Rosswog Running Blog

Early Sunday afternoon (another beautiful day; that is, 61 degrees), I took to the streets and ran miles 17.8-23.3 of the Salt Lake Marathon Course.  I ran from my home to 700 East and 4500 South, down to 500 East, up to 1300 South, and then took one lap around Liberty Park before heading back home.  The total distance of the run was 13.3 miles at an easy pace.

In between studying for the CFA, I did my non-running workout that consisted of 410 sit-ups, a 90-second plank on elbows and toes, and 20 metronomes.

During work I felt a little soreness in my right knee; however, after icing it throughout the day it felt much better.  As a result of this soreness and after some tough runs over the past week, it was very much a recovery day.  Following work, I completed a 4.2-mile run (1.4 miles at an easy pace and 2.8 miles at marathon pace) on the treadmill.

In addition, it was a repeat of day four of the push-up challenge in which I completed a total of 71 push-ups that consisted of the following five sets: 14, 14, 10, 10, and a max out of 23 push-ups (the max out set was 8 more push-ups than the minimum; therefore, much better than last week).  I was also able to get in 410 sit-ups, 20 metronomes, and 60 (40, 30 lbs) curls.

After work, I did an easy-pace 1 mile run on the treadmill before deciding to finish the rest of my run outside.  I made the wrong decision.  After I got home, I ran outside and experienced how much dust was still in the air from the wind storm that came through the Salt Lake Valley earlier in the day.  At an easy pace I ran 3.2 miles in laps around the softball complex at Big Cottonwood Park.  My eyes are still watering from this run.

My non-running workout consisted of 210 sit-ups, 150 (40, 30, 16 lbs) curls, and 20 (60, 50 lbs) reverse curls.

I got in some speed play on the treadmill today. After work, I ran 5 miles of half-mile intervals (i.e., the slow halves at 8.5 miles per hour, while the fast halves at 10.5). In addition, I did a 0.3-mile at marathon pace and 1.4 miles at an easy pace (0.4 of this distance in my Nike Frees).

At my work’s gym, I accomplished 80 (40, 30, 16 lbs) curls and 20 (60, 50 lbs) reverse curls before heading home. While watching my Jazz win their ninth consecutive game (Jazz 101, Rockets 94), I completed 410 sit-ups, 10 metronomes, and repeated day five of the push-up challenge. Day five (i.e., week 2, day 2) of the challenge has absolutely been a brutal day for me in that I was for the second week in a row, unable to complete the max-out set minimum of 17 push-ups. I did the require 14, 16, 12, and 12 push-ups for the first four sets, but in the last set I was only able to accomplish 15 push-ups before my arms and chest locked up. As a result, I did a sixth set of 12 push-ups for a total of 81 push-ups on the day. I will see how I do on the repeat of day six before deciding whether to move on to week three or to repeat week 2 again.

I completed most of my non-running workout outside today.  Before heading home, I warmed up my legs by doing a 0.4-mile run on the treadmill at an easy pace.  After I got home, I ran over to Big Cottonwood Park and ran five laps around the softball complex before running back home.  The total distance of this run was 3.7 miles at an ease pace.

My non-running workout consisted of 420 sit-ups, 12 metronomes, 130 (40, 30, 16 lbs) curls, and 20 (60, 50 lbs) reverse curls.

On the eve before my third pre-Salt-Lake-Marathon long run, I took it easy and split up my non-running workout between the treadmill and outside.  After work, I did a 1.2 mile-run on the treadmill before heading home where I went on a 5.3-mile run over to and around the neighborhoods surrounding the vacant lot that use to be the Cottonwood Mall.

For my non-running workout, I accomplished 200 sit-ups, 150 (40, 30, 16 lbs) curls, and 80 (60, 50, 40, 30, 20 lbs) reverse curls.

After sleeping in this morning, I sucked it up and went on my third of three long-slow runs before the Salt Lake Marathon.  I basically followed the same course that I ran on my previous two long runs.  A recap of this course is as follows:

Started at Big Cottonwood Park ran to 45th South and 5th East to Liberty Park to The Gateway (i.e., the last 8.3 miles of the Salt Lake Marathon Course) then up to the State Capital building (1 lap around it) to the mouth of City Creek Canyon to the University of Utah by way of 11th Avenue, up to Fort Douglas by way of the Olympic Legacy Bridge, to Sugar House Park then back to Big Cottonwood Park.

Compared to the last long run that I completed on January 31st, I added 1.7 miles to this course by going up to Fort Douglas.  As a result, the total distance was 28.3 miles in a time of 4:32:00 (i.e., 9:36 minutes per mile).  Since it was Saturday, there was some traffic to deal with; however, I’m disappointed in my overall time.  My legs felt especially heavy, for the first seven miles of the run.  In addition, running the 0.3-mile steep incline up 300 North to the State Capital really drained my energy level.  After the run, my upper body felt really beat up.  Overall, I was happy to have finally completed a training run longer the 26-mile distance and I know that I have a lot of work to do to improve my conditioning.

In regards to my non-running workout, it was short and sweet in that I only completed 200 sit-ups; that is, my body was so trashed after the run, it took all the remaining energy I could summon just to complete these sit-ups.