Every Run is a Great Run!

Crosstrain 40min: Bike/Stair

Cross-train

Ran early with the SF running crowd. Would have liked to run with the Relay Team but had too many committments for later in the day.

Had a nice long run other than a few portions of the run where we about froze our fannies off. As we ran near the mouth of SF canyon with the windchill I'm thinking it was effectively around -10 degrees. I don't think my face has ever been that cold before, I could hardly even talk. But we were rewarded later as we got the wind at our back and the sun came out to warm us up.

I was pleased with this run in that for once in a long, long time I didn't feel totally exhausted and out of gas the last few miles of the run. I had intended to run 18-20 miles but ended up with around 21 by the time I finally got home. I think part of what made the run better is that I ran the first 6 miles by myself (from 5am to 6) before the main group met and I did these miles particularly slow (9-9:30 pace). The rest of the miles running with the group I ran my normal long-run pace of around 8:25-8:50 to ended up with an overall average pace just below 9:00. Not very fast but in line with what I intend on doing for Boston. Next Saturday I'll plan on running few miles (12-16) but at faster pace (8:00-8:30).

Not a good run for me today. Had to go earlier than normal since I had a lunch conflict so couldn't run with the other guys up EagleView. Decided since I'm running a 5K this weekend I would try inserting some 1/4 to 1 mile intervals at what I think should be my current 5K pace (6:30 to 6:45). It was obvious real quick I just didn't have it going for me today. Felt very sluggish. Perhaps the longer-than-planned 21-miler on Saturday took more out of me than I first thought. Hopefully things will go better on Saturday. My body seems to be telling to either train for a marathon or train for a 5K but NOT both at the same time.

Crosstrain day: Bike/Weights/Stairs

Took it easy somewhat today since I'm running 5K on Saturday. I did 4 1/4 mile bursts at miles 1, 2, 3, 4 trying to run them at 15-30 seconds faster than my anticipated 5K pace. Like Monday I still felt much more winded than I think I should have. Not feeling too confident going into the 5K. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

Cross-train: 30 minutes instead of usual 40, tapering a bit for 5K race on Saturday.

One of those days when I'm tempted to bag this blog as I have little desire to report on what was the worst 5K I've run in years. I'm not even going to flag this one as a "race report" as it isn't even worthy of being called a good training run. This to top off one of the worst running weeks I've have for quite a while.

I had hoped at least the weather was going to be nice but this wasn't the case. It was obvious after the 1st mile (or even 1/2 mile) of the race that I was way off my game. I went out at a conservative 6:45 pace but was feeling lousy at less that a mile into the race. The best way I can describe it is kind of like hitting the wall in a marathon, but only after a mile into the run! I ended up not even being able to hold the 7:00 pace that we've been meeting or exceeding during Wed training runs (I think my ave pace ended up being around 7:10). So I suppose I'm officialy in a 'rut'. Also soon after I got home I ended up Saturday/Sunday battling fever, sore-throat, cough, etc. Suffice to say it was a lousy weekend and I must say daylight savings is not my friend so far.

Looking at what might explain the poor week I suppose there are plenty of possibilities. Most likely the 21-miler last week took a lot out of me and maybe weakened my immune system so that I was coming down with a cold/flu by Saturday. Also amidst all the hubbub of getting my boy into the MTC a week and a half ago I had a mild ulcer on Wednesday/Thursday (2/28-3/1). I get these occasionally when I'm under stress and/or I take Ibuprofen or Aspirin on an empty stomach. These ulcers are accompanied by a bit of blood in the stool. I recall a couple years ago when I did a fool thing and donated blood and then tried to run a 10K 3 days after. It was NOT good. In fact it took me 4-6 weeks to get my wind back after giving blood. I don't I lost much blood due to the ulcer but I wonder if it's a factor.

At any rate I think I better take it easy a bit this week and hope I have some stamina back by the weekend for the next 20 miler. Luckily I haven't yet signed up for the Rex Lee 10K on the 24th like I had originally planned. I think I'll bag the short races until after Boston.

Somewhat laid-back run up EagleView with Paul and Cory. Thanks guys for going easy on me today.

Crosstrain day.

Still fighting a cold. No energy. No fun. Just looking forward to when I start feeling normal again.

Crosstrain day - Bike/Stair. Still fighting cold and/or allergies. Hope I feel better by Saturday for schedule 20+ miler.

Did a wimpy weights workout today. Was a slacker, can't seem to get rid of cold and/or allergy that's plagued me all week.  No sure how planned 20-miler tomorrow is going to go.

Well I'm very relieved to get this run under my belt. I thought it could go badly based on the last couple of weeks but all in all it went pretty well. I slowed my pace a bit compared to other weeks and was able to finish without too much of the exhausted, no-stamina feelings I've had during most of my runs lately. I think overall my average pace was around 8:55 with a few marathon pace miles thrown in along the way (8:00-8:30 pace). So I'm hoping maybe I can pull out of the rut I've been in and at least enjoyed some degree of improved endurance even if my speed has taken a step back. Also I think my cold/allergy problems are near an end.

I even went a couple of bonus miles, the reason being I had the choice of either run the last 3-4 miles alone to finish with 20 miles OR run 22 miles with some companionship, so I opted for the companionship with no regrets (yet.... maybe Monday I'll have a different story)

I've found it helps me out quite a bit to run the 1st 6-7 miles solo, starting an hour early (5am) before meeting up with the SF main running group at 6am. I run these solo miles pretty easy and I found I seem to have alot more energy for the next 13-15 miles running with a group.

I'm planning on 1 more 20+ miler in 2 weeks before I taper for Boston which is on April 16.

EagleView run at lunch, finally starting to feel 1/2 normal again. Still not 100% but at least the run was enjoyable. Still a bit sore from the 22-miler on Saturday. Cory went a few minutes early today due to 1pm meeting, I left a few minutes after Cory and before Paul in hopes of catching Cory and then joining Paul later for perhaps a 2nd go up the hill. Unfortunately Cory and Paul were too fast so I never did catch Cory and Paul caught me sooner than expected as he was cranking out some good sub 7:00 miles to get his legs warmed up for his 10K on Saturday.

Forgot my watch so I'm not sure exactly what my pace was.

Crosstrain day.

Due to BrainShare duties during the day I did a treadmill workout in the morning. The allergies are still bothering me but I was feeling pretty good so after 2-mile warmup I set the treadmill to 6:58 pace and did 2 miles. I was hoping to do 3 miles straight but wimped out a bit and stuck in a .25 mile break between the 2nd and 3rd miles.

Although I set the treadmill incline to 1 I feel like the treadmill is easier than the equiv workout on the roads. Next week I'm curious to try some 7-min miles on the lakeview course to see how I'm doing since I had my 'setback'.

Best run I've had for quite a while. I think maybe I'm finally getting my legs/endurance back again. Wanted to push the pace a bit and do most miles around the 8:00 pace. Was happy that I was able to do this without totally running out of steam around mile 8-9 as has been the case previously. My mile splits were as follows:

1 - 9:08

2 - 8:07

3 - 8:08

4 - 8:20

5 - 7:53

6 - 7:53

7 - 7:37

8 - 7:48

9 - 7:48

10 - 8:16

11 - 8:36

12 - 8:16

13 - 7:57

14 - 7:56

15 - 9:43

One other thing I noticed after today's run I want to mention so I remember for later reference......with the spring weather as a family we worked thru most of the day doing some spring cleaning, mostly in the yard so I was on my feet moving around all day after the run. Previously after long runs I've done a lot of sitting/laying around and have felt pretty sore in my legs thru the day and the next day. BUT today with all the moving around my legs feel great! I guess I already knew that a walk after long run was helpful but I had forgotten what a difference it can make! I'll need to remember every Saturday after the long run to keep moving thru the day. As a side benefit it makes the wife happy too to have me taking care of all the honey dos!!

Oh it's so nice to finally be out of the March slump I was in. Finally felt like I could push the pace today without feeling totally dead after 1 mile. Did a 1.6 mile warmup on treadmill then ran 4.9 mile EagleView course with Paul and Nate. Paul and Nate both had good reasons to hold back a bit with Paul having just run a great 10K Saturday and Nate coming off a nasty cold and not having run much for a couple of weeks. Thanks in large part to Paul's "motivational" trash-talking from behind me (it's not often that Paul is ever behind me) I was able to finish this run in what I think is my best time yet. My Garmin measured the following 'run' times (we stopped for about 1:45 total at 2 different stop lights):

1 - 7:53

2 - 7:52

3 - 7:49

4 - 7:00

4.9 - 6:15 (6:57 pace)

Total run time: 36:50 (7:31 ave. pace)

Total time including stops: 38:35 (7:52 ave. pace)

Crosstrain day: Bike/Weights/Stair. Worked a bit harder than recently since I've been feeling good lately. Hopefully I won't overdo it.

Treadmill workout today since the weather was nasty. As I've been feeling pretty good this week I decided to go with the flow and try running some near 7:00 pace miles like we were doing a few weeks ago before I had my 'slump'.  After 2 mile warmup, happilly I was able to hold the pace (6:58 on treadmill) for 3.5 miles before I slowed down for a cool-down mile.

However I'm always a bit skeptical about treadmill workouts as they always seem to be a bit easier than the equivalent road workout -- at least for tempo/speed workouts. I put the incline on 1.0 (1% ???) to try to counter the lack of wind resistance but I'm still not sure if I could duplicate this on the road. If the weather permits I'll give it a shot next week on the roads and see what happens.

Crosstrain: Bike/Stairs (20 min. each)

Crosstrain: Bike/Weights/Stairs

For some reason when I first entered blog for today it didn't submit properly for some reason. Paul and Kerry both document the run quite nicely on their blogs and I don't feel like repeating everything I did 1st time around so suffice to say had a good run up Provo canyon up to Trefol and back down. Enjoyed the run, feeling good to have 3 20-milers under my belt prior to Boston and looking forward to marathon.