| Location: Orem,UT,United States Member Since: Jan 27, 1986 Gender: Male Goal Type: Olympic Trials Qualifier Running Accomplishments: Best marathon: 2:23:57 (2007, St. George). Won the Top of Utah Marathon twice (2003,2004). Won the USATF LDR circuit in Utah in 2006.
Draper Days 5 K 15:37 (2004)
Did not know this until June 2012, but it turned out that I've been running with spina bifida occulta in L-4 vertebra my entire life, which explains the odd looking form, struggles with the top end speed, and the poor running economy (cannot break 16:00 in 5 K without pushing the VO2 max past 75).
Short-Term Running Goals: Qualify for the US Olympic Trials. With the standard of 2:19 on courses with the elevation drop not exceeding 450 feet this is impossible unless I find an uncanny way to compensate for the L-4 defect with my muscles. But I believe in miracles. Long-Term Running Goals: 2:08 in the marathon. Become a world-class marathoner. This is impossible unless I find a way to fill the hole in L-4 and make it act healthy either by growing the bone or by inserting something artificial that is as good as the bone without breaking anything important around it. Science does not know how to do that yet, so it will take a miracle. But I believe in miracles. Personal: I was born in 1973. Grew up in Moscow, Russia. Started running in 1984 and so far have never missed more than 3 consecutive days. Joined the LDS Church in 1992, and came to Provo, Utah in 1993 to attend BYU. Served an LDS mission from 1994-96 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Got married soon after I got back. My wife Sarah and I are parents of eleven children: Benjamin, Jenny, Julia, Joseph, Jacob, William, Stephen, Matthew, Mary, Bella. and Leigha. We home school our children.
I am a software engineer/computer programmer/hacker whatever you want to call it, and I am currently working for RedX. Aside from the Fast Running Blog, I have another project to create a device that is a good friend for a fast runner. I called it Fast Running Friend.
Favorite Quote:
...if we are to have faith like Enoch and Elijah we must believe what they believed, know what they knew, and live as they lived.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie
Favorite Blogs: |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2855.76 | 596.44 | 364.50 | 165.61 | 3982.31 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | |
| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Provo River Trail: 5 mile tempo run in 28:00.7 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| easy |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 3.00 | 13.00 |
| Provo Canyon: 12x400/200 down avg. 70.1 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| easy |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.30 | 0.00 | 0.70 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Provo River Trail: easy run |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Provo River Trail: 5 miles in 27:47 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 | 13.25 |
| Provo canyon: 4x100, 12x400 down avg. 68.3 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| easy |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 0.00 | 2.50 | 1.00 | 13.00 |
| Provo River Trail: 2.5 tempo in 13:31 + 5x1 minute |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 0.00 | 1.50 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| easy |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.25 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 8.25 |
| 1 mile in 5:30 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.30 | 0.00 | 13.40 | 0.00 | 19.70 |
| St. George Half-Marathon, long course (about 13.4) 1:15:44 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Provo Canyon: 2x3 miles down 16:32, up 17:43, snow at the top for 0.5 miles |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| easy |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 13.00 |
| Provo Canyon: 12x400 down, headwind on the last 3, avg. 69.6 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| easy 10 + "always on the run" |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Provo Canyon: 3 miles down 17:12, snow on the road |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.00 | 7.50 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Provo River Trail: 10 mile tempo in 57:44, last 2.5 in 14:12 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.90 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.10 | 13.00 |
| Provo Canyon: 5x1000 down 3:07-3:08-3:08-3:04-3:02 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| easy run |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 | 13.00 |
| Provo Canyon: 4x100, 12x400/200 down avg. 67.6, tailwind first 6, headwind afterwards |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.50 |
| easy |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.30 | 0.00 | 0.20 | 0.50 | 8.00 |
| 800 in 2:33 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.40 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.10 | 13.50 |
| SLC Track Club 5 K 16:29, 3rd place |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Provo Canyon: 5 miles down in 27:51, first 3 miles snow on the road, last mile 5:16 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| easy |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 | 13.00 |
| Provo River Trail: 12x400/200 avg. 69.7 (out/back alternating) |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| easy |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.50 | 7.50 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 13.50 |
| Provo River Trail: 10 miles flat in 57:09, last 2.5 in 13:44. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| easy |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Provo Canyon: 2x3 down 15:52.5, up 17:09.5 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| easy, in the afternoon to BYU and back for "always on the run" |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 | 13.00 |
| Provo Canyon, 12x400 down, tailwind, 67.0 avg. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| easy |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.75 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 0.75 | 8.00 |
| 0.75 in 3:56, 2x400 at tempo pace |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.70 | 14.00 |
| SLC Track Club 10 K, 33:40, 2nd place |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.78 | 0.00 | 4.22 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| Slate Canyon Loop twice (4.22) in 23:23.9 |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.50 |
| Frisco,TX: easy |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 | 11.00 |
| Frisco,TX: track workout, 4x100, 8x400 avg. 70.0, wind |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Easy run with George - 10 miles. It was very slippery. Additionally, some "always on the run" miles, and a run with Benjamin and Jenny. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 0.00 | 1.50 | 0.00 | 13.50 |
| Easy run on the Slate Canyon loop with tempo pace accelerations. Ran 0.5 in 2:41 flat from my house. Tried to relax and focus on using the hamstrings and the gluts as much as possible especially when going uphill. Total time for the 10 mile run was 1:07:58. Additionally did my "always on the the run" miles, and ran with Benjamin during his birthday race. Today is Benjamin's birthday. He turned 7. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.50 | 7.50 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 17.50 |
| 10 mile tempo run on the Provo River Trail by Geneva Road. Mostly flat course - slightly almost invisibly rolling, but I can never run as fast there as I do on a true flat course. Ran 2.5 out, then back, then repeat. First 2.5 in 14:23. Back in 14:29, next 2.5 in 14:26. Feeling OK, just regular 5:45 - 5:50 pace, nothing special. Then the last 2.5 really hard in 13:37 at a steady pace. That is quite a bit faster than I expected for the total time of 56:55. A couple of weeks ago I ran it in 13:44, and that surprised me. It felt different than two weeks ago - more aerobic. What is interesting is that at the end I had virtually no kick, but I was able to hit the last 0.5 in 2:40 at a steady pace. Additionally, did the "always on the run miles" during the day, and ran with Benjamin and Jenny on my cooldown. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.28 | 0.00 | 6.72 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| Sarah dropped me off at the start of the Provo River 10 miler in the South Fork of the Provo Canyon. She and the kids when sledding. I warmed up 2 miles, and then started the tempo workout. First, 3.22 miles down from the 10 miler starting line to the Vivian park. Cold, headwind, hard to get going - 17:40. The road was good as always - they plow it very well. Then a bit over 2 miles treading through the snow to Nunns Park, and another 3 mile tempo to the mouth of the Provo Canyon. Snow in the first half-mile, then mostly dry. Hard to get going with cold feet. Started out at 6:00 pace - all I could do on that snow. Finally was able to shift gears and get going. Last mile in 5:20 for the total of 16:32 for 3 miles. Quads were cramping up a bit while I was trying to shift gears. Now cooldown to Borders at Riverwoods where Sarah was going to pick me up. But I wanted to see how fast I could go with warm feet, and decided to run a half-mile at a tempo pace. Now feeling much better - 2:37. Additionally did the "always on the run miles", and ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.50 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Easy run in the morning with Eric and George. Eric just returned from Italy where he saw the Olypimpics and visited the people he taught there 25 years ago while serving a mission. He found them still very active in the Church and working hard to build the Lord's kingdom. Then we dropped Eric off and it was time for George's tempo run. We did the Slate Canyon Loop (2.11 miles) in 15:29. This was a little bit slower than a week ago, but it was colder today. Total of 10 miles in the morning. Throughout the day I did my "always on the run" miles, and ran with Benjamin and Jenny. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 | 13.00 |
| Speedwork day. 12x400 with 200 jog recovery in the Provo Canyon downhill. Fairly strong headwind. Averaged 69.4. When the wind was strong, some were as slow as 70.7. When it weakened, started breaking 69. On the last one hit the first 200 in 35 with headwind, then it weakened, and I started moving my legs as fast as I could visualizing the end of a race and an imaginary competitor I was trying to outkick. To my surprise, 67.3 with 32 seconds for the second half. Two weeks ago I averaged 67.0, but that was with tailwind. Additionally, my regular "always on the run" miles, and a run with Benjamin and Jennifer to reach the daily goal of 13 miles. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.75 | 1.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Easy run with Eric and George. Motivated by his latest trip, Eric is brushing up his Italian. He served a mission in Italy a while ago and spoke it well then, but it's been 25 years. We did some 400 m accelerations in the middle - 1:27, 1:24, 1:21 (downhill), 1:18 (downhill), and 1:21. Eric did the first two and then we dropped him off, George did all. I am curious to see what will give George a breakthrough. The total length of the morning run was 10 miles. As usual, I added on some "always on the run" running, and ran with Benjamin and Jenny. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.50 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 8.00 |
| Tomorrow is a race. 15 K in the Salt Lake Track Club Winter Series. So today is my taper day. Ran easy 6 miles with George in the morning, with the exception of a tune-up 0.5 mile (flat) at what I perceived to be a 15 K pace effort. Hit it in 2:40. Later during the day, ran with Benjamin and Jenny + "always on the run", which makes the total for the day 8 miles. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.70 | 0.00 | 9.30 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| Salt Lake Track Club 15 K. 51:13, 3rd place. Steve Ashbaker and I had a plan to go out at 5:30 pace and alternate leads every 2 minutes until the 10 K mark, then get into a race. We made it through the first 1 K in 3:19, then 5:23 for the mile, 6:40 at the 2 K, 10:04 at 3 K. It was my turn to lead. By that time only Alexander Thomas was ahead of us, and he was close enough to make it tempting to catch him. I picked it up a bit, and pulled up hoping that both of us could draft for while instead of trading leads. I also had secret hopes to sustain 5:20 pace for the whole race. Unfortunately Steve was not feeling that great, and the little surge dropped him. I tried to follow Alexander, but he picked up the pace shortly after I caught him and lost me for good. Additionally, it seems like my cardiovascular system was working better than my legs - a pick up to sub 5:20 pace even for a short while caused a cramp in the quads. This has happened before. Well, I'll have to figure out how to fix this. 2 miles in 10:44, 4 K in 13:23, 3 miles 16:19, 5 K 16:56. Shortly before mile 4 I hear "good job, guys" from an aid station. That means there is somebody else catching me. I've heard this before, too, and at a very bad place - 0.75 miles away from the finish of the Ogden Marathon last year. Paul Peterson was the $250 that ran past me to take third. That was alright though and I suppose I deserved it - I've done nasty things to him before. I have been the $250 that went past him at mile 22, $1000 that ran away from the start after staying the night at his house, and $1000 that took off at the half-marathon mark. Paul is a great guy and we are good friends. Has Steve regrouped after the surge? No it is Mike Kirk, and he is having a very good day. I try to go with him, and for a while it looks like I can handle it. 4 miles in 21:48, turnaround in 25:30, supposedly 5 miles in 27:09, supposedly 6 miles in 33:02, 10 K in 34:05. Mike has dropped me shortly after 5 miles, and is gradually pulling away. I try to hold my ground, but he is doing better. If only I could relax my quads a bit... 12 K in 40:59. I am trying to stay as close as possible to the 5:30 pace. 13 K in 44:24. Now try to get close to 5:20 for the last mile. 14 K in 47:52. I shift gears after mile 9 for the kick, and manage 3:21 for the last 1 K to finish in 51:13. 50:40 for Mike, 49:27 for Alexander Thomas. Steve finishes a disappointing 7th in 52:38. But I am sure he will soon have a much better race. This one was a fluke for him. With the warm up, cooldown, and the "always on the run" miles, and the kids runs, total mileage for the day is 15. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 1.00 | 3.00 | 2.00 | 15.00 |
| Tempo run with Steve Ashbaker today in the Provo Canyon. We did 2 repetions of 3 miles downhill starting at Nunns park and finishing at the mouth of the Provo Canyon. Steve had already run 5 miles in the morning and was feeling tired. We decided to do the first one at 5:30 pace trading leads every minute. 5:21 for the first mile. Steve asked me if I minded if we slowed down. I agreed. Our next mile was 5:16. So much for slowing down. On the last one we picked it up to 5:08 to hit 15:45 for the total. Not bad especially with the head wind. Then we jogged back to the start again. Turned out Steve did not realize we were doing another repetition. Since he was already feeling out of gas, we decided to go easy on the second one, and we sure did. 5:42 for the first mile. It felt so good. When Steve heard the split, he picked it up a bit during his turns, and I responded with the same on mine. Second mile in 5:24. The pace kept slighly creeping up. This makes me think of a passage in the Book of Mormon: " And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well—and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell." (2 Nephi 28:21). I had only hoped for a sub 5:20 last mile. However with a quarter to go I realized that if we did it in 74, our average for both tempo runs would be 5:20 per mile. It was my turn to lead. We ran it in 73 to give us 5:08 for the last mile, and 16:14 for the total. Then Sarah came with the kids to the park and brought us some fruit. I ran another mile with Benjamin and Jennifer. Afterwards, Steve came to our house, had dinner with us, and we set up his blog. With the "always on the run" miles, the total mileage for the day was 15. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.75 | 1.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Easy run with Eric and George this morning. Did 5x400 at about 5:40 pace on average. Eric did 2, then we dropped him off, and George did the rest. Had a nice conversation about benefits of healthy eating and proper money management. The total length of the morning run was 10 miles. Sarah had an ultra-sound today. We found out it is going to be a boy, and she is due on July 16. While we were waiting, Benjamin and I went for a 1 mile run. Later in the day, took Jennifer and Julia for a mile. Julia ran 1000 m, then we put her in a stroller. Then Jennifer picked up the pace and set a record for 400 m - 2:00. I jogged another mile later in the evening to make the total 13 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 | 13.50 |
| Speed workout in the Provo Canyon today. 12x400 starting at the Canyon Glen Park downhill with 200 m recovery jogging back up after each interval. With a moderate tailwind I was able to average 66.6. The slowest repetion was 67.7, while the fastest was 65.5 (the last). The first two were 65.6 and 65.9. I think there is a bit more downhill on that section and the tailwind was a bit stronger. I do not think there was any tailwind on the slowest repetition - at least I felt no headwind jogging back after doing it. That is the fastest I've ever been able to do this workout, even with tailwind.
During the warmup I jogged with a runner named Gary who is also a computer programmer. I was also fortunate to find a partner for my cooldown - Sam, a UVSC student who is also participating in the ROTC program. In both cases we had a nice chat.
After the cooldown, Sarah came with the kids. I ran another mile with Benjamin in 8:41, while Sarah ran with Jennifer. Then I taught Benjamin to ride a bike while Sarah finished the rest of her run.
With the "always on the run" miles the total mileage was 13.5 for the day.
The form during the intervals felt more relaxed and coherent. I felt that my muscles were working in harmony more than they normally do. I felt I was able to run with a very wide relaxed stride like I did when I was 13.
Here is what I find interesting. Back in Russia they often tested us on a ten-fold broad jump - maximum distance in ten steps from a standing start going from one foot to the other and landing into a pit. They do have correlational chart the data that ties the jump to other metrics. Look for the second table. The Russian term for the the ten-fold jump is Десятерной прыжок. If you see Бег and then a number, it is running that distance in meters.
When I was 13, I ran 60 meters in 9.3 and jumped 21.50 meters. According to the chart, my jump corresponds to 9.0, which is a little faster, but still within the allowable range. I could run 200 in 30.7. The chart does not have a 200, but it does 300. I am fairly confident I could have run 300 in 48.0 at that time. My stride felt relaxed.
Now at the age of 17 I jumped 27.50 meters. However, my best 200 meters was 27.5. This would convert to about 13.9 in 100 meters. The chart shows that with that kind of a jump I ought to be able to sprint much faster - 11.9. My stride was not relaxed any more - it felt very tense. I have not been able to fix it since.
I noticed that there is a way to relax my stride - run with reduced resistance - eg. downhill and with a tailwind. If I train like this for a while, I start getting better results even in regular or high resistance running - flat/still air or uphill/headwind. However, training with high resistance makes me tense up, and although I get stronger, my form gets so bad that I start running slower either with high or low resistance. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.00 | 0.50 | 1.50 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Ran with George this morning. Eric was out of town. We did 6x400 on the Slate Canyon loop. George is getting faster. He averaged 1:20 on the first 5 which we did downhill. Then the last one was flat. He managed 1:25. What I am particularly happy about is that he is holding his ground throughout the whole interval which he could not do before. So far it looks like George is the type that responds better to intervals than to slow jogging or tempo runs. Total length of the morning run was 10 miles as usual. In the afternoon and evening did my usual "always on the run" miles, and ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Jennifer set her mile record today of 9:31. When we started out it looked like it was going to be a regular run. 1:25 for the first 200. Then Jennifer got excited and started pushing the pace. Benjamin took my suggestion to be a gentleman and break the wind for his little sister. Not only did he break the wind, but he also pushed the pace. 2:40 for the 400, 3:50 at 600, and 5:01 at the turnaround. After the turnaround Jennifer complained the pace was too fast. We slowed down to a 10:00 pace for the next quarter to give her a break. 7:31 with a quarter to go. I thought she was going to do another quarter at 10:00 pace, which with a bit of a kick would give her a respectable sub-10:00. A record was clearly out of the question - she would have had to repeat a PR on a quarter to get it. Well, little Jennifer is a feisty creature and she got excited again. To my amazement she accelerated to a 2:00 last quarter to break her 1 mile PR by 1 second. Go Jenny!!! What is even better is that Benjamin and Jennifer have not been getting along all day long. After the run, Jennifer thanked Benjamin for breaking the wind for her, and they hugged each other. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.20 | 0.00 | 1.30 | 0.00 | 13.50 |
| Started the day with a 1 mile jog. Another 2 mile jog in the early afternoon. Met George on accident. He was also doing his "always on the run". Looks like this is becoming a fashion. Took Benjamin and Jennifer for their run in the late afternoon, and then started my real run. Did 3 miles with a babyjogger. First Benjamin really wanted to get a rock half a mile away from the house, but did not want to run another mile. Then Julia needed to be taken away from the house for a few minutes while Sarah did the clean up after dinner. The combination of headwind, 33 pounds of weight in the stroller, and a flat tire gave me a good chance to practice correct form in high resistance running. I focused on engaging the hamstring and the glut earlier during ground contact, really trying to feel the impact in the glut. Then it was time to do some fast running. First, half a mile into a headwind in 2:43. Again practice correct form in high-resistance running. A couple of miles of jogging, and now the same stretch backwards. I got to half-mile mark in 2:39, and was feeling good, so I decided to keep going and add a downhill quarter with the same effort. 3:55 for 0.75 mile. Another 0.75 jogging to cool down. As soon as I got back to the house I found a bunch of kids buying Sarah's healthy ice cream. They started asking me questions about running. One kid by the name of Curtis wanted to know his top running speed . I ended up taking all of them and having them sprint 100 meters. Curtis ran 17.7 (he is 11 years old). Benjamin set his PR of 21.2, and another 8-year-old girl got the same time as Benjamin. Other kids either did not try hard enough, or maybe were extremely out of shape - they could not break 25. I ended up running a total of about half a mile with them. Total of 13.5 for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 7.50 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| Started the morning with a 1 mile jog. Later in the afternoon went for a 10 flat mile tempo run on the Provo River Trail. Again, the same course as two weeks ago. Start at Geneva Road parking lot, 2.5 miles out to the Utah Lake parking lot, 2.5 back, repeat. First 7.5 at marathon pace effort, last 2.5 give it all I got.
First 2.5 in 14:23, 14:25 on the way back, which gave me 28:48 on the way back. Another 2.5 in 14:22 to hit 7.5 in 43:10. Focus on the form. Try to engage the glut and the hamstring early and feel relaxed. Avoid putting all of the weight on the quads.
No matter how hard I tried, I still did not quite feel the ground with my gluts as I would like to. I can feel it a lot better when hopping from one leg to the other, which I suppose is the reason I perform out of my range for my running speed in this type of a jump. But nevertheless, the quads did seem to feel a bit more relaxed that two weeks ago. I was anxious for the fast part to see if there was any substance to this perception.
Now the fast part comes, and it feels hard. I am reaching out for something I do not have. The words of a church hymn come to mind: Oh, My Father, Thou that dwellest in the high and glorious place, When shall I regain thy presence and again behold thy face?. The meaning is both divine and humorous. I am reaching out past my limits and desire to be where I am not. At the same time, the pain from the effort makes me feel that perhaps the reunion referred to in the hymn might happen very soon if I continue.
The form does not feel as good as I want it to be, but the cardiovascular fitness picks up where the biomechanics fail. 13:32 for the last 2.5, 2:38 on the last 0.5, and 1:17 on the last quarter. 56:42 for 10 miles. The last 2.5 5 seconds faster than two weeks ago.
Last mile is rather challenging. It has a slight but nasty uphill section for the first half, which makes you slow down by 10-15 seconds per mile or so. And then you have to shift gears not only for the kick, but also just to get into your regular pace. When I decided to shift gears to 5:20 pace on the last half mile, the process was not as painful as two weeks ago, and it actually happened - there were no 41 second 200s of deliberation. This is a good sign.
Last 5 miles in 27:54, and that with the first half done at a relaxed pace and a 50 second negative split. In the beginning of January this would have been my best 5 mile tempo run as you can see from the log.
Did another mile with Benjamin and Jennifer - 15 total miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 | 13.50 |
| Started the morning with a 1 mile jog. Did another one with Julia in the stroller after breakfast. Later in the afternoon went to the Provo Canyon for the speed workout. A warmup to the Canyon Glen Park, 4x100 accelerations, and now the real work starts. 12x400 downhill with 200 recovery jogging backwards. I noticed a moderate headwind, and thought perhaps a sub 69 average would be a good goal. Regardless of the time, what was important for me is learning good relaxed form trying to make the quads work less and the gluts and the hamstrings work more. First repetion exceeded my expectations. With the headwind I was prepared to see something like 68.7 or 69.3 on my watch. Great was my surprise when it said 66.0. I followed with a series of sub-67s when the head wind was mild and the downhill stretch was steady, and a bit over 67 when the headwind got stronger and the short uphill sections were present. I made it a practice to always start a repetition with a short prayer asking to be able to do a good repetition, and also say a prayer of thanks at the end regardless of the time of the split. This workout is very hard to get through without a prayer for me. One repetition started with an uphill, and then the head wind was strong on the downhill section. I hit it in 67.9. This one was my slowest. Before the next one I prayed to be able to break 67 - that was all I hoped for. When I finished it, great was my surprise to see 65.5. Another prayer before the last one. I wanted to run 65. Some headwind, but not too much. I got my goal - 65.2, and 66.8 average for the workout. The form did not feel particulary pretty, but as Emil Zatopek once said, this is not gymnastics, you do not get points for looks. I felt strong, the last 100 m of each repetition did not feel as miserable as it used to, and I was able to hit the times with the headwind that I needed a tailwind for just a week earlier. This is a good sign. Ran with Benjamin and Jennifer when I got home, and also 0.5 on the way to the swimming pool in the evening (We took the kids swimming tonight). Total mileage for the day is 13.5. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.20 | 0.80 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Easy day today. Ran with Eric and George in the morning. As it often happens, I had to make a pitstop, so I took off about 0.7 miles away from my house at a pace I thought was the slowest needed to give me enough time. I began to wonder how fast I was going, so I decided to clock myself. I guessed the pace was 6:05-6:10. Pleasant surprise - it was 5:45. That is a very good sign. Then George and Eric did the tempo run over the Slate Canyon Loop (2.11 miles). George hit a good time of 15:23 with the last mile of 6:54. The last mile was about what I expected, however, the overall time was a bit slower - I was expecting a sub-15:00. He was probably tired from his run the day before. Total length of the morning run was 10 miles as usual. Later in the afternoon, I took Julia out for a mile in a baby jogger, then Benjamin and Jennifer for their run a bit later, and added another 0.5 miles of "always on the run" in the evening to hit 13 mile total for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| Slept in this morning. Since I had to be at the Provo Temple by 8:00, cut my morning jog to 0.5 miles.
In the afternoon ran with Steve in the Provo Canyon. 2x3 miles downhill. We had a very strong headwind. However, taking turns leading every 1 minute made things a bit easier.
Again, the start at the Nunns Park, and the finish by the power plant at the mouth of the Provo Canyon. On the first repetion, the first mile was a bit aggressive - 5:12. Then we relaxed a bit, and the headwind began to punish us. Additionally, Steve was out of gas from his crazy mileage. We even hit one 200 in 44 - 5:52 pace. The second mile ended up 5:23. We closed with a 5:21 to finish in 15:56.
On the second repetition, we had a more conservative start - 5:22. Then we sped up a bit on the second mile - 5:16. The wind let up a bit on the last 0.5, so I was able to close with 5:13 to finish in 15:52. Steve fell back a bit and finished in 15:54. With the cooldown the total length of the run was 12 miles.
I ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and added another "always on the run" mile to end up with 15 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Easy run today. Got up in the morning and it was snowing. Just had a dream about winning some small 10 K. For a prize they were going to give me some fairly large contraption of no practical use created for a special project by the local high school students. I felt bad I had to tell them I could not take it. With only 1060 square feet in my house, 4 children, and one more on the way, there was simply not enough room. My wife Sarah tells me my dreams are boring - too close to reality. As a case in point, a few nights ago I dreamt about Hobie Call winning the Hobblecreek Half-Marathon with the time of 1:03:22. He was disappointed afterwards because he was shooting for 1:02. Well, Hobbie indeed could have run that time - he ran 1:05 in that race in 1999, and a high 1:07 in the Great Salt Lake Half-Marathon in 2002, which my predictor converts to 1:02 in Hobblecreek. And he is the type of guy that sets high goals and tends to be disappointed when he does not get them. I also had a dream before the St. George marathon in 2003 that the race had already happened Trevor Pettingill won it with the time of 2:20:04. In reality, Trevor ended up winning with the time of 2:20:35. Dreams forgotten and after a short scripture study I went with George and Eric on the Slate Canyon Loop. We did 4x400 at around 1:20-1:25 pace in the middle. Then dropped Eric off and finished the 10 miles with George. Maybe one day George and I will convert Eric to the blog religion. Right now he is doing it the non-tech way - Runners World book. Did my "always on the run" miles in the afternoon, as well as separate runs with Benjamin and Jennifer to hit the total of 14 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.50 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Another easy run today. Did most of the mileage in the morning. Ran with George and Eric. Eric decided to run Ogden. He will need to up his mileage to get ready. I keep telling him he needs to run instead of reading the Runners World. Lately George and I also been telling him to get started on the Fast Running Blog so it would haunt him really good like to haunts Steve. He was almost persuaded this morning. Sound almost like Acts 26:28: almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian...
Ran 0.5 in 2:40 catching up after my regular pitstop. It was cold. Legs felt strong, but could feel the aerobic turbo engine complaining about the temperature. It finally got going somewhat.
Did some very mild and short accelerations to keep the legs from falling asleep. Also, after we dropped Eric off, George felt good and accelerated to 8:00 pace on his own initiative.
In the afternoon, and at night, did my "always on the run" miles with a stroller and Joseph, and then Julia in it. Also ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Felt very strong. The knees felt like they were going higher than they normally do, and the ground felt more like hard rubber than soft cotton. This is a good sign. However, I put more emphasis on what happens in races,tempo runs, and interval workouts in that order. Tomorrow is a tempo run. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 8.00 | 4.00 | 0.00 | 19.00 |
| Started the morning with a 1 mile jog. Then went to Benjamin and Jennifer's swimming lesson. Afterwards drove to the Provo Canyon to do my long tempo run.
I decided to do something slightly different today to have more downhill miles. 4 miles from Nunns park down to the Riverwoods shopping center on the trail, then back up, and back down to make 12 miles. The trail is very well marked - a mark every 1/16th of a mile, which is roughly 100 meters. I have verified with my wheel that the marks are correct. This makes it a great place for tempo runs as you can monitor a lot of things.
2 mile warm-up to the Nunns Park. It was unpleasantly cold, and somewhat windy, although quite bearable. Nevertheless, much less than ideal for a hard tempo, especially given the tendency of my form to dramatically deteriorate when quads cramp up.
1:30 for the first quarter. No wonder it felt so easy. Time to wake up. 5:43 for the first mile, then 5:40, 5:38, 5:37. 22:38 for 4 miles.
Turnaround. Now I am going uphill. The wind keeps changing, there seems to be an equal balance of head and tail. That makes things slower, at least for me. The quads tense up working into the wind, and then it takes them a while to relax.
You do lose quite a bit on those 180 turns. At least I do. 47 seconds for the first 200 after the turn. Then solid 45s on the following ones. 5:59 for the mile. Next mile 5:57, then 5:54. Not bad at all for the uphill. However, the next mile is slow - 6:10. That one tends to be a slower mile going up - the grade gets steeper, and the winds get stronger. Nevertheless, 24:00 for the 4 uphill miles, 6:00 average, and 46:38 for 8 miles.
Another turnaround. Now I am shifting into a threshold pace. My mind is fighting it as usual. It is cold and windy. I do not want to do it. Finally the turbo engine starts to kick in. 5:32 for the first mile. Next one in 5:26. I pass joggers and walkers on the trail. There are not many, possibly due to cold weather, but enough to cause problems sometimes. I see two ladies walking. They are just about to enter a narrow section of the trail. This is going to be a mess. I just got into a good rhythm. I do not want to slow down, dodge, then speeed back up. Even thinking about it makes my brain hurt. I yell :Watch out, passing to give them enough warning to figure out what is going on. They hear me and step aside. I feel very thankful.
Now my body starts telling me that this pace under those conditions is a little too fast for the marathon. That is actually a good sign. My body dares to think it could run a marathon that fast. It is thinking about a marathon. It was thinking about running a 10 K when I picked the pace up at the end of a tempo 10 miler last week. And because it is thinking about running a marathon, it does not want to start breaking 5:20s. Maybe it has something to do with the alternating winds and the cold temperature.
5:29 for the next mile. Now one more mile to go. I try hard to shift gears to sub 5:20, and my body really does not want to do it. Finally, with half a mile to go, I get a bit of a tailwind, and the air seems a bit warmer now that I am out of the canyon. I do two quarters in 1:19 and 1:17 to hit 5:21 on the last mile and 1:08:26 for the total.
2 miles back to the car for a cooldown. Now this is starting to feel like a long run - I feel the fuel gauge leaning towards low. Done, and enjoying the warmth of the car.
Went for a run with Benjamin and Jennifer. Benjamin tried to drop her on the last 200 meters, but could not. She ended up running a PR for 200 (51), and 100 (24). Additionally, jogged a bit more in the evening which brought the total mileage for the day to 19. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.54 | 0.00 | 6.46 | 0.00 | 16.00 |
| Started the morning with a 1 mile jog. Later in the afternoon went with Sarah, the kids, and Steve Ashbaker to the South Fork of the Provo Canyon. The kids went sledding. Steve and I did the tempo run.
2.5 mile warmup, and then 3.23 miles from the start of Provo River Half-Marathon to the magic guard rail start in Vivian Park. That road gets ploughed very well, even during the heaviest snow storms. I am revealing the best kept tempo run during winter secret of the Utah County.
Steve and I took turns leading a minute at a time. Steve is a great training partner. He always brings a doze of adrenaline to the workouts that I normally lack and is generous about sharing it with me. This keeps the pace fast. We got some nasty headwind and snow on the first repetion. Steve was very aggressive. At one point, he passed me to take his turn with such a zeal that he opened up a gap. I considered for a few seconds letting him go, but then realized he did not know where the finish was. So I shifted gears, and caught up to him. We ended up hitting the first one in 16:28.
Steve was disappointed. All this effort for a 5:30 pace on a downhill course? I told him I normally do my tempo runs in those conditions in about 17:40, and it is not easy. He looked even more puzzled. He did not realize it was 3.23 miles, not 3, and the pace was actually about 5:07. There was another thing he did not realize - we were doing another repetition.
We jogged back up, and agreed to go a little slower on the second one. This time, there was less headwind, and the sun came out. The pace felt very nice, very relaxed. We ran it in 16:51, an average of about 5:14. Not bad at all. Sarah picked us up at the Vivian park. 12.5 miles for the whole run.
Ran with Benjamin and Jennifer in the evening, and did a little bit more of "always on the run" jogging to hit a total of 16 miles for the day.
For some reason felt extra thirsty during lunch and dinner, and experienced a very pleasant feeling of freshness, fitness, and strength in the body. I think it is a good sign. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.90 | 0.60 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.50 |
| Easy run with George and Eric in the morning. We did their fartlek - two sessions of 20 seconds fast 20 seconds slow 10 times. The idea is to shut down the slacking mechanisms by rebooting the body every 20 seconds and really push the cardiac output to the top. It seems like the workout accomplished its purpose - George and Eric were breathing pretty hard.
However, after some jogging and dropping Eric off George was not done. He volunteered 1:43 quarter on a downhill, and then sustained about 7:30 pace once it flattened out. I challenged him to break 7:00 for the mile. He sped up to a 1:33 quarter and got 7:02. Afterwards, he wanted to do a couple of sprints. He is getting into a pretty good shape. We will find out how good on Thursday when we do the Slate Canyon Loop tempo time trial.
I did a forced tempo pickup for my regular pitstop and clocked a 0.5 split of 2:51. The pace felt good, I enjoyed it.
Did some always on the run miles during the day, and a run with Benjamin and Jennifer to total 13.5.
I slightly injured my right foot on Friday. Fortunately, the pain is right in the middle on the very outside. My right leg is longer than my left, so I have to do some advanced acrobatics to compensate landing on the outside at an angle, and the aggressively rotating the foot inward to get the maximum power during the push. On Friday, my legs had a little bit more power than usual, the leg muscles fired quick and hard while the foot was still in the outward position and that caught it off guard, I suppose, and cause a minor sprain. I have been able to run at fast speeds, but it does hurt enough to annoy me and to affect the stride. So far I have tried ice with a small measure of success and B F & C with a greater. A doze of BF & C on the sore spot soothed the pain to about 50% of the original intensity and increased the range of painless motion by about 30%. I am going to try some more of that stuff. It would be nice if the pain went away before the Moab half, but I am not too worried - I can still race with it. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 | 13.00 |
| Started the morning with a 1 mile jog before going to the temple. The foot was still hurting. I wondered if I should really do my scheduled 12x400.
In the afternoon went to the Provo Canyon anyway. During the warmup, I figured out a way to plant my foot to minimize the pain. I decided to go ahead with the workout.
Strong headwind, although I've seen it stronger. Again 12x400 downhill with 200 recovery. First one in 69.3. Others in the same range. A couple around 70.5 when the wind got stronger. After a few repetions the foot started feeling better. Always a prayer before each repetition and one after. This is the type of workout that makes me remember Alma 34:18-27 very vividly.
Before the last repetition I notice that I need to run in 66.6 to hit the average of 69. Brigham Young once said that you should pray as if everything depended upon the Lord, but then work as if everything depended on you. I followed his formula. The head wind eased off a bit, I ran relaxed on the first 200, and gave it all afterwards to hit 66.5 for the split, and the desired 69.0 for the average.
After the cool down I expected the pain in the foot to increase after the wear off of the endorphines, but it kept feeling better. Go figure. BF & C magic kicking in? The pumping of the blood cleared something up in the affected area? Maybe it is just time for it to start healing? I guess we learn from this that the next time you have an injury, 12x400 downhill is an effective treatment.
In the evening ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and a little bit more on my own to make the total 13 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.55 | 0.50 | 0.20 | 0.00 | 10.25 |
| Starting the taper for Moab half today. The race is in two days. Ran easy 4.25 with George and Eric in the morning. George set a PR on his tempo run around the Slate Canyon Loop (2.11 miles) - 15:13. As usual, I had to make a pitstop, and ran a little tempo effort to open up a distance - clocked 0.5 in 2:50, felt a little sleepy. In the afternoon Benjamin wanted to run to the BYU Bookstore and back. Jennifer and Julia also wanted to come. So we took the stroller. Jennifer ran the first half-mile, Julia rode most of the way, Benjamin ran all the way at about 9:00 pace on flat sections and a little slower on the hills, and made me work. Julia weighs 33 pounds, Jennifer 41 pounds, our double stroller has a flat tire that I cannot get around to fixing, and you can really feel the hills with this kind of load. About 2.25 out, and the same distance back to give us the total of 4.5. Ran another 0.5 in the evening to make the total of 10.25 for the day. The foot is feeling better as the pain is gradually leaving. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.25 | 0.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 6.25 |
| Taper before Moab half. Ran two Slate Canyon Loops. Did a pitstop acceleration, and a scheduled timed one (0.5) in 2:39. In the afternoon ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Ran one easy mile in Moab. The foot is almost healed. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.90 | 0.00 | 13.10 | 0.00 | 20.00 |
| Moab Half-Marathon. 1:15:58, 6th place. Mike Nielson won in 1:11:55, Joe Wilson second in 1:12:23. Then Ken Pliska 1:14:13, Mike Kirk 1:14:36, and Ewen North 1:15:03. I barely held off Neal Gassmann at the end - he finished with 1:16:03. The times were very slow, probably by anywhere between 2 and 4 minutes depending on your drafting opportunities due to extreme headwind for pretty much the entire duration of the race. The race started with a pack consisting of Joe, Ken, Mike Nielson, Mike Kirk, and myself hitting the first two miles in 5:27 and 5:21. At that point I felt my quads started cramping up a bit, I needed to back off. I had two choices to make - either try to go at faster pace with the pack and crash later, or be left in no-mans land. Unfortunately, at that point I did not realize how strong the headwind really was. Joe did, however. He tried to break away from the pack, but after five seconds changed his mind. So faced with the decision, chose a more conservative pace. Perhaps this was a mistake. Mike Kirk and Ken Pliska hitched a ride with Mike Nielsen and Joe to about mile 4, and then backed off. Being left alone, I could not break 5:45 for another 6 miles. Then Ewen passed me. He was going strong. I decided to hitch a ride, and got behind him. The wind weakened a bit, and we hit a 5:33, and then a 5:34. 10 miles in 56:44. If we do a decent 5 K, this could be a low 1:14. Not that great, but decent for the conditions. Ewen put on a surge at around 10.5 and dropped me, or maybe he just kept going, and I could not hold the pace. I did not really try that hard to stick with him thinking we were coming out of the canyon, and once we got into town there will be no wind. Oh, was I wrong! As we neared the end of Hwy 128, the wind intensified. The next mile was 5:58. I thought it could not get any worse than that. I was wrong again. We turned on Hwy 191, and the dust started flying in my eyes. The next mile was 6:45, and the competion ahead of me did not seem to be getting away very much if at all. Finally, the peak of the torment ended as we turned on 500 West, where we experienced a regular headwind. A lesson on learning to be thankful. I was really happy to have it, and be able to run somewhat normally again. Left turn on 400 North, and headed to the finish. As I turned, I saw Neal Gassmann out of the corner of my eye. This is trouble, as if I had not had my fair share already. Neal in his young days ran a 14:08 5 K. He slowed down to 15:26 since then, but he still has the 14:08 kick. What do I do? Well, he has his kick, but he is tired, and he is far enough behind that if I start mine early he might hesitate for long enough for me to escape. It worked. Last mile in 5:48. After the race, almost everybody I talked to was depressed because of their slow times. However, there was no reason. Everybody ran about what I expected them to with the adjustment for the wind, except for Mike Nieslon and Joe. They beat the curve, possibly because they traded off leads most of the way. With the warm-up, cooldown, kids run, and always on the run miles, ended the day with 20 miles total. Running a 1:12:30 or so equivalent of a still air Moab course is all nice and good, but I need to do something different to move to a new level. The lab measurements of VO2 Max in 2004, as well as my intuition tell me the problem is severe lack of economy. I have been thinking about ways to improve it that are fundamentally different from what I have already tried. What I am after is a high power output while keeping the leg, especially the quad, muscles relaxed the maximum possible chunk of the stride cycle. I can relaxed them at low power, which is why I run well downhill with no headwind. Running downhill teaches relaxation, which is why my uphill running improves when I run downhill. Dumb uphill running makes me tense up, and I run worse in all directions. But downhill running is only a preparatory step. I need to have extensive practice running uphill relaxed for long periods of time. Here is one idea - run uphill for as long as a certain normally uncomfortable pace is sustained without tension. As soon as the tension comes, stop, jog to recover, then do a stride downhill to re-learn relaxation. Then try again. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 0.00 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| Started the morning with a 1 mile jog. Did another 1 mile jog in the afternoon. Then drove to the Provo Canyon. Today I decided to try a new type of workout. I was actually not quite sure what I was going to do exactly, but I had a vision. Run fast for as long as I could do it maintaining a relaxed form. Stop as soon as the muscles start tensing up, "reboot" by doing a stride downhill, then continue. I started with 15x100 strides at between 5:00-5:30 pace depending on whether I was going uphill or down, and which way the wind was blowing. This took me to the start of my rebootable tempo run at the mouth of the Provo Canyon. I started going uphill closely watching the splits and the tension in the quads. At first I thought I would only be able to make it to the mile mark. 1 mile in 5:25. I decided to go another quarter. Still feeling relaxed and maintaining good pace for the uphill (1:24). Decided to do another quarter. At the end I started feeling it was time for a reboot. 1.5 uphill in 8:12 - not bad. A short reboot, and I am going up again. Did a mile in 5:31, and right at the end of it felt the need to reboot again. Then turned around and started running downhill. Was able to feel relaxed for the entire length of the stretch - 2.5 miles in 13:17. This gave me 27:00 for 5 miles, 2.5 up, 2.5 down with two reboots. My goal is to reduce the number of reboots to 0 eventually, and still be able to run this in 27 minutes or faster. Afterwards I started doing 100 meter strides at sub 5:20 pace with 100 meters of jogging in between. It was addictive. It felt not that much harder than just jogging, but the pleasure of the speed was so great that it removed the tedium out of the cooldown. I did 31 strides, 21 uphill, 10 downhill, to give me the total of 48 strides including the two "reboot" ones (3 miles). This is a great workout. I ended up running 8 miles out of 11.5 at 5:20 average, and it did not hurt very much at all. The remaining 3.5 were probably 10:00 average physically, but a good portion of them was still 5:20 mentally - once you are done with a stride, the mind is still doing it while you jog. Did Benjamin's run, and added a bit more jogging to make the total 15 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Ran with Eric and George in the morning. Did an acceleration (0.5 in 2:53). Then we ran their fartlek, jogged a bit, and ran a quarter in 1:25. Afterwards, George did a mile in 6:38 - a new PR. Total length of the morning run was 10 miles. In the afternoon, did my always on the run miles, and ran with Benjamin. Total mileage for the day was 13 miles. Benjamin learned to ride a bike today. I just realized that I have the privilege to be a father of somebody who ran a 25:07 5 K before he learned to ride a bike. I also have had the honor of spoon-feeding a sub-8:00 miler. One day after Benjamin ran a 7:58 mile, we were running late for church and Benjamin was taking a while eating his breakfast. To speed things up I decided to help him. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.55 | 0.00 | 1.20 | 3.25 | 15.00 |
| Started the morning with a 1 mile jog. Then went to the temple. Came back, went to the Provo Canyon to do 12x400 down with 200 meter jog in between .
Warmed up to the Canyon Glen Park, did 4x100 strides. Then started the workout running down. There was a headwind, although slightly weaker, it seemed than last week. Ran all of the repetitions very steady. Until the last one, the fastest was 68.2, the slowest 70.3 on the one that is usually the slowest - it is the only one that has a signficant uphill section ( about 130 meters), and I caught some headwind on it today for a bonus.
On the last one, I decided to try the Brigham Young method again - pray as if everything depended on the Lord, then run as if everything depended on you. Everything went fine, I coasted through the first 200 in about 34.7, then shifted gears, and was amazed at the response. No siginficant anaerobic kick-back resistance. It felt like a true sprint, no fighting the lactic bear on the back. There was only one problem - my finish mark was covered with dirt and I sprinted past it. Then the lactic bear made himself known and I realized my mistake. According to my estimates, it was about 67, maybe a little under. This gives me about 68.7 average for the workout.
Throughout the workout, I tried to relax the quad and engage the hamstring as much as possible, and maintain a wide relaxed stride. This had the result of relaxed running at lower speeds, being able to finish an interval not as tired as usual at the same speed. However, running harder would tense me up. Next time I should try 10x500. It felt like I could sustain the same speed a bit longer with this new relaxation technique.
Afterwards, did 100 meter strides at a tempo pace. Finally, got tired of starting and stopping, and just ran a 600 in 1:55 downhill. Then ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and went with Benjamin as he rode his bike for 2 miles. Jogged a bit more in the evening to make the total of 15 miles for the day.
Benjamin has set up his Fast Running Blog. He has been keeping one for a while, but made it public tonight.
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Easy run with Eric and George in the morning. Did a tempo mile in 5:43. Then we did Eric and George's tempo run - Slate Canyon Loop (2.11) in 15:05. This is George's new records. After we dropped Eric off, George and I did some more accelerations. Total length of the run 10 miles. During the day did always on the run, ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and took Joseph for a short jog in the stroller. Total mileage for the day 13 miles. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.70 | 0.00 | 0.10 | 0.20 | 13.00 |
| Easy run with George in the morning. Did some strides. Did a couple of light ones, then 17.3 with George. Then he asked me what I could do it all out. I predicted with this type of warm-up and in training shoes it would be 15.5 on the first try. Did 15.4 and then 15.2. Then George volunteered an 8:00 pace. I encouraged him to keep it for three loops (6.33 miles). He did it, although he had to work. Did some always on the run miles, and ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Total mileage for the day was 13. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.90 | 13.10 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 18.00 |
| Started the morning with a 1 mile jog. Then went to the Provo Canyon around 11 am to do my marathon pace tempo run. I always wonder what I would have run for a half-marathon when I do 12, so to stop wondering I just decided to extend it to a half-marathon.
Started at a magic mark before Canyon Glen Park. The trail has a mark every 1/16. This does not allow you to get a half-marathon, so I had to guess, but I figured I would not be off by more than 15 meters.
Started the run uphill, to Nunns Park, then down to Riverwoods, back up, and back down finishing at Riverwoods. Weird feeling - sleepy and completely unmotivated. Hit a 6:05 mile going up, turned around, some headwind. Eventually worked my way up to 5:42 pace. Then turned around again. With some tail wind was able to sustain a slightly sub-6:00 pace going up, then turned around, and started going down into a headwind. Legs feel fine, the pace feels easy, but something is not right. When I try to pick it up, I quickly lose consentration and catch myself running 5:50. It went on like that all the way to the end to give me 1:16:43 for the 13.1. With a cooldown, I was at 16 miles.
Came home, and felt very strange. Thought maybe I was dehydrated. Drank a quart of water. The stomach feels bloated, but I am not feeling any better even after a shower and a nap. Solid foods do not excite me at all - Sarah made me some lunch, and I have absolutely no desire to eat it. No motivation to do anything. Putting on my shoes seems like way too much work. Finally I remembered the word electrolytes. Drank some water mixed with sea salt, and ate some pickles. Then drank some pickle juice remembering the Russian alcoholics - in Russia pickle juice is probably the most popular cure for a morning hangover. It tasted very good, and my motivation and appetite returned.
This gives me some food for thought. In the Top of Utah marathon of 2004 almost everybody I talked to or observed, including myself, severely underperformed. Although I did win the race, it was because there was nobody close enough to pass me at the end. I slowed down to 7:10 pace, and was shivering at mile 25. It was warm, but not enough to explain why everybody crashed. It was windy, but not terribly windy.
The feelings I had in that race are somewhat similar to what I experienced today. I remember starting out, and not wanting to push the pace at all. When Demetrio Cabanillas Jr took off, I had no motivation to chase him. I've had similar feelings on warm windy days. Do those conditions deplete your sodium levels? Is there any research on that?
Did another mile with Benjamin and Jennifer to hit the total of 18 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.80 | 0.00 | 8.20 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| Decided it was warm enough to start doing my hard runs in the morning. Maybe not too cold, but quite windy this morning in the Provo Canyon. Started with 17 tempo pace 100 meter strides, which eventually took me to the mouth of the canyon. The wind was blowing out of the canyon, as it usually does in the early morning. I wanted to do my "reboot" tempo. However, my plans soon changed as I hit ferocious headwind. First quarter was ok - 1:27, although I did have to work a lot harder than normal. 1:30, then 1:29. Ok, forget the reboots. The pace is too slow, the form is different, the run is totally different. Just try to hit the first 2.5 in 15:00 (6:00 average), and then see what I can do on the way back coming down. Next quarter - 1:34. Ok, we are playing a different type of game, even more different than I thought. Can it get any worse. Yes - next quarter 1:38. It sure can't be any worse than that. Yes, it can - 1:44 on the next quarter. Then the wind eased off a bit, and I was able to speed up to 1:35. However, right before the turnaround the wind was so fierce that it took me 28 seconds to run the last 100 meters. Half-way in 15:59. Turn around, and try to shift gears. This going to be hard. 5:16 mile. Not bad at all. Another half in 2:39. Tried to shift gears on the last mile to break 29:00. Did not quite make it, but still closed in 5:07 with the last quarter in 73 for the total of 29:01. A little bit of jogging, then a mix of 100 meter tempo pace strides alternating with a special running drill - the knee goes up on one leg while the other pushes off trying to cover the maximum distance. This took me back almost to Canyon Glen Park. Turned around, did a couple of strides, then decided to join them in one tempo mile. Ran the mile downhill with a tailwind in 5:06. 11 miles for the workout. During the day did a run with Benjamin and Jennifer, and fit some always on the run miles in between numerous errands and trips to hit 15 mile total for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.60 | 0.00 | 0.40 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Easy run with George and Eric in the morning. They did a fartlek - 20 seconds fast, 20 seconds slow. I did my hip extension form drills. After two loops, I took the measuring wheel and went to measure the 4th of July Feedom Festival 5 K course. Last year the 5 K was long, while the 10 K was short. I wrote an e-mail to the race directors offering my wheel. Now they want to get the course USATF-certified. The certification needs to be done with the Jones counter, so this measurement was just to make sure the course would certify with possibly minor modifications. I ended up running 11 miles in the morning total. In the afternoon, ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and did some always on the run miles to hit 14 total for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.65 | 2.75 | 0.25 | 3.35 | 13.00 |
| Started the morning with a 1 mile jog. Then went to the temple. In the temple talked with a fellow temple worker. He is 61 years old. Turned out that back in his young years he was a very good sprinter - 21.0 200. I told him that my best 100 m was 13.9. His response was probably similar to what I would have said if somebody had told me his marathon PR was 3:45 - this can be fixed. His suggestion was to use ankle weights to teach the hamstrings to contract when they ought to. My body says this is worth a try. In the afternoon drove to the Provo Canyon to do my speed workout. A warm-up to the Canyon Glen Park. 4 100 meter strides. Feeling good, just not speedy. Hamstrings are refusing to engage at first - maybe tired from my form drills in the last two days. Started my 10x500 with 200 recovery jog. Headwind. 500 is not as weird of an interval as it sounds. Two of them make 1000. 10 make a 5 K. Hitting 1:29s. On a couple, the headwind got strong enough to slow me down to 1:30. Then it weakened, and my nervous system seemed to have gotten a bit snappier. Started seeing 1:28s. Last one in 1:27 without a strong kick to get the 14:48.5 for the 5 K. I wish I could run it like that without having to take 9 200 meter jogging breaks. But as I like to say, do not just wish you could do something or be something - do what it takes to get there instead. Jogged half a mile, and started feeling very good. My jacket was 1.5 miles up the canyon over by the Canyon Glen Park. It is uphill, but there was a good tailwind. As they say in Russian, it would have been a sin to miss the opportunity for a marathon pace tempo run. 1.5 miles in 8:41. Was only trying to do 6:00-6:05 pace but ended up with 5:48. This could be a bad sign - strong headwind on the way back. Got the jacked, and continued the tempo run on the way back. My suspicions about the headwind were correct, although it was not as bad as I thought it could have become. 2:51 for the first 0.5 going down. Then something happened. I started thinking about snappy hamstrings, and it seemed like they started snapping better. The wind either weakened, or I was dealing with it better with the snappy hamstrings. The same effort gave me a 1:24 quarter, then three 1:22s in a row. Then I saw that if I ran a 1:20 it would give me 5:40 average for the 3 tempo miles. I ended up with 1:18 to hit 8:17 for the downhill section of the tempo. Later in the day ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and added another always on the run mile to make the total 13 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.50 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Easy run with George and Eric this morning. We did their tempo loop (2.11) in 14:49. This is a new record for George by 16 seconds. And he nearly set a PR on the last mile - 6:39. In the afternoon ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and did an easy 1.5 mile at night. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.25 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.25 |
| Mini-taper for the Moab Marathon tomorrow. Easy run with George and Eric in the morning. Did one tempo mile in 5:43. Ran with Benjamin and Jenny in the afternoon. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 0.30 | 26.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 26.50 |
| Ran the Moab Marathon for a marathon pace tempo run as the opportunity presented itself. 2:35:20, first place. Felt very strong.
Race results are available here.
This race was a rather interesting experience. Six years ago I volunteered to help my friend Curt, who directs a number of local races, to help with his website. This eventually led to me becoming in charge of timing his races. Timing a race means you need to be at the start when it starts, and at the finish when the first person crosses the line. I also need to get a hard run in that day. The logical solution to that problem is, of course, to run the race. I have a back-up person who knows enough to push the button for me, and in case I get beat, for the winner, but otherwise I am in charge. So I have two conflicting goals - to win the race with enough margin to take care of potential problems with the computer, and to arrive at the finish line with the blood sugar level sufficient to operate the timing equipment for a couple of hours. Fortunately for this occasion, Curt does not go out of his way to recruit a strong field, which allows the timing to go smoothly.
As you can see from the Course Map and Elevation Profile, the race starts at the Dead Horse Park, follows Hwy 313 to the junction with Hwy 191, then two miles south towards Moab along 191, under the bridge, and back to the Archview campground. First 8 miles a gradual climb on rolling hills at 6000 feet, then downhill to about mile 19 with some rolling hills in the middle, then pretty much flat and rolling to the end. Last 2 miles on dirt.
This run was going to answer an important question for me. Do I need long runs to do well in a marathon, or are my 16 milers with a 10-13 mile tempo in the middle sufficient? Since the St. George marathon in October I never went longer than 16 miles in one run.
Curt sounded the horn, and we took off. Tried to recruit some company in the first minute, but everybody said they were shooting for 3 hours. So I went alone. Steady 6:00 pace through the first 8 miles. Not bad at all - at 6000 ft with rolling hills going up I was expecting about 6:10. Ate a banana at 6 miles.
Then a turn, and we got some tailwind in addition to the downhill bonus. Maintained 5:30-5:40 pace up until 16 miles. Got a low fuel signal at 12 miles, and drank some Powerade. Less than ideal, but better than nothing. Drank some more at 15, if I remember right.
Then some headwind came. I got a side ache on the right. This could be just an irritation from the headwind, or could indicate that the liver is running out of fuel. Slowed down to 6:00-6:10 pace, and costed to 20. Half in 1:16:34. 20 miles in 1:56:32.
Refueled with Powerade at 20. Tried to be thorough and drink the whole cup. Refueled again at 22. The side ache is gone, and I am feeling very energetic. But now we have some serious headwind and we are going slightly uphill. Was very happy with a 6:30 and 6:44 miles. I was expecting 7:00. Then under the bridge, and two more miles on dirt. But it is slighly down, and with a solid tailwind. Feeling exceptionally good. Too bad it is dirt road, and there are no quarter marks to pace myself. I wish I were in the Provo Canyon. Now if only I could stay on the course. There are so many trails going in all directions. I still see the cones - that is good. With about a quarter to go I saw a mark, but somehow I ended up taking a wrong turn and when I got to the finish, a barbed wire was separating me from the chute. This sure makes for a good story for an April Fool's day - crawling under a barbed wire at the end of a marathon. Could not have thought of a better joke if I were trying to make one up.
The marathon did not end there for me. Fortunately I had enough time to get changed, and even tried to find a radio station that had the LDS General Conference. No luck - will have to catch a rebroadcast of the first session later. Another almost three hours of timing the race. The marathon is still not over, though. I've got General Conference and a drive back to Provo coming up ahead. I think I am going to tell Curt I will not time a race on a General Conference day again.
However, I am very happy with what I learned today. Adjusting for the conditions of the course, I had probably just run an equivalent of 2:27 in St. George. What is more important is that I felt strong on the last 4 miles, probably strongest than ever in a marathon. So I have strong reasons to call this race a success.
As I suspected, going long is not what does the job for me to prepare the marathon - it is going medium long, but fast. I also learned something about refueling. Powerade has simple sugars. They give me a funny feeling during the first 10 minutes after the intake, but then the body cleans up the mess and I feel strong. My intuition tells me that a more complex sugar would work better. Maybe I should try Ultima. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 4.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| Started the morning with a 1 mile jog. Jogged another mile around 11 am. Then in the afternoon drove to the Provo River Trail and parked at the parking lot on Geneva Road. My body told me this morning that a 5 mile marathon pace tempo run would be just perfect for recovery. I warmed up 3 miles, and then started the tempo run. From Geneva road to the end of the trail by the Utah Lake and then back. First mile in 5:46. It was way too easy. I knew something was up - probably tail wind. 14:26 at the turnaround, and 23:07 at 4 miles. Around 3 miles into the tempo run I asked my body what it thought about the threshhold pace for the last mile. It communicated it was looking forward to it. So as soon as I reached the 4 mile mark I shifted gears. I love this feeling - the breathing is intense, the heart is pumping, the blood is flowing, the face is twitching, but you feel nevertheless you could hold this for a long time. And I was right about the tail wind on the first mile. Except now it was a head wind. Nevertheless, I was feeling strong. 5:26 for the last mile, with the last 600 in 1:59. 28:33 for 5 miles. Then Sarah came and brought the kids. I ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and then followed Benjamin as he rode his bike. Total length of the run was 12 miles. Added another always on the run mile in the evening to bring the total to 15. Legs feel very interesting. They are not sore in a traditional post-marathon sense, but nevertheless I can tell that something is up with them. So while I can move, I need to be careful not to do anything abrupt. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.75 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Slept in this morning and missed George and Eric. Ran easy 10 miles in the morning, including the run with Benjamin and Jennifer. Added some always on the run miles during the day and in the evening. On one of them felt like running tempo pace for a quarter, and did it in 1:23. Total for the day 13 miles. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.40 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 3.60 | 13.00 |
| Started the morning with a one mile jog, then went to the temple. It was raining hard went I got back. Waited a couple of hours, it calmed down as I expected. Here it Utah the rain fortunately does not usually last too long. Drove to the Provo Canyon. Did 10x500 downhill. Fairly strong headwind. Got 14:48.2 for the sum of the intervals, which is a 5 K, 0.3 second faster than last week. On the last one, hit 1:26.3 with the last 200 in 33.5. I guess the marathon did not take that much out of me after all. Afterwards, 1.5 tempo uphill to get the jacket in 8:44, and the same stretch down at a tempo pace in 8:30 this time I guess to get the whole thing over with quicker. 10.5 miles for the workout. In the evening, jogged another 1.5 to reach 13 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.50 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Got up this morning and it was raining hard. Got out, and the last thing I wanted to do was to run 10 miles. Did it anyway. Ran with Eric and George. We did a 20 seconds fast/20 seconds slow fartlek. I did my magic hop drill during some of the fast ones. At the end of the loop, George extended the interval into a quarter and hit it in about 1:20. He surprised me, so I did not clock him exactly at the start of the quarter. It took me a good tenth of a mile to just catch up - he was going so fast that I had to go through a few gears before I was up to speed. At the end of the run, I was thoroughly wet and cold. So cold that I asked Sarah to untie my shoes - my hands were too cold. The shower felt very good. It rained pretty much all day long. Nevertheless, I did my always on the run miles, and ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Total of 13 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.00 | 2.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 13.50 |
| Much better weather today. Ran with Eric and George in the morning. Did the magic hop, and some marathon pace running in the middle. Total length of the morning run 10 miles. Ran with Benjamin and Jennifer later, and did my "always on the run". Total length 13.5 for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 0.00 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Went to the Provo Canyon in the morning. Did the "reboot" tempo. The wind was deceptive. It did not feel strong, but the pace pattern indicated it had more impact than it seemed it should. The wind was blowing out of the canyon, so headwind on the uphill. Started with 16 100 m strides at tempo pace. Then ran 1.5 uphill in 8:36. Felt the quads were cramping up. Stopped, did a stride downhill, then continued. A mile up in 5:43 for the total of 14:19 for the first 2.5. Again a "reboot" - some jogging and a stride down. Then 2.5 downhill in 12:49 for the total of 27:06 for the 5 miles. When I reached the top, I did not think I would get anywhere close to 27:00. I thought I was just tired and running slow. But it turned out to be just a stronger headwind. Turned around again and did 14 strides going up. Then a tempo mile down in 5:04. 11 miles for the run. In the afternoon did my "always on the run" and ran with Benjamin and Jennifer to make it a 14 mile day. Bought a pair of ankle weights in the evening to work on the hamstring reflex. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.75 | 4.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 | 16.00 |
| Got up in the morning, read the scriptures, and drove to the Provo Canyon hoping to catch some tailwind for my downhill speed workout. Turned out this time I could not have both - the wind was blowing into the canyon. Parked at the Canyon View Park as usual. Warmed up to the Canyon Glen Park. 4x100 strides. Then 8x300 down with 200 recovery. Averaged 49.9 into a mild headwind. Then ran to the car, and put on ankle weights. Jogged a mile, tooks the weights off, and started another session of 8x300. The head wind picked up quite a bit, so I had a hard time telling if I slowed down because my legs were tired, or it was just the head wind. The form felt better, however. I averaged 50.7 with the last one in 48.6. Jogged a bit to recover, and then ran a light 2 mile tempo up to get my jacket. With the tail wind it was 11:42. This tempo is actually a good recovery after the intervals. If you start it soon enough after the last interval, you actually feel better towards the end instead of being more tired. Put on my jacket, and started a return tempo back to the car into a head wind. 1.5 miles in 8:28. In the afternoon, did my always on the run, and ran with Benjamin. Also followed Benjamin pushing a double stroller with Jennifer and Joseph as he rode his bike. Probably got in about 0.5 miles of tempo doing it - Benjamin is getting faster on a bike and the stroller is heavy, although we've fixed the flat tires. Total of 16 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Woke up to the sound of thunder. Then it started to hail. Thought of Helaman 5:12 and went back to sleep hoping it would not be there for the run.
Easy 10 miles in the morning with Eric and George. Did a forced half-mile pitstop tempo. George was surprisingly lively after his trail marathon on Saturday. He even volunteered a mile in 7:16.
In the afternoon, did my always on the run, and ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Decided to do a half-mile tempo on one of the always on the runs - 2:52. Total of 13 miles for the day.
Legs are feeling good after the ankle weight maneuvers on Monday. The stride is feeling better but I am not going to get too excited until I see faster times. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.15 | 3.50 | 0.00 | 3.35 | 15.00 |
| Started the day with a 1 mile jog before going to the temple. In the afternoon drove to the Provo Canyon for the speed workout. It was warm - probably about 70 degrees. Warmed up a mile. Then another mile with ankle weights (2.5 pounds each). Then a 1.5 mile tempo uphill to the Canyon Glen Park in 8:45. Tailwind. 4x100 strides. Then 10x500 down with 200 recovery. Fairly strong headwind, but I think the warm temperature mitigated the effects somewhat. Hit the first one in 1:25.5. Then the headwind got stronger, slowed down to 1:27-1:28. The one with the uphill which is always the slowest was 1:29.7. Sped up back to 1:27s afterwards. 1:24.9 on the last one with the last 200 in 32.8. Total time for the 5 K 14:32.6, more than 15 seconds faster than last week. This is a siginficant improvement. The form felt like I was using my muscles better, so I was not getting as tired towards the end. On the kick on the last one, I did not feel extremely anaerobic. Rather, I felt I did not go faster because I just did not know how to recruit the muscles to go sub-32. Normally, it takes me a few all out strides before I can break 30 seconds on 200 meters. A little jog, and a tempo for a cool down. Also to measure the wind. 2 miles, one up, and one down. First mile up was 5:48, then 5:38 down on the way back with the same effort. 11:26 for two miles. Later, ran with Bejamin and Jennifer, and added another always on the run mile. 15 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.50 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Easy run with Eric and George in the morning. We did the Slate Canyon Loop in 14:41, a PR for George. He also hit a mile PR of 6:30. Not bad only 5 days after a marathon. The moral of the story - if you want to set a mile PR, run a marathon 5 days earlier. Then I put on my ankle weights and ran another loop in them. Had to make a pitstop. Catching George and Eric uphill was ... an interesting experience. All of a sudden I realized I did not have my tempo pace gear. And I had to catch them again after taking the weights off. It was much easier this time. The whole run was 10 miles. Another 3 of always on the run and running with the kids to make 13 total. I am having an interesting experience. It seems like all paces start to feel more alike. I timed a mile in my always on the run. I start out at a 10:00 pace for the first 100 meters, and that feels just right. Then gradually speed up to 9:00, 8:00, 7:40, 7:20, 7:00, 6:40. It all feels almost the same other than the ground moving a bit faster, and the legs moving more. Then I realized I need to run sub-6:00 to break Benjamin's mile record (7:31), so I shifted gears and now am going 5:30. Feels almost the same. It seems like the slow pace is starting to feel harder, while the faster pace easier. My explanation: the ease of a certain pace correlates with the levels of adrenaline. When the body is recovering, adrenaline is low. So starting out feels very hard. However, if there is a need, the adrenalene can be mobilized. However, let the sleeping dog lie. If your adrenalene is low, that is good. The body recovers better. Therefore, it is not a good idea to push the pace in the recovery runs. Occasional surges to overcome the boredom, but otherwise jog and enjoy the conversation with a slower training partner. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Easy run with Eric this morning. Threw in some tempo surges. Ran 0.75 in 4:14, and a mile in 5:45. Also, a mile with ankle weights. In the evening ran with Benjamin and Jennifer as well as the always on the run. Total of 13 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.50 | 15.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20.00 |
| Started the day with a 1 mile jog. Later in the morning, took Dakota with me to the Provo River Trail by Geneva Road to do an experiment with Ultima. The night before I mixed Ultima with fructose to see how my body handles this drink. A warm-up and then 15 mile tempo. 2.5 out, 2.5 back three times. The course looks flat but secretly rolls enough to be slow. Probably comparable to the rolling hills in the middle of the Ogden marathon. Dakota rode a bike and handed me my drinks. First 2.5 in 14:33 - no drinks yet. Back in 14:41 with one drink at about 3 miles. Next 2.5 in 14:29 with a mild tailwind an a drink at 5.5. Then 14:49 with a drink at 8 and a mild headwind. Next one in 14:43 with two drinks, one at 10.5 and one at 12. Now the moment of truth. Last one, give it all I've got. Turns out I do not have that much after all. 14:26, and I can feel emptiness in the legs. Tried to sprint on the last 200. 41 seconds was all I had. Total time for 15 miles 1:27:41. Conclusion. Ultima + fructose does not cause any damage, but does not do any miracles either. The glycogen left the leg muscles at a normal rate. The early intake of the drink did not restore or hold off the muscular depletion. I felt good enough to keep going at 5:55 pace for a while, but the gear that requires muscular glycogen was essentially gone. There was some poor semblance of it up to 13.5, but then it was gone bye-bye. Good to know. Need to taper and make sure to eat very well before Ogden. Cooled down 1 mile to make it 17 for the whole run. In the afternoon, ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Jennifer set a record on the mile - 9:17. She also set a record on the half - 4:15, 400 - 1:51, and 200 - 53 during her kick. Benjamin really had to work to be one second ahead of his little sister. Little feisty furious red-haired Jenny... In the evening, when it was already dark, I decided to do my always on the run mile. It was too hard to resist the temptation to measure my muscular glycogen levels. So I decided to run the last half mile hard. Of course, I knew the results would be skewed because it was dark, I had only 0.5 mile warm-up, and I was wearing street clothes. Nevertheless, I decided to do it just for fun. First quarter was 1:31 - really hard to get going. I finally got going on the second somewhat and hit it in 1:27. The muscles felt they had some fuel, more than at the end of the 15 mile run, but not a lot. 20 miles for the day, and 90 for the week. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.50 | 4.50 | 0.00 | 2.00 | 13.00 |
| In the morning went to the Provo Canyon. Parked at the Canyon View Park. Warmed up a mile. Another mile with ankle weights. A 1.5 mile tempo uphill with tailwind in 8:37. Then 8 100 meters strides down. Then 8x300 down averaging 50.5 with 200 meter recovery. Mostly into a headwind. I wanted to do 16, but the rain with some hail changed my mind. I figured it would not be a good idea to jog the recoveries since I just had a T-shirt. So I decided to do a 3 mile tempo run instead. 1.5 up, immediate turnaround and 1.5 down. I finished off my 8th repetion in 48.8, jogged 200 meters, and started the tempo run. The wind kept changing direction. It was easy to tell when it was a foe. You could kind of tell when it was a friend by the unusual ease of the fast quarter splits. First mile up 5:41. 8:38 (2:57) at the turnaround. Two miles in in 11:24 (2:46, 5:43), next half in 2:44, last half in 2:40. Last mile 5:24, total time - 16:48. After the sprints, the form felt really good in spite of the cold. The hamstrings were working very well, much better than on Saturday. I suspect that part of the problem Saturday was something weird I got Wednesday from running hard in the warmer conditions. Afterwards, my eyes have been irritable for the next two days, the throat was slightly sore, and my weight Thursday morning after the run was down to 139 from regular 143-144. I have regained it since. Sunday rest + eating a lot did the job and felt much stronger running today. Now Benjamin picked up a new trick from me. The other day he got on the scale, saw his weight , and said - "Daddy, see, I weigh only 47 pounds - this means I need a snack!" Ran with Benjamin, and Jenny later in the afternoon + a bit of always on the run. Total of 13 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.50 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| George was running trails today as the roads started bothering his shins. So I just ran with Eric. Turned out he skipped his Saturday long tempo, and also did not get to run Monday. I suggested we do a tempo then, since that would have made him very well rested for one. We did three Slate Canyon loops, and then added a rolling 1.75. His time for 8.08 was 1:01:45 - steady 7:39 average, not bad at all for all the hills, the cold weather, the wind, and some extra clothing. It is an indicator that he will not completely die in Ogden. Not before 8 miles at least... I suggested he should start out at 8:15, and do that for as long as he feels good, then when that stops feeling good, back off and jog to the end for a cooldown. We live in a politically correct times - so let's not call it a wall anymore, let's called it a premature cooldown. Dropped Eric off, jogged a bit, and did a 1.25 mile tempo in 7:14. With an earlier pitstop acceleration, that gave me 2 miles of tempo running for the morning, and 10 total. During the day, ran with Benjamin and Jennifer + always on the run. Did a 0.5 tempo in 2:50. Total of 13 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.84 | 3.08 | 3.08 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| After last Wednesday I decided it was time to start doing all fast workouts in the morning, as the afternoons are getting hotter. Wednesday mornings are challenging because I need to be at the temple at 8:00 am, but I really like to have a fast workout on Wednesday. So I had to come up with one that does not take a long time, and that I can do near my house. After some thinking, I invented one. 4 Slate Canyon loops with a tempo from the highest point magic mark to the lowest point magic mark (1.5405 miles) with a jog uphill in between. This non-standard strech is 12 extra seconds at 5:00 pace over 1.5, 13 at 5:20, and 14 at 5:40 approximately. It was dark at 5:40 am when I started the workout. As dark and as early as it was, I did not expect much out of the first repetion. Got 8:49 - I just wanted to break 9:00. Then as the sun was rising, and as I was gradually waking up, the speed increased. 8:30 - 8:16 - 8:04. The stride felt good - wide and relaxed, just what I need, although I feel it still ought to be wider, smoother, and more relaxed. 9 miles for the workout with the warm-up and cooldown. Ran with Benjamin, Jennifer, and Julia. Did always on the run. Ran with Joseph in the stroller + ankle weights for a mile. Total of 14 for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.21 | 1.79 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Ran easy this morning with Eric. Dropped him off, and did some tempo running. First half a mile in 2:49. Then jogged up the hill, and did the 1.29 stretch from the Slate Canyon trail entrance to my house in 7:19. Felt good, quite relaxed, the stride felt wide. Did a run with Benjamin and Jennifer. Jennifer had an assignment to run a sub-10:00 mile. She started the first quarter in 2:34. Then we saw two teenage girls jogging ahead of us. I challenged her to catch them. She took the challenge, and gradually reeled them in right before the turnaround. This resulted in a 2:05 quarter, and a 59 second 200. Now with the half in 4:39 Jennifer was on record pace for the mile. We turned around, and she only slowed down a little from the chase gear. Next quarter in 2:14. With 600 to go Benjamin decided to take off, but Jennifer was holding on strong, hanging in their only a couple of seconds behind. Benjamin kicked into a high gear trying to drop her,but Jennifer had a high gear of her own. He ended up 3 seconds ahead of her at the end with 8:44 (so much for his easy run), and Jennifer got a 30 second PR of 8:47 with the last quarter in 1:53. She also set a PR on half mile - 4:08. Joseph in the meantime witnessed this historic moment from the stroller, while Julia was taking a nap at home. Did another 2 miles with ankle weights for always on the run, one of which with Julia in the stroller. Total of 13 miles. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.96 | 1.50 | 1.54 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Eric had to go to work early. George was still running trails. So I had to run alone. Jogged a bit, then got bored and ran a 0.5 mile in 2:53. Jogged to the top of the Slate Canyon loop, and ran a solid 1.54 tempo down in 8:00. Felt good. Jogged some more, and got bored again. Ran a mile in 5:47 with the last quarter uphill, but the third one down. The mile was a net up. Then I finally was over my boredom, and jogged some more to make it 10 miles. In the afternoon and evening did my standard always on the run, and the runs with Benjamin and Jennifer. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.30 | 0.00 | 10.00 | 0.20 | 16.50 |
| Ran the Salt Lake 10 miler from the East Canyon Gate to the This is The Place Monument by the Hogle Zoo. Got 2nd place with 52:12.
The first two miles gain 300 feet, then the rest is a gradual 1500 foot drop. I hit the first mile in 5:15. My teammate Bob Thompson and Delfino
Arevalo were ahead a bit. Delfino had 5:07, while Bob 5:10. I did not expect it to be so fast going uphill, but it hurt bad enough for me to believe the mark was accurate. The grade increased on the next mile. I did 6:17, and Bob and Delfino opened up another 5 seconds on me. I liked the next mile a lot better. We reached the top of the Little Mountain, and started going down. Nice grade. 5:06. Believe it or not, Bob and Delfino still opened up some more distance. I should have expected it of Delfino - he is a 29:02 10 K runner, and although somewhat out of shape, should be able to go sub-5:00 pace on this type of grade no problem. But I had never seen Bob run like this.
Another mile - 4:54, then 4:57, 5:09, and 5:08. I like the pace, but not the sight of Bob and Delfino moving away further. All of a sudden Bob stopped at mile 7 and started walking. Still not sure what happened to him - probably an injury. Next mile, 5:23. It flattened out a bit. Then the downhill resumed in full force - 5:08, and 4:55 for the last mile. Delfino got 49:47.
Not sure what to think of this performance. I felt good all the way, but at the same time, I felt that if I'd put the hammer down, my form would get worse, and I would just be working harder to run the same or even slower pace. Overall, I would describe this run as enjoyable. I liked the feedback I was receiving from my muscles as I went down the hill. I also liked being able to shift gears quickly after running hard on the uphill. My quads did tense up a bit during the climb, but I was able to relax them quickly.
Did some more always on the run, and ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Also ran a mile with ankle weights. Total mileage - 16.5 for the day.
Jennifer set a record on the last half-mile - 4:02, and on the last quarter - 1:49, as well as on the last 100 - 25. She sure made Benjamin work. Good for him. He needs it. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.25 | 0.00 | 2.50 | 3.25 | 15.00 |
| Got up this morning and it was raining. A speed workout in the Provo Canyon was the last thing I wanted to do. However, I know one thing, something they say in the General Conference and other church meetings a lot - you are free to make choices, but you are not free to choose their consequences. The consequence of missing a speed workout is failure to develop speed. I did not want that consequence, so I went and did the speed workout anyway.
Warm-up, then a mile with ankle weights, then a 1.5 tempo uphill in 8:35, 4 100 meter strides at then top, and then the real workout begins - 16x300 down with 200 recovery. Managed a sub-50 average for the first 8 with some tailwind. Then it turned into a headwind, and I slowed down to barely sub-51 with a couple of slower than 51. The slowest was 51.6. Gave it pretty much all I had on the last one and got 49.0. Average of 50.4 for the whole workout.
A little bit of jogging, and then a 1 mile tempo down in 5:16 into a headwind. I liked how that mile felt. I had to work, but it was relaxed and felt sustainable. Total of 12 miles for the workout.
Legs felt a bit sore from the 10 mile race on Saturday.
Ran with Benjamin, and Jennifer, in the afternoon and also did a mile of always on the run in the evening. Total of 15 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Easy run with Eric this morning. He did a tempo run - 3 Slate Canyon loops (6.33) in 47:44. Had a pitstop-forced tempo pickup to catch him in the middle. Dropped him off, and ran a mile with ankle weights in 7:05. Picked up at the end. Trying to run with ankle weights fast is an interesting experience. Nothing really hurts, it seems, but you just cannot go any faster. During the day and in the evening did my always on the run, a short tempo pickup on one of them, and ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Total of 14 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 0.00 | 4.50 | 1.50 | 13.00 |
| Did my fast workout in the morning. Again, 4x1.54 downhill on the Slate Canyon Loop. Gradually get accelerating as the more light came in with the rising sun and I was waking up. Started out with 8:38, then 8:17, 8:03, and 7:54. Interestingly enough, every one of them was almost exactly 12 seconds faster than the corresponding one last week. In the afternoon, ran a mile with ankle weigths, ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and added another always on the run mile in the evening. Total of 13 miles. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.50 | 0.00 | 0.75 | 0.25 | 9.50 |
| Mini-taper for the track meet at BYU (Robison Invitational) tomorrow. Ran easy 7 miles with a couple of tempo pick-ups with Eric in the morning. Had quite a bit of fun running with Benjamin and Jennifer later in the morning. Towards the end, we passed a rather slowly moving excavator. Have you ever had to pass an excavator while pushing a stroller with a 3-year old, and pacing a 7 and a 5 year old at the same time? It was during their kick, so we were going about 7:00 pace by then, and that excavator was coming to us fast. We managed the maneuver, though, and hit 9:01 for the mile. Ran to the Stake Priesthood Leadership meeting because I was late and also to get some always on the run miles in, and also back to make it somewhat on time to do my hometeaching. Total of 9.5 for the day. College track meets are probably as close as it gets to racing in Kenya around here, perhaps even better. If tomorrow's meet is like the others I've seen or heard of, the poor guy who runs 16:40 will finish last get lapped by the winner in front of a crowd. With that time, he'd be able to win probably 75% of all the 5 K around the country, and place somewhere in the top of the pack in others. But in a track meet, there is no pack of joggers to beat, and to make things worse, there are a lot of people watching. So my goals for the meet. Not to get beat too bad by the college runners, which includes not finishing last, and not getting lapped. If somebody like Bryan Lindsay or Josh Rohatinsky shows up, this could be a challenge. They could do 14:30 even here at altitude. In that case, to avoid being lapped, I would have to run at least 15:45. I also want to break my track PR of 16:19. I've raced only once on the track before since coming to the US, and it was raining hard that day, and the track was wet. So this should be too big of a challenge, hopefully. But most of all, I want to be able to run strong and relaxed start to finish, not have any laps slower than 79, kick in 73 or faster, and determine the strengths and weakness my training has given me so far this year. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.80 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.50 | 15.30 |
| Did a warm-up run with Eric in the morning. Two Slate Canyon Loops with a 600 m acceleration in the middle in 1:54. Then ran with Benjamin and Jennifer.
In the afternoon, went to the track meet. It was windy - 11 mph going exactly along the home stretch. You get 100 m tail, 200 m cross, and 100 m head wind. So the times were slow. I was able to get some of my goals, but not all. I avoided being lapped, but only barely. 10 people started the race. If you count the two guys that were already behind me when they dropped out, I did not finish last. The time, however, was more suitable for a tempo run than a 5 K track race - 16:51.
I was able to stay with the pack for the first three laps, which we did in 76 seconds each. It felt good. Then on the fourth lap, the pack started to separate. I figured the slower part of the pack would not slow down very much, and provide some windshield for me. This was a mistake. 4:45 at 1500 m. Then the guy in front of me I was using to draft off all of a sudden slowed down to a pace that felt like a jog. We did this 100 m in 20 seconds. I waited for the end of the headwind stretch, and then passed him. In the next two laps I found out why he slowed down so much so soon. The wind had an effect of making you work harder, and get tired sooner. I hit the next lap in 80, and it went downhill from there. 9:50 for 3000 m (3:25, 82 per lap), 13:20 for 4000 m (3:30, 84 per lap), and last 1000 m in 3:31 (84 per lap). Barely escaped having Joe Bendoski lap me.
Ran back to my house from the meet. Benjamin insisted on joining me, so I took him. He had already done his hard run earlier, but nevertheless he ran another 3 miles back home at 9:00 pace.
The experience confirmed to me that the correct strategy for running on a windy day is to stay with the front pack as close to the leader as possible, but behind him until you are ready to puke. Then back off, and every time you get passed, if you do, draft behind the person who has passed you until you are ready to puke.
Too bad it was not a normal race. I do not really know what this performance really means. To what extent did I slow down because of having to break the wind by myself, and to what extent because I lacked the fitness to do 76 second laps? I noticed that the end of that 5 K started feeling more like a threshold pace tempo run, but there seemed to be nothing I could do to make it faster. This is also how I felt in the other 5 K ran earlier this year. First mile in 5:02, and then 5:20-5:25 pace for the rest of it, does not hurt, but cannot go any faster. This is not how I felt when I ran 15:37 in Draper Days in 2004. It hurt start to finish, and I was anaerobically tired for the rest of the day. I suppose to run a good 5 K takes some practice to teach your body to run anaerobically for the 15 whole minutes of it, not just the first 5. I need to look more closely at the log entries to see what works well for this. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 3.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Ran in the morning, 12 hours after the track meet on the Provo River Trail by Geneva road. Warmed up, then a mile with ankle weigths, some more jogging, and started the tempo run. Figured 5 miles a marathon pace would be a good idea, since I ran hard only 12 hours ago, and a marathon is coming up in a week.
Gradually warmed into a good aggressive marathon pace, and hit 2 miles in 11:14. Then 14:02 at the turnaround (2.5). Felt very relaxed at that pace, although I could tell that I had run a 5 K some time not too long ago. But at 5:37 pace it did not bother me very much. 3 miles in 16:51, and I decided to run the last two hard for fun to see if I could do it faster than in yesterday's 5 K. I sure did - 10:58, and 27:49 total. In the 5 K, it was 11:11. Interestingly enough, I ran the last 5 K of this tempo run in about 17:10, only 19 seconds slower than a race 12 hours earlier! Looks like I am starting to suffer from the Mike Kirk syndrome - racing all distances from 5 K to the marathon at almost the same pace.
Of course, as Paul has pointed out, the wind can really knock you out of rhythm in a track race, and make you run a lot slower than any logic would suggest is possible. But still, the whole thing does sound rather funny.
Got home, and took Benjamin and Jennifer for a run. It was another big records day for Jennifer. We hit the first half mile in 4:50. Then she sped up to almost 8:00 pace, and kept saying it was not fast enough. So we picked it up even more. Hit the next quarter in 1:59. Then Benjamin decided to start a kick, and Jennifer decided to not let him escape. So that gave us the last quarter in 1:46, and 8:35 for the mile. Last half was 3:45. This shows that Jennifer should be able to break 8:00 on the mile without too much difficulty if she went out hard from the start.
Did some more "always on the run" miles - 13 for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.90 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.10 | 13.00 |
| Ran in the Provo Canyon this morning. Warm-up a mile with a couple of strides, a mile with ankle weights, then jogged up to the Canyon Glen Park. Started 5 mile tempo run there, 2.5 down, then 2.5 back up. The goal was to go 5 miles at an aggressive marathon pace. Frequent running at race pace prior to the race helps me relax and feel confident when I am actually racing. Moderate tailwind for the first 2.5 miles. 5:33 - 5:28. Then a half in 2:47 with 13:48 at the turnaround. Feeling very good. When the mind turns off, the pace is 1:24 per quarter. When it engages, it becomes 1:21-1:22. This probably means the true marathon pace is 1:25 per quarter (5:40 per mile) on that grade (1 %) and with this tailwind. Turned around, now moderate headwind instead of a moderate tailwind. Hard to shift gears after the 180 turnaround, and the wind is not helping at all. I hit a quarter in 1:33, then finally was able ease into a slightly sub-6:00 pace. Next half in 3:02 (5:49 mile), then 5:55, and the last mile in 5:53. Total time 28:38. Quads cramped up a bit on the climb towards the end. Cooled down back to the car. Total of 10.5 for the workout. During the day, ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and a little bit on my own. Total mileage 13 for the day. Taper time for Ogden. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.20 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.30 | 9.00 |
| Jogged three Slate Canyon Loop laps with Eric in the morning. Accelerated at marathon race pace before the end of the second one, and put on the ankle weights for the third.
Eric asked me how fast I could run a mile with the ankle weights. I like precise answers. So I accelerated for 200 meters at what felt to me like a mile race pace and timed it - got 41.7. So I figure 5:30 is possible. Maybe I should try the whole mile for fun some time after Ogden.
I feel the ankle weights are adjusting and aligning my bones in a better way, and stretching out my ligaments, so I'll keep wearing them every day for a mile this week.
Ran with Benjamin and Jennifer in the late morning. It was another record day. Hit the warm-up half in 4:45. Then Jennifer said: Daddy, the pace is too slow! and hit the next quarter in 1:56. She accelerated to 1:46 on the last one with the last 100 in 24. Benjamin decided to show class, and pull away by a second on the last 100. 8:27 for Jennifer's mile, and 3:42 for the last half!
She was not done afterwards, and wanted to go on a cooldown with me and Benjamin. Benjamin wanted to time his 100 meter sprint. He did it in 19.1, a new record for him. That meant I had to do a 19.1 100 meters with a double stroller and Julia with Joseph in it. I actually fell behind a bit on the first half, but then caught up, and was able to coast.
Later in the afternoon Benjamin wanted to do a 200 meter sprint. He was tired by then, but still managed a record - 44.8. So that gave me 200 meters at marathon pace in addition.
In the evening jogged about a mile with Julia and Joseph in the stroller. Total of 9 miles for the day.
Benjamin has made his first web program. It splits a given number into a product of prime numbers. He gets very excited when somebody comes to that page and tries it out. Feel free to do so, and leave a comment in his blog. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.40 | 1.60 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 |
| 4 miles in the morning with a mile with ankle weights, a 1 mile tempo in 5:38, then a jog, and a half-mile tempo in 2:48. This is my way to deal with pre-race anxiety - run a little bit at race pace, and this puts my mind at ease. Any kind of anxiety is bad during taper, especially when you are playing the short taper game. Adrenaline interferes with the storage of glycogen, so if you worry too much and sleep too little in the week before the race, you will not run a good marathon. During the day did some light jogging with a 200 m stride at marathon pace, and ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Today was supposed to be an easy day for Jennifer, and a hard one for Benjamin. Benjamin went to the dentist earlier, and appeared to be a bit weak afterwards. So we decided he would run an easy half-mile with Jennifer, and jog a bit more afterwards if he felt good. However, after running a quarter in 2:29, he apparently found some extra energy and decided to run fast. Jennifer took off after him. So much for an easy run. He at first opened up a bit of a lead, but then Jennifer caught up and tried to pass him. In the process, she accidently pushed him, and he threw a fit and stopped. Jennifer kept going, and I was not going to stop and let Benjamin ruin his little sister's quarter record. So in about 10 seconds his fit was over, but it was too late - he could not catch Jennifer, who ran 1:43. Benjamin still finished the quarter in a decent time of 1:51, but for the first time in his life he technically lost to his little sister. Afterwards we had a talk, and he really did not want to end the day on that note. So we left Jennifer at home, and ran back to the quarter mark for him to try again with the goal to beat Jennifer's time. He ran much better once he learned his lesson that having a fit results in losing. This time it was 1:39. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.40 | 1.50 | 0.00 | 0.10 | 6.00 |
| Easy run in the morning with Eric. Did some marathon tempo pickups, and ran a mile with ankle weights. Did a stride and hit 200 in 39.7. In the afteroon ran with Benjamin and Jennifer to the park on Center street. Dropped them off there with Sarah, and ran back. Total of 6 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.40 | 1.50 | 0.00 | 0.10 | 6.00 |
| Did an easy run in the morning with marathon tempo pick-ups. Hit a mile in 5:42, and then a half in 2:50. Did a mile with ankle weights with a 100 m stride in 21. In the evening ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and then drove with Eric to Ogden. We stayed with George's brother John overnight. Had a bit of an adventure finding his house, and attempted to break into somebody else's in the meantime with a similar address. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.30 | 26.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 32.50 |
| Ogden marathon. 2:30:03, second place, course PR. I am very happy with this time, as well as the place. It seemed like the odds were against me, but I was able to beat them.
Ogden marathon has an elevation drop of 900 feet, and on surface looks like a fast course. It is not as fast as it appears. The course record is only 2:29:01 set by Joe Wilson in 2005, and there is a good reason for it. The first 8 miles is a gentle drop, then rolling hills up to 18. The race starts at 5400 feet, but drops only to 4900 by mile 17. Then a short abrupt drop right before 18, that evens out. Another abrupt drop after 20 for the next 2 miles, more gradual in the next 2, and then essentially flat on the last 2. See Paul's course map for details.
Of all the courses in Utah, I believe it is the most DNF-inviting. A runner thinks he is going to get an amazing time because of the elevation drop. Everything goes well for the first 5 miles, then he is a little off-pace in the next 3, and then he has 10 miles of absolute mile split horror to endure as he battles the rolling hills at about 5000 feet elevation. The subsequent downhill helps a bit, but there is not enough of it to make up time, and the legs are usually not fresh enough to really get some solid speed.
At the start, in addition to myself we had the following contenders I expected to be in the lead pack:
Joe Wilson, PR of 2:21 in Austin, last year's winner of Ogden and St. George, first American in Salt Lake and DesNews Marathons last year, and name a race in Utah that he has not run and won. Beat me in Moab half by three and a half minutes.
Mike Kirk, PR of 2:23, winner of St. George in 2004. Beat me in Moab half by over a minute, and in the Salt Lake Track Club 15 K by 44 seconds.
Nate Long, PR of 2:34, winner of Top of Utah last year, his first and only marathon. Not a fast PR, but he beat me in that race. Ran a 50:21 15 K on a less than ideal course this year.
Steve Ashbaker, beat me twice last year setting a 1:07 half PR (Hobblecreek, fast course), while I set mine. This was probably equivalent to a 1:10 sea-level. He also beat me in the Top of Utah marathon last year setting his PR of 2:36. Granted I did not have a good race then, but still this is a psychological advantage. His recent workouts indicated that he was capable of running a 2:30 in Ogden. Mine predicted only 2:33 if I had a good race. However, his probability of having a bad race statistically is much higher than mine, but when he has a good one, better watch out.
The gun went off, and the pack of five formed just like I expected. We were coasting on a gentle downhill at a relaxed 5:40 pace. At mile 3 Steve got a little antsy and opened up a lead. I gave him a verbal warning, but he did not listen. Pretty soon Mike Kirk made a mild effort to go after him. I saw an opportunity. Catch Steve, then trade leads with him, maybe Mike will join, and get away from Joe and Nate while they are goofing around.
So I executed the plan. Steve and I have trained together and practiced 1 minute lead trade-off extensively. So as soon as I caught him, we started our maneuver. Mike caught us, and we invited him to participate. He agreed.
So we worked like a clock. The pace picked to the 5:30 range, and felt good. We made our way to 8 miles where the downhill ended, and made a turn towards Eden. What a name for a place on a marathon course around the half-mark! At thirteen you are in Eden, and then around 20 you feel like you will meet Adam and Eve pretty soon.
Joe and Nate caught up to us. I invited them to join in our lead trade off. Joe wanted to do a mile at a time, but it did not work, because we already had our structure going. At around 13 I remarked that we had a pack of 5 good runners but the money was only 3 deep. We hit the half in 1:13:42. Good pace.
At 14 I took my turn to lead, but at the end of my minute nobody volunteered to take over. So I kind of on accident started a break away. The more I thought about it as I climbed the hill, the more the break-away made sense to me. So I went for it full blast. To my surprise, Joe did not try to cover it. Ok, no problem.
I opened up a good lead, and then Joe and Mike finally started a pursuit. I hit 20 miles in 1:53:44, and was very happy. Finally by 21 Mike caught me alone without Joe. Being caught is not the best thing, but I was happy because I got caught by a teammate rather than Joe or Nate. Mike and I both run for Wasatch Running, a running shoe store in Sandy owned by Glen Gerner. So I saw the race now more of Wasatch Running vs. Weber State Alumni/Ogden boys than me vs. everybody else.
By that time, I felt ok, but not exceptionally well. I asked Mike if he wanted to go or work with me. He said he wanted to work together. So we did. He gave me an update on what was going on behind. He dropped Joe at 20, but Joe was dangerously close. So Mike suggested we should put on some distance on Joe. We hit a downhill mile in 5:32, and another in 5:25. I was absolutely amazed at this pace that late in the race even on a downhill. However, I was running at my limit. Right before 23 I backed off and told Mike to go. He opened up a bit of a distance, and ended up 34 seconds ahead with 2:29:29, second fastest time in the history of the race. Mine was third fastest.
After the interviews, I ran back to mile 24 to meet Eric. We ran together and he got 3:47:44.
In the evening, ran 1.5 miles with Benjamin. Total of 32.5 miles for the day. A very long day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Ran 10 miles in the morning alone with a mile with ankle weights, and two mile marathon tempo pick-ups one in 5:46, and the other in 5:41 over by my house. In the afternoon ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, as well as my usual always on the run. The recovery is going very well. Only the hamstrings are moderately sore. This is exactly where I want it to hurt. I've been trying to make them hurt after a marathon for a long time. The only other times when they have hurt recently has been after Top Of Utah 2003, and St. George 2003 - my two other best marathons. I believe this one was a better performance than those - my predictor says I ran an equivalent of 2:22:50 in St. George, and after going back and analyzing the data that made me set it this way, I still agree with the estimate. A number of elite runners that were in the same shape for both, and finished within the same or comparable distance from me in both marathons get correct predictions using the current formula. Total of 13 miles for the day. Now it is the time to let the muscles rest a bit, and start developing the deadly 5 K fangs for the circuit. There are going to be plenty of college-speed venom-fanged predators hunting for circuit points, and I need to have a way to defend myself. Plus that speed will come handy in St. George - I'll be able to relax at 5:20 for at least some time. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Easy run with Eric and George in the morning. Did some marathon pace tempo pick-ups including a mile in 5:37, and a mile with ankle weights. The soreness in the hamstrings is gone. Total of 11 miles in the morning.
Ran with Benjamin and Jennifer in the afternoon. Jennifer is still recovering from the food poisoning on Saturday, but still ran an 8:48 mile on her own initiative. I told her to run a 10:00 mile.
Also ran a mile on the Provo River Trail after a meeting with a client.
In the evening went to the church to watch the kids for the Relief Society Enrichment Night - it was the Elders' turn. Ran on the way there with Benjamin. We also did a lap race around the church building (outside) with all the kids. Benjamin won and gave our Elders Quorum President (who was a co-pacer with me) a run for his money eventually dropping him on the hill at the end. Then Benjamin's friend Shay wanted to race him in a sprint. I took them to a safe stretch in the parking lot. They first raced uphill on an unknown distance (probably about 50 meters). Benjamin got 10.2, Shay 11.8. He opened up most of the distance on the last 10 meters. On the downhill, Shay did better - Benjamin 9.7, Shay 10.2 - only 0.5 gap.
Then I had them do a standing broad jump. We did not have a tape, but it appeared that Benjamin was jumping about 5 inches further.
Now Shay is a fairly athletic kid, and is 2 months older than Benjamin. So he can be considered representative of what is normal for an untrained 7-year old to do in sprinting. In addition to Shay, I have observed similar results comparing Benjamin's performance in explosive exercise with other kids his age - he seems to rank towards the top. What is interesting is that I do not do any kind of special explosive training with him - only distance. The only explosive exercise he gets is the normal kid play. My explanation of his performance is that his endurance training gives him the ability to play extra hard and develop additional explosive strength. This is what my wife also noticed - her comment: You have created monsters. They do not get tired like other kids. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.34 | 1.54 | 4.62 | 0.00 | 13.50 |
| Did not get good sleep in the last couple of nights. The Ogden marathon awards ceremony took long enough for me to get a sun-burn, and I've been itching for the last couple of days. So the lack of deep sleep, and getting up at 5 AM today to run contributed to not being fully awake. Who called that ceremony an award ceremony? To sit in the sun for an hour and half after running a marathon only to find out that they did not have the checks ready yet. This sounds more like a punishment ceremony to me. I wish they would just hand the checks out when you cross the line instead of the finisher medal (I understand a first-time non-competitive marathoner is excited about finishing, but after 35 marathons it does get old), take your picture, and then honor you "post-humously" at some ceremony later that you do not have to attend if you are too tired or need to get home soon, or better - just do a write-up about the race on the website. Skip the plaque too - give it to the first runner across the line that does not have one yet and really wants it. My house is only 1060 sq. ft filled with fast-moving children - I am running out of room for the trophies. However my bank account is not nearly as full, and always has room for a check.
Anyway, I was not expecting to be able to run fast today, and thought of doing 4x1.54 downhill on the Slate Canyon Loop at marathon pace. First one was at marathon pace - 8:38. I felt more awake on the next one and hit it in 8:18. Then woke up more and ran 8:13. Last one in 8:03. When the pace started reaching 5:20 on the rolling hills section it felt hard. However, 5:24 felt like an honest half-marathon pace, and 5:28 felt relaxing.
Came back from the temple, and ran a mile with ankle weights. Then later in the afteroon, ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. In the evening with Julia, and then Joseph wanted to go for a run too. But he cannot run very far yet, so I put him in a stroller to give him the experience. Total of 13.5 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.80 | 2.50 | 0.10 | 0.10 | 13.50 |
| Sarah found some cream for my itching shoulders, and I was able to take a good nap in the afternoon yesterday, and go into deep sleep last night. Got up this morning and ran easy on the foothills near my house with Eric and George. Had a forced tempo pick up to catch them after a bathroom stop.
Then ran a mile with ankle weights, and a marathon pace tempo on the Slate Canyon Loop (2.11) in 12:26. Climbed the hill section at 6:45 pace, and that felt relaxed. I kept it relaxed on purpose, not worrying too much about the pace, only measuring it to see what I get for the effort. On the flat/rolling parts ran 5:44 pace.
In the late morning ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Then in the afternoon went to TOSH in Murray to participate in the Lower Back Pain study. Ran on a magic treadmill at different speeds. Had special markers attached to me all over my body, and cameras and the computer watching their every move like a hawk. Also the magic treadmill measures the ground reaction forces. They will mail me a CD with all of the measurements afterwards.
They are still looking for subjects. If you are interested, contact Joe Seay at lbprunningstudy at (make sure to put the real at sign here you see in e-mails, spammers go a way) hotmail.com, or call 801.314.4037.
One of the research workers was actually Jed's cousin. Small world.
They had fun when I asked them to crank up the treadmill to 5:00 pace. Their normal protocol goes to 8.5 mph (about 7:03 pace), but I wanted to get a measurement at a high speed. They said high speed running gives them some interesting results to study. I told them I'd help them recruit people that can give them a good sample at that pace. We have a few with the blogs here. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.39 | 2.11 | 0.00 | 0.30 | 13.80 |
| In the morning ran with Eric and George on the foothills. We dropped George off to do more miles on dirt, and I encourage Eric to run fast for the last 0.75. He maintained 6:12 pace and I really liked his breathing. It sounded like he was handling the pace a lot better than he used to. Then I put on my ankle weights and did a short fartlek. Started out with 50 seconds slow/10 seconds fast, but then realized that it is much harder to get going in 10 seconds to get any workout with ankle weights than without, and made it 45 slow 15 fast. Did this for a mile - 7:09. Afterwards a tempo run at marathon pace on the Slate Canyon Loop (2.11). Did it in 12:23. Felt good. Then ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Went to see a client for the rest of the day. Ran a mile during a short break. In the evening ran about 1.8 miles to the theater - Benjamin and Jennifer were in a play. Total of 13.8 for the day. I think I am starting to figure out my pelvis mystery. My right leg is 9mm longer and it tilts accordingly to compensate when I stand. After running with ankle weights for the last few weeks, I have been feeling different, and am starting to catch the form I had when I was 12. Back then I could relax and just fly. The stride felt effortless. I ran a 10 K in 37:38, 1000 in 3:03.8, and 3000 in 10:08.2. Then a mystery happened around the time I turned 15. I trained consistently, but nevertheless gradually that ease of movement was gone. I started feeling like an elephant, and have been the rest of the time until now. At the same time, durin g a medical check-up, the doctor noticed there was something strange with my pelvis, but he could quite figure it out. Now after wearing the ankle weights for the last few weeks, that 12 year old smoothness is beginning to partially come back. I felt it particularly on the hill at mile 14 in Ogden. I fully expected to be dropped on that hill. However, when I hit it, I was able to run fast and relaxed, and drop the competition to my surprise. My explanation so far of what happened. Between the ages of 12 and 14, a very critical bone formation period, I ran 4 days a week during the cold time of the year in Moscow on an indoor track at the Znamenskiye track and field school. It is 200 meters long, and has curves about 25 meters long. They are very sharp, and are tilted at a large angle. I averaged about 30 fast laps during my hard workouts. The pace was rarely slower than 6:00 mile, and was often faster than 5:00 mile. So I would hit those curves time and again. Eventually, it raised the right side of my pelvis more or less permanently, and this encouraged the right leg to grow some extra length into the provided room. Whether it really happened that way or not, one thing I am fairly certain of is that running on those curves did the damage that caused the loss of smoothness, and running with ankle weights now is partially undoing it. The question is - can that damage be undone in greater measure? If genetically I am supposed to not have it, is it possible to encourage an adult body to restore itself to the shape it is genetically supposed to be? |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.50 | 13.00 |
| Ran in the Provo Canyon in the morning. A mile of warm-up, a mile with ankle weights, some strides and jogging, then the real workout. 2x1.5 miles downhill with 0.5 recovery jog - essentially full rest. The idea was to go out at 5:00 pace and hold it until it would become impossible. Then just hang in there to the end doing my best. There was tailwind in some places, and cross winds in others. First one - quarters 74-74-74-75-75-76. 7:28.3. Not bad. Chatted with an older guy named Phil during the recovery jog, and one more. 75-75-74-77-76-74. 7:31.5. In both repetions, it seemed like my body was trying very hard to run aerobically. It almost felt like a tempo run through the first mile. Then it got a bit harder, and on the last quarter the breathing was out of control - sucking air in like crazy, and exhaling with vengence. And all that just to keep the pace. With the cooldown, it was 10 miles for the workout. The rest of the day was rather crazy, as Saturdays often are. However, I managed to get my jogging in. Ran with Benjamin, and Jennifer in the afternoon. Then at 10:00 pm I was still at 11.75 for the day, 1.25 short of my daily minimum quota. The day does not end until I've run 13 unless I am tapering, so I went for another 1.25. All the kids were still awake. I took Joseph and Julia in the stroller. Benjamin said he was feeling like a fast mile, so I took him also. He ran a mile in 7:55, would probably qualify as a world record for a 7 year old timed running after 10 pm, if they kept such records. Then he jogged another 0.25 with me. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.40 | 0.00 | 8.60 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| Drove to the Canyon View Park. Warmed up a 1 mile, a mile with ankle weights. Then jogged to the start of the Squaw Peak road. Ran hard up (about 4.3 miles) to the parking lot at the top in 33:56. Rested a bit admiring the scenery, just barely enough to find BYU, and then down moving my legs as fast as I could in 21:31.
According to the G-Map Pedometer, this is 1700 feet elevation gain, which makes it about 7% grade. G-Map pedometer gave me 4.13 for the distance, but Hawk's "holy" marks that got paved over and the unknown hero's marks on the road that are still present indicate it is closer to 4.3. I need to measure that route some day, unless somebody has already and is willing to post the results. In any case, I want to put quarter marks on it.
Running uphill felt very strange. I was not breathing very hard except for the last quarter mile, and even then, only moderately hard, but I could not go any faster. It actually felt very similar to the 5 K I ran on the track two weeks ago. This is showing something, not sure exactly what, but it appears that it takes the same type of strength for me to run a good 5 K as it does to run uphill for a long time - I did those Squaw Peak runs before Draper Days in 2004, when I ran my best 5 K.
On the way down, it took me a while to get used to moving my feet so fast. I think I finally got it on the last mile.
Ran with Benjamin and Jennifer later in the morning. Going to Idaho Falls tonight to see a client. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.30 |
| Idaho Falls. Ran easy 10 miles in the morning on the trail by the Snake River exploring the neighborhood. Found a relatively bad part of town. My client later told me that while Idaho Falls does not really have a really bad part of town, the part I found is what keeps the focus of the anti-gang unit in Idaho Falls. While in the "bad part of town", got approached by a dog. I challenged it to a boxing match. It got scared and backed off. Then it started chasing another dog, and I departed in peace. Ran around the neighborhood by the office for my always on the run during lunch break. Then in the evening ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.80 | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.80 |
| Another day in Idaho Falls. Did a marathon pace tempo run. Had to do a lot of guessing on distance. Decided to start out after a short warm-up, go to the Freeman Park where there is a loop that is 0.99 miles according to this map, then loop around to calibrate, and then return in time to make it 10 miles of tempo running when I got back to the hotel. Did 6 laps of calibration with the pace varying between 5:49 and 5:57. Total time for the run was 59:30 - assumed a slower pace just to be safe. The loop is just like the reservoir miles of Ogden - rolls up and down all the time.
Ran about 1.3 outside the office during lunch break. In the evening ran with ankle weights and the kids. Benjamin and Jennifer on foot, Julia and Joseph in the stroller. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Last day in Idaho Falls. No office work, just a trip to Yellowstone. Not sure what wears you out more. Ran 10.5 miles in the morning on the same course as yesterday, except this time did a tempo for only 5 miles in the middle. Running alone is starting to get tedious, so I did the tempo not only for fitness, but just to get the run over with quicker, and keep my mind occupied. Idle mind gets busy analyzing the pace during recovery runs, and if you let it go for too long the pace gets faster and hits what Jack Daniel's calls the no-mans land - the pace that is to fast to allow your body to rest, but at the same time too slow to train you for anything. So I figured, I could handle a couple of miles of warmup, then do a short light tempo, then I have the rest of the run to analyze my feeling on the tempo, and will be able to run slow. Ran 5 miles on the loop (5 laps + a little bit) in 29:30. Starting to feel the trip wear-down. There is a good reason why I really, really, really do not like to travel, and it is precisely this feeling of being overtravelled. Then we checked out (a workout in and of itself with 4 small kids) and drove to Yellowstone. I put on ankle weights to wear for the day. I suppose that literally gave me a lead foot. So now you've got a guy with a lead foot driving a van with the license plate VANGOGO. In Yellowstone, ran a lap with Benjamin and Jennifer around the Old Faithful. Right when we were done it errupted. Got home at 9:00 pm. Unloaded the van and ran another mile to make it 13 total for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.48 | 4.22 | 0.00 | 0.30 | 14.00 |
| I forgot to mention in my earlier entries that my wife Sarah has started her blog. She is 7-months pregnant, and has been running consistently 2 miles a day througout her pregnancy. She can still go at 11 minute mile pace on a good day.
I had a couple of dreams that Sarah would call boring because they are so real. In the first I was running a steeplechase and got lapped by Henry Marsh right when he was finishing. I've never run steeplechase, but if I had tried it against Henry Marsh in his best shape, this is about where I would expect to finish after some steeplechase training.
In another dream, I was running a marathon in a tactical race. I still had three tired runners with me on the last mile. The marathon was rather peculiar - you had to run up a few flights of stairs at the end and touch the door of an appartment to mark your finish. That is where I made my move and broke away from them. My time was 2:33. Well, a month and a half go I did win a marathon in 2:35, and I ended up getting lost on the last 400 meters and crawling under a barbed wire to get to the finish. About the same level of weirdness as the dream. Also, in a marathon, I would definitely have quite a bit of a competitive advantage on the stairs - I may run out of fuel, but my legs usually are not sore, often so fresh I would not be able to tell you I had run a marathon if I had not had the memory of passing 26 mile markers.
The morning started with a diarrhea. No wonder I kept feeling thirsty last night. Apparently the water was not being absorbed properly. To make things worse, Eric and George were not around. So I jogged making a couple of urgent stops for about 4.7 miles, then put on ankle weights and ran for a mile 45 seconds slow, 15 seconds as fast as the ankle weights would let me. 7:04 for the mile.
Then a marathon pace tempo run to get the misery over with quicker. Two Slate Canyon Loops (4.22) in 24:54. It felt like a start of a marathon knowing that I was going to have some serious problems later on no matter how conservative I started, so might just as well push it so I'll be further along when the trouble comes. However, I did not feel puky toxic, only sluggish. The hills did not feel right, and it took way too much mental effort for this slow of a pace. I could shift gears without feeling too miserable, though, when I caught myself off-pace.
Later in the morning ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. In the afternoon, ran with Joseph in the stroller and the ankle weights. Wore the ankle weights all day.
In the evening after dinner and scripture study, I felt lazy, did not feel like running at all. Brigham Young says when you do not feel like praying is when you need to pray the most. With some adjustments for true overtraining syndromes, this can be applied to running - when you do not feel like running, you need to run the most. So I went, with ankle weights and Joseph in the stroller. Sure enough, I felt a lot more like running towards the end of my always on the run mile. 14 miles for the day. Speedwork tomorrow. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.40 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.60 | 15.00 |
| Last night I began to wonder if my dreams perhaps were a stumbling block. In the top of my mind I believe I can run faster, but deep down perhaps I doubt, which makes me dream only of things I have done before. This morning it seems I have made a breakthrough on the dream front - I dreamt about warming up before a marathon having full confidence that I was going to qualify for the trials. I was as sure I could do it as if the qualifying standard were 2:35 and not 2:22. Drove to the Provo Canyon, jogged a mile, a mile with ankle weights, a few strides, then the running by faith workout. 2x1.5 miles downhill (about 1% grade) with 0.5 miles recovery. Hold 5:00/pace until I can't, then survive for the rest of the interval. This time there was no survival stage - I was able to stay sub-5:00 average on both of them all the way. First one, 73-74-74-75-74-75 - 7:25.3. Second - 75-74-74-76-76-73 - 7:28.7. Unlike last week, started breathing hard right away, but was not as miserable at the end. Total of 10 miles for the workout. Came home, ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Did some jogging later on with ankle weights. Wore them all day. Total of 15 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.00 | 13.00 |
| Decided to try Paul's magic ladder today. Went to the Provo Canyon. Usual warm-up routine including a mile with ankle weights. Then the workout - all downhill at about 1% grade or so. Jogged 200 meters back for recovery between all intervals except 400 between the 1000s to get a bit more rest, and to end up in a more convenient place on the trail. There was a moderate tailwind. Last 200 was actually a slight uphill, and last 400 probably half up and half down. Others did not have siginficant uphill sections.
200 (34.5) - 400 (67.9) - 600 (1:45.3) - 800 (2:22.8) - 1000 (3:01.1) - 1000 (2:59.6) - 800 (2:23.8) - 600 (1:47.3) - 400 (69.5) - 200 (31.4).
It definitely felt anaerobic, but not the extreme anaerobic experience, not quite like racing a mile. However, I have to say that compared to a 4:48 pace, 4:56 feels like a jog.
Ran with Benjamin and Jennifer when I got back. Then put on ankle weights, and went to see a local client. Stayed at the office all day, but did my always on the run. Total of 13 miles for the day.
This Saturday I am running in Magna 5 K. Mike Kirk is running in it too. The course is very fast. The net elevation drop is about 1.2% I believe. However, the first half is a very high quality downhill on 8400 W - you can really get a good bang for your buck there. Afterwars it is a slight up, then a very quick abrupt down at about 2.5 miles, and then a very subtle down to the end. I strongly recommend everyone who can possibly get there to run it. The course has been properly measured, it is on the circuit, prize money goes 5-deep, so you will see some good competition. I also have it on my predictor, and it is one of the better-analyzed races, so you will be able to estimate your current condition very accurately. The race starts at 8:00 AM around 41st South and 84th West in Magna. You can fill out a form online at raceutah.com. For more info, call Demetrio at 288-9555. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 2.80 | 0.00 | 0.40 | 13.20 |
| Ran with Eric and George in the morning. George had already run some, so we dropped him off early. Did a "bio break" acceleration at marathon pace. Then took Eric on his tempo run. He set a record for the Slate Canyon Loop (2.11) (14:28). Dropped him off, put on ankle weights, did 45s slow/15s fast for a mile in 6:57. Cheated and started the fast part early (with 100 to go) to be sub-7:00. Last 100 in 18 seconds. Took off ankle weights, and ran a tempo Slate Canyon loop in 12:25. The pace felt abnormally good even on the uphill section until I hit some headwind. Afterwards, even after I turned and there was no noticable headwind, the pace stopped feeling abnormally good. This led me to some thinking. I've had two races this year in which I underperformed relative to competition - Moab half-marathon, and the BYU Robison Invitational 5000 meters. Both had signficant headwind. Of course, you should expect to run slower with headwind, but I slowed down more than the peer group of consistent runners I am tracking. There is clearly a weakness. I do not have any reliable historical data of running into a headwind for myself, so I cannot tell at this point if this problem has been around for a while, or if it something new. My current working theory is that the weakness is in my ability to regain rhythm after a break when fatigue sets in - I have noticed it could take me as long as half a mile to get back to normal speed when I am fatigued after a 180 turn. Sometimes it happens when I am even not that fatigued. This could have something to do with my threshold being very close to my VO2 Max. One thing I know is that takes a lot of mental focus for me to run even a quarter at my threshold pace. I remember feeling very confused about how to run in both of those high wind races. Later in the morning ran 2 miles with Benjamin and Jennifer. They both are going to race in the Harrington Memorial 5 K in American Fork on the Memorial Day (May 29). This will be Jennifer's first 5 K. Initially, I did not want her to run it, but she has my genes - a persistent red head. With Sarah being pregnant and Jennifer's "monster" speed, Jennifer's participation gave us a challenge to find her a pacer since I'll be tied up with Bejamin. Fortunately, George agreed. Since Jennifer had never run more than 1.5 miles at once before, I was a little concerned about her ability to run a 5 K, and decided to give her a practice 2 mile run today. She did a lot better than I expected. Her assignment was to run the first mile in 10:00, and then try to accelerate on the second mile if she felt good. She ran the first one in 9:33, and the second in 8:49, with the last 400 in 2:00, and last 200 in 56. With the ankle weights, and pushing Julia in the stroller, I started feeling something during her kick myself. Wore the ankle weights the whole day, and did always on the run. Total of 13.2 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.75 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 3.00 | 13.00 |
| Difficult day today, but managed to fit in the miles. The speed workout had to be done early as usual. Just wanted to do 2x0.75 miles near my house on very mild rolling hills at 5 K pace. However, for some reason, I can never run fast on that road. It does not seem like it rolls that much, and I have measured the distance several times to make sure it is accurate. Figured it would help to do a couple of quarters at that effort first to warm up, as early as it was. Did them in 79, and 77. Then a 0.75 in 3:53, and the next one in 3:52. Then I di d not feel quite done yet, and did 2x0.5 in 2:35.5, and 2:35.1. Jogged some more to make it 9 miles for the whole run. Legs felt a little funny after wearing ankle weights for two days in a row. Decided to give them a break today. Then went to the temple, and then straight to see a client in American Fork. Got home after 6pm, did my always on the run mile with ankle weights (finally!), ate dinner, then ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Dropped them off, did some more running with a double stroller and Julia and Joseph in it. 7:00 pace felt good with it in street clothes (T-shirt and long pants), good sign. The stroller has new unpunctured and properly inflated tires, which makes a big difference. Wondered what my threshold pace would be with it, and picked it up a bit on a quarter to feel it. 1:29, 5:56 pace. About 6 months ago, I tried a 5 K pace effort with the same stroller, but flat tires, and a slightly higher weight (Jennifer and Julia) and could only get 6:30 pace. I am in better shape now, but maybe 5 seconds per mile or so. Some improvement on the dream front. Seemed like a big one - I was in the lead of the Boston marathon with nobody around me. However, after I've thought about it for a while, I realized it was only a weak attempt of the mind to get to where it is supposed to be. The race looked more like a smaller marathon. There was no police escort, the crowd was too small for Boston, there were no sub-5:00 splits, and the pace felt way too slow and easy, more like 5:40. So the mind was saying "win Boston", but not doing "win Boston". It got directions to shape up to believe I could run fast, but it attempted a shortcut to execute or rather circumvent those directions. I am now beginning to understand the experience I had before Richmond 2003 marathon. I prayed to know what to do, and felt the impression to go out with Elly Rono until the pace felt so fast that I did not think I'd be able to finish a marathon if I continued any further. I did exactly that - fortunately, Elly took a while to warm up. We did 5:39, 5:24, and then 5:20 up a slight grade. I backed off in the middle of the 4th mile, stayed at 5:30 pace up to mile 15, PRed on a flat half marathon (1:12:09), and then gradually eased into a premature cooldown to finish in 2:31:45 taking 7th. I am now understanding the importance of that exercise. Sometimes (maybe always?) your mind needs to make a breakthrough before your body does. You need to have "dream" races where you go out with somebody out of your league, and hang in there until you puke to get your mind to want to be there. Then somehow your mind starts sending constant signals to your body to change, and if it does so for long enough, and you back it up with proper training and recovery, the physical change eventually happens. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.40 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.60 | 10.00 |
| Another crazy day. I have way too many clients now, and am trying to figure out a way to have other programmers help me. This is a challenge - I have very little experience managing other people. But this could be a good thing - once I get the hang of it, I hopefully will be able to train more while the business mostly takes care of itself. However, in order to get there, I need to get really good at delegating, or quite the opposite will happen. Starting to taper for Magna. Only 10 miles today. Ran a bit with Eric and George on the foothills, and then did some tune-up speed. 0.5 miles in front the house in 2:33.6, and then a quarter in 1:17.5 trying to get a better feel for my 5 K pace. It feels weird - I want to relax and run 5:20-5:25 pace, which would feel a lot more comfortable. Hopefully having competition in the race will help me wake up and bring myself to put up with the 5 K pain. Ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and did a little bit of always on the run in between work. Benjamin is in great shape - I had him do 0.5 at what felt like an aggressive 5 K pace, and he hit 3:45 running hard but well in control. This is very good - he did this alone. In competition, he really sees red and is literally on fire. He really likes to be able to say "this guy with legs almost as tall as I was right next to me, but I put on a Benjamin surge and dropped him for good". |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.85 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 0.90 | 9.25 |
| More tapering for Magna. Jogged two Slate Canyon loops with Eric, then did some tune-up speed. Did a couple of accelerations at 5 K pace to accomodate for the "bio break". First, measured anaerobic threshold by feel. Hit the control 0.5 in 2:42.5, and it felt very very good. I do not recall 5:25 pace feeling that good on that section ever before. Then did a probe for a 5 K pace on the same stretch. 0.5 in 2:32.6, and it felt aggressive - I had to concentrate hard to make it happen. Now this could explain why it is so hard for me to push the 5 K pace - anaerobic threshold is so close, and so inviting, like a soft warm bed at the end of a hard day. What is the solution? Probably not to worry about it, and just keep doing what brings the threshold up. I do not mind developing Alberto Salazar syndrome at all - 57 seconds on a quarter, 4:01 mile, and 13:20 5 K. A slowdown of only 7 seconds per quarter from 400 m sprint to 5 K pace. If I did that, I'd be running my 5 K in 13:51.
I do not really need a true 5 K speed development, I am just concerned that the lack of 5 K speed creates a barrier for the threshold. The question is how to avoid this being a barrier, and it is an open question right now.
Ran a mile with ankle weights. Later in the morning ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Jogged a mile with Joseph and Julia in the stroller in the evening.
Salt Lake Marathon has put its half-marathon and 5 K back on the circuit. I definitely do not need another marathon at this point, especially in hot conditions. I figured I did not want to run the half either for a number of reasons. However, 5 K sounds good - gives me some 5 K practice, plus hopefully good circuit points with everybody now spread around among three races. So I decided to do it. The Salt Lake Marathon web site says: Not ready to run a marathon? Then get involved in the race by joining thousands of other runners and walkers in the 5K!. Well, that will officially be my reason... |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.70 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.30 | 15.00 |
| Magna 5K. 15:35, 5th place. Headwind on the downhill stretch made the times slow. Teren Jameson won with 14:45, then Joe Wilson 15:14, Dennis Simonaitis 15:16, and Corbin Talley 15:24. I barely escaped the jaws of a lion trying to eat me for lunch and take my precious $20 of prize money away from me - Nate Hornock was 6th with 15:40. With the headwind on the first 1.7 or so downhill stretch, the plan was clear. Hang in with the non-Teren big boys until I puke. Then if Nate, Mike Kirk, or Steve Ashbaker are around, trade leads with them. Teren took off very fast, there was a pack of curious runners that I suppose just wanted to see for a couple of minutes what it feels like to run in the lead pack, then as it usually happens, the position got settled according to the level of fitness. Teren battling the wind on his own, then Joe, Corbin, Dennis, and myself trying to catch a ride. It started hurting right away, but I decided to run with them until it would become physically impossible. Joe felt good and broke away. I stayed with Dennis and Corbin. Mile 1 in 4:40. Around 1.5 we reeled Joe in, and he joined us. Mile 2 in 5:01. I am still with the big boys, and the bigger boy (Teren) is still visible enough to take his splits. Then about 11 minutes into the race the lions began to roar as they prepared to divide their lunch. I set a goal to hang with them until 12 minutes into the race. At 11:47 it became physically impossible for me to stay with them and I got dropped. Then I tried to survive. 3 miles in 15:06 ( 5:25), and I heard loud breathing behind me. This has to be Nate, and it means trouble. He has a kick. At first I thought let him have $20, but then I said no way and gave it all I had like an antelope fleeing from a lion to safety. I made it! Ran a bit more, then ran with Benjamin and Jennifer at home, then a little more with Julia and Joseph in the stroller. 15 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.40 | 0.00 | 8.60 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| Went to the Harrington Memorial 5 K in the morning. Benjamin and Jennifer were doing 5 K, Julia decided to do a mile. The 5 K course turned out to be quite a beast - first mile downhill, second mile a never ending up, and then the last mile down. Benjamin ran a PR of 25:05. He was not quite mentally ready for the hill, and was about to quit right before he reached the top, but I reminded him he would lose to Jennifer if he did, and that helped. Jennifer handled the hill and the rest of the race just fine running 29:05. Both got trophies and were quite happy about it. Julia ran a mile, tripped half way, would not continue without a bandaid, took her 17 minutes to finish the race. She did better than Benjamin at her age though - when he was 3, he tripped before a 400 meter race, and would not even start it. Afterwards, went to the Provo Canyon with George. George ran trails. I went to do the Squaw Peak road run. Up in 32:57 (new record), down in 21:11. On the last mile down, started getting a side ache. I think it is from a bit of a cold I've caught recently - I always get them when I have a cold. Wore ankle weights for the rest of the day. Did my always on the run routine. Total of 15 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.59 | 2.11 | 0.00 | 0.30 | 13.00 |
| Eric still had a sore calf, so George and I went without him on the dirt trail. After we got back, I did my 45 s slow, 15 s fast fartlek for a mile with ankle weights. Did the mile in 6:51, but cheated starting my last fast part with 100 to go. Afterwards, ran a tempo loop (2.11) in 12:23. Felt good on the uphill, but then the quads started cramping up a bit, and I started feeling I was working too hard for this slow of a pace. I wonder if the problem is the tension in the muscle impeding the blood flow. That is what it intuitively feels to be. Ran with Benjamin and Jennifer, and did my always on the run for the total of 13 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.78 | 3.47 | 0.00 | 0.75 | 13.00 |
| Another crazy day, but got my training in. Early in the morning before going to the temple ran with Stuart. He did a time trial - Slate Canyon Loop (2.11) in 14:40. He is in a better shape than I thought - I gave him a goal of breaking 15:00 and felt it would be really good if he got close. The loop is short but tough - I like it because in 2 miles it discovers problems it would take 6 or so to see on a flat course.
Afterwards, did a two loop tempo at marathon pace with a pickup at 5 K pace at the end. I initially intended to only do the last 0.5, but seeing my splits made me a bit excited and I decided to do the last 0.75 instead. Hit the first loop in 12:17. Last 0.75 in 3:55, last loop 12:00, total time 24:17.
Felt better than yesterday, but still experienced the quad cramp up problem on the kick. This is to be expected, though - I am in the middle of hard training with strength emphasis.
Wore the ankle weights for the rest of the day after coming home from the temple. Got in 3.5 miles of always on the run/kids run, all with ankle weights. Benjamin really made me work on his kick - he hit the last 100 in 23. With the ankle weights, Joseph in the stroller, and at the end of a long work/service day I really had to dig in to stay with him. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.25 | 0.25 | 0.25 | 1.00 | 11.75 |
| Eric's calf was still sore this morning, so George and I went without him. I wanted to do some speed before we hit the trail. Warmed up a bit, and did a control 0.5 to measure the threshold. Did not get good sleep last night, so my sense of pace was messed up. The first quarter was way too easy, and it showed - 1:25. I woke up on the second a bit and ran in it in 1:21 (2:46.5 for the half), but being messed up I could not tell if I was at the threshold or above it. This woke me up, though. Jogged a bit and ran 0.5 in 2:30.8 with perfectly even splits every 200. That did not feel quite like the 5 K knife was being stabbed into me yet, but another half mile, and I would probably have felt it. Then went with George on the trail. Dropped him off, and still had half a mile to go to the house, so figured I'd do another 5 K pace pickup. However, jogging on the trail apparently put me to sleep. I hit a downhill quarter that should have been at least 70 at a 5 K pace in 73, and it felt way too comfortable. Then I tried to pick up on the uphill one, but still could not quite leave my comfort zone - 1:21 with 2:34 for the half-mile. Then ran a mile with ankle weights in 6:58, then a run with the kids. Julia officially started her training today with a quarter in 2:55. In the evening she decided to do another, and this time ran 3:05. How about that - running in doubles at the age of 3! |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 1.00 | 8.50 |
| Mini-taper for the 5 K tomorrow. Ran with Eric and George in the morning. Did some tune-up speed. First ran a tempo effort 0.5 in 2:43. Then 0.5 at aggressive 5 K pace in 2:30.6. Then jogged with Eric and George on the trail, and then hit the last 0.5 fast coming down the Slate Canyon road and back up on 1350 E. This time, I decided to make sure the downhill quarter would not be 73. It was 68, and I held on OK on the uphill quarter - 1:19 - 2:27 for the half. Then ran 1.5 with Benjamin. A little later a mile with Jennifer, and then a quarter with Jennifer and Julia. Joseph always in the stroller. Jogged another 0.5 with ankle weights and Benjamin in the stroller timing me. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.70 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 3.30 | 20.00 |
| Salt Lake (instead of Marathon) 5 K. 16:09, 4th place. Given no prize money at the end, this made it a perfect race to intentionally die, and hopefully be resurrected in the next race. I executed the death part, and am hoping for the resurrection. My plan was to run with Corbin until it becomes physically impossible with no regard to how it would affect the rest of the race. Afterwards, do my best to recover. Without the headwind to battle, Corbin hit the first mile, which was essentially flat, maybe a very slight down, in 4:50. I was surprised I was still alive - this is only 8 seconds slower than my mile PR! I managed to survive for another a little over 2 minutes. At around 7:05 into the race, I could not stay with him any more. Around 9 minutes into the race Nate Hornok caught me. I managed to stay with him until 2 miles, which we hit in 10:03 (5:13). Not bad - second mile was uphill. Just like this Shiz guy in Ether 15 in the Book of Mormon - head cut off, but still struggling for breath before he dies. This is exactly what happened to me - I managed to stay with Nate for another 20 seconds, and then he was gone. The last mile had a nice downhill stretch after a short but unpleasant climb in the beginning. I'd rather have that last mile in the beginning, and the first one at the end, which is the way it is in Draper Days. I managed to not get passed by anybody until right before the finish line. Steve Ashbaker sneaked by, and beat me by about half a second. Steve just called me and told me the results of the race got really messed up. They put Corbin first, but gave him 16:09 - he ran probably at least 30 seconds faster. Nate is gone from the results. Steve's time is right, and he is second instead of third. He argued with the people in charge at the awards ceremony and vehimently refused to take Nate's prize, but to no avail. The timing company said they do not have a way to fix the problem. Now he will be explaining to everybody and their dog in Salt Lake City that they should not believe what they read in the paper. According to Steve, they moved me all the way down to the 14th. I would not really have cared, except this is a big problem for the circuit. If the race timing company does not find a way to get their act together ( should really not be too hard - the footage of the finish does exist, but as big as they are they might not be that thorough), then there are two solutions - drop it from the circuit (Corbin will not be happy), or just have everybody who cares to get scored e-mail their time and place to Bill Francis. On the other hand, the race should not have been in the circuit to begin with - USATF rules say it has to have prize money, or no show, but they made an exception for this one. In any case, this was a really good race to use for a specialty training run. I do not have a team to train with, except when I go to a race with competition. This is my chance, I'd better take it. Sure, if I had gone out with Nate from the start instead of Corbin, I would have finished in 15:55 or so. But I do not want to be running 15:55 5 Ks - I want to be sub-15 for a start. And the legs will not learn to run sub-15 by running just sub-16 all the time. Afterwards, Steve and I ran to my car at Liberty Park. He, as always, wanted to make sure I was not mad at him for passing me so close to the finish. I keep telling him it is a race. In fact, of all the people behind me, he would have been my choice to pass me. Got to the car, and tried to get to some place in the marathon where we could start pacing our friend Bill Cobler. In retrospect, we should have just backtracked on the marathon course. We got stuck in traffic, and then finally maneuvered our way to mile 18. I suspected we might have gotten there too late. We asked the volunteer, but she did not remember seeing Bill. We then saw Mike Evans and another runner, and asked them. They said "he had not been by". I thought this was an interesting response - I guess when you start getting passed, the world exists for you in terms of who's been by. So we thought Bill was having a bad race, and ran back. In the middle, Steve got excited and picked up the pace to about 6:00 mile. People kept telling us we were going the wrong way. Finally, we made it to 16. By that time, we realized there was no reasonable way Bill could be any further behind, and turned around. We paced a guy named Mike who was headed for about 3:40. For a while, I thought he might be able to go faster, but he did not seem to have as much juice as I hoped. We got back to 18. Afterwards, we needed to decide what to do. Steve was running late. So we decided to pick up the pace, get him to a Trax station while putting on some mileage, then I would come back to my car and drive to Provo. We sped up first to a 6:40 pace, and then we hit a mile in 5:47. Then I turned around and ran back to the car at 18. Again lots of comments about going the wrong way from the crowd. In the evening ran with the kids. Total of 20 miles for the day. Somewhat unintentional long run - would not hurt. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.60 | 0.00 | 1.25 | 3.65 | 14.50 |
| Went to the Provo Canyon this morning. Regular warm-up including a mile with ankle weights and strides. Then started speedwork. Ran a 2.5 mile fartlek down on the trail alternating quarters between sub-5 K pace to go anaerobic with quarters at tempo pace to learn to clean up. At the end, ran the whole half mile at 5 K pace. Splits: 68 - 80 - 71 - 82 - 73 - 84 - 74 - 86 - 77 - 75. Total time 12:49.9. Last half really hurt - it felt like the end of a 5 K, exactly what I wanted. I think this is the closest a man can get to labor. Jogged 2.5 miles up, and did the down portion of Paul's ladder again going down: 1000 (3:01.8) - 800 (2:26.2) - 600 (1:48.2) - 400 (69.8) - 200 (32.8). In the afternoon, jogged a mile with anlke weights and Joseph in the stroller. Wore ankle weights most of the day. Ran with Julia her quarter, then with Benjamin and Jennifer on the way to the swimming pool. Swam with them a bit, did 50 yards in 57 seconds, that was all I could do - not a lot of power in the arms, especially at the swimming angles. Total of 14.5 for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.20 | 2.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.50 |
| Ran in the morning with Eric and George. We went for longer than usual - 10 miles on the foothills. Afterwards, I did a marathon pace tempo Slate Canyon Loop (2.11) in 12:23, and then ran with Benjamin and Jennifer. Also ran with Julia. She really surprised me today - ran a quarter in 2:22 (35,38,37,32), also PRed on 100 at the end. Her pervious quarter PR was 2:48. What happened was that I gave her a challenge to catch two walking ladies, and she really got excited about it. She did catch them. Afterwards, she kept saying: "I got the two ladies, Daddy". I think she is beginning to catch the spirit of competition. Figured out, I think, what happened with the 5 K times in the Salt Lake Classic. The gun timer started early, which would have been OK if all the chips got properly picked up as the runners crossed the starting line. But a few runners, including Corbin, Nate, myself, Carre Joyce, and a few others did not register. It probably had something to do with whether the first leg to move had a chip if you were at the front. So subtracting 1:35 from all the front runners' gun times gives correct times. This would give Corbin 15:48, Nate 15:59, then Steve and me both with 16:09. Ran some more with ankle weights and Joseph in the stroller to get 15.5 for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.50 | 6.39 | 2.11 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Had to do the run early this morning, as usual on Wednesdays to make the 8:00 am shift in the temple. Warmed up 1.6 miles, then did 4 Slate Canyon loops (2.11 each, 8.44 total) at tempo pace. Was asleep on the first one - 12:49, then started waking up - 12:36, 12:28, and picked up to half-marathon race pace on the last - 11:58. Last mile was 5:22 (0.25 down, then rolling). Total time 49:58. Did some always on the run during the day, including 0.5 with ankle weights, and ran with the kids. Total of 14 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 0.50 | 10.50 |
| Ran with Eric and George. Did a tune-up for Heart of Holladay 5 K. First, a tempo 0.5 in 2:44, then a n aggressive 5 K pace 0.5 in 2:30.1. Jogged some more on the foothills. Then ran with the kids.
During the day, did some always on the run miles, and ran 0.5 with ankle weights.
The 5 K results from last week have been fixed, and are available here. I got a nice e-mail from Jon Atherton, who was in charge of timing, explaining exactly what happened. Now we just need to figure out why Mike Nielson is not in the results of the half-marathon.
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.80 | 8.00 |
| Mini-taper for Heart of Holladay. Did a tune-up 0.5 in 2:43, then fast in 2:30.9. Ran with the kids later in the morning, and ran half a mile with anlke weights. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.70 | 3.10 | 0.00 | 3.20 | 16.00 |
| Heart of Holladay 5 K. 16:29, 11th place. Very competitive race today, and on top of that I did not run a good one. Decided to try an experiment - go out slower. In the past, this has unfailingly resulted in slowing down even further at the end, but I wanted to see if anything has changed. It has not. First two miles - 5:06 (slight up), 5:09 (down) with Nate Hornok. Felt like a tempo, almost. Then the hill came. I made to to 12:20 into the race with Nate - about the middle of the hill. Then the muscles just refused to go. Third mile in 5:38. Adjusted for the hill, it was worth about 5:23. No kick on the last 0.1, although I tried. Got passed by Steve Ashbaker, Tim Stringfellow, and Josh Steffen. Finished, and immediately ran back to meet Benjamin. The hill that killed me killed him too. Both of us need to work on hills. He finished in 25:11 - would have been 20 second faster without the fits. We are going to work on it. Then went back on the course with Steve Ashbaker and did a tempo. We ran it in 18:08 at marathon pace effort, and it felt very comfortable. I am indeed suffering from the Mike Kirk syndrome - not much difference between 5 K and marathon pace. Afterwards, a long cooldown. Ran with the kids at home, and then a mile with ankle weights at night. So this race along with the other two 5 Ks. show that I have about a 7-10 minute anaerobic window at the start of a 5 K to run fast. If do not use then, I cannot use it later for some odd reason. Weird - would not expect that in a marathoner. The question is what to do about it. I decided to try a new approach. The true reason I want my 5 K to be faster is so my marathon would go up with it. That means I should try to raise my aerobic capability, and not worry too much about anaerobic. So I decided to try something that Lydiard suggest, and that has actually worked for me on a couple of occasions in the past (December/January 2002, and summer of 1985) - daily tempo runs of about 6 miles at marathon pace for aerobic conditioning. I'll try it for the next two weeks to see if it does me any good. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.55 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 15.80 |
| Today was my first day of the experiment. The idea is to raise the aerobic power since I am not that good at running anaerobically in shorter races, and it is not possible in longer races anyway. Lydiard says anaerobic work interferes with aerobic development. I have always taken it with a grain of salt, but I have never really given the idea a fair try. In the past, my idea of aerobic development was jogging at 7:00 pace, occasionally picking it up to 6:30. Well, I can still jog at 7:00 pace, and even through in a mini-tempo on a recovery day in between anaerobic speed workouts. But if I removed them, I could do much more - run 6-8 miles a day at my marathon race pace. That would really push the aerobic system. We'll see how that works. Went to the Provo Canyon. Warmed up a mile. Put on ankle weights and did 4x100 alternating up and down - up 19.6, down 18.2, up 19.0, down 17.7. Now the form started feeling good. I think the mistake I made in the past week was to only jog with ankle weights - I am now realizing they are most effective when you sprint in them. Then ran 8 miles at marathon pace effort up and down the canyon being very careful to not feel anaerobic even when going up. The average pace up was 6:07, average pace down 5:38. However, the run involved 3 180 turns, and I had a hard time shifting gears after running uphill. So once I got going the downhill pace was 5:32-5:34. Total time 46:59. Did some always on the run miles during the day. Ran with the kids. Jennifer made Benjamin work today by running an 8:34 mile with the last 0.5 in 3:44. Then we ran to pick cherries. It is a race against the birds. We managed to get our share. If anybody knows a good source of locally grown fruit/vegetables here in Provo/Orem or within a 20 mile radius or so, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail through the feedback form. We eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, and are just barely learning to garden. I am aware of Strattons and Allreds, but I would really like to get to know a few farmers or just people with big gardens with stuff to sell on a regular basis. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.75 | 6.00 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 15.00 |
| Ran on the trail about 4 miles with Eric and Jorge to the magic mark. On the way back, did about a 6 mile tempo at about 6:00 pace. Then did 4x100 with ankle weights (19.7 - 19.0 - 18.6 - 18.2). Aftewards ran with the kids. Took Benjamin on the Slate Canyon Loop to help him learn how not to have fits on a hill. Had Jennifer in the stroller. The presence of a little sister greatly improves the older brother's mental toughness. We planned it so he would be very tempted. He hit a rolling 0.75 in 5:49 before the hill started. Then he slowed down to a 2:12 on the hill on the next quarter - very good pace for that grade, and had a good attitude. I told him he needed to tell himself he is stronger than the hill. He scaled that nasty hill (about 0.57 long) like an adult Kenyan - as if it were not there, and shifted gears very quickly on the down. His downhill split for 0.5 was 3:28. Last quarter was uphill, but he again tackled it like an adult Kenyan with a split of 1:57, and the total time for 2.11 of 16:44. There was a little glitch as we passed a house with two ladies that live an alternative life style and smoke like a chimney on top of it. The smoke threw Benjamin off, he started having difficulties breathing, and was about to go into panic. That is when his little sister's help came handy. She gave him some firm words of encouragement, and he quickly recovered first mentally, then physically, and sped back up. I was very impressed that he was able to hit a 1:57 quarter split uphill through all of this. Ran some more in the evening with Joseph in the stroller. Total of 15 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Had to do an early run today. Tried to map out a flat 8 mile course near my house. Found a loop 4963 feet long (0.94 or 1500 meters), however after doing two of them, I realized I did not like it - too many turns, still some uphill, and I did not want to pass the alternative life style smoking house 9 times. So I went to going a mile out mile back. It still rolls, but it is the flatest mile there is near my house of all the stretches I know where the automotive traffic is sufficiently low. Although you do see some fitness traffic in the area, we could use more of that and less of the car and particularly school bus traffic. In Kenya, running 6 miles to school is a norm. Here, walking half a mile to get on the school bus is considered too much - there seems to be a school bus stop every 200 meters on 1350 E. And they wonder why Americans get beat every time a Kenyan wins. Eliminating frequent school bus stops will conserve fuel, improve air quality, reduce childhood diabetis, and take American runners to a new level. I think I am ready to run for office... It took me a while to get going, especially with all the adventures of the course knocking me out of rhythm. However, I finally started breaking 6:00 miles in the middle, and managed a sub-6:00 average of 47:55 for 8 miles. Did some always on the run miles during the day. Ran in the evening with the kids. George and his kids happened to be biking as we got out. The excitement of having cycling pacers led to Jennifer setting a new mile record - 8:00. She is going to be 6 at the end August. Benjamin broke 8:00 (with a 7:58.8) on the track a month before he turned 6, and the fastest he's ever run on that course before he was 6 is 8:21. So it seems like she is ahead of schedule. It looks like breaking an 8:00 mile before the 6th birthday is going to become a ritual in our family. Now if we could carry it to breaking a 4:00 mile before any birthday, it would be just super. When Benjamin was 3, he already looked like a runner - long legs, good form. Jennifer looked like a regular 3 year old, perhaps even a bit clumsy and non-althletic. Now, however, her legs have grown out and are very strong. I tried to get her out of bed one morning, and she kicked me. I felt the power. Total of 14 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.75 | 6.00 | 1.00 | 0.25 | 15.00 |
| Ran with George in the morning. Warmed up to the magic mark on the trail past the turn-off to the Y. After that did a tempo run of about 6 miles on the same route as Tuesday. Improved my time from 36:55 to 36:16. This does not say much, as at marathon race pace over 6 miles if you have a time goal to improve you can always cheat and do it especially if you kept track of the splits on the previous run, which I did. Jogged some more, then did 4x100 with angle weights in 19.5, 19.2, 18.3 and 18.2. After that, a tempo mile out and back in 5:30 - tailwind out and headwind back. Felt good. Good sign - 5:30 pace still feels good at least for a mile after 4 days of consequitive tempos. Afterwards, ran with the kids. Some always on the run miles with Joseph in the stroller during the day. Total of 15 miles. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.75 | 5.00 | 1.00 | 0.25 | 14.00 |
| Missed George this morning. Went to the Provo River Trail by Geneva Road. Warmed up, then ran a 6 mile tempo. Out 2.5 in 14:43, then back in 14:44, then turned around and speed up to 5:28 on the last mile. Total time 34:55. Last three quarters were actually all 1:21, but on the first one it was hard to get going after 180 turn and going 5:54 for 5 miles - it was 1:25. For some odd reason 5:54 pace felt strained. Legs were not relaxing. However, 5:24 pace at the end almost felt easier. Jogged some more, even did some house shopping in the area. Then came home, and did 4x100 with ankle weights 19.3 - 18.9 - 17.9 - 17.9. Then ran with the kids, and did another mile later on with Joseph in the stroller. Total of 14 for the day. Provo Riverwoods 10 miler tomorrow. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.75 | 0.00 | 10.00 | 0.00 | 16.75 |
| Provo Riverwoods 10 miler. 53:05, first place. No prize money, and no competition after the first 0.5 miles. However, since I have to time the race, and need to get a run in anyway, I may just as well run it. Plus it is good for psychological reasons to win by a large margin once in a while after getting beat in more competitive races. The course had about 900 feet of elevation drop, most of it in the first three miles. My goal was to keep the pace faster than 5:20 or at least not much slower than 5:20 on the not so steep sections, and really get going on the steep ones. Felt good until the last two miles. Then the legs started cramping up. I suppose this is to be expected - I've been doing tempos every day since Monday. The mile markers were rather approximate, but fortunately the course had Hawk's magic marks most of the way. This helped me keep the pace on target. Last two miles were around 5:23 - 5:25. Afterwards, the race was not over. I had to time everybody else. Fortunately, George was there to help, and then Mike West showed up. Then went on a 3 mile cooldown with Mike West. That, plus a two mile warmup at the start with George gave me good mileage for the day. In the evening ran with the kids right before Sarah and I went on a date. Our babysitter Chris came early so we invited him for the run. Benjamin and Jennifer were determined to give him a run for his money. Jennifer set a new family record in the 5 and under division for the mile - 7:41. Chris survived the run, but it was not easy for him. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.75 | 7.00 | 1.00 | 0.25 | 15.00 |
| Ran in the Provo Canyon in the morning. A mile warm-up, then 4x100 with ankle weights. Up 19.0, down 17.4, up 18.3, down 17.2. Then the same 8 mile up and down back and forth tempo as last week, except picked it up on the last mile. Total time 46:09, up average 6:00, down average 5:32, last mile 5:32. 2 mile cooldown, total of 12 miles in the workout. In the evening jogged with Joseph in the stroller, and ran with the kids. Total of 15 miles for the day. Paul Petersen has a vacancy he needed to fill for the Wasatch Back Relay. So I am doing the ultra legs 7-8, 19-20, and 31-32. If somebody is going from Midway to Provo and could give me a ride on Saturday morning at around 9:20 AM (assuming we move on schedule), let me know. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 5.25 | 1.00 | 0.25 | 16.00 |
| Jogged some in the morning with Eric and George. Then drove to the Provo River Trail by Geneva road to do the tempo run. First, 4x100 with ankle weights. Felt a bit of the pinched nerve problem in the back that I had a year ago, and decided to do them more relaxed. 19.3 - 18.8 - 18.5 - 19.0. Jogged some more, then did a tempo. 2.5 out, 2.5 back, then turnaround and another 1.25. Maintained a fairly steady pace for the first 5 miles - 29:03. 5:45 felt too fast, 5:50 felt just perfect. After the turnaround, gave myself 0.25 to regain the momentum, and then accelerated to an aggressive half-marathon pace. Last mile in 5:22 very steady - 1:20 - 1:21 - 1:20 - 1:21 - they were probably all 1:20.5. Felt very good, the stride was relaxed, the legs were not cramping up. Jogged some more afterwards. Total of 13.25 miles in the workout. Jogged a mile in the afternoon. In the evening, ran with the kids. Total of 16 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Regular Wednesday early morning run. Warmed up 2 miles, then did an 8 mile tempo mile out mile back trying to stay flat. Took a while to get going. Total time 47:13, average pace 5:54. However, it was a constant cycle of recoverying from a 180 turn. Once I got going the pace was around 5:45. I think the 180 practice is good, though, to learn how to deal with the changes of pace better. Ran with the kids in the evening, and did some jogging. Total of 14 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.75 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 13.00 |
| Warmed up with George and Eric. Then ran about 5 miles of marathon pace tempo part of the trails and part on the roads. Cooled down to be at 10 miles when I got home. Then took Benjamin and Jennifer for a run with Julia and Joseph in the stroller. Then a short Julia run. Afterwards, Benjamin joined me for my sprints with ankle weights. He can almost keep up with me when I have ankle weights on. We did 2x100 ( me 17.8, Benjamin 20.4, me 18.0, Benjamin 20.7), and then a 200 (me 36.5, Benjamin 44.1). This is Benjamin's record on a 200. Met with a client for the whole day. Ran 1.25 during a break. Wasatch Back Relay tomorrow. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.75 | 9.40 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.15 |
| Ran with kids in the morning. Then in the evening drove to Logan for the Wasatch Back Relay. Ran legs 7 and 8, total of 9.4 miles uphill from Paradise to the middle of the Avon pass. Did it in 56:38 (29:23 - 27:15). It was hot, but with the team giving me plenty of water to dump on myself it was not too big of a problem. Felt strong, including the hills. Felt very good afterwards. The rest of the relay story in the Saturday entry. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.75 | 21.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 24.95 |
| My second leg of the relay (legs 19 and 20) started at 1:30 am. I think given a choice, I would start with three normal legs instead of two, or maybe even four to get in as much distance on fresh, well slept legs, and then run the remainder of the distance after having good 8 hours of sleep. The way you do it in a relay is probably harder on our body in a way than running a full marathon - you run, get shuttled to the next leg, by the time you get there, there is no time to sleep, you need to get ready to run again. My teammate Jon Felis was faster than we anticipated, so I was still in the bathroom when he got to the exchange. He ended up having to wait two minutes for me. Paul Peterson rode the bike with me and provided the entertainment. Leg 19 started out pretty good, I was keeping about a 5:40 pace or so, if our GPS could at all be trusted. Then we hit a climb that was steep enough for me to drop Paul while he was giving it all his got on his bike, although I felt I was barely moving. Did leg 19 in 25:41. Then we started going downhill. Did 4 highway miles in 5:33. Then we got into Henifer, and finally made it to the exchange. 1:05:02 for the 11 mile stretch, and 39:19 for leg 20. When I got the baton, the BYU team who had a 5:00pm start (we started at 4:00pm), had already passed us, and the Full Nelson team Paul wanted us to try to beat was a bit ahead. At the end of the leg, we had a 7 minute lead. It was an interesting race - Full Nelson was a gender mixed team, while we were ultra. Their male runners on average were better than what we could on average muster in the ultra sections, however, we made up quite a bit of ground when their legs were being run by a woman. My legs were sort of the revenge ones - the first regular leg was run by Anna Judd (about 3:00-3:10 female marathoner), and the second by Bob Hinzte ( a master marathoner in about 2:40-2:45 shape). My last leg (legs 31 and 32) started in Heber and finished in Midway. By that time I had slept for a total of about 5 minutes, and had run over 20 miles of hard tempo on hills. From the last two miles of the previous leg I knew my glycogen stores were pretty low, and it was also clear than my regular meals do not replenish them very well in 6 hours like I hoped they would. So I figured I needed some quick sugar, bought some honey at Days Supermarket in Heber, and loaded as much of it into my system as I felt was healthy. However, the nervous system was quite a bit out of whack due to the lack of sleep. I got the baton a minute ahead of Full Nelson this time, so my goal was to try to put on as much distance on them as possible. The task much harder on the third leg, and it also a lot more important in that place. Drew essentially hit the wall on the last two miles of his second leg, and he still had You gotta be kidding me followed by Ragner ahead of him (about 8 miles of steady 7.5% grade climb) while racing Taha Mahmood and Scott Browning who can run 17:15-17:30 5 K fresh. I suppose this is reverse revenge for me putting on distance on a woman, so it is all fair. I was not super fresh, but did the best I could. Decent pace through leg 31 (4.1 miles in 23:28) on a gentle downhill. Clocked a highway mile slightly uphill on Hwy 113 in 5:59 - still good. Then the uphill started getting to me. I felt I was slowing down. Last mile was 6:52 on 3% grade up, if the mile to go mark was accurate. It did not help having no sleep and 30 miles on the tempo odometer for the last 24 hours. My total leg time was 1:02:12 for 10.2 miles, with leg 32 in 38:44. Only about extra 4 minutes on Full Nelson this time. Still managed to put about 45 second lead on Bob Hintze, so it was not all in the ladies department. But this was not enough for us to beat Full Nelson. Drew and James were pretty tired from the ultra impact. Drew managed to hold Full Nelson off until about half-way through Ragner, but then they ran strong from then on and beat us by 7 minutes. We managed to dip a bit under 20 hours, though - 19:58 I believe, won the ultra, and were 5th overall if my current info is correct. For a father of almost 5, the race never stops just at the finish line. Sarah came to get me at the end of my leg in Midway, and we went to Benjamin's and Jennifer's piano recital. I managed Joseph through it - unlike me, he did not want to sit still. Then we finally got home, and I was able to take a nap. Dreamt about chasing Full Nelson. Later in the evening ran with the kids. Benjamin set a record on a half-mile - 3:32. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.25 | 7.50 | 1.00 | 0.25 | 15.00 |
| Ran in the Provo Canyon. After the Wasatch Back Relay, two days of rest, two nights of sleep, the leg is only 8 miles, and the steepest uphill grade is only 1.5%. Wow! Warmed up, 4x100 with ankle weights 19.7 up - 18.2 down - 19.0 up - 17.4 down. Then the tempo "leg". 1.5 up, 2.5 down, 2.5 up, 1.5 down. Total time 46:59, up average 6:12 (headwind), down average 5:32 (tailwind), last mile 5:13. Ran with the kids in the evening. Two neighbor girls joined us - Angie and Cheyenne. Cheyenne did really well - ran a mile in 9:51. I think she has some talent. Afterwards I took Benjamin for his fast half-mile, but this time, I brought the double stroller with only Joseph in so we could run 0.5 out, and then I could run with both of them in the stroller. Thus it was a mile relay, sort of. Benjamin did his leg in 3:40, I did mine in 3:09, which was a tempo for me with the weight. Our "team" ran the mile in 6:49. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 16.25 |
| Warmed up a couple of miles with George, and then ran a tempo of about 6.5 on a new course on the trail. Total time 38:25. Found potential training partners on the cooldown - Jon and Steve. Ran 0.5 in 2:52 with Steve to test his GPS. Then 4x100 with ankle weights by my house. 19.8 - 19.7 - 18.8 - 18.8. Ran with Benjamin, Jennifer, Julia, and Joseph in the stroller. Some jogging during the day and at night. Total of 16.25. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.00 | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| In the morning, warmed up two miles, then an 8 mile tempo mile out and mile back in 47:09. Not my favorite workout, but life is tough - I've thought about altertnatives, and still thinking. It is either tough hills (overtraining), driving somewhere (not enough time on Wednesday morning), or out and back (the least of the three evils). Actually might not be so bad - teaches me to deal with the change of pace. Did some jogging during the day and ran with the kids. Total of 14 miles. Felt like I had some weird kind of a cold, but flushed it out towards the end of the day with EmergenC. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.25 | 6.50 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 16.00 |
| Ran with Eric and Steve Hillam today. Warm-up, then the same 6.5 tempo run on the trails as Tuesday. Amazingly, almost the same time - 38:23. I must admit I was tracking my splits and would pick it up if I was behind, and back off if I was ahead. Steve helped with the pace as much as he could doing some sections. I hope he will be able to do the whole thing once a week in a couple of months. I also hope he sticks around for a couple of months. Afterwards, did some jogging, ran with the kids, and then did sprints with ankle weigths. Benjamin joined me. I did 200 in 38.8, then 2x100 18.0 - 17.9. Benjamin set a huge record in a 200 trying to keep up with me - 40.7. Go Benjamin! Afterwards, his 100s were not too bad - 20.4 - 21.3. Just to think of a 7 year old running a 200 in 40.7! I remember running a 300 after some training at the age of 11 in 58, and I was one of the fastest in the training group. This was not your regular peer group slice - this was the kids who either really wanted to run, or were talented enough to have been selected. My intuition is that Benjamin will run a 400 in 50 or faster when he grows up, which, if the case, would be very helpful. Jogged a bit at night - total of 16 miles. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.25 | 6.50 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 14.00 |
| Almost the exact repetition of yesterday. Same training partners, same course, same workout. Steve helped me with the pace on the tempo run, which I did in 38:22. I cheated at the end and ran the last 200 in 40 to not be slower than yesterday. The good news is that I felt like cheating this way, and could cheat without shifting into a kick gear. 4x100 with ankle weights 19.7 - 19.6 - 18.8 - 18.1. Ran with the kids. Jogged a bit more at night. Total of 14 miles. Feeling tired, the daily tempos are stressing something either neurologically or hormonally. Muscles feel fresh, and if I warm up, I feel good. But without warming up sleep is all I want to do. To make things worse, I had to catch up on some projects in my business, and could not afford a nap. Fortunately, a telemarketer called, I told him in a hurry I was not interested, and hung up. He called again, and that really got me going. So I was able to stay awake to do the work. Blessings in disguise... |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.75 | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 16.00 |
| Ran on the Provo River Trail by Geneva Road with John Bishoff and Steve Hillam. Did a warm-up, then 4x100 with ankle weights - 18.8 - 19.0 - 18.6 - 16.8. I asked them to run fast enough to drop me on the last one, they did, and I ended up setting an ankle-weights record for a 100. Then a 10 mile tempo run. John and Steve were helping as much as they could. John made it through the mile in 5:46, which is his official mile record for now. I was doing fine at first - 14:26 at 2.5, the next 2.5 in 14:37. Then around 7 miles I noticed that all of a sudden the same effort is giving me about 5:55-6:00 pace. Not good - dehydration, out of glycogen, lack of sleep, nervous system overload, lack of speedwork, adrenal glands quitting, overtraining, a combination of all of the above or something else? Decided to try to pick up the pace anyway - after quite a bit of grumbling managed a 1:23 quarter, then after a 200 in 43 which felt hard decided perhaps pushing the pace was not wise. Backed off, and coasted. Did not even bother to look at the watch for a while, then when I did, I realized I was going 6:12 pace. I finally talked myself into speeding up to 6:00, and even managed the last quarter in 1:23. So perhaps I possibly overreacted to the slow-down. 29:34 for the last 5 miles, and 58:37 for the whole run. Took the kids with me to get the oil change/safety/emissions/registiration at Jiffy Lube. While we were there waiting, we ran to the nearby track at Provo High. Benjamin set a 400 meter record of 1:36.2. We then did some more running. In the evening added another 2 "always on the run" miles. Total of 16 for the day, and 90 for the week. Also decided to start working out with weights. I have a hunch that testosterone somehow contributes to a good running economy. A masculine muscle works like hard rubber on ground contact, while a feminine is more like cotton. My intuition tells me I could use more hard rubber and less cotton in my muscles. Testosterone, I suppose, is the hormone would make the muscle more like hard rubber. Maximum effort in lifting weights should stimulate its production. So today I did 3 sets of 3 with 85 pounds, and that was about maximum effort. Sandy Classic did not give Glen any comps, but fortunately Murray Fun Days 5 K did. That means I am going to be having fun in Murray on the 4th of July. It would be interesting to see how I do in a 5 K after three 90+ mile weeks with all the tempo running, and no speedwork. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.65 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.60 | 8.25 |
| A short taper before Murray Fun Days. Also the beginning of an easier week. I am realizing 3 weeks of 90+ with daily tempos was perhaps too long - two should have been enough. Or very possibly I did not need it at all - I suspect am already aerobically developed enough for the limit to be somewhere else, and until that mysterious "somewhere else" gets pushed up, additional aerobic development either will not happen, or will not help me run better. Went to the Provo Canyon to do a tune-up workout. Warm up, then 4x100 with ankle weights. Up 19.7 - down 18.2 - up 18.8 - down 17.5. Then 0.5 up in 2:38 (79 - 79) with a solid headwind. Full recovery, then 0.75 down in 3:38 ( 74 - 71 - 73). Felt very relaxed in the first 1000, but then holding the pace became significantly harder. Full recovery ( 400 meter jog), then 2x100 with 300 jog rest down both in 14.6. Felt unusual explosive strength, but could not quite translate it into speed. Ran with the kids aftewards, and jogged a bit in the evening with Benjamin running, and Jennifer and Joseph in the stroller. Intersting - my tempo mileage experiment did not seem to affect the speed, but so far I've seen a drop in the strength endurance. Interestingly enough, my friend Albert Wint has had similar results. I also did run into the same problem back in 2002 - I could go fast and it felt easy for a while, but then all of a sudden I could not hold the pace. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.90 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.10 | 13.00 |
| Murray Fun Days 5 K. 16:39, 3rd place after my teammates Corbin Talley (16:22) and Mike Nieslen (15:36). In the absense of a number of fast runners, we pulled off a 1-2-3 for the Wasatch Running Center, which made Glen (the store owner) very happy. The course is not the fastest by any means - 1% grade up for about 1.1 miles, then 180 turn, and the same grade down on the way back. From there somewhat of a rolling hills around the Murray City Park to the finish. The start was rather abnormal. Corbin pulled off a manuever I considered doing myself but thought would be logistically impossible - two races in the same day, finishing 3rd in Sandy Classic 10 K 15 minutes earlier with 33:56. I did not ask him how fast he had to drive, but in my earlier discussions with other runners the consensus was you had to be on a police motorcycle to make it. So with another race under his belt already Corbin was not anxious to push the pace. Mike was not in a hurry to do so either. At first we were moving so slow that I considered taking the initiative to push the pace, but feeling a bit of a headwind made me change my mind. About 0.7 into the race Mike finally started going, and I tried to go with him. He dropped me fairly quickly hitting the mile in 5:09. I got 5:16, and was very happy with it, especially considering the grade and the fact it did not feel too hard. I though the second mile would be easily 5:10 going downhill. It was not - only 5:20. By that time Corbin had started to recover from his earlier race and caught me. I tried to hang on, and made it to a little bit past the 2 mile mark. After that, I was just praying I would not get passed (with the prize money cut-off being top 3), and trying my hardest to discourage the possible predators. Fortunately, the venomous predators were not around, and I managed to stay in 3rd place. Third mile was 5:30, and the kick was 33 seconds. It was actually 32, but USATF rules say you always need to round off the finish time up to the nearest second, so 16:38.01 rounds off to 16:39. On the last mile, as usual, I felt I could go a while at that pace, but lacked the juice to go even 5 seconds per mile faster. I ran 15 seconds slower than I did last year, but I knew I should not expect much after my three-week mileage/tempo experiment. Losing only 15 seconds in a 5 K immediately after the hard and possibly unwise training is probably not that bad. Especially if you get $50 and good circuit points for it. So in spite of a slow time, I am very happy with this race. In the evening ran with the kids, and worked out with weights (bench-press). One set of 6 with 85, then another set of 6 with 90, and then a set of 3 with 100. On the last repetition I barely was able to get the barbell on the stand. This is a sigficant improvement from Saturday. Could your muscles possibly get stronger after one workout? Or possibly the fatigue of running and the general stress of life was higher on Saturday that tonight? |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.60 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.40 | 13.00 |
| Ran very easy in the morning with George and Eric. Need to recover from the hard training in the past three weeks. We jogged about 8.5 miles on the trails. Afterwards, put on ankle weights and did sprints with George. Did some more running with the kids, and some jogging in the afternoon/evening to make the total 13 miles. Amazing what competition does to me in a sprint. I managed 16.8 - 16.3 - 16.4 - 16.3, setting a new record for an ankle-weighted 100 m. My regular 100 m PR is 13.9. George also set a PR for 100 m - 15.7. For some reason, having competition in a 5 K does not do the same thing to me. I might feel some extra competitive fury in the first mile, and then I am feeling very mellow. However, in 2004 was able to do something to stir it up in one race - Draper Days. This year, I suppose I has some semblance of it in Magna, but not as furious as Draper Days of 2004. I think it was also there in the Top of Utah in 2003. It became particularly evident when Paul did a bit of a photo editing to get me into the picture of our WBR team, and used the face from the TOU 2003 finish. I remember feeling very aggressive in the early miles, then mellowing out a bit later on, but still being a lot more aggressive mentally and emotionally than I normally am in a marathon. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 13.00 |
| For the first time in a long time, my quads were sore. So I decided to run easy today. Ran with John Bishoff and George on the trails. Came home, ran with the kids. Light sprints with Benjamin with ankle weights - 200 in 41.4, then 2x100 19.7 and 18.2. The last one was with his old friend Bitner - Benjamin actually ran 19.6. Did some more running during the day to make the total 13. Also worked out with weights. Did 2 sets of 3 with 100. On the third one, could only do 2. I do not think I was feeling as strong as on Tuesday, and overall I was feeling somewhat tired when I started the weight workout. I did not get a knap today. I suppose explosive strength is very sensitive to the lack of sleep and overall fatigue. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| My quads were still sore from the sprints on Wednesday. Wow! This is something. I can run a marathon downhill, and they do not get that sore. But sprint a bit all-out with ankle weights, and they start hurting. I suppose the magic is in the all-out. So I decided to take it easy today. Ran a couple of loops with Eric. Then found Steve Hillam on the road and ran some with him. Stopped for a "biobreak", then caught him running a mile in 5:44. Felt something in the quads - they were stiff. Then we found another runner on the road - Jeff Wright, and ran with him. He used to be a sprinter/middle distance runner - 400 m in 47, 800 in 1:51. And he was going fast - about 6:10-6:30. Ran with the kids, jogged some more in the evening, total of 13 miles. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.75 | 15.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 23.05 |
| Went to the Provo Canyon for the long run. Strategically parked at Nunns. Warmed up a mile to the start of Sharpen The Saw 10 K - too bad that race has been discontinued, but it is still in the certification database. Ran 5 miles down to what I thought was the 5 mile mark (first lightpole after the old power plant at the mouth of the Provo Canyon) in 28:32. Then up in 32:14 - the wind was pretty stiff. Then back down in 28:07 - total time of 1:28:53. I think I got the 5 mile wrong. My intermediate splits suggest my times should have been about 20 seconds faster for each 5 mile segment. Went afterwards for a bike ride with Benjamin on the course, and measured it with the Jones counter. Sure enough, my intuition was right. The distance was 5.14 miles - due to the lack of time calibrated the counter on the first mile which was still marked after all the years, and matched the description in the certification document quite well. So I'll call it 5.1 to be safe just in case. I also checked the elevation drop with gmap-pedometer.com - it is about 350 feet, so 70 feet per mile, a bout 1.3% grade for the 5 mile stretch. Stopped at the car (about 11.5 miles) to get Powerade. Cooled down to get back to the car. Found a runner on the road to join me for the cooldown - John Fee, teaches law at BYU. He was just starting his 15 mile run. Legs felt stiff at the start, but did not get any worse at the finish. All the way though the tempo I felt like I could keep the pace forever, but I would be very uncomfortable if I tried to go any faster. In the afternoon, ran with the kids. Benjamin wanted to run a mile time trial, and set a new record of 7:12 with the splits of 1:47 - 1:50 - 1:49 - 1:46. Worked out with weights in the evening. Benchpress - 3 sets of 3 with 95 pounds. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 | 13.00 |
| Went to the Provo Canyon for speedwork. Warm up. Strides with ankle weights (4x100) up 20.0 down 18.6 up 19.3 down 17.8. Then 12x400 down with 200 recovery. Total time 13:52.1 average of 69.3. Slowest 70.6 ( 1/3 uphill), fastest 67.9 (last). Last 200 about 32.7. Tried to run more or less relaxed, go fast, but not be extremely anaerobic. Saw Ed Eyestone running on the trail. Did not get to talk to him, though, as our paths did not quite overlap. He looked like he was going quite fast, but also it looked like he had to work. I suppose he is trying to get back in shape. Ran with the kids in the evening. Played a game with Julia after Benjamin and Jennifer's run - Julia ran a quarter in 3:03, and then we were chasing the imaginary 8:00/mile guy for the remaining 1.25 miles as she and Joseph sat in the stroller. Without a stroller, it is no big deal to close a minute or so on 8:00 pace in a mile, but the extra weight made it an interesting challenge. We passed him with 0.2 miles to go, and beat him by 19 seconds. I was able to stay relaxed enough to where this did not feel like a tempo, though. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.60 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.40 | 13.00 |
| Had a lot of training partners in the morning. That is very nice. First, Stuart came to do a time trial on the Slate Canyon Loop. He ran it in 14:10 improving his time by 31 seconds. His 7 miles a day is starting to pay off. Did his cooldown. Then ran with Benjamin, and Jennifer. Merrill and his son Noah (they are visiting from Las Vegas), joined us. Afterwards, sprints with ankle weights. Did 3 with Benjamin and Noah in about 19 seconds each. Then raced against Merrill and Steve Hillam. They were a lot faster but did not get their time. I got 16.5 with ankle weights. Then I took them off. They were still a lot faster - 13.3 vs 14.8 for me. Jogged some more with Steve. In the evening ran with Julia, and jogged some more with Joseph in the stroller. Total of 13 miles for the day. In the evening lifted weights. 1 set of 3 with 95, then 2 sets of 3 with 100. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.75 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Ran with Steve Hillam and George. I felt sleepy. We started out at 10:00 pace, and I was perfectly happy at first. The pace got faster, but not by much. After we were done with the trails, Steve and I ran the Slate Canyon Loop (2.11) in 13:53. I challenged him to break 14:00. He hit the last 400 in 1:23 and made it. Benjamin happened to be around walking with Sarah at the quarter mark, and decided to join us. He made it through the first 100 meters of Steve's kick, and finished the quarter in 1:41. Afterwards, Benjamin convinced Jennifer to run the Slate Canyon Loop and we paced her to a sub-20 - 19:40 with the last mile in 8:53. She handled the hill very well. Ran with Joseph in the stroller for a mile in the evening. Felt sleepy and lazy. Even thought about walking instead, but then the thought of having to walk for the whole mile made me want to run it - when I feel lazy I always follow the path of the least resistance. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.55 | 0.00 | 2.00 | 2.25 | 13.80 |
| Ran with Steve Hillam and Steve Ashbaker in the Provo Canyon this morning. Started at the Canyon View Park. Warmed up to the Nunns Park. Then Steve Ashbaker and I ran our standard 3 mile tempo downhill to the mouth of the canyon. The plan was to trade leads every two minutes for the first two miles at a brisk tempo pace, and then try to run each other into the ground on the last. The first mile was 5:12, the second 5:08. Then we duked it out on the last, hitting it in 4:55 with the last quarter in 69. Our overall time was 15:15, which is a record for me by 8 seconds, and for Steve by 10 seconds. Then we jogged some, and did 5x400 downhill with 200 jog recovery. 70.6 - 67.3 - 70.7 - 68.0 - 65.9 (last 100 in 15.3). Steve was a bit faster on the last one - 64.3. Total of 11 miles for the workout. In the evening ran with the kids in the Provo Canyon. Also lifted weights. 3 sets of 3 with 100 pounds. Total of 13.8 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.90 | 1.00 | 0.10 | 0.25 | 13.25 |
| No training partners today. Patrolled the neighborhood the entire run trying to spy some out - did not see any guys. Ran a tempo mile in 5:46 to keep myself from being bored after I stopped feeling lazy. When I stop feeling lazy and start feeling bored (about 4-6 miles into the run), and there are no training partners around to chat with, this is trouble for recovery/taper runs. Finished the run, then did 4x100 with ankle weights - 19.1 - ? - 18.9 - 17.8. Then ran with the kids. In the evening, ran an always on the run mile alone without Joseph in the stroller - he was playing and Sarah did not want him disturbed. Decided to time it. Felt extremely lazy as usual on the first 100 meters - 34 seconds, 9:00 pace. If somebody told me at that time I could race a marathon at 5:40 pace, I would not have believed them. However, plodding along I started to wake up. Made it to the turnaround in 3:52. Then at 1000 m mark (4:46) I realized that Benjamin was going to ask me how fast I ran. I wanted to be able to tell him that I broke his record (7:12). I was 16 seconds behind, but I still had 600 meters to go, and I am a big daddy. So this looked like not too much trouble, so I went for it. I figured I needed to run a little faster than 6:40 to make it. Then with 200 to go, I saw that if I ran the last 200 in 40 it would be 7:00, so I speed up for a round number and hit it right on - 7:00. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Ran in the morning in the Provo Canyon. Did a 5 mile tempo at marathon pace - 2.5 down from Canyon Glen Park to the mouth of the canyon, and back. Felt lazy on the first half. First mile 5:37, the next one 5:33. The next half in 2:47 - 13:57 at the turnaround. Next quarter was 1:32, and it ended up being the only quarter slower than 1:30 for the rest of the run, but I did not think it would be, as the wind gusts sometimes were pretty strong. I did the next 0.5 in 3:00, and the last two mile splits were 5:54 and 5:53. Total time 28:44. An interesting change. The head wind and the hills bothered me a lot less than they used to. I was maintaining a steady pace and did not feel like backing off when the head wind got stronger or the grade got steeper. There was an interesting feeling in the legs. I would not say they necessarily had more power, but more strength endurance. Did a bench press in the afternoon - 3 set of 3 with 90 pounds, but this time I used a narrow grip which makes it harder for me. Took the kids to the Provo Canyon and ran with them there in the evening. Total of 13 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.50 | 3.25 | 0.00 | 1.25 | 12.00 |
| Ran in the Provo Canyon in the morning. Measured wind strength by running a 1:28 quarter uphill during the warmup. Then ran the 3 mile tempo from Nunns Park to the mouth of the canyon with an aggressive marathon pace effort. First mile 5:37 (asleep), then woke up and ran two 5:23 miles - total time 16:23. Still felt lazy, but 5:23 pace felt very good, although it did require some concentration. Then jogged back to the Canyon Glen Park, and did 5x400 with 200 rest downhill. 69.6 - 70.3 - 70.5 - 70.0 - 69.2 (last 100 16.6). Felt lazy. Watched my splits like a hawk, and only sped up if it looked like it was going to be over 70. It seemed like there was some barrier at around 71 second pace that made me feel so comfortable when running slower that I had to push myself to cross it. Sarah went into labor in the afternoon, and for a while we thought the baby was coming. However, her contractions stopped after 6 hours. Good for us - we got good sleep. Hopefully, we can get them going again this afternoon (Tuesday) and get the baby out. Ran with the kids in the evening. Total of 12 miles for the day. Starting to taper for Draper Days/Desnews marathon combo. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 10.75 |
| Ran with Danny Moody in the morning. We spoke Russian all the time. Did a tempo mile with net uphill near my house in 5:38. However, on the flat the pace was 5:30. Did sprints with ankle weights - 4x100 ? - 17.3 - 17.6 - 17.7 - did not want to go fast, but seeing Danny ahead of me got me going. Then ran with the kids - Danny and Steve Hillam joined us. Bench press in the afternoon (narrow grip) - two sets of three with 95, then a set of two ( could not do third). No baby yet. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.75 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 9.00 |
| Easy run with Danny and Steve. Did a tempo mile in 5:37 this time without the uphill. Did 4x100 with ankle weights in around 18-19 seconds. Ran with the kids. Went a on a walk with Sarah trying to get the baby out. Then in the afternoon took a walk with Sarah in the Provo Canyon. She ran 100 meters in 35.2 - the fastest I've ever seen a pregnant woman dilated to a 6 go. She really impressed me. But still that did not put her into active labor like we hoped. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 6.25 |
| Ran with Steve Hillam in the morning. Major taper for the marathon/Draper Days. Ran 0.5 in 2:30.6 to practice 5 K race pace. Then ran with the kids. Benjamin set a record on 0.5 - 3:26.6. What impressed me was his furious kick - last 200 in 47, and last 100 in 22. Jogged 0.5 in the evening with Joseph in the stroller. No baby yet. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 6.00 |
| Sarah woke up shortly before 2:00 am, and had strong contractions. We called the midwife, shipped the kids off to a neighbor's house, and got ready for the baby. Jacob Alexander Pachev was born at 3:56 am at our house, weighing 9 pounds and 5 ounces, and 21 inches in height. We believe it is a record in weight for the 22 grandchildren of Sarah's parents. It is also the first time she went into labor in the middle of the night. And she ran a record 100 meter sprint within 36 hours of delivery while trying to go into labor - 35.2. She very impressed me when she said "I love you" in the middle of a hard contraction. She has never said anything unfriendly before during labor in the past, but I do not remember ever hearing "I love you" in the middle of a contraction. Having children definitely has had a refining influence on her. Interestingly enough, the pushing stage lasted about 16 minutes - about the time it takes me to run a 5 K, which is something I get to do tomorrow. I consider the 5 K to be the most painful race when I am in shape. After things had settled down, I put up "It's a boy" sign that has already been prepared, finished my scripture study (interestingly enough, read the last 2 chapters of Jacob in the Book of Mormon), and got ready for my run. Still tapering, so only 4 miles + the kids run. Ran with Steve Hillam and Danny Moody. We did a 0.5 in 2:27.3. Danny helped with the pace quite a bit, and I really appreciated it, because otherwise I would have been falling asleep. Still, this is nothing compared to the sleepiness on the last leg of the Wasatch Back Relay. Then later in the morning took a nap, and then ran with the kids. Our neighbor Abby joined us, and did pretty well - we went her pace, and ran the mile in 9:33. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Race: |
Draper Days 5K (3.107 Miles) 00:16:00, Place overall: 6, Place in age division: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.40 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.10 | 7.50 |
| Draper Days 5 K, 16:00, 6th place. 23:52, new PR by 1:13, and 96th overall, 4th in 11 and under for Benjamin. Got up at 5:00 am, took Benjamin with me, and we went to run the Draper Days 5 K. It was hot - about 80 degrees at the start. I felt lazy during the warmup, and did not even feel like striding very much. Saw Joe Wilson and Dennis Simonaitis in the warmup, and developed a race plan - hang in with them for as long as I can. We hit the first mile (downhill) in 4:45. Joe Bendoski was ahead by about 10 seconds or so, we had Leon Gallegos and Danny Moody with us, and a thick pack within 5 second behind us. When I saw the split, I knew today would not be a run for time. 4:45 sounds fast, but it is slow for that particular mile. I ran it in 4:33 when I set my PR of 15:37, and I was right there with my competition, not way ahead. That is just the way this course goes: 2% grade down on the first mile, then you gradually roll up for the rest of the race to average a 0.4% drop. Joe and Dennis kept pushing the pace. I managed to make it to 7:00 into the race, and then I had to let go. I could stay with them fine on the downhill, but as soon as it flattened out it did not take them long to do me in. However, they pulled me a way a bit from a pack of wild beasts, and I really could use that safety buffer. 10:05 (5:20) at mile two. Not bad for the uphill. 9:38 for Joe Bendoski, 9:50 for Dennis and the other Joe. Way too many fast Joes in this race! At the turn after mile 2 (11:37 into the race), still 4th. However, with Neal Gassman and Tim Stringfellow behind me, this is not a safe position. I made a decision to hang in there with however catches me for as long as I can. At 13:10 into the race Neal finally catches me. I was able to shift gears and go with him. Set a goal for myself to make it to at least 14:00. Made it to 14:05. Now hopefully that would discourage the pursuers. Neal is exceptionally strong on the last mile. Pretty much the only way he can be beaten is if you never see him. So running with him for a minute pulls you away enough to discourage most of the pursuers. Most but not Tim Stringfellow. Being very well aware of that, I try my best to do some semblance of a kick. Too hot, and I am feeling just plain lazy. Almost made it. Tim sprinted past me with a few yards to go. That booted me out of money, but I still got a decent time - 16:00. Joe Bendoski won with 15:10, then Dennis 15:22, Joe Wilson 15:33, Neal 15:49, and Tim 15:59. 16:36 after the start of the race having finished all the tear-off tag stuff I am headed back to find Benjamin. Met him at 20:37. He ran strong, and finished in 23:52, which is a huge PR. He finally earned his USB cameray. I am very excited for him. Too bad he still has to race 11 year olds, and we have some fast ones around here. This got him 4th in his age division, and booted him out of the awards. So both of us today ran a good time, but got booted out of something. Did bench press in the evening - 3 sets of 3 with 95 pounds (narrow grip). That felt better than Thursday. Also ran with Jenny and Julia. Benjamin joined us. Deseret News Marathon on Monday. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.00 | 26.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 28.20 |
| Deseret News Marathon. 2:31:47, third overall, first Utahn. My goal was to make top three, and to win the first Utahn prize. At the start, we had Simon Sawe, John Ndambuki, and Jared Nyambuki of the Kenyans, and Steve Ashbaker and Corbin Tally of the locals. So I had to find a way to get rid of one Kenyan, and not get punished by a local for it. A challenging task. I noticed the Kenyans were a little slow at the start, and decided to take advantage of it. I signaled to Steve, and we went off trading leads. 5:04 for the first mile. At about 1.5 Steve had to stop to fix the rock in the shoe problem. So now I was on my own. However, Jared Nyambuki took the bate and followed us. 9:47 at two miles (4:47), then 14:28 (4:41) at three, and 19:27 at 4 (4:59). The pace is actually not as fast as it sounds - this is a 7% grade. Then it flattened out. 24:57 at 5 (5:30), next mile uphill 30:43 (5:46). Nyambuki started pulling away, which was just fine with me. Now we are climbing the Little Mountain. Next mile in 6:29. Sawe and Ndambuki passed me, and they looked like they were racing already. Next mile was half up and half down - 5:59, then down in 5:19. Felt so good I thought it was only 5:30. So far so good. Now a little loop to Pinecrest. This gives me a chance to check what is going on. Nyambuki about 1:20 ahead, Sawe and Ndambuki about 45 seconds ahead, Steve about 2 minutes behind, Corbin about 3 minutes behind. 10 miles in 54:16, half in 1:11:30, and still running relaxed. However, somewhere around 14 legs started feeling a bit cramped, and I slowed down to 5:35 pace. We are still going down the Emmigration Canyon, so 5:35 is not a fast pace, although not too bad. 15 miles in 1:22:26. Then things started getting worse, and I could not quite understand why at first. It was not the fuel, my usual issue, it was the legs, something that usually holds up quite well. From then on, I managed to do 6:00 pace on downhill miles, and slowed down to 6:20-6:30 on the ones with uphill. Around 18 the right hamstring cramped up, but then it felt better. Then I saw Nyambuki on the side of the road, and it looks that he is so cramped up that he cannot even walk. Ok, that puts me in 3rd. Now I need to hold off Corbin and Steve. As slow as I am going, they could come up to me very fast. 20 miles in 1:52:38. Next mile in 6:33 (up), but the one after that in 5:50 down. Now just try to hang in there, and fight the negative thoughts. The subsequent miles were somewhere in the 6:10-6:20 range. Almost missed a turn. Finally, the finish. Yes, I made it! 2:23:15 for Sawe, 2:26:39 for Ndambuki. Finally Corbin comes in 2:40:18 and they carry him to the medical tent. Then Steve comes in 2:47:36, and he is even worse off - two people carry him to medical tent. I guess I did not realize how hot it got once we came out of the canyon. That explains the cramps, the slowdown, and not getting passed through all of this. So I guess given the conditions I was not running that slow after all. A repetition of the lesson I've learned a while ago - never get depressed about slow mile splits, but fight out the battle instead - you might actually be doing quite well for the conditions. The legs were extremely sore afterwards. Could barely walk. Ran with the kids in the evening. Had to lean on the stroller to make it. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 2.00 |
| Ran two miles in the morning in 18:58. Legs are sore just about everywhere - quads, calfs, hamstrings, even the dorsi-flexors. I wish I had taken the stroller with me to lean on. I suppose the balanced soreness is a good thing, though. It means I can use another muscle group as a backup when the primary one fails. In the evening decided to let my legs get some rest, and took the kids to the track so I could watch them run. Also, did bench press with a narrow grip, 3 sets of 3 with 95 pounds. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 2.00 |
| Legs still exceptionally sore. So I had to answer a lot of questions on my temple shift this morning. To my surprise, a lot more people than I thought were completely unfamiliar with the post-marathon walking syndrome. Even I began to take my quick recoveries for granted. However, this marathon has always been past my quick bounce back threshold, and this year was tougher than others due to the heat at the end. Waited until the end of the day to run in hopes my legs would be somewhat normal. Had to lean on the stroller to make in manageable, and ran with the kids. Benjamin gave me a workout hitting the last quarter of his fast 0.5 in 1:38, but I survived. I could probably go more than 2 miles with a heroic effort, but I'll wait another couple of days - I can afford to rest a bit. After that, the preservation of fitness would become an issue, and the heroic effort would be worth it. Also, the muscle recovery is happening already at a decent rate, so the effort would have to be less heroic. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 |
| Legs still very sore, but better than Wednesday. Did some always on the run jogging during the day to test the waters. In the evening ran with the kids, and then jogged additional 2 miles in 15:48. Also did bench press (narrow grip), one set of 3 with 95, then 2 sets of 3 with 100 pounds. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.00 |
| I am finally able to run without feeling extreme pain in every step. However it still hurts. Ran 8 miles with George on trails this morning. Then ran with the kids. Jogged a mile in the evening. Less pain than in the morning, the acute soreness essentially gone. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Running was not painful today for the first time since the marathon. Decided to not waste any time and ease into normal training. Figured 5 miles at marathon pace would be a good start, and will show me how the recovery is going. Did it on the Provo River Trail between the Geneva road and the Utah Lake. 2.5 out, 2.5 back. 5:50 - 5:50 - 5:52 - 5:46 - 5:39 - total time 28:57, 14:35 out, 14:22 back. Legs felt weak, but I was able to partially compensate it with an artificilly increased leg turnover on the second half once I remembered the trick. Back in 2004, I did 110 miles the week that would correspond to the next one. In the beginning of the week, I was having a similar problem with weak legs during a tempo run while still recovering from the marathon. But a weak later, the problem was largely gone. So I was able to continue to recover through the high mileage. With that experience in mind, the plan for next week is to resume normal training. However, 90 should be enough mileage. Now I am eyeing four goals - win the Utah circuit, win the Top of Utah, win St. George, and qualify for the Trials in St. George. I believe the last two have to go together - it will not be possible to win St. George without qualifying this year. Steven R. Covey says think win-win. I am not sure if he will necessarily agree with my application of that principle, but I like to give it a different twist - win two marathons two weeks apart. Mike Kirk will certainly have something to say about my ambitions with his legs in St. George. At least he did back in 2004. It is going to be fun. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| Ran on the Provo River Trail between the Geneva Road and the Utah Lake. Met a new friend - Corey Osborne during warm-up.
Then did the same 5 mile tempo as Saturday. The purpose was to build fitness while measuring recovery from the marathon.
Got 28:32.7, mile splits - 5:31 - 5:42 - 5:49 - 5:48 - 5:43. Out 14:07, back 14:25.
First mile felt very easy, and I thought that I'd be able to keep that pace all the way, and maybe even speed up a bit at the end. My legs felt strong. Then on the second mile they began to lose power, and got essentially back strengh-wise to where they were Saturday. I have observed this phenomenon before. Shortly after one punishing marathon or a set of two or more marathons done back to back, the legs feel normal for a little over a mile, and then all of a sudden just quit. You suddenly slow down about 20 seconds per mile, and then it does not get any worse.
Well, at least I was able to do a good mile, something that did not happen Saturday, and the overall time was faster, so the recovery is slowly taking place.
Ran with the kids, and jogged some more in the evening to make the total 15 miles.
However, I think this drastic slow down sheds some light on my slow downs in 5Ks. I believe the limiting factor is of the same nature, it just happens at a slower pace when the muscles are still partially torn up from the marathon. Interestingly enough, Dallen seems to experience a similar problem. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.20 | 15.20 |
| Ran with George and Danny in the morning. We went on the trails. Danny had served a mission in Russia, so I figure he could use some Russian instruction while we run to keep his Russian up. Right in the middle of that instruction I was so engrossed in explaining the intricacies of the Russian usage that I was not paying attention to the footing, and naturally took a spill. This is not the first time, so thanks to the wealth of my falling experience I got away with just small scrapes on the hands and one on the left knee. Dropped George and Danny off, and ran some more along the Slate Canyon Loop. With a quarter to go I noticed that if I ran 1:29 I would get 15:00. While in the middle of that quarter, I realized that this would put me whole 50 seconds behind Stuart's record. I was feeling good, still had some miles to go, and remembered my easy pace splits in the early part of the loop, so I figured I'd just keep going at a tempo pace until my time for the loop becomes faster than Stuart's record. This gave me a mile in 5:43 (with the first quarter uphill in 1:29), and the loop time of 13:57. In the process I realized that Stuart's record is pretty good - it took some hard work to catch it. Ran some more with the kids. Then in the evening Benjamin wanted to do sprints, so we went to our magic hill. This gave me my goal of 15 miles for the day (a bit more, actually). Did bench press, narrow grip, 3 sets of 3 with 100 pounds. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.35 | 1.25 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 15.10 |
| Did two runs today. First one early in the morning before going to the temple. The goal was to cover 10 miles in the minimum amount of time with the minimum possible effort. Two conflicting goals. To meet them, the course had to be flat, and I had to start right from my house. This meant a mile out, and then a mile back five times. Started out at slower than 8:00, then eventually sped up to about 7:10-7:15 pace. Did not feel like going any faster. It might have had something to do with the low quality of sleep last night - Jacob had a fever, and kept waking up. Sarah nursed him all night. Fortunately he nurses very well, and that makes him happy. Finally got bored with the slow pace, and also got curious about how a faster pace would feel. Ran 0.75 in 4:19. Then with 0.75 to go, I saw that I could break 1:11:00 for the whole run if I did the last 0.75 in under 4:13. So I got going. First quarter in 1:27, no wonder it felt so easy. Then pressed a little harder on the gas pedal - 1:24, and a bit more on the last one - 1:21 - 4:12 for the stretch. In the evening first ran with the kids. Then put Jenny and Joseph in the stroller, and went to do the remainder of the miles. I discover that Jenny is a great training partner. Her stories entertain me well enough to compensate for the extra 44 pounds of weight. She kept talking non-stop, which might be a bit annoying in the house, but is wonderful during a run. Ran the Slate Canyon Loop in 15:33. Interestingly enough, on the flat sections I was going about the same pace (7:10) as I did earlier this morning, and it felt the same in spite of pushing 70 pounds of kid weight + the stroller itself. I guess having had a nap in the afternoon made quite a bit of a difference. After the loop, added another 1.5 miles. Got curious on the last quarter how fast I would go at a tempo effort. Picked it up to an aggressive marathon pace. Got 1:30 for the quarter. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 15.00 |
| Tempo run on the Provo River Trail by Geneva road this morning. Again 2.5 out, 2.5 back. The course looks flat, but I've wondered about that since I've noticed doing mile repeats that the first mile out is always 5 seconds faster than the same mile back. Sure enough, there is a 25 feet elevation drop on the first mile, which makes 25 feet climb (0.5% grade) on the last. Otherwise, it is indeed flat. Ran it in 28:26.3, 6 seconds faster than Monday. However, unlike Monday, I was feeling lazy and sleepy from the very start through the first half. After that, I was just tired. The splits were 5:39 - 5:40 - 5:45 (with a U-turn) - 5:43 - 5:39. First half 14:10, second 14:16. Felt strong. but stuck in the 5:40 gear. During the cooldown saw Steve Roberts and Dan Hinckley. They were doing a fartlek. Ran a bit with them - about 0.1 mile, hit a 100 in 16. Came home and ran with the kids. Still had 4 miles left for the evening. Took Jenny and Joseph in the stroller. I think I've figured out the meaning of Thing 1 and Thing 2 in The Cat in The Hat. Julia is Thing 1 and Joseph is Thing 2. You have to catch them with a net! I suppose I could be The Cat In The Hat when I come to somebody's house with them. Anyway, Sarah (The Fast Running Mommy) is very happy when I take one or both of them. Decided to do some power work while I had a chance. Warm-up, then two 100 meter bounds (no stroller for the bounds). Covered 100 m in 43 steps. Looks like the legs are still a bit weak from the marathon - this should be 41 - 42 steps normally. This is consisent with what I've been seening in tempo runs. Then jogged some more, and did 4x60 meters uphill (3% grade) with the stroller (70 pounds of kid weight) and ankle weights. 14.5 - 13.8 - 14.1 - 13.9. Jenny and Joseph had a lot of fun. Then parked the stroller, and did 2x60 up in 10.7 - 10.9, one down in 9.4, and then one up in 10.7. Some interesting observations - not much speed-up after dropping the weight, and even after changing the direction. This is also consistent with the 5:40 pattern in the tempo run. My intuition tells me I need some downhill work. I still have no idea why this happens to me, but running uphill for a long time makes me slow. There has to be a way around it, though. Did bench press also. 3 sets of 3 with 100 pounds, narrow grip. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.35 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 15.10 |
| Easy run with George in the morning. Decided to measure the trail course with the wheel. We've already measured it with Steve's GPS, but it lost the signal a couple of times down the road, so I was not sure how reliable the measurement was. The wheel measurement of the stretch out was 3.68. The GPS showed 3.66. Of course, I am not sure how accurate the wheel measurement was either - the wheel kept bouncing and shaking on the rocks as I ran with it. But at least using two different methods gave very similar results. Dropped off George, jogged a bit more. Got bored, ran 0.5 in 2:49. Had a hard time getting going. Did 4x100 with ankle weights - 19.7 - 19.6 - 18.8 - 18.3. Then ran with the kids. In the evening jogged some more with Jennifer and Joseph in the stroller. Jennifer told me a lot of stories again. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.75 | 0.00 | 2.00 | 3.25 | 15.00 |
| Speedwork in the Provo Canyon in the morning. Warmed up. Found somebody to run with - his name is Kevin. His is training for his first marathon. Did 4x100 strides near Canyon Glen Park - 2 down and 2 up. Then 12x400 down with 200 jog. Averaged 70.7. Last two were 69.5 and 68.3. Felt lazy - this is to be expected at the end of a 90 mile week shortly after a marathon with a difficult recovery. Also was holding back a bit in anticipation of a 2 mile tempo afterwards. Lots of joggers on the trail. Got some interesting comments during one recovery jog - people are surprised to see me run so slow. Hey, guys, hold your horses - the next interval is coming up. Ran back to the start of the tempo. Found another partner to run with - his name is Craig, he has run several marathons, and teaches grade school in Orem. Had a good chat with him. Back at the Canyon Glen Park, and now the 2 mile tempo down. The goal was to run 10:40. I felt like Laman and Lemuel in the Book of Mormon - give the minimum required. Actually, they would not even do that, so I suppose I did a bit better. But I did have a bit of their attitude in the run. So if I saw a 1:21 split I would speed up, but if I saw a 1:19 I'd back off. Hit the first mile in 5:21, then next 0.5 in 2:41, and the last 0.5 in 2:38. This gave me the desired 10:40 right on. Again the abundance of joggers supplied some interesting comments. With about 30 meters to go I passed three girls that were probably going around 8:00 or so. One of them said something to the effect that seeing me pass them made her feel bad. However, right after she said it I stopped. Then she said she was glad to see me stop because this did not make her feel so bad. I've heard comments like that before, interstingly enough mostly from women. It does make me wonder why seeing a man run fast makes them feel bad. First, men and women race in separate divisions, and for good reason. Second, one should be happy for others when they run well instead of feeling jealous. Maybe second should really be first. Came home, ran with the kids. In the evening did bench press, narrow grip, 3 sets of 3 with 100 pounds. Jogged some more with various combinations of kids in the double stroller. Total of 15 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.85 | 0.00 | 2.00 | 3.25 | 15.10 |
| Repeated the Saturday's workout today. 4x100 strides. 12x400 downhill (1% grade) in the Provo Canyon with 200 recovery. Averaged 69.2, last in 67.0. Then jogged back up, and did a 2 mile tempo run. Went through the first mile in 5:18, then got complacent. 8:01 at 1.5, time to get going. Picked it up and finished in 10:39. Overall, felt siginficantly stronger in the quarters, but only slightly stronger in the tempo run. Very possible that I was able to push myself more in the quarters, and thus was more tired before the tempo run. Jogged some more in the evening with Benjamin and Joseph in the stroller. Benjamin got out with 0.5 to go, so I had to run the least 0.5 in 3:30 with him. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 14.70 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.30 | 15.00 |
| A fairly lonely run this morning. Circled around the house in hopes of finding somebody to run with. Finally did run into Raymond at the end, and jogged with a bit. Then ran with the kids. Total of 10 miles for the morning run. In the evening took Jenny and Joseph in the stroller. Did a warmup. Then a strength test - 2x100 meters in bounds. Covered the distance in 41 steps. It was 43 on Thursday, and I did feel more power in each step today. Then Benjamin and his friend Paul joined us, and we jogged to the Slate Canyon hill. Did 4x60 uphill with Jenny and Joseph in the stroller, and racing Benjamin. Forgot to bring the ankle weights, and perhaps that was good - otherwise Benjamin would have destroyed me. 12.5 - 12.5 - 12.6 - 12.4. Barely passed Benjamin with 10-20 meters to go on all of them. Felt strong. Then jogged to Provost, looped around a bit while the kids played, and then played soccer with Benjamin. Later in the evening did bench press, narrow grip, 3 sets of 3 with 100 pounds. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 15.00 |
| Had an interesting night last night. For some reason, could not go into a deep sleep for a while. Felt like it had something to do with running in the heat in the afternoon. Finally got up, ate a snack of fruit, bread, honey, and EmergenC drink, and laid down. Then went into power mode sleep - dremt about sleeping for 18 hours. When I woke up, most of the symptoms of heat exposure appeared to have been gone. In the morning, jogged 8 miles starting out at 8:00 pace, and finishing at around 7:00. Then went to the temple, came back, ran with the kids. Later in the afternoon took Benjamin and Jenny to the soccer practice. Julia went along for the ride. Parked the stroller at the soccer field and cruised around getting the rest of the miles in at about 7:30 pace. It was hot, about 85 degrees. Total of 15 miles for the day. Benjamin scored two goals during the practice play. I think his coordination has improved quite a bit relative to his peers since last year. Last year he was about average in handling the ball, but his endurance permitted him to be all over the field in the midst of action. This time it seems like it is not just the endurance any more. I am very happy with this development. I have plenty of endurance, but very little explosive strength and coordination. In order to be a world-class marathoner, endurance is not enough - you have to have the speed to maintain to begin with. No matter how much endurance you've got, you cannot run 26 4:50 miles if 4:50 is all you can do all out. So if Benjamin can have my endurance, and unlike myself right now a very good speed to go along, we will see some good results. This also raises an interesting question. My speed/explosive strength has never been exceptional, but it went from better than average at the age of 11 (60 meters in 9.6), to below average at the age of 17 (200 meters in 27.5). I hope that somewhere deep down there is an untapped speed potential that perhaps I will be able to unlock if I press the right buttons. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.50 | 1.25 | 1.00 | 0.25 | 10.00 |
| Went to the Provo River Trail by Geneva Road to check my condition. Planned a 5 mile tempo run starting out at 5:30 pace to see how long I'd be able to hold it, and what will happen afterwards. Warmed up 2 miles. Then started the tempo towards the Utah Lake. Flat course. Splits by the quarter - 1:22 - 1:23 - 1:24 - 1:24 (5:32) - 1:25 - 1:25 - 1:27 - 1:27 (5:44) - 1:29. After 1:29 I figured there was something seriously wrong, and decided to stop. Jogged some more, did 4x100 strides. Then went home, and ran some more with the kids. I've had similar experiences before, but not so drastic, where 5:30 pace feels easy on the first mile, and then deteriorates to 5:55 in a mile, while the effort feels the same, and other than slow splits, nothing really appears to be out of the ordinary. Actually, it has been this bad before once - Thanksgiving 4 miler in 2005. One could blame it on the legs being tired from the mileage and the marathon, but I think this is only a part of the story. When it is just the legs, what happens is that I cannot start at a good pace, but whatever pace I start at I keep. Besides, it takes quite a bit of beating to get my legs to go 5:55, and the legs did not feel tired. In exercise physiology, when they have excluded the muscle itself as the limiting factor of performance, they blame it on the central nervous system fatigue. This is quite possible. Right before the Thanksgiving 4 miler, I ran with every one of my kids in their races first before starting mine. With the oldest child being 6, and the number of kids being 4, this did cause quite a bit of load on the central nervous system. And did did show in the race - my splits were 5:10 - 5:19 - 5:51 - 5:26. I would have called the third mile long had I not run most of it earlier during the first lap, and had it not been marked by the quarters. Something just quit for 5 minutes, and I am quite certain it was not the muscles or the heart. Perhaps the experience today is a blessing in disguise. In the past, I used to pray before a workout that I would be able to reach a particular time goal. But recently I decided to pray so that the workout will be for my benefit to help me reach my long term goals. Perhaps this drastic slowdown is an answer to my prayer highlighting a limitation that I have been neglecting somewhat. I keep working on my speed, muscle strength, heart, glycogen stores , but if the brain cannot give enough spark, all that work does not help very much. Now assuming that the problem is indeed what I think it is how do you get the brain/central nervous system to be more robust? |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.75 | 0.00 | 2.50 | 0.25 | 8.50 |
| Had some good rest yesterday. Went to the USA Track and Field Meeting. Got to visit with Demetrio Cabanillas, Bill Cobler, Ericksons, Eric Peterson, and a few others. This was good for the mind, as my work lately has been quite boring. I am in the middle of re-writing a fairly messy piece of code for a client that computes a large number of sales statistics for a hotel reservation system. That alone would cause a severe central nervous system fatigue! In any case, today I wanted to measure what that rest, both physical and mental did for me. So I went to the same spot as yesterday, and ran the same course. Since I am running in the Provo River Half-Marathon tomorrow, I decided to keep the tempo down to 2.5. This would give me enough of an idea of what is going on as most of the problems happen between miles 1 and 2 for me. Again, the goal was to maintain 5:30 pace for as long as possible. Warmed up, did 4x100 with ankle weights 19.0 - 18.8 - 18.8 - 18.8. Quarter splits for the tempo run - 1:21 - 1:19 - 1:21 - 1:22 (5:23) - 1:23 - 1:23 - 1:25 - 1:25 (5:36) - 1:25 - 1:25 (13:49.9 for 2.5). Much better than yesterday, but still not quite there. However, the rest did me some good. Again, the same pattern, except at higher speeds - 5:23 felt right, and then something quit. However, it did not quit so bad - I was still going 5:40 steady. Let's see what happens tomorrow in the race. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Race: |
Provo River Half-Marathon (13.11 Miles) 01:14:00, Place overall: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 3.50 | 0.00 | 13.10 | 0.00 | 16.60 |
| Provo River Half-Marathon 1:14:00, first place. This was Curt Catmull's race, which means a lot of expected and unexpected adventure. I was running the timing system as usual. Stayed up until midnight setting it up at the finish. With the latest problems I've been experiencing in tempo runs, and with the lack of sleep on top of that, I knew better than to expect a fast time. However, winning the race was a reasonable goal. Curt by some miracle managed to bus 1500+ people up to the start of the race in the South Fork of the Provo Canyon, and start the race on time. Unfortunately, this was too much on time. I barely got out of the bushes, and started making my way through the crowd to the starting line when he sounded the horn. He does not sleep at all for two days before his races, so being a little jumpy is natural for him I suppose. I started my watch with about 1 second delay, and began to make progress through the congestion of runners without much success. Then I thought of something - use the siren. As I howled like an ambulance to the best of my ability, people started stepping aside to let me pass. It took me only 30 seconds or so before the traffic was thin enough to not need the siren any more. By about half-mile I was finally in the lead. Mile splits - 5:33 (steep down, crowd interference) - 11:02 (5:29) - 16:11 (5:09, steep down) - 27:26 (5 miles) - 33:08 (5:42, part uphill) - 39:17 (6:09, mostly uphill) - 44:44 (5:27) - 50:18 (5:34) - 55:52 ( 5:34) - 1:07:08 (12 miles). Then it took me 6:51 to get to the end, which is a bit too long. The course has been changed. I think in the past it was about 45 seconds short, and now it has become about 30 seconds long. I remember always getting some incredibly fast split on the last 1.1 in the past. The entire race I was feeling just like I did in my tempo runs. Not really feeling tired, but something is blocking me. Tried to deal with it using an artificially high turnover. There was nothing I could do about power, which gives you stride length - that was involuntarily capped. However, I did have some control over the stride frequency and moved my feet as quickly as I could possibly put up with. This drove me nuts, but at least I could go fast enough to be in the lead. After the turnaround (about 6.8) on the old highway I saw Ron Greenwood was about 45 seconds behind, and began to be concerned. He has a lot of potential. If he had been training, he could easily close it. So I ran scared from that point on to keep him off. I was never really sure I had it until I got to the credit union drive-through, and saw I had about a minute lead. The course change was rather interesting. We ran through a drive-through of the Utah Community Credit Union. Maybe next time UCCU should offer a cash prize to the runner that reaches the drive-through first, and hand it to him right there. As I approached the finish, I heard the very familiar "go Daddy!". Wow, this is quite a surprise. This was quite an effort for Sarah to get our five children ages 7 through 3 weeks ready that early in the morning all by herself, and get them to the race. She also brought a video camera to tape me. I appreciate her efforts very much. My watch said 1:13:59. However, I added a second to that for the official time since I started a bit late. Ron was second with 1:14:56, and then Chad Derum with 1:15:29 - new PR. The race was over, however, I was done only with the first half of the full marathon for the day. I still had to time the rest of the runners, and scan 1500+ bar codes. Recruited a couple of volunteers to help me (one of them, Ken Cushing, had just run the race in 1:24), and we went to work. Finally done. Went home, got the results published on raceutah.com, ran with the kids in the afternoon. Went on a date with Sarah, then did bench press at night, usual deal, 100 pounds, narrow grip, 3 sets of 3. I am still amazed at how Curt manages to bring that many people together on such a shoe string budget. The whole race has been for a number of years held together mostly by Curt's enthusiasm. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.25 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 0.25 | 10.50 |
| Went to the Provo Canyon as usual. Decided to do a 3 mile tempo run downhill to evaluate my condition. Jogged a mile, then did 4x100 with ankle weights - up 19.8, down 18.3, down 17.50, up 19.3. Jogged two miles up to Nunn's park. Now the tempo run. Mile splits - 5:20 - 5:25 - 5:27, 16:12 total. Same old story - start losing power after 1.5. However, not too bad today. Sarah came with me and videotaped me at mile 2. Decided to take it easy today. Came home ran with the kids, then in the afternoon jogged to their soccer practice - only 10.5 miles today. Need to get some thorough rest before the Great Salt Lake half, both physical and mental. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Took it easy today. Ran 8 miles with Steve Hillam and George in the morning. Then ran with the kids.
Bench press in the evening. Usual workout - narrow grip, 3 sets of 3, 100 pounds.
Started taking Dr. Christopher's Adrenal Formula - 3 pills 3 times a day in an attempt to help with the inability to hold the usual half-marathon pace for more than 1.5 miles problem. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.90 | 0.00 | 2.10 | 0.00 | 8.00 |
| Another easy day. Trying to rebuild the nervous system. I think the legs are strong, but the nervous system is just too tired from everything and cannot drive them hard. However, running miles puts a stress not only on your legs and heart, but also on the nervous system. When you do not run, the legs and the heart can rest, but the nervous system might not get a chance. Got up at 5:45 this morning and went for a 6 mile run. Decided to have some fun, and break the monotony with a 2.11 tempo on the Slate Canyon loop. This would also give me a chance to test if the recovery is happening. I set two goals - break 12:00, and not slow down at the end. 2.11 with a 0.5 hill with the average grade of 5% is long enough to find the problems. Splits by quarter - 1:24 - 1:22 - 1:21 - 1:33 (3% grade) - then no marks or missed marks, last quarter at 1.5% grade in 1:22. The uphill pace was a little slower than what it should have been, but I did not feel tired going uphill. Not sure if this was because it was too early in the morning to push hard, or if this is a sign of residual fatigue. Ran with Peter Williams (a neighbor) on the cooldown. In the afternoon ran with the kids. Did 3x3 of the Adrenal Formula. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.25 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 8.25 |
| Found a new training partner - Ted Leblow. He is a 2:28 marathoner, but is currently trying to get into shape after a deployment in Iraq. We went to the Provo Canyon. I ran my standard 3 mile tempo downhill for a tune-up for Great Salt Lake Half this Saturday. He did the first 0.5, then backed off to a slower pace. Saw some improvement - reached my goal of being under 16:00 and not losing speed on the second half. Mile splits were 5:18 - 5:21 - 5:19. The first quarter, which is always slow due to the short but steep uphill section in the middle was 1:23. Other than that, there were no quarters slower than 1:21. However, I did not feel quite right. The pace felt hard. On the positive side, I finally felt like my heart had to work, and I was breathing. In short, I progressed from dragging and slowing down to just dragging. I am happy with that. So far I am looking at about 1:13 in Great Salt Lake Half if I were to race today. Hopefully the additional rest will make it better. Came home and ran with the kids. Afterwards, we went to see the Kennecott Copper Mine. Kids had fun. Joseph showed off his great running ability. I was impressed, and did not mind having to chase him. Somebody commented about the exercise I was getting. Hmm... you call that exercise? In the evening lifted weights, bench press, narrow grip. Started out with 100 pounds. Felt easy, did 6 repetitions. Then made it 105 and did 6 more. The last one was hard, barely made it. Did 3x3 of Dr. Christopher's Adrenal Formula. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.10 | 0.00 | 0.25 | 0.40 | 9.75 |
| Easy run. Ran with Ted and Steve Hillam near my house. Ted's son James joined us for about 1.5 miles. We looped around, hit the trail for a little bit. Afterwards, 4x100 with ankle weights 19.7 - 19.4 - 18.3 - 18.1, then took them off and did two more in 17.7 and 17.3. Then ran with the kids. Shortly after Benjamin had finished his run, we saw the BYU team approaching. Benjamin, of course, could not miss the opportunity to run with the big boys. We ran a quarter in 1:45. Benjamin could have gone longer, but I figured he's already done his run, and he would still have to run back as the double stroller was already full with Julia and Joseph. This was quite a sight to watch. Some of the BYU runners have very long legs, about the size of Benjamin. Otherwise, he looks and runs just like them. He was very excited to feel a part of the big boys. What is interesting is that Benjamin is only 4 feet tall, his turnover is only about 200 steps per minute at 7:00 pace. The BYU guys were probably turning over at about 175-180. So his stride length is surprisingly long relative to his height. Did an always on the run mile in the evening. I stopped doing them for a while, but tonight after some rest I was finally feeling sedentary enough to require a break. Could not help but try some race pace running - did a quarter in 1:23. We'll see what happens tomorrow. I expect it is going to be a very tough race - every inch of ground on the competition will cost serious blood. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Race: |
Great Salt Lake Half Marathon (13.23 Miles) 01:14:45, Place overall: 5, Place in age division: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.20 | 0.00 | 13.10 | 0.00 | 20.30 |
| Great Salt Lake Half Marathon, 1:14:45, 5th place. Long course again, although not as long as last year. The race director started it at the wrong fire hydrant. At least there was some effort made to start it at the right location. The three GPSs I've polled reported 13.23, 13.24, and 13.26 respectively for the length of the course. It took me 24 seconds to get to the correct fire hydrant. I think it would be fair to say the course was at least 24 seconds long. Although I am still not where I ought to be, this performance shows a signficant improvement from last week - I ran only a few seconds slower (adjusting for the course length mess-up) without the 1000 feet of elevation drop. My performance in the Provo River Half last week would amount to probably 1:16:00 or slower on this version of the course. Ran the first three miles with Nick McCombs, Dennis Simonaitis, and Joe Wilson. The mile marks were all messed up, but according to Dennis' GPS we were going 5:19 pace. I was not breathing hard, but something was not working, so I had to back off to about 5:30-5:35 pace or so (guess). Then around 5 miles I got caught by Leon Gallegos. This was a surprise - I talked to him afterwards, and found out he has been doing some serious mileage (100-110 a week), which gave him this breakthrough. I ran with him for about another mile, then let him go with the idea to catch him later. But he was strong, and I was not, so he kept gradually moving away. I knew there was trouble brewing behind me, and just tried to run relaxed to the end, and hold the trouble off. The course does not have many turns, so it is not easy to check on the pursuers. At one point I saw a figure in a dark shirt. That looked like Tim Stringfellow. I did not like it, he has a powerful kick. However, this is a half-marathon, and although I am half-dead, I can still run my marathon race pace. So next time I had a chance to check, which was with about a mile to go, there was no dark figure. It changed colors. Now the figure was green. Steve Ashbaker. We drove up together. And we are good friends. But this is a race, and the end of it. So time for nasty tricks. I need to make him not want to catch me. We are climbing up the hill. Run up strong to discourage him. Then on the downhill, a hard surge, give it all I've got, forget there is another half-mile to go, just do all I can to make him give up. Then a mental trick - surge until a certain time in the race (1:14:10). A little rest, now maximum surge until 1:15:00 or until the race is over. Saved by the finish line. Nick McCombs won with 1:10:06, then Dennis - 1:10:07, Joe 1:12:07, Leon 1:13:19. Steve was 6th with 1:15:02, Mark Jolley 7th with 1:15:39, and Tim Stringfellow 8th with 1:16 something. Afterwards, jogged back, paced Braiden, then jogged back again, paced a guy whose name is Brad, if I remember right. Drove back with Steve. He was nice and did not kill me for the nasty tricks I did to him. Ran with the kids. In the evening, bench press, 105 pounds, narrow grip 3 sets of 3. Still taking Adrenal Formula 3x3 a day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.75 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 1.25 | 15.00 |
| Ran with Ted again in the morning in the Provo Canyon. Warmed up to the Nunns park. Then the standard 3 mile tempo down to the bridge in 15:53. An improvement over Thursday by 5 seconds. Mile splits - 5:17 - 5:20 - 5:16. On the last mile let is slide a bit on the next to last quarter (1:22), but then got mad and hit the last quarter in 74. Overall, the feeling was that 5:20 pace was reasonably comfortable, but an attempt to go faster would produce a familiar toxic feeling in the body. I have always believed the toxic feeling comes from the lactic acid build up, but now I am wondering if this is something else. I remember feeling this at slower speeds at times towards the end of a half-marathon or a marathon when somebody passes me, and I am determined to stay with him or die. So I speed up, run for about a minute at a faster pace, but not necessarily fast enough to make me breath very hard or get the heart rate up to the lactic threshold levels, and boom, the toxic feeling comes, and there is nothing I can do, except slow down. Once I slow down, things are back to normal, other than the fact that my competitor is gone for good. The feeling does correlate with lower blood sugar levels somewhat, at least it is more likely to appear towards the end of a long race. Ted finish the tempo run in 17:25. That is an improvement by almost a minute for him. Afterwards, 5x400 on the flatter section of the trail (0.5% net drop, rolling) with 200 recovery. 69.6 - 69.7 - 71.8 - 71.0 - 67.2. In the afternoon ran with the kids. Benjamin wanted to run in the Payson Onion Days 5 K. I told him he had to qualify. The qualifying standard was to run his half mile with the first quarter in 1:45, and the last one in 1:40. He did 1:44 - 1:39 with the last 100 in 22. This gave him a half-mile PR of 3:23. So he qualified with flying colors. Afterwards took Benjamin and Jennifer to their soccer practice. Ran around enough to get the total for the day up to 15 miles. Then helped the coach, and played a practice game. Finalized my plans for the upcoming Saturday. Glen wanted us to shine the store uniform in Park City, where he now lives. So I am doing a half-marathon leg of the relay. Bob Thompson is doing the other half. We are racing another team from the store - Mike Kirk/Darrell Phippen. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.80 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.40 | 12.20 |
| Easy run with Ted in the morning. Afterwards 4x100 with ankle weights (19.6-19.7 - 18.6 - 18.3), and 2x100 without (17.7 - 17.1). In the afternoon ran with the kids, and jogged to church and back to enter the Elder's Quorum Hometeaching report. Also did bench press, 3x3 with 105 pounds, narrow grip. Still taking the Adrenal Formula. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.50 | 0.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 11.00 |
| Easy run with Ted in the morning. He was nice enough to come at 5:30 am to run with me, and with the military precision he was at least 5 minutes early. We did a little pickup in the middle and hit the Slate Canyon Loop (2.11) in 14:05. Saw the Stake leadership out running - Pres. Phillips, and Bishop Smith. Our bishop also runs, as well as the bishop of the 5th ward. Great to see them setting an example for everyone else. Dropped Ted off, and found another Church leader out for a run - Steve Braiton from the High Counsil. Ran with him a little bit. He wanted to know what 5:30 pace feels like, so we did a couple of pickups at that pace. In the afternoon ran with the kids, and also jogged a bit during Benjamin's soccer game. They won 4:0 again against a team from North Provo. I told Benjamin, however, not to get too excited as they will soon be playing against the West Provo teams, which have a lot of Mexican kids. Got an offer from a chiropractic, Dr Jeff Jex, for a free exam, and went with Sarah. He found a few things that are of interest. The lung capacity was 5.0 L. There was some range of motion imbalance in the neck. And, the most interesting, the knee reflex was very weak. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.70 | 0.00 | 6.20 | 0.00 | 11.90 |
| Went with Ted to the Provo Canyon. Warmed up with him, then did 6x1 mile with 200 m jog rest. Alternated down and up. Started 1.25 miles away from the 3 mile tempo finish. The goal was to get a good cardio/muscle workout for anaerobic threshold. Assuming the nervous system is currently the holdback, I cannot push it hard enough in a regular tempo run. So breaking it up should help then. Splits - down 5:12.4 up 5:39.7 down 5:11.8 up 5:41.2 down 5:12.6 up 5:35.6. At the start of the last one I saw an older man on a bike and asked him to pace me. The pacing helped. We talked some afterwards. Turns out he was a 4:30 miler in his younger years. He told me I looked like a 400 meter runner. I've actually heard that observation before. I think the strength is there in the legs to run a good 400, but the coordination and the neural drive is not. I was actually a pretty good middle-distance runner as a kid - 3:03.8 in 1000 meters a month before turning 13. However, the best I've ever done on that distance is 2:49 at the age of 18. I suppose I'd be able to do about the same now. But based on my 13 year old performance, I should be running at least 2:35. Something went out of whack in the way of speed between 13 and 18, and stayed that way. In the evening ran with the kids. Benjamin was sick, but wanted to watch Jenny and Abby run from the stroller. Afterwards, I took him for a Daddy half-mile in the stroller. I promised him I'd break 3:30 for him. Well, with 200 to go I saw that 6:00 pace would break his record of 3:23. So I picked it up, and hit the last 200 in 40 - 3:18 for the half mile. Felt strong. Proper tire inflation makes a lot of difference when pushing a loaded double-stroller. Afterwards, ran to church again to finish the hometeaching stats entry. Also, did the bench press, 3 sets of 3, narrow grip, 105 pounds. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.50 |
| Mini-taper for the Park City Relay. Easy run with Eric and George on the trail in the morning. Then ran with the kids in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Race: |
Park City Relay (13.11 Miles) 01:17:35, Place overall: 2 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.20 | 0.00 | 13.10 | 0.00 | 18.30 |
| Park City Relay. Ran the second half in 1:17:35 minus however long it took me to get over a fence. Our team got second place in 2:37:29. Bob Thompson unfortunately had a hamstring problem at mile 8 and had to stop. Mike Kirk was running with him, stopped, tried to help him get going for a minute. Then went on. In the mean time, Adam from the Wasatch Atheletics team (just moved here from St. Louis) kept on going, and handed off to Leon Gallegos at 1:18:41. Mike came announcing the change of plans as he was running in, so I got going at 1:19:54 in hopes of catching Leon. The course was not fast at all. Start at about 6650 feet according to gmap-pedometer, and about 6450 according to the official race elevation map (Let hope Paul can get this straight for us). 4 miles of climb to 7041 according to the official map, and 7058 according to gmap-pedometer. The last half-mile of the climb gets brutal, probably 4% grade (any comments on that Paul?), then a decent at some extremely steep grade that makes you break, then a more gentle descent for a few miles, then rolling hills to the finish. Probably about 30-40% on dirt. As if this was not enough, a closed gate on the course to keep the cows out with a sign asking the passer-bys to keep it closed. I believe some of the mile markers were accurate, at least the ones that were painted on the road. Others were off. In the beginning I was going about 6:00-6:05 pace, if we are to believe the painted marks. The steep uphill mile was 6:48. Once I got to the top, I started getting a side ache, the type I have gotten before from running hard at a higher elevation. So I took it fairly easy coming down. Hit a few 5:40 miles. 40:47 with a 10 K to go. It started to look like I could even dip a bit under 1:16 if I managed to keep the pace. However, now I was on dirt, and the downhill ended. Now it was just dirt, and 6500 feet of elevation. And no sign of Leon. Oh, well, just hang in there. As if that was not enough, another obstacle. A closed gate to keep the cattle and the runners out. As I approached it, I realized that with the stress of being in a hurry, it could take me as long as a whole minute or maybe even two to figure out how to open it. My hand dexterity is not very good at all - way below average for a man. And even worse after running 9 miles hard at this elevation. So I looked around to see if there was some kind of a hole. No hole, just barbed wire. However, the gate looked like I could fairly easily climb over it, so I did. Probably lost 20-25 seconds of time + rhythm. Finally made it to the finish area. Saw my mother, and waved at her - she is visiting us from Russia, and was willing to get up at 5:00 am to see a race. Leon ran a great time of 1:13:29. This is absolutely amazing on this course. What a breakthrough! In the beginning of the year I was beating him in 5 Ks by over 30 seconds. Then he closed it to 3 seconds in Draper Days 5 K. Then he beat me by a minute and a half in the half marathon last week. Now he beat me by as much as 4 minutes just a week later, and I do not think that my performance today was any worse than last week comparatively with the adjustments for the course. He is going to be a very tough competitor in the Top of Utah marathon. Jed Burton won the marathon with 2:50:08. Bill Cobler was second with 2:55:30. Went for a cool-down with Bill afterwards. In the evening ran with the kids, and worked out with weights, bench press, 105 pounds, 3x3, narrow grip. Somehow managed to put in 76 miles this week. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.75 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 1.25 | 14.00 |
| Ran with Ted in the Provo Canyon this morning. 2 mile warmup, then the standard 3 mile tempo run in 15:44. Mile splits - 5:14 - 5:18 - 5:12. Last quarter in 73.
Afterwards, 5x400 alternating down and up - 70.3 down - 77.9 up - 71.8 down - 76.9 up - 68.7 down. The wind was very strange - going down I felt some resistance on the last 100 - probably a cross wind. Then going up I again felt some serious resistance on the last 200.
Came home and ran with the kids. In the evening ran during their soccer practice, including 1 mile with Abby.
Sarah and I went to see Dr. Jex to see what he discovered in his tests. Both of us have less than ideal neck curvature angle - she had 13 degrees, I had 16. On top of that I had some serious issues in the lower back - the spine bends the wrong way. He is going to do some additional tests to see if the method he uses (Pettibon method) can fix it. The encouraging thing is that Trever Ball has been treated using this method with excellent results. So I am willing to take the risk and give it a try. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.60 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.40 | 12.00 |
| Ran with Ted in the morning over by my house. Afterwards 4x100 with ankle weights - 18.6 - 18.4 - 17.8 -17.6, and 2x100 without 15.9 - 15.8. I did not make a conscious effort to run faster than last week, for some reason it happened naturally. I suppose this is a good sign. Afterwards ran 1.25 with Sarah. She ran the last mile of it in 12:06, her fastest mile since the birth of Jacob. In the evening ran with the kids, and did bench press, a set of 5, and then a set of 4 with 105 pounds, narrow grip. Went to see Dr. Jex for what he calls the stress test. You do some neck stretches, then he does a whole bunch of adjustments, and then puts some weight on your head and X-rays you to measure the neck angle. The measurement under those conditions is supposed to indicate how well you will respond to the Pettibon exercises. Under stress, my angle improved from 16 to 25 degrees, but still not quite the desired 45. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.30 | 0.00 | 0.70 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Ran with Clyde and Ted this morning. Met Clyde in person for the first time. We circled around the neighborhood trying to stay flat. Made a couple of laps around the cemetery. Then Clyde started to push the pace , but I encouraged him to slow down. Then we decided to go to the Slate Canyon Loop. Clyde started to push the pace again. This time I figured I wanted to see what he would do on the Slate Canyon Loop. Ted hung back, and Clyde and I went at a pace that felt like his marathon race pace to him. He shifted gears big time on the hill, and even after I encourged him to back off a bit, we still hit the uphill stretch in 1:59 (0.29), which I do on my tempo runs at 5:40 pace. With a half-mile to go, I suggested he try his 5 K race pace. We hit the uphill quarter in 1:27, and then the flat one afterwards in 1:24. 13:12 for the Slate Canyon Loop. Then went back to Ted, and finished the 8.2 or so miles for the morning. In the afternoon ran with the kids, did always on the run, and ran to Benjamin's soccer game and back. Benjamin's team won 7:0, and he scored. Also ran a mile Abby afterwards and Benjamin and Joseph in the stroller. For clarification, Abby is not our kid, she is our friend's daughter. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.40 | 0.00 | 3.10 | 0.00 | 13.50 |
| Dropped my mother off at the airport in SLC, and then met up with Mike Kirk at the Steiners Aquatic Center. We warmed up downhill to the Sugar House Park. We went around to familiarize ourselves with the Sugar House Park 5 K course, and verified all the marks against the course map I got from the USATF website. Then we started the tempo run along the course. We agreed to run at the fastest pace the slower of us could handle, and that the one that felt strong will pull the one that felt weaker. When Mike started pushing it on the early downhill, I thought I'd have to draft pretty soon. However, he eased off enough on the uphill to give me a break. We hit the 2 mile mark in 3:40 then the first mile in 5:24, and the first lap in 7:15. Then we got to the hill on the second lap around 1.6 miles into the run or so. Mike started struggling, so we slowed down a lot. 2 miles in 11:13 (5:49, 7:33 lap). Afterwards, Mike was able to recover and get going at a good pace again. We hit the 1 mile mark in 13:03 (7:39 lap), 2 laps in 14:56 (7:41 lap), and we were on the downhill and started shifting gears. 16:45 at 3 miles (5:32). Then we had to find the finish, which we did not think to mark better earlier on, and the sun was in our eyes. So we slowed down some, and on top of that, did not take the tangent in fear of missing the finish mark. So we got 17:23 for the 5 K. Both of us were happy with it. Afterwards, we ran back to the Aquatic Center for a cooldown. I noticed that Mike compared to me likes to push it a bit in the easy running. After running fast, I like to relax and chat. I left the lights on in my car, so Mike gave me a jump start. Then I followed him to his house, took a shower, chatted a bit, and drove back to Provo. Did some always on the run miles with a stroller, and ran with the kids. Also lifted weights - benchpress, 105 pounds, narrow grip, a set of 5, then 2 sets of 3. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.00 |
| Ran easy by myself in the morning by my house. Saw Sarah getting out for a run, and went a mile with her. She did it in 11:17, the fastest time so far since the birth of Jacob. Then looped around some more and found Matt Asplin. Ran some more with him. Afterwards, went to Dr. Jex's office to start the Pettibon treatment. Did some neck and spine stretches and adjustments. In the afternoon went to see a client, and ran a mile afterwards. Clocked a quarter on the Provo River Trail, it was 1:34. The stride felt wide and relaxed. In the evening ran with the kids. Did some more Pettibon excercises. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 | 0.00 | 18.00 |
| Met up with Ted and Mike Kirk at the Canyon View Park. Ted drove us up to Vivian. We warmed up from there to the start of the Provo River 10 miler. Ted's measurement with Garmin 205 agreed with my earlier wheel measurement, and the distance was 3.23 miles from the east end of the guard rail by the bathroom. From there we ran another 0.2 to the bathroom in the park, and back, which gave us 3.63 for a warmup. Then Mike and I started the tempo run while Ted ran his own pace back to his car. Mike + downhill = trouble for whoever is trying to keep up with him. 16:37 for the 3.23 down the South Fork, or about 5:09 pace. According to gmap-pedometer, this is 480 feet of elevation drop, or about 2.8% grade. All the downhill running shook Mike up and he had to make a bathroom stop at Vivian. Then we continued along the course of the Provo River 10 miler. Hit the 5 mile mark in 26:19, which sounds about right, but I always take Curt's mile marks with a grain of salt. Passed the Nunns Park, the miles on my standard 3 mile tempo run course were 5:22, 5:27, 5:29 (16:18). Mike was pushing the pace. I would at times tuck behind him, and at times come out and help push it. One more mile after than, which we did a bit under 5:30. We hit Curt's 8 mile mark in 42:41. I was not quite sure where exactly the finish was, so we went all the way to the bridge that is definitely past the finish got 53:40 at that point. Our true time for the 10 mile course was probably around 53:35. Then we jogged back to the Canyon View Park. Total of 15.9 for this run. Ran with the kids in the evening to make it an 18 mile day. Also worked out with weights, bench press, 105 pounds, narrow grips sets of 5, then 4, then 3. Did Pettibon exercises. Overall, the tempo run today shows that I have recovered to my pre-Desnews level for the most part. I raced the same course in 53:05 in June. The run today was hard, but I ran with what Mike calls "the killer instinct" off. When Mike ran faster than I wanted to, I'd just hang in there. When he backed off to a slower pace that opened a window of opportunity to cause trouble, I'd just take it without trying to neutralize him or make a break, which I would try in a race. I asked Mike today for his opinion on the optimum length of the long run. I really like his approach - you should go for as long as you can maintain a good form. Of course, if I apply his suggestion too literally, I should never even start my long run. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.80 | 0.00 | 5.50 | 0.00 | 14.30 |
| Drove to Payson with Ted and Benjamin to pace Benjamin in the Payson Onion Days 5 K. Benjamin did an excellent job running a PR of 23:31.6. His official mile splits were 7:16 - 7:42 - 7:56. Ted's GPS gave him 7:17 - 7:47 - 7:57. According to Ted's Garmin 205 the course was only 3.08. The course did not have any sharp hills to seriously confuse the GPS. So based on what I've seen from Ted's GPS measurements in the past, I'd have to say the course was probably 10 seconds short. However, even then Benjamin still would have gotten a PR. I wish the race directors in general considered course certification a high priority. It does cost some money (or work), but it is very well worth it in the long run. Maybe I should make a banner "Race Director, certify your course!" and run it on this site. Along with that "Race Director, start your race where the certification documents tell you you should" especially for the Great Salt Lake half-marathon.
The 1-9 age division was very competitive. Benjamin ended up third - got beat by R.J. Lundberg and Nathaniel Kruger who are both 9. He finished 34th in the men's division out of 108, and was beat by 7 women out of 118. Not too bad for a 7 year old kid.
The race was won by Mike Michael Buckhoff, a master's runner from California in 16:33.8. The results are available here.
Afterwards, Ted and I went back on the course to do a tempo run. I hit the first mile (slight down) in 5:26, which agreed with Ted's GPS. 10:58 at 2 miles, about 3 seconds short, and then I took a wrong turn at around 2.7 and ended up running 3.4 in 19:11. Ted ran 2 miles in 11:40, and then jogged down to finish in 18:56. This would have given him 4th place in the race.
I was not very happy with the way I felt in the tempo run - the stride felt tense and choppy. So went I got back home, I decided to do some more tempo running after a run with Jennifer, Julia, and Abbi (Benjamin did his honor lap in the stroller sitting right next to Joseph).
The second tempo run went better, at least I liked the way I felt better. I ran one Slate Canyon Loop (2.11). First three slightly rolling quarters in 1:21 each. Then the quarter uphill in 1:32 (5:35 for the mile). 7:26 at the turn-off into the Slate Canyon (1:51 for 0.29 uphill). Then 8:30 with 0.625 to go. 9:05 with 0.5 to go (35 downhill). Next two quarters 73 (down), and 80 (up). 11:38 for the loop, only 5 seconds slower than my course PR. Overall I felt the stride was wider.
Did Pettibon exercises, and took the Adrenal formula.
Sarah went to SLC to see her family, and when she tried to come back the van refused to start. So she is stuck in SLC now. If anybody can recommend a good mechanic in West Valley, the advice will be appreciated.
This means I had to fix myself dinner tonight. I followed her Buckwheat Recipe, and it turned out really good. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 15.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.40 | 15.70 |
| Ran easy 8 miles with Ted in the morning. Then did 4x100 with ankle weights 18.5 - 18.3 - 18.1 - 17.3. Then 2x100 regular 16.0 - 15.6. Then put on ankle weights again and went for a cooldown. Ran into Matt Asplund, so ended up going a bit longer. In the evening ran with the kids. Also did Pettibon exercises. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Easy 8 miles early in the morning near my house going out and back on my slightly rolling mile stretch. Started at slower than 8:00 pace. Kept gradually speeding up. Saw at 3.25 that I was 53 seconds behind the 7:00 pace, but was running a bit sub-7:00. Figured I'd play the catch game with the imaginary 7:00/mile guy. It is a silly game since all I needed to do to catch him is run one mile in 6 minutes. But it is very entertaining. I caught the fantom runner shortly before 7 miles. He said: "It is not fair". I said: "Too bad". Total time for the run was 55:32. Last two miles were 6:39 and 6:35. This pace is not very fast, but I was pleased that it came naturally without any additional mental effort. The stride felt wider and more relaxed. I felt I was maintaining momentum better on the short hills. The heart rate 3 seconds after the finish was 126 (counting for 10 seconds). In the afternoon ran with Benjamin. The other kids had already run on the way to computer school (free experimental early reading program in our area done on computers). So I took Benjamin out for a mile in the stroller. I started out at 10:00 pace, but then warmed up and went faster. On the last quarter I saw that I could beat Benjamin's mile record with a little pickup, so sped up to 6:20 pace and hit the mile in 7:06. Ran with Benjamin on the way back in 8:24 with the last 0.5 in 3:50. Worked out with the weights - 5-4-3 bench press with 105 pounds, narrow grip. Went to see Dr. Jex. He gave us some more equipment and more exerices. I am doing them every day now. Noticed an improvement in hand dexterity. Got dressed faster today, washed the dishes in a reasonable amount of time, and put away the laundry faster than my wife expected me. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 1.50 | 11.50 |
| Ran with Ted in the Provo Canyon. Did a tune-up for Alta Peruvian 8 K. 6x400 down with 200 recovery. 69.2 - 68.3 - 68.8 - 69.2 - 67.7 - 68.6. Total of 8.5 for the morning run. Ran with the kids, and added an always on the run mile with Joseph in the stroller. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.00 |
| Mini-taper for Alta Peruvian 8 K. Ran easy 6 miles in the morning by my house on the flat stretch going out and back in 41:38. It was raining. Last 2 miles were 6:50. The heart rate counted for 10 seconds starting 2 seconds after the finish was 114. That is rather low for me. I suppose the rain tends to lower it. However, it is possible to have it much lower. Lasse Viren had it at 84 going 8:00 pace. In any case, I am glad I do not use the 220-age formula to determine the intensity of my workouts, or I'd die. Had another session with Dr. Jex. For the first time had a proper response to the shared loading on the neck. Afterwards ran with the kids in the canyon. Ran another mile with Abby later in the evening. Alta Peruvian Lodge 8 K tomorrow. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Race: |
Alta Peruvian Lodge 8K (4.97 Miles) 00:22:35, Place overall: 2 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 15.25 |
| Alta Peruvian Downhill Dash 8 K, 22:35, 2nd place. Started the day with a 1 mile jog. Then after breakfast went to the Regional Priesthood Leadership Training in the Marriot Center. There was a lot of traffic - here in the Utah County the LDS population is large, and even if you only gather men in leadership positoins from all the congregations, there was enough to fill up the Marriott Center (22,700 capacity) almost to the limit. Park at the law building to avoid traffic problems and ran 0.5 miles to the Marriott Center. After the meeting ran back. Came home, ate lunch, and then went to the race with Sarah and the kids. A short warm-up, jogged to the start, hit the porta-potty enough times to avoid trouble in the race, and then they fired the gun. The race goes downhill at a fairly steady 7% grade, and produces fantastic times if your legs have been trained for this type of running. The course record is 21:04 set by Larry Smithee, which also happens to be world-best for an aided course. My PR on the course is 21:58. John Kariuki, a 2:12 marathoner, ran it once in 21:38. Downhill running is a different type of animal. I looked at my competition, and saw trouble. Corbin Talley, Steve Ashbaker, Nate Hornok, and Tim Stringfellow. Stiff headwind from the start. Steve took off hoping to lose us, but we all tucked behind him. First mile in 4:37. Then Tim took the lead. I really liked it - he is tall and has wide shoulders. Two miles in 9:05 (4:28), the wind is still there but subsiding. The pack still has 5 people. Not good, prize money is only three deep. I figured the legs of the competion must have been softened by all the pounding at this point, and decided to take some initiative. I did not think I'd be able to break away, but I hoped to cut the pack down to three. It worked - only Corbin stayed with me. 3 miles in 13:22 (4:17), I think it was possibly a bit short. I sensed that Corbin was strong, and eased off a little to encourage him to take the lead. He did. Our next mile was 4:32. Then I saw the sign that said 9% grade ahead. I figured if I had a chance of winning, it would be right here. So I took the lead and pushed as hard as I could. Corbin responded - this is trouble. And then there was more trouble - Nate Hornok caught us. Both Corbin and I were extremely concerned. He has a relentless long kick that will crush almost anybody who happens to be around him. So Corbin puts on a strong surge. I try to hang on but hitting my speed limit. I let him go for a few moments, but then by some miracle manage to cover it. About 0.5 to go. Corbin and I are looking at our watches, and probably thinking the same thing - when will the race be over. I make another attempt to lose him, but it does not work. Finally, with about 200 meters to go he shifts into the Corbin kick gear. I am already in the Sasha kick gear, so I cannot match it. 22:32 for Corbin, 22:35 for me, 22:45 for Nate, 23:01 for Tim, and 23:15 for Steve. $100 prize + very good circuit points, which makes it very likely for me to reach my goal of winning the circuit this year. Steve, Nate, and I ran back up to the lodge at what I calculated to be about 9:30 pace average. Ran with the kids when we got home, and did bench press, narrow grip, 5-4-3, 105 pounds. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Tempo run in the Provo Canyon this morning. Warmed up to the mouth of the canyon. Then ran 5 miles - 2.5 up, and 2.5 back down. Headwind on the way up. Quads were sore from Alta Peruvian for the first time probably ever enough to feel a signicant difference. Total time 29:13. Mile splits - 6:02 - 6:01, then the next quarters were 1:34 and 1:39, which gave me 15:16 at the turnaround. This was rather odd - the headwind did get stronger, and the grade did get steeper, but I think I slowed down more than I should have. Possibly sore quads are to blame - quads become more important as the grade increases. Turned around, and tried to shift gears. A quarter in 1:28, then another in 1:23. This gave me 6:04 for the mile. Now got into the rhythm. Next two miles 5:35 and 5:31. It felt good to get the blood going. Cool down. Then we went to see Dr. Jex for more Pettibon treatment. Ran 0.7 strech on the way back since I had to drop Sarah off with the car and the kids at the computer school. Ran with the kids in the afternoon, and added some more during and after Benjamin's soccer practice. Also played a practice game. Some kids including Benjamin were on my team, while the coach and another parent were on on the other, as well as the rest of the kids. It really helped to have Ryan, who scores most of the goals in their games, on our team. We ended up winning 1-0 to Benjamin's delight with Daddy scoring the goal with 30 seconds to go. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.40 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.40 |
| Ted had an early meeting. So we started at 5:00 am at my house. Both of us were asleep in the early miles, so it took us 3.5 miles to catch the imaginary 8:00/mile guy. I was satisfied once we caught him, but Ted suggested we chase the 7:45 guy. Got him around 5.5. Then the 7:30 guy was not that far ahead. So we went after him, and went passed him at 7.5. Finished the 8 mile run in 59:39 with the last two miles in 6:52 and 6:50. My heart rate counting for 10 seconds was 120. At some point I'll get around to measuring it in a more high-tech manner (heart-rate monitor). I am waiting to accumulate enough in-store credit at Wasatch Running to get Garmin 305. Ran with the kids afterwards. Found a new way to motivate Jenny to hold the pace. She is allowed to spank me as much as she wants to during the run. Of course, I run slow enough for the task to be possible, but fast enough for her to have to hold a steady pace to do it. Ran some more in the afternoon with Jenny and Julia in the stroller. Saw Dr. Jex again. In the evening did bench press, 105 pounds, narrow grip, 5-4-3. A few days ago I added a new feature to the blog - you can now set watches on people's blogs so you get a notification any time an entry is added or modified, or a comment is posted. But so far I do not see a lot of people using it. Is this because it is not very useful or because people are having a hard time figuring out how to use it? If it is the latter - log in, to to Blogs, click on Add Watch button next to the blogs of interest. To disable, click on Remove Watch. Do not set watches on your own blog unless you really want to get redundant e-mails. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.50 |
| Early in the morning ran 8 miles by my house a mile out and a mile back four times to stay flat. After 3 miles was 29 seconds behind the 6:40 guy, and noticed I was going steady 6:40 pace. Figured I'd get him on the last half if I have to. But it was not necessary - I naturally sped up to sub-6:40 pace, and caught him with 0.4 to go. Total time was 53:10. Last two miles 6:29 and 6:21. Heart rate counted for 10 seconds was 132. In the afternoon ran with the kids. Ran some more during break in Benjamin's soccer game. They won 5-0. The opposing team had a great goalee, and held on quite well until the last quarter. Then with all the firepower (Ryan, Spencer, Benjamin and Josh) out on the offense they scored 4 goals to go from 1-0 to 5-0. Still unbeaten and unscored against. Ran with Julia after the soccer game, and then a mile with Abby, Benjamin, and Julia and Joseph in the stroller. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.50 | 5.00 | 1.50 | 0.00 | 14.00 |
| Ran with the BYU Army ROTC cadets this morning. We went on a 6.64 mile loop from Smith's Field House to Will's Pit Stop, then up the hill to Timpview, then past the MTC along 9th and back to Smith's Field House. Had to stop at the Will's, so that gave me 1.5 of tempo building a lead, and then catching up. Towards the end we passed the Air Force cadets, and I could sense some rivalry between the two. Afterwards jogged back to my car, and drove to the Provo River Trail by Geneva Road. Decided to do a 5 mile tempo at an aggressive marathon pace. The goal was to keep 5:45. The start did not feel very good - 44 seconds on the first 200 and it felt brisk. However, I got into the rhythm later on and felt better. Total time 28:16. Splits - 5:41, 11:18 (5:37), turnaround in 14:08 (2:50), then 17:00 at 3 (2:52), 22:49 (5:39), last mile in 5:37. I cheated on the last mile to get an even split on the second half by hitting the last 2 quarters in 1:24 and 1:23, but the presense of the motivation to cheat this way is a good sign. Came home ran with Benjamin, Jenny, and Abby. In the evening ran a little bit with Julia. We were practicing for our The Cat in the Hat skit at a ward talent show, so I was dress as the Cat in the Hat, and she was dressed as Thing 1. I have been thinking lately about setting up the Fast Running Blog Fund. So far the development and the improvements to the blog have been happening whenever I could find a few hours to hide in my office and code, which does not happen too often. With the fund in place, once there is enough money to pay for a feature, I could pay myself out of the fund to do the work, and thus would be able to make the blog quite a bit better. Possible sources of money for the fund - online advertising and donations. Online advertising so far has been making pennies, but I recently got approached by Burst Media to run a campaign for a month targeted specifically to runners, and they are willing to pay enough to sponsor about 12 hours of coding. That is a good start. Hopefully the improvements will help us increase the traffic. Once the traffic is up, not only does the blog get more in advertising fees from the volume, but it is also able to get into higher-paying networks. My eventual goal is to get the blog to the point where it generates enough revenue to provide sponsorships for developing athletes. The recipient of the sponsorship will be required to maintain a blog, train at a serious level, and help other runners in the blog on a daily basis. My dream is to be able to help a large number of marathoners go sub-2:20 (men) and sub-2:40 (women), and maybe even get somebody to win Boston or medal in the Olympics. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.50 |
| Slept in this morning. Started with the kids run (Benjamin, Jennifer, and Abby). Then ran 8 miles out and back a 1 mile near my house. Was chasing the 6:40 guy again. Got him with 0.2 to go. Total time was 53:15, last two miles 6:32 and 6:15, heart rate 144 at the end. Went to see Dr. Jex. On the way back stopped in the Provo Canyon for Julia and Sarah to do their runs. Sarah is recovering very well - she ran 2 miles a mile down and a mile back up in 21:38, which is a huge post-Jacob record. In the evening we went to the ward camp-out and did our The Cat In The Hat skit. I was the cat, Sarah was the mom, and also spoke for the fish, Jacob was the fish, Benjamin and Jenny were the boy and the girl, Julia was Thing 1, and Joseph was Thing 2. I believe the Things played the best of all, since what they had to do was quite natural to them. I think we've started a family tradition - you become a Thing when you learn to walk, and you graduate from being a Thing when you learn to read. Did bench press in the evening - 105 pounds, 5-4-4, narrow grip. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 4.50 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| Ran with Ted in the Provo Canyon early in the moring. A warm-up, then a 5 mile tempo - 2.5 up, then 2.5 down. The plan was to go 6:00 up, and 5:30 down - an aggressive marathon pace. Ted went with me on the first mile - 5:55. The next mile was 6:00. 0.5 in 2:57 to the turnaround - 14:52. Next 0.5 in 2:48 - 5:45 mile. Ted was supposed to meet me with 2 miles to go and run the rest of it with me, but he was not there. Next mile in 5:27. I saw Ted some distance ahead. Soon I realized he was not jogging waiting for me to catch him. I felt tempted to crank it up and come up to him fast, but decided it would not fulfill the purpose of the workout, which is to program the marathon pace into the system. However, there was not I could do about my runner affinity instinct - if there is a runner ahead of me, he pulls me like a magnet. So I ended up doing the last 0.5 in 2:38 slowly coming up on Ted but never got him. Considered hitting the last quarter in 70 to get it over with, but resisted the temptation. Glad I was able to have the temptation. Last mile in 5:21, total time 28:28. Later in the morning took Benjamin to a cross-country meet in Kiwani's park. He ran 3 K on grass in 15:27 and took 2nd in the pre-Bantam division. Got beat by Jacob Blackburn by about 15 seconds. Met fellow blogger Dustin Ence for the first time in person at the meet. He was there with his team. Ran with Jenny, Abby, and Julia later in the afternoon. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.25 | 4.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 11.25 |
| Ran with the kids in the morning. Then drove to the Provo River Trail by Geneva Road. Warmed up, then started the 5 mile tempo run - 2.5 out, and 2.5 back. Mostly flat, a slight net drop on the first mile, and the same net climb on the last. The form felt different during the warm-up, so I knew it was possible that I would run faster than normal. The goal was to run aggressive marathon pace. I decided to try to hold 1:24 per quarter pace to see how it felt, and back off to 1:25 if it felt too aggressive. Total time - 27:57.7. Splits - 5:36 - 11:11 (5:35) - turnaround 13:59 (2:48) - 3 miles 16:48 (2:49) - 22:23 (5:35), and last mile in 5:34. Again, cheated on the last mile pushing it enough to get a negative split. Felt in control of the pace. When I was focused, I could relax and run 1:24 quarters. When I lost the focus a bit I would hit 1:25. Then I would wake up and hit a couple of 1:23s to compensate, but then it started to feel too aggressive, although still sustainable with proper focus. The stride felt wider and more relaxed. I felt like I was getting more bang in the stride length for the buck of effort. At the same time, I felt like I had just gotten off a bike and was trying to run. It seemed like my muscles were trying to learn a new trick and were not catching on right away. But they will eventually, and even in this state I was running faster with the same effort as before. Finally some tangible fruit from the spinal correction work in the last couple of weeks. I have hopes that it will continue to grow. Ran to Benjamin's soccer practice and back in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.75 |
| Easy run with Ted in the morning. Chased 7:30 guy, and got him on the last mile, which we ran in 7:06. Total time for 8 miles 59:40. Heart rate afterwards was 108 counted over 10 seconds. That seems way too low - I felt I had worked harder than that. Maybe it is just dropping too faster as soon as I stop. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.50 | 1.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 7.00 |
| Taper for the Top of Utah marathon. Ran easy 5 miles by my house this morning with 1 tempo mile in 5:45. Then saw Raymond, and ran a bit more at the same pace to catch him. Ran with him for a little bit, then ran a tempo 600 in 2:07 to the end. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Also did bench press, 3 sets of 3 with 105, narrow grip. Still doing the Pettibon excercises and taking the Adrenal Formula. Started the headweights and the Wobble Chair. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.70 | 3.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.00 |
| Ran with the BYU ROTC Army cadets again this morning. They were doing a fartlek. This was perfect for me, as their pick-up pace was right around my marathon race pace. However, I ended up running at my marathon pace somewhat longer than expected due to a bathroom stop. In the evening ran with Jenny and Julia, went to see Dr. Jex for another session of Pettibon treatment, and then took Benjamin to a cross-country meet. He did better than last Saturday - 4 K in 20:09, first in pre-Bantums. Jacob Blackburn was not there, but he was ahead of Sophie Thompson by a much bigger margin than in the 3 K. I think he is starting to get used to running on grass. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.85 | 0.40 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.25 |
| Ran a mile in the morning. Warmed up the first 1000 in 4:22, then ran the last 600 in 2:11. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. In the evening drove up to Logan, ran from the car to the expo, picked up the packet, helped Paul sell his cool map of the course with elevelation-profile adjusted pace charts, then ran back to the car. Staying at Paul's house. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Race: |
Top Of Utah Marathon (26.22 Miles) 02:33:12, Place overall: 5, Place in age division: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.40 | 26.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 30.60 |
| Quick report on TOU - will add more later. Top of Utah Marathon, 2:33:12, 5th place. It was the most competitive year in the history of the race - the top three finishers broke Hobbie Call's course record of 2:25:12, including Hobbie himself who got booted into third. I ended up first in the Utah LDR circuit, which also gives me the win for the whole thing.
Now a full report. First, the results
to a great extent speak for themeselves. Now the story.
The morning started with me discovering that the toilet broke in the middle of the night. Since everybody was still asleep, I put the warning sign on it and jogged from Paul's house to the bus loading area.
It was 26 degrees at the start, accoding to the announcement of a race official, and it did feel cold. I decided to start in a long-sleeved shirth and gloves, and then disrobe as it got warmer. It never got warm enough for me - I kept all of it until the finish.
At the start I saw Leon Gallegos (expected), Hobbie Call (surprise appearance), and George Towett, a Kenyan 1:03 half-marathoner living in Georga - how about that - a Kenyan George from Georga. So I knew that in order to win, I would either need to super-perform, or organize a crash or a DNF without crashing myself. Super-performance was not likely, and there was no 7% downhill grade to organize a crash. I decided to focus on running my best.
Because of the cold, everybody was taking it easy on the first mile. After about a half mile, I was done with the warm-up, and switched into a race pace. The competition was still warming up. First mile in 5:37, then 5:27. Leon caught up. Next mile in 5:22. George Towett again appropriately for his name came by towing another runner - Jason Delaney from Colorado, a 2:19 marathoner. That reminds me of drafting behind a guy named Matt Pulle in Huntsville, AL in 2003.
George and Jason looked like big trouble - good form, running relaxed at sub-5:20 pace. Hobbie was duing his leisurely Hobbie-start, for which he did pay later. I think he could have hit the qualifier and second place, had he taken George and Jason seriously.
5:22 felt too aggressive, which was not a good sign. I decided to back off to what felt right, and ended up with a few 5:35 miles, which later became 5:40-5:45. 5 miles in 27:26, 10 miles in 55:50. I let Leon go, Hobbie came by looking like he was jogging around 6 miles. I could have fetched a ride to Leon, but decided to play it safe.
1:13:41 at the half, 1:24:29 at 15. Got passed by Carson Cambpell from Preston, Idaho at around 16.5. He recognized me, but I did not recongize him. I then knew he was having a break-through race. He looked relaxed, like he was jogging. I considered going with him, but decided it would not be wise.
I started seeing Leon, which was a good sign. I could still win the circuit without beating him, but I wanted to prove Bill Cobler wrong. He told everyone before the race that Leon would beat me and win. So focused on playing it safe, and slowing reeling Leon in.
Engery-wise I felt fine, but I could feel that my form was gradually deteriorating, which caused me to gradually slow down, although it appeared that I was putting in the same amount of cardiovascular effort. This has happened in every marathon I 've run, but I think in this one I was particularly noticing it because this became the primary cause of the slow-down.
Ahead of me, and past Carson I saw Leon, and I thought I saw another runner with Leon. I started getting excited. Then as Leon turned the corner, I noticed that the other runner looked exactly like Leon. I was having a little bit of a double vision, not fatigue related, just an eye problem. Maybe the mind too - I really wanted that other runner to be there.
Hit the uphill miles in 6:12 and 6:14. 20 miles in 1:54:29. Watched Carson passed Leon. Leon did not resist, which is a good sign. Next downhill mile in 5:59. Then a steady 6:15 pace. Passed Leon at 23 - he did not resist. Started closing on Carson a bit, but not enough to get him. He was still fairly strong. 6:25 on mile 26 which had a climb and then a drop. On that mile saw Paul's dad. Did not recognize him at first. He yelled: "We've fixed the toilet". I then knew who he was. For some odd reason this gave me some warmth of the soul, knowing that the toilet was fixed as I was working through my last half-mile of the race.
2:20:02 for George, 2:21:38 for Jason, 2:23:08 for Hobbie, 2:32:24 for Carson, 2:33:12 for me, 2:33:52 for Leon.
Won the Utah LDR circuit - courtesy of Joe Wilson who chose to miss Alta Peruvian 8 K and this marathon to run well in St. George. But again, who says there is anything wrong with the strategy of showing up for every marathon and other leg-trashing races to make it not worth it for the competition. If you have a strength, use it. If you cannot win with speed, win with persistence.
Also, turned out than me passing Leon at the end cost him fifth in the circuit ($100), and gave it to Steve Ashbaker, who did not have a good race, but toughed it out to the end and scored just barely enough points to be even with Bill Cobler but beat him because Bill had more races. Again, the lesson repeated - when things do not look good, hang in there, there might be some hidden reward.
Afterwards, felt very good, more like I've run a tempo 15 with 5 miles of additional jogging than a marathon. Hardly any soreness in the leg muscles. Some stiffness and tenderness in the joints.
Cooled down to Paul's house. Took a shower, then jogged to the awards ceremony. Got a moose an a consolation cash award ($50) for getting booted out of the top three (won 30-34 age division) to make me feel better. It is very nice of TOU to offer that - they understand how somebody feels when they are close to the money but for one reason or another get booted out.
Ran with the kids in the evening, and lifted weights - regular workout with 105 pounds. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.00 |
| Legs felt a little sore in the shin muscles from the marathon, otherwise without the memory of running it, I would not have known I had run it. Today, no soreness whatsoever. Started the day with a 1 mile jog in street clothes in 6:55. Then in the afternoon we went to see a house near the Provo River Trail. Just like it is promised in Malachi 3 in the Old Testament, The Lord has opened the windows of heaven and poured out so many blessing on us that there is not room enough to receive them. Our Fast Running Kids, who are also homeschooled, are starting to feel crowded in 1060 sq. ft. with Daddy working at home on top of it. So we have put our house up for sale by owner, and are shopping for one in the right location - as close to the Provo River Trail as possible. I liked the neighborhood. I noticed that more than 50% of the houses in the 200 meter radius had a van parked in the driveway - a tell-tale sign of a stay at home mom with enough kids to need a van. The Fast Running Mommy was concerned about the kids having enough friends - I do not think that would be an issue. After seeing the house, I went for a run to get a feel for things. Also took Benjamin for part of it. Then picked it up to about 6:40-6:45 pace, ran some on the trail, and then through Provo to the soccer practice. Decided to take a slightly different route and ended up running through downtown Provo. Ran past one of the few bars. The Utah County has a reputation of having the highest number of churches per bar, if I remember right it is 72. That is one reason I like to be in the Utah County. At the practice ran with Abby and her brother Josh. Then ran back home with Benjamin and Jenny, and then took Julia for her standard quarter mile run. Total of 11 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.40 | 0.00 | 2.10 | 0.50 | 13.00 |
| Early morning run with Ted at 5:00 am. Of all people, Ted is really good about getting his run in when it appears nearly impossible. Warmed up 2 miles. Had a hard time getting going. Then ran a tempo on the Slate Canyon Loop (2.11) one time around. To make things interesting gave Ted a 30 second head start. Those seconds seemed like eternity as I watched him take off at a very good pace. First mile in 5:45. Closed only 8 seconds. Then closed some more on the big hill. Then once we started going down, I finally got into a good rhythm and passed him at around 1.7. Last quarter was 1:23. On the down I was probably going around 4:45-4:50. Total time for the loop 11:50. Ted got 12:37 - a perfect 6:00 pace, which indicates he can run about 37 minutes in a 10 K right now - I have calculated that whatever pace you can hold on that loop, you will be able to do in a flat 10 K. Jogged another two miles, and then did 100 m accelerations. 4 with ankle weights - 19.1 - 18.8 - 18.3 - 17.9. Then 4 more regular - 15.9 - 16.1 - 16.0 - 15.5. Went to see Dr. Jex in the evening. He always runs a massage tool on my back and legs, which will discover hidden tightness and soreness issues. Although I ran a marathon on Saturday, to my surprise there was no tightness or soreness discovered, and I did not bust out into hysteric laughter when he did my hamstrings, which I have been doing in the earlier visits without fail. Ran with the kids in the evening. Total of 13 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Ran early in the morning before going to the temple. 8 miles in 55:29. Started slow, then chased the 7:00 mile guy. Felt lazy, so took a while to catch him. Came up within 3 seconds with 0.5 to go, and then decided to run the rest at marathon pace. The 7:00 mile guy did not like that. Ran the last 0.5 in 2:56. In the afternoon, did 2 miles of always on the run in 13:09 with the last 0.5 in 2:53. Also ran with the kids. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.20 | 4.00 | 3.20 | 0.40 | 16.80 |
| Ran early in the morning again with the BYU ROTC Army cadets. Ted took them on a 10x1 minute with 1 minute rest. Again, as usual this early, had to stop to go to the bathroom, and then catch them, so that added some extra tempo running. Afterwards ran some more miles with Ted. Then drove to the Provo River Trail by Geneva road. Did 4x100 with ankle weights (19.2 - 18.8 - 18.3 - 18.0), and 2 without (16.6 - 16.5). Then did a 5 mile tempo run. Felt sleepy somewhat on the first 0.75 (4:16), then got going. 1 mile in 5:39. Next one in 5:34 (11:13). Steady 5:36 pace to the turnaround (14:01). Thought I'd break 28:00 no problem. However, the turnaround knocked me out of rhythm a bit, and I started feeling something out of whack. 2:52 on the next 0.5 (16:53, 5:40 mile), then the next mile in 5:47 (22:50). Cardiovascularly, as well as in the muscles I was feeling great, and it felt like I was going 5:34 - 5:36. However, the form was not as smooth for some reason. On the last mile I regrouped, improved the form, pushed a bit, and managed 5:35 to finish with 28:15.8. My guess is that after 12 miles of being on my feet I experience some structural deterioration which makes the form less efficient. This is why I think I can never run a good marathon with a negative split. I can run a good marathon, and I can run a negative split, but not in the same race. Negative split means in essence I need to run the first half so slow that it would be possible to run faster than that with the structural deterioration that kicks in later and regardless of how fast I run in the first half. My feeling is that the deterioration I am speaking about is connected to compression of the disks in the lower back, but I could very well be wrong. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. A long day, now need to get some rest, and sleep in particular before St. George. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 9.50 |
| Ran with Ted in the morning. We chased the 7:30 guy for 8 miles and beat him (59:42). Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Starting an early taper for St. George. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.40 | 0.00 | 3.10 | 0.00 | 10.50 |
| Paced Benjamin to a new PR of 23:18 in a 5 K over by the Rock Canyon - first place in 11 and under, 22nd overall out of about 60 mostly adults. He got a ribbon for his award and a huge clock in a raffle (shouldn't it be the other way around - get a small thing in a raffle, and a big one for the achievement?). But, regardless, the effort ended up being properly rewarded. The course had a net drop of 150 feet, but included a couple of climbs of 100 feet. Mike Vick won with 16:32. After pacing Benjamin, ran a tempo on the course in 17:27. I felt like I had put about a 17:10 effort into it. The course was measured with my wheel and using my chart. However, I was not there when it got measured. It suspiciously started exactly where the organizers wanted to start it, and ended exactly where they wanted to end it. gmap-pedometer shows that distance as 3.08. There were no mile marks. I think I'll remeasure it next week to be sure. In the afternoon, ran with the kids. Benjamin was up for anothe r run and did a mile in 9:01 without breaking a sweat. Ran some with the Fast Running Mommy at the end of her run. She ran two miles in 22:13 gradually speeding up. Last quarter was 2:27. Also ran back from the Priesthood Session of the General Confernce. Good messages. Got me thinking deep. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.25 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 1.25 | 11.50 |
| Ran the standard tempo 3 miler down the Provo Canyon in 15:35. Mile splits - 5:10 - 5:16 - 5:09. On the positive side, no quarters slower than 1:19, and all 1:19 quarters felt fairly comfortable. On the negative side, 1:18 quarters felt a lot more painful, and the last one in 1:15 did not feel good at all. This predicts about 2:25-2:26 in St. George given good conditions, but I have another week to get my spine into a better shape, which in theory could happen any day. So there is still some hope for a qualifier (2:22:00) in St. George, but if not, the spine will get beat into good shape eventually, I hope, and then the Trials qualifier would not have to be done in St. George. I hope to see the real Sasha come out of hiding in some near future day. Afterwards, 5x400 down with 200 recovery. 69.3 - 71.2 - 69.4 - 68.9 - 67.5. I knew there was something up with the second one, as it felt too aerobic. Sure enough, the clock testified that it was not because I gained fitness. On the last two, I focused on bringing my hips forwards to avoid the bucket sitting, and my lower back somewhat cooperated. I felt the best on the last one, not counting the 71.2, where my mind was still half way into the tempo run. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Also took Benjamin to the track to check his sprint speed. 19.4 in 100 meters, same as before. We got an offer on our house tonight, and we accepted. Now we will move on to make an offer on the house we like near the Provo River Trail. Bench press in the evening - 3x[5x105lb]. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.00 |
| Got up at 4:45 am to run with Ted. 4.5 hours of sleep. Last night the offer and our acceptance of it brought way too much excitement into the house. Need to make up on sleep in the upcoming days. Ran easy sleepy pace for 4 miles. Then decided to chase the 7:30 mile guy. He had only 2 miles to go and we were 1:05 behind. Sped up to 7:00 pace. Then I remembered that I was supposed to run a tempo mile at marathon race pace. That helped with the chase. We ran the mile in 5:40 and finished in 43:47, leaving the 7:30 guy in the dust. He said it was not fair that we went by him so fast, and built such a huge lead in a little over half a mile. The start felt hard, but then it felt easier and easier as we went on. The whole mile was done at an even pace. Got a training toy/tool from Wasatch Running using my in-store credit - Garmin 305. Learning to use it. Ran with the kids. Benjamin pushed my heart rate to 145 as sped up to 6:40 pace, and I was pushing Jenny and Joseph in the stroller. The blog has picked up some traffic thanks to the increased number of bloggers. We are having days with 1300-1400 page impressions a day. The advertising revenues are going up - still not much to pay me a salary to work on the blog full time ($2-$3 a day), but better than before, and it does add up. Got some good ideas from Chad and Zack Case on improvements to the blog. My next project is to implement the race reports feature - you will be able to mark an entry as a race report, and it will be published in a special section. In the mean time - if you want to help the site get more traffic - some ideas - include your blog web address in your e-mail signature, be more prolific in your entries as the time allows, mention people and places by name as much as you can and as is appropriate (this will give us more hits from Google searches), and invite your running partners to blog along with you if they are not doing it already. Soon enough you might end up with a free full-time coach/blog programmer, and maybe even more than one. Our revenues per page will increase dramatically once we hit 1 million a month. Right now we are headed for about 30,000-35,000 a month. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 |
| Ran with the kids in the afternoon, and the some more afterwards near my house. Tapering for St. George. Tried out The Toy (Garmin 305). Very accurate. At least when properly charged - compared it against my "holy" marks, and it is right on. It showed 2.12 instead of 2.11 for the Slate Canyon Loop, but that course is very bad for a GPS with the hills. Ran a tempo mile in 5:40 again. Felt good, very relaxed. HR hovered around 147 for most of it, got up to 153 when I pushed it a bit and was probably going around 5:35. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.00 |
| Set my alarm clock way to 4:45 on accident. It went off, and surprisingly I could not go back to sleep. So I got up, read the scriptures, did the Pettibon exercises, and then added a new feature to the blog. You can now mark an entry as a race report, and enter some race parameters in separate fields. Will work on making the race report listing next. In the mean time, you can start marking your entries in the past as race reports and filling in the details. Also, did some infrastructure changes to make it easier to separate the application logic from the HTML (installed and configured the Smarty template engine). Wow, we are getting fancy. Afterwards, went for an easy run. Warmed up, then ran a tempo mile in 5:37. The Toy (aka Garmin 305) was off by a second, and said it was 5:36. I had it on auto-lap every quarter, and it was getting them very accurately being almost in perfect agreement with my wheel measurements. Very impressive. I think I'll keep that setting in St. George - I would love to get my quarter splits in a marathon. The Toy showed HR of 153-155 with the max of 158. I am very impressed with the HR reliability of The Toy so far - no bad readings yet. It was warmer today when I ran. Yesterday it rained. I felt very good on the tempo mile. Ran with Julia in the afternoon, and with the rest of the kids, including our neighbor kids Abby and Hannah in the evening. It rained pretty hard, and I got thoroughly wet. But it was a warm rain, and it felt more like a nice shower. Got our third donation to the Fast Running Blog fund from PayPal. So far two unnamed donors (in case they want to remain anonymous - do you guys want to be named on the donor page?), and three donations totalling $40. Wow, we are growing. I have restructured my business a bit to be able to have more time to develop FBR, so hopefully we will see more features this month. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 4.25 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 5.25 |
| Easy run this morning. Ran a tempo mile in 5:43. Also ran with the kids, then drove to St. George. The pace was 0:51 per mile, while the heart rate stayed around 65. Not bad. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Race: |
St. George Marathon (26.22 Miles) 02:25:32, Place overall: 8, Place in age division: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2.00 | 26.22 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 28.22 |
| St. George Marathon - quick update. 2:25:32, 8th place. First half 1:12:40, second 1:12:52. James Lander won with 2:18:24. Steve Frisone second in 2:21:56. More to follow later. Now the details. Stayed overnight at Dustin's in-laws cabin in Pine Valley with Dustin, Bill (Wild Bull), and Steve Hooper. Got to the start, warmed up. Lined up at the start. Wore the Training Toy (Garmin 305) with HRM. Auto-split every quarter. As I predicted, the field was full trouble. Soon a pack of 5 formed - James Lander (2:21:06 PR in Chicago 2005 until today), Steve Frisone (2:24:31 St. George 2004), Dave Danly (debut, 29 minute 10 K runner), and Keven Stover (2:24:32 Austin 2006). We hit a couple of miles a bit under 5:30, and then as we started going downhill the pace picked up to about 5:15. 5 miles in 26:53. The pace felt comfortable, HR was around 153. Approaching Veyo the grade got a bit steeper with the miles in 5:09 and 5:14. 7 miles in 37:16. Now the fun part starts. Next quarter in 1:19, still down. Then 1:24 slightly up, HR climbs to 159. 1:28 even more up, HR at 163. Dave Danly pushed a bit, and I went with him knowing I needed a bit of a buffer from the other runners as we approached the section with the 7% grade climb. Although my legs are strong, biomechanically I have a disadvantage relative to other runners as the grade gets steeper, while at the same time I approach a more normal running form on a steep downhill grade while other runners start suffering from the pounding. Now I am feeling strained. HR hits 166. Working too hard. I eased off. Next quarter in 1:46 which gives me 5:57 for the Veyo mile. James and Steve went by, and I did not feel like I could latch on. Next quarter in 1:39 with HR of 165. We are still not out of the woods. One more in 1:29 HR dropping to 162, now a litte better. Kevin caught me, and I latched on right behind him. Next mile in 5:48. 10 miles in 54:47 (5:42), not bad for the climb, HR staying around 160, Kevin is pulling me. Another mile in 5:56, followed by 5:36, now the grade eased off. HR dropping to 156. Next mile in 5:26, to get 1:11:45 at 13, HR hovering between 153 and 156. I believe the half mark was in the wrong place. The Toy always beeped no more than 5 seconds away from any mile marker, so I am fairly confident about my 13 mile split. Yet at the half mark the clock said 1:12:40, while it should have been more like 1:12:20-1:12:25. Come to think of it, I actually remember the last year having the same problem - took way too long to get to the half mark from 13 miles. Next mile in 5:26 going slightly down. And now we are headed for fun. The Snow Canyon downhill dash/ if you havent' practiced downhill running quad bash. Next mile in 5:11 (1:22:22 at 15). HR stays around 154. Now Charles Wallace has caught us. I latched on behind him and pulled away from Kevin. However, towards the end of the downhill, I was a bit low on fuel, and backed off the pace. Kevin passed me. As hard as I tried to avoid the bathroom problem, here it comes - all the downhill running shook things up. So I made a very efficient stop hitting a 1:27 quarter without stopping my watch. Mike Vick passed me as if I were standing. He was having a great race. There goes the prize for first from the Utah County, if they are giving one this year. I still have not gotten mine from the last year, and heard no announcements that they were planning to continue the tradition. Handled the climb between 18 an 19 OK with the slowest quarter in 1:31, HR at 156. Too low for the climb, shows that I am a bit out of fuel, but not too bad. 19th mile in 5:57, 1:50:25 according to the Toy, and 1:50:29 officially at 20 miles, the 20th mile in 5:31, HR at 152. PR is still possible, but difficult. I'll need to run a low 34 minute last 10 K. Next mile in 5:23, downhill. Neal Gassman passed me, and he was doing great. From 21 to 22 in 5:44, mostly down, but about a quarter of up, which made it slow. 23rd mile in 5:30, down, not too bad, HR at 153. Next mile in 5:37. It was mostly down, but caught a flat portion as we turned the corner on the Diagonal. Next mile in 5:46, a slight down with about a quarter of up. A few turns. I do not like the change in the course. The old way you went down all the way and it did not break your rhythm. Then it was flat for the last mile, which you could also run with good rhythm. Now the turns and the changes in the terrain make you shift gears at the point in the race where you really are not fit to do it. 5:56 from 25 to 26, essentially flat, a couple of turns. 1:15 from 26 to the finish. 2:25:32, 8th place, missed PR by 45 seconds, but happy with the performance. 5th marathon of the year with the slowest 2:35:20 as a training run. James Lander 2:18:25, Steve Frisone 2:21:55 (congratulations on qualifying), Dave Danly 2:22:04 (good work for a debut, but it sure hurts watching the clock tick for the last 4 seconds), Mike Vick 2:23:24 (exceptional debut), Charles Wallace 2:23:54 (congrats on a PR), Neal Gassman 2:24:01 (what a breakthrough, but it is about time), Kevin Stover 2:24:08 (good effort). Congratulations to Randy McDermott (2:28:55), Dave Weiler (2:28:59), Clyde (2:36:12), Chad (2:37:52), Jed Burton (2:38:02), Bill Cobler (2:38:32), Dustin (2:46:13), Andy (3:06:00), Steve Hillam (3:10:23, BQ) and Kerry (3:31:49 BQ) on setting their PRs. Ran with the kids in the evening, over 28 miles for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.25 | 1.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.75 |
| Ran on the Provo River Trail. Took our car (Ford Escort Wagon 93 nicknamed Zhu) to Jiffy Lube over by Deseret Industries in Provo, and ran 5 miles out from their towards the Utah Lake and back. Had The Toy (Garmin 305) with me. Started out at 7:00 pace, then sped up to 6:50, then to 6:40. Ran the first 5 miles in 34:20. HR was a bit high, probably due to some residual stiffness from the marathon, which made the economy worse - 130 at 7:00 pace, 133 at 6:50, 135-138 at 6:40. But I felt good nevertheless. On the way back, decided to run a tempo mile, the last mile of my standard 5 mile tempo, which rolls a bit and gains 25 feet. Got 5:41 with the HR climbing to 159 at the end as I sped up to 5:36 pace. This put me within about 15 seconds of the imaginary 6:40 guy, and I just could not resist the temptation. So I coasted at about 6:40 pace until the last mile, and then gradually sped up to a sub-6:00 paace and went past him with vengence. Total time was 1:06:24, last quarter in 1:28, and HR on the last quarter at 1:50. Came home and ran with the kids. Benjamin ran ahead while I ran with Jenny and Hannah. He looked great from a distance loping along very relaxed at 8:45 pace. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Ran 8 miles with Ted early in the morning. After the first 4 miles, 57 seconds behind the 7:00 mile guy. Then we gave him a chase, caught him, then picked up to 6:12 pace on the last 0.75 to rub it it finishing in 55:27. HR at all speeds was just right - 127 at 7:00 pace, 130 at 6:40, and 140 at 6:12. Legs are feeling a little bit stiff but otherwise, aside from the memory of doing it, I cannot tell I ran a marathon on Saturday. No unusual stiffness during the massage at Dr. Jex's office. Muscles were a lot more intact after St. George as well as after the Top of Utah than they were after the Alta Perivian 8 K. Ran a total of 2 miles in the evening with the kids, total of 10 for the day. Also lifted weights - bench 3x[5x105lb]. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.36 | 0.75 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.11 |
| Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Then ran with Ted in the evening from the Kiwani's park to the Provo River Trail, then on the trail towards the Utah Lake until we reached the 4 mile mark, and then back. Did some running while waiting for Ted - 0.4 miles. Including my warm-up, we hit 5 miles in 34:00. Then at 7 miles I saw that the 6:40 guy was only 32 seconds ahead and suggested we catch him. Ted was not super-excited about the idea - he had already 4 miles at sub 6:40 pace earlier in the morning, and he is still getting used to the mileage. But in any case, with 3 quarters in 1:30 (flat), 1:27 (slight down), and 1:28 we got him hitting 53:16 for 8 miles. A little bit more to the car - 8.36 miles in 55:27. Avg. HR 131, max 158 (when doing 1:28 quarter uphill, about 1% grade). HR overall was correct at all paces during the run. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.30 | 3.40 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.70 |
| Ran very early in the morning with the BYU ROTC Army cadets training for the Ranger Challenge. They were doing a fartlek with the fast pace being a bit faster than 6:00 pace. It was fairly cold, so my HR on those hovered between 135 and 140. That is about 5-10 bpm lower than normal. The Toy (Garmin 305) gave me splits every quarter, and auto-magically turned on the light for me to see it. It was very nice to get those splits in the dark with no fuss. The lighting during the early hour provided very long shadows to look at, which is great for discovering hidden problems in the form. I observed my form, and compared it do that of Ted and the two faster cadets in our pace group. The cadets looked great. Ted looked better than me but not as good as the cadets. I am still sitting on a bucket. But the cardio endurance, muscle strength, and good glycogen storage saves me against the average Joe with good form. However, if the Joe's last name is Wilson, I am in big trouble unless it is the marathon and he has not been training well. Ran with the kids in the evening. Benjamin pushed a stroller with Jacob and quite easily covered the mile in 9:50 with the last 100 in 28. This was the first time he was able to push another kid in a stroller at a decent pace for the whole mile. Afterwards, he ran a fast 0.5 in 3:37. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.60 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.60 |
| Ran with the kids in the afternoon before going to see Dr. Jex. Then on the way back Sarah dropped me off at the press building by the mouth of the Provo Canyon and I headed back on the trail home taking a long route. After about 2 miles ran into Mike West. We ran together further on the trail all the way to west Provo, past the house we are buying, then got to 300 N and University intersection, and then went our separate ways. That was a bit after the 7 mile mark. I noticed I was 1:20 behind the 6:40 guy. So I decided to chase him. I knew would have to push it, as it is uphill from their to our house. First quarter was 1:32, including the easy pace for the small part of it. After that, I was hitting between 1:25 and 1:27 while it was flat or 0.5% uphill with the HR of 150. Then the grade got steeper (probably 1%), and I hit a couple of 1:29 quarters with the HR of 158-160. Last quarter (2.3% grade) in 1:31. Blew past the 6:40 with vengenance and told him he was making me work. HR climbed to 163. 59:46 for 9 miles, last 2 miles in 11:46, but I was home yet, another 0.05 to go, 1:00:05 for 9.05. Then Abby came by and wanted to run. She missed her run earlier in the afternoon. I took her and also pushed Julia and Joseph in the stroller for another easy mile. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.50 | 1.50 | 3.50 | 0.00 | 11.50 |
| Decided to test The Toy(Garmin 305) in the Provo Canyon. Ran from the Canyon View Park to Vivian and back. First 5 miles easy, about 7:00 pace, HR hovering around 130 due to the 1-1.5% grade. The Toy agreed with the Hawk's Holy Marks perfectly. The fun started when the marks ended. When I went under the bridge by the Nunns park, The Toy reported a 1:36 quarter, with no perceivable increase in the effort, or HR. Otherwise, the remaining quarters made perfect sense. Got to 5.00 reading on the Toy at 35:10, turned around, and started a tempo on the way back. The goal was to push HR past 155. It took a while. Mile splits were 5:49 - 5:32 - 5:31 - 5:25 - 5:27. I had to run 0.04 past the car to hit 10.00 on The Toy. HR hovered at 152 until I started running 5:25 pace. Then it went up to 157. This is down 1-1.5% grade, with the grade being steeper in the earlier miles. The Toy handled the bridge a lot better the second time around - no weird quarters at all. In the afternoon ran with the kids. As you may have noticed, I coded up the bare bones of the race reports. It uses my new paging code and Smarty templates. I will soon be converting the blog viewer to use this code to - it is about time, we have 49 public blogs. I also set up an affiliate with Amazon, and added some code to detect product references in the blog comments and auto-magically hyperlink them to the appropriate product page at Amazon. So far, my product table has only Garmin 305. I will be expanding it gradually. E-mail me, or post in the comments your favorite products to be included in the database. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 4.50 | 0.00 | 12.50 |
| Ran in the Provo Canyon. Forgot The Toy (Garmin 305). Warmed up from the Canyon View Park to the Nunns Park, then ran the standard 3 mile tempo downhill in 16:11. Mile splits - 5:25 - 5:22 - 5:24. There was a small headwind, and it was raining. I also felt the lack of sleep. Jacob and Sarah somehow got stung by a wasp. The commotion woke me up at 4:40 am, and I did not feel like going back to bed especially since I did have a lot of things to do. So by 11 am I felt more like a nap than a tempo run, but more like a tempo run than just an easy run, or I would have taken a nap during the run otherwise. I wish I had brought The Toy to measure the heart rate. Based on the breathing, I think I had a hard time getting the heart to work. I would periodically speed up to a 1:19 - 1:20 quarter, and not have the mental energy to sustain the pace. Once I was finished with the tempo, I started jogging to make it 10 miles total for the run. After a mile I realized that this would be quite a drag. So I ran a tempo 1.5 uphill in 8:44 passing a runner that was going at a decent pace in the process. Then jogged a bit more and reached the turnaround point between the Canyon Glen and Nunns Parks. On the way back I met with the runner I passed earlier and asked him how far he was going. He had only 0.5 more to go before his turn around, so I decided it would be better to run 3 miles with a friend than 2 alone. The runner's name was Scott. He had just run the St. George Marathon in 3:22. I invited him to join the Fast Running Blog crowd. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. In the evening did bench press 3x[5x105]. Cheston remarked that I already started training hard. Actually, this phase of my training is what I call active recovery - 60-70 miles a week, occasional tempo runs, no long runs, occasional races. This gives me a mental and a physical break to be ready to hit it hard in January or February - 80-90 miles a week, long tempos, hard tempos, interval work, race as often as I can. I believe a race is the best speed workout. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Easy run with Ted early in the morning. 8 miles in 55:07. Chased the 7:00 guy, got him. Then decided not to get caught by ourselves running a week ago, and picked it up. Last three quarters according to The Toy (Garmin 305) were 1:29, 1:33, 1:32. Heart rate was normal at all speeds. It was cold and rainy. Ran with the kids in the evening. Also, set up the Fast Running Blog Store through Amazon. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Ran with the kids. Then 5 miles with Brad Brown in 38:38. Then 3.25 more at about 7:00 pace to make the total 10 for the day.
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.75 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 11.75 |
| Provo Canyon with Brad and Ted in the early morning. The great thing about Ted is you can ( he will) get him (you) Warm-up from Canyon View Park to Nunns Park, then the standard 3 mile tempo downhill. Got more sleep (whole 6.5 hours) than last time, and it showed. Remembered to bring The Toy. Ran in the dark. Quarter mile auto-splits helped, but they were a bit off. The Toy showed 3.03 for the length of the run which I did in 15:59. I always subtract a second because back a few years ago the trail was slightly changed near the Canyon Glen Park to add about a second. I want the times to be comparable. So according to the protocol, the time was 15:58. According to The Toy, I hit 3 miles in 15:49. Ted's Toy measured it as 3.01. However, around 1.5 I had to swing out to pass two runners that were going about 8:30, which could have added a bit. With the speed difference of about 5 mph, and in the dark, it was not easy, not a lot of time to think. The pace was even through most of the run, but at the end I wanted to make sure I was under 16:00 and sped up. The Toy said I ran the last quarter in 1:14, but I think it was actually 1:17 - I managed to catch my split with a true quarter to go. HR stayed at around 158-160 after the first mile, and climbed to 168 on the last quarter. In the afternoon, Benjamin, Jennifer, and Julia ran in the Provo District Cross-Country Championship in the 3rd grade division. There was no home school team, so they ran for Provost. I believe Jenny and Julia ended up being the only girls representing Provost in the 3rd grade division. Julia (4 years old) ran very well - 5:10 for 0.5 mile, and she managed to pass some 3rd graders. Jennifer (6 years old) ran a decent 3:57 for 12th. Benjamin was not having a good day due to his stomach problems. Sarah, myself, and Benjamin have caught some food digestion bug - Benjamin and Sarah have it pretty bad, and I just do not feel like eating very much. Nevertheless Benjamin did his best under the circumstances and pulled off 13th place out of 52 3rd graders (a year or two older than him) with 3:37. I ran along with Julia, then with Benjamin, and then with Abby who finished 12th in the 4th grade girls 0.75 mile with 6:39. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.20 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.20 |
| Saw Dr. Jex in the morning. He took an X-ray of my neck and did some other tests. He will go through the results on Monday. On the way back Sarah dropped me off in the park where the Provo River Trails crosses Geneva Road. First took Julia on her 0.25 mile run. Then ran 2.5 miles out to the end of the trail, and then back home. First 5 miles in 33:12. No HR measurements as I forgot The Toy. The some unknown distance to the house we've made an offer on. Assumed I was still on 6:40 pace, passed it at 42:21. It is 3.05 from there to our house. With a mile to go, noticed I was 15 seconds behind the 6:40 guy. The last mile was uphill, but I decided to get him anyway. Ran the last mile in 6:16 for the total of 1:02:32 for 9.40 miles. Ran with the kids in the evening. Benjamin and Jenny are racing in the Homecoming tomorrow, so only 0.5. Benjamin has not been feeling well - does not have much of an appetite, neither do I, or Sarah. Looks like we all got the same bug. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.70 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.70 |
| Provo Canyon with Ted in the morning. Woke up at 2:45 am, and could not sleep because of the stomach nausea feeling. No throwing up, but not much appetite. Stayed awake until it was time to go, read the scriptures, got some work done, did my Pettibon exercises. Was originally planning on the same tempo run as Thursday, but decided to back off the pace a bit due to the low fuel condition. This might actually have been a good training - you feel like you are at about mile 15 of a marathon energy wise, but your legs are fresh. Stayed with Ted to help him run fast. Actually felt good for the condition. It was dark. The Toy gave quarter splits, which helped. We started out at 5:25 pace, I was able to see the true two mile split (10:59). Ted was very strong up to about 1.7, and then started losing it a bit. We ran the last mile in 5:38 for the total of 16:37. So Ted improved his time by over a minute in the last two months. HR stayed around 150-152 for most of the run except for climbing to 158 briefly during the kick at the end. Interestingly enough, that is where I had it during the second half of St. George. Ted said he would race when he broke 16:30 on our tempo run. He almost made it. I teased him that he slowed down on purpose at the end so he would not have to race. I think he will not be able to get out of it next week. I'll make sure to stay with him all the way to encourage it. Or who knows - the way he's been progressing he might just go ahead and drop me altogether. Afterwards, went to the BYU Homecoming races. Benjamin and Jenny ran the cross-country half mile. The course was hilly, and the grass was covered with ice. So that made for slow times. Benjamin ran a heroic race. He was still suffering from the stomach flu, so I told him to run it just to finish. His age division was again very tough - 7-9, and he is 7. He managed 3:48 which was good enough for 2nd. Jenny ran a good race finishing in 4:08, 2nd in 5-6. Afterwards, ran the 5 K pacing Ted's son James, who is 12. Ted could not do it himself because he was in charge of the parade. James ran a good race finishing in 22:59 on a hilly course around campus. Josh McAdams won in 15:02, very good time for that course. During the race, I did a lot of motivational talking and instruction. With Benjamin, I try to hold back a bit, he is only 7. He actually runs better when I am rather quiet, just there. James is 12, his dad is a tough army guy, so I figured I could do a little more. One girl running by wondered aloud how I could talk so much while racing. Ran with Julia and Hannah in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.50 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 11.50 |
| Tempo run in the Provo Canyon. Standard 3 miles downhill from Nunns Park to the mouth of the Provo Canyon. I do those for a dual purpose. To maintain a level of fitness while taking a break, and to monitor the effects of the break as well as the Pettibon spinal correction.
Reduced digestion/appetite loss issues were mitigated but still present, so I thought 16:15 would be a good goal. I went through the first 1000 meters in 3:26 feeling unmotivated partially due to the headwind. HR was 150,I was not breathing hard, but felt mentally sluggish. I decided to push hard enough to get the HR past 160 and see what pace that will bring. Hit the mile in 5:24, then 2 miles in 10:44. HR climbed to 162, right where I wanted it to be. With the looming possibility of sub-16:00, I pushed a little harder. Got HR to a steady 166 with the peak of 168 on the last half mile. Last mile was 5:14 with the total time of 15:58.
Felt some small improvements in the form. Could be just a natural fluctuation, but my hope is that is more of a step towards a permanent improvement.
Cooled down to make the total 10 miles. As expected, HR was elevated by about 5 bpm at any pace during the cooldown. Came home and ran with the kids. Benjamin took a nice spill at the end, took too long to get up feeling sorry for himself, got passed by Jenny, and missed catching her finishing 2 seconds behind. I reminded him to learn from Lasse Viren.
Also, recognized our donors on the Fast Running Blog Fund Page. Thanks to them and everybody else for contributing to the growth of the Fast Running Blog! |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.25 |
| Easy 8 miles with Ted in the morning. Both of us were sleepy. Tried to start chasing the 7:30 guy at 4 miles, but did not gain much on him because we were too sleepy and chatty at the same time - how is that possible? Finally, at 6 miles got serious. Caught him, then went after the 7:25 guy, got him too. 59:11 for 8 miles. HR was normal, even too low perhaps. Stayed under 120 until the chase began, maxed at 140 during the chase going about 6:15. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Put on ankle weights while pushing Jenny in the single stroller. First ran 0.5 with Benjamin in 3:45. Then another 0.5, and of course this time around I had to beat Benjamin's time, and every one of his splits. Ran 3:32. Went to see Dr. Jex. My neck has made some progress - the curvature angle increased from 16 degrees to 23 ( ideal 45), while the head tilt decreased from 18 mm to 8 mm (ideal 0). However, according to Dr. Jex, the changes in the lower spine do not start happening until the neck curvature angle is at least 27 degrees. And, according to my expectations, there will be no signficant improvements in running until the lower spine starts to re-shape. So there is quite a bit more work left to do before I can say anything about the effectiveness of the Pettibon system in improving running speed and economy. If anybody reading this is or knows a graduate or PHD exercise physiology student that needs a research topic, here is something I would really like to seriously get researched. The relationship between the shape of the spine, the maximum running speed, and the running economy in aerobically well-developed distance runners with the dominance of slow-twitch fiber types. My hypothesis is that given the same fast-slow twitch ratio, running economy, top speed, and the spinal shape will correlate to a high degree. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.50 | 2.36 | 0.00 | 0.75 | 10.61 |
| Ranger Challenge run early in the morning. The cadets were doing a 5 K tempo on the track. I decided to run with them until there were 3 laps left, and then do a max HR test. Their target was about 6:00 pace. I figured to avoid a mess I'd let Ted do the pacing and hid away in the pack. Stayed on the outside of the first lane, but not quite in the second. We were asleep on the first two laps, surged a bit on the third to make up, then settled into a good pace - 1:28 per lap. The two faster cadets (it is about time for me to learn their names) were handling it well. Once we settled into pace, HR stayed steady around 150. There was a headwind on the home stretch. It was nice to have Ted and a big cadet deal with it. With three and a half laps to go, moved out to get ready for the max HR test. The surge, the anticipation, and the headwind combined brought HR up to 157. Then the last 3 laps fast trying to push HR to the max. 5 K pace or a bit faster sustained for long enough is sufficient for the task, and in fact will do a better job than an all out push. First two laps in 2:35.4 at about even pace. Messed up on the split after the first fast lap, hit the button about 1 second early (got 1:16.4), but still good enough to take average HR. On the first fast lap average HR was 162, on the second 166. Pushed a bit harder on the last lap, got 1:15.4. HR maxed at 170, and averaged at 169 on the last lap. 3:50.8 for the last 1200, and 17:58.9 for the 5 K. Did not like the headwind on the home stretch. It messed with my concentration. Also did not like running alone and hard. I liked running easy and in the pack a lot better. It seems like once HR goes past 160 every extra beat per minute takes me to a whole new level of pain. 160 is comfortable enough to hold for 15 miles. 163 can be sustained for 10 miles. 166 hurts bad enough to be a 10 K pace. And 170 is so painful that I do not think I can sustain it for the entire 5 K. I wonder if practicing sustaining max HR for longer (3x2000 with the goal of maxing it out after 800 and holding it, but avoiding anaerobic running as much as possible) could either push max HR up a bit, or at least make it possible to hold it for the whole 5 K. I do not to expect to gain very much from this, maybe 20 seconds. But that means extra circuit points, plus a few bucks of prize money, which does add up. It could also make surging easier in longer races, and maybe even improve the overall pace a bit too. Ran with the kids in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.90 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.90 |
| Provo Canyon with Ted in the morning. Ted was not feeling well. So we decided to 5 miles up until our toys said to turn around, and then 5 miles back a little bit faster. Ran from the Canyon View Park to the Vivian Park and a little bit past in 37:22 (uphill). HR stayed around 125. On the way back did 31:05 with the HR around 133-135 maxing out at 140 on the last half mile. It was cold, so HR was low. Total time 1:08:27 for 10 miles. My toy (Garmin 305) behaved and showed consistent splits every quarter and the same distance out and back. Ted's toy (Garmin 205) showed 5.00 at the turnaround, but was off (4.94 or 4.97) on the way back. This is rather strange since we were never separated by more than 5 feet the entire way, and both gadgets have the same GPS-receiving hardware and probably identical or at least very similar software. This makes me think the Garmin firmware is at fault, and can bug out at times even when the signal is good. Being a programmer, I can see all kind of potential for odd concurrency bugs that would be very difficult to detect in a device like this. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Participated in the Elder's Quorum clean-up in our ward. For those not familiar, this means we drive around the neighborhood, collect the big-sized trash, and take it to the dumpster that the city places near a church building. I did not feel like riding in the back of the truck with trash all over me, so I ended up running from place to place, and put in about 1.4 miles. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Ran easy with Ted in the morning for 8 miles. Felt sleepy, but still caught the 7:30 guy at the end - 59:48 for 8 miles. Ran with the kids in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.80 | 0.00 | 2.00 | 0.11 | 11.91 |
| Helped All One People with their annual 5 K this morning. This time it was in Riverton on the Jordan River Trail. In the past, Karl Jarvis handled measuring the course, so things went smoothly. This year Karl could not do it, and this caused a bit of confusion. I showed up one hour before the race was supposed to start, and the course had not yet been prepared.
So I took my wheel and started measuring out the course. Ran 2.5 K out. The trail ended after a bit over a mile, but it was too late to make any changes. So I went into the neighborhood. I had no choice but take that course up a couple of nasty hills. I said to myself: "What are you doing to your 7 year old son?".
To make things worse, the connecting plate on the wheel broke, but it was still functional enough to finish course measurement. I double-checked the segment and the mile marks with The Toy, found them in agreement, and called it good. Not ideal, but that was the best I could do in 30 minutes under the circumstances.
Set up the laptop to do the timing, recruited a volunteer to run the laptop, recruited another to collect tags at the end, and headed to the start to pace Benjamin.
It was a cold morning. Not good for him. Cold air gives him breathing problems at sub-8:15 pace. However, it was a small (30 people), and very non-competitive race. Most of the field had breathing problems at that pace too, though probably for a different reason. Benjamin ran 25:06 finishing 5th. It was the first time in his life he finished that high in an adult race. The winning time was 23:11. I think he would have had a good shot at the overall win with warmer air.
I finished timing the race, and then we went home. Still had some miles to do. Warmed up 2 miles, then ran a tempo on the Slate Canyon Loop (2.11). Did not have high expectations - not a lot of sleep this week, and felt more like taking a nap than running before the start. Figured anything sub-12 would be good.
Started out with 1:23 quarter , then 1:21, 1:21 (all slightly rolling). HR now got to 159. Up the hill quarter in 1:28. The Toy was off at first, but got auto-fixed by the mile, almost (real mile 5:33, toy 5:34). HR at 162 on the climb (3% grade). Then the next quarter is 5% grade, I do not have a mark, The Toy said 1:35, HR at 165. A little more, and over the hill, now down. HR dropped to 149. It is very hard to shift gears when you are done climbing and start going down. I need to account for this effect when I work on the profile -based predictor.
So I trusted the reading and pressed extra hard. With 0.5 to go (9:01) I saw that I could get 11:40 with a decent effort. So I kept a steady pressure. HR back up to 157. Next quarter (real) in 1:13. Then I realized that I had a good shot at my PR for the loop. I needed a 1:18, which is not too big of a deal, except it is up a 2.5% grade. Shifted gears, got HR to 174, got 1:18, and 11:32.8 for the loop, new PR. Also, new record for max HR in the last 3 years. Cooled down 0.5, also ran with Jenny and Julia in the evening.
The new HR PR is some food for thought. After all, there is a way I could get my HR above 170, and who knows if 174 is really my true max. Then why is it so hard to run in 163-165 range? Now this actually correlates quite well with my observation that doing 20x400 once a week for a month breaks me out of a 5:40 pace tempo run rut. Seems like pushing the heart to the limit breaks a wall of some kind.
Any cardio experts out there to explain what is going on?
Another observation. I felt very strong running the hill in both directions, although I have been only running fast downhill in the last two months. Last year, I have been training uphill quite a bit around this time, and was not running well uphill or downhill afterwards.
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.10 | 0.00 | 4.50 | 0.00 | 12.60 |
| Provo Canyon. Tempo run - standard 3 miles. Odd thing happened in the warm-up. It was cold, resting HR while driving was 48. However, as soon as I started running it jumped to 130, and I felt like I could run fast right away. Ran uphill at about 7:10 pace for 2.25 miles to the Nunns Park. The tempo run went rather odd. First 1000 fairly relaxed in 3:22, HR still climbing to where it is supposed to be. Then I felt good and started pushing. Hit the mile in 5:17, which was about 5:09 pace for the next 600. HR climbed to 160. However, on the next mile, instead of climbing to 163 it stalled at 160, even dropped to 159 occasionally, and I felt like if I went any faster the pace would not be sustainable. Next mile in 5:23. On the last mile I managed to shift gears a bit and get back up to 5:20. It was flatter (0.5% grade down), so this required HR of 162. Kicked on the last 300 in 57 to dip under 16:00. HR climbed to 168 during the kick, but then dropped to 167. Total time 15:58. It is tempting to explain the struggle on the second mile as a consequence of going anaerobic during the second half of the first. Perhaps this is true to a certain extent, but with a twist. A normal anaerobic backlash for me (as observed during and after Veyo in St. George) should see HR climbing to 166 or higher and staying high while I recover at a slower pace, then dropping back to the pace-appropriate HR. In this case, I believe I did go anaerobic, but not so much because of the pace (5:09 down 1.5% grade should not throw me severely anaerobic), but because the heart could not respond quickly enough to the change of pace. So it was anaerobic after all because I ran that fast with the HR only at 160, and I was paying for it later for the rest of the run. The lesson to learn from that is when it is cold, or if the heart is struggling to get going, hold the legs back until the heart is ready. During the cooldown met a guy named Reed. We chatted a bit. I dropped him off and decided to run another mini-tempo uphill. Started at the mouth of the Provo Canyon and ran 1.5 miles up in 8:28 at a fairly steady pace. HR hovered around 162 once I warmed into the pace, and briefly maxed at 166 on a steeper grade towards the end, then went back to 163. I felt a lot better this time, even thought of going the entire 3 miles, but unfortunately did not have the time. Ran with the kids in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Ran 8 miles at 5:00 am with Ted. He was fairly fresh, so we started out at a good pace, just a bit behind the 7:00 guy. Ran the last two miles as a mild tempo in 11:54. HR hovered around 125 at 7:00 pace, and 146 at 6:00 pace - normal readings. 54:19 for 8 miles. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Was pleased with Benjamin's form. It is starting to look very good. Also very good pacing. I told him to run 9:20 pace during his warm-up, and he hit 9:16 on his own (I ran behind with Jenny) going off his watch. Then I paced him during his tempo mile. His assignment was to be a bit sub-8:00. He ran 7:39 at a steady pace with the last 100 in 24. Needed to upgrade a software package on my computer, which happened to have a few dependencies, and that triggered a flood of upgrades. Upgrades = often things are broken for a while, and they were. Finally came out clean. On the positive side, I finally got around to figuring out how to read the data from The Toy with Linux. The pluses of Linux are that you never have to worry about a virus, the software is usually free, you can customize it if you have the time and knowledge, and you gain a better understanding of how computers work in general because it does not try to hide it from you. The disadvantages are that things often do not work out of the box as hardware and software vendors often do not acknowledge the need to support it. So often things have to be accomplished through a set of creative maneuvers. In any case, while reading the data from The Toy, I got several ideas of how to integrate it with the Fast Running Blog. Now I just need to find the time to code them up. And finally, a computer joke: "Who is this General Failure, and why is he reading my hard disk?" |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.20 |
| BYU Campus - Provo River Trail towards the Utah Lake with Ted in the morning. A bit over 8 miles. Hit 8 miles in 54:37. Very cold. Did not bring the gloves. Pace varied from 7:20 at the start to 6:20 at the end. Ted pushed the pace at the end, I followed along but without exceptional enthusiasm. HR in the pace-appropriate range. Ran with the kids in the evening, and also ran to a neighbors house and back to do the Elder's Quormum move. Noticed that my fingers did not have a very good grip. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.50 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 10.50 |
| Provo Canyon Tempo Run with Ted. Standard 3 miles down from Nunns to the mouth of the canyon. Feeling a bit of a cold. Woke up a couple of times at night to perform the flush routine - bathroom, and then replensh the fluids and electrolytes with EmergenC. However, the damage so far seems to be isolated to the throat and the nose, the rest of the body is performing fine. The HRM on The Toy was not cooperating today. I think the air was too dry, and it was too cold for me to work up a good sweat. Ted suggested a special gel. I might give it a try in the future. Ted's calves were tight, and he was not sure if he'd be able to finish the tempo run, but he decided to give it a shot. To make things interesting, we gave him a 30 second head start. I watched him take off wondering how in the world I'd ever catch him. Decided to learn from my Monday experience, and run the first two miles without forcing it. Just use the intuitive feeling of what pace was appropriate for the cardiovascular performance limit imposed by the cold conditions, and patiently wait for the cardio system to become fully engaged before trying to push it. First mile in 5:21. Ted's calf tightened up, he backed off, I caught him right after 1.5. As I was passing him, two deer crossed the road right in front of us. Second mile in 5:18. Now I think I am ready. Pushed it a bit harder, ran 1:18 - 1:18 - 1:19 - 1:17 for 5:12 on the last mile. HRM started working at the end, showed 163-164 peaking at 166 at the end. The last 100 meters is actually about 0.5% grade up, so you have to push it just to keep the pace. Ted finished in 17:10 without working too hard. Ran with the kids in the evening. Also worked out with weights - bench press 3x5x105lb. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.10 | 0.00 | 0.20 | 0.00 | 10.30 |
| My body was trying to hard to get rid of the cold releasing a lot of muscus, and other forms of waste. So I woke up once every two hours or so at night to relieve myself and to drink some more EmergenC to stay hydrated and in mineral balance. Might have had a bit of a fever, as I kept having exact same dream over and over which mixed two happenings in my current life. I kept telling the ROTC cadets how to write a custom storage engine for the MySQL database. Met Ted at 5:00 am at the Smith's Field House at BYU. The building was locked, and that was a problem for me, as I needed to go bad. So Ted drove me over to Macey's and we started our run from there. Ran easy 8 miles, very slow. 31 minutes through the first half, then woke up a bit and caught the 7:30 with a mile to go. To rub it in, opened up another 40 seconds finishing in 59:20. The Toy somehow got knocked out of the cradle, and was discharged when it was time for me to leave, so no HR data today. The body kept cleansing itself through the run, which required 3 additional stops, but no diarrhea. After the run, did a 2 minute push-up test, got 56. Then the sit-up test, 2 minutes, got 37. According to Ted, the push-ups were average, but the sit-ups were below average. Something to think about. Of course, I have been doing bench-press in the last few months, so that is probably why push-ups are better than sit-ups. Ran with the kids in the evening. Needed some more mileage later. Put Jenny in the stroller, ran 0.5 in 3:34 with the last 200 in 45 just for fun. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| The sickness has advanced, and I was able to measure the toll today. Not too bad, but some rest and relaxation is needed. Ran with Ted at 5:20 AM on the Provo River Trail starting at Macey's and going towards the Utah Lake. We both had to be at the State Youth Championship, so we had to do our run early and get it done fast. The plan was to warm up to Geneva Road, then run a 5 mile tempo 2.5 out 2.5 back at 6:00 pace, then cooldown. Got better sleep than the night before. At least the dreams were more versatile, and I woke up only once. Noticed the HR was about 5 bpm higher than normal for the pace during the warmup. Ted was moving briskly going sub-6:40 pace at times, and I felt no initiative to help him go any faster. Not a surprise considering the health condition. Went through the first 2.5 in 15:17 with Ted at a failry steady pace. HR gradually drifted up to 150-151, again 5-6 bpm too high for the pace. Subjectively, I also felt I was working too hard for the pace. Nevertheless, the temptation to catch the 6:00 mile guy was more than what I could resist even in this condition. So after the turnaround I went after him. Not a lot of go in the system, only 5:55 pace with HR climbing up to 157. Still thought I'd get him eventually. Could not quite see the splits in the dark. Finally, with a quarter to go I realized I was still way behind and needed to kick hard to get him. I pushed it, but it was not enough - got 30:03. HR climbed to 166 at the end at about 5:30 pace. Ted had a calf problem, backed off, finished in 32 minutes. Took Benjamin to the State Championship. Jenny and Julia went along to watch. Benjamin was sick too, so I was not expecting much. At the meet he got recruited to run for Team Provo. He did the best he could under the circumstances, and finished 13th in 15:24 in the 3000 meter run. I told him before the start that since he was running for a team, every place position mattered, and he should fight to advance as high as he could. He followed my advice. Unfortunately, Team Provo did not have enough Batnam boys, and he was not scored. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.50 | 2.00 | 0.25 | 0.00 | 10.75 |
| From the Press Building by the Provo Canyon the long way to my house, 9 miles. Still recovering from the cold. Took it very cautionsly. Went about 7:10 pace closely monitoring HR. It was somewhere around 128-130, still a bit too high. Felt ready for a test of health. Ran 2 mile mini-tempo in 11:54. HR hovered around 150, still too high for the pace. Found a friend for the cooldown mile - his name is Nate, and he was finishing an 18 mile run. We ran at 9:00 pace. Came home and ran with the kids. Benjamin wanted to do some sprints, so I suggested a fartlek with 4x100 in the middle. His sprints are my threshhold pace. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.95 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.45 |
| Started the morning with a run with Julia. She runs 0.25 a day at about 10-12 minute pace. She has an assignment to beat the 12:00 girl, which she usually accomplishes onces she decides to go. However, she has demonstrated that she has a lot more speed than that - her best time on a quarter is 2:13. Then went to the Provo River Trail, and did an exploration run to see how far they progressed in connecting it with the Jordan River Trail. Not far at all - it ends only after going North for about a mile. Still recovering from the cold, took it easy, watch HR closely. Almost normal at 7:00 pace. On the way back, decided to run from mile standard 5 mile tempo turnaround at 6:00 pace for as long as HR was normal and I did not feel sick, or until I reached 2.5 mark. This was going to be my health test. Hard to shift gears from 7:00 pace to 6:00 right away. First mile in 6:02, also little slippery from the leaves. HR hovering between 146 and 149. A little high, especially for the first mile. 146 is OK, 149 is not. Decided to see how hard I would have to work to run 14:45 for the whole 2.5, which was the time I got for that section on Saturday. Sped up to 5:50 pace on the next half-mile. HR hit 155 right away. The HR and the way it felt showed I was still not quite over the cold. Occasional coughing did not help either. However, I felt much better than on Saturday. Climbed the small hill on the next half (2:59, HR 156-157). Pushed a bit on the last (1:26 HR 160, 1:23 HR 162). 14:45 for the 2.5, right on the money. Jogged for the cooldown, but still stay quite a bit ahead of the 7:00 mile who I passed during the tempo. 1:02:55 for 9.2. In the afternoon, first ran 0.5 with Benjamin and Abby. Then we extracted Jennifer from her friends house, and ran another mile. Then I announced I was going to run to the car rental to pick up a van for us to go to Milpitas, CA - a business trip for me, vacation for the kids, hard work for Sarah. The kids wanted to come. So I put Julia in the stroller, and Benjamin and Jennifer consented to the terms of the deal - they had to run there. We did 2.25 miles in 21:38 with a stop after the first 0.5 for me to vote, as the voting station was on the way. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Travel to Milpitas, CA. Ran during stops, total of 5 miles. Did the whole journey in 13 hours (797 miles). Not bad for 5 kids and a nursing baby. Ran 5 more miles in 34:08 in Milpitas. First felt lazy and sleepy, then decided to go. At 6:10-6:15 pace the heart felt like 6:30 in Utah, but the legs felt pace appropriate. Forgot to bring the HRM part of the toy, so no HR data. Still coughing. Felt some odd chills after the run, but they went away the next morning. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Ran easy 8 miles in the morning in Milpitas, CA in 54:19. Not feeling good, got a nasty mostly dry cough that sounds like I am about to die. Worked all day. Then ran with the kids in the evening. Felt chills in the evening again. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.25 |
| Ran easy 8 miles in Milpitas, CA again in 1:05:56. Easy pace, but it did not come quite that easy. Still coughing like I am about to die, mostly when something changes - ventilation rate, air temperature, level of dust. Took a nap afterwards, felt a bit better. We went sight-seeing. Rode the metro, then crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, then went to Muir Woods. Ran with the kids in Muir Woods. Then we went to the Muir Beach. Had an adventure with Jenny losing her very special shoes in the dark on the beach. After a prayer, a diligent search, then obtaining a flashlight from a drunk bartender (first time Sarah ever got anything from a bartender) we found them. I'm glad we had a talking GPS nagivational system in the car. We would have been terribly lost more than once otherwise. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 8.00 |
| Travelling back from Milpitas, CA to Provo. Hit the chains required area on the mountain pass on I-80 near Truckee, CA. It put us behind a bit, but it could have been worse. We did not have enough cash with us. The chain installer looked at us, then said, "you, guys, look honest" and agreed to take our out of state check. Ran about 3.3 in Verdi, NV during a stop. Then a little more in Elko, NV. Passed 4 prison areas in Nevada. One of them was ironically called Independence Valley. That brought back some memories of serving in a church calling in a juvenile detention center. One time I was doing a presentation on how obeying the Word of Wisdom helps you be a better runner. Trying to make a point, I said: "How fast can you run when you are drunk?". One of the inmates responded, apparently speaking from experience: "You think you can do a good quarter, but then you try and it does not work. Then you've got cops all over you." Another time I observed them playing a video game where they had to run away from the cops (state-provided video game, curiously enough). They were driving pretty wild in it. Trying to bring some sense into them, I remarked that if they drove like that in real life they get their tires spiked. One of the guys answered, again apparently speaking from experience and with an apparent scoff at my ignorance: "They do not spike in the city!" Got home, unpacked, ran with the kids. Then returned the rental car, and ran back. Had the HRM with me this time. Coughing like crazy. HR at 140-144 at any pace, even 7:30. Speeding up does not increase it. Not feeling good. Cut the run short to 3.25 miles to make the total 8. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 6.25 |
| With the help of large doses of garlic and onions, the cough has reduced from the level of AK-47 to the sound of a less automatic rifle. Did not feel like going for a run at all. Was not sure if it was sickness or plain laziness, so decided to go out and see how I felt. Ran a mile in 7:30. Coughed so hard afterwards that I almost lost my lunch. HR got up to 130. Then a mile with Benjamin, Jenny and Abby in 9:31. HR was 119 at 10:00 pace. Normally it gets there at 8:00 pace. Then another mile with Benjamin in 7:52, HR at 130, lots of coughing afterwards. Decided to go for another 2 miles. Felt miserable on the first. That kicked in the fighter instinct, and I started feeling strong on the second. Decided to add another mile. Ended up with 3 miles in 22:12, HR hovering around 137-138. Not a lot of coughing afterwards. A little later ran 0.25 with Julia. Felt better in the evening. I think part of it was maintaining a solid consentration of garlic in the system throughout the day, but I also credit the arousal of the fighter instinct that came from pushing through a miserable mile. There is a fine balance in training when sick that needs to be maintained. If you push too hard, the body does not have the energy to fight the illness. However, if you take it too easy or not train at all, the mind quits and the body also along with it. I think I overdid it on the trip, but today finally hit a good balance. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Ran 8 miles with Ted in the Provo Canyon in the evening. 4 miles up in 29:22, then 25:58 back down. Did not think I could run that fast without serious consequences, but Ted went, and I went with him, and as of almost 24 hours later still no negative consequences, actually feeling much better. HR still high - 140 going up, 145 going down. However, the faster the pace, the closer it seems to get to normal. Resting HR also normalizing - got down to 59 while driving. The cough is still very strong, but I felt a lot more motivated to run than anytime since Wednesday. Came home, ran with the kids. Scared the neighbors with the cough. Taking large quantities of garlic and onions, lots of water, that is helping quite a bit. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.00 |
| Still coughing but felt like running in the morning to get a breath of fresh air. Went out and ran a mile in 7:10. Then ran with Julia. Ran with Benjamin and Jennifer a bit later. Then ran with 8 miles Ted in the evening on the Provo River Trail. After two miles we found another runner. His name is Alvin, and he is getting ready for the Atlanta Half-Marathon. We maintained 7:40 pace. My HR hovered around 129. Better, but still 7 bpm too high for the pace. Less coughing, although there was quite a bit when we went under I-15. Still taking lots of garlic. Too bad Americans do not like the smell of it, and I am glad I do not have to work in an office, especially the one where having the "right" smell counts. I am putting "right" in quotes. Perfume and other politically correct substances might smell nice but they do not heal. The smell of garlic and onions might not be as pleasant to some, but they are excellent natural antibiotics. In my entire running career I have gotten a lot of respiratory and other infections, but do not recall ever having to use a synthetic drug for an antibiotic. Large doses of garlic and onions have always been able to bring me back to the point of being able to run again within no more than two days. That said, there are times, I suppose, when a synthetic antibiotic might be necessary, but I think if we learned to enjoy the garlic and onions more when sick and when healthy as well, we would be a lot healthier. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.50 | 0.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.75 |
| Ran alone on the Provo River Trail by Geneva Road in the morning. 8 miles in 55:50. Decided to chase the 7:00 mile guy after the turnaround (28:41). He was coming back to me, but not very fast. Not surprising, I am still coughing, although quite a bit less. No AK-47 salvos today until I stopped at the end. I was still behind with a quarter to go, so I took no chances and ran it in 1:31. HR climbed to 156. HR was fairly good 2 miles into the run - 134 at 7:00 pace, only 6 bpm above the norm. However around mile 3 I noticed a drift upwards. When I started the chase, I was going 6:47 pace, and HR was 143. Slight uphill, but still that is about 12 bpm overboard, even adjusting for the grade. I think I was gradually dehydrating as I went along, which happens when you have a cold. However, I felt a lot more motivated to run. The thought of having to run 8 miles alone did not bear too hard on me. Ran with the kids in the evening - added 2.75 miles altogether. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 1.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.50 |
| Provo River Trail in the morning, 8 miles in 55:54. Did a 1.5 mile health test tempo in the middle in 8:57. HR was 155 at 6:00 pace. On the last quarter, sped up to 1:28, HR climbed to 157. Still 10 bpm higher than normal. The latest HR drifts encouraged me to try an experiment. I brought a bottle of water with me and drank every two miles. This reduced the drift a bit - 142 at 7:00 pace uphill at the end instead of 145, and made the whole experience better. I also for the first time in a week did not have AK-47 cough salvos at all, not even after running the tempo or stopping at the end. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.75 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 11.75 |
| Provo River Trail by Geneva Road. The cough is almost gone. Decided to do a test of health. Warmed up 3.75. HR was 132 at 7:10 pace - 5-7 bpm above normal. Then drank some EmergenC to rehydrate. Then did the 5 mile tempo. First mile 5:49, HR got up to 154. Then 5:47 (11:36), HR at 159. 14:31 at the turnaround (2:55). 3 miles in 17:30 (2:59), HR at 160. Next mile in 5:57 (23:27). Pushed it on the last mile (0.5% rolling uphill), got 5:48, 29:15 total, HR climbed to 165. Cooled down 1.25 to make the total 10. Ran with the kids later in the afternoon. The tempo run showed the sickness + the trip took more out of me than the Deseret News Marathon. That is not good. I wonder if I had something more serious than a simple cold. However, the recovery after a sickness like this in the past has been fairly fast, so let's hope it happens again. I need to be in a fairly decent condition by Thanksgiving to win a turkey in a 4 mile race. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.25 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 1.25 | 12.50 |
| Ran in the Provo Canyon. Warmed up, then the standard 3 mile tempo down partially for training and partially for a test of health. Managed 16:26 with the mile splits 5:36, 5:24, 5:26. HR at 160-162. Legs started failing on the last 0.5, the pace became noticably more difficult, not a good sign. Did not feel good after finished, but I've felt worse. Jogged uphill for a while at 8:00 pace, and after a while started feeling good. First thought of dowing some 100 m accelerations down. Then started feeling better, and decided to do 5x400 down in 75 each with 200 recovery. Did 74.0,74.6,75.3,73.8,70.7. Felt OK, HR climbed to 160 by the end of each repetition - this shows how anaerobic those quarters are - the heart does not have the time to respond. Ran with the kids at home. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Easy 8 with Ted in the morning. Chased 7:30 guy, got him, finished in 59:12. No HR data - left The Toy unplugged. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.25 | 0.25 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 8.00 |
| Easy run with Ted in the morning. Only 6 miles, mini-taper for the Thanksgiving 4 miler tomorrow in Orem. Chased 7:30 guy, got him shortly before 5 miles. Then part of the way into the last mile I suggested we try to break 6:00 on the last mile. We managed 5:56 with the quarters of 1:42 - 1:28 - 1:23 - 1:23. Total time 43:13. HR was better - 120 at 8:00 pace (normal), 131 at 7:10 pace (5 bpm too high), 159 at 5:32 pace (2 bpm too high, but I did not hold it for long enough to see if it would drift). The overall feeling at 5:32 pace was also better - it felt comfortably sustainable, at least during the 0.5 mile stretch. But that does not mean much - I've had days when 5:30 felt sustainable for 1.5 miles, and then all of a sudden I had to slow down to 5:45. Tomorrow I'll have a chance to measure the degree of my recovery. Ran with the kids in the late afternoon. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Race: |
Orem International Thanksgiving 4 miler (4 Miles) 00:21:50, Place overall: 10, Place in age division: 1 | | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 6.70 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 4.00 | 10.70 |
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Orem International Thanksgiving 4 miler, 21:50, 10th overall, 1st in the age division, got the turkey. "International" in the name of the race is rather an exaggeration. However, it is technically correct - sometimes people from foreign countries run in this race.
This is a big family race. They have kids races for every age, and give awards to the youngest participant, the oldest participant, the biggest immediate family, and the biggest extended family. Last year Joseph won the youngest participant awards - he walked 100 meters in 4:10 pushing a toy walker. That was the only way he could cover the distances, being only 10 months old. Two years ago, they had some extra turkeys. I proposed the award to the most pregnant participant. Sarah won it, being 8 months pregnant and having finished the race in 57:00. Her closest competitor was 6 months pregnant.
This particular race has been becoming more and more of a challenge over the years as the number of my children increased. It does take quite a bit of nervous energy for me to help N children get ready to run, and then run with every one of them and cheer them on. Although I have been setting PRs in 5 Ks and 10Ks in other races, my times have been getting progressively worse in this one. I have been getting frustrated, but this year decided to take it in stride. I'll make sure the kids have good races, and then see what's left for my own.
Did a bit of a warmup, then it was time for Joseph's race. He walked 100 meters in 1:05 taking 5th place in the boys 0-2 division. Joseph turns 2 in January.
Then Julia (4) ran 400 meters winning 3-4 girls division in 2:02, and beating all the boys as well. She and I had this conversation several times in the last two months: "Julia, what are you going to do on Thanksgiving?" "Run fast and get the turkey!". "what happens if you do not train?" "Another girl gets the turkey!". "What happens if you get tired and slow down?" "Another girl gets the turkey!" "What happens if you start crying?" "Another girl gets the turkey!" I was pleased to see how the physical and mental preparation bore fruit.
Benjamin and Jenny's 800 m race followed. Since they were in the same race, I had to choose who to pace. It was a tough call. I figured Benjamin would need some extra help as he was racing in the 7-8 division, and he is 7, which means he'd be racing older kids. I instructed Benjamin earlier to start out fast to get out the crowd. He overdid it a bit - 19 seconds in the first 100. It took me a while to maneuver out of the crowd of little kids and catch up to him. I told him to ease off a bit. 44 at 200. Then the lactic bear jumped on him. 53 for the next 200 (1:38 at the turnaround), followed by 56. However, slowing down to 56 allowed him to recover. With 200 to he was ready to kick. 23 on the next 100, followed by 21 on the last. He gave it all he had and outkicked two 8 year old boys, which quite remarkable. It is not unusual for a smaller kid with more endurance to beat a bigger one. But it is nearly impossible for a smaller one to outkick the bigger unless the bigger gives up. Both kids fought it as hard as they could.
Benjamin's push on the last 200 got him 4th place in his division and a PR of 3:18.
In the meantime, Jenny won her division with 3:51.
Then I paced Abby, our friends' daughter in the mile. She ran 7:57, a PR by 38 seconds.
Finally done with kids races, now my own. Given the recent sickness, and the known difficulty of racing after kids races, I had two goals - break 22 minutes, and win a turkey by either making top 5 or winning the age division. At the start, it looked like it could take breaking 20:00 just to make top 5 - there was a huge crown of college runners from all over the state that came to visit family for Thanksgiving plus Josh McAdams. However, winning the age division with 22:00 was quite realistic - being 33 I am in a rather non-competitive age division. Most college runners by that age have lost their edge.
I decided to approach the race with a caution attitude, and be thankful for every quarter at 5:30 pace or faster. The college crowd led by Josh McAdams. I ended up a bit behind from the start, and then started working my way through the pack until I found a couple of guys to run with. We hit the first mile in 5:18. HR climbed to 161.
Afterwards, I was able to follow Hawk's quarter marks on the road. The pace dropped significantly. There was a headwind, but it dropped way too much, so much that I started feeling very comfortable. Next quarter in 1:25. Picked up a bit to 1:22. Then 1:27. This was enough for me. I broke away from the pack and hit the next one in 1:21, 5:35 for the mile, 10:53 at 2 miles. HR hit 169. Tried to hold 5:30 pace. Next mile in 5:32. HR down to 166. Caught two bandits at 3 miles, this race always has a lot of them. Hawk does not mind as long as they do not cross the finish line. One of them was going only 3 miles. The other was going all the way. I tried to encourage him to go faster by tucking in behind really close, but that did not work - he did not have much aerobic energy left. So I had to break the wind for him, or get a slower time. Since he was a bandit, the faster time at this point was more important than beating him. Tried to push it, hard to shift gears into a headwind. The next three quarters 1:24, 1:23, 1:23. Turned on the last quarter, now tailwind. Was able to kick, ran the last quarter in 1:14, 5:24 for the last mile. The bandit, being apparently a college runner, had lots of anaerobic juice left and pulled away from me on the last 200 as if I were standing. My last 200 was 36 seconds. HR maxed out at 172. My finish time was 21:49 on my watch, 21:50 officially.
Josh McAdams won in 19:19. Full race results are available here.
Ran back to meet Sarah. Met her at around 3.2. She finished in 36:52, 91st out of about 270 women. Not bad at all for having had a baby 4 months ago.
Cooled down with Ted. At the awards ceremony Joseph got a turkey in a raffle. So we ended up with 4 turkeys.
The performance in the race indicates I have gotten healthier since Monday. It is interesting that HR locks in at 166, and I feel like I cannot go faster after a surge that brought it up to 169. It might have something to do with the lack of anaerobic training recently. But I think it is more than that. It provides a clue to my dilemma of why I can do 5:00 - 5:10 - 5:20, but not 5:20-5:10-5:00 in a 5 K. HR stays fairly low on the first mile even if I am running 5:00 - it would take in about 0.5 to hit 160, then it probably hits 165 at 0.75, and then reaches 170 at the mile. The race showed that I can get up to 170 and hold it for a minute or two, but then it is too much, I drop back to 166. So if I want to run the first mile in 5:00 I need to hold 170 for maybe a minute, while if I want to run the last one in 5:00 off regular race pace, I need to hold 170 for the entire mile.
If I am right, it logically follows that to improve my 5 K I need to create a workout that would hold my HR at 170 for the maximum possible amount of time. I think I'll give it a try sometime in March.
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 17.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 17.50 |
| Provo Canyon. Ran 6 miles with Ted. Then saw three runners, and decided to join them. Their names were Peter and Tim Wright, twin brothers, the other runner's name was Nathan. Of all things, it turned out that Nathan was fluent in Russian, Tim was fluent in Serbo-Croatian, and Peter was fluent in Norwegian. All three learned their languages while serving an LDS mission. Now this happens only in Utah, more particularly in the Utah County. Where else in the world would you be able to randomly approach three runners on a cold morning in a canyon and find this degree of language fluency? Here in Provo you can go to the store, and if you see a young non-Latino man without an earing, tattoo, extreme hairstyle, or other similar marks, you can start speaking to him in Spanish, and there is about a 30-40% chance that you will find him fluent. For Russian, it is somewhere around 10%. There is about a 70% chance that he will be fluent in some foreign language. And we are talking about a very decent level of fluency. Your average former Russian-speaking missionary sounds like an Estonian that did well in his Russian classes. The better ones sound essentially native. I was having so much fun chatting with my newly found friends about the intricacies of learning a language and other things that I decided to go a little longer than I planned. We ran past the Bridal Veil Falls where the search and rescue operation for the three stranded climbers was in progress. I ended up with a total of 15.75 miles on this run in 2:01:33. A very healthy base-building run. Ran some more with the kids in the afternoon, total of 17.5 for the day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 7.50 | 4.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.00 |
| Ran 10 miles with Steve Ashbaker on the Draper trail in the morning in 1:03:45. Rolling hills constantly on that trail. Did some tempo pickups in the middle at about 5:45-6:00 pace. HR was 154 at 5:45. Ran with the kids in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.00 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.50 |
| 10 miles on the Provo River Trail in the morning. We are supposed to be closing on the sale of our house and the purchase of the new house, and moving, so I have been somewhat stressed lately. I think it showed today a bit. Started out at 8:00 pace which soon became 7:05-7:10, HR 127-129. After 3 miles sped up to 6:35-6:40, HR 138-140. Then ran a tempo 2.5 portion from the Utah Lake to Geneva Road in 14:40. HR drifted up to 156, and climbed to 161 when I sped up to 5:40 pace on the last quarter. The pace felt hard. Part of the problem was being overdressed for the weather, part can be blamed on having been sick. But there is still a part that is not accounted for. I will blame it on the cumulative effect of the stress of moving that has been building up over the last week. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. After the first half Jenny was complaining that 9:00+ pace was too fast. I told her when your mind gets soft, soft pace feels hard, when you harden the mind, hard pace feels soft. She took the initiative to push the pace on the last 600, hitting first 200 in 1:02, and then the last 400 in 1:52, which dropped Abby and really made Benjamin work. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.00 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.00 |
| Ran in the morning with Ted. We decided to chase the 7:00 guy with 2 miles to go, ran 6:15, 6:09 the last two miles, total time for 8 miles 55:34. Snow on the road. Ran with the kids in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.25 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.25 |
| Today is our wedding aniversary. Sarah and I have been married 10 years. She is getting a new house for a present. Ran on the Provo River Trail starting from BYU with Ted in the morning. Dropped him off at 7, ran another 1.5. Slippery roads, and cold - 19 F. Spent most of the afternoon preparing the websites and the home office for the move. This has been quite an adventure so far. Ran with the kids in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.50 |
| Ran 10 miles with Ted on the Provo River trail in the morning in 1:08:33. We started out at 7:30 pace, and gradually sped up to sub 6:40 after the first 4. For the first time in a month felt relaxed at 6:40 pace. Ran with the kids in the evening. Busy day preparing for the move. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.50 |
| Ran with Ted early in the morning on the Provo River Trail. 10 miles in 1:14:23. Still felt good in spite of the lack of sleep associated with preparing for the move. Ran with the kids in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 13.53 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.53 |
| Had some boxes to take to the new house, and decided to kill two birds with one stone. Met Ted at the new house, and had him help me unload the boxes. Ted is a great guy. He can be easily talked into going longer and faster, and he helps you unload the boxes. What greater friend can you ask for? Then we ran from the new house to the end of the trail and back. An interesting coincidence that may be interpreted as a sign from God that we are in the right house - it is exactly 5.00 miles from the house to the end of the trail. We stayed ahead of the 7:00 guy and finished in 1:09:14. Came back home, and Sarah told me about her dream. She dreamt that she went to the new house and found both Ted and me asleep. We collapsed from getting up early and running day after day. Her dream was not that far away from reality. Came home, did some computer work to prepare for the move. Had to figure out how not to firewall myself out of access to my the systems of my clients without letting the whole world in. Hit a few glitches then found a clever solution (Sasha's Hack TM). Ran with the kids. Then it was time to get the moving van. Ran with Benjamin 2.53 miles to get it. The move happened very fast with the help of the Elders Quorum from our local LDS congregation. We unloaded at the new house, and then it was time to take the moving van back. It refused to go. Talk about an ox in the mire. Called U-Haul, they send the towing truck. Then went to the old house to get the computers. By the time I was done it was 3 am. Long day. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.20 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 10.20 |
| Ran early in the morning from our new house. Was supposed to meet Ted on the way but missed him. Eventually found him and we ran a couple of miles together. Not enough sleep, so was not very motivated for most of the run. At 5 miles noticed I was 1:20 behind the 7:00 guy. Decided to chase him. Surprisingly, shifting gears to 6:30-6:40 pace came rather naturally, without too much concentration. Finished the run in 55:57. Ran with the kids in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.90 | 1.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 12.40 |
| Ran with Ted in the morning on the Provo River Trail from my house, dropped him off, then ran a 1.5 mile tempo in 8:39, total time for 10 miles - 1:07:45. Ran with the kids in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.70 | 0.00 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 10.70 |
| Slept in this morning and missed Ted. Ran on the Provo River Trail in the afternoon. It got warmer, so I decided to do a health/fitness test - standard 5 mile tempo from Geneva Road to the Utah Lake and back. Got 28:18. Splits - 5:38 - 11:12 (5:34) - 14:01 (2:49) 16:57 (2:56, 5:45) - 22:39 (5:42) - 28:18 (14:17, 5:39). HR took 2 miles to work its way up to 161. Then after the turnaround my legs quit. The upper quads were feeling overworked. HR dropped to 153. I regrouped and brought it back up to 158. Then I figured out a trick that allowed me to get back up to 5:40 pace. Hamstrings and quads are antagonistic muscles. So if you contract one, the other will relax. I tried lifing my feet up higher to make the hamstrings work more. This should have given the quad more of a break, and it did. I figure the trick was worth about 5 seconds per mile in that situation. Came home, ran with the kids. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.70 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.20 |
| 10 miles with Ted in the morning from my house to the end of the Provo River Trail and back in 1:11:55. Picked up to 6:00 pace on the last 0.5. In the afternoon took our station wagon (Zhu) to CompuTune to fix the broken water pump. Ran back on the trail with the kids. Benjamin ran all the way (2.2 miles), Jenny and Julia took turns riding in the stroller. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.40 | 5.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 14.40 |
| Ran 2.25 in the morning to pick up the station wagon (Zhu) from Computune. Then ran 10.04 miles in the afternoon in 1:03:19 with 2x2.5 tempos in the middle on the standard 5 mile tempo parts. First one was 14:34, HR stabilized at 151 with occasional bursts to 155. On the second, got 14:31. HR stabilized at 153, then drifted up to 159 on the last mile, which is uphill at 0.5 grade, and then I cheated on the last 200 (40 seconds) to get a negative split, and it maxed out at 163. Last mile in the tempo was 5:46. Kept a good pace before, in between, and after the tempos, which helped give a decent time for the entire run. Ran with the kids later in the afternoon. Yesterday Benjamin solved 3 math problems from the SAT test. This is a good sign. He should be able to handle the whole thing by the time he is 10. We need to work on his geometry skills. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.75 | 9.00 | 1.00 | 0.00 | 15.75 |
| Tempo run on the Provo River Trail. 10 miles, double the standard 5 mile tempo run. Total time 58:27. Splits by 2.5 - 14:51, 14:44, 14:28, 14:24. Last mile in 5:46 ( 0.5 % grade up). HR did not get up to 150 for the first two miles, but the pace felt the fastest I wanted to go. Then it hovered around 152 up to 5 miles. Then I sped up and it climbed to 155, and I was also feeling better. On the last mile it was around 159, and maxed out at 163 on the last 200 (41 seconds). Total of 12.7 for the run with the warm-up and cooldown. Ran with the kids in the late afternoon. I believe I've observed this HR laziness phenomenom before. This happens when you are training hard day after day. I see this as an indication of proper response to training. The body is trying to pace itself and will not work unless you give it a really good reason to. Somehow managed a 75 mile week. Did not really intend to do it, but I'll take it if it comes naturally. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.30 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.80 |
| My cell phone "seranaded" me out of bed at 4:45 am to run with Ted. He was coming from BYU, and this time I missed him again - there are two ways to get to my house from the trail, I took one, he took the other. I found him eventually. Could not break 8:00 for the first two miles. Could not get HR to go above 111 either. When I found Ted, he was going at a super-sonic speed for me at that time - 6:50. I reluctantly sped up. We eventually wound it up to 6:30 or so. At that point, I decided the only way for me to survive is to pick it up to sub-6:00. Then my mind would go into race mode, and I'd be able to handle the pace. So I did. That made things better in a way. Dropped Ted off at BYU and trotted back to the trail. Noticed I was right on pace with the 7:30 guy. But I did not feel like staying with him. So I let him go. Then on the last mile I decided to catch him, and finished 10 miles in 1:14:37. Even with all of the accelerations to catch all kinds of guys the average HR was 119. Probably the sleepiest run in the last 3 months. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.70 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.70 |
| Ran with Ted in the morning. 10.04 in 1:09:14. Chatted the first half, then turned around and got down to business. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. The power supply on my desktop caught on fire. Fortnately, I was able to unplug it fast enough to avoid a real fire in the house. Time for a new system. Fortunately, I did not lose the hard drive. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.60 | 4.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.60 |
| Ran with the kids. Then with Ted. Did not have much time. We ran 10.04 in 1:03:02 with a pickup of 2.5 in 14:41 on the trail going towards the lake. On the way back, decided to go brisk and steady, ran 5 miles in 31:00. HR was 142 at 6:10 pace, 146 at 6:00 pace, 149 at 5:50. Got a new motherboard, case, CPU, and RAM. Took a while to put everything together, my hands are clumsy. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.20 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.70 |
| Easy run with Ted at 5:30 in the morning. Did 10.04 in 1:15:00. First 4 miles in hybernation mode - the pace progressed from 9:00 to 7:30, but HR did not once go over 120. Talk about being asleep. Then woke up a bit, and started chasing the 7:30 guy. Had to pick up to marathon race pace on the last 0.5 to catch him. Ran with the kids in the evening. Spent a good portion of the day overcoming the challenges of setting up a new computer. My on-board video on the new motherboard does not work with X.org 7.1, and it would not cleanly or at all take any other card that I have (no AGP slot does not help). So my choices are return the motherboard and get a different one, or help the development of the driver. I think I'll do the latter, it is more rewarding in a number of ways. I've always wanted to learn how to write drivers. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.80 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.80 |
| Ran with Ted and ROTC Army cadet Shahay at 5:30 AM. Met them on the trail. Did not miss them this time. Had the hybernation issue again for the first 4 miles. When I met them, their pace (7:20) felt fast, although my HR stayed around 114. That is probably why it felt fast - in order for me to feel good at 7:20 I need the HR to be at least 122-124. Once I was out of hybernation, HR was 125 at 7:00-7:10 pace, and it felt very comfortable. Ended up with 10.08 in 1:13:19 with the average HR of 118. Ran with the kids in the evening. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.30 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.80 |
| Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way! Oh, what fun it is to run through the snow ten miles today! Ran with Ted 10.04 miles through the snow in 1:12:51. It was not as bad as snow can get. We estimated based on my HR readings that we lost only 30 seconds per mile. Provo City normally plows the trail, but not on a weekend. And we lucked out with the snow storm hitting Saturday morning. Ran with the kids in the evening. It was hard for them as the roads became slick. The Logan version of Jingle Bells should say "..through the snow ten mile A DAY!" And yet I remember seeing a picture of Logan during the winter while I was still in Moscow, and I wished to be in Logan. The picture had a plowed street with no snow cover and it looked like you could actually get decent traction. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.70 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.70 |
| Repetition of my new version of Jingle Bells - oh, what fun it is to run through the snow 10 miles today. There was more snow on the ground. Ran with Ted at 5:30 am. 10.04 in 1:15:40. Did a fartlek on the way back. 5:30 effort gave us 6:30 pace. Same for slower speeds - losing about a minute per mile.
Ran with the kids in the evening.
Moved the site to another server. Steve Hooper kindly offerred to share his co-located space. Fixed a couple of bugs - when you changed your web name, it used to lose your picture. There was also an issue with uploading new pictures that I've also fixed. Of course, when you move a site, new unexpected issues may appear. If you notice anything wrong with the site let me know. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.00 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.50 |
| Ran with Steve Ashbaker and Ted this morning at 5:30 AM. The roads were good. Ran 10.04 in 1:15:19, mostly at a leisurely pace, but picked up on the last half mile. Very cold and slippery. Steve fell down, and then on top of that ran into a gate a few miles later. That reminded me of running into a chain-link fence at about 6:40 pace one foggy morning in Russia. I was lucky to end up only with a broken lip. Another time, again in Russia, I slipped while trying to take a turn on a wet snow-covered trail at 6:20 pace and rammed into a sled, the kind that has sharp metal rods sticking out. I was also wearing shorts. I ended up slicing my shin, but aside from the bloody visuals it did not hurt at all until I was done with the run and got into a shower. Another time, I fell down 4 times in one 12.5 mile run. Lots of things have happened in now over 22 years of continuous running. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. Went Christmas shopping with Jenny later. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.30 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.80 |
| Ran with Ted at 6:30 AM. That's sleeping in! 10.04 in 1:09:00. The road conditions were better, but still slick in a number of places. Cold, 12 F. The HRM of The Toy does not work well in the cold - bogus readings all the way through the run. Ted said a special cream would help. Ran with the kids in the evening. They are starting to get used to the cold. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.80 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.80 |
| Again, 10.04 with Ted at 6:30 AM. Sleeping in again. Ran faster this time - 1:08:10. It got colder - 10 F. Icicles on the eyelids. The roads are slick in some places, but clear in others, that's very nice. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.50 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 13.00 |
| Ran with Ted in the morning. Some variation today - did a 2.5 mile tempo on the way back in 14:40, then came back to Ted. Total 10.24 in 1:09:17. Enough snow and ice on the road to make it annoying, but not enough to make it really slow. Ran with the kids in the evening. Lots of snow by then. Went to see Dr. Jex. My lower back curve in the neutral position standing up was 27 degrees. This almost withing the normal range, which is 35-45 degrees. However, no noticable improvements in running. Two possibilities - either the postural improvements do not carry (at least right away) from static position to dynamic (running), or the shape of the lower back is not a significant factor in the running economy. I sure hope it is the former, otherwise I'm back to square one on the whole running ecomony improvement project. It does make sense to me that having a proper curve in the lower back should give you some extra spring on take-off. Then you can run like a kangooroo, effortlessly bouncing like a ball. Next step is to figure out some exercises to develop a proper dynamic curve in the spine as opposed to static. That is something the Pettibon method does not have, or at least I have not seen it in the instructions and excerises. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.70 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.70 |
| Ran 10.04 in the morning with Ted in 1:09:51. The roads were completely covered with snow and ice. Ted suggested the 7:00 mile guy felt safe and was laughing at us. But he laughed too soon. We sped up to 6:30 - 6:40 pace, which was probably worth 6:10-6:20 on dry ground, and got him. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. I am writing this entry on Christmas morning, as I am thinking about what Christmas means to me. Christmas without presents is still Christmas. However, Christmas without service is not. What is the big deal about the birth of Christ? Why do we celebrate his birth? Why do we count years from the time of his birth? He has done something for us that we could not. It is not possible for us to come back into God's presence without first being cleansed from the physical and spiritual damage we experience while living on earth. And Christ makes that cleansing possible. I was 17 when I first heard of this. I had many questions that were not answered. I believed the Biblical account of Christ's life was mostly correct, but could not quite understand its sigfinicance, or what it meant for me in practical terms. Later, the answers that made sense came to me as I read the Book of Mormon. I do not think I would have believed in Christ was it not for the Book of Mormon. My friend related an experience that happened while he was serving an LDS mission. One lady had a hard time with the idea of faith, and was asking for historical evidence. After a long discussion, my friend finally received an inspiration. "Suppose we could go back in time with a video camera, and tape Christ's suffering on the cross. Watching the footage, you would know that he had suffered and died. But how would you know he had died for your sins?" That knowledge comes through the Holy Ghost, by which power we may know the truth of all things. And the Holy Ghost comes when we obey God's commandments, humble ourselves, remove the spiritual static from our lives, and quitely listen. Then Christ can come into our lives, and we will know him. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 5.70 | 7.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.70 |
| Ran with Ted in the Provo Canyon. Trail is almost compileted covered with snow and ice. First standard 3 mile tempo down in 17:14, probably a 16:15 effort. Then 2 miles up in 13:20, probably worth 12:20. Then 2 miles down starting at Nunns Park in 11:56. Came home and ran with the kids. Then we went to see Sarah's family in Salt Lake. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 11.50 | 0.30 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 11.80 |
| Ran with Ted in the morning on the Provo River trail. Usual 10.04. Took it nice and slow most of the way, although a bit faster on the second half - 1:13:24. Roads almost completely covered with snow and ice. Ran with the kids in the evening. Got a key-chain camera for the Fast Running Mommy for Christmas. Hosed up her computer trying to get it to work in a way that is easy for her to use. The problem was that she needed udev/usbmount, which I never use myself because I do not mind mounting devices manually (this is Linux, BTW). But her system was so old that it required nearly a complete upgrade to get it to work. I just barely finished fixing up the mess. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 10.73 | 0.50 | 0.00 | 0.20 | 11.43 |
| First ran with Julia. Then ran with the kids to the bank and back. They ran part of the way, and rode in the stroller part. Then dropped them off (5.71 into the run) and ran alone the rest of the way. Was about 4 minutes behind the 8:00 guy. The stroller with Benjamin and Jenny is pretty heavy. You can go 7:00 pace on a good road with it, but as soon as it gets slick or starts going uphill, you are in trouble. They are close to 100 lb combined. Afterwards, chased 8:00 mile guy. Did some short accelerations in the middle. Had to pick it up on the last 0.5 miles. Total time for 11.18 was 1:28:45. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 8.90 | 0.00 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 11.90 |
| Ran the usual 10.04 course. Added some tempo work in the middle for fun. There was a fairly dry 1.5 mile stretch with only a little bit of slush. So I ran it at a threshold effort in both directions. Got the same time on both occasions - 8:19. On the first one, HR eventually climbed up to 158. On the second one, it got up to 160 with a quarter to go. Then I saw I was off-schedule, and decided to correct it with a kick. Ran 1:19 on the last quarter, with the HR getting up to 165. Both runs felt hard, like I could not go any faster. However, once I decided to kick on the last one, I felt it was sustainable for more than just a quarter. Finally fixed the "You are a hacker" error that happened if you clicked on add/delete/edit entry after your session timed out. Also, we got some donations to the Fast Running Blog Fund. If you would like to be acknowledged on the donor's page, send me a message via the contact form. Being acknowledged as a donor is a good thing even if you do not want the recognition as it encourages others to donate. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 9.50 | 0.00 | 1.50 | 1.50 | 12.50 |
| Speedwork with Steve on the trail. Tried a new workout. The idea is to max out the HR for as long as possible. I realized that a VO2 Max workout does not work very well, at least for me. It take me 4 minutes of running to get my HR to the max regardless of how fast I run after a certain threshold is crossed. If I had been running at my 5 K race pace, I am too tired at that point to sustain the max heart rate any longer. So Ii figured if I run at about 5:30 pace for the first 4 minutes, my HR will be 160. Then pick up the pace to 5 K race pace, and it almost immediately climbs to 170, but I am not too tired to hold it for a while. So with that philosophy, we did 2x1.5 with full rest starting out at a tempo pace, and then accelerating to a VO2 Max pace once HR climbed up to be withing a shooting range. First one - splits by quarter - 1:22 - 1:21 - 1:20 - 1:14 - 1:17 - 1:19, total time 7:53. HR reached 170. 1:14 was too hard, and we paid for it. I felt lead in my legs. On the second one, we decided to be more conservative and fullfil the purpose of the workout, which is to maximize aerobic output and hold it for as long as possible. We ran the second interval in the opposite direction. The trail looks flat, but the river flows towards the lake, so there must be a tiny bit of a grade. The first one would have been a bit net downhill, while the second a bit up. Splits - 1:23 - 1:21 - 1:21 - 1:21 - 1:17 - 1:16. Total time 7:59, caught the 5:20 guy. HR hit 173, and I did not feel as much lead in the legs. With the warm up and cool down the total distance was 11 miles. Ran with the kids in the evening. Big difference having Steve around. Yesterday I could not get myself to go any faster than 8:19 on the exact same stretch, and putting in quite a bit of an effort. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 12.80 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 12.80 |
| Ran 10.04 in the morning. Started out at about 7:20 pace, then sped up to 7:10, but did not feel like going faster up until the turnaround. After that, decided to chase the 7:00 mile guy. Sped up to 6:35-6:40 pace. It felt hard, but HR was correct - 131-133. The hardness was mostly mental. I had a hard time getting my mind to engage when running alone. Ran with the kids in the afternoon. After talking with Dr. Jex about how the spine works I believe I have a better clue about my running economy and low sprint speed issues. I think the problem is in the disks of the lower back - they lack the resilience. This would explain low vertical lift when running (not bad thing in an of itself, but bad when even that little has to come with a strained effort), low vertical jump, overdeveloped quads, unusual difficulty in walking up the stairs for my level of fitness, relatively poor uphill performance, and the feeling of constantly running on cotton. When the spine is not resilient, the muscles have to pick up the slack to get you off the ground. According to Dr. Jex, once the muscles learn to hold a curve in the spine, the disks have an opportunity to regain their resilience. The curve is already beginning to form. So we'll have to wait and see what happens. |
| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 |
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| | Easy Miles | Marathon Pace Miles | Threshold Miles | VO2 Max Miles | Total Distance | | 2855.76 | 596.44 | 364.50 | 165.61 | 3982.31 |
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| Night Sleep Time: 0.00 | Nap Time: 0.00 | Total Sleep Time: 0.00 | |
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