Don't wanna be FAT!

Out and back. Ran from my house to the syracuse trail and on the the rail trail and then back.  20.15 miles total.  Plan was to just run 20 miles easy but about 7 miles into it I was feeling pretty good and decided to start putting the hammer down.  Mile Splits for the entire run were:  7:28, 7:13, 7:20, 7:02, 7:13, 7:05, 6:57, 6:45, 6:23, 6:20, 5:55, 5:47, 5:45, 6:06, 5:42, 5:51, 5:51, 5:34, 6:14, 6:00.  My AP for the entire run was 6:25.5 despite the slower miles at first.  It was a very solid run at the end of a very solid week for me.  

Rail trail loop.  Everything is feeling good.  AP 7:10.  I officially signed up for the Salt Lake 1/2 Marathon and the Ogden Marathon.

2 mile warm-up, 10 mile AB, 1.8 mile cool down.  It was windy and wet.  I ran most of the AB on a 2 mile loop so that I could space the head wind out eavenly.  I averaged about 5:40 pace I'm not sure what my exact pace was because of watch issues but I know that overall average was about 5:40.  Individual mile splits were kind of all over the place because of the heavy winds.  Overall a real good strength building workout.  

Hooper Pathways loop.  AP:  6:56  

4 mile warm-up, 5k all out, 4 mile cool down.  The all out 5k was on the Hooper Tomato Days 5k course.  I was hoping to run it under 16:00 which I thought would be good considering it was after I've already done a lot of work this week and was in a nonrace situation.  For those of you that have ran the Hooper Tomato Days 5k you know that the course is flat as a pancake.  I ran it in 15:53.  Mile splits were 5:01, 5:07, and 5:07.  Weather conditions were great and I felt really good about this run as a workout. 

True recovery day.  Legs are holding up really well.  I was going to do 10.5 but I ended up snoozing the alarm a couple times because it was a rough night with the kiddos.  AP:  7:13

This was a real confidence builder.  It was the end of a hard week and I ran 25.15 miles in 2:35:25 which is an AP of 6:11.  I a big loop from my house going up 5600 S then on the back roads of riverdale onto the weber river pathway which I took to the 21st street pond and did a lap then took the West Haven pathway then I worked my way home on the back roads of West Haven.  I felt really strong the whole run and just got faster as I went.  First 4 miles were uphill the next 4 miles were downhill, and then the rest was pretty much flat.  Mile splits were:  7:16, 7:02, 7:12, 7:04, 5:56, 6;07, 6:08, 5:56, 6:15, 6:17, 5:48, 5:55, 6:04, 6:03, 6:00, 5:55, 6:01, 6:00, 6:08, 5:58, 5:53, 5:52, 5:50, 5:54, 5:49.  This makes me believe that I could run sub 2:30 right now on the Ogden Marathon course because it is mostly downhill and I would be in racing flats instead of heavy trainers and I would be fresh because I would back off, and it would be a race situation rather than a training run.  I'm just really happy with how I felt today and with how strong of a week I had.  

Recovery run.  Legs felt really good considering how hard I went on Saturday. AP:  7:17.  

I ran nice and slow today.  I felt like that's what my body needed.  I plan on running a 12 mile power run tomorrow and I'm racing a 10k in Layton on Saturday.  Those will be my only hard runs this week.  I feel I need to let off the accelerator a bit after two hard weeks in a row.  AP:  7:29.  

3 mile warm-up, 12 mile aerobic builder, 3 mile cool-down.  Aerobic Builder Average Pace was 5:24.  Mile Splits:  5:23, 5:13, 5:29, 5:23, 5:25, 5:13, 5:27, 5:25, 5:22, 5:30, 5:26, 5:27.  The two 5:13's were slightly downhill.  I Ended a little lower than where I started.  This workout exceeded my highest expectations.  I was hoping to average around 5:35 at best 5:30.  I just got into a nice rythm and kept at it.  I had great weather conditions.  I just hope I'm not doing too much.

Legs were quite tight to start but the further I went the better I felt.  By the end of the run the legs were feeling pretty darn good.  New Balance 490 shoes are finally feeling broken in.  AP:  7:15

Easy 9.  AP:  7:26.  Will run hard tomorrow in the St. Patty's March Run 10k in Layton.  

This race was a good workout.  I warmed up 5 miles and did some strides.  It was a windy day out the course was set up in a way that the wind was broken up nicely though.  But, because of the way the course was set up I was weaving through 5k and 10k runners over the last 2 miles.  I guess that was good practice though for when I'm weaving through 1/2 marathoners at the Ogden Marathon.  I turned the auto lap off on my watch but ended up only getting the first two splits because I wasn't paying close enough attention to the mile markers.  I think the course was probably a little short because my watch had the course at 6.24 miles and given my watches history my watch should have read around 6.35 if it was an accurate course.  1 mile 5:02 2nd mile was 4:54 but was with the wind.  I struggled to run 5:20-25 pace against the wind but made up for it when I had the wind aiding me.  Overall time was 32:13 or a 5:11 AP.  Given the windy conditions and the weaving through people I was very happy with that time.   I had some guy go with me for the first mile then he fell apart in a hurry.  2nd place was more than 3 minutes back so I didn't have anyone pushing me.  For a small race awards weren't back a couple small $10 gift certificates an 1 hour long massage, and a free entry next year.  Mitchell didn't have as much fun in his race.  His race was a full mile which was a really long ways for him given that he won't turn 4 until next month.  But, I was proud of the way he fought through it and never gave up.  Payson did about half of the kids race he was really excited about that.  Overall a fun morning with the family.  Good week of running.

They need an "extra slow miles" category.  My AP this morning was 7:48.  I didn't get below an 8:00 average until 8 miles into the run.  I didn't feel real sore before starting the run but once I started I noticed I was super stiff and really didn't loosen up until about 6 miles into the run.  It was a combination of my race Saturday and playing basketball with my brother last night.  I wasn't going to play hard, but he went up on me 2 games to 0 (we always play the best of 5) and with the rivalry we have with each other my competitive side kicked in and I played real hard the last 3 games.  Not too smart I know.  I was going to workout hard tomorrow, but now I think I will hold off until Wednesday.  

I didn't start this run until 8:45 p.m.  I was planning on running in the morning like I normally do, but Payson (our 2 year old) decided he didn't want to sleep the night before like almost all night long.  I finally got him to sleep at about 5:00 a.m. but he was sleeping on my chest when it was time to go on my run so I bagged it in the morning.  Luckily I was still able to get a run in.  AP:  6:53.  

Was going to do a workout today but because I ran so late yesterday I decided to hold off until tomorrow.  Nice easy run.  Legs are feeling great!  AP:  7:21

3 mile warm-up with 4x100 strides, 6x1600 (2:00 active recovery ~250 meters jogging), 2.25 mile cool down.  1600 meter splites were:  5:01.28, 5:03.28, 5:02.43, 5:03.72, 5:00.49, and 4:55.76.  Goal was to be able to hit 6 between 5:00 and 5:05.  Hit the goal.  This was done on Roy High's track.  A little windy but not bad.  I was very pleased with this workout.  Felt the lactic acid lock-up feeling in the last 100 of the last 1600.  That is the first time I've done anything quick and hard enough to get that feeling in a long time.  

11 easy miles.  AP:  7:30  

I had a hard time deciding on doing 25 miles slow and steady or 20 miles with a workout.  I decided on 20 miles with a workout because I had only done 1 workout earlier in the week.  I ended up doing the Ben Vanbeekum special break down workout with a shorter warm-up and a longer cool down because I didn't want my last quarter mile to be uphill.  I did 2.5 miles warm-up, 3 miles hard (more downhill then up with wind to my back), 3 miles recovery, 2 miles hard (flat with cross winds), 2 miles recovery, 1 mile hard (all slightly up all against the wind), 1 mile easy, 1/2 mile hard (rolling hills against wind), 1/2 recovery, 1/4 mile hard (flat against the wind).  4.25 miles cool down.  3 mile hard splits were 5:04, 5:07, 5:05.  2 miles hard splits were 4:53, 4:59. 1 mile hard was 4:58.  1/2 mile was 2:21. 1/4 mile was 1:03.  This was a very good workout done in my heaviest trainers.  I'm thrilled with where I am right now.

2.4 mile warm-up, 12 mile power run, 1.6 mile cool down.  Mile splits were: 5:30, :28, :26, :35, :24, :30, :23, :25, :27, :28, :25, :23.  AP was 5:27.  I wanted to be between 5:30 and 5:35 because I intent to do this same workout on Thursday and wanted to leave some gas in the tank, but I got into a good rythm and just went with it.  

11 miles easy on my rail trail loop.  AP:  7:11

As I was running my hard workout in the rain and wind early this morning I was thinking to myself 'being really dedicated to something sure is annoying at times.'  2.4 mile warm-up, 12 mile power run, 1.6 mile cool down.  Power run splits were:  5:28, :21, :32, :23, :21, :24, :28, :20, :26, :22, :24, :25.  AP= 5:24.5.  This was a real strong run considering I had done the same workout on Tuesday and considering the weather conditions.  These are the types of workouts that are going to give me confidence when it's needed. 

Nice recovery run. AP: 6:56

aited until this afternoon to run because I was busy in the morning. Was planning on doing 25 today but when I started heading home at about mile 14 I started feeling low on energy, my i.t. band started to feel tight, and I realized I would be running against a fierce wind the rest of the way. So I decided to take the most direct way home. By the time I got home I was feeling pretty crappy. This run really took a lot out of me. AP: 6:36.