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. | 