My Running Log

I did 3 miles on the elliptical at a medium-hard effort. Then I ran 5 miles on the treadmill at 7:30 pace. It went a lot better than last night.

I did a mile warmup, then 6.5 miles on the treadmill, then 0.5 miles cooldown. The 6.5 miles were on hills at level 7 at 8:00 pace. Last week I did 5.5 miles and felt good about it. So this is a jump up from that. I must be getting more fit.

I'm happy to have been able to increase my weekday miles again this week. I have 30 now and plan to do a long run on Saturday.

Much needed day off from running today.

I had another late-night run because the day was super busy. I started at 10:30 PM and ran 11 easy miles on the treadmill. I am happy to have surpassed 40 miles for the week. The last time I did that was probably when I ran the St. George marathon in 2005. And my weight has gone down, so that's also good news.

I ran 8 miles at 8:00 pace average on the treadmill. It was a little hard but not too bad. After the run, I have felt especially good. And for the first time in a week and a half, I ran in the morning, so that's good.

This morning I woke up with one of those sore throats where you feel like you have been pushing yourself too hard (not enough sleep, too busy) and it finally catches up to you. With my wife's encouragement, I slept an extra 90 minutes. Then I caught the early bus home and ran before dinner. This was my best speed workout of the year. I decided to try 2000 meter repeats. I'd never tried them before, but they sounded like they would be good for mental and physical strengthening. I did a mile warmup, then 4x2000 with 800 meters rest at 8:00 pace, except the last rest was 1200 meters. I also had to take a bathroom break in the middle so that gave me a rest. The pace on the intervals was 6:40 mile pace, 6:20 mile pace, 6:00 mile pace, 6:00 mile pace. What made me happy was that my pace was faster than the mile repeats I did a couple weeks ago. It was hard, but I survived. I will still try to do some good mileage this week, but that will be my last really tough workout before the race next week, I think. Also, it doesn't really count because it was on the treadmill, but I ran a 10K in there (including rest parts) that was faster than 44 minutes.

This morning I didn't feel up to running my full miles for the day, so I did 5 easy miles at 8:00 pace. Then tonight I did 4 miles on the elliptical. Level 12, 7:30 pace. It was nice to have an easy day but still get some miles in.

Another late night run. Did 7 miles of hills on the treadmill and a 1/2 mile for warmup and cooldown. There was a stretch where it was really hard, and I realized part of it is that I need to use my arms to my advantage more. I for sure need to get out and run on the roads on Saturday.

I mapped my run on mapmyrun.com. It said it would be 11 miles. When I got to the turn around point, it didn't feel like it has been 5.5 miles, so I went a little further. When I got home, I checked it on maps.google.com, and it was only 9.5 miles. Bummer! So much for using that site. The course tool on this site doesn't work well on my neighborhood either. Maybe I'll have to give in and get a GPS watch.

I went and ran 1.5 miles on the treadmill to get my goal mileage for the day. That puts me at 45 miles for the week! Now I can taper before the race next week.

I felt good on the run. I don't think my body had to adjust too much to not running on the treadmill. But I was a little more sore than normal.

I stayed below 180 lbs. this week. I've lost at least 5 lbs since the beginning of the year, but I don't know exactly what I was when I started, so it could be closer to 7-8 lbs. Now people can call me chunky instead of fatso. :)

I got up and went running outside. It was hard to convince myself not to run on the comforts of the treadmill. I didn't know a good route to run, so I went exploring. I figured I'd run 45-60 minutes, but I don't have a watch so it was a guess. Turns out I ran 70 minutes. I think it was about 8 1/4 to 8 1/2 miles. Somewhere in there. It was an amazingly beautiful morning. I need to run outside more often!

I ran 6 miles on the treadmill. Part of that was 4x400m at 6:00-6:30 mile pace. I felt pretty sluggish. Hopefully that will wear off as I continue to taper over the next few days.

I ran 4.5 miles on the treadmill, mostly at 8:00 pace. There were slight hills. I felt like pushing the pace but held back to save it for the race. It's nice on days like this to be able to run inside.

Did 3 miles this morning on the elliptical machine at 8:00 pace. It was fine.

I'm now completed my training for the past 15 weeks in preparation for the half marathon on Saturday. I can say I haven't missed one workout in those weeks. So I feel confident in achieving a post-mission PR. (I ran a half when I was 16, but I didn't record my time. The best time I have recorded is 1:43.) My legs have been fairly sore the past few days, but they feel like they're recovering and will be rearing and ready to go for the race. My biggest focus in the next couple of days will be to prepare mentally for the race but also not stress too much about it and to enjoy the experience.

Resting up...

Today was the race I have been preparing for. The weather was beautiful, other than being a little chilly the first couple of miles. I was aiming for 1:35, and I'm going to say I came close enough! I don't know my official time yet, but I'll put it up later. The course was excellent. It seems like they found the route that stretched the downhill out the longest, which was helpful.

I wasn't feeling sick or bad before the race, but I didn't feel particularly good. The first couple of miles were about 7:05 pace. It was weird because I was sweating even though it was quite cold. Miles 3 and 4 had a lot of downhill. I felt like I was really holding back and also ran just over 7:00 pace. There is a turnaround by Highland High that is uphill, and I was able to maintain my pace there. But around mile 5, I started to doubt that I could stay strong. There was a gal in bright green shirt that had a GPS watch and seemed to be running my desired pace, so I tried to stay up with her for the next few miles. From miles 6 through 8, I felt strong and kept the pace going strong. I was starting to get excited that I could reach my goal. Halfway through mile 9, I ran by my wife and daughter and that gave me a boost. At mile 9, I was about 1:03:30, so I was averaging about 7:03 per mile. During the last four miles, I started to slacken the pace a bit. I ran alongside another runner for the next 2 miles who helped me keep my leg turnover up, but we were running about 7:15-7:30 pace. The 11th mile was a bear! I didn't realize going north on State St. had so much uphill. It seemed like every block was a half mile. We hit the top of the hill at mile marker 12, and it was downhill to the finish. I felt strong and picked up the pace a bit, but didn't sprint at the end. If I had known I was that close to breaking 1:35, I probably would have. But also I wanted to enjoy the last few moments of the race this time, knowing that the hard work had paid off.

This was a "post-mission personal record" for me by 8 minutes! It feels great to work hard at a goal and then to see so much improvement. The last two half marathons I ran (a few years ago), I didn't really prepare adequately, so I died out in the last few miles. Even though the last few miles were slower this time, that didn't happen. I know I can continue improving, too.

• Kudos to the race organizers for putting together a well-organized and fun race!
• Kudos to them for having timers at every mile!
• Kudos to the polite and energetic runners all around me!
• Kudos to the weather for not snowing and being perfect!
• Kudos to the many, many volunteers and spectators along the way who kept the course safe and encouraged us.
  
• Kudos to those who have encouraged me on this blog!
• Kudos to the guy wearing cross-trainer shoes who blew by me on the 12th mile!
• Kudos to the guy that was very lean but probably weighed 240 lbs and blew by me in mile 10!
  
• No kudos to the policeman who unnecessarily blared his siren in my ear and startled the begeebees out of me, while leading the wheelchair riders. But you know, that actually kickstarted me by getting my adrenaline flowing. :)
• Kudos to my wife and daughter for getting up early and cheering me on! It meant a lot to me.
  

Ran on the treadmill. Actually felt pretty good with little soreness. 7 miles at 8 minute pace average.

I felt great again this morning after a good night's sleep. I ran 8 miles in an hour and then cooled down for a few minutes. That was faster than I planned to run. I'm calling it a sort of tempo run. I have felt better than expected after the race. So maybe I didn't push hard enough. :) I think a big part of it is that the weather has energized me.

By the way, I always weigh myself before running in the morning. This time I also weighed myself after and found that I had lost 3 pounds of water weight. That's crazy. But I had a sopping wet t-shirt to prove it. :)

I was in class this morning, and it was a little slow-paced, so I figured out a workout plan for the next 11 weeks before my 10K. I'll continue running 5 days a week, will do two easy days, a tempo workout, a speed workout, and a hill workout. I need to build my speed and hill strength. And I also chose to make it really flexible so that if I don't feel excited to run I can take it easier. Hopefully that way I'll keep motivated.

Congrats to all those who did so well at Boston!

Ran 7.5 miles on the treadmill. Most of it was at 7:30 pace.

I did a hill workout on the treadmill. I want to train myself to keep a fast tempo on hills, so I upped the speed to 7:30 pace and lowered the incline to 5. And I did the "Hill" workout rather than the "Random Hill" workout. I don't think the "Hill" workout is as difficult, but the faster pace gave me a really good workout. My theory is that the hills help you to increase your stride length when running on flat but more importantly gives you a great cardio workout.

Boy, I've had four great workouts this week already. Feels great to be in shape. Now I get to rest for 48 hours.

Relaxed..

I'm in Green River, WY today, so I guess it was altitude training. I think it's about 6100 ft. I ran down to the local high school track and did my first track workout of the year. It was a bit windy but not too bad. And it was probably in the 40's or low 50's. I ran 12x200m.

1 - 41 seconds

2 - 37

3 - 35

4 - 34

5 - 32.5

6 - 32.5

7 - 37

8 - 35

9 - 34

10 - 34

11 - 37

12 - 32.1

Somehow on the last one I was able to kick it back into gear. A big part of this workout was to figure out where I am speedwise. I was hoping I could run these faster than this.  It was difficult aerobically. Afterward, I ran several miles of cooldown so I could reach 10 miles for the day. I think it gives me 40+ for the week, which is awesome for me right now.

Holy cow, I was sore this morning. I had a hard time gettting going. My hamstrings were super sore. But once I got going, I was able to run 8 minute pace. And once I got going, I felt like putting in 8 miles. But now, my legs continue to be super sore. I can't remember being this sore. So I guess this indicates that those sprints on Saturday were needed to strengthen my legs.

Did a late night run on the treadmill. My legs were still super sore, and I felt worn down, so I didn't push as hard on my tempo run as I could have. Though I did run much of it at 7:00 pace.

I ran another 8 miles on the treadmill. This was pretty boring. But I did push myself a bit at the end to spice it up. My pace was 7:30 average for an hour of running.

My GPS watch is in the mail, so I plan to get outside more after getting that.

I ran 8 miles on the treadmill for the fourth day in a row. This time it was a hill workout. I did the same speed (7:30 pace) and level (5) as last week but increased the mileage by one mile. It was very challenging at some points, but I would say I could have done more. Next week (if I run on the treadmill) I'm going to do the same except do the "random hill" workout because I think it's more challenging and it keeps you guessing what will come next.