My Running Log

Ran on the trail behind the U of U again. Went with my friend Ryan, who is better than me, and he pushed me. That was nice. We went all the way to the end of the trail and back. On the way back, I felt that I pushed myself mentally. I would remind myself that it wasn't really that painful, and it wasn't. It was just uncomfortable, and I was breathing hard, but that's something that can be pushed through.

I was feeling somewhat groggy and disoriented this morning, so by default I stumbled over to the gym and ran on the treadmill. It turned into a pretty decent workout, in which I ran 9 miles. The average pace was 7:30. Not too shabby.

I did another 9 miler. I was feeling sore, so I started off nice and easy. I ran along a nice paved path that I hadn't run on before. I'll have to try it again. Beautiful morning! My average pace was 7:59, and for the first time in awhile I ran negative splits as I started feeling better.

8:13
8:07
8:07
8:06
7:58
7:48
7:48
7:55
8:09 (cooldown)

During the run I envisioned running the 10K I'll be doing in 5 1/2 weeks.

Did 2 miles on the treadmill at easy pace. Then 3 miles on the treadmill at about 9:00 pace average. I was going to go a mile longer, but I felt horrible, so I stopped. I haven't felt this bad on a run in a long time. I got to thinking about it, and it was probably because I haven't been eating enough. My weight dropped to the lowest it's been this year by a full pound, and it must partly be due to not eating enough. So after my run I ate a bunch and realized how hungry I was. So hopefully getting that back on track will help me be ready for my race on Saturday.

I feel sore and under the weather a bit today. Hopefully I can rest up and get ready for tomorrow's race.

I ran at the USATF meet at Timpanogas High School in Orem, UT today. It was a 5000m race on the track, and they allowed old guys (masters) like me to run, too. I was hoping there would be a group of people who would be running, but it turned out to be two runners--me and my little brother. I was pretty stoked because I knew I was guaranteed to get at least second place. :) But I was kind of bummed that we went to the effort of going to the meet but didn't have much competition.

Anyway, I started feeling better (after being under the weather yesterday) as the day went on, so I felt like I could do OK. My goal was to be under 20:00 for sure, and I would have loved to be under 19:00. We started out quick (for me) with an 87 on the first lap. Then the laps got slower as time went on. My brother is pretty fast (just graduated high school and ran for his school), but he hadn't run in a week. I could see him about 50-100 meters ahead of me for most of the race, but I couldn't muster much strength to try to reel him in.

My time was below 21:00 but not near my goals. That bummed me out. The thing that is most frustrating is that I just couldn't get myself going with a good tempo or with good mental strength. I felt like I was dragging along. This is similar to how I felt in the half last month. Even though my time was about 70 seconds faster than my last 5K, it just didn't feel satisfying. I know I can do better. I think the heat played something of a factor, but it wasn't that bad.

I think I just need to keep pushing past this plateau, and it will come.

But hey, it's not everyday that you finish 2nd (or last) in a race, eh?!

P.S. I did enough of a cooldown to get to 40 miles for the week, so that's good.