Breaking the Wall

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.