Breaking the Wall

Sleep-in day. Ran at 5:30 AM. Tempo run with Ted. Took care of the potential bio-break problems in advance. The road conditions were better than on Tuesday - enough dry spots on the first mile to make much faster than normal. After that, only occasional snow patches. However, you did have to swerve around quite a bit to hit the dry spots on the first mile.

Splits by 0.5 - 2:53, 2:56 (5:49), 2:50 (8:38), next quarter in 1:26. After that, I saw we were behind the 5:40 guy by 9 seconds and went after him. Next quarter in 1:20 (2:46, 5:36, 11:24), then 1:22, 1:22, last 0.5 in 2:44, last mile in 5:30, total time 14:08, new inversion/cold/clothes/early morning season record. Ted finished at a steady 5:44 pace in 14:22. The pace felt relaxed for the first 1.75, after that it felt like a slow 10 K/fast half-marathon, which I am happy about.

On the way back I knew better than try to persuade Ted to run another tempo with me. Inversion has been hitting him harder than me, and he has developed a cough. So I ran it solo. Decided to cruise at a marathon pace. Ran 5:50 pace for the first 1.5 fairly relaxed, then picked up a bit to compensate for the uphill and the upcoming snow. Overcompensated a bit and ran the last mile in 5:44. Total time 14:29. First 1.5 felt like a true marathon pace just hanging out with the guys getting to know them. 5:44 on the last mile felt like a move try to break somebody. This is good news - this is how those speeds felt in shorts, 50 degree weather, and no inversion leading up to Ogden last year.

I felt some bounce in my legs, more efficient stride. I hope it is the Curt's contraption exercises kicking in, not just a fluke. We'll have to wait and see where that goes.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Lots of inversion. Did some more exercises on Curt's contraption, and then tug-of-war with the kids.

Easy run with Ted at our standard time - 4:45 AM. Met him on his way from BYU. A few miles into the run we saw a couple of dogs. Ted told me about being chased by an angry pit bull in Australia at around mile 15 of a long run. 

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Worked out on Curt's contraption. 

Woke up from a dream. I was running in the Top of Utah Marathon. We had a good pack. Suddenly around mile 9 everybody took too long to consume their drinks. I gulped down two Powerades in an instance and broke away. My form felt terrible, but I was in the lead. I went through my competition one by one trying to estimate how many of them would be able to cover the move and not pay for it by 23. It was too many, but I figured I still had a fighting chance for top 3. Suddenly around mile 10 my cell phone alarm woke me up to reality. To make the dream come true you need to train!

Standard Saturday 10 mile tempo run. The trail was clear except for the first mile. It was manageable at the start, but subsequently became worse. 5F temperature, standard 2.5 layers of clothes. Ted helped me on the first 2.5, hit the split in 14:37. After that, he needed to back off to an easy pace to avoid overtraining. 14:56 on the way back, the snow mile did not help (5:59), 29:33 at 5 miles. Coming back the snow mile was 6:04, with the first 0.5 in 3:06. This is as bad as it gets on this run - 180 turn knocks you out of rhythm, and then you have some wet snow to battle. Finally recovered, 14:55 for the next 2.5. Now getting the 59:00 guy becomes a possibility - I need to run only 14:32. 14:32 in shorts, 50-60 degrees, no inversion, and completely dry ground is a nice and relaxed rhythmic marathon pace. Under the conditions of today, 14:32 would require some serious effort. I decided to put in good effort, but not try to run at 10 K pace to get it. If it happens, it happens, otherwise, I'll take what my body and the road will give me.

With a mile to go I needed to run 5:42 to catch the invisible runner. If the road had been in its Thursday's condition, this would have been doable. But it was way too slippery. I ended up running it in 6:04 with the last 0.5 in 3:04. 14:54 for the last 2.5, 59:22 for the whole run, course record for the 2.5 clothes layers/inversion/below 20F conditions.

Got home, put on ankle weights, ran another 1.7 to make the total of 15 for the run.

Benjamin got sick with a fever. Not too bad, but not good to run with. Just ran with Jenny, and then Julia.

Got my Nada Chair in the mail to help me maintain proper posture while I sit. Unfortunately I do have to sit to make a living. We'll see if it makes any difference in running. I like it so far.

Easy run with Ted at our usual time - 4:45 AM. Met him on the trail.  We ran at about 7:10-7:20 pace most of the way. We split at 8.5. On the way back not being in chat mode any more I sped up to 6:30 pace without trying to run harder. The form felt very good. However, when it gets better I start to remember what it is supposed to feel like, and it drives me nuts. I wish I could do some measurements to see if what my intuition tells me is right. I feel my center of gravity tends to fall closer to the heel, too far back. So my choices are to either bring the foot unnaturally back to avoid landing in front of the center of gravity which does not give me full power on the push, or to land ahead of the center of gravity (overstride), which makes the quad do extra pulling forward - also inefficient. The ultimate solution is to fix the spine.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. 

Ran with Ted at 4:45 AM.  The weather was warmer. In preparation for the upcoming Striders 5 K we modified our usual workout. The trail was mostly clear. A mile in 5:20, then 0.5 jog, then another mile in 5:19. Then some more easy running, and 2.5 on the way back at marathon pace effort in 14:31. The form felt better. 5:20 pace felt too slow for 5 K, but too fast for 10 K. Not bad for the dark, 20 F, and 1.5 layers of clothes + inversion.

Ran with the kids in the evening. 

Easy run with Ted at our usual time. In preparation for the Striders 5 K did some strides (very appropriate). Hit a few 200 meter stretches between 36 and 38 seconds, and a few unmeasured stretches on the trail. All in the dark. 1.5 layers of clothes, inversion. The form felt very good on the accelerations. I would say normally I need a couple of months of 400 meter repetitions to get it to feel that good. I wonder if all those 400s are for me is a fancy way of stretching and strengthening the back. There have been days when I felt I could run a better tempo after 12x400 than before.

Saw the profile of the course. Not fast at all, good hill workout, though. 6% grade up for 0.5 mile is going to be fun. Anything sub-17 will be good.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Managed to sneak in some coding and work on a feature to notify people posting comments of a reply if they have a Fast Running Blog and identified it in the URL field. Almost done, need to test it before I make it live, but it will probably have to wait until tomorrow. After that, long awaited GPX course upload and time prediction.

Tune up for the upcoming Striders 5 K. Ran with Ted. Sleep-in day - ran at 5:30 AM. First time in the last two months, I believe, that we had a morning run with temperatures above freezing. Weather report said 36F right before we left. No inversion I could notice. Only 1 layer of clothes - tights and long-sleeved T-Shirt. 

After a 2.34 mile warm-up ran 1.5 at a conservative 5 K effort. The goal was to break 8:00 without cheating by taking advantage of a shorter distance and accumulating extra oxygen debt. Ran even pace , splits by 0.5 - 2:39 - 2:38 (5:17) - 2:39 (7:56). Felt strong, but also felt that the limits were not too far away. It felt like I was running a 10 K sticking my nose in the midst of things. Ted was not feeling good, so I ran this part alone. The form felt good, or I should say on the better side. It is never good in the sense of being where it ought to be.

I felt that by working the abdominal muscles I could push the air out more vigorously. That is a good sign. The need to push it out more vigorously at that pace  is perhaps not that good of a sign, and points to poor running economy. Nevertheless, you do what you can to push your VO2 up. Then when the
proper economy is restored, that extra VO2 capability will have a chance to shine.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Ran an errand to our bishop's house later in the evening. Total of  13 miles for the day. 

Easy run with Ted this morning at our usual time. Ted ran only 6 - a small, possibly a non-running  foot injury. After dropping him off, did 4x400 on the trail at a more aggressive 5 K pace - all between 77 and 78. Caught the 7:30 guy at the end. Wore the heart rate monitor. It showed that I was asleep - average HR of 118.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon.

Went to see Dr. Jex. My progress had stalled earlier as indicated by the measurements - 20 degree neck curvature and 9 mm forward head tilt - no improvement in over two months after a quick improvement in the first four. I did point out to him that we were going nowhere if we continued to do the same thing. So he came up with a couple of tests to troubleshoot the problem. Turned out that if I wore the shoulder weights on the right shoulder with 8 pounds on the front side and 2 pounds on the back side + Pettibon shoulder strap + the head weights, my neck curvature improves to 35 degrees - the highest we have ever seen it under any conditions by far. In other words, somehow the muscles in the shoulder region restrict the neck. And, according to the Pettibon teachings, whatever improvement you can get on a stress test can be eventually achieved without external means if you can train the muscles to hold that position.

To fix that I will be wearing the shoulder weights along with my head weights now. I did this today - it was quite a sight. The kids really enjoyed it. I've got to take a picture of that - I look like an English knight ready for the battle.

I am excited about this discovery. 35 degrees is within the range of normal. This means, if Pettibon is right, I have a good shot at developing an athletic neck, which is the key to developing an athletic spine everywhere else. Now I feel, after 6 months of somewhat of a windmill fight, we are getting somewhere.

Striders 5K tomorrow. 

Striders 5 K. Drove up to Ogden with Ted. Checked out the first mile of the course in the warmup. Paul's profile was correct. Did some strides. Felt good.

The starting line was full of trouble: Corbin Talley, Bob Thompson, Joe Wilson, Leon (Lion) Gallegos, Steve Ashbaker, Paul Petersen, and a few others. I told Ted earlier this race for me was more of an experimental nature. The goals were:

• To see how well I could run a 5 K with my current training - mild mileage, mild sporadic tempos, and overall focus on keeping it hard enough not to lose fitness, but mild enough to let the spinal improvements happen.
• Measure my max heart rate.
• See how well I do on hills of different grades at VO2 Max effort
  
• Be there to grab good circuit points and prize money in case nobody showed up or I had an exceptional race.
• Grab one circuit point for participation in case I got pushed down low enough to end up dropping this race from the circuit.
• Be able to add this race to the predictor.
• Learn enough about the course to evaluate the performance of other runners and offer them meaningful advice.
  
• Have fun racing the competition.

The pack was thick going out. Usual contenders. By the mile, Bob, Joe, Corbin, and Leon were in the lead, Paul a bit behind them, then Steve and another runner (need to look up his name) that used to run for Weber State a bit ahead of me. First mile in 5:27, HR at 170. Not bad for the grade. Leon started fading, passed him. 2 K in 7:03. The Weber State runner took it easy on the up, I did not want to take it that easy, passed him. Caught Steve on the down, but then could not stay with him on the immediate up. The Weber State runner passed me. Towards the end of the 0.5 uphill at 6.7% grade near 1.5 I averaged HR of 173 for the quarter, and maxed out at 175. I am thankful for having The Toy to record it. At that point I would not have been able to read it due to fuzzy vision from the effort.

2 miles in 11:18 (5:51). 4 K in 13:54. Finished in 17:05.9 in 7th place. Ahead of me - Corbin won with 16:25, then Bob 16:34, Paul 16:36 (nice breakthrough/comeback), Joe 16:50,Steve 16:53 (good performance, PR equivalent), Weber State graduate 17:00. 5 Fast Running Blogger in the top 10, I am happy about that - Chad finished 10th in 17:55. Three more between 10 and 20 - Ted (ArmyRunner), Scott Browning (NGU Siren), and Cody.

Afterwards, Bill Cobler took us for a cooldown on the 10 K course. It is going to be even hillier than the 5 K one.

Ran with Benjamin in the afternoon.

Easy run with Ted. Standard time, standard place. Legs still sore from Saturdays race - quads and gluts. Not too bad, probably a bit better than after Alta Peruvian last year. About the same as after the St. George Marathon. I am happy that the gluts are sore. It is a challenge for me to get them to work.

Ran in the afternoon with Benjamin. Total of 11.6 for the day.

Checked the news today and found this.  A body was discovered near the course we ran this morning in the river. I think this is the closest I've been to a murder scene running or otherwise. Nevertheless, I feel at peace that comes through faith in Christ. I have not always felt that peace, so I know the difference.

Tempo run with Ted. Legs still a bit sore from the race. Could tell kneeling down for the prayer in the morning, but could not tell walking down the stairs.. On the first 2.5 my plan was to run with Ted until it was about time to catch some guy. I was not sure what guy it was going to be. I wanted to beat my 4 K split in the 5 K race (13:54), but would have been happy just breaking 14:00.

The conditions were good. 30F, dry roads. Ted set a good pace and we hit 0.75 in 4:11. Then he faded a bit, and I decided it was time to catch the guy. From that point, I did every quarter in 1:22 with the exception of the one between 1.25 and 1.5, which was 1:21. Finished in 13:44, caught the 5:30 guy. HR eventually worked its way up to 160.

During the recovery jog I wanted to run slow, and we did.  On the way back I wanted to relax at my marathon race pace, and I sure did. First quarter in 1:29, HR still at 135. Then I took out a whip and hit myself to go faster. Next three quarters in 1:28, 5:53 for the mile, HR not even at 150. More whip. Next mile in 5:46, HR at 152, 154 on the uphill section. More whip. Now the pace is 5:40, and the HR is 157-158. Now we are talking marathon pace business. Finished in 14:29.

The whip was needed for two reasons - one, you need it at 4:45 AM, Ted served as one on the first tempo, but not on the second. And the legs were tired from the race at the very start. They were fresh enough on the first repetition, but tired on the second. They were working way too hard for the HR of only 150.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Benjamin is fully recovered from the cold. Jennifer ran for the first time since being hit by the fever on Saturday. 

Easy run with Ted in the morning. Was not feeling well. Stomach bloated. After a couple of bio breaks started feeling better. We had some profound conversations and were going about 7:30-7:40 pace, good for recovery. Profound conversations are important, recovery does not happen without them as silence makes you feel bored and you start to push the pace.

Did not follow Ted into town in anticipation of another bio break. Once left on my own, sped up to 6:30 pace, which felt just as good as 7:30. HR was a bit high, though, probably from subtle dehydration - 138-140 at 6:30 pace.

We decided to celebrate the Valentine's day with a mile time trial for Benjamin and  Fast Running Mommy.  Benjamin is sensitive to cold air at high speeds, so we decided to do it indoors at the BYU indoor track. To allow me to pace both, we did it separately. First, Sarah ran a huge post-Jacob PR of 7:33, which is not too far away from her life-time PR of 6:52. It is nice to be married to a woman that is in better shape 6 months after giving birth to her fifth child than she was in high school.

Afterwards, Benjamin ran a PR of 7:09.

Feel like I am catching a cold, a large doze of onions, garlic, and EmergenC. Nice present for Fast Running Mommy for Valentine's day, I am sure glad she is a good sport about it.

My original plan was to run a 5 mile tempo. However, due to feeling a little sick I decided to do whatever Ted would. He wanted to do some shorter repeats. We first thought we were going to do 5x1000 in 3:20. On the first one, we missed the mark on the trail. So we went to 0.75 getting 4:04.9 for the split. Then we did another 0.75 in 4:11.5. Ted was not feeling good. We decided today was not a good day for him to do a hard speed workout. He felt his form had problems. I suggested several 100 meter sprints. We did the first three in 17.7, 16.3, 15.8. On the last one I suggested we should get a bit competitive to see what we can do, but not so competitive that we get injured. I can be up to a whole second faster in 100 meter sprint if I have somebody racing me by my side.

I did the last one in 14.7, Ted felt his quads getting tight and backed off a bit to 15.0. I am very pleased with this time as it was done in less than ideal conditions for sprinting. The trail was wet, it was dark, I had to watch the road not to miss the mark, too early for the nervous system to be ready to sprint (6:30 AM), chilly (32F), the trail did curve some on that stretch, and I was wearing tights and a jacket. I suspect I would have have broken my PR of 13.9 today in ideal conditions. This gives me some food for thought - my speed work since St. George was limited to a couple of races, a few strides, tempo runs, and very infrequent 1.5 mile repetitions. However, I have been working on my core strength, and doing Pettibon treatment. Back when I set my 100 PR I did 10x60 up a 3% grade once a week for a couple of months. This provides an argument for my hypothesis that for a distance runner, top speed comes more from proper spinal structure than from explosive strength. And if that is true, then for a true distance runner (slow-twitch dominant) an all out 100 meter sprint is a reliable test of biomechanical efficiency.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon.

Easy run with Ted in the morning at our usual time. The form felt good. Had a discussion about how effective running doubles is for marathon training. I think the consensus was you need to go at least 10 in one run consistently, and do frequent tempo runs of 10 - 12 miles at marathon pace. However, Ted is more in favor of longer runs than I.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Benjamin ran with Sarah and her new training partner Adrianne this morning, so it was just Jenny and Julia.

Have been doing 1 minute sit-up sessions in the last few days. Managed 40 in one minute today, that's a a record. In November, I could only do 37 in two minutes, but I was sick that day. 

The throat was still scratchy. Figured I was one really hard workout away from coming down with a cold that will seriously impair me, but could handle a lighter workout. Decided to cruise along through the standard Saturday 10 mile tempo. Warmed up and cooled down with Ted, but we ran the tempos separately.

Road conditions were great. Temperature a little cold, 27F, but not too bad. Went at a steady pace on the standard course. 2.5 out in 14:38, 180 turn and back in 14:40, out again in 14:37. HR was 150 for the first 4 miles, then drifted up to 155 on the 0.5% grade mile, then backed down to 152. On the last one, saw that I was only 9 seconds behind the 5:50 guy. Decided to catch him. Hit 5:46 mile. HR went up to 155. Kept 5:50 pace on the rise, HR up to 157. 0.5 to go, and he is still ahead. Shifted gears to 5:40. Legs are tired, do not want to do it. HR up to 158. Quarter to go, he is still ahead. I really need to get going. Sped up to 5:20, HR at 164. Caught him with 100 to go, then being tired and feeling the job was done eased off and finished with him. Last mile in 5:42, total time 58:20, last 2.5 in 14:26.

Ted set a course PR with a low 1:01. We cooled down for another 4+ miles to make the total 16.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Benjamin turned 8 today. He will be getting baptized in 2 weeks.

Worked on the GPX course analyzer. As of this writing, it can read,parse,store,update, delete, and compute the total distance. Probably another 2 hours of work from first release.

I am in the catch 22 with the Fast Running Blog - to be able to make it better, I need to work on it full-time. To work full-time it needs to generate revenue to replace my other full-time work. To generate that much revenue, it need to become better. But, hopefully, one step at a time, we can get into a better cycle. The volume of data , the number of active bloggers, and the amount of search engine traffic (three variables that drive the revenue) has doubled in the last three months. Hopefully the trend will continue.

On the positive side, Marathon And Beyond accepted my proposal to write an article about the progress of runners on Fast Running Blog. 

Easy run with Ted. We had another guy named Ricardo from our church join us for a little bit. Ricardo is just starting to run, so he ran 1.5 out with us. 

Contemplated doing 5 mile tempo, but the throat was still sore. No cough or fever, but uncomfortable. Figured a hard run could very well do me in. Additionally, there was a lot of snow on the trail. So we ran easy.

Shortly after dropping off Ricardo, we saw a runner ahead of us going at a good pace. We went for a chase to find out who it was. Sped up to 6:00 pace for a short while. Turned out it was Katy Bowen, a BYU steeplechaser.  Ran with her a bit, then it was time for her to turn around.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Still doing core strength work - sit-ups and Curt's contraption.

The throat still scratchy. Decided to take it easy. Ted was also feeling tired. So we jogged and chatted for 10 miles. The roads have cleared up.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Did a 100 meter time trial for Benjamin on the trail. He ran 20.0, 20.2 up a slight grade, and then 19.6 down. I ran those with him. I told him he would be ready to run 2 miles a day when he break 7:00 on the mile, and 19.0 on 100.

Ran with Ted at 4:45 AM. Met him on the trail - he started from BYU. My throat got better, but still did not want to take chances with it. After some discussion we decided to do a mile at Ted's 10 K pace effort, followed by 4x400 a bit faster, but not too hard.

We ran the mile in 5:44. The quarters were 1:23, 1:21, 1:20, 1:18. Each of them felt easier. I felt my form was getting better as we went along.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. 

Ran with Ted at 5:30 AM. Standard sleep-in day. The throat finally felt almost 100% healthy, good enough to try something fast. Ran the standard tune up 1.5 miles in 7:54.9, quarter splits 1:19 - 1:19 - 1:20 - 1:18 - 1:19 - 1:19. HR peaked at 165 on the fourth quarter, then fluctuated between 162 and 165 for the remainder of the interval. 1:20 quarter was caused by the caution of trying not to hit the gate in the dark. This  gave me enough of a break from the pace to start feeling very good. Then I sped up to a 1:18 quarter, and that felt a bit too fast after a while. 1:19 quarters felt just right. Overall, I think the right 10 K pace for a flat course in 1:20 quarters.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. 

Slept in this morning, this time not on purpose. Ted woke  me up at 4:59 AM. It was snowing hard, but still fairly warm. Ran about 3 miles with him. Then he headed to BYU, and I continued on the trail. Did 2x100, one untimed, the other in 19.2. Then 2x400 76.0 - 75.5. Felt good.

Ran with the kids in the evening.

Exciting moment in the history of Fast Running Blog. I just barely gotten the course magic tool to the point of the first release. UI is still rather rudimentary, but at least on my Slate Canyon Loop, which I used for testing, it rocks. I tuned the algorithm until it correctly predicted every quarter split for an evenly paced hard run. If you want to give it a try, login to your account, then go to Course Tool. Add New Course, then you need a GPX file. You can make  one at gmap-pedometer.com.

When I get around to it, I'll add a map similar to gmap-pedometer so you can it everything in one shot here. Also, add the ability to share courses with the public, display elevation profile graphically, add comments and notes to the course, and maybe a few other things. But now it is time to get ready for bed. Running the Strider's 10 K tomorrow.

Striders 10 K - 36:07.9, 7th place. Cold day - about 26F at the start. Tough course. It highlighted my weaknesses. I do not do well on a long hill, or immediately afterwards. I have tried to work on it in the past and discovered that training on a long hill only makes things worse for me. The root of the problem is probably neurological or biomechanical. That in combination with racing at a higher than normal percentage of HR and VO2. I remember being able to drop the competition on a hill when I was slower, had lower VO2 Max, higher HR, and raced at a lower percentage of HR.

We had the same field as last week, with the addition of Dennis Simonaitis. We started out slow, then gradually warmed into a harder effort as we started the climb. There was a bit of a slight downhill to give us a break. I maintained a steady effort, and it resulted in pulling ahead a little bit. I figured I could use a bit of a buffer before the serious uphill. Then we started the climb for real. 5:59 on the first mile (going by the mile marks). The lead pack pulled away from me at first, then I gradually reeled them in right as we approached the end of the hill. Then it was immediate down. I had a hard time shifting gears, and dealing with the slippage and they got away. Did fine for a while - had them in view, probably within 10 seconds for another mile or so. Missed 2 mile split.

Then the nasty climb on the third mile that gains 300 feet. That is 6% grade for a mile. My Garmin 305 (The Toy) showed quarters at 7:00 pace, HR finally started reading normally as I had worked up some sweat. Steady 166. The leaders kept moving away further and further. 18:27 at mile 3, 12:28 for the last 2 miles. I was running with Steve Ashbaker for a while, but then he started to drop back. The leaders have lost Kenneth Richardson, and I hoped to catch him. However, the long uphill mile put me out of commission. Even though we were now going downhill, I could not get into a good rhythm for a while. My HR dropped to 155. Next mile in 5:27, 23:54 at 4 miles, finally caught the 6:00 mile guy.

Around the 4th mile mark I finally started getting into a good rhythm. Did the next downhill mile in 5:09. Closed a bit on Kenneth. Dennis Simonaitis went by - he was doing a win-the-masters paid tempo run of sorts. Had he been racing he would have gone out with the leaders. I thought of latching on him, but did not feel strong enough to do it.

Another little bit of downhill, and how we are climbing the final hill. Closed a bit on Kenneth at the start of the hill. The Toy reported a 1:38 quarter. Steve is not too far behind. I figured I focus on catching Kenneth, I'll be safe from Steve's kick.

Got to the end of the hill. Kenneth put on a move to make me not want to catch him, and opened a wider gap. We stayed in that order to the finish. 34:59 at mile 6 (5:56).

Bob won in 34:28, then Corbin 34:30, Joe 34:42, Paul 34:47, Dennis 35:47, Kenneth 35:56, me 36:07.9, Steve 36:28, Chad 37:15. Ted finished 18th in 39:13.

Splits by the GPS (distance 6.30): 5:48 - 5:40 - 6:37 - 5:31 - 5:17 - 5:40). Interestingly enough, other GPS's reported similar discrepancies both in distance and in splits. I wonder why. The course was certified.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Later we went to the dinner/talent show at our church. We did our famous Cat In The Hat skit, with Julia and Joseph starring as Thing 1 and Thing 2, Benjamin and Jenny as the boy and the girl, Sarah being the mom and speaking the part of the fish, Jacob being the actual fish, and me acting as the Cat. My favorite part is when Thing 1 and Thing 2 come out of the box, and start running around making a mess.

Sarah's Carob Chip Cookies won the first prize in the chocolate chip cookie bake off. I asked our Elder's Quorum President earlier if carob chips were allowed. He said that it would be OK, but suggested our chances of winning would be greatly reduced. He and his family ended up taking second.

Ted called the night before and said he would be doing a fitness test with his cadets. I figured I join them. As usual, it took me a bit longer to get ready in the morning than I anticipated due to misplaced clothing items. So I got to the start of the test late. Due to the slippery road conditions, they were running their 2 mile time trial indoors. I took off the jacket and gloves, but still had my tights and T-shirt. Too hot for indoors.

Knowing that decided to run at a good tempo pace that would not overheat me. Was planning on about 11:00 - 11:05. Figured I would slow down on the second mile due to overheating. To my surprise, I managed a steady pace at a fairly comfortable effort. Most of the 0.2 laps in 1:05, occasionally 1:04, and there were a couple in 1:06 when I could not pass slower runners in time before hitting a congestion. On the last lap, I sped up a bit and ran 1:01, this would be 5:05 pace. Total time 10:45, with the splits of 5:23.5 and 5:21.5. HR was 163 at the mile, but then crept up to 168 before the last lap, and maxed out at 172 when I picked it up. 168 HR feels a lot more miserable outdoors. Ted ran 11:01, also a surprise considering his race, overall fatigue, and doing 101 sit-ups in 2 minutes + 83 push-ups in 2 minute prior to the run. I suppose Sunday rest did him some good.

Afterwards he and I ran a few more miles to make it 10 for me for the day.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon.

An easy run with Ted in the morning on the Provo River Trail towards the Utah Lake. Towards the end, did some accelerations, all at about 5:05-5:10 pace. First 6x100. Then I felt 100 was too short, I did 200 in 39. Then 400 in 76. Decided to do another 400 for a round number of speed - 75.5.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Benjamin earned his Bobcat badge in Cub scouts. This is the first time any of my children earned a scouting award. I got to hold him upside down while the award was being attached to his uniform according to the custom.

Made some improvements to the course tool. You can now add course description, and share courses with others. Feel free it give it a try. You can map out any course in the world as long as you can follow it on a GMap. Right now you have to go to GMap Pedometer to do it. I plan to fix it in the next couple of weeks so you can do your courses right here on the Fast Running Blog, depending on when I can find a coding time window.

Tempo run on the standard 5 mile course on the Provo River Trail at 4:45 AM. Warmed up with Ted - he started from BYU. He was feeling tired, so I ran the tempo alone. Due to the early hour and the lack of sleep I had a hard time warming into pace and pushing myself. It is a strange feeling when it happens. Subjectively, you feel like you are working and cannot go any faster. But HR readings are low, and the pace matches it. With that in mind, I adjusted my expectations. My goal was to hit somewhere between 28:20 and 29:00 minutes.

First quarter was 1:28, and I felt lazy. Then sped up to 1:27, still sleepy and lazy. Then did 1:25, and settled into a steady 1:25 per quarter pace. Mile in 5:43, next mile in 5:41, 14:15 at the turnaround(2:51). I felt like I was working hard, but HR was around 148-149. For a while, I thought The Toy was wrong, but it was too consistent to be wrong. Plus the early hour effect should have been contributing something.

A bit of a struggle with the rhythm after the 180 turn, then recovered. To test the measurements, I decided to pick up the pace to see what happens. 17:05 at 2 miles (5:41,2:50). I settled into a steady 1:23 per quarter pace. HR got up to 157. Unfortunately, as soon as I did, I had an urgent need for a bio-break. Trying not to break the rhythm I did it as quick as I could, HR dropped to 143. When I got going again, I had a hard time finding that magic rhythm. 22:42 at 4 miles, 5:37. Uphill quarter in 1:26, the next one in 1:25. Now it is time to get down to business and catch the 5:40 guy. But I am too sleepy to deal with as much pain as it takes, next quarter in 1:25 again. Now it is really time to get serious. Ran the last quarter in 1:20, had to dodge a construction cone at the end - they are building a new bridge around Geneva road and things are quite a mess right now. HR went up to 162.  Last mile in 5:37, total time 28:18, last 2.5 in 14:03, good negative split.

Ran with the kids in the afternoon.