Every Run is a Great Run!

Wow what a fabulous day for a January 2 run! Sunny and mid 40's I can't remember a nicer January day in northern Utah.  Went out around noon and ran 3 with Kimi then 7 more solo. 

8:30/144

Nice & easy 7 miler with Kim on another gloriously sunny day, although it was a bit windy today compared to yesterday.  But mid-40's so no complaints. I know we need some moisture but I can't quite bring myself to pray for snow just yet.

9:16/132 

Sunny and mid 40's for the run just before lunch. Sweet! Perfect for the speed session I had planned.  Warmed up with Kim and ran down to the river bottoms to the stretch of straight flat road that is perfect for doing Yasso 800's.

Plan was to do 8-10 800's in the 3:00-3:15 time range. Didn't sleep the greatest last night so I been groggy during the morning and wasn't sure what to expect.  But turned out feeling about as good as I've felt doing this type of workout. Actually I don't know if I've every actually finished the full 10 repeats until today. So I'm pretty happy with how things turned out.

First 3 felt super easy but I resisted the urge to go too fast too soon and end up not doing 10. Next 4 felt moderately hard but not too nasty. Last 3 were pretty hard the last quarter mile of each. Got the nausea, pukey feeling toward the end of each of the last 3 but was able to finish strong and make the last 3 sets the fastest.

Splits/aveHR: (HR monitor says my max HR touched 200, not sure if this is correct usually I max out around 192-195)

1 - 3:10/147

2 - 3:11/172

3 - 3:10/176

4 - 3:11/178

5 - 3:11/182

6 - 3:10/184

7 - 3:10/184

8 - 3:09/184

9 - 3:08/186

10 - 3:07/186 

Nice easy recovery run in the sun.

8:26/146 

Nice run in the sun with Kimi just before lunch.

We got nice surprise this morning after running all week in 45 sunny degrees and shorts.  Started snowing just before we got out and ended up snowing quite heavily, sometimes with wind making it so snow was pelting us in the eyes. Still had a pretty good size group of runners despite the weather. Those SF runners are a diligent bunch.

After a while the snow/slush started piling up on the roads making it very difficult to get great footing and impossible to run at any kind of pace.  Ends up taking nearly the effort of a 7 min mile to run 9 min miles. Kim and I both felt pretty spent and happy to get to 13 miles considering the nasty roads.  Nice to have Hal stick with most of the way. Hopefully we didn't aggravate any injuries with all the slip-sliding we did.

Ran just over 3 with Kim then the rest solo.  Brain was off in lala-land today I hardly even remember the last half of the run.  Nice day again but a little more January-ish in the high 20's.

8:44/143

8:18/148

Went out with Kim around 11am. Fairly nice day, sunny in the low 30's.  Ran with Kim just shy of 3 miles then she turned around while I did a tempo run.  Plan was for 4-6 miles @ 6:40-6:50. But Mother Nature decided to give me a head wind most of the whole way so I slowed my goal pace to 6:45-7:00. 

Dang wind made it harder than I wanted but I was happy to get in 5 miles and keep them (barely) under 7 min pace. 

Splits/aveHR: 6:51/162, 6:55/179, 6:59/183, 6:56/186, 6:51/189.

Overall: 7:39/161/190max

8:23/143

Got up at 5:30 with Kim and wasn't so excited about it being 13 degrees with wind chill down to 4. Just not so used to the morning winter running I'm afraid I was a bit grumpy.  Starting to taper the miles before SG half next week but wanted to get some MP miles, hard to do when temps are in the teens.

Met up with the SF group and headed out.  Decided to go west to avoid the wind at least for a while.  I ended up feeling pretty zippy today and ended up running mostly solo. Probably looked like I was unsociable but some days I just like to run alone a few miles. 

I was pleased the MP miles felt easier today than they've felt for a while, even with the sub-20 temps, although I did take a ton of walking breaks.  Looking forward to a week taper and then racing next Saturday.

7:50/162

Six boring treadmill miles.

Waited until early afternoon to run hoping it would warm up a bit. It did warm up a little but I was feeling sluggish.  Did every other mile at HMP to try to keep sharp for Saturday but I couldn't seem to ever get in any kind of groove.  Guess some days are just like that.

7:40/157

HMP miles were 6:47, 6:51, & 6:50 pace 

I was expecting it to be cold & snowy today so the mild temps with a bit of sun here & there was a nice surprise. Just did 5 easy and felt much better than yesterday.  Solo today as Kim is taking the day off to stop some early possible PF from going any further.

8:09/150 

3 easy miles at work with 5 or 6 strides thrown in toward the end.  No watch today so not sure about pace. Hopefully I'm ready for the race Saturday.  Not quite sure what to expect as I've had some good training days but also some bad as well and I'm just not sure what type of day Saturday will be.  

I'm thinking I'll go pretty conservative on my goals: Gold - sub 1:30, Silver - sub 1:32:30, Bronze - sub 1:35.  Most likely I'll go out with the 1:30 pacers and just hold on as long as I can.  I'm contemplating racing without a watch. 

Well not a gold medal race today.  But then again it was not a gold medal course (lots of hills) and not gold medal weather (rain, wind, similar to SGM 2008). 

Overall I'm happy with my race, although I wish I could have snuck under 1:32:30 to claim my silver goal instead of the bronze. But I suppose that is one drawback to not wearing a watch.

Yes I decided to run this race "naked" and see how things went.  Kind of weird and makes you kind of feel naked to not have Mr Garmin hanging on your wrist. But I kind of liked it for the most part, felt more in tune with my body signals.  But I wonder if I had known how close I was to 1:32:30 I could have shaved the few seconds.

Ran with Walter and the 1:30 pace group for about 4-5 miles until the worst of the hills began. Also much of the head wind in the middle miles. I'm a lousy uphill runner and I was feeling the hills/wind sap my strength so I decided to back off, keep the pacers in my sights, then see how I felt when the downhill came.

Problem was that many of the uphills seemed long and drawn out but the downhills all seemed to come short and too steep to take advantage of. So at any rate I watched the 1:30 pacers get too far ahead to catch and was kind of stuck in no-mans-land the last 4-5 miles and just had to gut it out mostly alone.  I did pass a few guys but also got passed by a few (mostly gals).

Does make you wonder how things would have gone if the weather was like Friday when it was absolutely beautiful & sunny. Oh well.... early in the year looking forward to some spring/summer races and getting a few sub 1:30's.

Kim had a blast pacing the 2:10 group. They had a pretty good sized group make it through to the end and many came up to Kim afterward expressing heartfelt thanks and gratitude.  I'm looking forward to doing the pace thing myself in a few races this year.

Just over 5 nice & easy with Kim. Legs feeling pretty good after the race but a little sluggish. The ridiculous blasting wind from the east maybe had something to do with the sluggishness.

Six easy miles at work. 8:19/152

Got out with Kim just before noon on a nice January day.  A little bit of canyon wind but the sun was shining and with  temps in the mid to upper 30's it felt great.  Started out nice and easy and gradually sped up, so nice when we're both feeling great at the end!  Spotted a big golden eagle along the river trail. Legs are feeling great after the race, I'm liking the quick recovery.

8:39/138 

Six uneventful miles as work.  8:28/147

Six miles with Kim on a sometimes nice sometimes not-so-nice weather day. Nice when the sun was shining but the cold wind from the NW was definitely not-so-nice!

8:55/140 

Ran with Kim and SF group on a clear but cold January morning.  Feeling very sluggish the last couple of days, hope that goes away soon.  I'll stick with DCP (Don't-Care-Pace) for the next while.

Seven easy miles with about 3 with Kimi.  Also did 1 steep hill sprint in the middle just for fun.

8:50/140 

Nice relaxing run at work just before lunch.  Felt pretty good today maybe my legs are finally coming back.

8:14/146