On the road to BOSTON!

12 miles running- started at maverick in Washington and ran home, nice easy pace 8:19 average-

21.60 non-stop no breaks no walking grind it out running. I have to say this was the most positive training run in my life. I extended my planned 18 miles to hit the century mark for the first and probably last time in my life. I was running stronger on the second have by far as I took it very easy through the climbing.

I ran from home out to SunRiver to River Road. I continued down River Road to Riverside then on to the trail to the Dixie Center. I continued to Bloomington and then around Bloomington Drive. I still needed another mile so I continued past the Country Club and then turned for home.

Pace was not important at all today and ended up with 8:48 average. The first 7 miles was all up hill at 9:30.

Foot issues on the right foot started a bit at 11 and then went away until 15, I just gutted it out and did okay. Now it is time to drop back in mileage and save the body for Boston in 5 weeks.

Later in the day....I realized that I had two different insoles in my shoes and the foot that was sore was one that had some additional support for the arch......note to self, do use the additional support.

Ran over Tonaquint to the Dixie Center out past the Summit around the hill to Clyde's home to Desert Hills to home- easy consistent 8:23 pace

Ran from Dixie Eye over to the Mall, then down the trail to Foremaster and up over the hill down to River Road out to Brigham Road to home- non stop and a lot of hills 8:15 pace

Out and back on the trail- Went out 60 minutes and returned with about a 15 second negative split-  8:01 pace

Night: 9.20 miles in the dark-8:42 pace

slow miles- Recovering from the 24 miles yesterday

On the trail out and back 8 miles total- 8:05 average  Worked on negative split- 3:20 faster coming back or 50 seconds a mile faster pace than going out. Light rain and head wind going out, heavier rain coming back....pretty drenched!

71 miles for the week so far- looking for 20-22 tomorrow morning....maybe 5 this afternoon depending how I feel and the weather.

3.25 in the PM @ 8:00 pace

Ran from home on the bike path out to Sullivan soccer park then up to the park at the top of Coral Canyon.I arrived just as the running center got there for a 13.10 run. Rested for a minute then off with them back home. Ran in the rain and wind and dark going out and was at 13.10 miles with 1:56. Took of with Steve and Carl for the first 4 miles hitting around 6:45 pace on 2 of the miles then let them go. I ended up with a 3:39 for the 26.25 miles.

Great week this week! Confidence is up for Boston and a PR

AM  ran up over Tonaquint to the Dixie Center taking it easy- feeling pretty fresh considering the tough 2 weeks and the 26 mile run on Saturday- Ran in to Clyde and ran with him for 1 1/2 miles with a pace the seemed very controlled- was 7:09 and 6:49 pace. Turned around and headed for home on the path and kept the pace in the low 7's to home and ended up with a 7:27 average pace for the run including the first 2 miles @ 8:32 and 8:15

Body feels amazing coming off the hard training- now I am cutting back this week to 60-65 miles for some healing and then bump back up for an 80 next-

Ran from Dixie Eye up Diagonal to Snow Canyon Parkway. Then over to the Ball fields turned and headed past Snow Canyon High into Santa Clara to the City Hall. Went back home through Country Lane to Tonaquint- Kept the pace steady, not pushing much until the last 2 miles and wanted to get the legs moving a bit faster. Average pace for the run was 8:0.

Body feels great- just a little tight in the calves. Both feet are getting some hot spots right at the ball....need to work that out so I don't get into blisters.

Got my number for boston- 13363- My goal is to finish in the top 9000 so I need to be able to have a lot of  'road kills' LOL  in 2011 I qualified with a time 1 minute faster and my number was 10935- so the overall field must be faster!

AM 8 1/2 miles out and back on the path- warmed up at 8:40 pace for 1 1/2 miles then started a marathon pace or under run to the finish. Overall pace was 7:39 so I accomplished my goal- I need to run 7:49 to meet my goal of PR @ 3:25:00---I felt very relaxed running 7:40 pace and under that wasn't hard just a bit more focused is all.

Trail out and back- over to DC slow 8:00 pace then headed back and went over the foot bridge to the top of the hill and did the climb 3 times with an average pace of 7:25, legs felt very light going up. Came back over and finished the run to home. I stopped and ran with Dan Woodside for the last mile at 9:00 pace and finished with 8:02 average for the 6 miles-  55 degrees @ 9:30am

PM didn't get enough rest between runs- went out on the trail to River Road crossed over to the other side to the path and home- 8:29 pace, didn't get enough hydration either with the 79 degree sunny afternoon-

Ran on the trail looping the river from the Dixie Center with Matt Harrison- 6:45 pace

Report to come later....... I went in to this run to check my conditioning compared to 2011. I had run a 41:57 and hoped that I could do better...I actually had myself believing I could run under 40:00. When I got up this morning I wasn't feeling it, The legs were just not full of life, I thought that I had set myself up for failure. I ran a couple of miles before getting on the bus. Once up at the course I did a couple of runs up the hill and back and started to feel better. I went out strong not looking at my Harmon for the whole race.....first mile was too fast but it felt under control. Second mile was better at 6:23 and now I felt under control. I just tried to maintain the pace and not let the hills take me down. At mile 4.50 I just churned up the hill, slowing down but fighting to keep the legs moving. I was able to regain some speed coming down a hill and then the next hill, this one kind of got me as I slowed to 7:25 pace then was able to make up the pace on the downhill section down to the finish. I brought the pace to where it was comfortable but pushing. On the last turn I had someone pushing from behind and then pushed by me.....I tried to out kick her but didn't want to do something stupid. Coming across the finish I looked up and saw that I was under 40! 39:46 and first place in the age group.

Boston is going to be great!

SPLITS: 5:47/ 6:23/ 6:16/ 6:31/ 6:54/ 6:54/ 5:50

AM: 11.85 miles  Ran from home on the path to the Dixie Center to River Road to get warmed up then turned right onto River Road and ran up to Brigham Road and then to home. Several hills that are similar to Boston- Kept the pace at 8:10 consistent for the complete run-

PM path out and back- wind at the back going out- 8:12 pace wind in the face coming home 8:06 pace

Ran from home out on the path to River Road then on to Riverside Drive over to the Foremaster Ridge hill- Ran up then back tracked to home- Feeling a bit tired for the run back13 miles

PM went out for an afternoon run, got 1/4 mile up the road and turned back- legs are heavy and no desire to push through it today- The morning run took it out of me---- .50 miles

Path out and back 7:53 pace

PM 6 miles similar to this morning just a bit shorter, warmer (72) and very window on the way back-----tired

9:12

8:35

7:59

7:49

7:55

8:00

7:50

7:50

7:59

8:03

7:53

8:01

7:37

7:45

7:39

Nice easy marathon pace run on the path to River Road crossed over and ran the loop to the Dixie Center then looped again, At mile 12 I turned back up the steep hill by the river and ran it again then on to home. After that warmup 1 1/2 miles I kept the pace very consistent with the last 3 miles trying to finish a little faster. Exactly 8:00 pace for the including the warmup miles.

PM ran from Chuckawalla parking lot up the course past the Ledges in 20 mph or higher head winds on the bike path- brutal- 8:25 pace going up and 7:10 pace coming down

Easy run to DC and back- resting the body today- I was surprised that I wasn't totally trashed after the 25 miles yesterday! I didn't want to run very far but the legs did feel pretty good

8:12 pace

Started at home and ran out on the trail then jumped on to Riverside Drive and ran to the Maverick. Went on the bike path up to the mall then back in to town and up to the Red Cliffs parkway- ran the back portion of the Ironman course and went to the finish line- Talked with Steve, Clyde and Tom for a few minutes then on to home-

Overall a good run in 37 degree temps and very windy. The wind shifted as it was in my face most of the morning- The first 9 miles were just grind it out slow miles with a lot of climbing, wind and darkness. This is where I say Steve and Clyde and picked up the intensity and pushed the next 6 1/2 miles, not wanting them to catch me.....they didn't.

The going home the last 5 miles I just grinded it out trying to keep close to 8:00 pace-

Average pace for the run was 8:23- this would have put me at 3:39 for a marathon distance- not bad considering the wind and all the hills and not pushing it much at all-

Confidence is growing for Boston- 3 more weeks!

Trail Dixie Center River Loop to home 7:55 pace

Did the same run as earlier this morning- 7:32 average pace

Started at Dixie Eye and ran out to River Road down to the trail to Dixie Center to home- Very sluggish to start out, the River Road portion was what I needed, some nice easy downhill. Ended with 7:58 average pace, the last 2 1/2 miles closer to 7:40

 5.40 sluggish miles- I realized 1 1/2 miles into the run that I hadn't had anything to eat for too long. I was very weak but the legs wanted to move----weird feeling. I got some water at the 1/2 way mark and after a mile of slow running I could pick the pace up again and had 2 good miles coming back in the mid 7's---8:02 average

AM: ran out on the path to River Road then over to the Chevron to Larkspur Park then back tracked and headed through Bloomington Hills to Brigham Road to home by way of Man o ward road-

12.25 miles- perfect temps! Did my Boston Hill workout today and was able to keep my overall pace @ 7:52 which included my first 2 miles that were my warmup miles.

AM: went out and ran the River trail loop an back- Legs felt good today after taking the afternoon off yesterday. Lower back still a little tender- some stretching and massage should do the trick-  7:31 average pace for the run

PM 10.25 on the path to River Road to Bloomington Hills- Larkspur Park then over to Pilot to home- Slow but good miles 8:42 pace

AM: 6 miles from Dixie Eye to home- easy, little effort miles....7:42 pace

Last long run! Went out to the St. George Airport and back- This is not an easy run with hills everywhere. I took it easy wanting to keep the pace to 9:00. Going  out is the toughest part, I also did a couple of miles in the dirt which slowed me down. Going out I was at 9:35 pace, slower than I wanted but totally expected because of all the climbing and also it was dark all the way out. Going back I tries to push the pace a bit faster but not race pace. Body feels pretty good but could use some rest. The right hip took 10 miles to loosen up but felt ok the 2nd half.

Plan is to cut the mileage back to 50sh this week.

Weekly totals for this year-

18-25-38-54-48-60-71-76-100-100-65-98-91 I jumped the mileage too fast but the body has been ok with it so far. Now I will go 50 and 30 for the 2 weeks prior to Boston