Strava splits instead.

I got out in probably 20th place with a 5:03, and it felt harder than I hoped it'd feel. I got behind Nick Hilton and another guy and tried to find a groove, we hit mile two in 4:57. That was the pace I needed. The two guys I was drafting behind slowed in mile 3 as we hit 5:03. But I wasn't too concerned yet. Mile 4 was 5:07. Now I was worried. We had dug quite a hole. Hilton surged and I went as well, but not as hard as he did (I think he ended up running 1:05:07). I hit mile 5 in 5:00. All these miles are uphill so far. Nothing too serious 5-25 feet per mile. But enough to slow you down 3-5 seconds a mile. In mile 6 I said, "It's now or never". So I surged up the hill here trying to hit a split under the required 4:57 pace. I ended up with a 4:58, just couldn't quite get the pace and wouldn't again the rest of the race.

That surge kind of did me in. It was just holding on as best as I could after that. I did pass quite a few people from 5k to 10k, but after 10k I only passed two guys and got passed by three I think. But I did beat a few guys that are already qualified with sub-1:05s. Mile 7 was 5:11, still up hill. Miles 8 and 9 were the biggest climbes, though still nothing outrageous, just 40 feet per mile, but at that point it was just draining. At one point I thought the hills were finally done and then we turned into the biggest one of the race and it just crushed my soul! Miles 8 and 9 were 5:16 & 5:17. At 15k you turn back down after a 180-degree turn and it's mostly downhill to the finish with one small hill along the way. But I was too tired to take advantage of the downhill. I ran mile 10 at 5:08 and 11 at 5:07. Miles 12 and 13 I had all but given up, just running very weak mentally. I split 5:12 and 5:14. At the end there was one guy just ahead of me and two guys trying to pass me, so I mustered up a kick and ran 4:18/mile pace to the finish to pass the guy ahead of me and hold off the others for 14th place.

I grabbed some food, grabbed my gear, walked a half mile back to my car, and drove back to the hotel immediately without lingering at all after the race. Despite all this, the OT time wasn't the only thing I missed by two minutes, I got back to the hotel at 10:02 with breakfast ending at 10:00. Dang! Since I missed breakfast, I decided to cool down afterall from the hotel.

So, no olympic trials for me. That's ok. It was fun to chase. I feel like the only real shot I gave myself was Chicago though. That was the only sea-level race where I was really on point fitness-wise and weight-wise. Today I was getting into shape, but not quite there. I am also 4-5 pounds overweight right now (holidays man!). But I feel I have unfinished business in the half marathon. I wanted to run 1:05 to qualify, but even more I just wanted to prove to myself that I could. And I still think I can, so I will keep trying for that goal.

6 miles easy, avg pace 7:14/mile. My left leg is a little jacked from yesterday, but the right leg feels totally fine. I will try to foam roll tonight.

11.2 miles easy on black-iced-over Ogden with Ben and Ken, avg pace 7:22/mile.

AM: 12 miles easy from the 21st Street Pond out west with Ken, Ben, and Jon for part of it, avg pace 6:40/mile. The time flew by as we (mostly me) were discussing the Netflix show"Making a Murderer".

PM: 6 miles from my house, avg pace 6:09/mile. I didn't have a workout scheduled this week, but I was feeling good so I threw in 6x30 seconds pickups around 4:40/mile pace with 1:30 float around 6:00/mile.

AM: 12 miles easy from my house with Ken, avg pace 6:50/mile. The South Weber wind was a tad a chilly toward the end there.

PM: 6 miles easy in South Ogden with Ken and Matt, avg pace 6:57/mile.

MALAN'S PEAK CATCH ME IF YOU CAN CONTEST

Striders Running Store and Altra are putting on a free contest this month to see who can run from the top of 27th Street to Malan's Peak and back the fastest. They had a similar contest in Aug of 2011 and the record was 42:17. It's 4.45 miles and you gain 2,250 feet. The top three get prizes, I think Altra shoes. They also said they'd give an added bonus, likely a gift certificate to Strider's for anyone that could break the CR from 2011, since it'd be tough to do in the snow.

So, I decided to give it a try. I've never been so glad that I recently bought microspikes, because without those I would've been substantially slower I think (especially on the descent). I was about 90 seconds behind at the summit, but I cruised down and beat the CR by 5 seconds in 42:12! And I only walked four times on the way up ;). It's a fun constest for anyone that wants to give it a try here's a link to the contest page.

Here's a link to my Strava upload.

17.25 miles out on Antelope Island with Ben, Ken, and Bret, avg pace 7:57/mile. The trails were bare in some parts and very runnable, but snow-covered and icy in other and were treacherous. I almost went down; I was horizontal with my face 20 inches above a rock and somehow without even touching my hands down recovered and stood up. Ken was behind me and was blown away at the recovery. We both laughed so hard for like the next ten minutes, while Ben and Bret (who didn't see it) rolled their eyes and left us behind!

14.35 miles easy on slick roads with Ben, Denver, Ken, Matt, and Jon, avg pace 7:26/mile.

AM: 12 miles easy with Ben and Ken (Denver and Matt met us as well but went shorter and slower), avg pace 6:52/mile.

PM: 6 miles easy before dinner when I got home from work, avg pace 6:46/mile.

12.55 miles with Ben, Denver, and Matt, avg pace 7:21/mile. We were scoping out a potential route for aerobic builders that somewhat simulate Ogden Marathon.

11.55 miles easy in South Weber, weaving all over to best avoid direct confrontation with the canyon wind, avg pace 7:05/mile.

10 miles easy on the South Weber-Uintah loop, avg pace 6:37/mile. I ran just after 8:00 a.m. and I will say running in sunlight is kind of nice.

SLC WINTER SERIES 5K

AM: I had a terrible attitude going into this race. I didn't want to drive an hour on snowy roads to get there, and I didn't want to try to run fast on snow-covered roads in a blizzard. But, like a good soldier, I went anyway. I drove down with Amy and her friend Angie road back with us.

We got there pretty early (we left early to ensure we'd make it on time with the snow). I warmed up a little over three miles with a few strides. I exchanged greetings with Fritz and the Pachevs, and before I knew it we were off. Garek, who I'd never met before, and I were side by side leading the race. After 400 meters or so, I couldn't hear footsteps behind us, so I assumed it was a two-man race.

My number one goal coming into this race was to negative split. I  have been absolutely terrible the last two years at going out way to fast in 5ks and then holding on for dear life at the end. Today, I was quite pleased with my pacing, just not with my finish (but we'll get to that later).

We came through the mile in 4:59, which wasn't bad for 1-2 inches of slick snow. At the turnaround I slowed to almost a complete stop and STILL slipped and almost went down. After the turn we could see the others, and we had a pretty decent lead on Nathan Peters in 3rd and Fritz in 4th. Mile 2 was also 4:59. Garek, got about 2-3 seconds on me just after mile 2. Then there was a guy coming the other way and running on the wrong side of the road. He was headed straight for Garek. Garek tried to dodge him without making too drastic of step that would cause him to slip. But the man also dodged the same direction. Result? Collision. The man went down. Garek stopped and helped him up. I managed to pass by without running into anyone. I slowed down and waited for Garek to catch back up. This cost both of us several seconds on time. Looking at my run on Strava, I ran a slower pace here for 25 seconds or so before getting back to sub-5:00 pace. But I didn't want to keep going without Garek. Sportsmanship is more important to me than winning.

I could tell that Garek was a little shaken up by the collision and felt bad. I said, "Don't worry about; he shouldn't be running there". We both finally got back up to speed and the race was back on. I thought about throwing in a surge but felt kind of bad doing so right after all that, so I didn't. With 0.4 miles or so to go Garek sped up and I didn't match it. I ran mile 3 in 5:01 (but I assume it was closer to 4:55 effort minus the slow down waiting for Garek to catch back up). Then I ran 30 seconds for the last tenth to finish 2nd in 15:31.

After I cooled down with a good group of guys.

PM: Once I got home, Sariah Long called me asking if she could borrow my microspikes to attempt the Malan's Peak Catch Me If You Can Contest. I told her sure, and actually ended up running it with her. She broke the women's record in 51:57 after taking first in the 5k, pretty impressive.

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.

12 miles easy on the trails with Bret, Ben, Jason, and Denver, avg pace 8:12/mile.

20x1 MIN ON/OFF 10x30 SECONDS ON/OFF

I met Ben and Matthew at Smiths for a workout. We warmed up just over two miles and started into the workout. I ran 20 one minute pickups with 1 minute jog rest followed by 10 30-second pickups with 30 second jog rest. I averaged 4:35/mile pace on the 1-min pickups and 4:21/mile pace on the 30-second pickups.

On the second rep, I had by far the closest encounter with almost getting hit by a car that I've ever had. Car ran stop sign and came within 2-feet of me. But I still hit pace on that rep :) I think it scared the driver as much or more than me.

AM: 7.2 miles easy, avg pace 7:31/mile.

PM: 7.65 miles on the Centennial Trail w/ a Kingfisher loop on way back, avg pace 6:44/mile.

LONG RUN

I met Ben at 2nd and Harrison. We dropped his car off and drove mine to Rainbow. Bret met us there and ran the first 3.5 miles with us before he headed home. Ben and I ran from Rainbow along the canal road to Weber High School. Then we ran up to the top of North Ogden and hit the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. It was pretty dry for awhile, but at the highest 2.5 miles at 5,800 feet elevation we hit some deep snow. We were post-holing for two miles in knee-deep snow. Needless to say that killed our overall average pace. We ran that to the divide and then back along Mountain Road to Ben's car, avg pace overall 8:24/mile. Pace for the 19 miles that weren't in knee-deep snow was 7:31/mile.

It was fantastic weather and a beautiful morning. Minus the snow for 2.5 miles it was a glorious, spring trail run.

I ran from my parents' house up the Burch Creek trail connecter to Beus Canyon, up Beus to BST, ran that to Taylor, down to Gibs, through Beus Pond, and back, avg pace 7:28/mile.

The trails, even the higher ones were pretty clear and runnable, with a few exceptions on some Northern-facing slopes.

MODERATE MONDAY

I ran with Ken and Ben on our now normal Monday route on a moderate progression, avg pace 6:25/mile. Quickest we've run yet on the last three uphill miles.

12 miles easy with Ben (and Denver for first four) with hill sprints at the end, avg pace 7:40/mile.

INTERVALS: 7x2,000 METERS

Ken, Ben, and I met at Smiths and warmed up three miles to the OHS track including 4x100 strides. We met Denver and Moss at the track. My plan was 7-8 reps of 2,000 meters at the same pace as I did 1,000 reps last month (4:58/mile).

Overall the workout went quite well. It got a bit miserable when it was rainy and windy, but the rain let up on the last few reps and it was nice. I took 3:00 rest, one of which was walking and two jogging.

Splits: 6:09, 6:09, 6:10, 6:12, 6:11, 6:12, 6:08 for a 6:10 avg or 4:56/mile.

I felt pretty controlled throughout the workout.

AM: 8 miles easy, avg pace 7:45/mile.

PM: 10 miles on Weber River/Centennial Trail with Denver and Ken, avg pace 7:06/mile.

10.05 miles easy with 6 hill sprints at the end with Ben, avg pace 8:03/mile.

AM: 11.1 miles on the trails with Bret at a pretty moderate pace (for trails), avg pace 7:45/mile. I broke in a new pair of trail shoes for the first 4.5 miles and then switched into my Salomon's.

Lunchtime: I wanted to get a low-fuel, somewhat-fatigued-state workout in. So, all I ate after the morning run was a small egg/sausage burrito and a chocolate milk. Then I had a Honeystinger waffle right before the workout. I warmed up two miles and then attempted 2x4 mile fartleks alternating half miles at 5:00/5:30 pace. The first four went well, but I was pretty tired at the end of it. I took half mile jog rest and started the second set and after a mile I pulled the plug. I was pretty dang exhausted and didn't want to dig too deep of a hole. I actually tried one more time to start back up, but again just didn't have it. So I jogged the rest of the way. Total mileage was 12 miles, avg pace 6:13/mile.

Fartlek: 2:42/2:27 2:45/2:26 2:40/2:27 2:38/2:29 (I was fast on every split, probably part of the reason I couldn't finish the workout), rest, then 2:43/2:30 stopped, tried one more time 2:37, and called it for good.

13.05 miles easy with Ken, Denver, Matt, and Ben, avg pace 7:24/mile. The body had a hard time adjusting to daylight theft time!

12 miles easy with Ben and a few with Denver, followed by eight hill sprints, avg pace 7:52/mile.

AM: 5-MILE TEMPO

The plan was to meet at the pond, warm up the typical four miles to the canyon and tempo down, but add on a mile around the pond. We wanted to hit same pace as our 4-mile tempo last month for an additional mile.

But I somehow slept thru my alarm (I don't remember it ever going off, but it was set correctly). I figured if I hurried I could still beat Ben and Ken to the canyon at the end of their warm up and do the tempo with them. Sure enough I got there and jogged a half mile before running into them. They agreed to continue warming up until I hit two miles. Then we were off.

I ran 4:59/mile pace last month, so that was my goal. But, I was struggling early on and on the middle I slowed a bit. I got back on pace the last mile, but overall I was a tad slower at 5:02/mile. But only three seconds per mile off and it was an extra mile, so we'll call it a draw. Aldo, the wooden bridges in miles 3 & 4 were frosted and slippery which slows you down a bit.

Splits were 5:00, 4:58, 5:04, 5:08, 4:57

PM: 4 miles easy after dinner = lots of nasty burps, avg pace 6:48/mile.

AM: 7.5 miles easy with Denver from my house, avg pace 7:42/mile.

PM: 6.55 miles with Ken on Centennial Trail, avg pace 6:33/mile.

6.55 miles easy, avg pace 7:01/mile.

AM: SAND HOLLOW MARATHON

Ben, Ken, and I went down South this weekend to participate in the Sand Hollow Marathon in Hurricane, UT (just north of St. George). The plan was to get a practice marathon in, practice nutrition and fueling etc. I also wanted to test if my mucous problem was solved or not. The race has a very small town feel. There's about 150 runners and it's a loop course with a lot of hills, but it's extremely beautiful and really a fun course. For those looking for a change from the downhill screamers in Utah, this is a fun marathon.

Race started at 7:00. I woke up at 5:30 and ate half an engery bar and a Honeystinger Waffle. I was already well hydrated so I only drank about 4 ounces pre-race. We got there around 6:40 and used the restroom. No warm up.

The plan was to let our bodies naturally work the pace to 6:00/mile and then hold it there. Ben got a bit anxious and we got there by mile 3. After that we got in a groove right around 5:55/mile effort and held it all the way. It was way fun to run every step with both Ken and Ben. After the race lots of chocolate milk, Pepsi, Einstein bagels, and Domino's Pizza at the refreshment area at the finish!

Splits (when I tried to transfer to Garmin Connect it dumped my last month of data, so I don't have my splits, but these are from Ben's with the difference I know of in miles 18-21): 6:31 6:24 6:04 5:59 6:04 6:03 5:41 5:46 5:49 5:59 5:57 5:56 5:57 5:52 6:06 6:04 5:56 6:20 6:13 5:57 6:00 6:01 5:51 5:57 5:53 5:42 and 4:58 for last .06 (course was short).

PM: 3-mile shakeout, avg pace 7:59/mile.

AM: 12.1 recovery-paced miles with Ben, Denver, Ken, Jon, and Matt, avg pace 7:38/mile. We ran from Smiths through the Terrace, down into Uintah, up the BST trail and back along Combe/Old Post.

PM: 4.7 miles easy, avg pace 7:05/mile. We took the girls to the city Easter Egg Hunt and I ran home from there once they were done (with a few miles tacked on).

Am: 11.85 miles on a Tuesday Trailday with Ben, and Ken and Denver both for a couple miles, avg pace 9:03/mile. It was pouring rain and it must've scared all the trail runners into staying in bed. I think that's the first time I've run the most popular section of BST in the city and not seen anyone else, even in snow!

PM: 4 miles easy on treadmill while Amy was running outside, avg pace 7:00/mile.

AM: 8 miles early and easy, avg pace 7:25/mile.

PM: 4.1 miles on the Weber River Trail with Ken, avg pace 6:51/mile. Then another two miles that included 8x8-second hill sprints. Big Workout tomorrow.

LONG INTERVALS: 3K REPS

I met Ken and Ben on 36th Street and we parked at Ken's office. We warmed up 4k uphill and then started our workout. My plan was 6x3k in the 9:36-9:40 range with 1k active recovery at 6:25/mile pace. We ran a route that we hoped would give us some similar terrain to Ogden Marathon. The first rep was soft rolling hills at over 5,000 feet, second rep was slight downhill but mostly flat, third rep was downhill, as were 4-5 reps, the last rep is the last 3k of the actual marathon course.

We got started and I felt pretty sluggish. I thought my legs were maybe still heavy from last weekend. On the second rep I had a huge mucus buildup in my throat. I was hacking and coughing and dry heaving all throughout this rep and the third rep. I also started feeling very nauseous. I was running way slower than planned too. In the 4th rep I stopped and threw up. I then finished that rep and threw up again at the end of it. So, I quit the workout and took a shortcut down 20th Street to meet the guys at the finish. It was a frustrating morning. It's hard to say if I'm sick or if it's just my mucus problem. The thing is I haven't had mucus problems since November, and specifically ran the marathon Saturday to test it out and whether it was getting better. Saturday went great and now today I'm left with questions again. What triggered the huge buildup of mucus and why so early in the run? It's never happened that early. I've never thrown up because of it until mile 17 of a run/race. But with the sluggishness, it could also be that I'm sick. I really don't know.

Splits: 9:47/3:45 9:58/3:56 10:03/3:54 10:25/stopped

3.3 miles easy, avg pace 7:20/mile. I woke up feeling ok, so I figured I'd try a run this afternoon. I got out just over 1.5 miles and felt really low on energy still, so I turned back. Hopefully I can get some energy again by next week.

12.65 miles at easy pace, but it wasn't easy, from Mantua to the Firebreak Road along the Perry Bench and then up Perry Canyon on the Grizzly Trail, avg pace 9:11/mile. I ran with Ken, Ben, and Jason. We gained 2,600+ feet on the run and hit snow and lost the trail at about 6,000 feet. So we bush-whacked and hiked up to 6,500 feet and then turned back. Ben tooks some awesome photos with his GoPro:

No run. I had a rough evening last night with this stomach bug, so taking today off of both running and work to rest up and get better.

AM: 10.1 miles with Ben and Matt in Central and Downtown Ogden, avg pace 7:37/mile. I'm feeling better and energy levels are returning. I should be back to full health and ready to kill the race by Saturday!

PM: 4 miles easy with Ken and......Dave!, avg pace 7:01/mile.

LIGHT, PROGRESSIVE TEMPO

I met Ken, Ben, Dave, Denver, and Matt at the pond. We warmed up just over four miles up to Ogden Canyon. Dave ran home from there, the rest of us tempo-ed back to the pond.

I wanted to ease into it, test my energy levels. So I ran the first two miles with Ken and Ben. Then I picked up the last two miles to just faster than goal pace for Saturday. Overall, a good tune-up.

Splits: 5:31, 5:26, 5:03, 5:00

10 miles easy on the Centennial Trail in Riverdale with Ben, Jason, Denver, and Ken, avg pace 7:22/mile.

6 miles easy with Dave, avg pace 8:36/mile. We ran from Mt Ogden Park along Gib's trail to 29th, then up Taylor's Canyon until 3 miles and then ran back (over 1k elevation). Racing the half tomorrow, and I'm feeling good and ready to put down a good time.

STRIDER'S WRC HALF MARATHON

I had a great time at the race this morning. My first goal was to win the race. I didn't really want to set a time goal, as I usually run poorly when I do that. But I figured anything under 1:07.30 would be really good for this course. My PR on this course is 1:07.53 back in 2013, and I had a really good racing year in 2013.

I met Denver, Ken, and Matt at Rainbow Gardens and carpooled up with those guys. We met Ben up there and also ran into Moss. The pre-race logistics were kind of a mess. We arrived to the start line at 7:00 with a 7:30 start time. The lines for the restroom were already ridiculously long too. So time for a warmup and potty run was quite limited. They sent all the buses up at the same time and then only unloaded one at a time, so we wasted valuable time sitting on the bus to unload, which was very frustrating to me.

So, I only managed 1.5 miles of warmup. It was cold at the start, about 28F. I wore singlet, half tights, gloves, arm sleeves, and an ear warmer. The compeition upfront was Anthony Costales, Ken, Ben, and me. They started the race on time.

Anthony and I ran side by side for the first half mile or so. Then he picked it up to a pace that I wasn't interested in running quite yet. Every time I've started this race off quickly, I've really blown up. So, I stuck with my plan for a bit more conservative start. So he had about 7-8 seconds on me by mile 3. Miles 1 & 3 are good downhill, while 2 is rolling with no net drop. I clocked 5:02, 5:10, 5:02.

The sun was starting to hit us, which was quite welcomed. Now I was feeling warmed up and ready to start rolling. I was making some ground on Anthony and thought I could catch him by mile 5. Turns out I was making up more ground than I realized and passed him in mile 4. I threw in a faster half mile on the pass to try and discourage him from latching on. It didn't seem like I got much of a gap at first, but by mile 5 I couldn't hear footsteps or see his long shadow anymore. Miles 4-5 were 4:52, 4:57.

Now I just wanted to get in groove and rhythm. I did just that. The course here is still downhill, but it's not as steep and it's really just a nice, barely noticeable downhill grade. This continues until mile 8.5. There you turn onto a parkway, which is a rhythm killer. It's constantly going up and down. From 8.5 to the end it's rolling hills with no net drop. My sister passed me in her car at mile 8 and said I had a "huge lead", which was a surprise to me. Miles 6-9 were 5:00, 5:00, 5:01, 5:01.

All right, 9 down and the 4 toughest miles to go. I tried to keep the effort high, even though you can no longer get into a good rhythm. I stayed pretty strong until the end. Mile 13 I was pretty tired, but I had been doing the math and was certain I could get under 1:07, which is really an excellent time on this course (the course record was Paul's 1:07.2x in 2011). I finished up and was quite exhausted and thrilled. Miles 10-13 were 5:05, 5:16, 5:07, 5:14, and 4:55 pace for the leftover change.

Short cooldown after with Ken, Anthony, and Matt.

AM: 15 miles easy with Ken, Denver, Ben, Matt, Jason, and Dave, avg pace 7:18/mile on a hilly route. Happy Birthday shout out to Denver!

PM: 5 miles on the treadmill watching the kids, while Amy ran outside, avg pace 7:00/mile.

AM: 13 miles easy with Ben and Dave for the first five miles, avg pace 7:20/mile.

PM: 5.5 miles with Ken, avg pace 6:40/mile.

13.6 miles with Ken, Ben, Moss, Jason, and Matt on the parkway to West Haven, looping back to the pond thru Central Ogden, avg pace 7:05/mile.

AM: 10.4 miles easy with Bryant in South Weber, avg pace 6:47/mile. This is the first day this week that I felt my legs had some spring back in them after Saturday's race.

PM: 6.25 miles easy with Ben and Ken in Ogden, including 8x8 second hill sprints.

8.35 miles easy on the trails on a beautiful morning with Ken and Jason (Dave joined us for first two as well), avg pace 8:06/mile. We have a long tempo on the sched tomorrow, looking forward to putting the capstone on this high-mileage week.

16 MILE TEMPO AT GOAL MP+15 SECONDS

I met Ken at his house and we drove up to meet Ben in the Valley at Mile 14 on the marathon course. We dropped Ken's truck off and drove Ben's car up to the start. From there we warmed up to Causey Dam and back (4 miles). Then we started a 16-mile tempo at the marathon start line.

I was hoping to hit roughly 5:30-5:35/mile. I figured 5:25-5:30 on the downhill miles, 5:30-35 on the rolling miles, and 5:35-5:40 on the uphill miles. I felt incredible for the first 8 miles. I had to consciously dial it back here. But once I hit the rollers at Mile 9 I was starting to work. It's a good thing today wasn't the actual day, because I had my mucous buildup at mile 15 and had I gone past 16 miles I likely would've thrown up around mile 18-19. So, that's frustrating. I really don't know what to do about it. I've tried so many things and thought I had a solution. Anyway, overall average for the tempo was 5:31/mile.

AM: 15 miles on our usual Monday route from Smiths with Ken, avg pace 6:57/mile. Ben blew a tire on his way to meet us, so we missed him. Denver and Matt ran same route as us but at slower pace. Spring is finally here, and it is most welcome to stay as long as it likes!

PM: 6.3 miles with 3 on the treadmill and another 3.3 outside after Amy finished her run, avg pace 6:54/mile.

13.1 miles easy with Ben and Jason down into Uintah and up to the Terrace on the toll road, avg pace 7:04/mile. I am attempting to train my body to handle fluid and calories for the marathon. So a lot of my runs in the next few weeks I am logging those details for my own record. 16 ounces of water total, started at mile 3 and drank every two miles. I mixed two Honeystinger gels into the water, so I also consumed 200 calories and 48 grams of carbs. I didn't notice any adverse effects until I had a few acidic belches in mile 13 and a small mucus buildup during that mile too, but it was easy to clear.

AM: 5X4K INTERVALS WITH 1K MODERATE REST

I met Ken and Ben at 36th and Harrison. We warmed up 4k and then started our workout. The goal was 5x4k about 10 seconds faster per mile than goal marathon pace with 1k about 60 seconds slower per mile for rest. I wanted to be in the 5:10-5:15 range or 12:50-13:03 per rep. Splits: 13:04, 13:15, 12:54, 13:12, 13:29 for a 13:10.8 avg or 5:18/mile. Including the 4 1k rests I ran 24k or 15-is miles non-stop at 5:26/mile. So, not quite as fast as I had hoped but still solid. Nutrition: I packed the same 16 ounces with two gels mixed in. I drank about 13 ounces throughout, mostly on the rest sections. I got throw-up burps on the third rep, threw up a tiny bit in the 4th, and really struggled keeping it down on the last rep, but managed to finish before it all came up. Not encouraging, but I have quite awhile still to get a nutrition plan that works. I think acid reflux may be at play. Today wasn't caused by mucus like it normally is. Will try an antacid of some sort before next hard workout and/or long run.

PM: 3.5 mile shakeout in the rain, avg pace 6:49/mile. Upon further research, I think I may have exercise-induced acid reflux. I had never heard of it until today, but my symptoms seem to match it. It occurs usually in physically fit adults when they participate in long endurance efforts of 80+ minutes at a moderate to hard effort. Acid from the stomach enters the esophagus causing belches, burning feeling, and sometimes mucus. An journal article I found stated that acid reflux medicines such as Prevacid have been found to help in most cases, though some severe cases may require more drastic measures.

AM: 9.55 miles easy in the South Weeby, avg pace 7:27/mile.

PM: 4.5 miles easy, avg pace 7:00/mile.

9.7 miles on the trails in a new inch of snow in the higher parts and traces of snow on the lower sections. I ran with Bret and Denver from 22nd Street to Beus Canyon and back, avg pace 8:47/mile.

STEADY STATE LONG RUN

The plan this morning was 24-27 miles with 20-24 of it at 6:00/mile or faster. I purchased some Generation Ucan to try for fueling on the run today. I woke up two hours before our run was scheduled and drank a Ucan with protein. Then 30 minutes before the run I drank another Ucan. I also made a gel out of another one to take halfway through the run.

I dropped water off around mile 10 at the Uintah trailhead for us and then met Ken and Ben at Kneader's in downtown Ogden. We ran from there along the parkway South to Riverdale and up thru Uintah to Highway 89. From there up Combe Road and then along our Wednesday workout route back thru Ogden to the Canyon and down the parkway to finish. Ken had set water out at mile 20, so we had water twice, spaced out ten miles apart.

Ben and Ken ran very well. They ran with me to mile 20 and then they cooled down to 23 miles. I kept the tempo up the whole way through the run and hit 25 miles at 5:59/mile avg. I took the Ucan gel I had made at mile 14 and it set pretty well in my stomach. I am pretty impressed with the product. My energy levels were really good throughout the run.

I finished off the week with 105 miles, which is the most I've ever run in a week. Things are looking pretty good for Ogden, as long as the whole acid reflux/mucus buildup doesn't rear it's ugly head.

AM: 17 miles easy with Ken, avg pace 6:46/mile. Jon joined us for the first three miles or so. Denver and Matt met us but ran a bit easier.

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

13.1 miles with Ken, Denver, and Matt, avg pace 7:18/mile. It was mostly on roads, back of the Terrace, back to Smiths, to Ken's house and then up 29th to trails up Waterfall Canyon to the BST and back to Smiths.

AM: 6-5-4-3-2-1 KILOMETER BREAKDOWN WITH 1K MODERATE REST

Same as last week...met Ken and Ben at 5. We warmed up 4k and then started the workout. I didn't really even set goal paces. Just anything under 5:20-5:25 for the whole workout was good enough. My stomach was upset and I had to stop a few times for bathrooms but other than that the energy was good and the pace solid. 6k - 19:33 or 5:14/mile 5k - 16:09 or 5:12/mile 4k - 13:09 or 5:17/mile 3k - 9:42 or 5:12/mile 2k - 6:30 or 5:14/mile 1k - 3:10 or 5:06/mile.

PM: 3.45 mile shakeout, avg pace 7:12/mile.

AM: 8 miles easy, avg pace 7:12/mile.

PM: 4.75 miles. 1.55 miles to Hannah's soccer game and then another 3.2 miles in between hers and Evelyn's game, avg pace 6:43/mile.

8 miles easy, avg pace 6:46/mile.

SOUTHERN UTAH HALF MARATHON

Amy and I went down to St George to run the Southern Utah Half Marathon this weekend. I didn't really have any time goals in mind. This is by far the most mileage I've done in a week leading into a race and I had a pretty big workout on Wednesday, so I didn't really expect anything special.

The temperature was great, but the wind was coming pretty strong from the Southwest and which direction did our race head in? Southwest! Everyone talked about how it would be a headwind for 13.1 miles, but in reality it wasn't quite that bad, it was only like 12.5 miles of headwind ;)

The race started and there was a kid from Las Vegas that took to the lead immediately. I caught up to him and we ran side by side for 4.5 miles. The first 3 miles of the race are very downhill. Last year I bombed down those and it made the rest of the race pretty miserable. So this year I went conservative, about 40 seconds slower this year for those three miles.

Around 4.5 miles into the race the other guy dropped back a bit so I surged up a small hill to get a gap. From there the gap increased and I was able to run pretty strong to the end. The wind slowed things down a bit (it seemed strongest in miles 1-3 and 10-13), but the result was still pretty good and I am happy that I was able to run so well off of the high mileage and the big workouts. After the race, I waited to watch Amy finish and it was the highlight of the morning seeing her win! I was so proud of her, just awesome.

Huge shoutout to Steve Hooper and his team at St George Running Center for putting on another great race. If you guys haven't run this race yet, you're missing out!

Splits: 5:00 5:03 4:57 5:16 5:03 5:11 5:04 5:07 5:09 5:08 5:13 5:19 5:11 and 5:11 pace for the end.

AM: 15 miles easy with Ben, Ken, and Dave for five miles, avg pace 7:11/mile. Denver, Matt, and Manny met us too, but ran a bit easier. My legs have no soreness at all, but they sure were tired this morning!

PM: 5 miles easy, avg pace 6:44/mile. My legs felt substantially better than this morning.

13 miles easy with Ben and Jason, avg pace 7:24/mile. Dave joined us for first five miles, we dropped him at cars and headed into East Ogden.

AM: LONG INTERVAL REPS: 4X5K WITH 1K REST

I met Ben and Jason at Ken's office. Ken unfortunately had to bail with a sore Achilles. We warmed up 4k and then did our workout. Jason was just doing the first rep. I ran really well this morning, and felt strong at the end. I averaged about 9-10 seconds per mile faster today than I did two weeks ago on the 5x4k, so great progress.

Splits: 16:02, 16:05, 15:57, and 15:52 for a 5:09/mile avg. Including the 3 1k rests I did 23k at 5:17/mile.

PM: 5 miles easy on the treadmill, while the girls watched a show downstairs and while Amy was doing her workout outside, avg pace 7:18/mile.

AM: 8.4 miles easy in my neighborhood, avg pace 7:31/mile.

PM: 7.3 miles easy with Ken, Wolpert, Denver, and Dave from Denver's house in Ogden, avg pace 7:19/mile. I pushed Ken's son for about half of it in a jogging stroller.

8.7 miles exploring the East side of South Weber, avg pace 6:53/mile.

18-MILE TEMPO AT GOAL MP +15 (THOUGH I ENDED MORE LIKE +7-10)

I picked up Denver and Ken, we met Jason at Rainbow, and then met Ben and Matt at Windsurfer lot. We dropped the cars off there and Ben drove up to the marathon start. We warmed up three miles and then ran the first 18 miles of the Ogden Marathon course.

A few weeks ago we did the same thing, only for 16 miles. I ran 5:31 avg that day and felt pretty tired and spent at the end. Today, I tested my new fueling strategy. One UCAN with protein two hours before running, a double-dosed UCAN 45 minutes before, and one UCAN homemade gel at mile 12 of the tempo (15 overall). It worked quite well and I didn't have any stomach issues. We had water dropped in three locations and I stopped and took a quick sip at each for 10-20 seconds then set them back for Ben and Ken so they could easily find them.

Overall I averaged about 5:27/mile. So I was four seconds faster per mile than the 16-miler and I felt much, much stronger when I finished. I honestly feel I could've run 2:23-ish for the whole course today at the end of a 100-mile week. So, that bodes very well, especially once I get a taper in my legs.

15.3 miles easy with Ben and Ken, avg pace 7:18/mile. Dave, Denver, and Matt ran a few of the early miles with us. As we ran throughout Ogden we saw all the damage from the wind storm, and there was a lot to see!

AM: 11.35 miles easy with Ben, Jason, Dave, and a couple miles with Denver and Matt, avg pace 7:38/mile. We ran Combe loop, dropped Dave off and then did the WSU Discovery Trail Loop.

PM: 5.2 miles on the trails with Ken and Taylor, avg pace 7:26/mile.

PROGRESSION RUN

I met Ben and Jason at Kneader's downtown. They left their cars there and I drove up to 36th and Harrison. We warmed up three miles uphill to Skyline Drive and then Ben and I did 14 miles on a progression, while Jason did 10. Overall on the progression I worked out to a 5:39/mile avg, which is roughly 94-95% of marathon pace.

Splits: 6:04, 5:56, 5:52, 5:52, 5:40, 5:48, 5:43, 5:36, 5:36, 5:33, 5:39, 5:24, 5:14, 5:07

AM: 9 miles easy, avg pace 7:25/mile.

PM: 4.65 miles to and in between soccer games for the girls 6:57/mile.

6.4 miles easy, avg pace 7:09/mile.

PROVO CITY HALF MARATHON - LAST "BIG" WORKOUT BEFORE OGDEN - 20K FARTLEK ALTERNATING HMP & MP

I had a really fun time this morning running the PCHM! Run13 puts on such great and fun events. I know my kids love coming too with all the fun stuff for them to do at the finish line (bounce house/slides and face painting - all for free).

Taylor was kind enough to pick me up at Amy's Grandma's house where we stayed last night in Lindon (Thanks again Taylor). We showed up just in time for the last bus...perfect. We warmed up 2+ miles. We ran into Mike, Matt, and Bobby up there just doing a long run; good to see those guys! In the race we had Taylor, Travis Fuller (whom I hadn't met until today), Justin Park, Dave Taylor, and others.

My plan was to alternate every kilometer between 5:00-5:05 pace and 5:20-5:25 pace. But I forgot how easily you can roll on this downhill course and ended up going a bit faster than that. Taylor and I yo-yoed for the first 6-7 miles; hopefully I didn't annoy him too much :)

Splits: 3:17 2:59 3:17 3:06 3:21 3:01 3:13 3:02 3:16 3:02 3:17 3:02 3:17 3:05 3:17 3:05 3:17 3:04 3:13 3:03 3:14 or 4:54/mile pace for the half marathon-paced sections and 5:16/mile pace for the marathon-paced sections.

I felt really good and really strong! I'm as ready as I'll get for Ogden in two weeks. It's the final countdown!

12 miles easy with Ben and Dave, avg pace 7:14/mile.

10.6 miles easy with Ben, Jason, Dave, Denver, and Matt, avg pace 7:33/mile.

MARATHON-PACED BUILDER: 10K MP 1K REST 8K MP

I met Ken, Jason, and Ben at Beus trailhead. They had already met at Kneader's and left a car. We warmed up 4 kilometers and then did our workout.

The plan was 10k at goal pace, 1k moderate rest, and 8k at goal pace. I aimed for 5:25/mile, trying not to go faster, knowing that specificity is key at this point.

I hit both the 10k and the 8k at 5:24/mile avg and ran the 1k moderate rest at 6:04/mile pace.

AM: 7.1 miles easy on a cold, windy morning in the South Weeb, avg pace 7:01/mile.

PM: 4.3 miles to and back from Evie's soccer game, avg pace 6:50/mile. The contrast in temperature from this morning to this afternoon was almost like going from winter to summer!

8 miles out and back on the Ogden Parkway with Dave, Ben, and Taylor, avg pace 7:03/mile.

12 miles in North Ogden with Ben, Ken, Bret, Bryant, and Jon, avg pace 6:34/mile with 2x2 miles at MP.

AM: 7.25 miles easy with Ken, Ben, Dave, and Brandon, avg pace 7:04/mile. Matt and Matthew also came but ran a slower pace. It's taper time this week; time to get these old, worked legs feeling fresh!

PM: My cousin, Ben, coaches at West Point Jr High and asked if I would come speak to and run with his team. They were doing intervals and I hopped in a couple 400s and 800s at what was basically my Marathon pace or just a tad faster. 2.8 miles total.

8.15 miles on the Parkway with Ben, Jason, Dave, and Wolpert, avg pace 6:46/mile with two miles at MP in 5:19 and 5:20. The 5:19 may have been faster, as the GPS messed up in the tunnel and for the 0.9 after the tunnel I ran that segment at 5:05/mile according to Strava, so maybe more like one mile HMP and one MP.

6 miles easy with Ben, Brandon, and Ken, avg pace 6:56/mile. My legs are starting to feel fresh. Just a few more days...

4 miles easy with Ben and Jason, avg pace 7:02/mile.

2.3 miles easy, avg pace 6:42/mile. That concludes the training block! Tomorrow, like a young kid at Christmas, I wait to see if I've earned a great gift or coal!

This has honestly been the most fun I've had building for a marathon. Ben and Ken have been with me through the whole thing. It's rare that I have company on my toughest and longest workouts, as no sane person would want to join in. But they've done it all with me this time. I've seen them and myself grow stronger, faster, and more confident.

This block has included hard work, yes, but also smart work. It's our smartest buildup yet.

I've enjoyed seeing my brother, Denver, almost every morning this buildup and throughout all the cold days of winter out there dedicated and determined. Running and training with the crew and me, has brought him a happiness that wasn't there just a year ago. I'm so proud of him!

This block has felt like a team effort, and it has been. I appreciate the crew for being out there with me every morning while the world sleeps. I appreciate my wife, willingly taking a back seat with her training and taking on more than her share of watching our kids, so that I can train for this marathon. She has goals and aspirations too, but she's been incredibly selfless and supported me 100%. I appreciate my parents watching my kids several days, mornings, and even overnight so Amy and I could train. I appreciate those on this blog and others on Strava who have encouraged me, especially our Irish friend John for helping me tailor this training schedule to maximize my fitness.

Whatever happens tomorrow, whatever I am able to accomplish may appear as an individual achievement, but the truth is, it's been a team effort, and I will do my best the make the team proud tomorrow morning!

OGDEN MARATHON

Well another Ogden Marathon in the books, and another cold, rainy, and this time windy day. This marathon has had the worst weather lately. We're due a gorgeous day next year!

I have to start with a little background on me and the Ogden Marathon. I've lined up for this race three times prior to today. All three times I had aspirations of placing top 3 and finishing in the mid 2:20s to 2:30 range. In 2011 I threw up at mile 14 and again at mile 18, cramped severly in the canyon, and dropped at mile 24. In 2013 in poured rain and I ran just terribly. I had no physical excuses, I just didn't have it that day. Last year, I threw up again at mile 16 and again at 18 and 21-22 and ended up in the medical tent. This race has OWNED me. Which is a tough pill to swallow when it's your hometown race.

This year, I was determined to beat this course. Not only was I going to beat my nemesis (Ogden Marathon), but whether I won the race or not I was going to beat its record. If I wasn't going to win, whoever beat me was going to have to beat that record, because I was going to beat that record. It would be the perfect revenge against the course that has destroyed me every time I challenged it. This race was always more about me versus the course than it was me versus the field of runners.

PRE-RACE

The crew all met up pre-race at the buses: Ken, Ben, Denver, Matt, Bryant, Wolpert, and me. We also saw Mike, Bobby and their crew from Utah county there. The weather downtown before loading the bus was excellent. No rain, no noticeable wind, it was really quite calm. Spirits were high and excitement was in the air. Once we got up to the start, there's a 90-minute wait for the race to start. A light sprinkle started, which wasn't a shock as the forecast called for 30% chance of light rain. I had prepared for this with a tarp for us to sit/lay on and a mylar blanket to cover us. The rain steadily increased and wind from the West picked up. The weather was getting quite ominous. Staying warm was getting harder. The pickup truck for the bag drop let people sit inside for awhile and Ben, Ken, and me actually set the tarp underneath the large pickup truck and used it as shelter. 45 minutes before the race I drank my Ucan I had brought up with me and then took one more trip to the restroom. By now it was raining a lot and the wind was 5-10 MPH headwind. I couldn't believe it; it was deja-vu of the last two times I've run this race. How does it rain every year?

RACE

The race started and Bryant barely made it to the front in time. I was worried, but he got there just in the nick of time. The field was quite stacked: Anthony and Bryant with their PRs in the 2-teens, me, Ben and Ken in the best marathon shape of their lives, and Montana man, Collin Fehr, who we learned after such research ran a 1:05 half against Brett Hales last year at American Fork Half Marathon. The wind was strong enough that I suggested we take turns leading and drafting. I took mile one and then we were gonna switch each mile. The splits on course were all over the place, so I'll  just post Strava splits at the end (splits don't mean much in this terrible weather anyway). I have to believe the markers were off because they'd been blown down or away and probably just set up sporadically where people found them. Bryant led mile two and Anthony mile three. Montana man introduced himself to the rest of us, "Howdy boys, I'm from Montana. The name's Collin". I knew I liked this guy immediately! So, the stage was set a pack of four runners up front in the lead.

Mile three, Anthony took his turn leading. Mile four I wasn't sure if Montana man was interested in our working together as he was just off to the side a bit, so I went to lead again. But Anthony stayed on my side instead of tucking behind and then took the lead again. Anthony ran a courageous race! He basically led in the headwind from here to mile 9. He got a small gap at times, but then we would catch back up. The conditions weren't very conducive for getting gaps. I was happy to draft behind Bryant and Montana Man as we yo-yoed back and forth behind Anthony. Around Pineview we had a heavy crosswind and were anxious for the canyon, hoping for shelter from the wind, but ironically these miles from 9-13 were some of the calmest of the race, weather-wise.

On the rollers in this section, I got the slightest of leads on a hill. Anthony worked up beside me, but I could hear his breathing and he was laboring. I internally checked how I felt and my breathing was fine; I felt good. I then glanced over my shoulder at Bryant and he looked smooth, but also seemed to be breathing harder than me. Finally, how was Montana doing? He was 2-3 feet back and looked to be laboring. I concluded I was feeling the best at this point, and the first thought of hey I can win this thing crossed my mind. But I reminded myself that there was a LONG ways to go. Part of me wanted to move a bit here and test my theory, but prudence won over and stuck to my plan. My plan for the first half was a three-step plan: patience, patience, and patience.

We approached the halfway point and crossed in 1:11:27. Bryant was with me, Montana was a second back, and I'm not sure if Anthony was there or not. He had to be at least within seconds, but I really don't know for sure. I do know that he and Montana were not within sound anymore over the next mile. Just after the half, our friend and crew member Jon, was there cheering. We approached the hill at 14 and this massive gust of wind pounded us. I looked back at Bryant who was now a step or two back and said, "Are you freaking kidding me? Come on!" He shook his head and we were both in disbelief of the weather. Nothing close to this was ever in the forecast.

On the hill I gapped Bryant without trying to, I feel it was more him slowing down than me speeding up. I pulled out my UCan gel here and nursed it over the next mile. Which turned out to be perfect timing, because after mile 15 mother nature reared her ugly head! Gusts of wind picked up and pelted me with rain. Little raindrops traveling at 40-50 MPH hitting your bare skin feels like needles! It hurt badly. I thought it was hail, but it was just rain traveling very quickly with ferocious velocity. It was here that I knew the course record wasn't going down. Nobody could run that fast into this wind! My nemesis saw that I had a slight lead and was feeling good and it was not going to let me off that easily. Miles 16-19 were the hardest miles I've probably ever run in my life. There was a 20-25 minute stretch where it honestly felt like running into a Hurricane! Speaking with several people after the race, this time window hit everyone at the same time regardless of where you were on the course. Slower half marathoners, like my father said it was worst in the canyon. Guys running in the 3-hour range said it was the worst right after the half. People running 4 hours said it was terrible on the East side of Pineview. For me it was miles 16-19, just before the canyon and including the first mile of the canyon (the fastest mile of the race in normal conditions).

It got so bad, that I honestly thought they may cancel the race; get everyone to shelter. And although it would've robbed me of a chance for victory, I totally would've understood the decision. I came through the aid station at mile 17 and it was complete carnage! Cups everywhere, flying in the wind. Tables knocked over. Canopies pinned up against rocks from the wind. Volunteers taking shelter in their cars. One stuck their head out and asked if I needed anything. I replied no and they rolled their window back up. I forgot to mention, but at 15 aid station I wanted water to wash the Ucan down. As the volunteer handed me the water I tried to grab it, but my fingers were so cold even with gloves, that I couldn't wrap my fingers around to clench it and it just fell straight to the ground. I also couldn't get my hands to push the split button on my watch, so I didn't take any splits again until 19.

At the spillway at the top of the canyon I saw my friend Tyler Call. He took some photos and it was a boost to see a familiar face after what were the worst miles ever. I turned at the spillway, glanced back expecting to see Bryant 20-30 seconds back, but saw no one. Ok, this is it! 8-mile aerobic builder and you will win the Ogden Marathon. The worst of the storm calmed a bit at mile 19 and the headwind slowed to 15-20 MPH, which normally would be something to complain about. But today, it was a RELIEF. I started the half marathoner weave. I thought I'd have a lead biker by this point, but no one ever led me. I was left alone to navigate the 4-wide half marathoners here and later on the parkway.

At mile 21 I saw Dave. He had run up the canyon to cheer. When he saw me in first place, he let out a shout and got really pumped up. This made me unexpectedly emotional. Dave more than anyone knows exactly the misery I went through last year, here at this very spot. He passed me last year right here while I was throwing up. It was the lowest of lows. And now here at the same place he saw me and it was the highest of highs, I was winning the Ogden Marathon. He pumped me up bigtime and got me moving. I left the canyon for the parkway and ran under the tunnel at Rainbow, which was flooded. No big deal, my feet were already socked. Emerging on the other side, it was like someone flipped a switch. The rain stopped, the headwind ceased. It was as if my nemesis, the Ogden Marathon course had given up. It had thrown every thing imaginable at me and I had persevered. It finally conceded a victory to me; the score now Ogden Marathon 3 Riley 1.

I was able to get my splits back in the 5:20s and finished strong. I turned the corner at Grant Ave which I had turned so many times before in our training. I looked for my family and saw my bro in law first and then the others. I swerved over to that side of the road, high-fiving everyone. I was so tired, but so happy too. I'd made it through atrocious weather and I'd won. I broke the tape and then was just tired. My body kind of shut down. Some volunteers helped me a bit, and wanted to take me to get warm. But, I told them I couldn't leave the area until my boys finished. I waited and waited and no one came. Finally, ten minutes later Montana Man came in. He said he thought Anthony had dropped and wasn't sure what happened to Bryant. 5-6 more minutes past and Harrison came in. Harrison is a great young man from Ogden who put some serious miles in this spring and ran very well. Right after that Ken came in. He was struggling; his body had shut down miles earlier. But he made it. Ben never came; we later learned he and Bryant dropped.

No one will ever understand that 20-minute stretch of hurricane conditions that didn't experience it. Yes, the rest of the time was bad too, but my word that 20 minutes... Whoever managed to finish this race today will never forget it as it was likley the toughest race they've ever endured. Hats off to all that ran and huge shoutout to the volunteers braving those conditions; true soldiers. And again huge thanks to my family and everyone else intrumental in helping me accomplish this; you know who you are!

Link to article in the Standard.

9.8 miles easy on the parkway, avg pace 7:19/mile. Ken, Denver, and I did Dave's warmup with him to the 21st Street Pond from Kneaders. Then we dropped Denver back off at the cars and ran up the parkway to meet Ben, who was finishing a terrific workout, and we cooled down with Ben. My legs felt surprisingly decent, the three days off sure seemed to help.

​Beautiful morning out there!

10.05 miles in the Terrace with Ken, Jason, and Ben, avg pace 7:32/mile. My legs felt much worse today than yesterday. My left calf was pretty tight. The easy-paced runs will continue for awhile.

10.15 miles from Dave's house down Birdsong, crossing over Canyon Rd, up to the Canal and back with Dave, Ben, and Taylor, avg pace 7:05/mile. I massaged and rolled my left calf quite a bit last night and it definitely paid dividends, as my legs felt pretty good today.

I also went on the podcast, The Banyan Collective, this morning to discuss the Ogden Marathon. I'll post a link once they get it up, for anyone that's interested.

13.05 miles starting at Wheeler Canyon -> Ard & Nord -> Ice Box -> Maples -> Green Pond -> Ard & Nord, avg pace 7:54/mile with 2,025 feet elevation gain. I ran with Bret and it was incredibly green and beautiful up there this morning.

Check out the Mr. Goodyear's Neighborhood podcast​ here where I go to discuss the Ogden Marathon with Jon, Brandon, and Todd

10.4 miles up to Lewis Peak and back from the divide with Ken, Dave, Jason, Wolpert, Bret, and Corbin, avg pace 8:04/mile with 2,800 feet of elevation gain.

11.2 miles easy with Matt and Ben, avg pace 7:36/mile. We ran up 42nd, hit Gibs, cut thru golf course, down to Rainbow, parkway to Monroe, thru Enchanted roundabout, and back on Harrison.

13 miles easy from Beus trailhead down to Kneaders via roads, avg pace 6:56/mile. Ben had a last, long workout and needed me to help him arrange cars. I ended up running first five miles or so with Denver and Matt and then Ken met us and I ran with him the rest of the way.

AM: 9.45 miles easy in South Weber, avg pace 6:51/mile.

PM: 6 miles on the lower trails with Dave, Ken, and Taylor, avg pace 7:45/mile.

10.05 miles on a round-trip run from Rainbow Trailhead, up Indian Trail, down to Ogden Canyon, and back, avg pace 8:35/mile with 3,450 feet of elevation gain. I was sweating like crazy for some reason!

10.2 miles along the BST, up Malan's Peak, down into the basin, and back, avg pace 9:02/mile with 3,200 feet of elevation gain. I had just over 8,000 feet for the week before today and figured that I may as well go for 10k+

12.2 miles easy with Ken, Denver, Jared, Dave, Matt, and Jason, avg pace 7:04/mile. The sunrise was a brilliant, bright orange. The weather was easily the hottest morning of the year so far.

11.1 miles easy on the trails with Ken, Moss, and Brandon avg pace 7:58/mile.

POND TEMPO

I met Ken, Ben, Jason, and Jared at the 21st Street Pond. We warmed up to the canyon and then I tempo-ed four miles back to the pond. It was my quickest tempo on that particular route.

Splits: 5:01 4:55 4:51 4:57

It was an eventful morning. When we showed up to the parking lot, there was a drugged out guy in his mid-30s acting crazy shining a flashlight at us and then we realized he was also waving a knife around. He pointed at Ken and then raised the knife to his own neck, while Ken was still safely in his car. Ken called 911. The guy wandered off up the Parkway without ever saying a word to us or responding to us. Five minutes later he was face down on the concrete, handcuffed and surrounded by 4-5 cops.

Then later on the warm-up we had to run through some sprinklers and Jason, trying to avoid getting wet tried to cut in front of me and go around the sprinklers, but ran into me, caught my trail leg and I hip-planted hard on the Parkway. My right hip hurts still; I think it's going to have a big bruise.

9.05 miles easy from on home, avg pace 7:01/mile.

6.3 miles easy on the Riverdale Parkway with Dave, avg pace 6:47/mile.

Tomorrow, I am racing the Utah Valley Half. I'm hoping I have enough residual fitness from my Ogden Marathon training block to run a fast race. I haven't done much at all since then and mileage is low, but my only workout (this week's tempo) indicated that I did still have some fitness in these old legs. So, it should be fun tomorrow. It could still be pretty dang fast, but it could be a bit blah too. We'll see...

UTAH VALLEY HALF MARATHON

As I mentioned yesterday I wasn't sure if today would turn out well or not. I had a good tempo run Wednesday, but other than that had zero workouts since mid-May and was three weeks back from Ogden Marathon. I also wasn't sure if I could run a good half marathon off of marathon-specific training that I'd had done. I think today I learned that I may need a bit more time to recover after marathons now that I'm getting older; the legs just didn't have their normal power.

I went out behind Hales in second place and I figured I would try to run under 1:06 to get the $250 time bonus. I thought if I blew up I'd still take second place anyway. But I had underestimated Travis's fitness and once I faded at the end he reeled me in and crushed me in the last mile! I was on pace for 1:05:50 at the halfway point, and thought I had a chance, since the first half has all the uphills. But I started slowing quickly at mile 8 or 9 and then just held on the best I could.

Splits: 4:55, 10:09 (two miles), 5:07, 4:59, 5:01, 5:04, 4:56, 5:15, 5:11, 5:14, 5:16, 5:20, and 44 seconds for last tenth.

12.3 miles easy with Matt, Denver, Dave, Manny, and Brandon, avg pace 7:36/mile.

Ben Lomond Peak run with Ken and Jared, avg pace 8:56/mile with 3,600 feet of elevation gain.

Ken reaching the summit:

11 miles with Brandon on the trails, avg pace 7:39/mile. It was another ridiculously perfect morning in the high 50s.

AM: 9 miles easy in my 'hood with 8x30 second pickups, total avg pace 7:12/mile.

PM: 6 miles easy on Centennial Trail with Taylor, avg pace 6:49/mile.

10.4 miles easy up to Lewis Peak and back from the North Ogden Divide with Amy to celebrate our 10-year anniversary, avg pace 12:08/mile with 2,800 feet of elevation gain.

I ran up Mt Ogden Peak this morning via Beus Canyon shooting for the Strava CR, avg pace 11:07/mile with 4,700 feet of elevation gain. The top half of the route is hard to navigate with scrub oak covering the trail; it's especially hard to come down without tripping/falling. I did go down once, but didn't get hurt. Then I nailed my big toe on a rock, but managed to catch my balance without going down. I do think I may lose that toenail though...

15 miles easy with Ken, Jason, Ben, and Denver, avg pace 7:17/mile. Most of the run was me telling Ben and Jason how much better LeBron is than Curry just to bust their chops (not to mention it's true).

10.45 miles easy in the Terrace & South Ogden with Dave, Brandon, Ben, and Matt, avg 7:25/mile.

FARTLEK: 20X60 SECONDS FAST/MODERATE & 20X30 SECONDS FAST/MODERATE

I met Ken, Ben, and Jason at Ken's office and we warmed up 2.5 miles with two strides. Then Ken, Jason, and I started workout, while Ben went easy.

Plan was one hour fartlek where you alternate one minute reps and the 30-second reps. I ran 11.25 miles in 60 minutes on an aided downhill course, which works out to 5:20/mile. I was 4:36/mile on the fast sections and 6:21/mile on the moderate sections. I was slowing and bonking there at the end, but managed to finish it off well enough.

AM: 9.4 miles of slow recovery running, avg pace 7:27/mile.

PM: 4.25 miles in the heat, avg pace 7:01/mile.

6.7 miles easy on Centennial Trail in Riverdale/Uintah, avg pace 7:07/mile. I didn't get up to run this morning before our golf tournament, so I had to pay the price and run in the afternoon sun and with all those doughnuts, hamburgers, and nut rolls in my stomach from the tournament. Needless to say, it was not a comfortable run!

PLEASANT VIEW 5K

I ran the Pleasant View 5k this morning. I met Ben at 5:15 at the church and we ran 10+ miles before the race. I wanted a bit more, but we didn't really have time. Amy met us at 7:00 and then we drove up to the start.

I got out pretty good and tried to run controlled for that first mile. Last year I went out in 4:44 and was hurting bigtime the third mile in 5:02. I was determined to finish strong this year, which meant a slower start. I hit 4:54 for the mile, which is dirt road with soft rollers. Mile two is bombing downhill and is really where you bank time. I ran that in 4:36. Mile three starts out with a 40-foot climb followed by a gradual down and short uphill. I ran that in 4:49 (so much better than last year's 5:02). Then the last tenth is very steep downhill and you can really finish fast. I ran 4:19/mile pace and finished race 3 seconds faster than last year in 14:45.

After the race Ben and I did 3x8 second hilll sprints with two minutes full recovery and then just over a mile cool down.

Last Year       This Year

4:44                 4:54

4:38                 4:36

5:02                 4:49

17.4 miles easy with Ken, Dave, Ben, Matt, Bryant, and Brandon, avg pace 7:07/mile.